Runner-up's Revenge

“Dowon, are you awake?”

When did I fall asleep? As soon as he heard Hana’s voice, Dowon felt his breath catch and his eyes snapped open.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in Hana’s bed, and the entire house was already tidied up. Hana, who had been bustling around in the kitchen, quickly blocked the counter with her back and averted her gaze.

“Don’t look yet, Dowon.”

Hana was flustered, trying to hide what she had been making in the kitchen. Dowon hurriedly got up and made his way to the kitchen, remembering what she’d been like yesterday.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, I said you can’t!”

Worried that she might have cut her arm with a kitchen knife, Dowon anxiously grabbed both of Hana’s shoulders and checked behind her. Fortunately, there was no injury in sight. Instead, there was a cheesecake.

“…What’s this?”

“I told you not to look. It’s ruined…” Hana pouted and gently pushed Dowon away. He had to admit, the cheesecake behind her back was a cheesecake in shape only, looking deflated and dry.

“I tried a no-bake recipe, but it didn’t work out well…”

“…Were you craving cheesecake?”

Dowon was relieved. The Hana he’d seen yesterday must have simply been the result of her medication wearing off. Now, standing right before his eyes was today’s Hana, who had found enough strength to look up recipes, cook, and even clean the house.

“Should I go out and get one?” he offered, smiling.

“It wasn’t that I wanted to eat it, I was trying to make it for you, Dowon.”

“Huh?”

“You like cheesecake, don’t you?”

Hana seemed to ponder for a moment, then grabbed Dowon’s hand and pulled it toward her. She then placed that hand over Dowon’s eyes. He stood there, his own hand over his eyes, perplexed.

“If you keep your eyes covered, I’ll try to make it again,” Hana said. “I’ll be quick.”

“How long is ‘quick’?”

“…30 minutes?”

“Are you sure it’ll only take 30 minutes?”

He dutifully continued to shield his eyes, though he was unsure if Hana was just quietly staring at him, or trying to say something.

Carefully, she finally spoke. “About yesterday, I… I’m sorry.”

Hana covered Dowon’s free hand with her own.

“It won’t happen again. We promised not to die, and to take care of ourselves, remember?”

He did remember. He recalled how they had reassured each other with those words during very difficult times, when they were each other’s only comfort. Hana gently pulled Dowon’s other hand away, allowing him to open his eyes.

As he blinked Hana’s face into focus, Dowon’s memory was filled with those old conversations. They brought him back to how he felt then. Dowon liked Hana so much, so very much, that he would have felt lost without her. He thought it would be too lonely and painful for someone as kind and good as Hana to be shunned by the world and die by her own hand as a result.

Even now, Dowon liked Hana. No one understood and comforted him like she did. When he looked at Hana, he felt the urge to protect her. She was slightly shorter than him with a much smaller build. She always seemed so fragile.

“So this is my apology,” Hana finished. “Just wait 30 minutes, okay?”

“Alright,” he agreed. “Then I’ll just sit over there.”

Hana rolled up her sleeves once more, steeling herself with renewed determination. Watching her cute figure from behind, Dowon sat back down on the edge of Hana’s bed.

Everything was settled. The next step was to apologize to Dahye. Despite what had happened with Hana, it was all sorted out now, and he needed to let Dahye know that Hana was okay. Surprisingly, Dahye picked up the phone quickly.

“…Hello?” Dowon said, inwardly relieved that she didn’t seem too angry yet.

“Hello.”

“Dahye, I’m really sorry about earlier. For suddenly leaving...”

“What happened, exactly?” Dahye asked, pressing a little. She must have been so confused and uncertain what to do. Dowon could understand why—he would have felt the same way in her shoes. He tried to choose his words carefully.

“So, when I got that call… Hana…”

Suddenly, Hana, who had been sifting flour, quietly approached and stood next to Dowon. Glancing at Hana’s face from the corner of his eye, Dowon opened his mouth but his voice trailed off. Only a muffled sound came out.

“…Hana. Wait a moment. Hana—”

Dowon’s mouth was prevented from continuing any further when Hana’s lips crashed into his. Hana held Dowon’s face and pulled him closer to her. The kiss was lingering, and the sound of it likely seeped through to Dahye on the other end of the line.

Dowon tried to push Hana’s shoulders away in confusion, but the result was just more noise. No matter how much he tried to pull away, Hana held her lips tightly against his. Now, she even pushed Dowon onto her bed, cornering him against the wall.

“Hana, wait, I’m on the phone, Hana!”

He realized he should just hang up. Squeezing his eyes shut and pushing Hana away, he looked at his phone.

The call had already ended.

***

“Hana, wait a moment—”

Did I pick up a phone call just now, or did I access a porn site? Dahye frowned at the blatant sound of kissing as it leaked from the phone.

This fucking bastard.

Despite his apology, Dowon and Hana were clearly kissing during the call. Did he call thinking offhandedly, “Oops, I left Dahye behind” while flirting with Hana? Or did he plan this as a surprise event, using Dahye as some thrilling obstacle for Hana?

Was he thinking something like, “It’s so much more exciting to kiss with Dahye on the line”? Dahye wanted to smash her phone with her fist.

“Fuck…”

Still, maybe she heard wrong, maybe he’d apologize, maybe Hana was just being erratic and would stop if told to. But as the seconds ticked by, the kissing sounds coming through the speaker grew more intense.

