Ji-won’s eyelids slowly opened, and he found himself laying down on the couch. Across from him was a lady who appeared somewhat familiar; he was still quite drunk to think clearly about where they’d met.

He got up slowly and was greeted by a painful headache. He felt numbness in his cheeks but didn’t really remember why.

The lady across from him seemed a bit guilty; her head was lowered as she sneaked glances at him. She didn’t exactly look confident, fidgeting with her thumbs in silence until he spoke first.

“Well, who are you?” His throat was quite dry; he sounded cranky. He tilted his head as it rang, squeezed his eyes shut, then reopened them as his vision was quite blurry.

“I am your new neighbor, Kang Hae-in. My little sister came by this morning—”

He cut her off. “Ahh… the rice cakes?”

“Yes, yes… rice cakes.” She smiled awkwardly.

“Okay… and how did you end up here… inside my house?”

“Oh, that… my sister saw the smoke from your window, and then I thought there was a fire.”

Ji-won stared at the shattered glass on the floor.

“So… you broke the window.” He wasn’t really questioning it at that point; it was a statement.

“Yeah… there was no other way to get in, you see.”

“Why didn’t you just call 112?”

“You’re right… but they might have taken too long. By then I thought—”

“—That I’d already be dead?” He stared down at his wine-stained pajamas.

“Yeah…”

Ji-won was a bit stunned by how reckless—and dumb—she was.

He reached for his phone and called his secretary. He was too drunk to deal with this mess on a weekend, but his secretary always worked overtime anyway.

Joon-ho arrived in exactly ten minutes and rushed inside.

“I never knew the spare key would come in handy,” Joon-ho said before turning to look at the situation in the living room.

There was Ji-won, sitting on the couch with wine spilled all over him, a strange woman, and a broken window.

He took a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say.

“You have a girlfriend?”

“What? No.” Ji-won said in disbelief.

“Oh my god, don’t tell me before you even date—”

“Stop. It’s not like that.” Ji-won staggered over to shut Joon-ho’s mouth and explained what had happened to him.

Joon-ho took a quick look around—the overflowing ashtray, the disgusting smell of cigarettes, the wine bottle—and although disappointed, he quietly started cleaning everything up while reassuring Ji-won.

“Go get changed and take a shower while I clean up. Let’s go somewhere after you’re finished.” Then he stared back at Hae-in.

“Ma’am, don’t worry about what happened here today, we’ll take care of the window repairs too—”

“Wait, no, I have plenty of money too, I’ll compensate for the window. I know, I overreacted a bit.”

“No, not at all. Your concern was reasonable. I’m glad that my boss has a reliable neighbor next door.”

And then I walked back home. I didn’t know where things went wrong. I felt guilty, but then it all turned out alright. I probably already built a reputation for myself in this neighborhood—being noisy on moving day was not the plan- Thats what she thought.

But was she really the problem? I mean, any person with human decency would have done that.

Kang Hae-in was a decent person. Looking back at the situation, it was easy to misunderstand. If it wasn’t just because of the cigarettes, and the situation was real—he would have actually died.

Nevertheless, Kang Hae-in saw Ji-won’s flaws—from his loneliness to his worst habits. She had seen him at his worst—and that is not how things were supposed to play out.

To Ji-won, exposing such flaws is not a mere scratch to his ego. She had seen his weakness, his vulnerability—something Ji-won had feared most his entire life.

He was taught to be perfect, not by his parents, but by life. Ji-won had lost his parents long ago. Everything he learned was through life’s tough education—the kind you cannot learn at school.

From each occurrence to every situation, having a flaw or a weakness was inevitable. However, the moment someone sees it, you are at a loss.

To Ji-won, having a person know of a weakness means you are at a disadvantage. It means they have a bargaining chip over him.

Ji-won felt naked; exposed in every inch of his vulnerability.

He sobered up as the cold water spilled like blood over him. He was not hesitant to spill it himself, if he had to.

He had already orchestrated a plan in his subconscious—how he was going to silence her if she dared to hold it against him.

However, Ji-won is not an irrational man.

If he spills blood, he makes sure it does not leave a mess, and if his hands become stained, he will wash it off.

Killing was never a first option; it was a last resort—to him.

Ji-won is a patient man. He can wait and observe.

The plan was to observe Kang Hae-in—her movements. He was to study her thoughts, her personality, and find every vulnerability.

If someone were to find a single scratch on him, he would find every hidden scar.

He’s a man that repays even debt—at least tenfold.

The water dripped off the tips of his black smooth hair; it shimmered like the reflection of the moonlight on an ocean’s surface.

The droplets ran down his neck, touched the back of his spine, and fell down on his pale feet.

After he had gotten changed, he didn’t bother drying off his hair; it slowly dripped down on his knitted blue sweater. Its color reminded him of the sky on a good day.

Perhaps it was his own method of pretending everything would be okay.

It was the middle of the day, and the sun was bright, but the winter blew through the piercing mountain winds.