Prologue "Life Sucks. For Real."
"Life sucks. For real."
Nothing ever went right in his life. Had he achieved financial success? Gained fame? The answer to every question was a resounding no.
A life inferior to others. That was Cha Hyun-su's existence.
If his greatest accomplishment was getting married, that pretty much said it all about his life.
But even that had gone to hell in the most rotten way possible.
His one-and-only friend, Yoo Young-hoon, and his wife, Joo Hee-rin—the pinnacle of his achievements—had cheated on him.
Any woman would naturally choose Yoo Young-hoon, who was handsome and capable, but he never imagined his own wife would turn on him too.
Cha Hyun-su, Yoo Young-hoon, and Joo Hee-rin were college classmates at Korea University.
They'd been inseparable since freshman year, maintaining their bond all these years.
With Cha Hyun-su now 41, that friendship—and love—had lasted 21 years.
Of course, Cha Hyun-su had his shining moments too.
He'd graduated from the business school at Korea University, Korea's top institution, and was seen as a promising talent.
With his decent looks, he was popular with women as well.
But after graduation, their paths diverged sharply.
Cha Hyun-su landed a job at a mid-tier company—not a chaebol, but respectable—and became a salaryman.
Yoo Young-hoon, failing to find employment, declared he'd start his own business and dove into entrepreneurship.
Joo Hee-rin, believing Cha Hyun-su had more future potential, chose to marry him.
A few years later, Yoo Young-hoon's venture exploded onto the scene and went public.
That was when cracks started forming in Cha Hyun-su's marriage.
Even so, Yoo Young-hoon looked out for him, remaining his closest friend.
He had no idea it was all to pave the way for stealing Joo Hee-rin.
Joo Hee-rin had been the undisputed beauty queen in college, with a killer figure that drew endless suitors.
Yet Cha Hyun-su had won her hand.
He was a promising guy with a kind heart—perfect husband material.
But he wasn't big enough to contain her ambitions.
Time took its toll. His once-handsome face faded.
Neglected self-care, endless work and boozing sessions left him exhausted; his skin grew dull, his body ballooned.
Grinding away at a mid-tier firm crushed his self-esteem bit by bit.
He could only envy his friend Yoo Young-hoon's success.
When he'd bragged about his job, Yoo had definitely envied him back then.
But that was ancient history. Now Yoo was CEO of a thriving mid-tier empire.
If they'd just had an affair, he might have blamed his own inadequacy and accepted their relationship.
But Joo Hee-rin and Yoo Young-hoon had dealt him a blow from which he could never recover.
Yoo Young-hoon came to him claiming company finances were tight and begged for a joint guarantee on a loan.
With Joo Hee-rin egging him on—"Just do it"—he should have said no.
He fell for the trap and ended up saddled with massive debt.
15 billion won in debt.
Cha Hyun-su lost all will to bounce back.
At the same moment, Joo Hee-rin demanded divorce papers.
Neither could afford to drown in debt together, so he agreed to a sham divorce.
Then contact dried up. By chance, visiting her family home, he caught them in a secret rendezvous.
Rage exploding, Cha Hyun-su lunged at Yoo Young-hoon—only to be beaten senseless by the bodyguards lurking nearby.
As he lay crumpled and sobbing, Joo Hee-rin approached and whispered,
"You're beyond saving. No talent whatsoever. Your face was your only asset, and now even that's ruined."
"Why the hell would you do this to me?"
"Why? You think you're worthy of holding me? Because you're incompetent. That's why this is happening to you."
She turned and went inside.
Noise drew out his mother-in-law, but seeing him sprawled there, she smirked mockingly and retreated.
The humiliation was unbearable. With no strength or means left to rise again, Cha Hyun-su grabbed a bottle of soju from a convenience store and climbed to his apartment rooftop.
"Fuck!!! What the hell did I do to deserve this!!!"
"You bastard friends—I'll come back as a ghost and have my revenge even if it kills me!!"
It was a pathetic outburst.
He should've at least stabbed them. But he lacked even that courage.
Finally, Cha Hyun-su leaped from the rooftop.
'If I could go back to that time... what choice would I make?'
With that thought, he plummeted endlessly toward the ground.