32. The Red Pill
"I want the truth." (0 / 0 / -)
"Dr. Jung Jae-ho. I understand where you're coming from, but I've never told anyone about what happened with Yu-ra in over five years. And now, to come groveling like this…"
"Please!!"
I'd done something similar last month to Han Chae-kyung's husband, Kim Ho-chang.
Your wife's a whore.
I told him she'd been selling her cunt since 2007, starting as a casual hookup and going all the way to 2016.
As a result, Kim Ho-chang had ruined his wife and turned two of his acquaintances into cripples.
I'd been a little nervous then. But it wasn't as awkward as this.
"I'll be honest with you. The truth is, Yu-ra and I slept together before we even started dating. She offered, and I wasn't about to turn it down…"
"Hnngh…" (0 / 0 / -)
"I'm sorry."
It was Jung Jae-ho who covered his ears when I actually opened my mouth.
Pressing his fingers into his ear canals, shaking his head compulsively…
He was in his mid-thirties.
He hadn't just spent his life going back and forth between the hospital and the church. He'd been on medical mission trips to dangerous places multiple times.
He'd been beaten and robbed while volunteering in a Mongolian ger village. He'd been held hostage by a patient's family for four days in Cambodia when he tried to leave after a short mission. He'd told me about those harsh experiences with a smile, a man of faith.
But now…
"Hngh…!" (0 / 0 / -)
He was sobbing, ears covered, because of his fiancée's slut factor.
I only knew this after seeing the 0/0/-, but…
Kim Yu-ra wasn't just a spouse-to-be for Jung Jae-ho.
He'd probably been enduring each day by imagining a perfect first night with a pure bride. A sacred first night that would never happen, that could never happen now.
In my eyes, Kim Yu-ra was a symbolic figure that justified his arduous journey.
'Now the size is finally showing.'
If I'd done this without seeing the numbers, a major disaster might have occurred, I thought again.
How much time passed?
Jung Jae-ho slowly released the fingers that had been tightly blocking his ears and lowered his gaze.
"Lord."
Then he uttered a single word in a voice that seemed about to break.
I took the smart key from him.
It wasn't out of pity for the shattered Jung Jae-ho that I offered to act as his designated driver.
I had a new plan I'd improvised on the spot, to help him digest Kim Yu-ra's past.
"Sir. I heard today was the day for the hanbok fitting. It's bound to be in the Apgujeong-Cheongdam area. Where is it? Hwang Ye-seul Hanbok, Apgujeong Geumjeongbang, or Jin Hye-soon Hanbok? One of those three. Which is it?"
"Apgujeong…" (0 / 0 / -)
I intended to let him see Kim Yu-ra's face right after he learned the truth.
…
On the way to Gangnam in the car.
It was time to unfurl the truly painful truth. However.
"Dr. Jung Jae-ho. Don't take off the ring yet."
"Ah…" (0 / 0 / -)
He was about to remove the ring he was wearing (probably a couple's ring) with a hollow expression, but I stopped him.
"Given that a wealthy man like you is wearing a simple silver band, I assume it has religious significance."
"It did. But now, the meaning is…" (0 / 0 / -)
"If she sees you've taken off the ring, Kim Yu-ra will find it strange."
This was a test to see if that unicorn, who'd been hit on the back of the head, had any will for revenge.
If he took off the ring, he seemed like he'd just quietly call off the wedding.
But if, even after being swallowed by humiliation and emptiness, he decided to keep wearing the ring for a while longer?
That meant he intended to pay her back properly.
Of course, I wanted the latter.
His choice would determine how I'd send Kim Yu-ra off, with a slight difference.
After hesitating, Jung Jae-ho eventually left the ring on. A good choice.
I paused for a moment, then began to spin the tale about Kim Yu-ra.
"There are women with unusually strong sexual urges."
"Ah…" (0 / 0 / -)
"Women who can't live without sex. It's not just that they like sex—each one has a different inclination. Some prefer intensity… they enjoy a single powerful experience. Others are obsessed with physical touch."
"……."
"Should I continue?"
"Yes…"
"Kim Yu-ra was the type who preferred multiple rounds."
It was shocking from the start, but considering what I'd say next, it was necessary.
"That's probably why she dated me the longest."
"Wait… that's…" (0 / 0 / -)
"She said I was second in size, overwhelmingly first in recovery speed, and tied for first in rigidity. I was third in consideration, but I was first overall because the rest were excellent."
Because I also had to tell him about the men who'd been with Kim Yu-ra before me.
Kim Yu-ra had three boyfriends, including me.
When she broke up with me, her partner count being 3 didn't mean that at all. If I'd had the ability back then, the number would have been quite…
Anyway, she only had three boyfriends.
And I knew a lot about the other two besides myself. It wasn't from doing separate background checks.
"Kim Yu-ra's first boyfriend was a swimmer. His name was Choi Young-in."
"……."
"They dated from just before she entered university until the beginning of winter break of her freshman year. She said it was a whole new world at first. Good stamina, adventurous personality—they even did it in the gym shower. But she said he was a bit monotonous and disappointing in size."
"How do you know that…"
"How do you think I know?"
