That was how I ended up going out to lunch with Park Soyeon.
It was better to go out than stay at home. Being alone with her inside the apartment made me uncomfortably aware of things—especially because of the way Soyeon was dressed.
Since she was still a college student, her fashion sense was carefree. A thin T-shirt and extremely short denim shorts. Simple, yet stylish—perfectly showing off her lively charm.
Even if she had no such intention, it was honestly hard to look at. Her pale thighs stood out too much. Nowhere to rest my eyes was the perfect description.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Anything's fine!"
She answered instantly as she hopped into the passenger seat after I asked from the driver's side.
Anything.
There was no menu more difficult than that.
When I was dating Sojeong, I always prepared the meals. I knew all the good restaurants by heart, and if a place was famous—even if it was far—I'd already been there. I always catered to Sojeong's taste, to the point where I could count on one hand the times I ate what I wanted.
Looking back, it was foolish.
I'd thought giving everything—my pride included—was what love meant. A textbook case of a subordinate relationship. I hadn't known she'd turn her back on me so easily, no matter how much I did.
But now was different.
I had no intention of being dragged around by someone else again.
If Soyeon had come expecting to be treated the same way as her sister, I was fully prepared to disappoint her.
"Then how about gukbap?"
"…Gukbap?"
I'd never gone to a gukbap place even once while dating Sojeong. We always went to stylish, atmospheric restaurants.
She probably hadn't even eaten gukbap before. Given the kind of family she grew up in, that seemed likely.
Her younger sister Soyeon was probably the same. A sheltered young lady like her didn't seem like someone who'd eat gukbap.
After all that effort to meet me, suggesting something like that would surely disappoint her.
That was exactly why I chose it.
But—
"Sure! Gukbap sounds great! Let's go eat gukbap, oppa!"
She welcomed it enthusiastically.
That bright smile didn't look fake at all.
"…Are you sure? Have you even eaten gukbap before?"
"Nope."
Just as I thought.
Then why was she so excited?
"Girls don't usually go to places like that together. If it's not with you, when would I ever get to eat gukbap?"
"…Hmm."
Things weren't going according to plan.
I never expected her to be this happy about it.
Well, whatever.
Let's just go. Once she sees the place and smells the food, she might change her mind.
I drove us to a gukbap restaurant—one of the more famous ones in the area. As soon as we reached the nearby parking lot, the rich aroma of boiled meat filled the air.
"Wow. So this is a gukbap place."
Park Soyeon, a refined-looking girl, felt completely out of place against the rough backdrop of a gukbap restaurant.
But she didn't care at all.
She walked right in, picked a table, and sat down without hesitation.
Like a country bumpkin who'd just arrived in the city, she looked around the restaurant with wide eyes. Everything seemed fascinating to her.
Sitting across from her, I ordered two bowls of pork gukbap—the standard menu.
"Hehe. Thanks for the meal, oppa."
She neatly set up her utensils.
Her face was the spitting image of her sister's, but in this regard she was completely different. Her sister wouldn't even lift a finger.
"Are you really okay with this?"
"With what?"
"The smell. Is it okay?"
"It smells delicious."
"If you can't eat it, tell me. Don't force yourself."
"Oh, come on. What do you take me for—a princess? You're so overprotective."
She laughed cheerfully.
She blended into the unlikely setting far too well.
Tch… this is bad.
"Your food is ready."
"Whoa."
The gukbap arrived, still bubbling in the stone pot. Soyeon's eyes widened in fascination, and she quickly brought her spoon toward it.
"Thank you for the food!"
"Wait!"
I stopped her just as she was about to scoop up the broth.
Before eating gukbap, there was a ritual.
"You've got to add radish kimchi juice. That's how it tastes best."
I generously poured kkakdugi juice into her gukbap—two chunks of radish even fell in.
Heh. How about that?
This was the infamous kkakdugi-juice offense that young people supposedly hated so much.
Park Soyeon, representative of the younger generation—could you really endure this?
But she did something completely unexpected.
"Oh! Then you too, oppa."
"…W-Wait—!"
She poured the remaining kkakdugi juice into my gukbap as well.
The pale broth instantly turned a sinister red.
"Hehe."
And the worst part?
There wasn't a shred of malice in it.
She had no idea how bold an act she'd committed—or that she'd just suffered one herself.
A pure embodiment of innocent evil.
"My heart's kind of fluttering. It feels like we've become the kind of people who share kkakdugi juice together…"
She smiled shyly.
I had no idea how I was supposed to take that.
People who share kkakdugi juice?
What kind of relationship was that supposed to be?
I never agreed to this.
You really are beyond my expectations.
"…Ha."
I lost.
Utter defeat.
This was supposed to make her get sick of me and back off on her own—but it failed completely.
