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### Chapter 1. Back to That Day (1)
When the bell rang, Cha Jihoo answered the phone.
— This is Attorney Kim Seokhun. The court has accepted the divorce petition.
“Really? I understand. Thank you for all your hard work.”
After ending the call, he leaned back against the sofa and let out a long sigh.
“Am I free now...?”
He was officially single again.
He had tried to avoid taking things as far as a lawsuit, but his wife had stubbornly refused to agree to an uncontested divorce, leaving him with no other choice but to proceed this way.
He sat with his eyes closed for a while when the phone rang again.
This time, it was his wife. No, should he call her his ex-wife now?
‘.....’
Cha Jihoo did not answer.
There was no point. He knew they would only repeat their respective positions and exchange harsh words.
A moment later, a text message arrived.
[Why aren't you answering your phone? Did you really have to go this far? Do you feel better now? Don't you even feel sorry for the kids? Are you really their father?]
Just as he expected.
“You never once said you were sorry or admitted you did anything wrong until the very end.”
He clicked his tongue.
At this point, emotions like hurt or anger no longer even surfaced. Those were feelings that existed only when even a little expectation or affection remained.
Cha Jihoo had already given up after realizing that he had lost his emotional connection not only with his wife but with his two children as well. He no longer had any expectations.
‘Maybe I was partly at fault for letting them go so easily back then.’
Six years ago, his wife had suggested sending the children to study in the United States for their education, and Cha Jihoo had not readily agreed.
Perhaps he had sensed that something like this would happen.
But his wife, Ahn Jiyeon, refused to back down, and the children wanted it badly as well.
In the end, Cha Jihoo had no choice but to agree, and that was how the family was torn apart.
Not long after the three of them moved to the United States, the pandemic broke out.
Because of that, Cha Jihoo could not see his wife and children for more than two years. Later, when he took time off and managed to make the difficult trip to the United States, his wife and children greeted him with a certain awkwardness and distance rather than happiness or excitement at seeing him.
‘I thought maybe it was because life in America was difficult.’
Throughout his life as a geese father, Cha Jihoo worked like a madman and sent every penny he earned to the United States.
The amount of money his wife needed only continued to increase, and in order to meet her demands, he had to cut his own living expenses down to the bare minimum.
But he endured it, reassuring himself that it was something he had to shoulder as a husband and a father.
Even so, the amount of money his wife demanded only increased exponentially. Her excuse was that as the children grew older, their expenses for food, clothing, and shelter increased, while the cost of living had also risen sharply.
‘Even so, it was ridiculous. It was getting difficult to cover it even with my salary from a major corporation...’
Eventually, Cha Jihoo applied for the company's voluntary early retirement program and used part of the payout to cover those expenses.
The real problem came afterward.
Cha Jihoo used the money he had left to start a small business, but after doing well briefly in the beginning, it quickly went downhill.
He had thrown himself into the business, even giving up sleep, only to end up losing money and eventually shutting it down. Afterward, he had no choice but to sell his house, move into a smaller rental, and drastically reduce his living space.
Just when both his body and mind were becoming utterly worn down, Cha Jihoo was suddenly diagnosed with lung cancer.
His overwork must surely have been the cause.
He told his wife about it and asked her to come back. But even after learning that her husband was sick, his wife refused to return to Korea.
— I'm sorry that you're sick, but realistically, that's difficult. You know this is the most important time for the kids, don't you? I'll come back for a short visit soon, so let's talk more then. These days, the cure rate for cancer is high anyway, so you'll be fine if you get proper treatment.
Cha Jihoo wondered if this woman was really his wife.
Even the children must have heard about their father's situation, yet they did not call him even once.
‘If your husband, your father, had contracted a deadly disease, shouldn't you come running immediately? Can you even call this a family...?’
He became filled with doubts, and from that moment onward, his heart began to grow cold as well.
Fortunately, the lung cancer diagnosis turned out to have been a misdiagnosis, but he did not tell his wife.
Cha Jihoo decided that he would no longer be their ATM.
He had learned a great deal from everything that had happened.
He canceled his life insurance and began sending only as much money as he could afford.
Naturally, his wife caused an uproar, complaining that the money wasn't enough.
But there was nothing she could do when her husband claimed that he needed money for cancer treatment.
Then one day.
Cha Jihoo received a call from his older cousin who was living in the United States.
— You need to keep a closer eye on your wife.
— What do you mean?
— She's been spotted at a pub quite often lately. I saw her myself last night.
— A pub? You mean a bar?
— Yeah. She seemed pretty close to some white guy. She looked like she'd had quite a bit to drink. Do you talk to her often?
Rage surged through him.
Her husband was working himself to the bone, taking on a second job and even a third, while cutting back on food and every other expense to send money to America, and his wife was going around drinking?
The woman who constantly complained that she was so busy day and night taking care of the children was going out drinking with some strange man and even getting caught doing it. Wasn't that completely unreasonable behavior?
To make matters worse, he even heard rumors that her spending habits were far from ordinary.
In the end, a considerable amount of the money he had sent had been used for things other than the children's education.
‘No wonder. I thought the amount had gotten excessively large.’
He felt betrayed. A deep sense of resentment swept over him.
