Shattered Illusions

One evening, Soojin returns home from work to find Minjae, who usually eagerly awaits her, missing. Initially assuming he had gone out, her concern grows as the hours pass without a word from him. Calls and messages go unanswered, stoking a fear that something is terribly wrong. Sleepless and anxious, Soojin reaches out to Minjae's closest friend, only to discover he too is unaware of Min-jae's whereabouts.

  The next morning felt surreal. Soojin barely recognized herself in the bathroom mirror, her eyes swollen and red from a night spent tossing and turning. The uncertainty gnawed at her, a relentless force that refused to let her rest. Minjae had never been out of touch for this long, and the silence was suffocating.

 When she saw thirty missed calls from Michi, her heart skipped a beat. Her hands shook as she frantically dialled back, desperate for answers.

 “Turn on the news, Soojin,” Michi urged, her voice thick with something Soojin couldn’t quite place—fear, perhaps, or disbelief.

 Soojin’s breath caught in her throat as the broadcast flickered to life. The words on the screen were like a punch to the gut: Park Minjae, Grandson of Nation’s Wealthiest Man Revealed. The room seemed to spin around her as she tried to process what she was seeing. Minjae—the Minjae she thought she knew—was a chaebol heir, a man who had been living a double life, unbeknownst to her.

 She didn’t wait. The moment her shock wore off, she bolted out the door and ran to Michi’s apartment. Her legs felt heavy, as though the weight of this new reality was dragging her down. By the time she arrived, her emotions were a tangled mess of confusion, hurt, and fear.

 When Michi opened the door, her eyes were filled with concern. “You look like a dead fish, lady,” she said, her attempt at humor falling flat. The gravity of the situation was too overwhelming for either of them to find comfort in jokes.

 Soojin sank into the nearest chair, her mind racing. She was too numb to cry, too shocked to think clearly. All she could do was wait for someone, anyone, to make sense of this madness.

 Michi sat down beside her, her brow furrowed in thought. “One thing is bothering me... Why so suddenly? I mean, his identity as an heir... It’s been hidden all this time. Why reveal it now?”

 Soojin shook her head, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know if I was betrayed by my lover or if, now that he has become an heir to the business empire, he is facing some difficulty contacting me. Either way, it doesn’t feel like Minjae.”

 Michi’s eyes softened with sympathy, but her words were cautious. “Well, I can’t say for sure, but we belong to a very middle-class family. It’s better not to get involved with those chaebols. Their world is... complicated, Soojin.”

 The statement hit Soojin like a cold wave. Michi was voicing a fear she hadn’t dared to consider—that Minjae’s newfound status meant he was now out of her reach. “So, are you indirectly telling me to forget Minjae?” she asked, her voice trembling with a mix of hurt and disbelief.

 Michi sighed, her expression serious. “Yes. Even if he was forced to take his position, isn’t this good for him? He’s secured a future most can only dream of. We have no power or money even if we want to help him. What can we do against people like that?”

 But Soojin’s resolve only hardened. “I have to meet him at least once and ask him directly. Six years is not a joke, Michi. I know he may have been forced to sever ties with me. He wouldn’t just disappear without a reason.”

 Michi gave her a small, wry smile. “You are stubborn as hell, but that’s why I like you, my friend.”

 However, the problem loomed large. How could Soojin, an ordinary woman from a middle-class family, hope to meet a man who had suddenly become one of the most talked-about figures in the country? Minjae was no longer just the person she had spent her evenings with; he was now a celebrity, surrounded by wealth and power, his life dictated by forces she couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

 “How are we going to reach him?” Michi asked, voicing the question that weighed heavily on both their minds. “It’s not like we can just walk up to him anymore. He’s probably surrounded by bodyguards, handlers, and who knows what else.”

 Soojin’s heart sank at the thought, but she refused to give in to despair. “There has to be a way, Michi. I don’t care how many obstacles are in my way—I’m going to find him. I need to hear from him what’s really going on.”

 Michi nodded, her expression serious. “Alright, Soojin. If you’re set on this, then we’ll figure something out. But we need to be smart about it. We can’t just charge in without a plan.”

 Soojin agreed, but the fear of losing Minjae forever gnawed at her insides. Their world had changed overnight, and the path ahead was uncertain. But one thing was clear to her: she wouldn’t rest until she found Minjae and got the answers she needed. No matter how daunting the challenge, she was ready to fight for the truth—and for the man she loved.