Unexpected Harvest
Kim Il-woo and Lee Seo-yoon fled the cheap motel like they were escaping. Just before they left, the middle-aged man at the counter gave them a sleazy yet meaningful glance. Should I come back sometime? Kim Il-woo thought he could get friendly with the counter guy as he slowly headed home.
Lee Seo-yoon kept her head down in silence, terrified someone might see her. The tense air between them crackled with uncertainty, like neither knew how to handle the awkward vibe.
They crossed the quiet late-night streets, where almost no one was around, and arrived near Choi Ara's house.
"Il-woo... today was, um, a lot..."
"I'll walk you right to your door."
Lee Seo-yoon seemed to want him to leave now, worried her daughter's friend might get spotted hanging around so late. But Kim Il-woo pretended not to notice, acting all considerate.
"O-okay."
She couldn't bring herself to turn down his innocent-looking act, and they reached the front of her house together.
Then, an unexpected figure appeared before them.
"Ara's mom."
"Huh?"
A young man's voice, still boyish, called out to Lee Seo-yoon. When the two turned toward the sound, there stood Choi Ara's boyfriend, Park Jun-hyun.
"Jun-hyun?"
Lee Seo-yoon's voice trembled—maybe from the surprise guest, or maybe from the fear of getting caught with him.
"Yes. I've been waiting forever. Your phone's off, and it's this late—what have you been doing?"
His words carried a harsh edge, like he was scolding her for wandering off while her wounded daughter needed her. Lee Seo-yoon shuddered as if she'd been struck with a switch.
"Oh, that..."
She stammered visibly, fumbling for an excuse, but Kim Il-woo cut in first.
"Hey. You're Ara's boyfriend, Park Jun-hyun, right?"
"And you're... Kim Il-woo, Ara noona's old friend from childhood?"
"Yeah. You remembered."
The two knew each other. Not to the point of fighting over a girl, but guys orbiting his girlfriend were always annoying. From Kim Il-woo's side, this was the punk who'd snatched the fruit he'd been nurturing since they were kids.
"I heard about what happened to Ara."
Park Jun-hyun flinched! His eyes sharpened, glaring at Lee Seo-yoon like she was to blame. How could she blab such a sensitive thing to an outsider so casually? His look screamed irresponsibility.
"We were discussing it with Ara's mom, that's why we're late... but you're being pretty rude to her."
"Il-woo."
Anger crept into Kim Il-woo's voice, and Lee Seo-yoon sensed the brewing tension between the men, stepping in to mediate.
Only then did Park Jun-hyun realize his rudeness and back off a step.
"Sorry, Ara's mom. I've been on edge."
"Oh, um, it's fine. Everyone's just worried about Ara."
Lee Seo-yoon didn't want things escalating, so she accepted his apology.
"I want to check on Ara before I go. Mind if I come in?"
It was well past midnight. Even for a daughter's boyfriend, barging into someone else's house this late was rude, but he insisted.
How long has he been waiting? If he was here the whole time we were rolling around in that motel... That meant hours camped out front. His love for his girlfriend had twisted into obsession.
Well, hearing your girl get raped live would drive anyone nuts.
Guilt and helplessness over his girlfriend had clearly warped Park Jun-hyun. Kim Il-woo provoked him on purpose, to swat away this bug clinging to his future wife and mother-in-law.
"I get you're worried about Ara, but it's late. Head home."
"Butt out, third wheel."
"Nah, can't do that. I've promised to help Ara recover for a while."
"What? Ara's mom, what's he talking about?!"
Park Jun-hyun blew up at the idea of calling in a distant childhood friend—a guy friend, no less—instead of the boyfriend to help his hurt girl.
Lee Seo-yoon, who'd been shrinking from guilt over her fling with Kim Il-woo, finally snapped at Park Jun-hyun's over-the-line attitude.
"Jun-hyun. I know you're dating my daughter and care for her, but aren't you crossing a line?"
"Mom! What do you...!"
"Go home."
Her firm dismissal left Park Jun-hyun swallowing his rage without retort.
"Il-woo walked me this far. You go too."
"Sure. See you next time."
Unlike the clingy Park Jun-hyun, Kim Il-woo's clean exit earned him a bit more favor from Lee Seo-yoon.
Scored points in an unexpected spot. He'd only meant to poke at Park Jun-hyun, but it warmed her up too.
Lee Seo-yoon passed the two men and entered her house. Park Jun-hyun glared after her, emotions boiling despite knowing he'd messed up, then turned to leave. Kim Il-woo had no reason to stick around either, so he headed home too.
The two found each other repulsive, but they needed the same elevator, so they rode together. The stifling air filled the tiny space.
In the silence, they eyed each other warily until they split off to their homes.
What the...? Park Jun-hyun felt an odd chill as his heated head cooled. Why do Ara's mom and that guy smell the same?
Earlier, as she brushed past, he'd caught the cheap body wash scent from Ara's mom—not her usual fresh lavender, but something unfamiliar. And the same stink wafted from the guy in the elevator.
Of course—they'd showered with the motel's identical shampoo and body wash before leaving.
Park Jun-hyun let the tiny seed of suspicion fester as he trudged away uneasily.
Back home, Kim Il-woo let out a deep sigh and slumped onto his bed.
"Ended up fucking Ara's mom too."
After the tip-off from his future self, he'd planned to bag her someday, but not this fast. Unlike raping his childhood friend, this was half improv, but it worked out.
"Hm?"
Lost in a weird emptiness, replaying his friend's mom's feel, he noticed the communicator for his future wife blinking.
"Oh, messages."
Unlike a phone, its bulky design wasn't pocket-friendly, and being precious, he kept it home to avoid losing it.
He couldn't exactly say I was busy fucking your mom, so he replied vaguely.
His future wife gave a simple rundown of what came next.
Nothing too out there in the big picture.
People around her tried pulling the traumatized shut-in out of her shell, but they dropped off one by one. For the police investigation he'd wondered about, it was no surprise—boyfriend Park Jun-hyun reported it. But his panic delayed things; he reported late while searching for her, wasting time on location tracking since no one knew the alley. By then, Ara was home, scrubbing her body raw to erase the clinging filth—the semen inside, wounds on her skin—until no crucial evidence for ID'ing the perp remained.
Memories changed?
Original plan was using a cleanser to wash off semen right there. When his future self raped Ara, it went to plan, so this didn't match what she was saying now.
She said before her memories didn't change—why?
Past events clearly rippled to the future.
Tricky. Like the chicken-or-egg dilemma.
Kim Il-woo shoved uncertain info aside and reviewed for slip-ups.
Handled the biggest issues—the cloth over my face and the mattress. After confirming Ara got home, he returned. Left the face cloth on, recovered it. For the mattress with saliva, smeared it with sticky snack crumbs and peanut butter like animals or bugs dirtied it naturally. No CCTV—checked ahead—and hid his tracks well. No loose ends if nothing stuck.
And Ara's mom was passive in the investigation? Not her style.
Ara holing up played a part, but she didn't want more suffering for her daughter—whatever, she was uncooperative then. Or maybe he influenced Lee Seo-yoon to stonewall. Rape cases hinge on time, and with uncooperative parties and no hard evidence, it fizzled out.
"Screw the complications—bottom line, it's up to me now."
Isolate Ara, sweet-talk her mom Lee Seo-yoon somehow, make the mother-daughter duo rely on him. Simple: devour them both.
"First button's on right. Time to button up the rest nice and steady."
Imagining the pair in his grasp got blood rushing south again. His future wife, clueless she was shoving her past self and mom deeper into the mire, kept chatting and feeding him intel to sink the duo further.