The Time of Destruction

Romance Guide

• Setting/Genre: Modern
• Keywords: Modern, Reunion, Revenge, Possessiveness/Monopoly/Jealousy, Marriage Before Love, Chaebol Male Lead, Scheming Male Lead, Flirty Male Lead, Passionate Male Lead, Obsessive Male Lead, Wounded Male Lead, Arrogant Male Lead, Bad Boy, Charismatic Male Lead, Devoted Heroine, Wounded Heroine, Innocent Heroine, Melodrama

Male Lead: Ryu Iseok

Born into a prestigious family, he was just moderately arrogant—until the car accident that killed his parents in his childhood. Left as the sole survivor, he developed prosopagnosia (face blindness). However, miraculously, there is one person whose face he can recognize. His obsession with Yeon Heeju, the light in his fog, ultimately leads to marriage.

Female Lead: Yeon Heeju

At eight years old, after her father passed away, she was raised by her greedy grandparents, who aimed to marry her into a wealthy family. Forced into rigorous bride training, she even developed an eating disorder but endured it to avoid being abandoned. At twenty-five, she finally attempts her first act of defiance to escape the strange obsession Ryu Iseok has with her—only to end up in a political marriage.

When to Read

When you need an intense love story about overcoming hardships.

Memorable Quote

“What if you can’t even recognize my face?”
“How could I not recognize a face this seductive?”

Prologue

At twenty, studying abroad was Heeju’s escape.
Except for the moments she had to face him—Ryu Iseok.

Every two weeks, when she visited the Paris villa, he would sit there, silently watching her with a cigarette in hand. For an entire year, that bizarre ritual continued—until he vanished without a trace.

Then, at twenty-five, he reappeared. As her fiancé.

“I let you live however you wanted until twenty-five, didn’t I? Even if you ended up pregnant, I was prepared to take responsibility for that much.”

Muttering incomprehensible words.

“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because it’s amusing. Like watching someone who’s just opened their eyes to the world.”

Ryu Iseok suffered from prosopagnosia—an inability to recognize faces due to the aftereffects of an accident. The rumors about his deteriorating sanity were endless, and the gossip surrounding him was nothing short of terrifying.

And yet, there was one face he could recognize.
Yeon Heeju’s.

“What should I do? I just want to breathe a little… by your side.”

But what he showed her wasn’t love. It was a possessiveness too overwhelming to bear.

Why did it have to be her?
She struggled to escape the inevitable, desperate to avoid marriage with him. But the more she resisted, the deeper she sank into the quicksand.

“I told you, you’re my light.”

Where would this fate lead them in the end?