Chapter 1

The smell of grilled pork belly mixed with the loud chatter of a crowded Korean barbecue restaurant.

“Cheers!”

The clinking of glasses rang loudly.

“To today’s star, Marketing Team employee Lee Da-eun! Wait, not employee anymore. You’re a deputy manager now, right? Congratulations!”

At Team Leader Park’s over-the-top celebration, everyone raised their glasses and cheered. I forced the corners of my mouth upward as much as possible. My face felt like it might cramp, but I had to endure it.

Today was my promotion dinner.

A promotion to deputy manager.

As I emptied my glass, I habitually started calculating things in my head.

An increase of 200,000 won in position allowance.

Loan interest payment: 620,000 won.

There was nothing left.

Still, I felt like I would finally be able to breathe a little easier with my tight monthly budget.

…At least it’s not a negative.

It was bitter, but I comforted myself.

I decided to be grateful that, starting this month, I could loosen my belt just a little.

That was enough.

Even if half of it belonged to the bank because of my debt, I didn’t care.

This 300-million-won jeonse apartment was my only trophy.

It was the last bit of pride I had, proof that even though I owned almost nothing, I had managed to make a home for myself under the Seoul sky.

Then it happened.

The phone I had placed on the table began to vibrate.

Bzzzz-

My eyes widened when I saw the caller’s name on the screen.

[Mrs. 401]

Why is the woman from upstairs calling me at this hour?

She was someone I occasionally exchanged side dishes with, and whenever we met in the elevator, she would warmly ask how I was doing.

But she wasn’t the type to suddenly call this late at night.

Maybe she called by mistake.

I casually turned my phone face down.

I didn’t want anything interrupting my pleasant celebration dinner, and the timing was too inconvenient to worry about a simple accidental call.

But the vibration didn’t stop.

Just when I thought the call had ended, the phone started ringing again on the table.

Bzzzz- Bzzzz-

I checked the screen again.

It was Mrs. 401 again.

I was wondering whether I should reject the call when the phone immediately started vibrating for the third time.

It shook on the table as if something terrible would happen if I didn’t answer immediately.

A chill ran down my spine.

This wasn’t a simple mistake.

There was no way someone who was normally so calm would keep calling me over and over at this hour for no reason.

Could something have happened to her house?

An ominous feeling flashed through my mind, and fear suddenly gripped me.

Team Leader Park looked toward me as if asking what was going on.

“I’m sorry. It’s an urgent call. I’ll be right back.”

I got up as if I were being chased.

The moment I opened the restaurant door, the damp night air rushed over me.

With trembling fingers, I answered the call.

“…Hello? Ma’am?”

“Da-eun? This is 401. Are you not at home right now?”

Her usual gentle voice was nowhere to be heard.

Her voice was sharp and desperate.

“Yes. I’m out at a company dinner. Why? Did something happen?”

“This isn’t the time to worry about that! Can you get in touch with the landlord?”

“What?”

“The landlord can’t be reached! They say he even emptied his office! Everyone in the villa is outside right now! Hurry up and come!”

Click.

The call ended.

My fingertips turned cold.

My heart started pounding so hard that it felt like it was going to burst through my ribs.

The landlord can’t be reached? He emptied his office?

No. No way. That can’t be happening.

With trembling fingers, I quickly searched through my contacts.

I found the three words: Landlord.

I pressed the call button.

Ring… Ring…

Please answer. Please.

I nervously bit my nails as I listened to the ringing.

But after a long series of rings, all I heard was a cold automated voice.

“The phone is turned off. After the beep…”

My legs felt like they were giving out.

It’s true.

I really couldn’t reach him.

With shaking hands, I opened the taxi app.

Estimated fare for a standard taxi: 23,000 won.

That was enough money to skip lunch three times.

But I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed the call button with trembling fingers.

Right now, my life was more important than the money.

“……”

The moment I received the notification that a taxi had been assigned, I ran toward the road.

What about my bag that I left inside the restaurant?

Did I even tell Team Leader Park where I was going?

I couldn’t think about anything.

No, I didn’t have time to think.

When the taxi stopped in front of me, I threw myself into the back seat as if I were escaping from something.

The Seoul night scenery passing outside the window seemed strangely distorted.

Unfortunately, the riverside expressway was practically a giant parking lot because of the evening traffic.

[13,200 won]

[13,300 won]

The digital number on the meter kept ticking upward.

The car wasn’t even moving, but the time-based surcharge kept adding up, making my precious money disappear.

At this rate, it’ll go over 30,000 won.

At some point, my fingernails had dug deep marks into my palm.

Three hundred million won.

