Chapter 2

What Is Tied Must Be Untied

It felt as if time had stopped.

Sina, who was completely dazed like someone who had lost everything in a fire, froze in place without even thinking to wipe the snot from her nose.

Whoosh—

A frost-like snowstorm brushed coldly past her ears.

“You really do everything, don’t you, Gise-na.”

Yes. I really do everything.

God, if this is hell, what exactly is my crime?

Is it because of my selfishness in trying to confess to a man who already had someone?

Even so, isn’t this too much?

I guess I should take a leave from school, right?

At twenty-two years old, this was the moment when the biggest embarrassing chapter of Gise-na’s life was created.

Every year, whenever the first snow fell, Sina would suddenly remember that pathetic confession and kick her blanket in embarrassment.

But now, she was different from that young and innocent girl.

She had overcome her pathetic past and had become the kind of professional woman everyone thought was impressive.

And today!

It was the day she finally achieved the one goal she had desperately wanted.

At least, that’s what she thought.

Until the witness to the most embarrassing moment of her life appeared right in front of her—the kind of embarrassing memory she would gladly pay billions to erase if science ever developed a machine that could delete memories….

Without even having time to calm herself after the shocking news, she rushed out of her room.

She hurried up the stairs and almost collided with a man who was just about to come down.

The first thing she saw was a pair of shiny brown wingtip shoes.

The crease of his suit pants, which fell just above his ankles, was perfectly straight like a blade.

Slowly raising her eyes, she saw the vest covering his solid body and the jacket hanging over one arm.

Sina lightly licked her dry lips with her tongue and continued raising her trembling gaze.

His sharply shaped eyes still looked fierce, and the intimidating feeling revealed by his slightly furrowed eyebrows was exactly the same as it had been ten years ago.

Ah, why?

Why did it have to be him?

Just like back then, her lips fell slightly open, and an involuntary groan escaped.

Then, a quiet sentence came out.

“Why… why are you here, sunbae…???”

The weather was still too chilly to call it spring.

But it was an unusually sunny noon.

Sina took off her coat, hung it on the coat rack on one side of the office, and turned on the heater at a low setting.

Then she walked to her desk, unbuttoned the jacket of her ivory-colored suit, sat down, and turned on her laptop.

Ding.

A notification from the company messenger appeared.

[Attorney Ki, today is the day they choose the partner attorneys. Do you know who’s coming?]

A fellow lawyer who had joined K Law Firm with Sina seemed to be keeping both ears open to the board meeting happening upstairs as soon as they arrived at work.

Sina hesitated for a moment about what to write before replying.

[I don’t know….]

K Law Firm.

It was obvious where the initial K came from.

Seven whole years.

Two years as an associate, and now five years as a senior attorney.

Gise-na, who also owned a small share of K Law Firm, had been waiting for this day.

The day she would proudly take the position of partner attorney and eventually become the managing attorney of K Law Firm.

Tomorrow, she would proudly clock in as a partner attorney.

So today, she wanted to enjoy this fact all by herself.

Trying to hide the smile stretching all the way to her ears, she looked at her scheduler.

There were still about thirty minutes before her first consultation appointment.

Sina left her office carrying her notebook and tablet PC in one hand.

As she walked toward the staff lounge at the end of the hallway on the same floor, she casually glanced up at the stairs leading to the second floor.

K Law Firm occupied the penthouse floors of a fifteen-story building in Seocho-dong.

The lower floors contained small offices for senior attorneys, while the desks of junior attorneys, researchers, and office managers filled the center of the large law firm.

Upstairs were meeting rooms for clients, private offices for partner attorneys, and, in the best location of all, the managing attorney’s office.

Someone once said that the stronger a person’s desire for status was, the more they wanted to look down from above.

Sina compared her own office, which was only about five pyeong, with the offices of the partner attorneys upstairs.

The sunlight pouring through the wide floor-to-ceiling windows.

The spacious rooms where they could meet clients comfortably on a sofa without even having to reserve a separate meeting room for a simple meeting.

‘Do you know how much I suffered to get one of those offices upstairs for myself….!’

Certain that she would be going to the upper floor instead of the cramped lower floor starting tomorrow, she proudly entered the staff lounge.

She made herself a cup of coffee in a large mug and walked toward the window.

Since early morning, junior attorneys with dark circles under their eyes from working late the night before were sprawled around the tables by the window, trying to get some sunlight.

Sina looked at their reflections in the window and took a sip of coffee.

‘I used to be like that too.’

Back when she was a rookie attorney who barely had time to change her clothes properly, looking shabby and with not a trace of glow on her face.

She had looked at the senior attorneys who seemed to shine brightly, feeling like a baby bird looking up at its mother.

‘Back then, I’d barely wash myself at a sauna in the morning before going back to work like an ant. Ah, it’s horrifying just thinking about it.’

Now, instead of the gloomy black suits she could wear for days without anyone noticing, she looked down at herself wearing a bright and cheerful-colored suit and smiled proudly.

And the high heels!

She was wearing 11-centimeter high heels, which supposedly made her legs look the most beautiful.

Instead of a heavy briefcase, she was carrying a Kelly bag in her hand.

She felt incredibly proud of herself.

Feeling the envious gazes of the baby birds all over her, Sina straightened her back.

A relaxed smile appeared around her lips.

She wanted to look more elegant and more intelligent.

The only problem was that the coffee was too bitter, but she didn’t let it show.

After all, an Americano, which resembled the bitter taste of life, was a drink that every busy modern person was supposed to enjoy.

