Prologue: Too Nice to Be Fun
"I've liked you ever since the first time I saw you! Go out with me!"
This is a story from a few years back, back when I was still in school.
Ever since I entered my first year of high school, my eyes had kept drifting toward Lee Hayun. She smiled so beautifully, and she spoke to everyone with such warmth—I couldn't help liking her.
So during our school trip, with my whole class cheering me on, I worked up the nerve to confess.
"I like you too. So... I'm in your care from now on, okay?"
That day, I felt like I was flying. I felt like I had everything in the world.
We studied together at the library, watched movies at the theater holding hands, stopped by little snack shops to share spicy tteokbokki. Every single day was so happy that I assumed the days would go on like this forever.
"Sorry, I found someone better than you."
"Don't whine and drag it out like some pathetic loser. You're killing my girlfriend's mood. Get lost."
But those happy moments shattered faster than I ever expected.
"I like Woojin now. So... let's break up."
It was right before the end of our second-year midterms. Her replies, once lightning-fast, had been taking longer and longer. The gaps between our dates kept stretching out, and even when we did meet, she couldn't seem to focus on me at all.
I could feel it—her heart had completely drifted away.
If her feelings were already gone, then there was nothing to be done about it, right? That's what I told myself. If she asked to break up, I was prepared to accept it.
But why—why—did she have to do it in the cruelest way possible?
"Why? Why are you doing this?"
I couldn't even bring myself to say the word cheating. Because even then, even at that moment, some part of me still loved her.
Because I refused to walk away believing I'd been thrown away like trash.
Anyway, I wanted to hear a reason. And the answer that came back was this:
"Honestly, Siwoo? You were just too nice. It was boring."
Too nice. So it was... boring.