“Why do you do things that make you anxious?”

“…..”

As soon as Hi Ra heard Ba Ha’s words, she began to cry and sob silently as if struck at a vital point. Once started, the sobbing made Cha Hi Ra’s shoulders tremble and her hands shake.

One thing was clear.

That she loved him to the point of disregarding her pride.

That just the fact of her former lover being by his side made her anxious.

That’s how much she loved him.

“You don’t know what that person means to me, Han Ba Ha. Please… let him go. I… beg you.”

[This is the timeline separator]

‘How annoying. Really. There’s a limit to showing off money.’

‘Leave it be. We’ve caught a sucker. What’s the problem?’

It was dark.

Unlike the brightness visible outside, the inside was already rotten with only darkness remaining. Friends clinging to her side with sweet smiles, Hi Ra knowing full well that what they wanted wasn’t affection, but unable to say anything. Her surroundings were teeming with such people, making it pitch black.

‘Young lady, happy birthday.’

‘What about Grandfather?’

Family that couldn’t be called family, friends that couldn’t be called friends. She hated them, cruel in their seemingly non-cruel way.

She felt utterly pathetic for desperately clinging to even that, fearing that warmth by her side might slip away.

‘Hello. I’m Lee Han.’

She first saw him in a dark room without a single light. What was so good about that small, brightly lit box? His smile was so bright.

That’s how she first saw him smiling radiantly inside the TV.

‘Lee Han, have you ever had difficult times in your acting career?’

‘Yes. Sometimes when I’m surrounded by countless people, after it’s all over, even that atmosphere feels infinitely lonely.’

‘I see. Then how do you overcome it, Lee Han?’

‘When those feelings become unbearable, I tend to seek out my person. Someone who’s unconditionally on my side.’

At first, it was envy.

There was no one by Hi Ra’s side who liked her wholeheartedly. There were only people who approached with ulterior motives, and when they couldn’t achieve their goals, they would turn their backs and throw stones and arrows for no clear reason.

You and I were different.

Perhaps that’s why you caught my eye even more.

‘That person will appear for you too. Someone who can illuminate that dark loneliness.’

It was clearly an ordinary, common phrase.

The moment of falling for someone was absurdly sudden. It was something anyone could say, but not something everyone needed to hear. Those insignificant words pierced Hi Ra’s heart, making her cry for a long time.

“Grandfather, I want to be an actor!”

“Cha Hi Ra, what nonsense are you talking about now?”

There was no lingering attachment.

She no longer had any attachment to the people who clung to her side without any meaning. People who only gnawed away at her. She felt no affection, no anger, nothing at all towards those people. Now she didn’t want to waste any more time on people who didn’t recognize her.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m going to be an actor! An actor!”

“Do you even know how to act? What actor! Don’t bring shame to the family and just stay put.”

She hated her grandfather who didn’t take his eyes off the newspaper, showing no interest, shaking his head but not sparing her a glance.

“Grandfather, you don’t care about me anyway!”

On a day when snow was falling heavily.

She shouted like that and left the house just like that. Even as the cold snow soaked her head, Hi Ra liked this path that led her to him. She discovered him and habitually sought him out. His works, his home, his friends. She searched for everything.

“Ugh… it’s cold. So cold.”

Hot, white breath burst from her mouth, but she liked it. She liked starting each day with him, and was happy ending each day with him. With her hands frozen red, she waited and waited endlessly for him to come out, not knowing when he would appear.

“Hurry up and wear this! Ba Ha, listen to me.”

It was Lee Han.

Even though he came out bundled up from head to toe with only his eyes visible, Hi Ra could recognize him instantly. Because they were the eyes she had been chasing every day.

“Ha… oppa, really. Alright. I get it, so why don’t you put it on for me?”

“Okay. Come here.”

As snow fell endlessly, Hi Ra watched him from afar. He wrapped a thick red scarf directly around Ba Ha’s neck, and pinched her cheeks, which had turned red from the cold weather, as if finding her cute.

He didn’t look lonely. He looked happy.

