Because He Has to Be Happy

Where had it all started to go wrong?

It had been fine while they were eating. Fine all the way through dessert.

Was it when I drank the coffee Min-ah brought me......?

Ah-rin remembered it with perfect, terrible clarity. The smile on Min-ah's face in the instant before she lost consciousness and collapsed onto the bed.

Why... was she smiling??

Until yesterday, Min-ah had been openly hostile toward her. Ah-rin would never forget the look on that girl's face while they were eating scallops — provocative in a way no child who'd just turned twenty had any right to be.

What is it that she can't stand about me?

Ah-rin had agonized over it. But this morning, none of that hostility had been visible. Min-ah hadn't shown her a shred of wariness. Relief had washed through her. And yet, in a corner of her heart, a sense of unease had been creeping in all the same.

Ah-rin's instincts had dimly registered the enormous hostility Min-ah was concealing.

I'm... imagining it. I have to be.

Min-ah's behavior had done a complete one-eighty from the day before, which was exactly why Eun-hyeok had been so pleased.

It'll... be fine.

She knew that suspicion wasn't everything. Eun-hyeok. Min-ah. And Ah-rin herself. The atmosphere when they'd gathered around the breakfast table like a family had been so wonderful she wanted to believe that was the only truth that mattered.

But there was something Ah-rin was overlooking. What had happened the last time she'd dismissed her instincts with that same careless optimism.

The man Ah-rin loved had had a girlfriend from the moment she first knew him. The most popular beauty on campus.

Why... would a man as good as him be dating someone like that.

She hated that woman. The senior she liked was supposed to be hers. But that woman had locked those big hips of hers around him and wouldn't let go. There was nothing Ah-rin could do. Her rival was the queen of their university.

Compared to her... I was just some nobody with a forgettable face. A total outsider......

Something about that woman had felt wrong to Ah-rin. She had a gut feeling the girl was secretly seeing other men behind her senior's back. She'd agonized over it again and again — whether she should warn him or keep her mouth shut.

No matter how much I hate her... I won't slander her without evidence.

In the end, Ah-rin had given up. She had no proof. To say something like that without evidence was nothing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more than a smear. Still, she'd been certain. If she just waited, a crack would appear.

That woman doesn't love him.

Surely...... surely if she stayed by his side, an opening would show itself. That woman would slip up.

But the opening never came. The senior she loved ended up marrying a woman who didn't love him at all.

She despaired, and then despaired again. Regretted, and then regretted again. The one slender thread of hope in her wretched life had vanished. For nearly a year she lived like a wreck. She even thought about giving up on everything and dying.

He... wouldn't want to see me like this.

Ah-rin threw herself into her work.

He told me once. If something's eating at you, bury it in your studies.

Advice from the man she loved. Ah-rin followed those words to the letter.

She had no talent for office politics. Ah-rin dismissed her own body as ordinary, but the truth was her looks rivaled any celebrity's, and plenty of men tried to get their hands on her because of it. Seniors. Professors. Even the department chief at the university hospital. She never gave herself to any of them. She built a hard shell around herself and hid inside it.

Ah-rin became a working machine. She lived like that for years — lived, but as if she were already dead. A woman who wouldn't play the game, who wouldn't curry favor with the people who mattered. And because even with all her effort her skills were never the very best, she ended up in the hardest department at the university hospital she'd joined: emergency medicine.

...Maybe that's for the better.

The ER was a mindless blur of chaos, and Ah-rin found a kind of satisfaction there. She worked like a woman possessed, and bit by bit she forgot her love. The father who'd ruined her. The senior who'd never noticed how she felt. She worked to forget those two.

But a person is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not a machine. Ah-rin was wearing down. No matter how hard she worked, she couldn't see a future. She pushed and pushed, and her body began visibly falling apart.

If I keep this up... I'm going to die.

So she decided to leave the university hospital. She started looking at job postings for pay doctors.

Huh...?

An unfamiliar name caught her eye.

No way...?

He'd gotten into the best university hospital in the country. A man that respected — why would he be running a private clinic somewhere in the Seoul metropolitan area? It could have just been someone with the same name. But she wanted to check. So she went. And at the place she'd visited half in doubt, the man she'd loved was standing there.

Why...? Why on earth...?

The man she'd loved had gotten divorced — just as her instincts had predicted — because of his wife's infidelity. He'd quit the university hospital and opened a private clinic so he could raise the one daughter he had left. He was looking for a pay doctor, he said, so he could spend more time with the person he held most precious.

She could have leapt for joy. His side was empty again. She thought a second chance had come her way. If she helped him get what he wanted, an opportunity would come for her too. That was what she believed. And so she endured for more than ten years.

But the chance she'd waited for never came. The person the man she loved poured everything into was Eun-hyeok's daughter, Min-ah. More than ten years of standing beside him, watching him, and she'd come to a single conclusion. Min-ah was the reason he lived. And so there was no place for Ah-rin.

His love. His time. His attention. His heart. All of it went to Min-ah. Anything for Ah-rin herself always came after.

Ah-rin envied Min-ah so much it hurt.

How happy must that child be, receiving love like that?

Ah-rin had never been loved by her parents. Her father, especially, had abused her. And so she was starving for love. Fortunately, she wasn't the kind of loose woman who threw herself at anyone just because she was thirsty for affection. Ah-rin was a woman of enormous endurance. She never gave herself to anyone who wasn't the man she loved.

She wanted to be the one that man poured all his love into. She wanted to receive it proudly, openly. But she couldn't. The man she loved gave her nothing, because for him, everything was Min-ah.

I should... give up now, shouldn't I?

Ah-rin was exhausted. She couldn't do it anymore. At first, just being near him had been enough. But the longer she stayed by his side, the greedier she became.

