Prologue: When Delusion Became Reality
Like most people, when love begins, you end up devoting your entire being to the other person.
And they, in turn, devote everything they have to loving you back.
I was the same.
I met her, fell in love, and we shared our time and our feelings, loving each other without envy.
More passionately than anyone else in the world.
But love like that always fades and grows cold with time.
The couple who once acted like they would tear each other’s clothes off the moment they caught sight of one another had vanished.
Now, even when we saw each other, there was no reaction at all.
We simply treated one another like background furniture.
“Hey, we agreed the first one home would clean the house. Why is it still like this?”
“I’m tired.”
“Is that all the excuse you need?”
“All? Shin Yujin, have you said your piece? Is my being tired just some trivial thing?”
“Then I’ll have to clean it again.”
“Just leave it. I’ll do it later.”
“Look at the state of this place. How can you just sit there and ignore it?”
Even a conversation that could have passed lightly if we each took one small step back refused to slide.
A single remark scraped our nerves raw and ignited irritation.
We should have been able to stop there.
But we couldn’t hold back and ended up vomiting our emotions all over each other.
“Haah, forget it.”
“Hey, Han Yuchan!! Where are you going?”
“I’d rather stay in my room. I don’t want to hear your voice.”
“Do you think you’re the only one who works? The only one who gets tired? I work too, and I’m exhausted too.”
“Then just rest. Why get annoyed and start a fight over something so small?”
The couple who had loved each other without envy no longer existed.
All that remained were two people who no longer respected each other, too busy spitting venom to notice anything else.
Every time these days repeated, the same thought would surface.
If I could go back to the past, I wanted to live completely different days.
I wouldn’t meet this woman again. I wouldn’t waste my time on her.
Yet that fleeting delusion…
“Hello, I’m Shin Yujin. It’s nice to meet you.”
Became reality one ordinary day.