The story of a man who tried to meet 100 people just 3 months after his divorce

In this series, I document the story of how I, having divorced my wife of 16 years, sought true love by meeting 100 people, until I found “someone with whom I could be my natural self from the heart.”

▶︎Vol.1 (Previous article)📝
👉16 years of love, the story of the 84 people I met until I could ““find someone I could seriously imagine a future with””84 people

Just three months after my divorce.
Having never used a matching app before, I was meeting many people for the first time in my life for the purpose of dating or marriage hunting.

At night, I would either meet someone, or if no plans were made, I would open a matching app, look at someone's profile, make plans to meet, and then part ways with someone else.
Those days continued.
Eating alone in a quiet room and going to sleep without talking to anyone felt too quiet and uncomfortable, and before I knew it, I was just staring at the app screen.

“Loneliness” was much heavier than I had imagined.

And I realized that the feeling of “being wanted by someone” was supporting me more than I had imagined.
To find a new partner, the first thing I used was a matching app.

Pairs, with, Omiai, Zexy Enmusubi... I tried everything I could get my hands on.
Even then, when I felt something was missing, I learned about an “aiseki-ya” (shared table bar) called “The Single”.
I would go there whenever I had any free time, such as on Friday nights, weekends, or holidays.
It had a system where you could talk to women in turns with a seat change every 20 minutes, and on busy days, I would meet over 10 people in a single day.

I also registered with a marriage agency, and there were times I reunited with old friends from the past to go out for a meal.
In total, I met exactly 84 people.
By channel, that was 41 people at the shared table bar, 39 people through matching apps (Bachelor Date being the most at 18), 2 people through a marriage agency, and 1 person through a friend.

It felt less like “marriage hunting” and more like a “life reboot”.
I was meeting someone every week.

Sometimes I would meet the same person more than twice, and sometimes it would end after the first time.
And before I knew it, I found myself with a note in hand, asking, “Which story was I supposed to tell today?” and my conversations had become templated.

But I couldn't stop.

If I wasn't meeting someone, the time spent doing nothing intensified my sense of loneliness.
It might be cold to bring a “numerical plan” to meeting people.
But at the time, I couldn't keep my heart together unless I did.
“I want to meet someone I can truly feel I want to see for a third time from the bottom of my heart.”

Based on that standard, I decided to meet 100 people first.
For example, if I met 10 people and felt “I want to see 2 of them again,” then perhaps only 1 of them would be someone I felt “I want to see for a third time.”

Thinking that way, I figured I might meet about 4 people if I met 100—relying on that “probability” to motivate myself.
On the way home from a date with someone, I looked at my smartphone and realized, “Who is this person?” as I couldn't match the name and face on the app.

At that moment, I realized that I wasn't meeting people for a happy life, but rather doing my dating/marriage hunting like fulfilling a quota, and I suddenly felt empty.
Honestly, while meeting various people, thoughts like “Wasn't my relationship with my ex-wife the most comfortable after all?” and “Wouldn't I be able to live my life with more peace of mind if we got back together?” kept crossing my mind.
Without being able to answer with a clear “NO,” only time passed.

Even though I was supposed to be with someone, I was always alone.
Still, I couldn't give up yet.
I wanted to believe once more in grabbing “true love.”

✅From here on is a preview for the next time (vol.3)

In the midst of that, there was an encounter I couldn't forget.
For me at that time, that woman was not “just another encounter.”

Next time, I will write about the period when I was struggling with my relationship with her, and when I was about to ask my ex-wife to get back together.
But triggered by the tears she shed, my heart began to waver greatly again.

——Who is the person I should really face?
About the life choice I made over the course of about 1-2 months.