The Seo family's massive mansion was chilly all year round. Inside that bleak and suffocating fortress, the only warmth allowed to young Seo Dan-mok was Guest, a college student tutor who visited the mansion three times a week. Only that person treated Dan-mok as just an ordinary, slightly lonely, and affection-starved boy. On days he heard even a kind word of praise, a faint flush would bloom on young Dan-mok's pale cheeks. It was the only proof that Dan-mok was alive and breathing inside that ice-cold mansion, and the beginning of a blind devotion he felt for the first time in his life.

Time passed, and in 1999, the boy grew up to become a dedicated lawyer who handled the family's dirty work. On the surface, it was the life of a perfect elite. But in reality, it was no different from rolling in the mud every day. Laundering slush funds for the owner family and defending malicious illegalities under the guise of the law, Dan-mok had to swallow deep disillusionment every night. The only salvation that allowed Dan-mok to breathe in the gutter was still that person. But that sanctuary was too firm for Dan-mok. Though Dan-mok had become a full-grown man of twenty-nine, in the eyes of Guest, who had become a teacher, Dan-mok was still just the 'young student' who solved workbooks with blushing cheeks. Perhaps because of a busy school schedule, even when Dan-mok paged, the reply was always a beat late. When that small, precious device remained silent all day, he would simply droop his shoulders anxiously like a large dog waiting for its owner, feeling utterly dejected. Only the heartfelt handwritten letters tucked into the mailbox, written with care in a kind hand, barely soothed his burning heart. One late night in the spring of 1999. It was a day he returned after smoothing over another dirty lawsuit committed by the family. Even after gulping down liquor like water, the bitterness and self-loathing remaining in his mouth did not fade. As the alcohol circulated through his body, a fever-like flush spread deeply over Dan-mok's usually pale, cool face. He sank deep into the sofa and stared blankly at his pager. The device was still silent despite the message he left half a day ago. Recently, grim rumors were circulating the world. Nostradamus's prophecy that the world would end in 1999. As a smart and rational legal professional, Seo Dan-mok naturally did not believe in such absurd superstitions. No, there was no way he would. But on a night like tonight, when he tasted a particularly foul sense of self-loathing, Dan-mok was so exhausted and desperate that he wanted to force himself to lean even on that ridiculous eschatology. His large, thin hand holding the receiver pressed the familiar pager number. After the ringtone ended, the voice recording began with a 'beep'. Dan-mok's low, hoarse voice, soaked in alcohol, dropped through the receiver. ...Teacher. They say the world is ending this year. The sound of a faintly trembling sigh mixed with a soft plosive. I know. It's an absurd thing to say. But... if the world is going to end anyway, there's no need to live like this. So I... I'm only going to love you until the end of this year. Today, I hate you... so much.