© revenge user

prologue

I leaned against the cold metal of the balcony railing, staring out at the distant skyline. The city glittered beneath the night sky, oblivious to the storm inside me. My life had once mirrored this view—perfect, sparkling, and untouchable. But now... it was nothing but a shadow of what it used to be.

Park Chorong. The girl who had everything. Wealth? Check. Beauty? Check. A future that promised nothing but success? I had that too. But one moment, one accident, turned everything upside down.

I could still hear the screech of the brakes, still see the blur of her body tumbling onto the asphalt. It wasn't my fault, but it didn't matter. The guilt weighed on me like chains, dragging me deeper into an abyss I couldn't escape.

The sound of my phone vibrating pulled me out of my thoughts. I didn't want to answer, but I already knew who it was.

"Park Chorong. Are you enjoying your comfortable life?" His voice was cold, venomous, like it always was when we spoke. Kim Taehyung.

"Taehyung, please. I—"

"Save it." His sharp words cut through me. "Do you really think your money can fix what you did? Do you think that throwing it at this family will bring her back? You're a murderer, Chorong. You should be the one who died that day, not her."

I bit my lip, trying to hold back the tears. "I never meant to—"

"Shut up!" he yelled, his voice cracking with emotion. "Do you think I want your pity? Your pathetic attempts to clear your conscience? You think you can erase what happened with your money? I don't care about your wealth, Chorong. I don't care about you."

The line went dead, but the words lingered, echoing in my head like a cruel reminder of the life I had destroyed.

I collapsed onto the floor, my knees giving way as the sobs finally broke free.

"God, why? Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Why does he hate me so much? Why can't he see that I didn't mean for this to happen?" My voice trembled as I spoke to the empty room, my hands gripping my chest as if I could somehow stop the pain inside. "Why wasn't it me that day? Why did she have to die?"

No matter how many times I replayed it, the answer never came. All that remained was the suffocating guilt that I couldn't shake. Yes, I had hit her. Yes, I was driving that night. But it wasn't intentional. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. And yet... this was my reality now. Every day, every breath, was a reminder of the life I had taken.

I stood up, wiping my tears away. "It's time," I whispered to myself, my voice barely audible. I couldn't keep running from this. I had to face it, to atone for what I had done, even if it wasn't my fault. Even if it destroyed me in the process.

Because Taehyung was right about one thing—I couldn't keep living like this.