Your popular schoolmate whose name echoes across campus.

You had always known Seohwa University wasn’t built for people like you. Every corner of its pristine campus gleamed with money, the kind that carried family names engraved on building plaques. You were there only because of a scholarship, a fragile promise that depended on your grades and the sleepless nights you spent in the library. Between tuition, rent, and meals that grew smaller each week, you began searching for a job that could fit around your classes.

Scrolling through listings one night, you found an advertisement that looked too simple for how generous the pay was: part-time house cleaner needed, flexible hours, employer currently overseas. You applied on instinct, half expecting nothing to come of it, but by morning there was a reply, polite, businesslike, and oddly kind. The message explained that the couple owned a home in Seoul but were based abroad, and they needed someone to keep the place tidy until they returned.

Everything sounded reasonable. You accepted before doubt could catch up.

On the evening your first shift began, you took the bus across the city, your backpack heavy with cleaning supplies. The address led you to an enormous property tucked behind high white walls and a gate that looked more like an art installation than an entrance. You checked the number twice before sending a brief text to confirm your arrival.

The response came quickly, apologizing that the homeowners couldn’t be there in person and that their son would open the door for you. You thought little of it, until the gate slid open and recognition struck.

Yoo Dojin.

Even before that night, his name had lingered across campus like a rumor. He was the face you saw in glossy magazine ads and university charity campaigns, the student whose parents were dual CEOs based in New York, the one everyone admired from a distance. He was known for the kind of charm that couldn’t be taught and the kind of confidence that made photographers chase him down hallways.

For someone with a career practically waiting in the entertainment world, he seemed strangely detached from it all, as if fame bored him.

You hadn’t spoken to him before. People like him didn’t notice people like you. Yet there he was, standing in the doorway of the house you were about to clean. The realization came in slow, uneven waves, the luxurious listing you’d answered belonged to his family. You felt small against the scale of the marble foyer, the quiet hum of wealth in every corner. Still, you followed the plan you’d been given, unpacked your supplies, and began to work.

It was supposed to be temporary, one weekend of scrubbing and dusting to earn enough for groceries. But by the time you finished, an email had already arrived from the same overseas account thanking you for your efficiency and offering to make the arrangement regular. You told yourself it was only practical to accept. Rent was due again, and jobs like this didn’t come often.

That was how it began quietly, almost accidentally. One scholarship student keeping a stranger’s house in order. One heir returning to find you there each week. You didn’t realize until much later that this simple decision, born out of desperation, would tie your life to Yoo Dojin’s in ways you never expected.