Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The House Hunt
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Fortunately, Chaewon wasn't an idiot.
It was only natural when I thought about it.
She was the type who wouldn't hesitate to make any sacrifice for Haneul's sake.
There was no way someone like her would bring her own daughter to a cramped, dingy one-room apartment.
A space of about 6 pyeong, steeped in cigarette smoke and the stale odors of daily life—it simply wasn't suitable for a child.
Chaewon had called us from outside my boarding house building.
Thanks to her perfectly sensible judgment, we avoided an unnecessary headache.
Yura and I hurriedly threw on some clothes and headed out.
Cool morning air brushed against our faces, and the distant hum of city noise reached our ears.
Finally, the four of us set off together down the steep hillside of the rundown neighborhood.
The innocent child, Haneul.
Unlike the gloomy, ash-gray atmosphere of the district, she bounced down the hill path like a rabbit, full of energy.
Her little blonde head sparkled and danced in the morning sunlight.
The patter of her tiny footsteps rang out cheerfully on the concrete stairs.
Chaewon watched her daughter's back and called out in a mock-scolding tone.
"Yoon Haneul! If you fall, Mom won't carry you!"
Her voice brimmed with worry and an overwhelming love she couldn't contain.
Her words pretended to scold, but her eyes overflowed with affection.
With that tender scene behind us, we finally left the godforsaken hillside neighborhood for good.
Emerging from the narrow, shadowy alley, we were greeted by a wide-open main road.
The acrid smell of exhaust mingled with the vibrant city noise assaulting our ears.
We found the rental car we'd called for in advance and climbed in.
Yura and I took the front seats, while Chaewon and Haneul settled in the back.
Haneul tapped the window with her little hands, marveling at the scenery outside.
"Wow~ So many cars!"
Her clear voice filled the car.
I gripped the steering wheel familiarly.
The soft leather seats and the new-car smell tickled my nose.
I punched our new destination into the navigation.
[Gyeonggi-do, Gimpo City, Unyang-dong, Detached Housing Complex]
Now we were heading from the lowest point in the city to somewhere far more spacious.
I pressed the accelerator.
The car pulled away smoothly.
The engine purred quietly, and cool air from the AC washed over our faces.
Through the rearview mirror, I watched that shabby old neighborhood we'd left behind fade into the distance.
>
It was my past, one I'd never return to.
Inside the car, a loud cartoon theme song Haneul loved played on repeat.
She sang along enthusiastically from the back seat, and Chaewon gazed at her with adoration.
Whenever Haneul grabbed her mom's hand and said, "Sing with me, Mom!", laughter erupted in the car.
Against that peaceful clamor, we cruised the highway for about an hour.
Outside, towering buildings gave way to low houses and rice fields.
The air even seemed to grow a bit cleaner.
Finally, the navigation announced our arrival.
I pulled over and looked out the window.
There it was—the exact house from the placard we'd seen at the cafe a few days ago.
[Quick Sale: 450 Million Won]
Those bold letters welcomed us.
But the house we faced in person... honestly, it was a bit disappointing.
My dreams had inflated that "yard" into something grand, but it was ridiculously small.
'Well... the yard's fucking tiny.'
Six adult steps at most. That was the whole yard.
The lush green lawn I'd imagined, with a big dog romping around? Impossible here.
It was more like a front patch than a real yard.
>
My grand dreams deflated in an instant.
Disappointed but undeterred, we went inside to check it out.
The moment we opened the front door, a little girl's cheers echoed through the empty house.
"Whoa! Whoa!"
Haneul seemed thrilled with her potential new home, darting around excitedly.
Her tiny footsteps reverberated in the vacant rooms.
But while the child brimmed with innocent joy, the three of us wore awkward, troubled expressions.
'450 million... this has to be worth it, right?'
The first floor had a living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms. Not bad overall, but smaller than I'd pictured.
The wallpaper was peeling and yellowed in spots, and the flooring was torn here and there.
It definitely lived up to the "quick sale" label.
And the real issue was upstairs.
We climbed the creaky wooden stairs, each step groaning underfoot.
The second floor had two bedrooms and a small bathroom.
Decent size, but low ceilings, water stains on the walls, and a musty damp smell.
'Hmm... remodeling costs won't be cheap.'
>
That's when it hit me.
A 450-million-won quick-sale countryside house was exactly that—a place needing a ton of work.
Our dreams had slammed into their first wall of reality.
In the end, we retreated.
Back in the rental car, we headed to a nearby cafe.
Having rented the car and come all this way, it felt wasteful to just go home empty-handed.
The mood in the car on the way there was heavy, unlike the outbound trip.
Even Haneul had lost her initial excitement and stared quietly out the window.
Chaewon stroked her hair gently, offering silent comfort, while Yura sat with her arms crossed, looking indifferent.
