7 AM, November 2013, Damyang
Seong-ah swung open her bedroom door, only to be surprised by the presence of Kim Haneul in her house. He sat comfortably with her parents, engaged in laughter and gossip about Seong-ah. Irritation crept over her as his absurd behavior contradicted the days of his recent avoidance.
"Why are you here?" she inquired with an irritated tone.
"Because you called me!" Haneul teased, a mischievous grin on his face.
"Shut up! Get lost!" Seong-ah retorted, raising her voice.
Seong-ah's mother intervened, "Seong-ah! Haneul is here to meet you due to your absence from lectures and to give you the notes! Is this how you behave with your friend?"
Seong-ah remained silent but shot an angry look at Haneul, who continued to smile.
"You were the one who ignored me! Why do you even care if I get the notes or not?" she retorted, tapping his head playfully.
Haneul playfully brushed off her hand, laughing over her childish behavior. Since their childhood, he cherished this immature and cheerful side of Seong-ah. He envisioned a future where they'd be together, a cop and a journalist, a perfect match.
"Stop staring at me like that! I don't like it!" Seong-ah shouted.
Haneul and her parents laughed as she stormed into her bedroom to get ready for university.
An hour later, Haneul and Seong-ah strolled together into the college entrance, reminiscing about their past few days.
"It's almost time for my lecture, Haneul. See you at the lunch break!" Seong-ah punched his shoulder lightly.
"Ahhh... No... I have other plans," Haneul said, scratching his head.
"Hey... You haven't had lunch with me in two months! What's happening? Got a girlfriend or something?" Seong-ah asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes and tightening her grip on his shoulder.
"No! I just have something to do, Seong-ah! We have a group study discussion during lunch..." Haneul lied, avoiding eye contact.
Seong-ah sensed the lie but decided to investigate further. "Oh... okay..."
Haneul walked inside the gate, and Seong-ah followed closely behind.
During lunchtime, Seong-ah, without informing Haneul, went to the cafeteria to check what he was up to. She sat at their usual table in the corner, keeping an eye on the spot that remained empty until then.
Her alarm grew as Haneul walked in with an unfamiliar person dressed in all black. She couldn't discern the guy's identity as a black cap covered half of his face.
"Who is that? Have I seen him before? Not anyone from our school group for sure," Seong-ah wondered, keeping a close eye on them. Haneul took out a lunchbox and offered it to the mysterious figure. Seong-ah, unable to contain her curiosity, stood up and walked over.
"You got a new friend, I see..." she remarked, rolling her eyes while grabbing Haneul's shirt collar.
Haneul was shocked to be caught by Seong-ah. He turned his chair across, shielding his friend.
"What the hell, Kim Haneul? Now you want to hide him??? Is he your hidden boyfriend?" Seong-ah started hitting Haneul's back, and he defended himself with his hands. The unknown guy silently stood up and walked away without uttering a word.
"Hangyul!!! Wait!" Haneul called after him, leaving Seong-ah in utter confusion.
"Hangyul?" she muttered as she saw her childhood friend running with a lunchbox behind his new acquaintance.
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Seong-ah woke up, having dozed off at her study desk in her Seoul apartment.
"Did I just hear 'Hangyul' in my dream?" Seong-ah murmured as she rubbed her eyes. "This investigation is taking a toll on my sleep routine... Ahhhhh..."
Her phone rang continuously on the table beside her. She turned her chair, answering the call.
"Yeah, I'm coming down in 15 minutes," Seong-ah yawned into the phone. The call was from Jung Bomin. They were supposed to leave for Damyang early in the morning.
Seong-ah descended the stairs of her apartment to find Bomin waiting with his motorcycle, wearing a helmet.
"Are you crazy? Why did you bring the bike? I'm sure you have countless cars at your house!" Seong-ah was surprised to see Bomin on a bike.
"I can't bring those cars, noona! My dad's assistant keeps track of his cars and drivers! This bike is my sole asset," Bomin explained, handing her a helmet.
"So you saved money from this job and bought such an expensive bike? Such a stupid jerk!" she retorted, kicking Bomin's leg with hers after wearing the helmet.
Bomin chuckled mischievously and started the bike as Seong-ah sat behind, riding out of the apartment parking area.
Two hours later, they reached Damyang market. Bomin pulled the brakes abruptly, executing a 360-degree turn to bring the bike to a halt.
