Prelude to a Reversal of Fortune??
At some point, Juhwan's phone had become overflowing with audio recordings of every kind of lewd sound, along with photo evidence of So-hee's infidelity.
After that day, So-hee had carelessly let herself be discovered by Juhwan coming and going from her apartment with all sorts of men,
and Juhwan hadn't let a single moment of it slip by — he'd photographed everything.
'So she dares to call ME a rent-poor pauper...?'
It was morning at the construction site.
The laborers, done with the morning's work, gathered in twos and threes at the restaurants near the site for lunch.
Worker 1: "Hey, hyung, I heard you hit up a nice spot after work yesterday? Haha."
Worker 2: "Don't even get me started, hahaha. Ah man, that girl at the cushion bar was unreal. Stripped completely naked on the table and danced, then shoved her pussy right at me asking for a tip."
Worker 3: "Oho~ so what did you do?"
Worker 2: "What do you mean, what did I do? Haha. Rolled a fifty-thousand-won bill up from my wallet and stuffed it right in her pussy — she was moaning like she loved it, hahaha."
Worker 4: "This hyung went with me yesterday, hahaha. That girl definitely knows how to have a good time. He had her bent over the sofa right there and pounded the hell out of her."
Worker 2: "Man, that pussy game was no joke, hahaha. Nothing like the wife's, I'll tell you that. Hahahaha."
Worker 5: "Hey, Park! Shut your mouth and just eat!"
No matter what the workers at his table were talking about, the only thing left in Juhwan's head was his burning hunger for revenge on So-hee.
And as he listened to the workers' stories, his imagination ran wild.
So-hee had surely done far filthier things with men at clubs and in her newlywed home — things that made these stories look tame.
After finishing lunch and returning to the site, during a quick smoke break before the afternoon shift began, Juhwan sat apart from the crew, smoking a cigarette and scrolling through his phone.
Juhwan: "Instagram... Her name was Kim So-hee, right? I need to find her Instagram..."
He opened the app.
Kim So-hee. In Korea, there were countless women named Kim So-hee.
Juhwan: "Fuck... which one of these is the Kim So-hee from upstairs..."
Worker 2: "Hey! Shift's started, you punk! Get your ass back here!"
In the end, Juhwan failed to find So-hee's Instagram.
The construction gig over, and his evening shift at the convenience store done as well, Juhwan — spent in body and mind — collapsed face-first onto his bed the moment he got home.
The apartment upstairs had been quiet today.
He picked up his phone once more and went back to digging through Instagram.
After opening the app and typing Kim So-hee into the search bar, he began checking the countless accounts that popped up, one by one.
Most of them were private.
Juhwan: "Hah... how am I supposed to find her like this."
Scrolling down the list, he decided this would be his last attempt and tapped on one more account.
It was public.
The moment he saw it, Juhwan's breath caught in his throat.
Juhwan: "...That's her...!!"
He'd finally found the Instagram account of Kim So-hee from upstairs.
He scrolled through her photo album.
Pictures taken at department store luxury boutiques, clutching designer bags — the hobbies of an unemployed woman squandering the money her husband earned...
Selfies framed to show off her chest...
Photos taken in front of a full-length mirror...
To any man who didn't know what a vixen she really was, they were the kind of pictures that would make him fall hook, line, and sinker.
No wonder she pulled in men at the club like that...
As he scrolled through the photos, one of them caught his eye.
'...That's a picture with her husband...!'
T_T
The husband was remarkably good-looking.
And at the same time, Juhwan began to feel sorry for him.
The husband worked himself to the bone earning money, even flying overseas on business trips — did he have any idea?
Did he know that while he was away, his wife was blowing the money he earned at clubs, and that wasn't even the half of it — that she was secretly fooling around with the men there?
...
Juhwan: "Kim... Geon-young... So her husband's name is Kim Geon-young..."
He'd figured it out instantly, from a comment under one of the couple photos — a man named Kim Geon-young who'd written, "Love you, honey ♡"
In the photo with her husband, So-hee was beaming with a radiant smile.
