I'm Going to Marry Siwoo

"How did you even find this place?"

"I traced the location from the background in the photo."

"Hmm. If that's your story, I suppose I'll have to believe you."

She hadn't meant to cross a line. She had only dangled the bait once, curious whether some lunatic might actually come looking—and one really had. A madwoman who looked even more unhinged than Kim Hayun.

Unwilling to disturb Siwoo's sound sleep, Ara followed Lee Soyoung outside, just as she wanted. It was the dead of night, far too late an hour for anyone to come calling.

"So. What exactly did you do to our Siwoo?"

That was the first thing Lee Soyoung said once they had stepped into an expensive bar.

Our Siwoo. There wasn't a single curse in it, and yet the words scraped at Ara all the same. Who did she think she was, calling him that? Ara studied her. The look on her face was honed sharp enough to bury a person on the spot. She seemed thoroughly furious, but Ara only smiled.

"Funny. I was about to ask you the same thing. What on earth made you crash my time alone with Siwoo?"

After all, she belonged to the same breed of madwoman as Lee Soyoung—if not a worse one.

"Stay away from Siwoo while I'm still asking nicely. Otherwise..."

"And why should I?"

Irritated at being cut off, Soyoung fixed her with a sour stare. Ara only knocked back a glass of hard liquor and went on.

"What, if I don't listen, are you going to turn into a malicious complainant?"

"I can do worse than that."

"Hmm. So you're the classmate Siwoo mentioned."

A civil servant who had only just come in through the Grade 5 exam. Set beside Ara, barely past her own appointment, the gap was heaven and earth—but she hardly cared.

"I've got a bit of backing, you see."

A civil servant? She could always quit. It hadn't been a post she'd wanted in the first place, so walking away would cost her nothing. There was the small regret of not sitting at Lee Siwoo's side, of course, but in a way this was better. They could simply meet comfortably outside of work. Our Siwoo was more of a coward than he looked; he might well shy away from an office romance. Right now, though, she had an arrogant little brat standing in front of her.

"I don't know how impressive that backing of yours is, but consider yourself warned."

Sharp-tongued bitch. Soyoung threw back the drink in front of her in a single swallow and laid it out with absolute certainty: don't lay a hand on Lee Siwoo. The moment that warning was ignored, she would tear the woman's life apart from the roots.

Ara let out a short laugh. The threat probably wasn't entirely empty. Anyone with the drive to pin down a location and show up the instant she had it...

"I'm curious what right our little miss thinks she has to order me around."

At those words Ara couldn't hold it in, and she burst out laughing. She watched Soyoung's face curdle in an instant, and she didn't care in the slightest.

"You mean that marriage Siwoo treats like a joke?"

In that moment, as if she could endure no more, Soyoung started to draw something from her pocket.

"If something happened tonight, don't you think it would reach Siwoo's ears?"

At that single remark, Soyoung's hand stopped.

"Contrary to what you think, Siwoo and I are quite close, you know? If he got hurt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by a classmate who only just came back after all this time, I'd be very curious how he'd look at you."

Soyoung's expression hardened. She hated to admit it, but objectively Ara was right. Compared with herself, who had only just begun to grow close to him, the woman who had kept working at his side, meeting his eyes day after day, and sharing meals with him was plainly the closer of the two. All the more so when he was openly out drinking with Ara—something he had never once done with her.

"Don't go near Siwoo."

"Sure~ Even if I didn't want to go near him, the seat beside mine is our Siwoo's~"

"...I'll split the two of you up."

"How? By planting me at the Provincial Office? Then I'll just go to the Provincial Office too~ The seat beside Siwoo will be mine all the same~"

Ara mocked her to her face, needling until it showed, well aware that the moment Soyoung snapped the whole thing could turn explosive. But Soyoung forced it down and held it there.

"Just what are you?"

Because it was obvious the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠woman across from her was impossible to get a read on.

"Hmm. That's a question I'd like to ask too. What kind of bitch you are, I mean."

For hours the two of them glared at each other and drank hard vodka.

"You're younger than I am. How about calling me unnie?"

"I would die before I ever called you that, so kindly keep it in mind."

"There's no such thing as never in life, kid. I bet the day you call me unnie isn't far off."

"If I'm a kid, then Siwoo's a kid too, isn't he? Do you, a grown woman, want to date a kid? I think ajumma would suit you just fine."

"You fucking bitch?"

Ugh. My head felt like it was splitting open. How much had I even drunk last night? I didn't think I'd gone this hard since that first night out with my friends after graduation, once we were finally adults.

Did I pour too much of it down on an empty stomach? Drinking on an empty stomach might have been the critical hit. Even as I thought it, the plush pillow and the crisp, freshly laundered bedding felt strangely wrong. Come to think of it, I'd blacked out.

Then where is this...?

I forced my eyes open and pushed myself upright, and an unfamiliar scene filled my vision.

"Where the hell am I?"

Upscale furniture. A wide, soft bed. A huge television mounted on the wall. A few times I'd gone to motels with friends just to drink, but I had no memory of ever setting foot in a place like this in my entire life. Wondering whether I was still dreaming, I noticed something like a note beside the phone.

Even at a glance, it was Ara-noona's handwriting. She must have covered the drinks too, and now the room as well? Flustered, I grabbed my phone at once. Even so, I'd slept here alone. I couldn't let Ara-noona pay for me. I'd meant to cover the lodging myself.

Several K-Talk messages had come in from her, and a few photos along with them—me, dead asleep. A sigh escaped me. More than the fact that she'd taken pictures while I slept, I couldn't fathom what she was thinking, trying to settle the bill with something like this.

"I'll just sleep a little longer..."

Was the alcohol still in me, or was I simply at the bottom of my condition? To settle my spinning head, I decided to sleep a while longer. I didn't know what time checkout was, but there had to be a little time left. Or so I told myself.

The moment I saw Hwang Incheol's text, my head cleared with a snap. After turning over how to answer more times than I could count, I decided to send the question I actually wanted to ask.

I hadn't known the guy traded crypto. Thinking back, though, he'd studied a lot ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about money even in high school. That wasn't what mattered now, so I got to the point.

So they were still in contact. Then he'd know how the guy was living—the recent word, all of it. That was what I'd been about to ask.

Wrecked his life? How? More than that, I hadn't expected an answer like this. Still, I wanted to know exactly where things stood, so I tried to press for more.

Me? My situation was tangled? The words made no sense, and I was dumbfounded. Thinking about it, this was the first time I'd seen him—let alone been in contact—since graduation. How could he know anything about my situation?

The messages ended there. Staring at Hwang Incheol's text about meeting at a neighborhood cafe, I sank into thought. I was still torn over whether it was all right for me to get involved in Kim Hayun's affairs.

Before she was the ex who had betrayed me and cheated, I needed to think it through. As one person to another, could I really call this the right thing? If I ignored it, was I confident I would never regret it—not even once—for the rest of my life?

"Haa. I'll help this once, and that's the end of it."

I would sooner die than go back to the way things were. I had no intention of repairing the relationship, either. I was only weighing what was morally right and what was wrong.

"Anyway, how much is a night at this hotel?"

Right beside the room phone, a notepad happened to have the hotel's name written on it. Some hotel or other. I'd have had to stay in hotels before to know what sort of place it was. I searched it on my phone and started from the cheapest room...

"...Are my eyes working right?"

I rubbed at them, but the figure didn't change at all. One night's stay was a fifth of my monthly salary?