Seong-ah got down and sat on the ground, legs stretched forward. She removed the helmet and threw it away, breathing heavily.
"Hya! We weren't on a racecourse! We were on the road!" Seong-ah scolded, throwing the helmet towards Bomin, who caught it effortlessly.
"You told me to speed up to reach Damyang as early as possible... what could I do?" he innocently remarked.
Seong-ah lightly slapped his cheek. "Don't show me that face!"
They walked through the market and reached the boys' dormitory building where all the male students from Damyang University stayed. Seong-ah called Professor Sungtae to confirm details about Lee Hangyul.
"Are you sure Hangyul lived here? Only students from the university are allowed," Seong-ah inquired.
"I've dug up some information on Hangyul. I'm damn sure he studied at the same university as yours," Professor Sungtae replied from Seoul.
"Okay," Seong-ah ended the call, puzzled. Bomin went into the dormitory office to inquire about Lee Hangyul, while Seong-ah stayed behind to avoid revealing her identity to the dormitory rector.
A few minutes later, Bomin returned with a serious expression. "Seong-ah noona, are you sure you don't know Lee Hangyul?"
Seong-ah, who had been leaning on his bike, was startled by the unexpected question. "Why? What did they say?"
"What year did you graduate?" Bomin inquired.
"2013."
"He was in the same batch, fine arts department," Bomin revealed the information he had gathered.
Seong-ah couldn't believe her ears. The person she had been trying to find for years was so close yet so far, someone she might have crossed paths with a decade ago.
"Wait... give me a moment, Bomin," Seong-ah said, walking away in denial, trying to process the information. Bomin followed her.
"Am I forgetting something? Think, Seong-ah... think... why can't I remember him?" Seong-ah muttered to herself while walking towards the university.
She and Bomin almost reached the main gate when a black SUV passed across them and stopped near the gate. Seong-ah recognized the car; it belonged to Kim Haneul. Something stirred up in her mind as the missing pieces of her memory were coming together.
Haneul exited the car, and the door beside the driver's seat opened. Seong-ah was taken aback to see Lee Hangyul stepping out, exchanging smiles with Haneul.
"Bomin... I'm about to do something risky. You must intervene if I go too far," Seong-ah declared firmly, her breath held, and fists clenched. Jung Bomin, too apprehensive to speak, understood that his senior was on the verge of a bold move.
With determined strides, Seong-ah approached the two men standing at a distance, her face clouded with years of pent-up anger. Reaching Haneul, who was engrossed in conversation with Lee Hangyul, Seong-ah tapped on his shoulder. As he turned around, the smile on his face met with a forceful punch, swinging his head in the opposite direction.
"Yoon Seong-ah!" Lee Hangyul exclaimed, perplexed by the unfolding situation. Seong-ah seized Haneul's shirt collar, pulling him forcefully.
"Am I pathetic? Do I appear pathetic to you? How many times will you betray me, Kim Haneul?" Seong-ah screamed, her frustration pouring out. Haneul, silent and apologetic, bore the consequences with a bleeding lip. Tears welled up in Seong-ah's eyes as she confronted the painful truth.
"You knew him! You fucking knew him for the entire decade while I struggled to find him! He was right under my nose, and I searched blindly! Do you feel any remorse? MY PARENTS DIED !! KIM HANEUL!! THEY DIED!!! and you knew the primary suspect all along!" Seong-ah continued her tirade, fueled by grief and betrayal.
Kim Haneul's silence further agitated Seong-ah. She raised her hand once more, ready to strike, but Bomin intervened, pulling her hand back.
"Noona!! That's enough! He's a cop, and you're a journalist. It will tarnish CBS network's image," Bomin pleaded, attempting to quell Seong-ah's anger. Stepping back, she locked eyes with Bomin, while Haneul kept his gaze fixed on the ground. Lee Hangyul stood there, bewildered.
Three lives met at the most crucial intersection of their lives, facing each other again after a decade of inner struggles, resentment, and regret.
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12 AM, Mayor's Residence, Seoul.
Moonlight permeated the dark, vacant room through the windows. Nestled in the corner of the third floor of the mansion, the room maintained an eerie silence, disrupted only by the echo of breathing. A shadowy figure occupied a wooden chair at the room's center. As the moonlight focused on the chair, it acted like a spotlight, revealing the face of the person seated to the one standing before them.