Dahye finally hung up.

“…Should I really kill him?”

Dahye felt that all her conversations and calls with Dowon so far had been in vain. No, it was beyond that. She felt like all her time, emotions, and past had been thrown into a trash can.

It felt foolish to have thought, even for a moment, that she could enjoy her time with Dowon. Dahye recalled the previous night, when they drank together.

She remembered the brief moments of laughter that never seemed to stop as she talked with Dowon, followed by the long, lonely wait after he suddenly rushed out. She remembered the endless beers she ordered and the constant refreshing of her messaging app, hoping for a reply.

Now, not a single happy memory came to mind. It was fucking awful.

“Fuck, you really are a son of a bitch!”

She pounded the table with her fist. She wanted to kill him. How stupid did he think she was, if he felt it was acceptable for him to act this way? She knew Hana was his priority over her. But that didn’t mean he could treat Dahye like this.

Abandoning her mid-conversation, kissing Hana even while apologizing… Dahye had hoped, even if just for a moment, that Dowon would explain this newest interruption was also Hana’s doing as she listened to the wordless call.

It made her feel both ashamed and angry.

“I thought you’d changed. I thought you’d changed, Dowon Lee.”

She glared at her phone screen. She thought Dowon had grown with everything he’d been through, unlike the Dowon she knew in high school. As Dahye and Dowon had said themselves just last night, high school was a long time ago.

Because of that, she thought they had changed, and they could become close friends now, leaving the past in the past.

But a person’s true nature doesn’t change. The arrogant, despicable side of Dowon—the one who toyed with people’s feelings, mocked them, and believed nothing was more important than himself—hadn’t changed at all.

He had just been in a difficult situation for a while, borrowed money, and had his pride hurt, yet inside, he was still looking down on Dahye and thinking of her as a fool.

“I’m the idiot.”

Dahye regretted tormenting Dowon, apologized, comforted him through difficult times, lent him money without asking for interest, waited alone in a bar in case something happened, waited for an apology call, and even quietly listened to the sound of a kiss, in case he wanted to explain.

“I’m going to kill him!”

Dahye screamed at the ceiling. She punched her pillow and swept everything off the table. No matter how many things she broke or hit, her anger wouldn’t subside. It felt like only killing Dowon would resolve this.

Physically or socially.

***

Regardless of the seemingly unending turmoil he’d experienced over the last 24 hours, Dowon still had to go to work. With a heavy heart, Dowon headed to the factory. Once again, he moved items on the container belt, attached stickers, and inspected defective products.

He kept fumbling with the items or failing to inspect defects, unable to concentrate on this work. Nevertheless, his coworkers didn’t scold him. He obviously looked like he was going through some serious shit.

As lunchtime approached, Dowon quickly grabbed a coffee from the free vending machine in lieu of an actual lunch. Then, he immediately ran to a deserted corner outside the building with his remaining time. Perhaps because it was right after lunch, there were no smokers lurking nearby, nor anyone else in sight.

“…He—hello. Dahye. Dahye, I’m sorry. Look, last night, I—”

Not only had he left Dahye alone, but he had also ruined his first attempted call with that mortifying kiss. He thought Dahye might explode with rage at any moment.

And she should. Dowon felt it would be easier if Dahye just yelled at him.

However, Dahye answered in a very calm voice. “It’s okay.”

Dowon paused in confusion. “…Huh? No, Dahye. I’m sorry—”

“No, it’s really okay. These things happen.”

Was it really okay? Dahye was answering in a truly complacent voice, making him wonder if it had been unfair to assume she’d yell.

“You two are dating and living together. So, of course, these things can happen.”

It certainly wasn’t something that just regularly happened. Dowon’s heart grew even more uneasy.

“Still, Dahye, that—”

“It’s really okay. Actually, I had something to ask you anyway, so I’m glad you called.”

In one fell swoop, Dahye ended his efforts to apologize.

Without hesitation, she continued, “Can you pay back the money soon? Now, if possible.”

Dowon’s heart sank to his feet. When he couldn’t get his voice to obey him, Dahye spoke again in a light tone.

“Something came up and I need the money. I don’t need any interest, so just return the 3 million won.”

“…Da—Dahye.”

Although he had been saving diligently, there was no way he could come up with 3 million immediately. Half of what he earned was being saved, and the other half was going towards his mother’s hospital bills. Dowon stuttered as he clutched his phone with both hands.

Even though she couldn’t see him, he wanted to show Dahye how desperate he was.

“Da—Dahye. I’m really sorry. I’m really, really sorry, but I don’t have the money right now…”

“Oh, really?”

“You know I don’t. My mom’s hospital bills keep piling up, it’s hard to save money…”

Dahye hummed thoughtfully, trailing off as if deep in thought. Dowon, still gripping his phone tightly with both hands, went on.

“I’ll pay you back really soon. I’ll try to save up as quickly as I can. So can you please give me some time? Is it really that urgent?”

“Hmm… well.”

“I’m still working—I’m even at work right now,” he said desperately. “How about if I give you half right away?”

He could manage half. It would make him worry about his living expenses, but he thought this was the right thing to do if it was necessary.

After a brief moment of silence, she finally responded. “Like I actually care about you.”

Dowon’s heart stopped. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Did you seriously think I ever cared?” she sneered. “Get the money back to me, I don’t care how you do it.”