It was the complete opposite of that signature look of contempt she wore whenever she sneered "rent-poor pauper" at Juhwan.
Juhwan: "Fucking bitch... She's got a husband like that and she still cheats on him?? She really needs to be punished."
His hands were trembling.
He could have dismissed it as none of his business, but ever since So-hee had treated him like dirt beneath her feet, it no longer felt like it wasn't his problem.
Somehow, some way, he had to break this woman.
And then he remembered what his friend Dong-yeop had told him once at the BBQ restaurant.
Dong-yeop's words about catching a woman red-handed with evidence and making her his own personal bitch.
The memory flashed through his mind.
Juhwan: "...Would she actually go for it, if I really did that?"
He despised So-hee with every fiber of his being — but looking at those heavy tits and that body, he was still a man, and he couldn't help being turned on.
But there was one thing that worried him: So-hee's personality.
Even if he showed her the evidence, she was hardly the type to bend the knee and submit quietly.
And Juhwan's own timid, awkward nature made him ill-suited for plotting something like that.
Juhwan: "...The evidence I've gathered so far... What would happen if I showed it to her husband??"
He wanted to destroy So-hee desperately — but if he actually did, then what came next? The thought of all the messy complications he'd have to deal with afterward made Juhwan's heart grow even more tangled.
Meanwhile, in the apartment upstairs at that very moment.
So-hee was on a video call with her husband Geon-young, who was away on his overseas business trip.
Geon-young: "Honey, I'm so sorry... T_T Things aren't going as smoothly as I hoped, and the deal isn't progressing... I won't be able to fly back tomorrow — I think I'll have to stay about three more days."
Where was the woman who'd been fooling around with other men while he was gone? In front of her husband, So-hee was doing her devoted-wife act, fawning over him like a queen playing the part.
So-hee: "Babe, really?? Hing... T_T But I miss you so much already..."
Geon-young: "Hahaha, I miss you too, honey, so much... T_T. I'll come home as soon as I wrap things up, okay? Just hang in there a little longer for me?"
So-hee: "Oh, right. Babe, you remember that guy living alone in the rental below us? We ran into him in the elevator, remember?"
Geon-young: "The university student? Of course! Why, what about him?"
So-hee: "He came up to our place while you were away on your trip. When I was home alone."
Geon-young: "Huh?? He came up?? What for??"
So-hee: "I don't know, haha... He came up saying we were being too noisy and to keep it down. I have no idea what he thought was noisy."
Geon-young: "Ah, well, that could happen. The officetel we live in is great in every other way, but the soundproofing fails us sometimes, you know? He didn't give you a hard time about it, did he?"
So-hee froze for a moment. The one who'd given someone a hard time wasn't Juhwan — it was So-hee herself.
So-hee: "Huh?? Oh, no, babe, hahaha. We talked it out nicely and that was the end of it, haha. He said he'd understand."
Geon-young: "Phew... that's a relief... Speaking of which — I know I haven't talked to him directly, but that young man downstairs seems like a genuinely good person, haha."
So-hee: "You think so?"
Geon-young: "Yeah, haha. Even when we ran into him in the elevator that time, he greeted us first — you don't see that kind of manners in young people these days."
A change of subject was urgently needed.
So-hee: "Ah, babe... enough about that already!"
So-hee: "But honey... haha... it's been so long since we did it... my down-there keeps tingling and burning, what am I supposed to do...??"
It was a lie.
Her husband's equipment was slightly insufficient to satisfy the insatiable So-hee, which was precisely why she'd been using a rotating cast of club men as substitutes all this time.
She ran her hands over her breasts as she spoke through the video call.
So-hee: "Look at this... haha. It's been so long since you sucked on them that my breasts are all droopy... T_T I think even my boobs are sad."
So-hee: "And...... down here too, haha ♡"
So-hee lifted the bottom of her slip on camera, showing Geon-young her lewd pussy clad in her panties.
