—It's not like we didn't see this coming. We both went into this prepared for it, didn't we?
—Let's meet and talk, oppa. I know how hard this is for you right now, I really do. If it's weighing on you that much, let's go see Yu-yeon again together. You can talk things through properly, and we can make things right with her.
—Please call me when you see this.
—How long are you going to keep doing this? Aren't you even thinking about me?
—Is this because you want to go back to Yu-yeon?
Da-mi had been clutching her phone for hours, sitting frozen in place.
There hadn't been a single word from her boyfriend since yesterday. Seeing Hong Yu-yeon awake had clearly thrown him into turmoil.
Da-mi screamed, pounding her pillow over and over.
They were supposed to meet the wedding planner this weekend. They had to book the studio, dress, and makeup packages, and choose their honeymoon destination.
Because of Hong Yu-yeon, and only her, everything felt like it was about to fall apart.
At the noise, Lim Da-mi’s mother, Shin Young-hwa, opened the bedroom door.
Da-mi whined petulantly, batting away her mother’s hand as she tried to pull her up from the bed.
Shin Young-hwa’s expression froze.
Young-hwa’s reaction was far more intense than Da-mi had anticipated. Waking up after being comatose for two years and four months was certainly shocking, but Da-mi felt an odd unease; she had never seen her mother’s eyes go this wide in recent memory.
It went beyond mere surprise—it was outright horror.
In the end, Shin Young-hwa roared at her daughter.
Do Yong-tae had yet to reply to any of the text messages piling up from Lim Da-mi since last night.
His relationship with Lim Da-mi had begun about a month after Yu-yeon’s accident.
They had run into each other outside Yu-yeon’s hospital room when he went to visit. The woman who recognized him and struck up such a warm conversation was nowhere near Hong Yu-yeon in looks, but she bore quite a resemblance.
Lim Da-mi. He vaguely recalled hearing that name from Hong Yu-yeon a few times. She had mentioned that her best friend wanted to be introduced to him, and asked if the three of them could meet up sometime.
Under heavy pressure after starting his studies for the patent attorney exam, he had been annoyed whenever Hong Yu-yeon brought up her friend. In truth, the biggest reason was that he had grown deeply frustrated with their relationship back then.
Hong Yu-yeon claimed to like him, yet she was painfully bashful and passive when it came to physical intimacy. It took a full hundred days after they began dating just to share a kiss, and she showed no desire to take things any further after that.
Then, once Yong-tae announced he was preparing for the patent attorney exam, she began avoiding physical contact altogether, like a nun. Whenever he tried to initiate, she would wear a resolute look, insisting she shouldn't distract him and claiming that one had to be ruthless when studying.
She played hard to get to a maddening degree.
So whenever Hong Yu-yeon brought up her friend, he brushed it off. It was his own petty spite: if she wouldn't let him have what he wanted, he had no intention of doing what she wanted either.
He prepared for his exam starved of intimacy the entire time. Reduced to a miserable wretch who couldn't even sleep with his own girlfriend, he endured purely on stubbornness and sheer spite. And in the end, he passed.
If only she hadn't gone with her father that day and had stayed on their date instead, she would have become completely his, and the accident would never have happened. That thought gnawed at him bitterly.
In the end, an absurd accident had shattered their relationship before it could even begin.
And then he met Lim Da-mi.
That what began as a one-night stand two years ago had developed into a romance was almost entirely due to Lim Da-mi’s efforts.
Two years ago, Lim Da-mi had clearly lagged behind Hong Yu-yeon in looks, but she grew prettier by the day. It was thanks to steadily refining her appearance through surgeries and cosmetic procedures.
Now, Lim Da-mi was a fairly well-known influencer. He had also come to rely on her and her family’s help in so many ways that turning back was out of the question.
Before he knew it, the formal family meeting had taken place and a wedding date was set. He couldn't go back to Hong Yu-yeon…
Yet he couldn't put all the blame on Lim Da-mi. A major reason he couldn't return to Hong Yu-yeon lay with himself.
Two years ago, Yong-tae had handed over the program Hong Yu-yeon created to a partner firm. He’d had his reasons.
