Runner-up's Revenge

Dahye stared intently at the screen.

…Did they use it?

In truth, she felt genuinely sorry. To think that her phone call nearly ended a couple’s relationship. Dahye regretted troubling not only Dowon, but also Hana. So she sent the gift card for them to enjoy a lunch date with her.

Did they have chicken together at Hana’s house? How did they react when they received the gift card? Did they like it, or did they find it weird? Although she couldn’t understand why she had such a great interest in these two, or when it had developed, Dahye found it hard to overcome her curiosity.

“Isn’t there a way to check this? Where do I find it?”

There was definitely a feature that allowed you to see if the recipient had used the gift card. Dahye scanned through the messenger window, trying to find a way to check if the two of them had actually eaten the chicken together.

But her efforts were in vain as a notification message popped up.

Kakaotalk: The refund request for the gifted ’KFC Gift Card’ has been completed.

“They’re refunding it?”

When she checked, the gift card amount had indeed returned to Dahye’s wallet.

“Why would they cancel it? Why not use it?”

Dahye felt strange; her heart ached. She couldn’t understand why she felt like a rock had just fallen into her stomach. Was it really just because of some perceived rejection? Dahye sent another gift card for a different restaurant.

“I’m doing this because I feel sorry, so just use it. It’s not like I poisoned it, it’s just a gift card.”

She sent the text, feeling strangely desperate, but the response was another rejection message.

“This is crazy… What’s going on?”

And then a call from Dowon flashed on her screen. As soon as Dahye saw the name Dowon Lee appear, her first thought was, This—this isn’t a call I made. It’s safe, right?

Dahye hurriedly answered the phone.

“…Uh, what is it?”

“I’m sorry to call you out of the blue, but I have something to ask you.” Dowon’s voice was low, questioning.

“Before that, why did you reject the cards I sent? Why won’t you just use them for a meal?” Dahye responded, her brow furrowing slightly.

“I’m not in a position to receive anything from you. I’m really grateful, but I already owe you enough money. I can’t accept more.”

“…Really?”

She couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t even accept a gift card. How much could it possibly be worth to him? Maybe she couldn’t understand because she was the money lender, not the debtor. Dahye wanted to yell at him to just accept it and have a nice meal, but she held back and listened to Dowon’s following words.

“Dahye, did something happen with Hana earlier?”

He must be talking about their time at the beer place. Dahye frowned before answering.

“Hana didn’t tell you?”

She understood why Hana hadn’t said anything, but she asked anyway. And before Dowon could answer, she spoke first.

“Hana seemed upset. About you and me talking on the phone. And, well, it’s not good manners to spend so much time on the phone when Hana is there.”

“Ah, so that’s why…”

“I want Hana to know I’m sorry. Because it’s true. That’s why I sent you the gift card, so please use it.”

Dahye twirled her hair incessantly. Did Hana really not say anything to Dowon? Suddenly, she wondered how much Dowon and Hana actually shared with each other, what they usually talked about, and how much Dowon cared for Hana.

“No, I won’t accept it.”

But even those thoughts sank with just a single sentence from Dowon. Was there still something bothering him, even after Dahye explained her reasoning? If he wanted to apologize on Hana’s behalf, refusing Dahye’s gesture wouldn’t be the polite thing to do, would it?

“Why? I sent it because I feel sorry.”

“In the end, it would add to my debt. I really appreciate the thought, but I just won’t accept it.”

Did people normally have to consider finances, even when apologizing? Dahye kicked the floor in frustration.

“I’ll consider the gift card as received. And for the phone calls… I’ll pay my interest with money instead. Since you seem to be uncomfortable with the situation now, too.”

Dahye stopped striking the floor with her foot. The phone calls with Dahye really were just currency to him. All of a sudden, she had to come face to face with the fact that all of Dowon’s comfort was just loan interest.

You bastard.

She felt like a loan shark who had the collar of a downtrodden person and was about to destroy their house. The more she talked with Dowon, the more it seemed like an unpleasant debt was accumulating. She was annoyed, and she wanted to take it out on Dowon.

“Of course, I know you’ll repay the money,” Dahye said, forcing sweetness into her voice. “I’m not worried about that, but… Will you be okay?”

“What do you mean, will I be okay?” His puzzled voice flowed in from the other end of the phone. Dahye leaned against the wall and molded her tone into one of concern.

“I mean your mother’s surgery. You know, after surgery, people don’t recover instantly. They’ll need to regularly monitor her progress, give her prescriptions, and if necessary, she’ll need to continue with outpatient treatment.”

Dowon was silent.

“You only borrowed money for the surgery, right? You didn’t think about the ongoing expenses?”

He remained tight-lipped.

“Will just the 3 million be enough?”

He probably hadn’t anticipated this. Or maybe he had anticipated it but hadn’t wanted to think about it further, and set it aside. Dahye leaned her head against the wall and quietly listened to Dowon’s silence. After a while, she spoke again.

“What will you do? Once you repay some, it’ll just disappear again, and when you try to pay it back again, it’ll just keep vanishing. Won’t that be exhausting?”

What expression would Dowon be making now? Would he be clenching his fists? Would he be anxious? Would he be tired? Would he be annoyed? Would he be in despair?

“Instead of that,” she said, “set a time and let me know.”

“…Time for what?”

He didn’t sound hopeful, as if he had found a ray of light. Rather, Dowon answered with anxiety lacing its way through his tone, as if he had found himself in a darker pit than he started in.

“For a call.”

“Huh?”

“We can talk when Hana isn’t there, right? Let me know when Hana isn’t around. I’ll call then.”