Geon-young: "Ah, honey... hahaha, if you do that here... hahaha..."
Geon-young: "Honey, I just got to the hotel! I'll hit you back after I shower, haha."
He hung up.
So-hee: "...What the fuck. You hang up on me just like that??"
So-hee: "Ugh, for fuck's... What good is all that money, you two-pump chump........ Hah... I should've married for the money and nothing else... Should've test-driven him a few times before deciding on marriage?? What a joke, hahaha."
Her arousal unquenched, So-hee pulled a dildo from her dresser drawer — one she'd hidden deep where her husband would never find it — pushed her panties to the side, and began rubbing the dildo against the entrance of her pussy.
So-hee: "Hahh, fuck... I was just starting to recover from that blond guy I fucked the other day, hahaha, and sadly I never even got his number. Haahh... ♡"
The legs of So-hee's slip had ridden up completely, and with the dildo digging wildly into her pussy, her black panties — already pushed aside — were slowly growing damp.
At the same time, she tugged the top of her slip down to bare her breasts fully, and began caressing them just as she was.
So-hee: "Can't find a single beast of a man out there who can actually satisfy my appetite, hahaha. Hahh... What am I supposed to do if this feels worse than my own fingers... bunch of useless fucks ♡"
Thirty minutes later, back in Juhwan's room.
On days he worked his part-time jobs, the apartment turned into a disaster zone.
Food waste and all the other garbage piling up, all of it needing to be taken out on time — and cleaning up while completely drained of energy was no small feat.
Getting up from the bed to head to the bathroom, Juhwan stepped on something underfoot.
Juhwan: "Ah! Aw, fuck, what now."
A can of beer.
An already-empty beer can, crushed flat, lay rolling around on the floor.
Juhwan: ".........Might as well clear my head and do a little cleaning."
Juhwan got moving with sudden diligence.
Once he focused on the cleaning, the cluttered thoughts in his head melted away in no time.
He stuffed all the general waste into pay-per-use garbage bags, gathered the plastic and cans into separate bags, and headed out with both arms full of trash.
The recycling station stood right in front of the officetel building where Juhwan lived.
Riding the elevator down, Juhwan headed for the recycling station — and as he drew close, he spotted someone standing there.
It was night, dark enough that he couldn't see clearly at first, but a moment later he knew exactly who it was.
So-hee was crouched beside the utility pole next to the recycling station, smoking a cigarette alone.
The fact that she never smoked inside her apartment — in other words, it meant her husband could come home at any time.
When her husband was away, she smoked freely in the apartment without a second thought; but when he was home — or when there was any sign he might return soon — she always stepped outside to smoke.
Startled to run into So-hee, Juhwan's heart lurched, but he quickly steadied himself and moved to throw out his trash — the whole reason he'd come to the recycling station in the first place.
So-hee noticed him too.
So-hee: "Ugh, fucking stink..."
She cursed first — Juhwan hadn't said a word.
Anger boiled up in him as well, but he decided to ignore it.
Then the smell of her cigarette stung Juhwan's nose, and before he knew it, his face scrunched up and his gaze drifted toward So-hee.
So-hee: "The fuck are you looking at?"
Juhwan: "......"
So-hee: "What, don't like the cigarette smell? Then go earn some money and graduate from renting somewhere nicer, hm~?"
Another provocation.
Why is it only me this crazy bitch torments?
He was furious — but he couldn't afford to react emotionally here. Not when he was holding evidence that could bring this woman crashing down in a single blow.
Without a word, Juhwan disposed of all his trash, turned his back, and headed home.
So-hee watched his retreating figure, devoid of any response.
So-hee: "Hahaha, the little mute... A pauper AND a mute now, huh."
In the elevator, Juhwan's fist trembled violently.
He'd held it in — but the rage was beyond containing.
Juhwan: "Fucking bitch....... I'm the idiot for hesitating even for a moment....... You're going down, even if it drags me into the gutter with you...!!!"