I Came to See Your Miserable Face
"…This is a first for me."
That day, Yoon Arin mumbled those words while nestled in Kang Hyunwoo's arms.
Being held by someone—having someone hold her like this—was the first time in her entire life.
The undefeated champion, the queen of the ring, Queen… Everyone called her by nicknames and only feared her. No one had ever been this tender toward her.
In that warm embrace, Yoon Arin let a single tear fall.
Not from sadness or resentment—just from being overwhelmed.
She had lived her whole life knowing nothing but fighting.
The stronger she became, the emptier the space beside her grew.
But this man had filled that emptiness completely in a single day.
…Is this what happiness feels like?
Back then, that was what Yoon Arin had thought.
Bang──!!
"…Hey! That's my toothbrush?!"
"Huh? Sorry. They look the same."
"The colors are different! The colors! You seriously…!"
In front of the narrow sink, Yoon Arin bellowed. Beside her, Kang Hyunwoo—failing spectacularly to live up to his bulk—sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
…Where had that overwhelming emotion gone?
It had been a week since that man started freeloading at her place.
This tiny house was pure chaos every single day.
Mixing up toothbrushes, draining entire cartons of milk, hogging the whole sofa with that massive body… For Yoon Arin, who had lived alone in quiet her entire life, every day was utter pandemonium.
But.
"…What are you doing? Not coming out? We'll be late."
"Yeah, let's go."
After washing his face, Kang Hyunwoo strode over and naturally took Yoon Arin's bag for her.
That moment when his large hand lightly claimed her bag—somehow, she didn't mind it at all.
They left the house together.
Under the morning sunlight, side by side on the road to the arena.
Bickering the whole way, yet somehow perfectly in step.
Suddenly, Yoon Arin recalled that day a week ago.
Exchanging confessions, holding each other tight. That sacred moment when she even shed tears from the first emotion of her life.
She had asked without thinking.
—Where do you live?
They were dating now, so of course she ought to know.
But this man hesitated for a long while, looking thoroughly troubled, then answered with the most serious face in the world.
…Come to think of it, I don't have a place to live.
The sacred atmosphere shattered to pieces with a single line. Then he went even further and casually suggested they live together.
Yoon Arin had been so dumbfounded she shouted right there, "Give me back my emotion──!!"
Even now it was absurd. Right after a fateful confession, the first thing out of his mouth was that he was homeless and wanted to freeload.
But.
…The thing is, I didn't actually hate it.
The fact that she couldn't refuse that ridiculous proposal in the end, that they ended up living together like this—the more she thought about it the more chaotic it was, yet strangely a smile spread across her lips.
Absurd, funny, and yet somehow endearing—that kind of moment.
…A week ago, I couldn't even have imagined a scene like this.
Yoon Arin sneaked a glance up at the man walking beside her.
The chaotic house, the noisy mornings—it was the complete opposite of the quiet life she had always wanted.
But strangely, that chaos was pure happiness.
"…What. Why are you smiling."
"Nothing. Just."
Yoon Arin snorted a quiet laugh and turned her head, trying to hide her flushed cheeks.
Today, too, the two champions' noisy day was beginning.
"…The Queen lost?"
The moment she heard the rumor, Kang Seoyeon nearly dropped the water bottle she was holding.
The undefeated champion, Yoon Arin, had lost. The woman who had never lost once since her debut had, not long ago, knelt for the first time in the Underground Fighting Arena.
"…Is that real? Are you sure?"
"Yeah. More than a few people saw it."
"Who was the opponent. What random bitch dared to take on the Queen…"
When Kang Seoyeon ground her teeth and asked, her colleague made a strange face.
"…Well, it wasn't a woman."
"Not a woman?"
"…It was a man, apparently."
For a moment, Kang Seoyeon stared blankly at her colleague. Then—
"Pfft."
She couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
"A man? She lost to a man? That Yoon Arin?"
Kang Seoyeon clutched her stomach and cackled. A man.
In this world, men were a race with not a single muscle to their name—scrawny and weak.
