【Book Chapter 3 】
Gaeul was confused.
Although she managed to escape the hotel on her own, once she got home, she felt a pang of guilt for not having said goodbye. With the thought that a final farewell before deleting the app would be nice, she entered the chat room with the user, 'Windmill.' She noticed that the notification bell icon at the top of the chat window had a diagonal line through it, indicating that notifications had been turned off at some point. To her surprise, there was a message waiting for her, filled with content she had never imagined.
"Did I stand this guy up...?"
However, the app's chatroom was filled with over a page of disgruntled messages from 'Windmill,' the man she had spent the previous night with.
At first, he sent her messages pretending to be a kind gentleman looking for her. However, he soon sent a message that made her frown, saying:
「You weren't a virgin, were you? I thought you were a virgin and wanted to sleep with you, but you turned out to be a worn-out slut from the app. No wonder you came out so willingly.」
After that, he blocked her and disappeared.
A mix of bewilderment and anger crossed Gaeul's face. She couldn’t understand why she was being insulted by this man.
She hadn’t even gone to meet him?
This man had clearly been biting and sucking on her body all night long. She felt sore and swollen down there from his relentless actions. Even though she hadn't drunk enough to blackout, by dawn, her memories were hazy from being half-asleep due to his persistent advances.
But what, Gaeul didn’t go out to meet him?
Tears welled up in her eyes from the injustice of it all. Then, how could she explain the kiss marks and muscle soreness all over her body — on her chest, neck, back, stomach, sides, and thighs?
She didn't think he was that kind of person, and it wasn’t like the person on the app was someone entirely different.
Truly a completely different person...
"You don't have a windmill tattoo on your wrist. But it was in the app photo. What happened?"
…Could it be a different person?
Gaeul scrolled up again. The man's body photo was still in the chatroom, sent exactly five days ago. Upon closer inspection, the man in the photo had a darker skin tone and less defined muscles than Seo Dohyeon. Most notably, his shoulders were narrower, and his overall frame was significantly smaller than the man from the previous night. He also appeared quite thin.
Most importantly, there was the windmill tattoo on his wrist. When she zoomed in, it was clear that it was indeed a tattoo, not a sticker.
“What should I do? It looks like it’s a different person.”
The man from the app clearly looked like someone who had taken pictures like this more than once, even going so far as to write a live verification phrase to authenticate his body shot. It seemed impossible for someone’s body to improve that much in just five days, no matter how hard they worked out.
“Then what happened last night?”
As questions began to surface, a wave of relief washed over her. She was glad she hadn’t spent the night with a man who would say such things and relieved that Seo Dohyun wasn’t the kind of app user who would speak so vilely. But if that was the case, what had compelled that man to have a one-night stand with her?
“You seem a bit clueless, which is kind of amusing.”
He might have been looking for a one-night stand all along, and she just happened to catch his eye. Since she fell for everything he said, she must have appeared very naive to him.
In hindsight, everything felt unnatural. Perhaps she had subconsciously sensed that something was off but chose to ignore it. Even when certain moments seemed strange, she complied with his requests without suspicion — half due to the influence of alcohol and half because she was drawn to his handsome face.
The sudden urge to check the app's chat history, his phone battery unexpectedly dying while they were chatting, his repeated questions about whether it was her first time as if it were new information despite her mentioning it several times before in the app, and the fact that the age he provided on the app wasn’t true — everything felt strange.
Not only that.
The way he spoke in the chat was completely different from how he spoke in person. The fact that he didn’t have a tattoo on his wrist was also peculiar. He made the excuse that it was a sticker, but now that she thought about it, it didn’t seem likely that the man would walk around with a tattoo sticker on his wrist.
"It's not Windmill, but Seo Dohyun. What's your name?"
Now that she thought about it, he had already given her the correct answer last night.
"He's really strange."
For some reason, she couldn't help but laugh.
She understood why he had laughed like that. It must have been so amusing to fool someone. She didn't particularly want to confront him, but even if she did want to ask why he had lied, she had no way to contact him. Compared to the real 'Windmill,' Seo Dohyun seemed like a much better person. Perhaps that was why, even though it was clear she had been deceived, she strangely didn’t feel bad about it.
After all, it was just a one-night stand. She could think of it as a fleeting dream at the end of summer and let it go.
And it wasn't just him who lied; she had lied too. Gyeoul, 28 years old. The name and age she gave weren't hers either.
Gaeul took out her contact lenses, put on her glasses, and changed into her pyjamas before lying down on her bed.
