Chapter 16

The mart where Seoyun worked closed at eleven o’clock. Seoyun worked the latest shift because the hourly wage for closing-time workers was a little higher.

Maybe because the weekend was coming up, it was an unusually busy day. She had stood in front of the register all day handling payments, and her legs ached.

It had been three days since she met Ijun, and three sleepless nights had passed. And yet Seoyun still had not reached a decision.

Ijun’s proposal had not felt like a joke, but she still could not understand why the two of them had to marry. He had spoken as though he wanted this marriage, but no matter how much she thought about it, it seemed to benefit only Seoyun.

Patting her heavy shoulders, she stepped out of the store, only to see someone standing by the roadside.

“Seoyun. Here!”

Seoyun flinched and stopped walking.

The person waving at her was Changseok.

She had forgotten all about him. Until now, Seoyun’s mind had been so tangled that she had completely forgotten his degrading proposal.

“How exhausted you must be, working this late.”

Coming up to Seoyun, Changseok clicked his tongue as if making sure she heard. Where had he thrown back a few shots of soju? The area around his eyes was red, and oil gleamed on his nose and cheeks.

“I hadn’t heard from you at all, so I came all the way here.”

“Ah…. Yes. Have you been well?”

“As for me, I’m out of my mind with work and raising the kids.”

What kids, when he was not even going home at this hour? Seoyun felt no sympathy for his pitiful tone.

“It’s a bit late for coffee…. How about we go somewhere and have a beer while we talk?”

“What? Ah…. no. I have plans. I have to go now….”

“At this hour? Did you get a boyfriend or something? Come on, I told you already. Even if you meet a guy your own age, not one thing about your situation will change. Do you want to spend your whole life living that pathetically, struggling and scrambling around? Suffering through your best years?”

As if frustrated, Changseok took another step closer to Seoyun.

At the sight of his slick lips, shiny from being run over by his tongue again and again, her stomach churned.

“Or what, did you maybe catch yourself some rich kid? Do you think a guy like that would marry you? With a pretty face like yours, you’re perfect for being kept around for fun and then thrown away.”

“No, it’s not like that. A friend I haven’t seen in a long time asked to meet….”

The humiliation nearly stole her breath.

But why was it that, at those words, Ijun suddenly came to mind?

In truth, how was Ijun’s proposal any different from Changseok’s?

He was also proposing marriage using the bait of paying off her debts and supporting Jiho.

But Changseok’s purpose was painfully obvious.

He wanted her young, appealing body, and meant to saddle her with his children as well.

By contrast, the reasons Ijun had given were far too vague and impossible to trust.

Like scenery seen through a thick fog.

“So, you say you have plans, well…. Have you made your decision?”

“…….”

“Still not? What’s the use of thinking so long? It’s not like you have any other option anyway. Just shut your eyes tight and decide. Let’s see. Summer is too hot, so we can hold a simple ceremony in the cool autumn, and move in together first. Even if there are no parents to seat in the place of honor, I’ll at least put you in a wedding dress.”

As he spoke, Seoyun really did squeeze both eyes shut.

The longer he went on, the more goosebumps rose on her skin, as though a snake were coiling itself up her body.

She had been thinking about this all wrong.

There was a clear difference between Changseok and Ijun.

There was no need to compare their thoughts or judge their feelings.

She should have looked at her own heart first.

Ijun was someone Seoyun had secretly kept in her heart for a long time.

Like a precious jewel.

“I-I’ll contact you soon. Then….”

Seoyun took a few steps backward, and just then a call came in.

She quickly put the phone to her ear.

“O-oh, Hana! Sorry, I’m on my way right now. Just wait a little. I’ll be there soon.”

She started walking as though fleeing.

When she glanced back, she saw Changseok behind her smacking his lips in disappointment, as though reluctant to let her go. Her steps quickened even more.

―Hey, Song Seoyun. What are you talking about?

“Ah…. sorry. Someone was talking to me for a second…. It’s okay now. Oh, but where are you right now?”

―Where do you think? I have finally come back to Korea!

“Really? Are you in Seoul?”

