The Crumbling Wife (1)
"Hah... fuck..."
A rough curse slipped out under my breath. By the time I came back to myself, I was somewhere I'd never set foot in before.
The place Jang-woo had dragged us to on his invitation was surprisingly spacious and comfortable.
This bastard... is he a rich kid or something?
A trainer's salary alone wouldn't cover an apartment like this. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and furniture that looked like it had cost a fortune — anyone could tell money had been poured into the place.
"Oh my God, this place is amazing."
The moment we arrived, Seung-yeon let out a delighted cry. She wandered from room to room, clearly thrilled. Watching her like that, she looked every bit the ordinary married woman.
"This doesn't look like a bachelor pad at all."
That was what she said when she saw his bedroom, thick with the scent of a diffuser.
A bachelor pad, huh...
Somehow her tone seemed laced with coquetry.
Truth was, my mood the entire way here had been pure shit. No — "fucked" was the better word.
Over and over, the image kept flashing through my mind: my wife perched on a public restroom sink, arms wrapped around the trainer's neck, kissing him.
Please let it have been a dream... Please let that hellish memory not have been real...
I repeated it to myself a thousand times, but what I'd seen was undeniable fact.
And that trainer bastard Jang-woo had invited us to his place with that disgusting, self-satisfied face of his.
"Come on, another round! I'm starting to sober up!"
That pretty-boy part-timer Soo-hyuk was already singing the praises of more drinks, looking far too excited for his own good. Already half-wasted, he was glued to my wife's side, laying on the charm.
"Aww, Soo-hyuk, I think you've had plenty."
My wife was handling him like a little brother, all warm and indulgent. Those adorable little reactions of hers used to be mine alone...
"Alright! One more round."
Jang-woo emerged in a change of clothes and started setting out bottles and snacks across the table.
"We've got special guests tonight, so..."
He pulled a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet.
This prick... putting on airs like he's seen some things...
Once the rocks glasses and ice were set, we settled back around the table.
But the seating was all wrong.
Beside me sat not my beloved wife, but that pretty-boy part-timer Soo-hyuk. My wife was diagonal from me, and directly across sat the trainer Jang-woo.
Fuck... why isn't she sitting next to me?
Even if the seats had filled naturally, the Seung-yeon I knew would have stuck right to my side and drunk with me.
"Hoo..."
If anything, she and Jang-woo looked like a well-matched couple. She wore a bright smile the whole time, melting deeper into the drinking party with every minute.
"But hyung-nim, you barely drink, do you?"
As the night warmed up, Jang-woo across from me turned and asked.
"Ah. Not really feeling it today."
"Still, it's a good night — have one. If you need to crash, you can use my room."
He filled my glass to the brim. That friendly smile of his didn't fool me for a second.
"Let's play a game! A game!"
Soo-hyuk, face flushed red as he poured more liquor down his throat, made the suggestion. The more he drank, the higher his energy climbed — that much was obvious.
Just drink quietly... What kind of games at this age...
"Oh, yes! Should we play?"
My beloved wife's face had grown even redder, flushed and glowing. She was never much of a drinker — and yet tonight alone she'd already knocked back several beers and glasses of whiskey in a row.
Is the woman I know really that bad with alcohol?
A pointless suspicion started to take root.
"Hmm... so what should we play?"
We filled the night with silly jokes and drinking games. Starting with basic ones — initial-consonant quizzes, Baskin-Robbins thirty-one — the atmosphere steadily heated up.
"Oh~ Seung-yeon, you're good at this!"
Soo-hyuk gave her a thumbs-up after she outlasted everyone in Bunny Bunny. My wife, years younger than me, still had her game instincts sharp.
She must have played plenty of drinking games when she was younger — there wasn't a single one she didn't know.
I, on the other hand, was hopeless. Their rule was that if you didn't know a game, you drank while you learned — so I kept knocking back whiskey from the rocks glass, one after another.
"Hoo..."
After several glasses of whiskey, I could feel the hot breath rising in my mouth.
"Hyung-nim, are you okay?"
Soo-hyuk beside me asked, looking concerned. His own face was flushed deep red; he looked just as wasted as I felt.
I said nothing and just watched my wife. She had no idea I was struggling with the alcohol — she was chatting away with that bastard Jang-woo, heads close together.
Whatever he was saying must have been hilarious. Jang-woo even leaned in to whisper in her ear, and she threw her head back with a peal of laughter. For a second I caught his gaze sliding down into the cleavage of her bra top.
"Hoo... Stop! Just stop it...!"
I couldn't hold the rage in any longer. The shout tore out of me before I knew it.
The image of the two of them in that bathroom — bodies pressed together, kissing — rose up again, and I couldn't stand it.
"Honey...!"
The warm, lively atmosphere froze solid in an instant.