They say people never change, don't they? In fact, he had already experienced her tendency to be obsessed with men and money back when they were dating.
He and his wife, Ahn Jiyeon, had joined the company at the same time. They had developed feelings for each other during OJT and started dating.
It was an unintended case of an office romance, but when he was promoted to assistant manager, she had once told him that she wanted to break up.
Cha Jihoo had genuinely loved her at the time, so he asked her to take some time and reconsider. Eventually, she came back to him a few months later.
He found out later that she had fallen for the team leader of her own department and had briefly dated him. But after discovering that the team leader already had a woman he had promised to marry, she broke things off and returned to Cha Jihoo.
‘I should have just broken up with her back then.’
There was no point regretting it now.
Once again, he had learned that in this world, if you were only kind, you were bound to be the only one who suffered in the end.
Ah, there was one more thing.
People really did not change.
‘I really can't do this anymore.’
In the end, Cha Jihoo's anger exploded. Convinced that his marriage could no longer be maintained, he hired a private investigator to collect evidence of his wife's private life and affair, then filed for divorce.
The court accepted his petition based on the proven evidence of his wife's infidelity, the fact that she had completely neglected her husband by not returning to Korea even once in six years, and the fact that an excessive financial burden had been placed solely on the husband.
‘Haa...’
Cha Jihoo felt that all the years he had spent seemed empty.
He had known that this might happen when he decided to get divorced, but even so, having his precious younger years completely invalidated left him feeling as though a hole had been punched straight through his chest.
He had gained freedom and relief, but he had lost his family and his memories with them.
It would not be easy to bear.
But then again, wasn't life something you somehow managed to keep living no matter what?
‘If I hadn't taken early retirement for that lump sum, I'd probably still be working at that company...’
No amount of regret or lamenting could change the past.
He hastily put on some clothes, left the house, and headed to the convenience store.
It was a place where he had already been working for six months.
“Good work.”
“Take care.”
After changing shifts with the employee from the previous time slot, Cha Jihoo immersed himself in work without giving himself a moment to think.
When it came to getting rid of distracting thoughts, moving your body was the best method.
Several calls and text messages came in, but he did not answer them.
They were from his wife. No, from his ex-wife.
After finishing work, he headed home.
Normally, he should have gone straight to his designated-driver job, but today his mind was too complicated and he did not feel like going.
If he drove in that state, he felt like he might end up causing an accident.
Cha Jihoo bought some beer from the convenience store in front of his house and went inside, drinking instead of having dinner.
At least while he was working, he could keep his thoughts at bay for a while, but now that he was alone at home, his chest felt heavy.
‘I'm really alone now.’
In truth, he had not really been alone at any point during the past six years.
Perhaps it had been the same even before then.
If you thought about how everyone ultimately lived their life alone, there was nothing to regret or feel pitiful about.
Even so, after legally severing all ties with his wife and children, he could not help but feel as though the entire world had suddenly become empty.
It seemed he would need some time before he could pull himself together, find his strength, and get back on his feet.
The longer the time he had lost, the longer the period of recovery would inevitably be.
“I can't even get drunk.”
Perhaps his liver was strong because he had never been one to enjoy drinking and partying. Canned beer barely affected him at all.
Just as he was thinking that he should switch from beer to soju, his phone rang.
He was about to ignore it, but this time it was his best friend, Park Minsu.
— Are you working?
“No, I didn't go out today.”
— Oh, really? Then you're free right now?
“Why?”
— I'm near your place. Perfect timing. Let's have a drink.
He wasn't particularly eager to go, but he had kept putting it off because of his own circumstances, and he felt sorry about that. So this time, he agreed.
Cha Jihoo arrived at the meeting place first.
“Your party will be here soon. You can order when they arrive.”
A news report about international affairs was playing on the TV.
It was about a princess ascending to the throne in a European principality called ‘Mohena.’
Apparently, it was the first time in the country's history that a queen had become its reigning monarch.
Cha Jihoo's ears perked up.
“Mohena!”
It was a place blessed with a stunning natural environment along the Mediterranean.
Although it was a small country only a fraction of the size of Seoul, it was a nation where wealthy people from all over the world flocked.
At some point, Cha Jihoo had become fascinated by the beautiful scenery of that little country.
He had searched for various photos and videos of the place and had even gone so far as to study its history and environment in his own way.
“I've always wanted to go there at least once. Now that I'm completely free, should I take this opportunity to go?”
If he followed his heart, he wanted to leave for that place immediately and start a new life.
But while traveling there was one thing, actually living there was nearly impossible for an ordinary person.
Because of the high cost of living and real estate prices, it was difficult to rent a home and obtain residency there unless you were extremely wealthy.
“Hey! Long time no see.”
“You're here?”
“It's seriously hard to see the face of such a busy man.”
“Sorry. I couldn't help it. I had to deal with real life. Today, I'll treat you to a proper meal.”
“Really? Haha, forget it. What kind of spare money does a guy who's struggling have? I'm in a similar situation, but I'm still better off than you, aren't I? I'll pay.”
“I don't struggle as much anymore. So it's fine if I pay.”
“What are you talking about? You don't struggle as much?”
“I got divorced. Officially. I'm single now.”
“.....What?”
Park Minsu's normally small eyes widened as far as they could go.