Of course, he had no choice but to list his own name under ‘Inventor’ when filing the patent, but he had intended to tell Hong Yu-yeon everything and hand over the royalties if she ever woke from her coma.
Yet she had taken far too long to wake up…
‘Yu-yeon. I really wanted to put your name down beside mine as the inventor.’
A wave of regret surged over him too late.
Hong Yu-yeon was far smarter than Lim Da-mi, held better academic credentials, and was a wise woman. She was also loyal enough to wait for him without a single complaint through the three and a half years he spent preparing for the patent attorney exam.
Granted, she was haggard and gaunt now, but two years ago, her beauty was incomparable to Lim Da-mi’s. Once she regained her weight, she would surely return to the breathtaking woman she had been back then.
When his thoughts reached that point, a deep sense of injustice gnawed at him. Losing Hong Yu-yeon felt like such a waste, and he resented every second that had slipped by.
He had decided to marry Lim Da-mi only because he concluded there was no hope left for Hong Yu-yeon.
Now, he had strayed too far to ever turn back.
Now that Hong Yu-yeon was awake, it wouldn’t be long before she discovered Optimum Path had been registered as a patent. How he was supposed to clean up this mess was entirely beyond him.
She had grown close to Do Yong-tae, an upperclassman in the same department at her university, while attending major classes together. Yu-yeon’s coding skills were exceptional, leading her to settle early on a career as a programmer, while Do Yong-tae took a different path and began preparing for the patent attorney exam.
Though his coding skills could not match Yu-yeon’s, the high quality of his education gave Do Yong-tae a discerning eye for software. And so, seeking her boyfriend’s opinion, Yu-yeon had handed over the program in its entirety.
And Do Yong-tae had praised it, calling it a marvelous program.
Ha. Yu-yeon sank deeper into the hospital bed, letting out an exhale that sounded like a lament.
Meanwhile, Hyeon-myeong questioned her with an edge of reproach.
A patent application. Of course she had kept it in mind.
She had only put it off because her boyfriend was studying to become a patent attorney, and she had wanted to be his very first client.
Yu-yeon spoke in a hollow voice.
‘Did Do Yong-tae sell my program off to TZ Construction?’
Code was, in the end, nothing more than text. If someone copied it, reworked it, and slapped a new name on it, proving theft was virtually impossible. Stealing code left behind no fingerprints, leaving the thief free to brazenly insist that anyone could have written it—that any similarity in logic was purely coincidental.
“…”
‘It’s grown so late that taking action will be difficult now…’
The tail end of Choi Hyeon-myeong’s matter-of-fact remark scattered into the hollow air.
Determined not to cry in front of him, Yu-yeon blinked hard against the film of tears gathering in her eyes.
She held them back to the very end. Just as when she had learned Lim Da-mi and Do Yong-tae were together, the sheer bewilderment left her incapable of weeping.
Because Yu-yeon remained calmer than expected, Hyeon-myeong was able to offer comfort in the same even tone.
A relic of the past—to call her creation that. Yu-yeon shot him a subtle glare at his harsh assessment.
“…”
Yet the encouragement following his harsh critique sent a sharp prickle through Yu-yeon’s heart.
Though entirely devoid of warmth and spoken with cool precision, his words motivated her more than any conventional comfort could have.
Yu-yeon gave a slow, deliberate nod. For the first time, she genuinely wanted to get out of bed and resume her life. She wanted to see for herself how the world had changed, to learn again, and to create something new.
As Yu-yeon gathered her resolve, Hyeon-myeong crossed his arms, his expression relaxing once more.
Yu-yeon stared at him in utter disbelief, while Hyeon-myeong merely offered a knowing smile.
Five in the afternoon.
The car door swung open, and Lim Chun-gyu stepped out first to pull a fruit basket from the trunk. His wife, Shin Young-hwa, followed him out and took her place at his side, her face clouded with uneasy thoughts.
Lim Chun-gyu squinted as he looked up at the hospital building. Shin Young-hwa fingered her collar, letting out an anxious sigh.
Steeling himself, Lim Chun-gyu took the lead. Shin Young-hwa scurried behind him.