On a day when snow was falling heavily as if a hole had opened in the sky, Lee Han and Ba Ha looked happy with just a single glance at each other, and Hi Ra felt an inexplicable sense of emptiness and betrayal envelop her body as she watched them.

“What… who is that woman?”

[This is the timeline separator]

It didn’t take long.

Just seeing Lee Han from afar wasn’t satisfying enough. She wanted to be with him by his side in any way possible. Hi Ra begged and pleaded with her grandfather to invest, and it didn’t take long for her face to appear on the small screen with advertisements.

It was easy.

She chose projects to be by his side, and made him the lead to talk with him. Now she could be with him not just watching from afar, but standing beside him as Lee Han’s partner, speaking with him. She had waited and waited for this day.

“Sunbae, did you know? I became an actor because of you! You’re my role model!”

“Really? I’m a fan of yours too, Cha Hi Ra. Thank you.”

An empty smile.

That wasn’t the smile she wanted. She didn’t want to see that empty smile. The more he smiled at her, the more she was by his side with him, the more Hi Ra felt an inexplicable thirst. Like a thirst that wouldn’t disappear no matter how much she drank, the more she looked at him, feelings of emptiness and futility enveloped her body.

“Unnie! They’re starting to film the next scene. The sunbae too!”

Hi Ra tried to compose herself at her manager Seul Gi’s call, but every time she saw him beside her, all those efforts would turn to bubbles in an instant, shaking her.

“This scene is where lovers who have just started their relationship exchange looks of dying love for each other and whisper words of love. You’re all professionals, so you know the feeling, right?”

She felt greedy.

She felt greedy for him right in front of her, and this moment in front of the camera felt like the only moment allowed to her where she could be greedy for him.

Even though she knew it was all fake and just acting, Cha Hi Ra was happier than ever in this moment.

“Ready… Action!”

At the director’s signal, Lee Han gazed intently into Hi Ra’s eyes.

“I love you, Ha Yeon.”

Lee Han grabbed the nape of her neck and slowly approached. As his face drew closer, Hi Ra gently closed her eyes while clutching her heart that felt like it would burst out at any moment. At last, Hi Ra and Lee Han’s lips met, and she opened her eyes to look at him while acting that wasn’t acting.

“Okay! Cut! As expected, Lee Han’s eyes are on point! Hi Ra, you were great too!”

Those weren’t the eyes she wanted.

Why wouldn’t he show them? Hi Ra wanted to see his eyes again, the ones she saw on that snowy day. She wanted him to love her, just for this moment. She wanted those eyes to be directed at her, just for this moment.

His smile for one person, his gaze for one person, his affection for one person.

She wanted to possess all of it.

She wanted to become his one person, and she began to feel increasingly greedy for everything about him.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Still not done? I told you I don’t care how much money it takes! I need to know everything, down to the last detail.”

Just what kind of woman was she, that your eyes were only directed at her? Cha Hi Ra nervously bit her thumbnail as she urged Seul Gi.

She didn’t want to know the facts that everyone already knew. She wanted to know everything about that woman.

“Ha… unnie, do we really have to go this far?”

“Shut up, and just do your job properly. Don’t think about giving unsolicited advice.”

She searched and searched again.

For months, she followed Ba Ha’s every move, learning about the company she worked at, the food she ate, even the house where she met Lee Han. Everything about her reached Hi Ra’s ears, but it wasn’t enough. Just a little more, Hi Ra hoped for just one thing to fall into her hands.

“Unnie, I got a call from the detective agency. They said they found it.”

It was a world where money could do anything. It was a world where you could dig up everything about someone with just a few pieces of information like Ba Ha’s photo and her relationship with Lee Han, and it seemed the heavens were indeed on her side.

She dug persistently and found it.

The one puzzle piece she couldn’t find or fit together after months of searching was finally completed with one large mansion that Ba Ha entered one day.

Now all the preparations were complete.

Hi Ra wanted to take away his most precious thing and take that place for herself. Reading the last line of the file handed over by Seul Gi, she smiled more brightly than ever before.

[ Han Ba Ha. Illegitimate child of Taesan Group Chairman Han Young Ho. ]