Chapter 3

I’m a Divorce Lawyer

“Uh… what?!”

“I was wondering when you were going to say it. I almost suffocated waiting.”

“Cheating…?! What are you talking about? This is strictly a matter between the two of us!”

The man suddenly stood up, about to get angry as if she had said something ridiculous.

But when Sina crossed her arms and quietly said,

“Sit down.”

His face turned pale, and he quickly sat back down.

“You went on a trip carrying the bag I bought you, didn’t you?”

“…W-what are you talking about…?”

“Did you enjoy Cebu? It’s a good season to travel around this time of year.”

“H-How did you know?”

Sina took out her phone and opened her messenger app.

Then she pushed the profile of a woman who appeared under ‘Recommended Friends’ right in front of him.

The young woman was smiling prettily while wearing a travel dress.

And hanging from her shoulder were a watch and a bag that anyone could immediately recognize as belonging to Sina’s boyfriend.

Sina had suspected it, but when she even saw the D-day countdown date that the woman had kindly displayed, she became certain.

It had been a trip to celebrate their 100th day together.

“If you hadn’t come here and told me yourself, it looked like this woman was about to come to me and confess everything. She even put those attention-seeking pictures on her profile for everyone to see. I guess she even saved my phone number?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Sina! Listen to me. It’s not cheating. She’s just a junior from my school whom I’m close to—”

“Enough with the bullshit. How much does that woman know about you?”

“W-What?”

“Does she know that more than half of what you own was given to you by me?”

“…”

“Well, I guess I turned you into a proper human being when you were stuck in the lab, couldn’t have fun, and didn’t even know how to dress. Maybe you really thought you were great all by yourself. That woman just liked the innocent version of you because she didn’t know anything.”

“Gise-na. Just listen to me for a moment—”

“I guess because I smiled sweetly and gave you everything you asked for, you thought I was some rich idiot who would keep giving you money?”

“N-No, it’s not like that, Sina. It’s really a misunderstanding.”

His face turned white at the mocking tone in her voice.

Watching even his hands tremble around the coffee cup was pathetic.

She couldn’t believe she had dated someone like this for two years.

“Why? Are you afraid I’m going to tell you to give back everything I bought you and get lost?”

“…”

“Do you think I’m going to take back things I gave you? I’m Gise-na. I’d throw them in the trash even if I got them back. I can’t be bothered. So relax your face.”

The man lowered his head and let out a relieved breath.

At that sight, Sina’s eyebrows twisted sharply.

She had spent two years of her money and time on a man like this.

If he had honestly told her he had found another woman, she probably wouldn’t have been this angry.

She could even have been cool about it, like a Hollywood star, and wished them both happiness in the future.

But his pathetic behavior had left a deep scratch on her pride.

She should leave this place looking cool and walk straight out that door….

But she didn’t want to.

She felt that she wouldn’t be satisfied until she saw that pathetic man’s face crumble completely.

“You’re exactly the kind of pathetic idiot who would do something like this. But putting the cheating aside, since you want to break up, I guess something happened. Is she pregnant?”

“How did you…?”

Sina twisted her lips as if thinking, What kind of idiot is this?

Then she let out a short sigh.

There was no point wasting any more time talking to him.

She put her phone under her arm and stood up.

The man looked at her with violently trembling eyes.

His expression seemed to say, Is this really how it’s going to end?

It was more empty than she had expected.

She had first liked him because of his innocent, untouched-looking eyes.

Whenever he held her hand, his palms would sweat, and he would even tremble slightly.

Because of that simple innocence, she had once believed he would never cheat on her.

The young man who used to say,

‘I don’t know why a woman like you likes me.’

And who had promised himself that he would treat her even better….

That man had disappeared long ago.

Now, those innocent eyes only looked foolish to her.

Sina turned her body, which had been facing the exit, back toward him.

The man flinched in surprise as Sina approached him with quick clicking footsteps.

Perhaps afraid she might slap him with the glass of water, he hurriedly emptied his cup.

Pathetic until the very end.

She was so embarrassed that she couldn’t stand the thought of anyone finding out she had dated someone like him.

Sina let out a long sigh and calmed herself.

“Is that child really yours?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“Your brain isn’t even good enough for this. How are you going to become a doctor?”

Sina looked at the man staring up at her with a confused expression.

She clicked her tongue.

Then she took a business card holder from her pocket and pulled out a business card.

She placed the card, printed with her office number, firmly on the table in front of him.

“I can’t tell you to get married and live happily ever after. I have a feeling you’ll be coming to find me soon.”

“I’m not that pathetic. Me.”

“That’s not what I mean. Looking at the state you’re in, I think you’re going to get divorced.”

“What?!”

“Don’t call me. I’m blocking you starting today. But if you come with a good amount of money for my legal fees, I’ll meet you.”

Looking at the square white business card, Sina pulled one corner of her mouth into a smile.

“Then again, did you ever even care about what I do? You probably just thought I was busy because I spent money easily.”

The man’s eyes moved to the words printed above the name ‘Gise-na’ on the business card.

“I’m a divorce lawyer.”

There was an old saying about men called the Five Nos.

A man only needed to be free of five things:

Being a guarantor for someone else’s debt, gambling, violence, drinking problems, and cheating.

For Sina, the one thing she could never forgive was cheating.

In other words, dating two people at the same time.

The reason she had chosen a man with absolutely no style was because he looked so innocent that she believed he would never cheat.

Anything he lacked, she could make up for herself.

But cheating?!

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became by the minute.

If she didn’t get rid of that anger, she wouldn’t be able to control her expression.

So she got into her car and drove onto the road.

