Not everyone can have the experience of summoning great courage to save the life of a loved one. I know well that I was a wonderful person until the end. Being such a wonderful person, not leaving, was my own achievement, and I think that alone is something I gained.

No one can speak lightly of me.

Thank you for reading this long post. You can find out the truth of this post on Monday morning when you come to work.”

Her fingertip pressing the post registration button felt strangely tense. Soeun carefully reviewed the post she had read at least twenty times, soothing her trembling heart.
Pressing the button and not pressing the button are diverging paths. In Soeun’s life, where she lived happily, contemplating only whether to eat black bean noodles or spicy seafood noodles, there had never been so many choices poured into her life. Perhaps all the courage of those many choices was training for today.

Now, with an anxious heart about where my fate will flow, I strengthened my trembling fingertips.

With a click sound, the post was submitted.

The neatly written post was also sad.

A single page summarized my long contemplation, fearful choices, heartbreaking love, and subsequent stories.

Thinking that this is one aspect of my life, tears inevitably welled up.

How did it come to this? I didn’t wish for this.

‘No, Soeun. You haven’t failed.’

You made the best choice.

That post is genuine. You were truly a good person. You worked hard.

Soeun wiped away tears, comforting herself.

Knock, knock. Taehoon knocked on the already open door, signaling his presence. He had hurriedly checked the post that Soeun had uploaded from another room.

Soeun quickly put on a smile and raised her head, but Taehoon’s gaze was sharp.

“Did you cry?”

“No.”

“You cried, you cried. Crybaby.”

“I didn’t cry.”

Soeun denied the fact that tears were welling up while pinching her nose.

“Ah, you crybaby.”

“Hey, what…”

“Like a crybaby who leaves and comes back.”

“Ugh. You’re so mean.”

Although Soeun thought Taehoon’s joke was too much, she stared back at him with determination. Yet, Taehoon continued to tease her.

“Crybaby. Crybaby.”

“Wow. You’re taking advantage of finding someone’s weakness…”

Tears had somehow disappeared. When Soeun stood up in frustration, Taehoon grabbed her arm. Then, the following words smoothly entered through Taehoon’s lips.

“You did well. You’ve worked hard.”

The teasing lips, like a tickling sensation, were reluctantly separated.

“Because Han Soeun has done everything she can, now you can let go.”

His praise and encouragement made Soeun feel much more relieved. It seemed like tears might come again.

“It’s nothing, really. Just something to vent and move on.”

“…….”

“Someday, we’ll laugh together about this funny black history that we can talk about while smiling.”

Although being teased as a crybaby hurt her feelings, it was an acceptable shock therapy.

That’s right. I hope it goes like that.

I hope this heavy past becomes a light joke. Consuming it like laughing once a year, I hope it goes that way.

For a moment, as tears were about to well up again in the warm atmosphere, Taehoon couldn’t stand it and showed another teasing expression.

“But it took you how many hours to write one post?”

“Am I in the liberal arts department…”
“How can you hold onto a piece of writing for four hours? I just can’t understand it.”

“Well, do you know the first law of thermodynamics, Director?”

“I didn’t study that in liberal arts. Writing, whether it’s natural sciences or liberal arts, is taught the same way.”

“Then what about the formula for finding roots? Do you remember it?”

Suddenly, Taehoon grabbed Soeun’s chin again and lifted it. The breath from the sweet moments ago was now suppressed and crumpled inside his mouth. It seemed like he was being mischievous. This was undoubtedly forgetting the formula for finding roots.

Soeun, who escaped from his persistence with laughter, asked, “Director, have you ever been involved in such rumors?”

“No.”

“How can you have never been involved?”

“Because I erase everything.”

“Does it get erased? People who spread rumors keep appearing.”

“Then I’ll erase those people too.”

“Erased? … It doesn’t mean killing, right?”

“I haven’t done that yet.”

His sly smile somehow felt ominous.

“… What about in the future?”

“The future is uncertain.”

Soeun’s expression stiffened as if she was scared, and Taehoon grinned.

“Just kidding. How can I kill someone?”

But this man’s words, even when he jokes, sound like serious remarks.

Her head, which remembered every detail of how he tormented her while claiming to like her, hesitated to follow along with his laughter.

Looking at her like that, Taehoon turned his head flexibly.

“But I know the formula for finding roots.”

With such a long build-up, he says this.