―Yeah. I got here, slept like a dead person, and when I woke up, I missed you, Seoyun, so I called.

Hana was Seoyun’s college friend.

They had met at the entrance ceremony and become so close that they spent all four years together like family.

So she was also the only person who had stayed by Seoyun’s side and gone through things with her during the hardest period of her life.

From the time Seoyun’s family, which had been comfortable around the time they entered university, gradually began to decline, to after graduation when her father passed away and they fell completely into ruin.

After graduating from college, Hana had lived a busy life as a popular English instructor in the academy district.

Then one day she said she wanted to travel, and just like that, she threw everything away and left for India.

From time to time, she would call or send postcards.

It seemed she had only just finally returned after several months.

A rush of grief welled up in Seoyun.

Only now did she realize it.

That she had wanted someone to pour her heart out to.

That the time she had spent worrying alone and burning herself up inside had been unbearably lonely.

“Hana, are you home right now?”

―Yeah, I’m home. I woke up and there’s nothing at all to eat. I’m dying over here. I guess I have to at least run to the convenience store.

“Just stay there. I’m coming right now. I’ll stop by the convenience store and buy food and drinks, so wait just a little.”

―Oh, really? What about Jiho?

“Jiho…. There’s some urgent project at school these days, so he hardly comes home. I’ll tell you the details when I get there.”

―O-oh, okay. Sure. If you come, then I’m thankful. Come safely.

Hana hung up in a bewildered voice.

The moment Seoyun thought there was someone who would listen to her story, her heart suddenly grew urgent.

She hurried toward the subway station.

***

“Kyaa! Song Seoyun! How long has it been!”

“How was your trip? Your face is half its size. Did you travel while starving yourself?”

“Wow! You brought stir-fried gopchang? Come on, let’s get inside.”

As soon as the officetel door opened, Hana threw her arms around Seoyun, who was laden with shopping bags in both hands, and bounced up and down.

Seoyun too was genuinely happy to see Hana again after so long.

Her face had grown a little slimmer and she was tanned a dark golden shade, but her bright eyes and playful smile were just the same.

The two of them sat facing each other at the table in the small living room.

Seoyun had also bought stir-fried gopchang, which they used to eat together often near her home, as well as kalguksu from a street stall.

“I was starving to death. Hey, do you know how badly I wanted to eat this stir-fried gopchang? Let’s eat already. Oh, what’s this? Why did Song Seoyun of all people buy beer?”

Spotting the tall beer cans in the convenience store bag filled with bottled water, cup rice, chocolate, and the like, Hana lit up.

“I wanted to have a drink with you for the first time in a while.”

“Living long enough to hear Song Seoyun say she wants to drink beer with me…. Wait, did something happen to you?”

Cheerfully chewing a piece of gopchang while opening a beer can, Hana’s eyes widened into circles.

Seoyun too stretched her legs out under the table and opened her can.

“Actually…. A lot has happened.”

“Now that I look at you, your face really is full of stories. What on earth happened?”

Taking a sip of beer, Seoyun smiled bitterly.

She had desperately needed someone to unload all the absurd things that had happened to her onto.

But now that she was actually about to begin talking, she had no idea where to start.

“Another debt of my father’s turned up.”

“What? Ugh…. Do debts reproduce asexually or something? Why do they keep popping up?”

“At this point, I don’t even know if it was really money my father borrowed anymore. They bring over promissory notes, but there’s no way to verify them.”

“What are you going to do……”

This was debt that had been added at the beginning of the year, after Hana had gone off to India.

The amount had finally crossed beyond what could be counted on one hand in units of one hundred million won.

To some people it might not have been a meaningful sum, but to Seoyun it was an amount too great to bear even if she devoted her whole life to it.

Just paying the interest every month was enough to leave her gasping for breath.

Hana too could do nothing to help, and only wore an anguished expression.

“Department Head Go asked me to marry him.”

“What? Who said what?”

Seoyun had deliberately said it as though it were nothing, in case emotion suddenly surged up in her.

But Hana was so shocked that she flung down the chopsticks she had been holding.