Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Don't Get Married...
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Ah, is there no way to avoid getting split in half?
Ah.
Fuck, I really don't want to give it up.
The 550 million won from the sale of the apartment I already disposed of.
Half of that money—within one year, I have to hand it over to that bitch.
This is fucking bullshit, for real.
Goddamn it!
If adultery were still a crime, I'd be laughing my ass off right now while filing a criminal lawsuit.
But that's been abolished too.
What? For women's sexual self-determination rights?
What a load of crap.
The duty of fidelity between spouses is still very much alive, so what the hell is this sexual self-determination bullshit?
Those two can't coexist, yet the law demands fidelity.
And if you break it? A maximum consolation payment of 30 million won, and that's it.
No impact on property division whatsoever.
No wonder guys these days avoid marriage.
This is the tilted playing field, fuck, insane South Korean laws!
Laws made back in the '80s when women couldn't enter society are never changed because they favor them, and all they do is spout crap like abolishing adultery laws.
"Ah! Isn't there really no way to not give it? Think of the victim, tears are evidence, you bastards!"
I yelled, lying on the bed in my new officetel.
But only a hollow echo answered back.
No matter how I thought about it, the rage boiled over, and I couldn't hold it in.
I turned on the computer just like that.
And familiarly, logged into DC Inside's Stock Gallery.
Now that the divorce was done.
I had nothing left to lose, nothing to fear.
Fuck it, whatever.
I logged in with the Loser Male ID.
And poured all my feelings into a single line post.
Thus, the post that would later become a Stock Gallery meme was born in this fucked-up situation.
And this was the beginning of it all.
Some cartoonist once said something like this.
"I support non-marriage advocates getting married. Because non-marriage beliefs are completed through marriage. You can confirm that your thoughts were right."
That's right.
Kim Ji-hoon was now painfully realizing that the Stock Gallery ideology he so despised was being completed through his divorce.
And his completion became a fresh shock and the ultimate bait for the long-time users of Stock Gallery.
This one-liner from 'Loser Male' completely flipped Stock Gallery upside down.
His silence soon became the strongest proof that his words were 'truth'.
The gallery was in festival mode.
The comments were filled with mockery, advice, and a strange sense of solidarity.
The gallery users were enjoying his lament as prime bait.
And at the same time, they were curious about his story.
What the hell happened for a hate nick like him to shitpost like that?
A new post went up as a hate post.
Everyone hammered F5 waiting for new bait.
The once-hate nick 'Loser Male' of the gallery.
He had now become Stock Gallery's new named user and living bait.
It was that afternoon.
On the monitors of Stock Gallery users waiting for new bait, the long-awaited post finally appeared.
The poster was 'Loser Male'.
Less than 5 minutes after posting, comments piled up in dozens, recommendations exploded.
Loser Male's story shot straight to the hate posts.
The comments were pure chaos.
Mockery, sympathy, analysis, admiration all mixed together.
Loser Male's story activated Stock Gallery.
He was no longer just a mocking hate nick.
He had become living proof, a textbook embodying how marriage to a Korean woman ends in horrific tragedy.
Around that time, at Ji-hoon's family home.
A heavy silence flowed among the family gathered for the weekend.
The spacious wooden floor of the serene hanok.
The persimmon tree shadow stretched long in the courtyard.
Father broke the silence.
He cleared his throat once, then looked alternately at his son and daughter.
"... Ji-hoon got divorced."
Short and concise.
Mother continued.
"He's going through a lot right now, so you two pretend you don't know for a while, don't make it obvious, just be aware."
Eldest son Ji-hyuk responded calmly, as if he expected it.
"...I figured. Understood, Father, Mother."
The problem was the youngest sister, Ji-min.
She widened her eyes round, asking with an innocent face.
"Ooh...? So oppa's a divorcee now? Wow, I saw it on TV."
Even putting accent on 'divorcee' like it was fascinating.
"You little brat!"
