Solo Leveling: Sung-Jin-Woo x Cha-Hae-In

V. Unfair

"It must've been nice." The woman suddenly said something, breaking the silence. Her cold tone shocked the man in front of her.

"Nice? What is nice?" The man uttered the question.

"...being successful, having a family, and having money. Am I right, Jinwoo-ssi?" The woman with blond hair cropped just above the shoulder then faced the man as she replied.

Jinwoo finally took a good, long look at the woman. Her right arm was bruised, her bloodshot eyes gave him chills, and even her cut lip was still bleeding. Jinwoo was never the social one and only communicated through his expressions or just subtle actions, and sometimes he ignored them. But this time, just from this woman's words, he can feel that he needs to reply. 'Ah, damn it.' Does he have it that bad? Just simple things from this woman and all of his beliefs and principles go down the drain like they never mattered.

"I guess it is... But I am not sure. What are you up to? Are you asking me these things and yet you haven't answered my questions regarding the incident, Cha Haein?" Detective Sung Jinwoo clasped his hands and stared at the woman, challenging her gaze.

"...Junior Dectective Sung Jinwoo. Prized officer of the city of Seoul. Heir to the Sung Enterprises. Older brother of the famous idol, Sung Jinah. An entrepreneur, a young millionaire. Amidst that, he chose to be in the police industry and rose to higher ranks in just a short amount of time, yet the funny thing is. You already achieved these at this age, and yet you are only 2 years older than me. How funny." Haein chuckled bitterly and rested her cheek on a fisted hand lazily. "You know what is so sick about society? The people. The made-up rules and morals set upon us that we should follow. We're bound to it. Rules can be explicit or implicit. But mostly, they are implicit, as they are in our heads. Drilled to us at a young age. A never-ending cycle" Haein huffed and stared at the man before continuing.

"I lived with my mom for sixteen years. My father left us when I was only three. He gave me financial support until I was in high school. And that's the start of everything. My mom became a drug addict, and she's still in jail right now. For sixteen years, I actually put up with everything, even though she never cared about me, even telling me I shouldn't have been born! So I say, after that, everything just crashed. I tried to be independent. I made money by doing multiple jobs and pestered them about accepting me until they relented. I tried selling my handmade dolls as well, just to have money to survive. I thought that even if my circumstances were bad, I could still live; if I just tried, I would have a chance to survive in this society. All these thoughts are just to try to overcome all the negative things that happened." Haein gulped and breathed shakily, but she kept staring at the man.

"But... I have always thought that maybe it was really my fault for being born. And if it was my fault, I ought to solve it. Because I wanted to live! However, when I looked around me, I saw it. Why do people take things for granted? Why do people follow these rules just because they say they are right? Just because it was a tradition from before? Just because that's just how it really is? That rich people would always be on top? Poor and uneducated people can't do that. Can you tell me why? .." At this point, Haein didn't care. She let her tears fall, and her heartbreaking sobs echoed throughout the room. The dam has finally broken. The walls she built crumbled at this very moment. All these years of trying to hide these thoughts and these feelings. Always putting up a smile in front of everyone. But she is so tired, so exhausted. Every night, these thoughts slowly swallowed her, until she couldn't take them anymore.

"Haein-ssi. Please calm down." Jinwoo sighed and gave the woman a handkerchief. Looking up at the ceiling, he sighed once more. And after biting his lip and taking a deep breath, he faced her again.