Friend
Kwak Min-sun, who lived in Sangnok-gu, Annam City, quietly reflected on her reality.
Age: thirty-six (soon to be thirty-seven).
No children. Her husband was an incompetent man who'd sunk 80 million won into a failed pork cutlet franchise.
…Technically, they'd decided on the business together, but still.
Their home was a near-new 20-pyeong villa. No mortgage, but there was a leak.
"God, look at my life. Seriously."
Debt: roughly 9 million won in card loans under her husband's name.
She had a job, but her take-home was 2 million won a month.
Her husband, who'd been picking up odd jobs sporadically since the pork cutlet disaster, brought in about 800,000 to 900,000 a month.
Occasionally, her in-laws would silently transfer a bit of money, feeling sorry for their son and his wife…
But their fixed expenses were over 3 million.
Kwak Min-sun — and her family — were teetering on the edge of a precarious deficit.
She knew everyone was living more or less the same struggle, but it was still damn tight.
"Honey. Did you cancel the Netflix and Nopia auto-pay without telling me…"
"Sorry, can you be quiet for a sec?"
"…Okay."
And so, every now and then, Kwak Min-sun wondered.
Did that bitch have a gold-plated pussy or something?
What made her so different?
Same age, same education.
Sure, there was a difference in looks, but…
Nothing drastic. In Kwak Min-sun's opinion, it was a very minor gap. A little shorter, a little less prominent. That was it.
So why such a different outcome?
"Wow… come to think of it, she was drinking Château d'Yquem Imperial. A twenty-two-year-old."
"What did you just say?"
"Listen. Don't you think it's weird? A college junior walking around in a 500,000-won Ortega cardigan, drinking 200,000-won wine on someone else's card. And this was back in 2009, 2010, not even now. …What do you think?"
"I'm jealous?"
Kwak Min-sun was momentarily speechless at her husband's blissful expression.
Right now, she was looking at photos saved on her old phone.
She kept scrolling through the album, and whenever a picture with a friend she'd been particularly close to back then appeared, her gaze lingered for a long time.
That friend — the same age — had been different from her in everything: clothes, phone model, even the cosmetics in her pouch.
Her friend's name was Han Chae-kyung.
One of the city councilors of Annam City, where Kwak Min-sun lived.
"Honey. Let me ask you another thing. Does it make sense for someone from the… entertainment industry, who worked in the sex trade when she was young, to whitewash her past and end up in an important position? That kind of thing shouldn't happen in real life."
"I heard there's a state minister in Germany who came out about having sex work experience."
"……"
"Want me to look it up in more detail?"
"…Let's not talk. You're hopeless."
Kwak Min-sun desperately wanted to tell her husband about Han Chae-kyung too.
But right now, with a small event targeting Han Chae-kyung in the works, keeping her mouth shut was essential.
Honestly, she'd thought about it often before, but…
She'd always let it go.
They were friends, after all. A friend with money and power.
But this time, she couldn't hold back.
'You started this, Chae-kyung.'
It was yesterday evening when Han Chae-kyung, who'd been distant lately, suddenly called.
Was she finally going to look out for me?
She'd answered with hope, but all she got was absurd nonsense.
"Min-sun. Don't stir up trouble for no reason."
"What?"
"I've never been bad to you, have I? Is this because I turned down your request to get your husband a regular position at the Urban Regeneration Center? I wish I could have helped. But I'm just a city councilor, so my power is limited. Still, I gave you 200,000 won for your wedding, didn't I?"
"What are you even talking about…!"
"Don't raise your voice. …I know. I know what you were thinking. You probably had something you wanted to tell me."
"You crazy bitch! What's wrong with you all of a sudden!"
"I'll set up a time later. But this really isn't the way to do it, seriously… sigh."
Han Chae-kyung even let out a condescending sigh, as if she wanted Kwak Min-sun to hear it. The call ended, and Kwak Min-sun, stunned, spent the night wide awake.
At first… honestly, she was startled.
Had she been caught subtly highlighting Han Chae-kyung's suspicious past to a few friends?
Or had Han Chae-kyung sensed her intention to, soon, at the right timing — not quite blackmail, but a roundabout hint — to get her husband a job, and called to preempt her…
But how could she have known? She'd only been thinking about it!
After a long night of deliberation, what remained was anger.
'Disgusting whore. You don't even appreciate that I've held back all this time.'
Kwak Min-sun's own past wasn't exactly spotless.
During college, she'd had five meetings through Afternoon Date.
They were arranged dates.
She'd tried to turn them into a stable, safe arrangement like Han Chae-kyung's sponsorships, but she failed every time.
They always ended as one-offs for 150,000 won per meeting. Han Chae-kyung had managed it just fine from her freshman year, before such apps even existed, but for Kwak Min-sun, it was too difficult.
Strictly speaking, arranged dates could be considered prostitution too.
'But I'm not a politician, am I?'
Kwak Min-sun was an ordinary housewife working a double-income job.
Han Chae-kyung, on the other hand, was a politician.
When the girl who'd been selling her body first became a city councilor in 2018, Kwak Min-sun was dumbfounded. When she won re-election four years later, she let out a hollow laugh. Seeing her strut around in her election jacket made her feel sick.
Shouldn't politicians be held to a higher standard?
So Kwak Min-sun cast aside her hesitation and made up her mind.
"Honey. Let's make some money."
"Okay… I'll really go to work tomorrow…"
"Not that chump change. Real money."
She was talking about squeezing Han Chae-kyung — that old friend who'd whored her way to the top.
