Ji Eun Jae let out a deep sigh as she left the man’s officetel.

Her mind was in turmoil.

She had nothing, yet she rejected an offer that was beyond her means.

What good was that kind of pride anyway.

Strangely, the man neither persisted with Eun Jae’s answer nor brought up past favors to question further. He merely nodded as if giving up.

When she foolishly said to call if he needed cleaning, laundry, or dishwashing done, the man smiled faintly and told her to go.

How absurd it must have been.

Thinking back, her face kept flushing red and blue.

As she handed him back the phone she had received while saying goodbye, it came back with an apology for any offense and the remark that it would be useless to return it anyway.

After that, there were a few more arguments, but the man stubbornly refused to take the phone.

“How am I supposed to use this?”

Eun Jae exhaled the words like a sigh to herself.

Throughout the elevator ride down, she felt a complex mix of emotions towards the man.

Guilt, gratitude, and so on. But that was no reason to hastily accept because of such feelings.

Yes, and of all things, marriage.

“You did well, you did the right thing.”

She comforted herself, soothing her inexplicably heavy heart.

It just felt that way. It seemed no different from being sold off, just nicely packaged.

While her head was bowed for a moment, a teardrop fell onto her knee, having welled up without her noticing.

“If only it weren’t for that debt…”

There would have been no need to be fired from the job she was doing well at, no need to be chased around like this.

No more, no less, just ordinary…

Why is something so easy for others so difficult for me?

Long-buried resentment towards her father began to rise again like smoke.

They said he had passed away quite some time ago.

He didn’t know where I, once a snot-nosed kid, was living or what I was doing even after I’d grown into an adult.

The last image of her father suddenly comes to mind.

That night, with a promise to eat samgyetang tomorrow, he firmly placed a keychain with a bear charm in little Eun Jae’s hand. After that day, her father’s whereabouts became unknown.

While waiting for the bus, she barely managed to cut off the branches of resentment that kept spreading. She knows well that it’s useless anyway.

Eun Jae wiped her wet eyes with the back of her hand. Her hand, habitually reaching for the bear keychain on her bag, hesitated as it felt the emptiness.

“Huh? Where did I drop it?”

The somewhat old keychain had fallen off in front of the man’s officetel not long ago, and she had forgotten to tighten the ring.

Eun Jae quickly looked around. She walked back the way she came, searching for the keychain. Eventually, she ended up entering the officetel again.

She was in the lobby, thoroughly scanning the area in front of the elevator.

As the elevator doors opened, she collided with a man who was about to get off. Eun Jae, who had been bending over scanning the floor, lost her balance and tumbled backward.

The surprised man quickly extended his hand and helped Eun Jae up.

“I’m sorry, are you alright?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

The man’s gaze lingered on Eun Jae as he checked if she was okay.

“…Ji Eun Jae?”

Eun Jae, who had been dusting off her bottom, absently scratched near her eye. It was because this unfamiliar-looking man had called her name.

“Who… are you?”

“Ah, you’re hurting my feelings again.”

The man scratched near his eyebrow, looking disappointed.

Now that I look closer, he does seem familiar.

Just as she was about to furrow her brow and examine the man’s face more closely, he smiled brightly.

“It’s me, Yoon Tae Gyu. Don’t you remember?”

When the man recited his exact name, his former appearance surfaced in Eun Jae’s memory.

“Ah, Yoon Tae Gyu.”

As Eun Jae recognized Tae Gyu, he greeted her with an extremely delighted face.

“Wow, it is Ji Eun Jae, right? I almost didn’t recognize you, you’ve become so pretty.”

The man’s face was both pleased and somewhat puzzled.

“No, Ji Eun Jae was pretty in the old days too. What brings you here?”

The man bent down to meet Eun Jae’s eye level. As his face came closer, Eun Jae stepped back.

“Wow, how did we end up meeting here? This is crazy.”

Eun Jae was very flustered by Yoon Tae Gyu’s friendly greeting, as if they had just parted yesterday.

Weren’t we not close enough to greet each other with such delighted faces?

Eun Jae wore a disgruntled expression as she gently pulled her hand away from Tae Gyu’s grasp and answered.

“I know someone who lives here.”