It wasn’t simply a “large amount of money.”

It was my entire youth.

The years I had spent desperately working through my twenties, surviving on 3,500-won convenience-store meals, never once getting a passport stamp from an ordinary overseas vacation like everyone else, all while paying off my student loans.

While other people carried luxury handbags, I carried a worn-out eco-bag covered in pilling.

All of that patience and sacrifice had been poured into this.

It was my bones and flesh.

And now it was going to disappear?

That can’t be.

“Miss, we’ve arrived.”

The driver’s dry voice snapped me back to reality.

I hurriedly handed over my card and jumped out of the car.

I didn’t even hear the payment notification.

Pitter-patter-

Of all times, the raindrops had begun falling harder.

I ran down the familiar alley like a madwoman.

My breath was burning in my throat, but I couldn’t stop.

In the distance, I could see the entrance to the newly built villa where I lived.

“…What is all this?”

The entrance was a complete mess.

Sheets of A4 paper had been stuck all over the glass of the communal entrance, which was normally spotless.

[Emergency! Tenants’ Committee Being Formed]

[Landlord Unreachable. Please contact us if you have seen him.]

The words were becoming blurred and black as rainwater ran down the paper.

It didn’t feel real.

“Da-eun! You came!”

Just as I stood there blankly staring at the notices, a woman suddenly rushed out from the crowd and grabbed my wet arm.

It was Mrs. 401, the woman I’d spoken to on the phone.

Her eyes were hollow, and her hands were trembling badly.

“That bastard landlord ran away! They say he was just a figurehead! Our deposits… we’ve lost all of them!”

The woman collapsed onto the ground and burst into tears.

Her cries, mixed with screams, pierced through the sound of the rain.

It felt as if I had been struck in the head with a hammer.

Her situation didn’t feel like someone else’s problem.

Because one minute from now, I would probably be crying just like her.

I hurried past her and ran to my own door.

304.

I stood in front of my home.

Beep, beep, beep, click.

With a cheerful electronic sound, the door lock opened far too easily.

The inside of my apartment was silent.

But the air felt different.

The scent of the black cherry diffuser I had placed by the entrance filled my nose.

“A successful working woman’s apartment needs at least one scent like this.”

I had bought it during a buy-one-get-one-free sale at the supermarket, after thinking about it for a long time.

Back then, I liked the sweet smell because it felt like the scent of success.

But not anymore.

Now it disgusted me.

It smelled like cheap air freshener sprayed over a rotten lifeline.

“Ugh…”

I felt sick to my stomach.

Every time I breathed, it felt as though piles of debt were being forced into my lungs.

Dragging my heavy body forward like a wet sack of cotton, I stood in the middle of the living room.

Yesterday, this place had been my pride.

Starting today, it would become my hell.

The Bespoke refrigerator that still had six months of installment payments left.

The dryer I had finally gathered the courage to buy.

All the household appliances that had brought me small moments of happiness until yesterday now looked like nothing more than huge piles of debt.

What am I supposed to do with all this stuff?

If the apartment went to auction and I was eventually forced out, where would I even move all these heavy appliances?

At least 1 million won for professional movers.

200,000 won per month for container storage.

And the cost of a ladder truck would be extra.

The calculator in my head cruelly started working again.

I didn’t even have enough money for a new deposit, let alone enough to hire a moving truck.

Maybe it would actually be cheaper to leave with nothing but my body.

But if I lost 300 million won and abandoned all these belongings too, then absolutely nothing would remain from the twenties I had spent struggling and scraping by.

My entire life had become a hostage, trapped inside this house.

With all my strength gone, I collapsed onto the sofa.

The softness of the cushions, which should have been comforting, felt terrifying.

I could sleep here tonight.

I wasn’t being kicked out immediately.

But what would happen once this apartment went up for auction and someone else bought it?

Where would I live then?

The safe castle I had built for myself had now become a haunted house that devoured money and stared back at me.

Bzzzz-

The phone in my hand vibrated again.

This time, it wasn’t the same number.

[Mom: Congratulations on your promotion, sweetheart. Did you eat?]

I quickly pressed the phone against my chest.

I couldn’t bring myself to reply.

Mom… I lost all the money from my jeonse deposit.

How could I possibly tell her that?

If my mother found out what had happened to me, she would probably collapse from shock and become sick immediately.

“Ugh…”

The tears I had been holding back finally tore through my throat and spilled out.

I felt completely alone in the world.

The drink I had thought was a toast to my success had turned out to be a poisoned cup.

“My entire fortune… is gone.”

The heavy rain pounded against the windows.

I curled up in the darkness and sobbed.

Where is my life supposed to go from here?