Eungil headed straight for the bridal waiting room.
The way there was strangely deserted. It was a shabby contrast to the glamorous wedding hall, dazzling chandeliers, and luxurious atmosphere.
As if some transparent police line had been drawn around the waiting room, there wasn’t a single person in sight. Feeling increasingly suffocated, Eungil entered through an elegant arched doorway, and at the same moment, the tip of her nose stung.
When did the girl who used to follow me around in her school uniform grow up so much?
A pristine white dress of sheer fabric, modestly covering everything from her neck to her wrists. A tiara that gleamed luxuriously. A veil that gave her an oddly sacred air. And a demure bouquet in her hands.
Seo Mina was beautiful.
But compared to the neon-colored T-shirt with Gong Eungil’s name printed on it, or the way she used to enthusiastically beat around those ridiculous inflatable cheering sticks—
“Why do you look like that? You look like you’re at someone’s funeral.”
“…Huh?”
All of a sudden, Seo Mina rubbed her eyes furiously.
“Is it because you don’t have anyone to catch your bouquet?”
“…Pl, Player-nim?!”
“I may be a volleyball player, but do you really think I can’t catch one flying bouquet?”
Eungil swallowed down her heavy emotions and deliberately put on a mischievous smile.
“But I’m not used to just catching things. Looks like you forgot for a moment because you’ve been so busy, but I’m much better at hitting things back. So where do you want me to spike it?”
“…!”
“I can nail it straight into whatever head you want. Though the bouquet petals might get a little crushed.”
“…I-I know. I know how good my Player-nim’s spikes are.”
Only then did Mina smile a little. It was an ugly smile that looked as though she were crying. Even without asking, that one expression told Eungil everything.
All the tangled thoughts in her head disappeared in an instant. Eungil tilted her head crookedly and spoke calmly.
“Mina. Today is your stage, and I came here as your fan.”
“…!”
“So tell me. What do you want me to do?”
A single tear rolled down Mina’s cheek. It was a sorrowful relief, like that of a child who had gotten lost and finally managed to find her mother’s hand.
Eungil scrunched up her face in displeasure.
“Where did that crazy fan go—the one who once followed me onto the team bus without permission?”
“…”
“Where did that relentless fan go—the one who pitched a tent in front of my house when I was suspended and made fried dumplings for me three times a day?”
“…”
“You didn’t spend all these years liking some easy person. You followed Gong Eungil for nine whole years.”
Eungil proudly lifted her chin.
“I was the player who gave the coach the finger on the podium. I was the player who sent one of his front teeth flying with a gold medal instead of a hammer.”
“Yes, yes. You did. I have that video saved. Heh, heh, hee, hee—”
“Either cry or laugh. Pick one.”
Seo Mina immediately smiled.
“Do you know how hard it is to stubbornly support a player like that in a country where everyone is so obsessed with propriety?”
“It really wasn’t an easy road…”
“And yet, you stayed by my side until the very end…”
“…”
“You’re my person, aren’t you?”
She was the girl who had been the only light in Eungil’s barren life. Sometimes she merely looked like a stalker, and sometimes she really did act like one, but that very lawbreaking obsession had kept Eungil alive. Their relationship had started out clumsy and foolish, but it had become a precious lifeline.
Eungil coldly grabbed Mina’s veil and tugged at it.
“So tell me. What do you want me to do?”
Then the stalker wearing a dazzling wedding dress whispered,
“…Humiliate me.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, the wedding ceremony of Mr. Park Danjae and Ms. Seo Mina will begin shortly. Please take your seats.”
The emcee was a famous announcer whose voice could be heard whenever one turned on the television.
Come to think of it, Jaekyung Group…
Even Eungil, who rarely paid attention to the world outside the court, couldn’t possibly have failed to know the company.
Pharmaceuticals, food, newspapers, broadcasting, universities, clothing, department stores, movie theaters… Jaekyung’s subsidiaries were woven into practically every corner of daily life.
So the daughter of a family like that was the one who got so worked up about wanting me to beat those rich-kid teams?
Eungil found it so absurd that she almost laughed.
Yet the moment she heard the name Jaekyung, the company’s logo flashed vividly through her mind. The fact that she remembered it so clearly actually left Eungil more bewildered.
Where have I seen it recently?
Eungil wanted to rummage through her hazy thoughts until she found the answer, but the moment the emcee’s voice rang out, all her senses became sharply alert.
“The bride is entering!”
The bride in pure white walked down the flower-lined aisle.
—Please humiliate me.
The method timid Mina had chosen was to deliberately tarnish herself. As if that were the only way she could free herself from the situation that was suffocating her.
Seo Mina stood beside a man she had only seen three times before today. The man had a neat but weak-looking appearance and kept forcing awkward smiles.
That was when strange murmuring began spreading throughout the hall.
A tall woman, well above average height, wearing a pair of sunglasses that looked like they had been hastily picked up from a street stall, was following directly in the bride’s footsteps.
Her outfit was plain enough not to disgrace the venue, but its quality was far below the standard.
