OM 1: Part 1. The End of the Open Relationship

Part 1. The End of the Open Relationship

Five years ago.

—

The second son among two sons and two daughters of Taesung Group, the undisputed number one in the business world.

A foul-mouthed, arrogant man with a vicious, unfiltered personality. Known by many derogatory nicknames: mad dog, filthy mouth, filthy body, golden spoon, sex genius, face genius—an infamous graduate student at Korea University.

And the rumored man who openly dated multiple partners by mutual agreement.

Yuwon’s first direct encounter with the infamous Tae Minhyuk came right after Yoon Giha slapped her across the face.

That day, the sky was stunningly beautiful, as if the whole world had been submerged under the sea. Under that dizzyingly blue August sky, Yoon Giha slapped Yuwon without hesitation. Her cheek stung like it was on fire.

“What did you just say? You want to break up?”

“Did you… just hit me?”

Yuwon staggered briefly before regaining her balance. Her mind went blank, unable to process the shock of being slapped by her boyfriend.

“I’m sorry. It was a mistake.”

Yoon Giha bit his lip, his eyes turning red as though he might burst into tears any second. Leaning against the wall, Yuwon looked up at him in disbelief. She was the one who had just been slapped, so why did his eyes look like he was about to cry?

“I did something I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry, Yuwon.”

Choking up, he repeatedly apologized, then dropped to his knees on the cold stone pavement. Even as he trembled and turned pale, he tried to keep his usual calm demeanor. To anyone watching, it would look like he had been the one slapped.

“Please take back what you said about breaking up. I’m begging you.”

“……”

“Break up? How can we break up? It’s only been a month since we started dating.”

With his delicate features and tall frame, just over 180 cm, he looked perfect on the outside—but inside, he was crazy. At least by Yuwon’s standards, he was no different from a lunatic.

“Do you have any idea… how hard this past month has been for me…?”

Yuwon’s lips trembled as she opened her mouth to speak.

Yoon Giha was different from the guys at drinking parties who would sneakily go for a kiss or try to grope her when no one was watching. Even after they agreed to date, it took several days before he shyly held her hand, and they didn’t kiss until a week later. Even then, it was just a light peck on the lips—no tongue involved.

She had fallen for that seemingly restrained charm at first, but it didn’t last long. As time passed, his escalating jealousy and obsession turned into something terrifying.

“You got jealous and angry just because I talked a little longer with a classmate passing by… you blew up my phone with missed calls…!”

One weekend after a fight, when she went back home, she found 34 missed calls and 50 texts from him—all in a single Saturday. The messages were long and chilling, swinging between threats, begging, and more anger.

“I’m tired of you interfering with everything I do—how I act, how I dress, every little thing.”

“That’s just because the world is such a scary place right now. I told you not to wear short things because I worry something might happen to—”

“You’re not my boyfriend, you’re more like a dad… No, even my father doesn’t interfere in everything from head to toe like you do.”

Her biological father, who visited her only twice a year, was cold and strict—but even he had never once commented on her clothes or hairstyle.

“Yuwon, I love you so much I could die. No—I do love you. I’ll never do it again, so please… don’t say we should break up.”

“Let go of me. Please…!”

She tried to shake off the hand gripping her wrist and fell to the ground. Yoon Giha immediately bent down and grabbed her ankle. It felt like a giant insect was crawling all over her. She thrashed wildly, and her sandal came off, leaving the top of her foot exposed.

“I—I’ll scream!”

“No one will hear you. Please, just listen to me…!”

Unfortunately, there was a fireworks concert going on by the nearby Han River, making the city loud and chaotic. At this late hour, no one was walking through the garden behind the officetel.

“Giha, please don’t do this… I’m begging you!”

“You’re the one who shouldn’t do this, Noh Yuwon.”

He gripped her ankle harder, sending a chill up her leg. Yoon Giha’s eyes were filled with an indescribable madness. It felt like he might twist her ankle in the opposite direction at any moment, and the fear surged up to her throat.

The moment tears finally burst from her eyes, Yoon Giha pressed his lips to the top of her foot. Yuwon recoiled, horrified by the damp sensation, straightening her back in disgust.

“Yuwon…”

“Gi…”

“Don’t you know why I’m so obsessed and controlling? It’s because I love you that much. How can you not understand that… huh?”

His breath was so erratic it sounded like he was suffocating. His pupils were dark and bottomless like a pit—the kind only found in people who don’t know they’re insane. His polished, neat appearance now looked like nothing more than a creepy façade.