“Seo Dohyun. Dohyun,” she whispered softly in her familiar space.
Thanks to him encouraging her to repeat his name, she had memorised it well.
'He even has a nice name,' she thought.
She probably wouldn’t see him again. If she had known it would end like this, she should have at least left a message.
The thought of never seeing him again left her feeling a bit regretful. She picked up her phone, pressed the app's withdrawal button, and then completely deleted the app.
She closed her eyes. Perhaps it was due to the traces he had left on her body, but even with her eyes shut, the image of that man lingered.
・・・・・
The next evening, Gajun, who had brought home electric grilled chicken from a nearby truck to celebrate the weekend, started talking about work with his usual upset expression.
‘Does Lee Gajun not meet up with friends on the weekend? He shouldn't be feeling like this right now…’
As she was letting his words fade into the background, a name caught her attention.
“...Wait a moment, Brother."
"What?"
“What’s the name of that strange team leader again?”
Gajun responded with a puzzled expression.
“Seo Dohyun. I’ve told you this several times.”
Gaeul dropped the chicken leg she was holding directly onto the plate.
・・・・・
Come to think of it, the name Dohyun was quite common.
In high school, there was a Kim Dohyun in her class, and she was once on a team with Jegal Dohyun in a liberal arts class. That was not all; one of her tutoring students was named Lee Dohyun. Until recently, a somewhat unfriendly clerk at the nearby convenience store was named Park Dohyun, and the drummer of a band she used to like was named Bang Dohyun.
At Seoil Electronics, there were over 100,000 employees, so it was inevitable that there would be an abundance of people with the same name.
“By the way, during the last company dinner, my coworkers were talking about who looks more like a dog or a cat. They said I have a dog-like face. Well, that’s one thing. When I jokingly asked Team Leader Seo if that meant I looked like a dog, he immediately said yes. He said I resemble a Golden Retriever. Can you believe that?”
“You asked the question in a way that made him respond like that first. He was probably just joking too. Besides, isn't being compared to a Golden Retriever a compliment?"
“No, you usually always take my side. Why are you acting like this today?”
“It's just, you know how it is.”
Gaeul's hand trembled slightly as she picked up a drumstick of the golden olive oil fried chicken for tonight's late-night snack.
"You resemble the dog that my company has."
“...A dog?”
No way, it couldn’t be. That dog couldn’t possibly be Lee Gajun.
He didn't seem like a person with a good personality, but if he was that naturally handsome, he might have grown up a bit arrogant from being pampered by those around him. Nevertheless, despite his careless words, his actions suggested he was actually a decent person. Although he deceived her by pretending to be someone from a dating app and took another person's one-night stand partner, she couldn't help but wonder if that was really such a terrible thing.
She knew it was a bit of a stretch, but who knew? He might have sensed that the person she was chatting with was trouble, judging by the contents of their conversation. Then, when he saw her sitting right in front of him, he felt drawn to her, convinced he would be a better match than the guy from the app. She wasn’t a friend’s girlfriend; she was just a complete stranger’s one-night stand partner, so maybe taking her away wasn’t such a big deal after all.
“No, that’s not it.”
No. Let’s not jump to conclusions. There was no way Team Leader Seo in that story could be the Seo Dohyun she had met last week. What were the odds that the boss her brother cursed at daily was actually her one-night stand?
Let’s remember: Seoil Electronics had over 100,000 employees, Dohyun was a common name, and there were 600,000 people with the surname Seo in South Korea.
Gajun looked puzzled as Gaeul shook her head.
“...What do you mean it’s not?”
“No. It’s just... I think I was wrong. It is rude. Saying you look like a dog. How can someone say that?"
“Exactly. He’s really crazy.”
“But calling him crazy seems a bit extreme.”
“...Hey, Lee Gaeul. What’s been up with you since earlier?”
“What about me?”
Gajun looked at Gaeul with a puzzled expression, sighed deeply, and picked up a piece of chicken.
“This can’t go on. I need to settle this man to man.”
“What do you mean, settle it? Are you going to hit him?”
“Am I crazy? While drinking, we’ll have an honest conversation about why he’s been acting like this. Then I’ll make sure he gets completely wasted. Since he hardly drinks at company dinners, I’ll probably win the drinking contest.”
“He might not even realise it’s a contest...”
“Anyway... Huh? But why are there no drumsticks left?”
Gajun checked the chicken box with a puzzled expression.
"You ate it while you were talking earlier. You must have been so engrossed in your story that you don't even remember it."
“Oh, I see.”