Dull, worn-out, and, above all, the flapping skirt looked childish against her mature figure. It looked like a scrap of fabric that had been pulled out of an old wardrobe.
And yet, she walked with the confidence of a knight.
I’m a pro at ruining the party.
At the moment when Korean women’s volleyball won its first-ever gold medal at a world competition—the glorious medal ceremony that Gong Eungil herself had turned into complete chaos—Eungil shouted:
“Is this a company? Why the hell is someone who came to work to catch up on their backlog getting married?!”
Her voice thundered throughout the wedding hall. As befitting a tenacious captain, her shout carried a formidable temper. The powerful voice she had used to discipline her juniors was proving incredibly useful.
“What, what is that? Is she the groom’s lover?”
“This is insane…”
“Holy crap…!”
Shocked exclamations erupted from every corner.
As the murmuring grew beyond control, the groom went pale as though he had seen the Grim Reaper. Perhaps he wasn’t particularly vicious despite his messy romantic life, because instead of gesturing for the security guards, he merely mumbled in a daze.
“Ju, Joohee? No, Semi?”
“…Haha.”
There it is.
Eungil laughed sharply.
Caught you.
She had never intended to tarnish Mina herself. She was different from the hot-blooded Eungil of nine years ago. Now she had learned to think at least a little about what came afterward.
So Eungil had planned to remain deliberately vague, without naming anyone.
Seo Mina, I’ll make you the victim. I’ve experienced firsthand how powerful public opinion can be.
Let people misunderstand if they wanted to.
“Do you really think you can leave me? You’re such a damn persistent little thing. You devoted your entire life to following my every move, and now you think you can just get married and put on an innocent act?”
Mina felt strangely guilty and looked away.
“It’s been nine years. Nine years I’ve spent with you!”
“You… Hyesoo?”
The groom wiped sweat from his forehead as he asked. The guests gasped, while the bride’s family had already clutched their chests and begun staggering in shock.
“You’d better not think about getting rid of me. Making you cry and excited was something only I could do! You damn one-track-minded fool who goes crazy over nothing but my hand skills!”
Mina remembered her Player-nim’s powerful spikes and secretly nodded, but everyone else was left utterly stunned.
Before long, silent accusations began pouring toward the groom.
Yet they weren’t quite the accusations one would normally expect.
They were condemning the man’s pathetic handling of his affair—how he had been unable to deal with even one mistress and had allowed the situation to explode into public view.
—Drag her out! Drag her out!
The security guards finally came to their senses after their earpieces were flooded with frantic orders.
Ignoring them as they approached intimidatingly, Eungil drove in the final nail.
“Baby, let’s go!”
“…!”
The groom flinched.
“We’ve got to scream our heads off in the honeymoon suite!”
At our sweet volleyball court!
And Eungil turned around without a hint of regret. For someone who had just thrown a bomb into the wedding, she was astonishingly calm.
The security guards simply stood there dumbfounded as Eungil quietly walked away. It would have been ridiculous to drag out a woman who was leaving of her own accord.
But then screams erupted from all over the hall once again. The reaction was even more intense than when Eungil had first unleashed her roar.
“Ahh!”
“Gasp!”
“W-What the…?”
The bride herself had grabbed the woman presumed to be the man’s lover and was leaving together with her.
A twist.
Wasn’t the bride’s lover… actually the bride’s?!
But no one was more flustered than Eungil.
She quickly whispered through clenched lips so that only Mina could hear.
“Hey, if you follow me now, anyone watching will obviously think…!”
They’re going to think I’m your lover! You were supposed to be the betrayed woman! I came up with this plan while thinking about what would happen afterward!
Despite Eungil’s reproachful stare, Mina pressed her lips together and nodded meaningfully.
Then she went one step further and handed Eungil the bouquet.
To anyone watching, it looked exactly like the bride was carefully presenting her bouquet to her lover.
Is this teamwork for real…?
I told you my plan was better!
“Seriously, your timing… Let’s try to coordinate our hands and feet here…”
“You said you’d catch my bouquet, Player-nim.”
“Haa…”
Disappointment spread across Eungil’s face.
Yeah. Neither of us is exactly the type to think things through.
Eungil quickly gave up and tossed the bouquet around in her hand.
Then, just as Mina forcefully opened the heavy doors, Eungil threw the bouquet high into the air as a grand finale.
THUD!
The guests instinctively hunched their shoulders.
Eungil had smashed the airborne bouquet downward with a spike.
The bouquet scattered at the feet of a certain man.
The two women disappeared leisurely, and the doors closed behind them.
The bride was the only person left behind in the aftermath of the storm.
Amid the strange mixture of icy silence and barely contained commotion—
“Secretary Nam.”
The man bent down and picked up the bouquet lying at his feet.
His low, languid voice drifted through the air.
Secretary Nam had already been speechless for quite some time.
What more could he possibly say?
Even Seo Taehyun and Heo Seulyoon, of all people, were floundering like nervous newcomers instead of laughing at the situation.
The man spoke in a flat, emotionless voice.
“Our little sister just stabbed her big brother in the back and ran off.”
