ISDPF-03

CHAPTER 3

At the end of Mapo Bridge, Seolhee took off the hooded zip-up she had been wearing over her shoulders and handed it back.

“Thank you so much for taking me all the way to the end of the bridge, lending me clothes, and even lending me money.”

She had been indebted to the kind students who had called her “noona.”

The student who had given Seolhee a ride on the back of his bicycle wiped the sweat from his forehead and put on a cute show of bravado.

“It’s nothing.”

Even though his legs had gone weak and he could barely hold onto the handlebars, he didn’t lose his smile.

She was proud of him and grateful.

There had been a time when Seolhee believed the world was never kind to her.

But after coming back, she realized that wasn’t true either.

There had always been people willing to show kindness.

She simply hadn’t had the emotional room to accept it.

“We’re proud that we saved your life too, noona.”

One of the students suddenly spoke his heartfelt thoughts.

“Saved my life?”

Since she had been standing in the middle of the bridge barefoot in a wedding dress, they must have assumed she had gone there for another reason.

Seolhee chuckled.

Whatever the case, she felt relieved that their good intentions had found a worthwhile place.

“I’ll definitely put the money into your account by tomorrow.”

Seolhee climbed into the back seat of the taxi the student had hailed for her.

She waved at the three students who were seeing her off.

“Go, noona! Take care!”

“Buy us hamburgers next time we meet!”

“Pork cutlets too!”

Dressed in their dark school uniforms, they huddled together like a flock of chicks.

Seolhee unfolded the note she was holding.

She had also gotten their account numbers and phone numbers.

I have to repay their kindness someday.

She could feel warmth radiating from the single thin sheet of paper.

Sitting in the back seat of the speeding car, she watched the cityscape rushing past her with shining eyes.

Everything looked different.

At that very moment.

It was only after the taxi had completely disappeared from view that the students headed toward the black sedan parked along the side of the road, wheeling their bicycles.

The engine was still running, and the driver’s window rolled down.

“We did as you instructed.”

A brief reply came from inside the car.

“Thank you.”

A long, broad hand extended through the window.

The students accepted the money almost absentmindedly.

They had met the man near the entrance to Mapo Bridge.

At first, they had been wary, wondering if he might be some strange person.

The man’s request had been simple.

He wanted them to help the woman wearing a wedding dress standing in the middle of the bridge.

Of course, he hadn’t asked them to do it for free.

But even without the money, the noona they had encountered looked so pitiful that they couldn’t have simply walked past her.

Her hair was disheveled from the wind, with countless bobby pins still stuck in it because she hadn’t been able to remove them all, making her look almost bizarre.

The carefully applied false eyelashes were visibly coming loose at the ends, and her makeup had run from sweat.

The goosebumps covering her exposed, slender shoulders and arms made her look even more pitiful.

She looked like someone no human being could simply leave behind without helping.

“But…”

One of the students hesitated before speaking.

“Don’t you two know each other?

You could’ve helped her yourself.”

The man inside the car remained silent for a moment without turning his head.

This life was different from the very beginning.

That was why he couldn’t afford to act rashly.

I-hyuk looked at the student with a calm, measured gaze.

“I don’t want to miss the opportunity I’ve been given to come back… so I’m trying not to make any decisions recklessly.”

Before the window rolled back up, the students returned the hooded zip-up they had received from him.

The car slipped smoothly into the flow of traffic.

The students left behind looked at one another before shouting simultaneously.

“Whoa, shit.”

“What the hell is up with that guy?”

“He’s fucking cool.”

He was ridiculously handsome, driving a flashy foreign car, and his suit fit him perfectly.

The relationship between the two people, who seemed to have a story they couldn’t put into words, left an inexplicable flutter in the hearts of the adolescent boys.

They wheeled their bicycles along, excitedly chattering about what had happened that day.

—

“Thank you, sir.”

Throughout the ride, the driver occasionally glanced at Seolhee through the rearview mirror, sensing that she had some kind of story behind her.

His eyes were full of curiosity, but he showed the professionalism not to ask any questions.

Seolhee declined the change and got out of the taxi.

Today, she wanted to give something back to everyone who had helped her.

She stood in front of a four-story villa made of red brick.

A light was on in a third-floor window.

Her heart sank.

Gripping the hem of her dress, Seolhee ran up the stairs two at a time.

She had completely forgotten about the pain in her heels.

The moment she entered the door after entering the door-lock code, a familiar voice rang out.

“Hey, Woo Seolhee!”

Seolhee threw herself into the arms of her father, Song Geun, who had just come out of the kitchen.

Burying her face in his chest, she burst into tears as though finally releasing all the breath she had been holding in.

Song Geun had intended to scold his daughter over what had happened at the wedding, but he was rendered speechless.

His daughter had never been one to show her emotions easily.

Ever since she had grown up, she had quietly taken care of her responsibilities without ever once complaining.

She had always been good at looking after herself.

But because she had never caused him much trouble, he had often found it frustrating that he couldn’t understand what was going on inside her heart.

