Work Text:
Kim Rok Soo was not the kind of woman who met Korea's beauty standards (not that she had ever had the chance), not with her hands full of calluses from strenuous work, not with the marks of old wounds running all over her body, let alone now that little crow's feet were finally growing on the sides of her eyes, because of the constant way Choi Jung Soo found a way to make her laugh, or found herself unable not to reciprocate the smile Lee Soo Hyuk gave her every time she came home.
Not that she hadn't tried before, a first and only attempt to mimic what seemed to be everyone's normalcy, something to cling on to as her world continued to crumble, money became scarce and the walls cracked with each passing day.
But if no guide, no idea what would go first or what next, inexperienced hands too shaky to make a straight line, coupled with the ignorance of what certain products could do to skin they weren't meant for... well, the way she'd thrown it all away and spent the next two hours trying to remove every last trace of makeup said it all.
Since that time she had never tried again, not wanting to spend money she didn't have on something that would ruin her mood, nor wanting to waste valuable time she could use to work and survive.
And even now, when the floor of the apartment didn't vibrate with the passing cars, the paint on the wall remaining intact in the face of low humidity, the windows lacking cracks, the winter nights warms and the summer evenings cool, she felt no interest in trying again.
After all, both Choi Jung Soo and Lee Soo Hyuk liked the way she looked, and they were the only people she wanted to please in this life.