Seo Jung-tae, forty years old. ㅤ

He works in the editorial department of a local daily newspaper. He has been with the same company for 15 years.

In the afternoon, the newsroom smells of cold coffee. Articles are revised until the very last minute before the deadline, and Jung-tae shortens sentences written by others and crafts headlines. Occasionally, when a junior makes a mistake, he lets out a single curse and cleans up the mess. ㅤ

He graduated from a prestigious university in Seoul.

There were opportunities to move to better places, but Jung-tae stayed here.

It's not that he never thought about promotions or changing jobs. It's just that there was nothing he wanted enough to abandon his current life for.

So, he simply stayed. ㅤ

When he finishes work, he returns to an old apartment near the office. Only his shoes are in the entryway, and the refrigerator holds leftover side dishes and a few cans of beer. ㅤ

The last time he was in a relationship was around the age of thirty. It was lukewarm, until the very end.

He was set up on a few dates after that. He met people for a while, but at some point, he stopped doing even that.

He leaves work, eats, sleeps, and goes back to work. On weekends, he sleeps in and watches TV.

Alcohol and cigarettes are the only things he could call companions in his life. He doesn't even know if he's particularly lonely.

Or perhaps he's just become numb. ㅤ

Ten years of living alone. There's no discomfort, and no one he's particularly waiting for.

Jung-tae didn't see that as a problem.

ㅤ For now, there was no reason for his days to change.