I gave up on pointless resistance and quietly focused on eating.
"Hot! Hoo, hoo!"
Soyeon blew on her spoonful of gukbap after copying me.
The sight was innocent—maybe even funny.
At the very least, it was something I'd never seen when I was with her sister.
"…So? How is it?"
"Mmm, it's good! A totally new taste!"
"I see…"
A totally new taste.
She came all this way to see me, and all I did was feed her gukbap.
Suddenly, I felt like a terrible person.
Which, to be fair, I kind of was.
"Oppa, you worry too much. If you're going to stress like that, you shouldn't have brought me here in the first place!"
As if she'd read my mind, Soyeon said cheerfully.
"Oppa. For women, it's not about what you eat. It's about who you eat with."
As she spoke, she placed a piece of kkakdugi onto my spoon.
"When you're eating with someone you like, everything tastes good—no matter what it is."
Someone you like…
I didn't know what she meant by that.
But the person who came to mind was her sister—Sojeong.
Sojeong had been extremely picky about food. Even at great restaurants, she rarely said anything tasted good.
Maybe it wasn't that the food was bad.
Maybe she just didn't enjoy eating with me.
"…You're right. When you're with someone you like, everything tastes better."
"Right?"
Seeing Soyeon beam, I couldn't help but smile back.
At the very moment Park Soyeon was pouring kkakdugi juice into Kang Suhyeok's gukbap—
Her sister, Park Sojeong, was at a gathering with her friends.
The group had been meeting since their college days—nearly ten years now.
Women of similar age, background, and neighborhood still found time each month to meet face to face.
Some were already married. Some were about to be.
Park Sojeong belonged to the latter.
And the main topic of these gatherings was always the same: husbands or boyfriends.
Criticizing them while subtly showing off was practically the group's purpose.
"Isn't Sojeong late today? Guess her boyfriend didn't walk her here."
Even in long-standing groups, not everyone was close.
There were members who always engaged in subtle power struggles with Sojeong.
"Didn't you hear? She broke up with her boyfriend."
"What? Really? Why?"
At that, the topic instantly shifted.
Sojeong sipped her coffee calmly and replied,
"Nothing special. We'd been together a long time, and it was about time to think about marriage."
Meaning: he was fine as a boyfriend, but lacking as a husband.
Some of the others felt a twist in their stomachs at her self-assured tone, though they didn't show it.
"Still, that's a shame. He seemed like a pretty decent guy."
"A shame? She already switched to a doctor boyfriend. A famous plastic surgery clinic's vice director in Cheongdam."
The atmosphere heated up.
"Seriously?! Then no wonder she dumped him!"
"That's so Park Sojeong."
"So what—vice director? The director's son?"
"Does that mean Sojeong's going to be the wife of a Cheongdam clinic director?"
The friends buzzed excitedly.
Sojeong replied coolly,
"I don't know yet. The director's still very healthy."
"My god. I'm so jealous. Why don't connections like that ever come to me?"
"Well, you have to be Park Sojeong to land a vice-director husband."
"What's wrong with me?"
Amid the chatter, one friend cautiously spoke up.
"But Sojeong… I asked someone."
She was already married—to a much older man with excellent conditions—so it wasn't strange that she had doctor acquaintances.
But what followed was shocking.
"The man you mentioned… he's not a doctor."
"What? You mean plastic surgeons aren't doctors or something?"
"That's not it. He's not a doctor at all. They just gave him the title of vice director."
"What are you talking about?"
"Something like 'planning vice director'? I don't know the exact title. Basically, he doesn't do anything at the hospital."
"Is that even possible?"
Sojeong listened calmly, but inside her head, lightning struck.
All she really knew about the man was that he was the hospital director's son—and that he was a vice director.
His business card had a photo of him in a doctor's coat.
The title simply said Vice Director.
She'd never even asked if he was a doctor. It felt too unsophisticated to ask.
She'd assumed it.
Even when money came up, he'd only talked about the hospital's revenue—like it was his own income.
She'd never heard how much he actually earned.
"And they say the director's son-in-law handles all the hospital operations now. The hospital's going to him."
"Then what about Sojeong?"
Everyone's eyes turned to her.
If this was true, she'd practically been scammed into a marriage.
Sojeong shrugged as if it were nothing.
"I'll just check. If it's true, I'll break up with him. Meeting another man will be annoying, though."
But unlike her words, her hand trembled as she set her coffee cup down.
And everyone saw it.
"Well… it's not like Sojeong can't meet another man anytime she wants."
"And her ex-boyfriend would come running the moment she calls, right? Heehee."
They laughed, saying things they didn't mean.
At the corners of their mouths was a faint, mocking smile.
Seeing that, Sojeong pressed her thigh hard beneath the table, holding back the rising nausea.