"She smiled at me," Ryu Hyun-soo said, lowering his phone. The beer glass on the table trembled.
Really? She said we had a spark.
Bullshit—did you even get her number?
He smiled. A pale froth rose in his eyes, like beer foam. It wasn’t joy. It was the winner’s grin of a man who has just killed something.
Hyun-soo spun his phone between his fingers, steeped in the satisfaction of having acquired. In truth, her gaze had lingered on him for only 0.8 seconds. But the fact that he had stolen those 0.8 seconds from other men burned hotter than any glance.
What Burns Is Not Love but the Shield of Another Man
A man’s instinct is never aimed at love itself. His eyes are fixed on the other man standing beside her.
As a boy, on the playground sand, he tasted victory for the first time:
I’m the fastest!
Me too!
You’re slow.
The girl was already an afterthought. She was merely the scoreboard: who was quicker, who had more, who got there first.
Even while touching a woman, a man is anxious.
What if someone snatches her away? What if someone does it better?
So he doesn’t embrace her body; he occupies it. Militarily. Like planting a flag.
Saturday Night, Exit 2 of Gangnam Station
Kim Jun-hyeok, 28, was holding her hand. The subway spilled crowds onto the street. She buttoned her jacket and asked:
Are you sure he’ll text? Yeah. Gotta show him I’m with you.
In truth, he wasn’t holding her hand for her sake. He knew his college junior was walking behind them.
Did he want a photo to send to his friends? Or did he simply want to prove that the woman beside him was, in fact, the woman he possessed?
Jun-hyeok squeezed her hand and took a selfie. When the flash fired, the junior behind them turned his head. At that instant, Jun-hyeok’s heart dropped—not with love, but with the bang of a victory flare.
Why Are We Drawn to This Race?
Anthropologists say a man’s instinct is to secure resources. Yet most resources are merely tools to secure the woman herself.
Money, career, house, car, height—all arrows pointing the same way: survive the competition and crush the other men.
I didn’t love her; I loved making her mine.
—Then the other men?
—Crushed.
Women often wonder, Why does he enjoy showing me off more than touching me?
The answer is simple: the other men’s eyes he might lose her to excite him more than her body ever could.
The Question He Asks Before Sleep
"Who were you with today?"
He holds your body, but the moment he closes his eyes he sees another man’s silhouette.
Did he hold her hand? Did he make her laugh? Did he covet my place?
Romance evaporates; only one emotion remains. Not jealousy, but terror of defeat.
So he doesn’t love you; he is obsessed with keeping you. And keeping is not love—it is dominion.
A Final Question
When he looks into your eyes now and says, "I love you," could it be that the words are not for you at all, but a declaration of war aimed at the unknown man standing behind you?