Every time summer came, the moment with Han Woo-jin, and his name would always return to my heart, like the monsoon or a fever.

Something changed after that day. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, but I knew that, even without Grandma holding him back, he would stay at our house.

Whether it was because Grandma had caught a summer cold, or because Agwi was lingering around me more often, or maybe because he just wanted to enjoy the sea during his break, he stayed. 

And each day, little by little, he seemed to settle in more comfortably. 

“Brother.” 

At the sound of my voice, Woo-jin, who had been reading in the next room, looked up. 

“What is it?” 

“Something strange is going on.” 

“Strange?” 

“Yes.” 

He tilted his head, looking at me as if asking what was strange. Through the window opposite his neatly arranged room, the lush greenery of summer swayed gently.

“Brother, you do wash your underwear, right?” 

Cough.

Woo-jin’s neck turned bright red. 

“Uh… yeah?” 

“Then why have I never seen your underwear hanging outside?” 

“Ah… well, I take care of it myself…” 

“Take care of it? What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’re washing your underwear and just leaving it in your room?”

When I looked into the room, he looked startled. 

“Soon-young, I’ll take care of it myself.” 

“Handle what? Something’s definitely wrong… You can’t hang your damp wash clothes in the room, brother. It’ll smell bad right away.” 

“Soon-young, please….” 

Please? Please, of all things? Hearing him use that word only made me feel more mischievous. 

That day on the beach, his trousers and even his underwear had definitely gotten wet, but only his trousers were hung out in the yard to dry. 

“I’ll have a look! I bet you hid them in here somewhere.” 

“No way!” 

He jumped up in a panic. Ignoring him, I stepped into the room and looked around.

Even in his perfectly tidy room, there was still one weak spot: his hidden laundry. 

“Of course.” 

I found the laundry neatly tucked away in his bag and turned my head. Woo-jin covered his face with one hand, his ears as red as a beet. 

“At this rate, I don’t think you’ll have anything left to wear.”

“Don’t worry about it.” 

“I’m very worried.” 

“Ha… goodness.” 

He let out a sigh. 

“But how can I give you my laundry? It’s so embarrassing.” 

“Embarrassing? What’s so embarrassing about…?” 

But my words trailed off. Of course it was embarrassing. Who could just hand their dirty laundry to someone else?

I found it both amusing and endearing. Imagining him agonising over what to do with his laundry made him more relatable. He’s human, after all. No matter how handsome or elegant someone may be, they still eat, sleep, use the bathroom and change their clothes just like anyone else. 

“Your clothes…”

I paused for a moment, lost in thought, then suddenly stood up. 

“I’ll wash them for you.” 

“No way!” 

“What do you mean ‘no way’? I used to wash my brother Jae-yeol’s clothes all the time.” 

“You’re already so busy, how can I let you do my laundry too?” 

He felt bad when he saw me working from dawn to dusk, doing everything on my own. In those days people just assumed that it was a woman’s job to do all the housework. This was true not only for him, but also for me, Grandma and even Jae-yeol.

Back then, I didn’t just do the housework, I also did all the physical work. And when my grandmother fell ill, the amount of work I had to do increased. Every meal was an exhausting and complicated process. I had to light a fire in the hearth, scrub and set up a huge cauldron, fetch water from the well, wash the rice, make the soup and finally bend over to wash the dishes. Each step was far more labour-intensive than anything we do today. 

The laundry was even worse – there was no comparison to how hard it was.

I had to walk all the way down to the well in the lower village to do my laundry and then bring it back to hang in the yard. This meant carrying a heavy basin full of wet clothes every day, balancing it on my head or in my arms. 

When he first found out, he would take the basin from me and carry it himself. I’d panic and tell him not to, shaking my head vigorously and insisting that it was embarrassing for a man to do such a job. 

But then Woo-jin would try to help by carrying firewood or doing other chores, and I’d protest again, making a fuss as I followed him. In the end, I’d give him another task to keep him busy.

That’s when I realised something: he never handed in his laundry. 

“I said it’s OK!” 

“I told you no!” 

“So you just let your clothes rot?” 

“Who said anything about that? I’ll do my own washing.” 

“People in the neighbourhood will start talking.” 

“Who cares what they say!” 

Suddenly he raised his voice. 

“You are more important than what others think!” 

Huh? I stared at him in surprise. Until now, our back and forth had been half-joking, but his words suddenly made my face flush for some reason. 

“So…”

Woo-jin rubbed his neck again. It looked like even his neck had turned red. 

“Anyway, I’ll take care of your laundry. Hand it over.” 

I wanted to take care of his laundry for him. Sure, I had a lot of work to do and it was tiring, but I couldn’t just let him trudge down to the well to do his laundry like some pitiful sight. Even if he said I was more important than what the neighbours thought… …. 

I looked away, glancing sideways for no particular reason. 

“Then…” 

Wasn’t there another way? 

“How about this?” 

My voice took on a playful tone and he tilted his head, curious.

***

“I’m not sure if this is really necessary…” 

He turned with a large bag slung over his shoulder and looked at me. 

“I think it’s a good idea.” 

Then he smiled brightly. 

I couldn’t help grinning back. 

Instead of the crowded village well where all the women gathered, we decided to go up the mountain to a quieter stream. There we wouldn’t have to worry about being seen, and there would be no gossip about a man and a woman doing their laundry together. 

While we were at it, I grabbed Grandma’s bedding and piled up as much laundry as I could. We each took a bag, slung it over our backs and climbed up the hill. 

“This looks like a good place.” 

I stopped halfway up the mountain.

The weather was beautiful today and from where we stood the vast, deep blue waters of Chungmu stretched out before us. The islands, clustered like little mushrooms, shimmered in shades of light blue and dark turquoise, scattered across the sea. Above, seagulls soared silently, wings outstretched. In the wooded mountains, sunlight filtered through the summer leaves, creating intricate patterns on the ground below. 

“What kind of laundry place is this, with such a beautiful view?” 

Woo-jin said, admiring the scenery.