Kang Chaewon, her eyes reflecting fear, confronted the individual who had been silently observing her for the past five minutes. Her already pale face grew even paler as she avoided making direct eye contact. With trepidation, she approached, holding out a brown envelope.
Accepting the envelope, the mysterious figure opened it and extracted two photographs—one of Yoon Seong-ah and the other of Lee Hangyul.
"I'm exerting every effort to silence them. Don't worry about Lee Hangyul; he won't remember anything. As for Yoon Seong-ah..." Chaewon's explanation faltered.
The person in the chair raised a hand, silencing Chaewon immediately. She stood in quiet anticipation until the doors closed behind the mysterious figure. Slowly, they approached Chaewon, handing her another envelope before disappearing into the shadows.
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Next morning, 10 AM, Damyang.
Jung Bomin entered Seong-ah's room with a coffee mug in hand. She sat on the bed, leaning over the headrest, her eyes fixed on the ceiling adorned with fluorescent galaxy stickers.
"Hmm... your black coffee..." Bomin presented the mug before Seong-ah's face. Unfazed, her gaze remained fixed on the ceiling as she shared, "My dad was such an enthusiastic person... he meticulously placed those stars on the ceiling with his own hands. It was for his 10-year-old daughter who wanted to sleep beneath a starlit sky every night... He was even more delighted than me when he surprised me at night..."
Seong-ah delved into her childhood memories. It marked the first time Bomin witnessed this softer side of Seong-ah. Always perceived as a fierce, straightforward, and pragmatic journalist, she seemed to be shedding the walls around her after stepping into her old house amidst the bamboo forest.
"Noona, your parents raised you well... they would've been immensely proud to see their daughter as a senior reporter today," Bomin consoled her, placing the mug aside on the table.
Seong-ah smiled, but her smile carried a melancholic undertone. She pitied herself for being deceived by destiny at every point in her life. Tears welled up in her eyes, "Ahh... God must really hate me... leaving me isolated in this world, navigating a life where trust is a luxury I cannot afford... not even with my childhood friend..." She laughed bitterly at herself.
Bomin knew it—Seong-ah trusted no one. She had utilized everyone in her career to ascend the ruthless journalism ladder. Branded as the bitch who backstabbed her seniors, Yoon Seong-ah was power-hungry, with her quest for power fueled by the need for revenge for her parents' murder.
"Noona, please drink this coffee; we have to attend your mother's orphanage by 11 AM," Bomin said, leaving the bedroom. Seong-ah stepped down from the bed and entered the bathroom for a shower.
They arrived at the Myeongdo orphanage for visually challenged children, founded by Kim Hana, Seong-ah's mother. Seong-ah alighted from Bomin's motorbike and entered the small two-story building. The ground outside was empty as a study hour was in progress. Seong-ah and Bomin ascended the stairs toward the office, where a group of people stood clapping and cheering.
"Are you celebrating something?" Seong-ah inquired of a person in the crowd.
"Of course! It's a joyous day to celebrate! Myeongdo orphanage has received a significant charity after so many years!" The person radiated joy.
Bomin whispered into Seong-ah's ear, "A charity? Is that Kang Chaewon again?"
Seong-ah took a deep breath, composed herself, and entered the office with determined steps.
A tall man in his late twenties, clad in a grey Dior suit, stood holding a cheque. He handed it over to the current chairman of Myeongdo foundation. Applause and gratitude filled the room as people blessed him for his benevolence towards the blind children.
Suddenly, the chairman noticed Seong-ah standing near the door. "Yoon Seong-ah?! When did you arrive? Come here quickly!" She was almost dragged toward the center of the office.
"You should receive this charity! After all, this orphanage and foundation exist because of your mother, Kim Hana," the chairman insisted, positioning Seong-ah beside the man presenting the cheque. Seong-ah, puzzled, accepted the cheque. Reading the amount, "two hundred million won... Hong Siwoo..." Seong-ah looked up at him with confusion. Hong Siwoo smiled warmly, extending his hand for a shake.
"Hello, I'm Hong Siwoo, CEO of BlueChip Investments. Nice to meet you, Miss Yoon Seong-ah."
That bright, warm smile marked the calm before the storm—the tempest that would unravel the masks of friendships, promises, and regrets entwining the three lives.