After settling into the cafe, I pulled out my phone and started searching real estate listings again.
Haneul played with toys in the kids' corner, while Yura and Chaewon sipped their drinks quietly.
It didn't take long to face the harsh truth.
Detached houses in the capital area commutable to Seoul.
For those, the land value far exceeded the price of the worn-out structures.
Buying a proper two-story house with a yard on our budget had been a pipe dream from the start.
Decent ones started at 700 million to a billion won, and even those were in poor condition or hard to access.
I let out a hollow laugh and closed the app.
In comics or novels, you just swagger into some agency, say "Gimme everything from here to there," and poof—a mansion appears.
Reality was different.
'Nothing's easy...'
>
I murmured softly, staring out the window.
Be it crypto or real estate, there was no such thing as easy money in this world.
With a sense of defeat, I reopened the real estate app.
Countless countryside listings in the capital area. But they were all chained by that invisible shackle: distance from Seoul.
'All the same in the end.'
Just as I was about to give up...
'Wait a sec.'
A fundamental question popped into my head.
'Do we really need to look in these expensive areas easy to commute to Seoul from?'
I could make money from anywhere in the world with just a computer.
Yura? She was dropping out of school anyway.
Chaewon? Her job now was taking care of me and the team.
We were perfect freelancers, remote workers.
No reason to be tied to this insane capital region's land prices.
A flash of insight.
I immediately expanded the search to outer Gyeonggi, northward.
And amid the options, one place caught my eye.
'Paju.'
Land prices were far more reasonable than central areas.
Especially the outskirts—undeveloped, with military zones, perfect for cheap quick sales.
Scrolling through listings, it was clear: for 450 million, not some rundown shack like in Gimpo, but a proper house with a real yard and clean two-story build.
>
I saw new hope there.
Haneul's laughter from outside snapped me out of it.
Checking the time, we'd left early enough that it wasn't even lunchtime yet.
I glanced out the window.
A cute cafe with a spacious garden.
On the green lawn, Haneul played gleefully with a chubby cat.
The round cheese-ball cat lazily dodged her hands, and Haneul chased after, giggling nonstop.
The cat kept a perfect distance, annoyed but not fully avoiding her.
Yura and Chaewon watched Haneul with warm smiles.
Gazing at that peaceful scene, I thought of Paju again.
'Paju... that English village or whatever? Heyri Village, right?'
Suddenly, an old army memory flashed by.
Endless hellish marches.
Caked in dust and sweat, trudging along.
Then, like a mirage, a picturesque scene appeared.
Exotic buildings, manicured parks.
Kids laughing and running around happily.
Back then, I'd gazed at it like another world.
A perfect place for kids to run free.
And it was in Paju.
'Might as well go check it out, get some fresh air.'
>
I made up my mind and stood, heading toward Yura and Chaewon watching Haneul in the garden.
Our destination had shifted from houses to there.
The new goal: Paju.
The car glided smoothly along Jayu-ro, on Seoul's outskirts.
The road hugging the Han River had better views than expected.
The water sparkled in the sun, distant mountains green.
Haneul peered out, asking a million questions about the sights.
After a while, we stopped at a rest area.
Surprisingly, Yura had become the closest to the kid.
From the start, she'd been especially sweet to Haneul.
The girl who cursed "fuck" and "crazy bitch" at me or Chaewon nonstop turned into a different person with her.
Like how I flip from idiot to genius in post-nut clarity when my switch flips.
Yura flipped hers and became the world's gentlest auntie.
Oddly, it didn't feel forced at all.
She handled the kid like a natural.
When Haneul ran up calling "Auntie~", Yura beamed genuinely, and explained anything the girl wondered about patiently.
'She had this side to her?'
I felt strangely flustered watching.
No trace of her usual sharp tongue—just endless softness for Haneul. So unfamiliar.
By the time we reached the rest area, Haneul had grabbed Yura's hand tight, saying "Let's buy yummy stuff!" and vanished inside.
I watched their backs for a moment, then headed to the smoking area with Chaewon.
Cigarettes we hadn't smoked all day because of Haneul.
We lit up in silence.
'Hoo...'
Nicotine deep into my lungs after so long made my brain fuzzy.
As my mind drifted, Chaewon beside me smiled faintly and spoke.
"Today... it's really... amazing."
"What is?"
"Just... this whole outing thing. It's my first time."
That one sentence.
Her face lit with happy laughter was suddenly embarrassing to meet, so I grumbled.
"It's not an outing. We're house hunting."
Even at my curt reply, Chaewon just smiled happily.
I couldn't look at her smile anymore.
>
Right then, I spotted Haneul and Yura approaching from afar, arms full of snacks.
I stubbed out my half-smoked cigarette on the ground without thinking.
It just felt like the right thing to do.