The Quiet Obsession
Moyong Sunae had thoroughly enjoyed herself through the third round of drinks at the Korean beef tripe and intestine restaurant. To keep pace with Kim Hyun-woo, she had downed four whole bottles of soju. Yet even as she passed through the main gate of Cheonseong Castle, the luxury apartment complex where she lived, stepped into the elevator, and finally arrived at her front door, she showed not the slightest sway. No one would have guessed she had been drinking at all.
> -Ding!
> 23rd floor.
She reached unit 2301. She entered the eleven-digit front door passcode that not even her family knew.
> Beep-beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep-beep!
With a soft click and a heavy clunk, the front door shut behind her.
—Stumble.
Moyong Sunae took a small misstep and braced her hand against the wall.
“……”
The sensor lights in the entryway flicked on and off, on and off, repeating the cycle about thirteen times.
“Guess I’m a little drunk after all.”
Moyong Sunae muttered the short phrase, then slipped off her shoes and stepped inside the apartment.
“……”
The first thing to greet her was the vast living room. For someone living alone, twenty-four pyeong was an incredibly generous space—especially with almost no interior decor to speak of. All that occupied the living room were a sofa, a refrigerator, and a 105-inch wall-mounted NLED 8K TV. The smaller bedroom had been turned into a walk-in closet, while the master bedroom held nothing but a king-size bed and a vanity. That was the entirety of Moyong Sunae’s home. There wasn’t a single book, no figurines, no snacks, and she never ordered delivery. The space felt less cozy than it did barren—almost desolate in its emptiness. And it was quiet.
—Whirrr.
If she kept her mouth shut, she could even hear the elevator—famous for being nearly silent—through the closed inner door. There was no other sound inside the apartment. Moyong Sunae had lived “alone” in that silent home for more than two years.
—Plop.
She quietly lowered herself onto the sofa. In that position, she let out several long, silent breaths. The lights were off; she sat in darkness. Anyone watching might have thought she had fallen asleep. But she hadn’t. Though her pupils were unfocused, Moyong Sunae’s eyes remained open. More than anything, her mind was spinning faster than it ever had.
Today was fun, wasn’t it?
At first, only pleasant memories surfaced.
“My shoulder brace can come off starting today. Hehe, shall we celebrate with a dinner together, just the three of us? I heard a new place near here does really good grilled beef tripe and intestines.”
To anyone else, it would have been an ordinary, insignificant remark. But for Moyong Sunae, it had taken more than a week of preparation just to say those words. She had checked with the doctor multiple times about when the brace could be removed to create a natural excuse. She had scouted the perfect distance for a comfortable walk, searched for the best restaurant for a group dinner, and even walked from the café to the location herself to confirm. Once the place was chosen, she had reluctantly included Hwangbo Ji-eun so it wouldn’t seem suspicious or awkward, revising her lines over ten times.
“Hyun-woo, are you okay with grilled beef tripe and intestines?”
Did Hyun-woo know? How much courage it had taken to say that single sentence. How wildly her heart had pounded just from uttering it.
“Ugh, you pathetic bitch. Hey, Sunae. Fuck, just looking at you makes me so frustrated I want to lose my mind. You were born a third-generation chaebol just like me, so why do you live like that? Don’t talk to me again. You’re so annoying I feel like I could kill you.”
“A retard who can’t even use what she has.”
“A pathetic loser who doesn’t even know how to receive things.”
There were people in the world who had been born that way. People who couldn’t accept anything from others because it felt burdensome. She didn’t even know how it had happened. By the time she had come to her senses, Moyong Sunae had already become “that kind of person.” A person left utterly alone, even though she hadn’t suffered any extreme bullying. That was Moyong Sunae.
“……”
A person for whom interacting with others never felt natural. A person who had never even held hands with a man. The most she could do was stay shut inside her house watching dramas, wishing, If only I could have a dramatic meeting with someone like that.
To someone like her, Kim Hyun-woo was the greatest gift dropped from the heavens—a fated stimulus in human form.
Today, my heart raced so much.
I talked with Hyun-woo so much.
Kyah, starting today Hyun-woo is calling me by my first name.
As the happy memories rose, the corners of Moyong Sunae’s usually expressionless mouth twitched on their own. And that wasn’t all. Her face grew hot, and her once-quiet breathing slowly turned rough.
“Haa… haa…”
Then the warmth cooled just as quickly as it had risen.
“……”
She wanted to keep only Kim Hyun-woo’s face in her mind, but inevitably the image of Hwangbo Ji-eun, clinging to him like a leech, floated up beside it. At first she had seemed friendly. But the more Moyong Sunae saw her, the more she started to get on her nerves—especially the way she openly flirted with Hyun-woo at every opportunity, even pressing her body against him. And today had been no different.
“Hyun-woo seems pretty drunk. I’ll call a taxi and take him home.”
“Ah~ No, unnie. I’ll take him. It would be too much for you.”
“It’s fine, really. Calling a taxi isn’t hard.”
“Hmph.”
Why was she smiling like that? Was she trying to annoy her on purpose?
“Then how about we play rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets to take oppa home?”
“…Sure. Rock, paper, scissors.”
Moyong Sunae had thrown scissors. Hwangbo Ji-eun had thrown rock.
“Yay, I win! So leave it to me, unnie. Go home and rest comfortably! Hehe.”
