When Yunjoo had first entered this field, a complete novice who didn’t know a thing, she had followed Mr. Seok around nagging him, and the fights between them had been downright fierce. He would shout that she should get out of his sight, that he wouldn’t work if he had to look at her. But Yunjoo was not the type to back down just because someone was difficult.

He had thrown his hammer at her, yelling that some rookie who had never swung one in her life had no business nagging on a job site and that if she was so good she should do it herself, and she had chased him around until the very end demanding he fix things because the shape wasn’t what she had asked for. 

They had put away an enormous amount of makgeolli together along the way. It got to the point where Mr. Seok was the one seeking her out first to go for a drink. Mr. Seok had even said himself that Yunjoo’s nerve had beaten him.

Come to think of it, she was no ordinary stubborn woman herself. That thought made her laugh without meaning to. She had been drifting along in her own thoughts when she noticed Mr. Sangyun saying something beside her and looked up.

“Ms. Yunjoo, what are you thinking about so hard? I called your name and you didn’t even hear me.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“We’ll need to do some of this work out at the set location, right?”

“Of course. Doing it all here would be too much. But I don’t see Mr. Seok among the people lined up for the work.”

“Mr. Seok Cheolwoo, he hasn’t worked in a while.”

“What? Why?”

She was genuinely surprised. She had assumed he would still be out there working as always.

“He had a serious falling-out with Sanghwa Arts and said he was done for good. He doesn’t take work in this field anymore.”

“He’s not the type to quit so irresponsibly though……”

“I heard that last year Sanghwa went to him and practically begged him to take one job, and he wouldn’t budge.”

“Still, Mr. Seok is the best there is.”

“Do you know him well?”

“Yes, we drank a ridiculous amount of makgeolli together. He’s a good person.”

“But it’ll be tough. I hear his stubbornness is something else.”

“I know. Mr. Sangyun, can you look up his address for me? I’d like to meet him in person. Even if he says no, I can at least see his face.”

“Then let’s go together.”

“No, I’ll meet him on my own.”

* * *

The address Sangyun had given her was in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. Yunjoo headed there the very next day. It was her first time out of Seoul in a long while, and her face was slightly bright with the feeling of going on a little outing as she watched the scenery pass outside the window.

It was the first time she had gotten in a car and gone somewhere since getting married. Yunjoo rode the feeling of simple excitement all the way to Icheon Terminal, took a taxi, and got off in the neighborhood listed in the address. It took a little longer to find since she was going only by address, but then a house and yard appeared that looked exactly like Mr. Seok. Anyone could tell at a glance whose handiwork it was.

She stood for a moment looking at the house, and then someone came out from inside. Yunjoo spotted the person stepping into the yard beyond the low wall and called out in a loud voice.

“Mr. Seok!”

“Hm…… who’s this?”

“Who else, it’s Yunjoo.”

“Like I don’t know that. You little rascal!”

“Mr. Seok! Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“What’s there to ask, you came here to come in anyway. Get in here. What brings you all this way to see an old man?”

“What have you been doing out here, Mr. Seok? Not working?”

“I’m done with that world. The young ones are getting more and more disrespectful. No matter how informal the job site is, I won’t put up with that kind of thing.”

“Who got our Mr. Seok this worked up?”

She stepped inside, looking around with a playful air, and found the modest space pleasing to the eye. It was a house that resembled not his rough and blunt exterior, but his heart.

“Is your wife not here?”

“She went to our daughter’s place.”

“Come on, she didn’t leave because you blew up at her, did she?”

“What!”

“Look at that. Raising your voice again.”

“Stop fooling around and tell me why you’re here. Didn’t you marry into a wealthy family?”

“Hehehe. Wealthy, yes.”

She was like a daughter to him, and just the sound of her laugh told him everything. She was the kind of person who laughed brightly and spoke loudly even when things were hard, and he had kept a close eye on her and taught her the work. But the laugh sounded different.

“Why does your laugh sound like that?”

“It’s been a while, Mr. Seok. You’ll have a drink with me, right? I brought some. Stay right there. Let me rummage around the kitchen.”