In fact, Gaeul had eaten all the drumsticks. Recently, she seemed to have gained weight because she kept going for the drumsticks. She should be more careful when eating chicken from now on. As soon as she thought that, Gajun continued speaking.
“Come to think of it, his tone has softened a bit recently. Even today, too. His expression was already sour this morning, leading me to believe that Team Leader Seo must have been in a bad mood since Monday. However, when I brought him the report, he seemed about to say something rude, yet as soon as our eyes met, he paused for a moment and then softened his words. It felt like he was holding back. He didn’t speak harshly.”
“...I see.”
“Yeah. There was even a mistake in today’s report, but he didn’t say much about it, which is surprising. Now that I think about it, even though he’s been improving a bit lately, he wouldn’t have just overlooked a mistake. It feels like he’s completely changed all of a sudden. I wonder if something happened over the weekend that led to this change.”
Gajun's eyes widened as he thought it over.
“No way, is that bastard in a relationship?”
Pfft. Cough, cough.
Gaeul choked on her cola and coughed. After wiping the spilled cola off the table with a tissue, she caught her breath.
“What’s with that expression?”
"...It's nothing. Continue."
Remember, Seoil Electronics had over 100,000 employees, Dohyun was a common name, and there were 600,000 people with the surname Seo in South Korea.
That Seo Dohyun was not the same Seo Dohyun. Whether he had a girlfriend or not was none of Gaeul’s concern. He was just another stranger among many, a complete stranger.
"Anyway, his personality really matches his looks. With that face and body, he should have been a celebrity instead of coming here as my boss and throwing tantrums. Maybe he failed to debut because of his personality. You should be careful not to end up with a guy like him; a man is more than just his looks."
There weren't many men with outstanding looks that even Gajun would acknowledge.
Gaeul clutched her head with both hands and let out a groan.
“Why are you clutching your head again?”
“Headache.”
“Suddenly? We don't have any painkillers at home.”
"It's fine. It's not bad enough to need medicine.”
It was fine. Even if her older brother’s boss, Seo Dohyun, was the same Seo Dohyun from the one-night stand, she, Lee Gaeul, was okay with it.
When would she ever have the chance to meet her own brother's boss? He was definitely someone she would never encounter again in her life.
People were truly fickle. When she first thought she would never see him again, she felt a pang of regret. But now, the idea that he might actually be so close made her afraid of possibly running into him.
“But isn't there more to the story?”
"What story?"
“That team leader. It seems like he’s doing a variety of things to you, Brother.”
“There's nothing more today. You’re a university student, so this is interesting, right? Once you get a job, the real horror begins.”
“Yes, yes, hang in there, office worker.”
On one hand, Gaeul was a bit curious. She wondered if the change in his attitude over the weekend was somehow related to her. Perhaps that was why he found himself unable to utter any sharp remarks upon seeing Gajun...
At this point, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she might be a bit too self-conscious.
“When are you going drinking?”
"Well, he suddenly suggested that we go out for drinks tomorrow evening. It’ll be the first time he’s invited me to go out for drinks alone together since I joined the company three months ago. He isn’t planning to apologise out of the blue, is he? That would be seriously creepy. I can’t help but wonder, did something really happen over the weekend?"
“...Maybe.”
“Anyway, I’m definitely going to win and come back, so be ready to hear my tales of victory the next day. In the meantime, wash your feet and get some sleep.”
“Got it. Make sure to come back with plenty of entertaining stories.”
Gaeul handed Gajun his second favourite part of the chicken after the drumsticks — the wings — as she spoke.
He opened his mouth with a look of confusion.
“What’s with your sudden enthusiasm in my work…?”
"Just because. It seems interesting.”
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have been curious at all, but now she found herself a bit intrigued.
The world became clearer the more interest one had. If you were interested in nail art, you would start to notice other people’s nails. If you loved fish-shaped pastries, you would check every street vendor in winter to see if they sold them. And if you knew the names of the flowers that bloomed in each season, even amidst a busy life, you could sense the arrival of a new season with just a glimpse of a wildflower.
Just like that, when Gaeul developed an interest in her brother's boss, the workplace stories she used to treat as background noise suddenly became clearer, and she could hear every single word.
"But maybe that person isn’t as bad as you think."
"What?"
“Just, you know. Drink some cola.”
Gaeul changed the subject and poured cola into his cup.
・・・・・
When Gaeul shared what had happened, Juhee laughed uncontrollably throughout the phone call.
[This must be the destiny of two people, don’t you think?]
“If my brother finds out I had a one-night stand, I'm dead. And if he finds out it was with the boss he hates the most? That's a guaranteed ticket on the KTX [1] to hell.”
