The Missing Wife
"Ah, oppa! That's cheating! This was totally my win!"
Morning sunlight flooded the living room, heralding the start of a peaceful Friday. Siyeon clung to my back, wrapping her arms around my neck and whining as she shook me. The board game pieces on the table proclaimed my decisive victory. True to her competitive nature, she puffed out her cheeks and grumbled right in my ear.
"No whining from the loser, remember? The winner gets their wish granted."
"Having a photographer for a husband means staking my life on a single board game."
I turned around with a stern expression, and Siyeon pouted but hugged my neck even tighter. The cozy scent of fresh laundry softener mingled with the warm, soft feel of her skin against mine. Even after a year of marriage, she remained the most beautiful and noble subject in the world to me.
"Tch... What is it? Your wish. You're not planning to torment me all night with some weird costume and your shutter again, are you? That maid outfit from last time was so tight I could barely breathe."
"No, let's go out today. To that amusement park we went to on our first date. I want to capture your most beautiful moments there—not cooped up inside, but you standing under real light."
At my sincere gaze, Siyeon's face flushed peach-pink. She planted a light kiss on my cheek and whispered ticklishly in my ear.
"Okay. But you have to make me the prettiest girl in the world today, okay, Mr. Photographer? So pretty that no one else notices me, pretty enough to keep only in your camera."
I had no idea that was the last peace granted to us. If I'd known the future, I wouldn't have stepped foot outside that day. No, I'd have thrown the game and spent the whole day in bed holding her, just as she wanted.
The amusement park buzzed with families and couples, even on a weekday. True to her word, Siyeon wore a floral sundress and beamed like a child. Her brown bob swayed with every breeze, her skin glowing transparently in the sunlight—a living work of art.
I snapped away endlessly. Through the viewfinder, Siyeon outshone everything, and I believed that happiness would last forever.
After lunch, resting on a bench, my smartphone buzzed strangely. An app I'd never installed appeared smack in the center of the screen: The Author's Lens, black background with a blood-red shutter icon.
What's this? Some editing app recommended by the photo club? Did it install itself?
Professional curiosity overrode any unease. I launched it, and a screen appeared with an eerily realistic texture, unlike any camera app. The subject's outline through the lens sharpened unnaturally, then grotesque red digital text floated above Siyeon's head in the frame.
Target: (Married Woman) / Value: Supreme (S-Grade) / Scanning Character Data...
Loading 100% - Capture Complete. Collectible at Author's Will.
Dismissing it as some AR filter gimmick, I waved at Siyeon in front of the carousel.
"Siyeon, stand in front of the carousel. This app's filter is wild—insane depth. Ready? One, two, three!"
Click—!
The sound pierced my eardrums like a sharp metal blade slicing bone—nothing like a normal shutter. The screen flashed red, and when I looked up, the world twisted.
"Siyeon...?"
Right there by the carousel, my wife—who'd been smiling and waving brightly—had vanished without a trace. Other riders, kids with ice cream, couples on dates remained, but only Park Siyeon had evaporated into thin air. My smartphone screamed with vibrations, displaying a new system message.
Character 'Park Siyeon' Soul Data Saved.
Compressing and Pixelating... Saved.
With trembling hands, I checked the screen. A new [Collection] folder in my gallery held Siyeon in her floral dress. But she wasn't a flat photo.
"Jihun! Can you hear me? It's weird in here! Get me out! Oppa, please!"
Siyeon pounded the glass-like screen, sobbing. Her soft palms smeared against the pixels from inside her cold prison, visible in real time. Her screams crackled through the speaker with static. My wife—my beloved wife—had lost her human form, reduced to 'data' trapped in the phone.
"Siyeon! Siyeon! What the hell is this! I'll fix it somehow...!"
As I clawed at the screen in despair, disaster compounded. A massive parade ended nearby, unleashing hundreds into the square like a tide. Rough shoulders and elbows jostled me amid shouts; my screams drowned in the festive music.
"Hey! Don't push! Wait, my wife...!"
Someone slammed my unguarded shoulder. The phone slipped from my hand, clattering onto the hot asphalt. Siyeon's cries spiked from within, but the crowd's footsteps smothered them.
"No! Siyeon!"
I crawled, reaching desperately. But the phone rolled away like a soccer ball, kicked by indifferent shoes and sneakers. Amid stomping heels and soles, the device holding my wife's agony vanished into the dust. I burrowed through legs after it, but a foot crushed my hand, blood bursting forth. Vision blurred with tears; nails scraped and splintered on asphalt, pain numbed by horror.
The crowd surged past like a storm. On the steaming asphalt, the smartphone lay alone, its screen cracked faintly. Inside, Siyeon sprawled exhausted, weeping. The world beyond must have been a nightmare of giant footprints. Then, a long, dark shadow fell over the pristine screen.
"What's this... Someone drop their phone?"
A man in worn, filthy slippers and a stained T-shirt bent down, reeking of sweat and cigarettes. He picked it up, turned it on. Seeing the terrified beauty staring up from the glass—Siyeon, unmatched anywhere—vile madness gleamed in his vacant eyes.
His name was Jin-seok. A third-rate writer venting frustrations in his room with lowbrow smut.
"Whoa... What the hell? CG? So damn real. Holy shit... Jackpot."
Jin-seok roughly smeared his thumb over Siyeon's crying face on the screen. The gritty fingerprint pressed her cheek through the glass in hallucinatory pressure. She recoiled in terror from the massive digit, but to him, it was prime entertainment.
"Perfect for my smut heroine. Yeah, next chapter: 'Married Woman Trapped in a Smartphone.' You're my exclusive heroine from today."
He swallowed viscous saliva and shoved the phone deep into his pants pocket. Rough fabric smothered the screen; Siyeon's world plunged into darkness. The humid warmth and unpleasant friction with every step transmitted through the device, assaulting her body.
"Help! Is anyone there?!"
She wailed in the void, but his sweat-soaked pocket became the world's most sealed prison, devouring her.
By the time Jihun arrived, scraping his bloodied hands, Jin-seok had melted into the crowd. Only shattered nails and blood drops mournfully marked the asphalt.
Jihun roared his wife's name into the empty square, answered only by upbeat park music and happy laughter. The sound of his heart tearing apart scattered powerless amid the festive din.