Dowon was silent for a long time.

***

Hana was lying on the bed, unmoving, and unable to do anything. She was so consumed by depression that she didn’t even seem to be responding to visual cues. Dowon cleaned Hana’s room and made food for her to eat. Since she probably wouldn’t have the strength to chew, he made simple dishes like porridge or soup.

“Hana, Hana.”

There was a reason he had done housework more diligently than usual. Dowon called Hana’s name with a strained, anxious expression. He deliberately sat down in front of the bed so he could make eye contact with her.

“…Yeah?”

Hana had to struggle to open her mouth. The corners of her lips were dry and cracked. Once again, she had been triggered by some distressing thought, leaving her fingers and nails covered in red, swollen bite marks. Her arms and legs were marred by angry red scratches.

At that moment, Dowon couldn’t bring himself to look at the scars between her thighs, so he carefully fixed his gaze on Hana’s face.

“I think… I need to go now.”

Hana shifted blankly, as if she hadn’t heard anything, and looked at Dowon. He felt that Hana was gradually being consumed. He couldn’t understand what depression was, or how it could make a person wither and twist like this.

He had to leave Hana like this. Dowon felt like he couldn’t breathe just thinking about it, and finally got up from his position, with the air of someone ripping off a bandaid.

“…Go where?”

“I think I need to go… home. It’s getting late.”

There was no such thing as a late time for Dowon. If it was late, he would just sleep at Hana’s house and leave in the morning.

Before Hana could sense anything strange, Dowon quickly added, “I have work early tomorrow morning. I have to take the shuttle bus, so it’ll be a big problem if I’m late.”

“…Why don’t you sleep here and go in the morning?”

Hana reached out her hand towards Dowon. It looked just like a sun-bleached tree branch. Dowon almost grabbed Hana’s arm instinctively .

“The station is closer to my house,” he said.

Hana didn’t reply. She simply buried her face in the pillow, not uttering a word. Dowon couldn’t tell whether her face, buried in the pillow, was wet with tears or dry.

The fact that he didn’t know made it even harder for Dowon. He was so frustrated, he just wanted to curl up in a ball. How could he leave Hana to suffer like this? Guilt was growing like moss from the floor of Hana’s room, scratching at Dowon’s ankles.

Am I really leaving like this?

Although Hana wasn’t physically holding him back anymore, Dowon’s conscience and shame did the job for her. Or perhaps there was some spell cast on this house, a measure that had been taken to prevent those who told lies from leaving. His feet wouldn’t move.

It’s all because I’m trash.

If only he hadn’t borrowed money from Dahye in the first place. If only he had chosen to pay the interest with money and some semblance of pride instead of choosing the cowardly option of using phone calls as interest. If only he had made good use of his academic background and gotten a decent job earlier. If only he had been responsible enough to save money. If he only hadn’t mistreated Dahye in the first place, all those years ago. If only he had abandoned his arrogant attitude. If only he hadn’t been born to a father like his in the first place. If… If only he hadn’t met Hana.

Dowon had a habit of dropping everything he held whenever things got tough. He couldn’t tell if it was human nature or just his nature.

He had to leave Hana behind today, in order to not leave her behind in the future. He thought that when this was all over, when everything was finished, he could live with one, singular purpose in mind. He only thought about giving Hana a better life.

He covered Hana up to her neck with the blanket, promised to come back tomorrow, and left the house. And then, he called Dahye from the street.

“…Hello.”

Thinking that she would pour out her feelings again today, Dowon held his tongue. As he predicted, Dahye spoke first.

“What did you do today?”

Dowon blinked in shock, unable to respond right away. He wondered if he had heard wrong.

“What did you say?”

“I asked what you did today. Did you work?”

“…Yeah. I worked, and then I was just at Hana’s house.”

“You must be tired. What kind of work are you doing these days? You quit the convenience store, right?”

Dowon was stunned into silence again.

He couldn’t understand why she was acting like this. It was scary. The condition was that he would listen to Dahye’s whining in exchange for a 0% interest rate, but if Dahye didn’t follow the agreement, what would happen to the interest?

What was Dahye thinking? She might be planning to mock him, catching him off guard by lulling him into a false sense of security. Then, when he felt comfortable enough to tell her all about what work he did and how hard it was, she might scoff and ask if he thought making money was easy.

“Why… are you asking?”

“Because I’m curious.”

Dahye’s casual answer unnerved him. Dowon thought it would be equally bad to refuse to tell her what she wanted to know, so he finally replied.

“These days… I work at a factory. Stacking things on shelves, finding defective products, things like that.”

“I heard that kind of work damages your back and eyes. They say repetitive labor like that is hard.”

“That’s… kind of true.”

“That must be tough on you. Do they pay well? You’re not letting yourself get underpaid because you failed to read the contract before signing it, right?”

That must be tough on you? Dowon frowned. Something felt off.

“Did you say the job must be tough on me?”

“Yeah, you must be having a hard time there. It sounds like an exhausting job. Do they at least feed you well there?”

Something churned in his stomach. When was the last time he had heard words like “you must be having a hard time”, or “it must have been tough”? Maybe when he was accepted to Seoyeon University? His mom had said something like that. Dowon almost let his heart soften for a moment, but he forced himself to harden it again.

There must be an ulterior motive behind Dahye saying these things. It definitely can’t be her intention to comfort Dowon. He repeated this to himself a few times before he answered.

“Is this kind of conversation… necessary too?”

He asked as calmly as possible, without offending Dahye, with the attitude of a subordinate who just wanted to confirm that his boss was doing the right thing.

Dahye didn’t answer for a moment.