“You’re such a good person, Yuwon. Kind and gentle… so why can’t you see how sincere I am, huh?”

“S… Stop…”

Tears streamed down her cheeks from fear. Her throat felt like it had split open, and she could barely make a sound anymore.

Then—clang—there was the faint clink of metal. Crack. Crack. The sound of joints popping.

“You fucking bastard…”

The bushes rustled behind them, and a short, crude curse cut through the humid night air. She tried to turn her head, but fear had paralyzed her. Not that she needed to move.

“…What the hell. I was sleeping so well—what kind of bullshit is this now?”

A familiar face stepped in front of her and Yoon Giha. Like spotting a celebrity on the street, the man showed no sign of knowing her.

“What is this…? I thought it was some acting rehearsal, but this is real?”

The man cocked one eyebrow and gave a dry chuckle. Yoon Giha lifted his lips off Yuwon’s foot and stared in shock at the unexpected intruder—but didn’t let go of her ankle.

Tae Minhyuk…?

The silver eardrop glinted under the lights. Thick rings sparkled on his fingers as he brushed his hair back with a flick of irritation. His half-lidded eyes, still drowsy from sleep, shimmered a deep violet under the residual glow of the fireworks that had dyed the black sky moments ago.

“Hey. You.”

Tae Minhyuk met Yuwon’s eyes. A chilling sense of dread froze her heart, and a new wave of fear washed over her. It was a different emotion from the terror Yoon Giha had brought on.

“Tell me. Are you just role-playing with a concept, or are you being forced into this?”

“I-I…”

“Looks like he really hit you. Your cheek is all swollen.”

“Who the hell are you? Get lost.”

Only then did Yoon Giha let go of her ankle and stand up. The madness that had just been directed at Yuwon was now shifting toward the intruder. But Tae Minhyuk was not an easy opponent.

“Shut your mouth. What makes a dating-violence piece of shit like you think he has any right to speak?”

Yoon Giha flinched at the menacingly low voice. The man, at least six or seven centimeters taller than him, completely overwhelmed him with just a couple of sentences and let out a snort.

“So, what should I do? Help you out?”

Tae Minhyuk turned his gaze to Yuwon, who was half-crouched on the ground.

“Make sure he never lays a finger on you again.”

What happened next came to her in fragments. The moment Yoon Giha turned to look at her, fear overwhelmed her, and she jumped up from the ground, hiding behind the stranger’s back.

Maybe Tae Minhyuk took that gesture as a yes, because he stepped between her and Yoon Giha, blocking his path. At that moment, a security guard making his rounds appeared beyond the back gate.

“M-Mister! Please help!”

As they entered the officetel lobby through the back gate, the door closed behind them. She quickly explained to the guard that the two men were about to fight and that he should intervene. But when she opened the door again—

They were gone.

W-Where did they go?

Since that day, she never ran into Yoon Giha again. Word was, he had taken a leave of absence about two weeks before the fall semester started. What had happened with Tae Minhyuk that night—whether they fought, whether either of them got hurt—remained a mystery.

According to rumors, Tae Minhyuk looked perfectly fine. But the penthouse unit he lived in on the top floor of the officetel remained dark, even after the semester began.

“He’s kind of like a celebrity, right? Probably busy. Maybe he went back to his family home. He was hardly around even during the semester—gone half the month, at least.”

“Yes, that might be the case. I just wanted to thank him for helping me before…”

Yuwon nodded at the guard’s explanation. It was true—he might be staying at his family’s estate in Seongbuk-dong, where the Taesung Group’s main house was located.

“You don’t see him at school? Even if you’re in different departments, you could still look him up, right?”

“Ah… we’re not at the same school. And the semester hasn’t started yet.”

“Oh, right. You’re from Seohwa Women’s University and he’s at Hanguk University. Anyway, he’s so unpredictable. I hardly ever see him myself. At one point there were even complaints because girls were lining up out front just to get a glimpse of him. People said he had a stalker or something. Maybe that’s why he sleeps elsewhere.”

“Yeah… that could be it.”

“Well, since you both live in the same building, you’ll run into him again eventually, right?”

“Probably… ahaha.”

At that moment, the call bell at the desk rang. Not wanting to bother the guard further, Yuwon gave a polite nod and stepped into the elevator.

“Ugh, forget it. I’ll just let it go… I can’t exactly track him down at school anyway.”

Even as she said that, she couldn’t shake Tae Minhyuk from her mind. She kept remembering the broad shoulders and wide back that had stood between her and Yoon Giha.

That powerful presence had burned itself into her memory since that day—deeply, indelibly.