Ones who couldn't even lift their heads in front of women, fragile things that broke at a touch.
And that high-and-mighty Yoon Arin had knelt to a man like that?
This went beyond defeat—it was humiliation. Historic, legendary humiliation.
"No, this is absolute gold. The undefeated Queen lost to some mere man? Ahaha, I'm gonna tease her about this forever…"
But laughing, Kang Seoyeon suddenly felt something off.
Her colleagues' expressions were all awkward. No one was laughing like her.
"…What's with you guys. Isn't it funny?"
"…Seoyeon. He's not just any man."
"What?"
"If you see him yourself… you'll know what I mean."
Her colleague trailed off vaguely. But Kang Seoyeon scoffed. Not just any man, my ass. A man was a man.
"He's still a man. What, if he's a bit big and strong, that's all? Still, a man is just a man."
Even as she spat that out, Kang Seoyeon's heart was already pounding madly. Whether she lost to a man or whatever, that wasn't important.
…Finally.
The fingertips brushing back her red hair trembled without her noticing.
Finally, that woman lost.
To Kang Seoyeon, Yoon Arin was the wall that had followed her all her life.
A longtime friend who had grown up with her since childhood. And at the same time, a rival she had never once surpassed.
It wasn't that Kang Seoyeon lacked talent. She was also one of the top fighters in this scene, with skills that held their own anywhere.
But of all people, Yoon Arin was right next to her.
Yoon Arin was always half a step ahead of Kang Seoyeon.
Even learning the same things, she mastered them faster; even stepping into the same ring, she climbed higher.
Whenever Kang Seoyeon worked herself to death and first place seemed within reach, Yoon Arin was already smiling above it.
And so Kang Seoyeon had been the eternal number two.
When Yoon Arin shone under the spotlight, right behind her in the shadows.
Seoyeon's good too, but Yoon Arin is just so…
How many times had she heard that damn "Yoon Arin is just so…"
She hated her.
Hated her to death.
But even so, she couldn't simply hate her.
Because they were longtime friends.
That drove Kang Seoyeon even crazier.
If they'd been complete strangers, she could have hated freely. But as friends, she couldn't openly hate her, nor could she sincerely congratulate her. That half-hearted feeling had gnawed at Kang Seoyeon's insides for decades.
But that Yoon Arin—that perfect, annoying Yoon Arin—had finally knelt.
"…I have to go see."
Kang Seoyeon headed straight for the arena. Her steps grew faster and faster. Eventually she was almost running.
Her chest pounded uncontrollably.
What kind of face would she be making.
That high-and-mighty Yoon Arin, tasting defeat for the first time in her life. How pitifully would she have crumbled.
How depressed, how pathetic a face would she be wearing.
She wanted to see that look with her own two eyes right away.
…I should comfort her. We're friends, after all.
A faint smile crept onto her lips.
Of course, comfort was just an excuse. Her true heart—was to look down on that crumbled face and, for the first time in her life, stand above Yoon Arin.
She planned to fully pay back the inferiority complex that had crushed her for decades, at least for today.
Arriving at the arena, Kang Seoyeon was in the mood to hum a tune.
Her steps couldn't have been lighter.
Somewhere inside, the first-time-crumbled Yoon Arin would be waiting.
Pitifully, depressed, with a pathetic face. Just thinking of seeing that, her lips were already twitching.
…Where could she be, our poor champion.
As she walked along excitedly, right then—
Flinch.
Her eyes met someone passing by.
"…Huh?"
Kang Seoyeon's steps stopped dead in place.
It was a man.
But not an ordinary man.
He was much taller than her.
When was the last time she'd seen a man taller than herself, a woman?
No—had she ever even seen one?
His shoulders were as broad as a doorframe, and his forearms were solidly packed with hard muscle.
Yet far from looking clumsy, a beast-like flexible aura radiated from him.
And his face.
…What the hell is that.
He was so handsome her breath caught in her throat.
Any celebrity Kang Seoyeon had ever seen, any handsome man, would look pathetic before this man in front of her.