If she had to pick the hardest moment of the day, it would have been that one. It was the first time she had nearly lost control of her expression in public. She didn’t know what face she had made, but it must have been truly terrifying.
“……”
In the pitch-dark space, when she sat thinking instead of sleeping, three hours could feel like thirty. Tonight was exactly like that.
Rock, paper, scissors.
Rock, paper, scissors.
Rock, paper, scissors!
Rock! Paper! Scissors!
Without moving a single finger, her face utterly blank, Moyong Sunae’s mind replayed the memory of playing rock-paper-scissors with Hwangbo Ji-eun dozens, hundreds of times. Along with it came the image of Hwangbo Ji-eun smiling happily, flashing through her mind over and over.
“Wicked bitch.”
It was the strongest curse Moyong Sunae could utter out loud. But inside, her thoughts were far harsher.
Fucking bitch. Bitch who deserves to die. Ungrateful whore. How could she do that? I pay her a good salary, I let her stuff her face at every company dinner, and she never once thought about yielding to me? If it weren’t for that bitch, I might be riding in a taxi with Hyun-woo right now, maybe even going for a drive. No, wait—would that wicked bitch even have seen him properly to his door? Or maybe…
“……”
It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be. She wouldn’t do that. No way, no matter how shameless she is… she wouldn’t… right? Yeah, she wouldn’t… absolutely not… she wouldn’t…
Fuck.
‘Ah, right, Sunae unnie.’
‘My ideal type changed too. I like kind guys now, just like you, unnie.’
What the hell was she supposed to say to that? What answer did she want to hear?
“Ah………… I want to kill her……”
The words of the girl who had hated her more than anyone else floated through Moyong Sunae’s mind.
“A chaebol should use what she has so the world can keep turning nicely. Got it? What you’re doing right now is the same as being born with the best gear in a game and then deliberately using tutorial items. Ugh, it’s disgusting. You pathetic bitch.”
It was true. Moyong Sunae had seen it plenty of times. She knew how easily kids her age could get rid of anyone who annoyed them if they felt like it. She had always told herself it was wrong. But now…
“Ah……………”
Maybe she was starting to understand how those kids felt.
“……”
How is it that no matter what I do, I can’t get close to Hyun-woo?
It felt like she might cry.
—Screeeech!
Even now, that moment still appeared in her dreams. The truck racing straight toward her. Her legs that refused to move even though she knew she would die if she stayed still. And then Kim Hyun-woo, like a prince on a white horse, yanking her out of the way and saving her life. Even though she knew it was a dream, it made her so happy and excited that she wanted to keep dreaming it again and again. The person who made her happy just by thinking of his face. The person whose voice alone made her heart pound. The person whose very existence felt ecstatic simply because they were breathing the same air. That was what Kim Hyun-woo meant to Moyong Sunae.
‘Boss, are you okay?’
That was why it bothered her so much. Hwangbo Ji-eun got to call him by his first name, but she herself still called him “Boss” every single time. The distance felt enormous. She hadn’t realized it would irritate her this badly. But precisely because of that—
‘Sunae has good sense.’
When she had received that casual compliment from Kim Hyun-woo, the ecstasy, the happiness, the joy she felt—! The more frustration and irritation had built up, the more intensely the relief rushed back when it was finally released. Only then did Moyong Sunae realize once again why she had lived until now, why she had been born, how she should live from now on, and who she should live for.
‘Destiny!’
Yes. The fact that Kim Hyun-woo had saved her at that exact time, in that exact place, under those exact circumstances—it was like fate bestowed by the gods. It had to be. Logically speaking, what were the odds that an ordinary person would experience something like that?
“Right, Hyun-woo oppa… you think so too, don’t you?”
She was still too embarrassed to call him “oppa” in front of him, but at home, she could.
She reached into her bag and pulled out the “trophies” she had collected that day. The chopsticks she had used at the grilled beef tripe and intestine restaurant. The empty hangover-cure bottle. Even the spoon she had used to eat ice cream. Every single one of them had been used by Kim Hyun-woo.
“Ah, oppa…………”
—Smooch.
Moyong Sunae pressed her lips against the hangover-cure bottle that Kim Hyun-woo had drunk from, rubbing them over it again and again.
“Haa, haa, haa……”
Doing this made her feel like she was really kissing him. Her heart began to thunder in her chest. Her face flushed instantly. For the first time in her life, sexual desire as a woman surged wildly inside her. She had barely ever touched herself—maybe a handful of times in her entire life.
“Haa, haa… oppa, oppa—! Hngh!”
Lately, though, it felt like she was doing it quite often. And the feeling… it was incredibly good.
“Haaaaang…!”
She had checked many times that the apartment was well soundproofed, but it was still the middle of the night. Moyong Sunae unconsciously glanced around, holding her breath as much as possible while quietly stroking her pussy with her fingers again and again.
“Haa… haa……”
After the heat had subsided a little, Moyong Sunae took out the storage box she kept hidden deep inside her closet and opened it.
Straw used by Kim Hyun-woo
Inside were several straws. They were among Moyong Sunae’s most treasured possessions—the straws Kim Hyun-woo had used.
—Swish.
She carefully placed today’s new trophies inside the box, a gentle smile blooming on her lips.
“Ah… I want to go to work soon.”