Mother smacked Ji-min's back.
Father sighed deeply and shook his head.
Through the officetel's full glass window, the city nightscape was visible.
I sat in the chair, chin propped, gazing down quietly.
Like Rodin's 'The Thinker'.
A cold urban man lost in contemplation.
I felt kinda cool thinking I looked like that, a bit smug.
And I resolved.
No more marriage in my life, ever again.
The risk was too high.
Humanity lived through wild eras for thousands of years.
Entering the so-called intellectual 21st-century modern society? Just over 100 years.
Through ancient, medieval, modern times, men's and women's roles never changed.
But in just 100 years,
The male-led society flowed into an extreme female-superior era.
Female-biased laws, systems only for women.
The reason marriage rates tanked.
I thought it was exactly this.
They want patriarchal benefits, but scream 'discrimination' at the sacrifices and duties men bore for them. Hilarious era.
No, fuck, don't you know rights and duties? Bro, are you retarded?
I wanted to shout that once too.
But do that, and you're a 'empathy-lacking loser' in this country.
So men quietly think.
'Fine, do whatever the fuck you want. Let's see how far it goes.'
That's why dating, marriage, birth rates plummet.
The discrimination you talk about? I'm living it now!
I fulfilled all husband duties—what now!
But the state's stance? Shut up and split the money half, you Puffed Male bastard. Lol.
Thinking that, an unbearable urge to rage-quit surged from deep inside.
Toward this fucked-up country.
Ah.
Not having kids was truly God's play.
If there was a kid, I'd be like other hams, suffering lifetime agony, hesitating divorce for the child.
No child support demanded. That was pure honey.
That's why I decided on divorce without a second thought.
So, how can I screw them over?
I haven't sent the property division money yet.
When she contacts occasionally, I just say I'm sorting assets.
I asked her sarcastically.
"Still want the money after all that bullshit?"
Her answer from the receiver shocked me again.
"We're strangers now anyway, I need to eat too. And I lived with you for 2 years at my youngest and prettiest."
That brazenness made me truly hate people.
What the fuck whore mindset is this?
Suddenly thought.
Weren't medieval or ancient people more polite than now?
Some say the past was barbaric, ruled by power logic.
Modern equality and peace is more advanced.
My thought differed slightly.
Precisely because it was a barbaric era of power logic, people had no choice but to be polite to each other.
If you acted as rudely as now, your head really could get smashed.
But now?
Things that never got hit, with laws and systems blocking physical violence, act endlessly rude without fear.
Now seeing her true nature, I regretted my past choice.
Why was I so blind to women?
Isn't it too much even for a once-loved woman?
Don't you miss the good times?
Aa... Not at all, fuck off.
I hoped never to cross paths again.
If we did, my eyes might roll back and I'd smash her head—that's why.
Post-divorce, my routine was simple.
Killing time lurking Stock Gallery.
That day too, mindlessly scrolling the mouse wheel.
Then, a post caught my eye.
These guys say don't marry, but why keep pushing international? Just to piss off women?
Well, yeah. When women invade the gal sometimes, they froth at international posts even in concepts.
Definitely a trigger button.
I clicked and read without much thought.
The post seriously detailed international marriage advantages.
Broadly four topics.
1. Language expandability.
2. Genetic upward marriage.
3. Nationality choice diversity.
4. Reduced social costs.
Informative post.
But what grabbed me wasn't the body.
The short footnote at the end by the OP.
Ah.
True.
From the nation's view, property division to a foreign wife means money flowing out—clear national wealth leak.
I thought it plausible.
Eh!?
Wait... I've already got the payment order, right?
Foreigner...?
Then... Can't I just bolt to a foreign country?
Simple, idiotic thought.
But it chained: If Korean courts rule against foreigners to protect citizens' assets, if I get another country's citizenship, that country's court would protect my assets too, right?
Thinking that far, my eyes flashed open.
It felt like spotting a ray of light in the darkness.