Mary was a successful career woman. She was a CEO of Bicken’s Centerpoint, one of the biggest shopping mall in the nation, and everyone looked up to her and praised her for her great acumen. Although she used to feel complacent about herself and satisfy with her straightforward life, her current life was full of boredom. For her, money was valueless because she had never felt the necessity of that since she was elected the CEO. It was 2 years ago, however, when she found a new goal of her life. She started taking up politics, and led feminism movements. The past 2 years of her life had been much difficult for her than ever because many people had objected to her activities, but the desired outcome was about to come out today. She wore a faint smile of satisfaction. “Today will be remembered as one of the greatest victory of women over men.” Mary asked her driver. “Hey, what time is it now?” The driver answered, “It is 5:42 PM, madam.” Mary looked out through the window and sighed. “We need to get to the conference in 15 minutes, so drive faster.” “Yes, madam.” The driver adjusted the rearview mirror and pushed the accelerator harder. The black sedan was heading for the Congress House where the vote for the acceptance of the law that women and men would be treated with absolute equality would soon take place. She, however, could predict the result; she had the previous survey, and the result showed that the majority would consent to the proposal. The only thing had to be done was her final presentation at the conference.

Mary closed her eyes, trying to recall her past life. She firmly believed that women had been suffering under men’s control over the world. The car stopped, or at least she thought so. “Mike, we are running out of time, go, quickly!” She took a deep breath and resumed recalling her past memory. Many scenes passed through her mind, and one image caught her attention. She and a man were sitting in a swing. “It was 13 years ago, when I was a college student, and he was…” She frowned while closing her eyes shut. “Yes, that man was Mike, my ex-boyfriend. We were shy at that time and could not express our feelings to each other. We just stayed there for an hour and left the place...” The man in her memory turned his head to young Mary. Mary wondered, “Did he look at me like that before?” And the coldest words soon came out of the man’s mouth, “Come with me.”

            Mary shook her head heavily and tried to come back to the reality. “Mike, are we at the place, yet?” A moment of silence ensued. The same cold words echoed around her ears. “Come with me, Mary, this is your final destination.” Mary, at that moment, was surprised to find out that she was sitting on the swing next to the man in a dark robe. She cried out for help, but could hear only her echo. Mary and the man were in an infinitely large white space. “You, what are you? Why am I here?” “Come with me, Mary.” Mary jumped lunaticallly for several times and shouted, “You are not the one here to kill me, are you? There is going to be the most important moment in my life, and I have to go there on time. Let me go!” The dark being slowly opened his mouth with a freezing gesture, “You are here because you had spent your life mostly on worthless things.” “No, that is not true.” “Stop pretending to be Mary. You are nothing but the hatred born inside of her at this place 13 years ago. You think you remember this place. However, what really happened here was you and your ex-boyfriend’s break up because you had been raped by two strangers on the previous day. Mary’s hatred against man created you, and you swallowed her up.  Since then, you did whatever it took to excel men in every field. The result turned out to be quite successful, and you became a CEO. Did you believe that you could change the past by hiring your driver who had the same name as your ex-boyfriend? But, look around where you are more carefully. You are still living in the past.” Mary showed anger and criticized the dark existence, “I do not hate anyone, but want to help women so that they do not experience terrible things like me!” The dark told her monotonously, “Then your method was wrong. Have you ever thought of the value of difference? Do you truly believe that different things can be treated with perfect equality? Why do you think women should be treated exactly like men should be? What about the difference between a tall person and a small person? What about an intelligent person and a mentally retarded person? What about good-looking person and an ugly person? No, there is no answer for these questions.” “Stop it, I am right! And you are wrong!” “Revenge is sweet but meaningless. Accept the difference, and then you will be able to see the better answer for your question. Now, come with me.”

            “We arrived at the conference, madam.” Mike heard no response and turned around. “Madam?” He felt chilly. Mary was not there. “It, it was Phantom King…” He hurriedly got out the car, and ran straight into the Congress House.