Leverage material?
Of course she had it. How could you blackmail a sitting city councilor without evidence?
In her hand was a relic of a phone containing that very evidence. …There was a photo of Han Chae-kyung, her face stiff, receiving a peck on the cheek from her boyfriend (a married sponsor). There were text messages complaining about the struggle of maintaining three sponsors at once. Even more hardcore stuff too.
She hadn't come across them by accident — she'd deliberately kept them for fifteen years.
'With this, I'll get everything I can from that bitch Han Chae-kyung.'
Still, they'd been friends once, so she didn't plan to go overboard.
A lump sum of 40 million… no, 50 million.
A cushy job for her husband, who hated manual labor and had zero social awareness.
And maybe a little extra on top, depending on the timing.
In Kwak Min-sun's judgment, this wasn't excessive at all.
The problem was how to deliver this message to Han Chae-kyung… She'd already posted a cryptic comment on social media mentioning Ruelle Apgujeong and older boyfriend, but the bitch didn't seem to feel threatened and hadn't contacted her.
That was fine. She had other ways to apply pressure.
"Someone's here? I'll get it!"
Her husband dashed toward the front door at just the wrong moment.
Kwak Min-sun muttered about what a childish fool he was, glaring at his back.
If someone was visiting at this hour on a Saturday, it was probably something religious. Why did he have to open the door…
Kwak Min-sun lamented her fate, stuck with a man like that.
"Hello. My name is Joo Sung-hyun."
"And who might you be?"
"I apologize, but I'm here on a small matter regarding Kwak Min-sun. I've come at the request of a friend who was very close to her."
It wasn't a proselytizer after all.
A neatly dressed man was politely greeting her husband.
Friend… could it be Chae-kyung who sent him?
Kwak Min-sun's face went pale, and she gripped the phone in her hand tightly.
A Lollipop phone released in 2009.
The precious phone containing the traces of Han Chae-kyung, the successful politician and wealthy wife — her history as a sponsored girl.
The man who had suddenly appeared looked at the phone in her hand and smiled silently.
As if he already knew something.
I was at Kwak Min-sun's house, having come at Han Chae-kyung's request.
The goal was to silence her.
Of course, that was Han Chae-kyung's wish. My real objective was the evidence that Kwak Min-sun, the friend, might be holding.
And the early-model smartphone in Kwak Min-sun's hand looked very tempting.
'That's it.'
Kwak Min-sun — a friend who'd been close with Han Chae-kyung since high school. They'd even gone to the same university.
They must have been close enough to discuss prostitution in their college days.
Right now, I had a profile photo Kwak Min-sun had posted back in college when she was looking for a sugar daddy, along with a screenshot of a text message asking, "This guy's safe, right?"
Naturally, Han Chae-kyung had given them to me.
It seemed the friends had each kept hold of the other's weaknesses. A truly special friendship.
Originally, I planned to use this to pressure Kwak Min-sun.
Step by step. Even if it took a few days.
But the moment I saw the numbers above Kwak Min-sun and her husband, I knew I had to revise my plan.
First, the husband.
"You're here for Min-sun…? Ah, I'm her husband. You said a friend of Min-sun's sent you?"
"Yes."
"I see." (48 / 161 / 2 months ago)
48 partners, 161 times.
More partners than average, fewer times — I noted it but moved on.
What caught my eye was the number floating above his wife, Kwak Min-sun.
The moment I saw it, I had my answer.
"Are you Kwak Min-sun?"
Kwak Min-sun awkwardly rose to her feet, looking at me.
A T-shirt with a slightly stretched neckline, hair with roots in need of dyeing…
She was the very picture of a double-income housewife killing time at home on a Saturday. She didn't seem to have much flab — maybe she actually used the exercise bike in the corner of the living room.
"C-can we talk outside for a moment?" (19 / 316 / 6 days ago)
At the current point, she seemed to have a more active sex life than her husband.
They were married, but their numbers didn't match.
2 months ago, 6 days ago.
There was no way to know who they'd each been with.
Maybe they were a free-spirited couple who didn't interfere with each other's activities. Or maybe the husband was faithful to the family while his wife, Kwak Min-sun, was having an affair.
The possibility of her being a survival sex worker, like the ajumma next door who'd shocked me in high school, was slim.
The underwear hanging on the drying rack was all old and worn. Considering the significance underwear holds for sex workers, that couldn't be it.
This was just an affair.
"Kwak Min-sun. Nice to meet you."
We sat across from each other at a café near her house. I smiled and opened my mouth.
"Did Chae-kyung send you…?"
"I'll be straightforward."
"……?"
"Hand over all the materials related to Councilor Han Chae-kyung. Including the phone I saw earlier. If you don't, I'll go to your house right now and tell your husband everything. About what you did 6 days ago."
Kwak Min-sun's arms, which had been crossed, tightened further.
Her posture was almost walled shut.
But her face was full of agitation.
All I'd done was indirectly mention that she'd slept with someone other than her husband 6 days ago.
"Councilor Han Chae-kyung, who sent me, already knows everything. Not only does she know, but she also has physical evidence."
"What?"
Kwak Min-sun's face went pale, and her hands trembled.
Fortunately, she wasn't my target. She'd never done anything to piss me off, so why would I bother crushing her?
"Put it all down and relax. …Councilor Han Chae-kyung is a scary person."
I just wanted to get my hands on the evidence of Han Chae-kyung's whoring.
If she handed it over peacefully, I had no intention of hurting her.