[Do you really think he’d go so far as to kill his only sister?]
“That person is more than capable of that. Lee Gajun is such a traditionalist; he was raised with the belief that he shouldn’t bring strange men into a house where there’s a sister, so he hardly ever brought his friends over.”
[I see. Your brother definitely has that traditional Korean gentleman vibe.]
“Anyway, it’s not certain yet. I won’t know until I see it with my own eyes. And I probably won’t have the chance to confirm it. Who knows? There might be multiple handsome Seo Dohyuns at Seoil Electronics.”
[Oh, that’s amusing. In a country known for its lack of handsome men, what are the odds? Still, you make a valid point. It’s like Schrödinger’s Seo Dohyun. [2] Is he your brother’s boss or not? You won’t find out until you open the box.]
“So, I plan to keep the box closed forever.”
[So, if you open the box, it’s not Seo Dohyun inside who has a 50% chance of dying — it’s Lee Gaeul, the one who opened it, right?]
Juhee's laughter could be heard from the other end of the phone.
“Do you want to die first?”
Still, after confiding in Juhee, her heart felt lighter.
Yes, the box containing Schrödinger's Seo Dohyun would remain unopened. If she was curious about how he was doing, she could just occasionally get updates through Lee Gajun. There was really no need to meet him again.
“Anyway, I’m hanging up now. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.”
[If you open the box, be sure to let me know.]
“Yeah, that won't happen.”
Gaeul hung up the phone and headed to the bathroom.
・・・・・
As she opened the door, a cloud of steam dispersed.
Gaeul stepped out of the bathroom with a refreshing stride, wearing a stretched-out T-shirt and black pyjama pants that had a hole near the knee from a spark during last summer’s club retreat. She gathered her long, soft, freshly dried hair and tied it back into a single ponytail.
She opened the refrigerator and took out her basic skincare products and a face mask for her bare skin. After gently patting her face with toner to prep her skin, she placed the mask on her face and then set her glasses on top of it.
In the old apartment hallway, where soundproofing was virtually nonexistent, she heard the elevator doors open, followed by a familiar voice echoing down the corridor.
"One… step! Two… steps! Wow, it's just around the corner!”
It looked like Lee Gajun must have drunk quite a bit. He seems pretty wasted.
Gaeul sighed. She should have realised he would come home drunk when he said he’d come back victorious. It was late, and with work tomorrow, it seemed he really went all out until the end.
Still, this was better than being only half-drunk. In this state, he would probably pass out as soon as his head hit the floor.
"Ah, wait, wait, wait. If I ring the doorbell at this hour, Lee Gaeul will totally lose it.”
As if it wasn't obvious he was drunk, he even added a playful melody to the end of his words. It appeared he had developed a new habit of talking to himself when he was wasted.
Then, she heard a sigh. It didn’t make sense for that drunk guy to be sighing; it should be her, the sister inside the apartment doing a face mask, who should let out a sigh instead.
Gaeul picked up her phone and pressed the video record button. Then she curled her lips into a smirk.
A crisis often presents an opportunity. She planned to use Gajun's embarrassing moment as leverage to get herself a new pair of sneakers.
Knock, knock.
The knock on the door was surprisingly orderly for someone so drunk.
Just when she thought he seemed more composed than expected, she heard the sound of the doorknob rattling as he shook the front door.
Bang, bang, bang.
As expected. Her older sibling was not the kind to knock calmly on the door.
“Hey, Lee Gaeul! I forgot the passcode. Let me in!”
“Coming!"
Lee Gajun was the kind of person who would get so drunk he couldn’t even walk properly on his own, and now he had forgotten the home passcode. Since it was still a weekday and he was out drinking with his boss, she hadn’t expected him to get this wasted. It seemed he really went all out just to take down one opponent.
Gaeul held her phone in one hand and turned the doorknob with the other to open the front door.
“Brother, you're really something...”
Instead of the expected strong smell of alcohol, she was first met with a familiar, subtle fragrance. It was a woody scent blended with bergamot. Just a few days ago, she had worn a perfume with the same scent at a hotel. On the bus home, Gaeul caught a whiff of the lingering aroma on her wrist and thought it was the perfect scent for this season, as the world, once heated with excitement, gradually cooled down and a refreshing breeze began to blow.
When she lifted her head in confusion, she saw Gajun's face, grinning widely while half-leaning on someone. The fact that his expression didn’t change even when their eyes met suggested that he was pretty far gone.
“This is it! Our! Home! Team Leader!”