She couldn't believe that such a face, such a body, could exist in this world.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her lower body tingled as her heart began pounding madly on its own.
Kang Seoyeon, not even noticing that fact, stared blankly at the man.
Her mouth was slightly open, and her pink eyes under her red hair trembled widely.
She was someone who had never given men a second glance her whole life.
The men of this world were all so scrawny and toy-like that they weren't even worth looking at.
But this man was different. Far too different.
There was a man like this…?
Her mind went hazy.
She even forgot for a moment why she had come here.
Just wanting to look at that man a little more, she unconsciously tried to take a step forward.
The man casually averted his gaze.
As if someone like Kang Seoyeon had never even been in his awareness.
As if he'd just glanced at a piece of scenery passing by.
The man turned his steps nonchalantly.
…Ah. Don't go.
Kang Seoyeon thought that without realizing.
She wondered what kind of nonsense this was, but her heart moved on its own. Just as she strangely felt regret that that man was getting farther away—
The man who was walking away suddenly looked somewhere and smirked.
…!
At that smiling face, Kang Seoyeon froze completely.
On that indifferent and cool face, a soft smile suddenly spread.
Kind, warm… that gap dug ruthlessly into Kang Seoyeon's chest.
What is… that face. My heart's gonna burst…
Her face burned hot, her fingertips trembled.
It was the first time in her life.
Losing her mind over a single man, her heart going this crazy.
But.
Kang Seoyeon realized belatedly what that man was smiling at.
Where his gaze was directed, there was a woman.
It was Yoon Arin.
"…Huh?"
Yoon Arin was approaching that man.
With the happiest face in the world at that. An expression Kang Seoyeon had never once seen in her life.
That always ice-cold Yoon Arin was now smiling brightly like spring sunshine.
"I told you to go ahead. Why'd you wait."
Yoon Arin grumbled as she approached. But her voice wasn't cold at all. It was closer to acting spoiled.
"It'd be boring if I left you alone."
The man replied casually. At that one line, Yoon Arin's ears turned red.
"…Who said I was bored. It's not like that."
"Yeah, okay. We'll say it's not."
"…What's with that tone."
Yoon Arin glared. But even as she glared, her lips were softening into a smile.
When the man snorted a laugh, Yoon Arin, as if she couldn't take it anymore, shyly—tightly grasped that large hand.
"…Let's go. We'll be late."
So naturally. As if that was its original place all along.
"…"
Kang Seoyeon stared blankly at the scene.
The scattered pieces in her head fit into one.
The man who beat Yoon Arin.
The man who wasn't just any man.
And now, the man whose hand Yoon Arin was lovingly holding.
All the same person.
…That man. The one who beat Yoon Arin…?
In that moment, something inside Kang Seoyeon crumbled with a crash.
The excitement from just before flipped in an instant into a different emotion.
A pitch-black, hot, vicious emotion.
Jealousy.
…Why.
Her fists trembled violently without her noticing.
Why is it you again…
It was the man who, for the first time in her life, made this heart beat lovingly.
The very ideal type that didn't exist anywhere in this world, for Kang Seoyeon.
She only learned today that such a man even existed.
But even that man—was already Yoon Arin's.
Again, this time too, as always.
Whenever Kang Seoyeon tried to reach out, Yoon Arin always took it one step ahead.
Skill, honor, the spotlight. And now even the man who stole her heart for the first time in her life.
…I came to see your miserable face.
It was truly ridiculous.
She came to mock the crumbled Yoon Arin.
To stand above her and fully pay her back.
But the one who actually crumbled miserably was Kang Seoyeon herself.
Yoon Arin had turned even her first defeat of her life into love.
With the happiest face in the world.
Beside her stood the ideal type Kang Seoyeon had dreamed of her whole life, smiling kindly.
Of all people, of all people even that man…
Under her red hair, moisture welled in her pink eyes.
Whether from frustration, envy, or because she herself felt pathetic.
Kang Seoyeon couldn't tell at all.
Just, the happy backs of those two—were painfully dazzling.