“Can you actually cook?”

“Three years as a housewife plus a tedious bridal education means there’s not much I can’t do. Mr. Seok, not just anyone can marry into a wealthy family. It takes blood, sweat, and tears. You have to waste time and money you’ll never get back. My mother dragged me to cooking classes, flower arranging, tea ceremony, bread baking. There’s nothing I can’t do. I’m a woman forged through years of suffering.”

Mr. Seok watched Yunjoo’s back as she turned and went into the kitchen, and let out a long breath. He had first met Yunjoo in the winter when she was twenty-three. With a face that looked younger than twenty, she had followed him around picking at everything, arguing, and digging in to the very end on anything she believed she was right about. 

She had fought with him when he threw his hammer, and he had put her down plenty of times because the whole thing was ridiculous, but Yunjoo had stuck to him with relentless persistence and seen every job through to the end.

Yunjoo loved the work that much, and she had the talent to match. Mr. Seok had liked that about her. She would say that no matter how exhausted she was, the work gave her energy, and she never lost her smile even while rolling around in clouds of sawdust. That same Yunjoo had cried for the first time when she told him she was getting married, showing him tears he had never seen from her before. 

He had asked why she was crying when she was marrying into such a good family, and she had looked at him and said she wished he were her father, sobbing long and hard. That same girl had shown up out of nowhere like this, and he didn’t know why her smile made his chest ache.

‘That kid smiling like that means she’s been through a lot of pain. What kind of fool couldn’t recognize a diamond that landed right in his hands.’

In a short time she came out carrying a quite respectable spread. On the tray Yunjoo brought out sat neatly arranged chive pancakes and a well-made tofu stew. When Mr. Seok saw the spread she had laid out, Yunjoo’s face turned self-satisfied.

“Well? I think you’ll find it more than decent, Mr. Seok.”

“I’ll know once I taste it. But if you drink, how are you getting home?”

“I’m not going anywhere. Let me stay the night. Here, Teacher, have a glass.”

“Teacher?”

“My hammer teacher. I got pretty good at swinging one, thanks to you. Heheh!”

“Here, you take one too.”

“Yes sir.”

Yunjoo lifted her glass with a loose, easy grin, and she was genuinely in good spirits, her heart feeling light. She had drunk a lot with Mr. Seok like this back in the day. For some reason Yunjoo had always gotten along better with him than with people her own age, and Mr. Seok had taken her in and looked out for her even while giving her a hard time in his own way. Stage designer was a fine title, but there had been plenty of days of hard labor too. When the work was done they would drink makgeolli at a run-down street stall.

Sitting across from Mr. Seok, the fact that she had started working again felt real. She raised her glass toward him and smiled.

“Mr. Seok, I’m working at Art Entertainment now. You know why I came, don’t you?”

“I’m not doing it.”

“Mr. Se……ok.”

He had shot her down before she even got the words out. She narrowed her eyes into a smile and let out a little whine through her nose, and Mr. Seok immediately drained his glass and set it down on the table with a loud clack. It was his way of showing he did not appreciate her excessive charm offensive.

“Don’t call me that, it’s revolting. Who are you trying to work your charms on.”

“Fine. I’m not leaving until you agree to do it. That’s all there is to it.”

And so the makgeolli started going back and forth, and she had lost count of how many bottles in. At some point Yunjoo decided she truly was not going to be able to go home, and she committed to drinking him into a decision. Mr. Seok knew it too. When this girl made up her mind, it wasn’t over until one of them won. They kept pouring, and then as though it had just occurred to him, he asked.

“Did you tell anyone at home you were coming? Isn’t your husband waiting?”

“We don’t live like that.”

We don’t live like that. We weren’t the kind of people who paid attention to each other coming and going. When the time came she went up to the second floor, and after that she had no idea whether Kangwook had come in or gone out. In the current situation, she was grateful things had been that way.

“What kind of husband doesn’t even look for his wife when she doesn’t come home. Call him at least!”

“Mr. Seok, I’ve got that handled, so stop changing the subject and help me out.”

“This girl, honestly……”