Even if their relationship wasn’t proper, if he was going to take her to a formal event, the least he could have done was make sure she was dressed appropriately – for her sake and his. But maybe that never crossed his mind. Maybe he just assumed that Eun-sae would take care of it herself.

And why shouldn’t he? She had graduated from a design school with a sense of style that could compete with most professionals. For Lee Seol-won, Eun-sae must have been comfortable in every way.

“—Seo-hae. You’re on your way, right? Don’t worry, there are no customers at the moment.”

Unlike Eun-sae, I don’t have an eye for fashion or that effortless charm.

But if there’s one small consolation I can hold on to… it’s that I’m also someone who stands on a stage in my own way. Maybe not a celebrity, but someone who has been seen. Someone who knows what it means to be seen.

Fortunately, there was a makeup studio I knew well not far from where I was, so I asked a trusted acquaintance for help. As luck would have it, someone had just canceled, and she happily agreed to squeeze me in.

“Do you have a last-minute event or something? Shall I do your makeup as usual?”

Because of my work, I often wore hanbok, so I usually opted for clean, subtle makeup that simply accentuated my features. But today wasn’t one of those days.

“No, make it flashy – really bold this time. I think I’ll wear a dress instead of a hanbok.”

“A party, huh? I’ve only ever seen you go for that elegant, understated vibe. This is a surprise.”

She said with a teasing smile, lowering her voice close to my ear as she began to apply base makeup with smooth, practiced strokes.

“But what about the car waiting outside? I saw a man open the door for you earlier. Do you have a boyfriend, Seo-hae?”

I brushed off her question with a weak, noncommittal smile.

The man she’d seen was actually Lee Seol-won’s personal chauffeur, specially assigned to accompany me.

Whenever I got in or out of the car, he was the first one to get out, opening and closing the door with quiet formality. When I ran errands, he either waited patiently outside or followed me in to help carry my things, depending on the situation.

So it wasn’t surprising that someone could get the wrong impression from a distance.

“Next time,” she said with a teasing grin, “tell him he’s welcome to wait in the lounge. I’m dying to know what kind of incredible man could win over someone like you.

“I will.”
I lied with a smile.

And then I realized that Eun-sae must have had it so hard.

Unlike me, who could get by with a few vague excuses or half-hearted smiles, she had to carry the weight of guilt every day, lying to her own family while living in constant tension.

“I’ve only ever seen you with your hair in a tight bun, but with this half-up style, you look like a completely different person.”

Thanks to her skilled hands, I was quickly transformed into a more polished version of myself.

With flawless makeup and meticulously styled hair, I slipped back into my old, well-worn padded jacket and stepped out of the studio, heading straight for the luxury department store.

“Isn’t this color stunning? It’s like shimmering water.”

The saleswoman explained, holding out the jewelry.

“This design captures the moment when waves break into white foam – set with aquamarine and diamonds.”

“Yes, I’ll take it.”

It was the first time I had ever swiped a card without looking at the price tags.

Dresses, coats, shoes, bags-I picked them all out blindly, not knowing or caring how much any of them cost.

I added bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces-piece after piece of jewelry-and even splurged on a luxury watch I’d always admired from afar but never had the courage to buy. It always seemed too extravagant…until now.

The salesman gently suggested that I take my time browsing, but I didn’t. I just pointed at what caught my eye and kept passing the card around.

It didn’t take me two hours to buy everything.

Even after buying all these things out of sheer spite, I knew that it wouldn’t make the slightest dent in that despicable man’s fortune.

No matter how much I spent, it would never come close to the price of Eun-sae’s life.

I knew that this was nothing more than a pitiful act of rebellion.

But even that was something Eun-sae couldn’t do.

When I walked out of the department store, I looked nothing like the person who had entered hours before.

The chauffeur, without a word of complaint, quietly gathered all the shopping bags that came with my whirlwind tour.

When I was done, I walked back to the car.

The click of my brand-new heels – still unfamiliar and stiff – echoed softly with each step.

Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the polished black surface of the car.

I stopped.

There I was, reflected back at me-someone I barely recognized.

I’d always believed, without question, that the most expensive thing I would ever own in my life would be a gayageum. The jeongak gayageum and sanjo gayageum I used regularly each cost over ten million won.