A successful lawyer in her early thirties.

A professional woman.

And beyond that, a partner attorney responsible for an entire group.

‘Attorney Gise-na, you’re really amazing.’

‘Senior, you’re truly incredible. You’re my role model!’

‘I want to become like you, Attorney Ki.’

‘How can you be so pretty and so smart at the same time? I’m jealous.’

Even if those words were just flattering words, whenever she felt the admiration in people’s eyes, she felt like she was seeing the perfect version of herself reflected in other people’s eyes.

That was what she loved most in the world.

Whenever that happened, she would say things like,

‘No, I’ve made mistakes and gotten scolded too.’

Or,

‘I’m really not that amazing. It’s embarrassing that you think so highly of me. Hohoho.’

She would put on an act of humility.

But in reality, she felt the complete opposite.

‘Do you even know how much I struggled underwater to become an elegant swan leisurely swimming across a lake? If you want to become like me, you should work that hard too. Do you think I got all this for free?’

She secretly looked down on them like that.

That was Gise-na’s ultimate joy in life.

A life where everyone praised her.

There was no longer a ‘pathetic Gise-na’ in this world.

While she was filling her vanity in the staff lounge, her phone vibrated.

She checked the caller, and a faint crease appeared between her eyebrows.

‘He should have just stayed gone. Why does he have to contact me on such a good morning?’

It was a call from the man who had suddenly disappeared on her a week ago.

While Sina was debating whether to answer, the call ended.

‘What an impatient bastard. He couldn’t even wait thirty seconds.’

She clicked her tongue inwardly.

Then her phone flashed as a text message came in.

[Can we meet at lunch today? I’ll come to your office.]

Sina stared at her phone for a long time, one corner of her mouth lifted toward her ear.

They said that what is tied must be untied.

What is tied must be untied.

Was there any reason to cling to a useless relationship?

Before it dragged on any longer, she needed to cut it off completely.

After all, a new world would open up for her tomorrow.

“Fine. You want to meet and talk in person. All right. Let’s see what you have to say.”

Sina sat in a café without even properly eating lunch and stared indifferently at the man who would soon become her ex-boyfriend.

The only flaw in her otherwise perfect life.

“What did you want to say?”

“….”

“You asked me to meet because you had something to say, didn’t you? If you’re just going to sit there with your mouth shut, you should have just sent me a text.”

At Sina’s clearly irritated tone, the man, who had been looking down, carefully looked at her.

“Gise-na.”

“What?”

“Do you still love me?”

“Just get to the point. Keep it short if possible. I don’t have time.”

At Sina’s sharp reply, the man looked hurt.

But Sina was certain.

He was about to say that they should break up.

He had disappeared for an entire week, so he must have been racking his brain trying to come up with an excuse.

Still, she was sitting here because she had the slightest hope that he would tell her the truth himself.

“We’ve been together for two years, and I’ve had a really hard time.”

Ah.

Here he goes.

Setting the stage.

The man adjusted his glasses with his fingertips.

The black horn-rimmed glasses resting on his nose were designer glasses worth well over five hundred thousand won.

Sina had bought them for him.

“You’re always busy, and when you’re working, you don’t even contact me properly. I thought that if I stopped contacting you, you’d come looking for me at least once….”

What a load of crap.

She barely held back the vulgar curse that was about to burst from her mouth and lifted her chin proudly.

“You called me while I was busy just to tell me that?”

At her cold voice, he began fiddling with his shirt collar.

Unlike the checked shirts engineering students wore almost like uniforms, this was a branded shirt with an excellent fit and high-quality material.

Sina had bought it for him.

“You didn’t even miss me?”

Sina slowly lowered her gaze toward his wrist.

Just as she expected, wrapped around his wrist was the luxury watch she had spent a fortune buying him for his birthday—the kind of designer watch that was every man’s dream.

“….”

“I tried to understand that you were busy. I was busy too, preparing my thesis. But I don’t think this is right. At least if we’re in love, shouldn’t we be there for each other when things are hard?”

Ah.

Just because he had a mouth, he really knew how to talk.

The bastard who always made ridiculous excuses about training programs and staying up all night in the laboratory had gone on a laughing and joking trip with another woman?

Overseas, no less?

“I’ve really had a hard time all this time…. You wouldn’t have known.”

Yeah.

He must have had a hard time.

After all, he had been shamelessly dating two women at once without even knowing his place.

How could there not be trouble?

“I’m sorry. I guess I’m not good enough to be the man you need.”

The bastard who wore the clothes she bought him, wore the watch she bought him, wore the shoes she bought him, and happily enjoyed having a girlfriend who earned good money.

And now he was wearing the things she had bought him while seeing another woman, and he was talking about not being good enough?

Not good enough?!

“So let’s break up now. Find a better man than me.”

“….”

“I know saying this hurts me too, but I think it’s time for us to break up for each other’s sake. I’m sorry.”

“You disappeared on purpose for a whole week just to test my feelings, and then called me out while I was busy, just to say that?”

“‘Just’ to say that? Still, it’s only polite to meet in person when you’re breaking up…. We’ve been together for two years—”

Before the man could finish speaking, Sina cut him off with a hollow laugh.

She was speechless.

She had considered waiting for him to finally reveal the truth hidden behind his ridiculous excuse that he had been lonely because he wasn’t loved enough.

But she had a feeling that coward would never say it first.

“Polite? If you’re so damn polite, do you cheat on someone?”