"Hyung-nim, what's wrong?"
The smile Jang-woo had been aiming at my wife went cold and hard. Through his tank top, the massive muscles of his torso seemed to twitch.
"Hoo... It's nothing."
I wanted to put my fist through his face right then and there. Hell, if I could have done worse, I would have.
"Babe... are you drunk? Are you okay?"
Only then did my beloved wife look at me with real concern. By now not just her pale face but the smooth line of her neck and the valley of her chest had flushed a deep red.
Suddenly I understood why Jang-woo's eyes had gone there. That flushed cleavage would draw any man's gaze.
"Hyung-nim, you look pretty far gone. Want to go rest for a bit?"
Jang-woo stood up and came around to my side. His massive upper body took hold of my arm and hauled me to my feet like it was nothing.
"Hup..."
As he forced me up, the room spun.
"Ah. I'm fine. I can — I can get up myself."
I'd clearly downed too much too fast. Losing game after game, all that liquor was rushing up on me at once.
"This way... Soo-hyuk, give me a hand."
Jang-woo and Soo-hyuk each took an arm and half-carried me into a small guest bedroom. It looked like a room for visitors — just a small bed and a desk.
"Hyung-nim, just rest here a while. We're wrapping up soon anyway."
Jang-woo's deep voice was meant to soothe. He was even smiling at me.
Fox-faced bastard...
I wanted to spit in that smiling face, but the rising drunkenness made it hard enough just to keep myself upright.
"I'll be out soon..."
Following his lead, I slowly lowered my head to the pillow. The moment I lay down, the ceiling seemed to spin in circles.
"Just rest a bit. Soo-hyuk, let's go."
Jang-woo left me with that reassurance and quietly shut the door.
"Ah... I can't... get drunk..."
I felt the hot breath pouring from my mouth and pressed a hand to my forehead. Instinct told me I could not afford to pass out here.
Don't get drunk... Just hold on a little longer...
I absolutely cannot get drunk...!
"Snrrrk...! Hngh...!"
"Snrrrk... hngh...!"
"Hah...!"
A vicious thirst clawed at my throat like it was burning dry. I jolted awake with no idea where I was.
What the hell happened?
My head pounded like it was splitting open, but the pieces of the puzzle were slowly clicking back into place.
I remembered coming to Jang-woo's place. I remembered drinking...
Then the fragments I'd tried to forget came flooding back.
My wife Seung-yeon, perched on a bathroom sink, both legs wrapped around Jang-woo's hips, kissing him...
Her face, flushed deep red, rose before my eyes.
It wasn't a dream...
I'd hoped that when I woke, all of it would turn out to have been a dream. It was a wretched, undeniable reality.
"Snrrrk...!"
Someone's snoring was coming from close by. I wasn't alone in this room.
I looked down carefully at the face of the person sprawled on the floor below the bed, snoring away. It was Soo-hyuk. Like me, he'd drunk himself into oblivion and was dead to the world.
How much time has passed...
Is the drinking party over...
Where the hell is Seung-yeon...?
A thousand questions burned in me, but the raging thirst demanded water first.
"Hah..."
I pushed myself up slowly. My stiff body felt like it was screaming.
— Creeeak...
I eased open the closed door and stepped out into the living room. The lights were off. It was still dark outside — dawn hadn't broken yet.
What...? Where did everyone go?
The living room still bore every trace of the noisy drinking party. Glasses sat abandoned on the table; nothing had been cleaned up.
A uneasy feeling settled over me as I filled a cup with water and started gulping it down.
Gulp... gulp...
Only after two full cups did my head start to clear a little.
"Hoo..."
I let out a breath and sank into a chair.
"Haaah..."
That was when I heard it. In the silent living room, a tiny sound of breathing.
"Hngh..."
There was no mistaking it. A faint human moan. A woman's...
The sound was coming from somewhere nearby. I held my breath and tried to find its source.
"Aahng... haa..."
The moans grew a little more intense.
They were coming from the large room off the living room — the bedroom Jang-woo had shown us earlier as his own, the one my wife had toured with such excitement, calling it a bachelor's room.
I moved slowly to the door and pressed my ear against it.
"Haaang...!"
Hot, breathless moans leaked through the crack of the closed door.
In that instant I knew. I knew exactly who was making those sounds inside.
"Haa..."
Deep, rhythmic breathing continued without pause.
Is it really... her?
Is she actually in that room right now?
I was collapsing under a situation I neither wanted to believe nor could bring myself to accept.
Suddenly I needed to open that door and see everything with my own eyes. Only by confirming the reality myself would I be able to do anything that was truly mine.
Fine... I'll look for myself... I'll see it and end this...!
I slowly took hold of the bedroom doorknob and turned it. The unlocked handle began to give way under my hand.