So she gambled on one last hope. She threw away something as worthless as a woman's pride. She'd thought it wouldn't work. She'd been so ashamed she could have died. So she borrowed the courage of alcohol — something she'd never drunk in her life. She picked up a bottle she'd always hated, because her father used to beat her with it, and downed it in one shot.

Trauma stacked on trauma. And the result of overcoming that trauma had been impossibly good. As if by some miracle, her senior started to like her back. It was like a dream. She'd been so happy, so intoxicated.

But she'd known that wasn't everything.

Min-ah would have to like me too.

Min-ah — the person the man she loved held most precious. If that girl didn't accept Ah-rin, it was over. She knew that.

The first dinner had gone well. She'd thought she could be a good mother to a girl who'd gone so long without one. But then came the first trip. That was when she realized Min-ah hated her. The girl had shown up in an outrageous outfit, and Ah-rin understood immediately.

This kid... she's treating me like a rival.

She thinks I'm going to steal her father. Min-ah had grown up without a mother too. Her father was everything to her. And if Ah-rin suddenly became her mother, of course she'd feel like her father was being taken away.

If I just talk to her honestly, it'll be okay.

So Ah-rin drank with Min-ah, the same way she'd drunk with Eun-hyeok. They talked honestly. Min-ah said she'd help her. Of course Ah-rin hadn't said the person in question was Eun-hyeok — but Min-ah was sharp. She would have understood. And because of that, Ah-rin had been able to be even bolder with him. It had been the climax of a wonderful trip.

And yet... and yet.......

But after breakfast, when Ah-rin lost consciousness and collapsed, Min-ah had been smiling. As if this was exactly what she'd intended.

Ah-rin had a nightmare. A dream in which Min-ah — his daughter — was committing incest with her own father. With Eun-hyeok, the man Ah-rin loved.

It wasn't a dream.

When she opened her eyes, desperate to wake up... Min-ah was staring right at her, Eun-hyeok's cock buried in a pussy smeared with milky white cum.

She couldn't believe her own eyes. It was such a horrific vision that she wanted to wake up from the dream as fast as possible. But she didn't wake up. This was reality.

"He's my daddy!! Who the hell do ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you think you are, trying to steal him from me?! No! Never!"

Ah-rin's mouth fell open, then closed again. Everything was over. There was no way out. Min-ah's obsession went far beyond anything Ah-rin had imagined.

Incest. The forbidden territory that should never, ever be crossed. Min-ah had stepped right into it. Ah-rin thought she might go insane.

He was mine... Senior was... he was mine.......

She could see blood mixed into the white, cloudy fluid leaking out. Min-ah had offered up even her virginity to her own father. That was madness. The madness of a girl who would not let her father be taken. Madness ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that could never be reasoned with.

If it had been any other woman, Ah-rin would have lunged at her on the spot and ripped out her hair by the roots. She would have shredded that pretty little face to ribbons with her sharp nails, without a shred of mercy. She wanted to tear Min-ah's pussy — the pussy that had stolen the magnificent cock that should have been the first to enter her own — until it hung so loose and ruined that it could never excite a man again.

"Ah... ahh......"

All she did was cry. She was ashamed of the insane rage boiling up toward Min-ah — the girl who could have been her daughter. The thought of inflicting a revenge too horrific to even put into words made her feel like she wasn't a person at all, but a beast.

It was over. Completely over.

He... he dreamed of a happy family... and that's gone now.

Incest. There was no persuading a Min-ah who had crossed the forbidden line out of excessive love for her father. And if Min-ah couldn't be persuaded, a happy household could never be built. Which meant Eun-hyeok had no reason to get married.

"Haha... hahaha......."

Her pupils dilated. Her focus went slack. All that came out was a hollow, incredulous laugh. Even if she fought Min-ah here and won, there was no solution.

"...You did this to show me, didn't you?"

"Yeah. You catch on quick, Auntie."

"Why...? Why would you—"

"To show you that a pathetic bitch like you will never have Daddy."

Min-ah smiled with the innocence of a child. Ah-rin, who'd barely managed to hold her focus, let it slip away again. She was dizzy, but she thought.

I have to make the choice that will make him happy.

If he found out his own daughter had committed incest with him, he would be devastated. And Min-ah herself wouldn't want that getting out. That was why she'd given him an even stronger drug than the one she'd given Ah-rin.

If I just... disappear, that's all it takes.

Ah-rin stood up.

"What are you gonna do to me? If you try anything, Daddy will......."

Min-ah had expected her to lunge. But when she saw Ah-rin silently gathering her things, she looked briefly startled — then burst into enormous, ringing laughter.

"Hahaha!! So you've finally figured out where you stand? You really graduated from Hankuk University? How the hell did someone that stupid become a doctor?!"

Min-ah's voice was a blade of contempt, shrill enough to split the air. But Ah-rin didn't react. She finished packing.

She bowed to Eun-hyeok at a full ninety degrees. Even then, she didn't shed a tear. It was all too unreal.

"That's right!! Good thinking, Auntie! Get out! Get the hell away from my daddy!!"

Leaving Min-ah's razor-edged abuse behind her, Ah-rin walked out of the room. She paid for the stay and called a taxi.

"Hahh."

"We're off."

A taxi heading home.

"Write a resignation letter... pack up the house......."

One by one, she turned over the things she had to do. Tears fell from Ah-rin's eyes. Plip. Plip. One, then another.

"I should... go on... an overseas trip... all the trips I never took... because of him......."

Plip-plip-plip. Before she knew it, hot tears were pouring from her eyes like an unstoppable waterfall, falling as if she'd gone mad.

Baek Ah-rin. To the very end, she chose to sacrifice herself for the man she loved rather than cling to her own desire.