Kim Yu-ra's first boyfriend, met in her freshman year, was a swimmer. And the next one…
"He was a black exchange student from Kenya, through an ODA program."
"Haha… black…"
"His name was Daniel Mbongo. They met at the international office orientation, where Kim Yu-ra volunteered as a buddy. She approached him deliberately. She probably thought a foreign student was the safest and most discreet partner to enjoy."
"Deliberately? That's a bit… arbitrary."
Jung Jae-ho didn't seem to be trying to defend Kim Yu-ra. It was a reasonable doubt.
"Right after she broke up with the swimmer, she had a one-night stand with a Spanish guy. I think that's when she turned her attention to exchange students."
"……."
"She said the black guy was number one in size."
Mbongo was surprisingly sweet, so he was also number one in consideration.
But she said his recovery was very poor. He was the type to just rest after one round. He must have been a disappointing partner for Kim Yu-ra, who wanted second and third rounds.
Looking at the content of the stories I'd told so far, it was just torture for Jung Jae-ho.
In fact, Jung Jae-ho was trembling.
"Joo Sung-hyun. What was Yu-ra to you, exactly… no, never mind." (0 / 0 / -)
He mumbled, then looked at me with disgust.
To him, she was a woman who almost became his life partner… and I was dryly evaluating the woman he'd cherished for two years, sharing prayer topics with her. How resentful he must be.
Still, he seemed to be coming to his senses a bit, noticing something strange about my tone.
She said, she said, he said, how do you think I know…
Of course, the ranking game wasn't something Kim Yu-ra told me. I happened to read it in the later stages of our relationship. I decided not to explain every detail to Jung Jae-ho.
"Surely not." (0 / 0 / -)
"Yes. That's what Kim Yu-ra told me herself. About the black guy, I heard it before we started dating, on the day we first slept together."
"How is that even possible… it's so promiscuous, so abnormal."
"Because neither of us knew we'd end up dating. Not Kim Yu-ra, nor me."
Kim Yu-ra, who was caught by me right before the end of her sophomore year for dating the black exchange student, spent the entire winter break terrified that the rumor would spread.
In her junior year, she bought me a drink to thank me for keeping her secret, poured out her grievances, and eventually ended up in bed.
"To Kim Yu-ra, I was a release valve. She didn't talk about this stuff everyday—she mainly rambled when she was drunk."
"A release valve…"
"I was tight-lipped, satisfied her sexual needs, and the way we first got close was unusual. Most of all—"
I paused and gave Jung Jae-ho a hint.
Because we were nearing our destination.
Kim Yu-ra had finished the fitting at the hanbok shop in Apgujeong with both sets of parents. Right now, she was alone, waiting for Jung Jae-ho at a nearby lounge café.
Of course, I'd told Jung Jae-ho to do that. I'd convinced him it would be better to see each other face-to-face and firm up their resolve before the day ended.
With trembling hands, Jung Jae-ho wiped his tear-streaked face. He didn't seem completely broken.
Thanks to that, I could wrap things up.
"I didn't have any prejudice against women with a past."
"You're different from me."
"I was different."
"……?" (0 / 0 / -)
"Now I can't embrace a slut. Thanks to Kim Yu-ra. She cheated on me with a med student, and we broke up."
A slut can't be washed and reused. Generally, it's not that they're easy—there are other issues too.
That's what Kim Yu-ra taught me.
It was a lesson for life, but I wasn't grateful.
Even now, the mom-insult she threw at me on the day we broke up is still vivid in my memory. The bus driver's son, the 9th-grade civil servant's inferiority complex. The reason I'm doing this now is ultimately because of that memory.
"Dr. Jung Jae-ho?"
"…Yes." (0 / 0 / -)
"It's not because you were stupid that Kim Yu-ra fooled you."
"Haha…"
"For the four years she was in university, Kim Yu-ra maintained a devout religious life even while having hundreds of sexual encounters."
In 2016, when she was dating the swimmer, she did Sunday service and a young adult cell group.
In 2017, when she was dating the black guy, she added choir to the praise team.
And in 2018-19, when she was dating me, she volunteered as a retreat staff member.
She even commuted from Suwon to Annam City for three out of four semesters while doing that. Sometimes even I found it amazing.
"After graduating from university, she probably cut off men. She chose abstinence for the big goal of marriage."
Ending her double life, her marriage technique must have become even more cunning.
If Kim Yu-ra set her mind to deceive, Jung Jae-ho was structurally bound to be fooled.
This was as far as I could go. For now.
Soon, we arrived at the destination.
Near the café where Kim Yu-ra was waiting for Jung Jae-ho after finishing her hanbok fitting.
I parked the car and got out first. Jung Jae-ho followed with a stiff expression.
Compared to his earlier ear-covering struggle, he seemed quite calm.
I couldn't tell exactly what was going through his mind…
But it was clear his stance on Kim Yu-ra had changed.
From God's gift to Satan's device. Or perhaps something even worse.
I could have followed him and seen her face for the first time in a while, but I didn't.
Because it was still too early. I couldn't end it cleanly.
"Sister Yu-ra… Kim Yu-ra…" (0 / 0 / -)
"You can go see her now."
I sent the fiancé who'd taken the red pill to Kim Yu-ra first.
This was just the beginning.