And yet, the daughter he had intended to send off to her husband that very day was now sobbing in his arms.

Song Geun awkwardly patted his daughter’s thin back.

“Oh, goodness, what’s wrong?

What happened?”

Seolhee hugged him even tighter and shook her head.

“Nothing happened…

Nothing is going to happen anymore.”

Her voice trembled at the end.

This time, she spoke with certainty.

“I promise, Dad.”

Normally, the two of them would have been somewhat awkward around each other, but today they sat facing one another.

She held her father’s hand tightly, as if she would never let it go again.

His hands, hardened by years of manual labor, with burst blisters covered by layers of new calluses, were warmer and sturdier than she remembered.

Warm enough to make her want to act spoiled, unlike herself.

Seolhee told her father that she hadn’t been able to enter the wedding hall because of Dongchan’s involvement with another woman.

She had never seen her father so furious.

She had a hard time stopping him from going out immediately to find the bastard and beat him to a pulp.

After barely managing to calm himself down, Song Geun let out a long breath.

“You did the right thing.

You did well.

How could I live with myself if I sent you to a man like that?

Thank goodness you found out before the wedding.

Your mother must have helped you from heaven.”

He repeatedly patted his chest in relief, saying how fortunate they were.

So this is all it takes to be a good daughter.

Just seeing his child avoid a sudden downpour was enough to make him this relieved.

After finishing her explanation, Seolhee washed up properly and sat down to eat dinner alone with her father for the first time in a long while.

She was simply happy watching Song Geun curse Dongchan while spraying grains of rice from his mouth.

If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up.

It wasn’t until late that night that she finally went into her room.

Alone, the events of the day flashed through her mind.

Seolhee rubbed her left wrist with the tip of her thumb.

“It’s really… gone.”

It was a scar she had gotten in the year her father died.

A glass railing had suddenly collapsed, causing her to fall from the second floor.

Because it felt like a mark left behind by her unhappy life, she had habitually rubbed it whenever she saw it, wishing she could erase it.

But now, the scar had disappeared without a trace.

Yet the memory remained vivid in her mind.

Seolhee let out a breath.

A newly given life.

I have to live this gift of a life well.

But it wouldn’t be easy.

Jin Dongchan and Inok would never leave her alone.

Just as they had in the past, they were the kind of people who would do anything to use her as a scapegoat.

“I won’t let you walk all over me this time.”

She would do everything she could to protect what was precious to her and become happy.

She remembered everything they had tried to hide, every corruption and every evil deed they had committed, without missing a single thing.

So if they got in her way, she would take everything from them, all of it, as mercilessly as possible.

But to do that, she first needed to take care of her father’s hospital bills.

She already had a plan for that.

However, there was something she needed to do before that.

“I have to pay the chicks back.”

Fortunately, her father had brought her belongings home from the wedding hall.

Although he had complained furiously about how humiliating it had been to bow his head and apologize to the people who had almost become his in-laws while doing so.

Seolhee rummaged through her bag and found her phone.

There were an incredible number of missed calls and messages.

By far, the person who had called her the most was Dongchan.

Seolhee deleted the name she had saved as Jin Dongchan and replaced it with:

[Real Shit Car]

“You’re definitely this.

First, the money…”

She transferred money to the account written on the note she had been holding onto all this time.

She flinched when she saw how little remained in her balance.

Still, for the chicks who had appeared when she was in trouble, she sent twice the amount she had borrowed.

She didn’t forget to send them a message either.

[I’m the noona you met on the bridge.

I transferred the money.

Thank you so, so much for helping me earlier.

Call me when you’re hungry.

I’ll treat you to pork cutlets or hamburgers.]

She wrote noona and felt proud of herself.

Having gone back ten years, she was being called noona by high school students too.

What on earth is happening?

Seolhee flopped down onto her bed.

Surrounded by the familiar scent and the small, familiar objects that had filled her room for so long, she fell into a deep sleep for the first time in what felt like forever.

—

A hotel suite.

Bzzzt—

The phone resting on top of a neatly folded gray hooded zip-up vibrated briefly.

I-hyuk had just finished showering and was wearing a towel around his waist as he brushed the remaining water from his hair with his hand.

The caller displayed the name [Seolhee].

For a moment, he was transported back to the time before he was thirteen years old, before Do I-hyuk had become the son of an esteemed political family.

The corners of I-hyuk’s lips curved gently as he read through the message.

Standing exactly where he was, he read it several more times.

Drops of water falling from the ends of his wet hair dampened his shoulders, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.

I-hyuk’s smile disappeared as he made a phone call.

The line rang, and the other party answered almost immediately.

“It’s me, Chief of Staff.

I won’t be returning to the United States.

I’ve gained enough experience at Think Bank, and more importantly, I think the position you mentioned is worth taking a shot at.

So please tell my father that I’‍ll take responsibility for it.

Why did I suddenly change my mind?”

I-hyuk picked up the hooded zip-up that still carried Seolhee’s scent.

“I thought I’d try making a different choice this time.