Someone you know, you say. Since when has that person been someone you know? How much have you even seen him?

Eun Jae shook her head, forcibly shaking off the sudden afterimage of him that appeared.

That image of him half-naked when they unexpectedly met. The reddening cheeks were a bonus.

“Is that so?”

Yoon Tae Gyu’s smiling face came into view as he agreed with Eun Jae’s words.

It’s understandable not to recognize him after only seeing him in a school uniform.

One button undone on a white shirt, a loosely tied black tie, an unfastened black jacket. That appearance oddly overlapped with his school uniform-clad image.

All traces of his youthful face had disappeared, replaced by sharp masculine features. If he hadn’t recognized her first, she would have surely passed by without knowing.

“Do you live here too?”

“Ah, I…”

Tae Gyu scratched his head awkwardly, trailing off for a moment.

It seemed better not to mention that this was his grandfather’s building, that he owned several units, and that he had just finalized a monthly rent contract for one of them.

“I also know someone who lives here.”

“Ah… I see. Well, it was nice seeing you. I should get going.”

As Eun Jae smiled faintly and turned to leave, Tae Gyu, after a moment’s hesitation, grabbed her wrist.

“Want to grab a coffee?”

“Ah, I have an urgent matter to attend to.”

Eun Jae gently removed her caught wrist as she declined.

The words ‘There are loan sharks looking for me nearby, so it would be difficult’ sloshed at the tip of her tongue.

And we’re not close enough to sit face to face and leisurely drink coffee.

Only your appearance has changed, you’re still the same. Smiling and showing interest in just anyone.

Tae Gyu raised his eyebrows at Eun Jae’s words.

“Really? But your phone screen is cracked.”

“What?”

Surprised by Tae Gyu’s words, Eun Jae pulled her phone out of her pocket.

At the same moment she realized she had been tricked, he quickly snatched Eun Jae’s phone.

Eun Jae’s eyes widened at the sudden turn of events.

Ah, Yoon Tae Gyu is still the same.

How could the screen of a phone in my pocket be cracked? Even if it was, how could you see a phone inside my pocket?

She only realized she had fallen for Tae Gyu’s trick after the phone was already in his hands.

“What are you doing? Give it back.”

“Wait a moment.”

Eun Jae flailed trying to snatch the phone from Tae Gyu’s hand, but he easily evaded her and operated the phone.

It was because she hadn’t set a password, finding it inconvenient to unlock it regularly.

A moment later, a ringtone sounded from somewhere. He smiled with satisfaction as he took out a phone from his jacket pocket, and the ringtone grew louder.

Tae Gyu, with a slight upturn of his lips, finally handed the phone back to Eun Jae.

“Here, take it.”

You were famous for this from the old days, Yoon Tae Gyu.

“That’s my number.”

Tae Gyu and Eun Jae were high school classmates.

They had been in the same class only once, during their second year. She couldn’t even remember having any private conversations with him besides necessary ones.

Yoon Tae Gyu was famous in school.

He was good-looking, from a good family, and had a nice personality, so he was very popular. He made girls’ hearts flutter regardless of grade level.

It was said that if you didn’t know Yoon Tae Gyu, you might as well be a spy, even if you didn’t know the principal’s name.

“You still haven’t fixed that habit of yours, huh?”

“What habit?”

“Never mind, forget it.”

Making it so natural that people don’t even realize their phone number has been taken.

You used to do this to me too, you know.

Lying that it was the same model even though it wasn’t the same phone, asking if you could take a look because it was interesting, and then calling yourself and telling me to save your number, just like now.

There was a time, just a brief moment.

When I had feelings for him.

Because I mistakenly thought there was some deeper meaning to the phone number obtained this way.

I know that’s how you collected phone numbers of all the girls in our school. Wasn’t I just one of them? Just one of the female students who passed by you.

Why are you making such a delighted expression?

“Call me sometime.”

Why should I call you?

After hesitating for a moment, Eun Jae replied.

“Okay.”

Thinking there was no point in quibbling over such details for someone she’d probably never see again after today, Eun Jae answered as positively as she could with a smile.

“See you around.”

With those words and a smile, Yoon Tae Gyu walked away.