I felt so guilty about relying on my parents’ support that I’d taken out a loan just to afford them.

It was only last year that I finally paid them off, bit by bit.

And now… this. All of this.

In just one hour, I was covered in things worth many times more than a Gayageum.

But spending all that money didn’t bring me any joy. It felt empty, even meaningless.

Staring at my own reflection, I didn’t see me. It was a stranger staring back.

Someone who wasn’t me, but also wasn’t Eun-sae.

I turned away from her and quietly got into the car.

“Do you mind if I roll down the window?”

The heater was on full blast, making the air thick and heavy.

Or maybe it wasn’t the heat – maybe it was just me.

“Not at all,” the chauffeur replied and lowered the window.

The cold wind blew in, sharp and biting.

And with it, some of the heaviness pressing down on my chest began to lift – just enough to breathe again.

I rested my head against the headrest of the seat, my eyes unfocused as the scenery passed by the window.

That’s when a sign outside suddenly caught my eye.

“Wait – please stop here. There’s something I have to do.”

The car suddenly stopped in front of a sprawling shopping complex filled with various shops.

The chauffeur didn’t ask any questions. He just let me out and drove off to find a parking space.

I walked in and went straight to a nail salon.

There I paid a waiting customer double to take her appointment.

And for the first time in my life, I got a manicure.

I had the length of my short, practical nails extended, then chose the flashiest, most extravagant decorations they had – and layered them over the hands that had always been bare.

The finished nails looked just like Eun-sae’s.

Just like the hands she once said she wanted to keep beautifully adorned – because even though we lived by different skills, our hands were the tools that carried us. They were precious.

I stared at them silently, lost in thought, when my elbow accidentally bumped into a nearby vase.

It was a careless mistake.

Startled, I glanced at it quickly out of the corner of my eye, a flash of panic rising – but when I saw that it looked large and heavy, filled with water, I let out a breath.

‘It won’t fall.’

I told myself.

But to my horror, the vase began to tip.

“Ah, be careful—”

By the time I rushed to catch it, it was too late.

The vase toppled over with a loud crash. I braced myself, thinking that the spilled water would make a mess of the workspace.

But unexpectedly, a rattling sound came from inside the fallen vase.

Curious, I leaned in to take a closer look – and found a small camera hidden inside.

The flowers were also fake, elaborately made artificial ones.

The cozy, cafe-like atmosphere was shattered by the small commotion, and now every customer nearby had turned to look at me.

“What is that?”

“Why is there a camera in there?”

The camera inside the vase was extremely small – one of those hidden surveillance cameras I had only heard about.

Who would ever think of a camera hidden in a flower vase?

In our country, such cameras were viewed in a particularly negative light.

The customers around me couldn’t hide their discomfort and disbelief, their expressions openly sour and stunned.

Pale as a sheet, the store owner rushed over and began to apologize.

“You must have been frightened, and I sincerely apologize. Not long ago we had an incident where a customer caused a big scene claiming there was a problem with his process. It escalated to the point where the police had to get involved. After that, we started recording the process during appointments – for everyone’s safety. The store’s CCTV isn’t high enough resolution to capture fine details, and it doesn’t record audio. The camera we use has limited memory, so it only keeps footage for a short time. If everything goes smoothly and nothing unusual happens, we delete the recordings immediately.”

The shop owner hastily pressed the reset button on the camera.

“Would you come this way? I’ll show you right now that all the footage has been erased.”

I said nothing and just stared at the camera.

My silence made the shop owner’s face even paler.

“Ma’am, I’m really, really sorry…”

“No, more than that…”

I cut off the shopkeeper’s repeated apologies with a calm gesture and nodded toward the camera.

“How much did you pay for that camera?”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll give you ten times the purchase price. Sell it to me.”

If Lee Seol-won had chosen Hyun Eun-sae – a woman with no official title – over his well-known fiancée, Heo Yeon-seo, to accompany him tonight, then the party we were about to attend was clearly not something he wanted to make public.

And if that was the case, it only made sense to be prepared.

To have at least one camera in my possession, capable of quietly observing the world around me.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my card.