Chapter 1
I don't focus on a woman's face or figure when I look at her.
What matters to me is how well we mesh emotionally.
My girlfriend was the perfect example.
Being with her was fun; we shared the same hobbies and could look toward the same future.
That's the kind of girlfriend I liked.
In short, my girlfriend was my ideal type.
Ah, and there was one more important thing.
I liked kind and warm women.
Because it was thanks to a kind girlfriend like her that I was able to have the dream I had now.
A dream.
It wasn't some vague dream of wanting to marry my girlfriend.
Of course, I did have that dream to some extent, but the dream I had was to become a first-rate chef.
To achieve that dream, I had earned plenty of culinary certifications and even entered various cooking competitions and won some of them.
At twenty-three, that put me considerably ahead of others who were serious about cooking.
The reason an ordinary guy like me could achieve all this was my girlfriend.
She ate the food I'd started making as a hobby with such relish, and her reactions excited me. Wanting to make her increasingly delicious food was what brought me this far.
She had that talent.
She could encourage others, bring out their strengths, and make them want to do more and more for her.
I was truly glad that I alone knew all of her charms.
"Hey. Class is over, so why are you spacing out? Wanna hit the snack bar?"
The lecture hall was noisy.
When I looked up, Ahn Sang-min was there.
A friend since middle school and a League of Legends scrub.
In short, my best friend.
"Forget it. I ate lunch earlier, so I'm full."
"You made a bunch of fucking cookies again so you could eat them with your girlfriend, didn't you?"
"If you know, then take the hint and get lost."
"Ah—what a fucking bastard, rubbing it in. So you're not going to the PC bang today? A date with your girlfriend?"
"Yeah. And I have to prepare for a competition, too. I probably won't be able to go for a while."
"Okay. Buy us some chicken if you win the prize money."
"Sure, I can at least buy you some chicken."
"Yeah. Hey, but lately—"
He hesitated, as if trying to bring something up.
"Lately, what?"
"Is something going on with your girlfriend?"
"What do you mean?"
"No, it's just... she's gotten really pretty. She used to dress so plainly."
She used to dress plainly?
Was this bastard out of his mind?
"Maybe she just got interested in that sort of thing. What, are you jealous?"
"No, that's not it. It's just that her image has been changing so drastically lately—"
"People can change. What's so weird about that?"
"Why do you get all serious whenever I bring up your girlfriend? No, that's not what I mean. Listen to the end."
"What is it?"
"I think the others aren't saying anything because they're watching your reaction, but there's a strange rumor going around about your girlfriend."
My stomach churned.
What the hell was this guy trying to say?
But then again, this guy wasn't oblivious.
If he was bringing this up despite knowing it would upset me, he must have had a reason.
"Just tell me. What rumor is going around?"
"Haa... Don't get mad, okay? It's... not a very good rumor."
"Just hurry up and tell me. Don't piss me off."
"Haa... Fuck. They say she's doing... sugar dating. That kind of thing..."
"Fuck. Which bastard said that?"
The lecture hall fell silent.
I suddenly looked around.
My classmates' eyes were fixed on me.
A few of them looked away the moment they saw me.
I made a mental note of them.
"Hey, hey. Lower your voice. Let's get out of here first. The whole class is going to hear us."
-Rrrk.
"Yeah, let's get out first."
"Yeah. Wanna grab some ice cream?"
***
We went to the stairs by the drinking fountain beside the athletic field.
We each had an ice cream in hand.
It did little to help clear my head.
"Now tell me. Which bastard said that?"
"Yeah, but don't go after that bastard. If you do, don't say I told you. Okay?"
"Yeah."
"I heard it from Gi-hun, one of the guys in the dance club."
"Gi-hun?"
"Yeah. He's in the same club as your girlfriend, remember?"
"Yeah. So?"
"Apparently, Gi-hun saw her while he was out downtown."
"Saw what?"
"He was on his way to the PC bang and saw your girlfriend with some older man beside her."
"..... He could've been her dad."
"No, he said the atmosphere was fucking weird. They were even linking arms... And the guy looked like some kind of crime syndicate executive...."
Ha-young couldn't possibly do that.
The underworld had been cartelized for ages—ever since the Roh Tae-woo administration's failed War on Crime and the IMF crisis. Why would she do something so dangerous?
"He even saw them go into a motel."
"A motel? Fuck, are you sure?"
"It's right next to Wow PC Bang. Lime Motel, I think. Gi-hun says he saw them on his way to Wow PC Bang, so he's sure."
"Haa... Fuck. Say something that makes sense."
It felt like the whole world was spinning.
Ha-young couldn't possibly do that.
Why would someone as straight-laced as her go somewhere like that?
"I told him not to bullshit me at first, too. There's no way she'd be doing sugar dating, for fuck's sake. But the rumors going around these days are weird."
"What rumors? What else is there?"
"Haa... This one has a few witnesses. But it isn't a hundred percent certain, and it might not even be true, so—"
"Fuck, stop dragging it out and tell me. What is it?"
"Well, haa... they say she smokes."
"Smokes? Who?"
"Her... Ha-young."
Ha-young.
Smoking?
Impossible.
Ha-young smoking.
How could Ha-young smoke?
She absolutely hated secondhand smoke.
"Hey. You okay? Haa... Fuck, I agonized over whether to tell you this, but I still thought you ought to know."
"The smoking... Who? I mean, who's saying that? Which bastard?"
"Jong-hak said he saw her, for one."
Jong-hak?
That fucking idiot who plays the old fogey with his juniors?
That was a little reassuring.
"And Min-jae, you know him? The guy with the jutting chin."
"Min-jae? The top student in our department?"
"Yeah, he said so too."
.....
"And... Hee-yeon..."
Fuck.
Hee-yeon? She was Ha-young's best friend.
"It's not that Hee-yeon saw Ha-young smoking. Hee-yeon had also said Ha-young seemed strange lately. Apparently, Hee-yeon thought Ha-young had been hanging around with that Jeong Su-a."
Jeong Su-a was bad news.
She was famous for being an empty-headed bitch.
There were even rumors that she was a slut.
Fuck, I was going crazy.
"Have a proper talk with her first. It might just be a baseless rumor. Things like this usually just go around as rumors and then disappear."
"..... Okay. I got it, I got it..."
What was I supposed to do now?
What the fuck was I supposed to do?
Fuck, this made no sense.
There was no way. How could Ha-young...
Those lunatics had made up all these fucked-up rumors. Fuck, those assholes were just jealous of Ha-young.
"Hey. Hey!! You okay?"
"Ha. Fuck, this makes no sense. If there had been any sign of something like that, shouldn't I have noticed?"
"Calm down for now. Class is about to start, so let's go back in. Or do you want to ditch? I'll make up an excuse for you."
"..... Forget it. Let's go in. Let's just get back to the lecture hall for now."