Was Yoon such a common surname? Why is everyone I meet these days a Yoon?

Hoping not to run into him again, Eun Jae slowly started walking after confirming Tae Gyu had completely disappeared.

[This is the timeline separator]

Returning home, Eun Jae put down her fanny pack and stared for a long time at the place where the keychain used to be. In reality, it wasn’t much of a home, just a motel in a secluded neighborhood. It was the second place she had moved to after her previous residence was discovered.

The keychain that had now become her father’s memento.

He was a bad father who left without leaving anything behind, only burdening her with a mountain of debt.

That night was the eve of her birthday.

Just before falling asleep, she remembered what her father had said as he placed the bear keychain in her drowsy hand.

“Eun Jae, where did I say you should start eating samgyetang from?”

“From the belly! Dad, are we eating samgyetang tomorrow?”

“Yes, let’s eat it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is Eun Jae’s birthday. Promise!”

What was that keychain, what was that promise.

“Why promise samgyetang to such a young child, you should have said chicken instead.”

She was only four years old.

Why am I still holding onto it? Why do I still remember it?

Faith in her father, and lingering attachment to unfulfilled promises.

That keychain held such abstract things for me.

Only when looking at and touching that bear keychain could I recall my father’s kind face, feel a lump in my throat for no reason, remember only the good things he did, and so…

“Maybe it’s for the best.”

As if trying to hold back tears that were about to well up, Eun Jae pressed her tingling nose bridge and buried her face deep into the blanket.

Memories of her father who had driven her to the edge, lingering attachments, and faith.

Perhaps this opportunity would allow her to cut them all off.

She desperately hoped she could.

[This is the timeline separator]

In the quiet living room where darkness had settled.

Sun Woo’s slippers dragged weakly across the cold marble floor. After aimlessly wandering the living room, Sun Woo threw himself onto the sofa.

As he slowly closed his eyes, the woman’s words floated in the air.

“I know this might sound funny coming from someone like me. While marriage might be a business transaction for you, it’s not for me. I’ve never thought of it that way.”

“I may not have lived an ordinary life, but if I treat marriage like that too… I’d really feel like I’m being sold off, you know? So in that sense, I’m declining this proposal.”

Gratitude or whatever was just an excuse; she was someone he unconditionally needed.

From the moment her hand touched him, from the moment he felt her touch was different from others, Sun Woo thought it was the last chance given to him.

If nothing else, it seemed certain that both that woman and I were desperately hanging on at the edge of a cliff, barely managing day by day, waiting for someone to come and save us.

“I’m sorry, but this doesn’t seem right.”

As the woman’s final dejected expression came to mind, his chest felt tight.

“Right, no matter what, you know this isn’t right.”

If I hadn’t known you, that would be one thing, but now that I know someone like you exists, how can I give up?

There was no denying that he had rushed things more urgently due to the time wasted on previous blind dates.

Maybe I should have approached her slowly, meeting more often and gaining her favor.

What’s the use of regretting now?

Sun Woo reflected on the woman’s words.

Was it because of his offer to pay off her debt? Or was it because he called it a business?

The truth is, I was the one who wanted that kind of marriage least of all. I should have been a bit more honest and said that’s why I was looking for someone like you. Would things have been different?

No.

The woman’s words clearly indicated a marriage with ‘love’.

Something I can’t give her.

Something I can’t do no matter how hard I try.

“What right do I have to talk about love?”

The thought of having to continue those damn blind dates made his head throb.

He felt thirsty.

Roughly running his hand through his bangs and letting out a long sigh, Sun Woo got up and headed to the kitchen.

As Sun Woo was walking towards the kitchen, his foot caught on something. He looked down to see what it was.

It was a keychain with a palm-sized brown bear attached.

Sun Woo bent down to pick up the object and quietly examined the keychain. It was undoubtedly a familiar item he had seen somewhere before.

“Where have I seen this?”

The number of people who came to Sun Woo’s house was extremely limited. Sun Woo’s mother, or the housekeeper from his family home who brought side dishes every day.

And that woman.

After fiddling with the keychain for a while standing there, Sun Woo placed it on the dining table and draped his jacket over his shoulders.

It was the start of a weary day.