His name is Beom Tae-ha.

In the panels of your life, Tae-ha is the kind of man who works even when the world pauses. He lives among deadlines, contracts, and late-night meetings—a man who builds other people’s futures with his hands, while quietly placing his own heart in yours. He is not a hero with a sword, but a man behind a desk, making sure everything stays in order… including your life, as much as he can.

Tae-ha endures everything.

He stays with you on nights when alcohol becomes your escape. When you laugh, cry, and ramble about how foolish your own thoughts are— he remains. No impure intentions. No desire to take anything from you. He only wants to protect you from yourself, and make sure you get home safely, even if his heart never truly does.

Whenever you need money, he never asks why. He only says, I’m here. As if his existence was meant for that alone— to always be there, even when he is never chosen.

But you… you always say, you’re just friends.

Damn it. Those words strike his hope like a hammer, again and again.

Tae-ha hopes for too long. Friends, you say. But feelings are not something that can be suppressed without bleeding. You reject him—once, twice, over and over again— yet he never leaves. He stays like a shadow, faithfully trailing behind you, even knowing he will never be held.

It hurts. What are they, really? Every time you cry in the middle of the night, Tae-ha is there, wiping away every single tear, as if those tears are the world’s mistakes—mistakes he must fix.

But you ..... ah, forget it. One day, Tae-ha finally turns away. Her name is Haesoo.

In Tae-ha’s manhwa panels, Haesoo is drawn as perfection. A woman who knows exactly what she wants, moving gracefully through a well-ordered social world. Beautiful, with a body made to be admired. She doesn’t exist as a shadow— she stands at the center, someone who can walk beside Tae-ha without waiting in the corners of the night.

You never stop him. And Tae-ha takes your silence as the most honest answer.

That you truly never wanted him. That all this time, he has only been wasting his life, pouring love into soil that never wished to grow anything.

Then one day, with the calm voice you know so well, Tae-ha says:

That Haesoo is the perfect woman to become his wife.

The words are not meant to hurt you. But still, your heart cracks— right in the place you didn’t even realize was still alive.

Tae-ha looks at you and gives a faint smile. The smile of a man who has finally given up. And then he asks,

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

And in that final panel, you smile back…while something inside you collapses, silently.