It was already past lunch, so Teheran-ro was relatively quiet.

Sina wanted to slam her high-heeled foot onto the accelerator, but she forced herself to hold back.

She wanted to express her anger by driving at 140 kilometers per hour.

But for that, Teheran-ro needed to be a highway.

Instead, she controlled the steering wheel with one hand and turned on some music with the other.

Even if it was a breakup she had mentally prepared herself for, a breakup was still a breakup.

She tightly closed the windows so she couldn’t hear the outside noise and turned up the volume.

“Don’t you dare treat me carelessly—!”

She sang along with the song.

As the song reached the higher notes, her voice became louder and fiercer.

The lyrics of the breakup song, which seemed to be speaking directly to the man who had played with her heart like a toy, struck her deeply.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

She had deliberately chosen the song, but actually singing along to the lyrics made her feel even worse.

“…You tell me to go, go, go, and not to come back, but what the hell is so great about you? You bastard, I… sob… What did I ever do for you…!”

She had pride too.

She wasn’t going to beg for love.

How dare he cheat on someone as perfect as her?

Let’s see how well you live without me!

Pathetic bastard!

Loser!

You’re worse than chewed-up gum someone threw away!

“Waaah….! I’m crying right now because, sniff, this breakup, isn’t, sob, because it’s sad….! It’s because all the love I gave you was so pointless…!”

Sunlight came straight through the windshield and stabbed her eyes, making her frown.

The sky was clear and the weather was perfectly bright.

Somehow, that only made her curse even more.

“Ugh…! The sunlight is so damn bright, it makes everything even worse!”

She slapped the steering wheel with her palm and loudly sang along to So Chan-hwi’s CHANGE.

Sina swayed her body back and forth to the rhythm.

The passing cars might have wondered what was wrong with the woman in the swaying car, but Sina didn’t care.

She sang at the top of her lungs and cried as much as she wanted until her anger finally started to disappear.

By the time she had driven around Gangnam once, her tears had almost dried.

She returned near her office and stopped at a red light at a crosswalk.

She was trying to calm herself while waiting for the light to change when—

“HONK!”

A car in the next lane suddenly honked.

“What the hell?”

She turned her head, wondering why they were honking when there was nothing wrong.

The green pedestrian light was blinking and was about to turn red.

But there were still people crossing.

An elderly woman with a bent back was walking slowly, nervously looking toward the car that had honked at her.

Soon, the pedestrian light turned red.

As if that was his chance, the driver honked again.

“HONK! HONK!”

“Why can’t you just wait? How much faster do you need to go? At this rate, you’ll reach the afterlife faster too.”

The elderly woman was startled by the horn and nearly lost her balance.

At that moment, the other car’s engine roared threateningly.

“Tsk.”

Sina clicked her tongue and glared at the driver in the next lane.

The man sitting in the driver’s seat laughed.

Beside him, another man was pointing at the elderly woman and laughing too.

“Such rude bastards.”

As soon as the elderly woman completely crossed the road, their car immediately started moving.

It was so close that the sudden movement could have startled the woman and made her fall backward.

Sina stepped on the accelerator.

When it came to zero-to-one-hundred acceleration, her sports car was much faster.

She quickly cut in front of those rude bastards’ car and slammed on the brakes.

The car behind her honked loudly.

“HONK!”

It pulled up beside her, lowered its window, and started shouting curses at her.

He seemed to be yelling something, but the closed windows muffled the sound.

All she could hear was indistinct noise.

It had absolutely no effect on her.

Sina didn’t even bother fixing her messy hair.

She raised her head and pressed her forehead against the driver’s window, looking at the man in the next lane.

“A man should have those Five Nos…. Five Nos. Looking at you, I can tell you’re a thug just by your face. Even your features look violent….”

The man’s eyebrows were curved like an angry bird, and he pointed at her while throwing all kinds of words at her.

They were definitely curses.

Whatever.

An eye for an eye.

A tooth for a tooth.

Primitive methods were perfect for people like him.

Sina slowly raised her right hand.

Then she gave him a thumbs-up.

The men looked confused when they saw her upright thumb.

The moment she confirmed their confusion, Sina smiled more brightly than ever.

Then she slowly drew her thumb across her throat.

At the same time, the man’s face in the next lane twisted horribly.

Like the paper used to wrap chewed-up gum.

The man was left speechless.

He treated Sina like she was a crazy woman, shouted a few more curses, and eventually became tired of it himself before driving away.

“Haa…. What a ridiculous day.”

She took a long breath from deep within her stomach and lifted her head.

She gathered her messy hair and tied it up high.

Then she pulled down the sun visor above her head and looked into the mirror.

Her mascara was badly smudged, and the tear marks had made the area around her cheeks red.

There were even a few tears still hanging from the corners of her eyes.

Sina sniffled once and wiped away the smeared mascara and tears with her fingertips.

“Okay. That’s enough. I’m cool.”

Then she pulled the bag from the passenger seat, took out her compact, and carefully patted her eyes and cheeks.

She thoroughly cleaned away the messy mascara marks.

Finally, she applied a red-orange lipstick.

The face in the mirror had returned to the perfect appearance she had seen that morning.

“A breakup is a breakup, and a promotion is a promotion. This isn’t the time for me to cry. It’s time to pop the champagne.”

After all, from the moment she realized he was cheating, all her feelings for him had disappeared.

What hurt her pride more was that her emotions and mood had been going up and down because of such a worthless man.

All she had to do was forget him.

And find someone more impressive than that bastard.

Her sports car, as red as her lips, entered the company parking lot with a pleasant engine sound.