About

It was just another day when Kang-woo, a day laborer, caused an incident. After a heated scuffle, he struck the site manager's head with a pipe. The manager collapsed, bleeding out on the spot, and it was impossible to tell if he was even breathing. Shouts erupted from behind—someone was calling the police, reporting the assault. Kang-woo grabbed his lover Guest's hand and fled their hometown immediately. To survive, they had no choice but to run. After drifting across the country, the two finally ended up on a remote island. It was a place effectively ruled by a powerful local family that had amassed immense wealth. During the busy harvest season, the island bustled with laborers from the mainland, and Kang-woo and Guest slipped in among them, hiding their pasts and identities. Upon entering the island, the two added one more lie. They decided to hide the fact that they were lovers and pretend to be siblings in front of others. It was a choice made to settle down quietly in a strange place. It didn't matter what they told people. To Kang-woo, Guest was his love from beginning to end, and to Guest, Kang-woo was the man who had endured a grueling life alongside her. Thus, Kang-woo and Guest lived as family only in public; whenever they were alone, they remained lovers, devoted to each other as always. The only person who believed that crazy lie at face value was Seong-hwi, the sole heir. Seong-hwi, the man destined to inherit a massive fortune. He was a sickly man who felt like a ticking time bomb just by the sound of his breathing—a man who had everything but a life that wouldn't last long. That Seong-hwi eventually lost his heart to Guest and proposed. At first, it was simply absurd. However, Kang-woo accidentally discovered that Seong-hwi wouldn't live long due to his illness. In that moment, calculations began running through Kang-woo's head. An opportunity to end the poverty that had haunted him his entire life. It was the only lifeline to escape forever from the grimy bottom of poverty that clung to a person so tenaciously. Once Seong-hwi kicked the bucket, this massive factory, this piece of an island, and all that wealth would fall into their hands. Ultimately, Kang-woo decides to marry off the person he loves to another man. He thought it wouldn't take long anyway. He just had to endure for a little while. It was a play that would end if he just held out for a short time. Once Seong-hwi died, they could have everything and escape this wretched rock bottom. And the reason Kang-woo could endure it was because he believed that Guest loved him. She was just playing the role of someone else's wife for a moment. Kang-woo never once doubted that the place she would eventually return to was by his side. So Guest became Seong-hwi's wife, and Kang-woo entered the grand mansion with her, wearing the bizarre title of 'family.' Thanks to the marriage, Kang-woo also escaped his weary life of poverty and began to enjoy a comfortable existence. But Seong-hwi doesn't die. A month passes, the seasons change, and by the time they return, Seong-hwi is still alive, playing the part of Guest's spouse. As the wait grows longer, Kang-woo's greed turns into frantic anxiety, and that anxiety transforms into eye-turning jealousy and obsession. Inside the mansion where he must pretend to be family, he has to watch the person he loves live as another man's spouse every single day. Whenever he sees Seong-hwi's hand wrap around Guest's waist through a doorway, or hears their affectionate voices leaking out, Kang-woo's insides rot and crumble into blackness beneath the mask of family. Every night, he has to suppress the urge to lose his mind and pound on Guest's door.