As Gajun leaned forward, the overpowering smell of alcohol finally assaulted Gaeul's senses.
“...Team Leader?"
Gaeul had been beaming at the thought of her new sneakers as she started recording with her phone, but her expression suddenly froze when the door opened to reveal the man’s stiff face on the screen. She immediately pressed the stop recording button and shoved her phone into her pyjama pocket, which sagged heavily under the weight.
The man's hair was slightly more dishevelled than when she first saw him. His suit, which had initially been neatly tailored, now appeared similarly rumpled, indicating that Gajun had indeed caused quite a scene. A couple of buttons on his collar were undone, making his thick neckline more prominent.
Although she was reluctant to admit it because they were related, her brother, Lee Gajun had a face that was decent enough to attract quite a few girls. With broad shoulders and a tall stature, he maintained a good physique through regular exercise, which made his physical condition quite impressive.
But that was only true when he was surrounded by ordinary people.
Standing next to that man, surprisingly, she thought that Lee Gajun appeared somewhat smaller. Even with his eyes half-closed, his facial features seemed somewhat indistinct. Although she hadn’t intended to make a comparison, being next to each other naturally led to it.
With his sharp, narrow eyes that had softly defined double eyelids, a straight nose bridge, and full, deeply coloured lips, he had an appearance that could succeed in the entertainment industry based on his face and physique alone.
The way he furrowed his brows in irritation was strangely erotic. She had seen the man make a similar expression before. Remembering that moment made her lower abdomen tingle and tighten.
Schrödinger's Seo Dohyun was the Seo Dohyun from last Friday, room 3006 at the Baekje Hotel.
His eyes turned toward Gaeul. Their gazes met in mid-air.
“...Are you Assistant Manager Lee’s younger sister?”
Did he recognise her?
Thump. Her heart plummeted to the floor.
She quickly averted her gaze and bowed her head.
“Uh, yes.”
"Here."
Dohyun tossed Gajun aside like a piece of luggage. In a daze, she ended up instinctively catching Gajun. The body of an adult man, over a head taller than her, felt excessively heavy. It was surprising that Seo Dohyun had been carrying it so effortlessly.
"Ah, Lee Gajun, stand up straight."
“What? Lee Gajun?”
Gajun stared at Gaeul's face with unfocused eyes.
“No, Brother. Can you put some strength in your legs?”
“I'll do that. But what's that on your face?"
"What? Oh, it's a face mask."
She snapped back to reality.
Seeing that he showed no reaction, it seemed Seo Dohyun hadn't noticed Gaeul's identity yet. That day, her makeup was thick, but now she was bare-faced with a face mask and glasses on top, and even her hair was tied up. No wonder he didn't recognise her.
Only after realising this did her tension begin to ease. However, she still couldn’t completely relax. With Lee Gajun right next to her, if he were to recognise her identity, it would be a very awkward situation.
"Is there someone you want to impress?"
"Seriously? Just hurry and go inside.”
Gaeul ushered Gajun inside and turned around. Seo Dohyun was still standing at the entrance.
She tried hard not to meet his gaze and opened her mouth to speak.
"Um, thank you. My brother must have caused you trouble."
“...”
“Please be careful on your way back.”
"Excuse me."
He, who had been standing still, opened his mouth.
Had he recognised her in that short time? Come to think of it, he might have recognised her from her voice. Her heart raced.
“...Yes?"
"Your brother is throwing up on the living room floor."
Gaeul turned around with a startled expression. Fortunately, Lee Gajun was merely crawling on the floor like a zombie and wasn’t actually throwing up there.
"I must have seen wrong. Thanks for your help."
Thud. She heard the front door close behind her, followed by the sound of the door locks clicking shut.
Gaeul stared at the closed front door with a dazed expression.
“Uh... He really didn't recognise me, right?"
Until she heard the sound of the elevator door closing through the non-soundproof front door, she stood there as if rooted to the spot.
Translator's Corner:
[1] KTX stands for Korea Train eXpress. It's South Korea's high-speed rail system (bullet train) operated by Korail. It travels at a speed of about 305 km/h but can reach a maximum speed of 330 km/h. She's pretty much saying it's an express ticket to hell.
[2] This refers to "Schrödinger's cat" (but instead of cat, it's Seo Dohyun). Schrödinger's Cat is a famous thought experiment that demonstrates the idea in quantum physics that tiny particles can be in two states at once until they're observed. It asks you to imagine a cat in a box with a mechanism that might kill it. Until you look inside, the cat is both alive and dead at the same time.
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