Employee Benefits Are a Real Flex, Wontae (2)
There was luxury everywhere you looked.
Even Ihyeon had only ever booked rooms before; this was his first time inside a guest suite reserved for the VIPs.
“You’re really… using this place?” Ihyeon muttered, sounding almost unable to believe it.
Baek Wontae laughed.
“Of course. If we’re gonna have fun, we do it right.”
He sat down at the round table with lazy ease.
When Ihwa and Ihyeon hovered awkwardly, unsure what to do, Baek Wontae threw out a comment.
“You planning to stand there forever? Sit down.”
The siblings exchanged a look, then dragged out their chairs and sat.
“Your meal will be brought shortly. Please wait comfortably.”
Once the server left with proper deference, silence settled over the room.
Ihwa spoke up carefully.
“Wasn’t this expensive…?”
“Hmm. About one nyang of silver?”
Ihwa’s eyes went wide.
Baek Wontae snorted.
“Ihwa, Ihyeon. You’ve been working hard. You’ve earned it.”
His eyes glinted.
“For now it’s just a small-town inn, but someday we’ll pay back your long-cherished grudge, grow the business, and even eat at the inns those big-shot officials in Peking use. Won’t take long.”
His tone was calm, but firm.
It was believable.
No—impossible not to believe him.
He had promised to earn the money for their revenge, and he had promised to protect the Dang family.
This man had kept every promise he’d made.
And once again, they found their resolve wavering before him.
A moment later, there was a knock.
“Your meal is ready. I’ll be coming in now.”
With a creak, the door opened and several servers came in carrying trays.
A medley of rich aromas drifted through the room.
The table transformed before their eyes.
Glossy Sichuan spicy chicken, shrimp with glistening red shells, soup with fresh vegetables, and specialty dishes from all across the country.
The siblings’ eyes grew round.
“T-This is….”
At a glance, it was obvious the food was expensive.
Just looking at it made one feel full.
Though they had been born and raised in Sichuan, neither of them had ever really eaten proper Sichuan cuisine.
They had lived hidden in the mountains, and they’d never had the money for luxuries.
All they’d ever had was laboring at inns and catching the smell of chili oil leaking from the kitchen.
The servers set down the last dish and withdrew.
“All right, dig in.”
Baek Wontae invited them, but the siblings still didn’t pick up their chopsticks.
They kept glancing at him instead.
Baek Wontae tilted his head.
“What are you doing? Eat.”
They didn’t move an inch.
They only swallowed the saliva pooling in their mouths.
These were the manners of this age.
So obvious that even mentioning them would have felt embarrassing.
At their behavior, Baek Wontae let out a dry laugh.
“Oh. Wait—am I supposed to count as an elder too?”
The siblings looked away, embarrassed.
Baek Wontae picked up his chopsticks.
“Fine, fine. Let’s eat.”
He took a piece of chicken and put it in his mouth.
A spicy, rich aroma filled his mouth.
He chewed.
Sichuan heat spread across his tongue.
“Good. Eat it while it’s hot.”
At last, the siblings lifted their chopsticks.
Each of them reached for the dishes in front of them.
The moment they put meat in their mouths, their chopsticks stopped.
Chewing once, twice, a strange sensation spread through their mouths.
It melted there.
They didn’t even know what that meant.
They had always used cheap ingredients.
Mostly wild greens, and on the rare occasion they could afford meat, it had been tough and dry.
They’d done their best to make it taste better, but no amount of effort could fix the fundamental problem with the ingredients.
But this was different.
Meat so tender it seemed to have been coaxed into softness itself.
Bit into it, and the juices burst out.
Richness and spice flooded their mouths.
Before they’d even finished a few chews, it seemed to dissolve away.
Like snow, it vanished in their mouths.
They were overwhelmed.
Their chopsticks began to move faster.
Bite after bite.
The siblings’ hands never stopped.
Watching them eat so eagerly, a smile spread at the corner of Baek Wontae’s mouth.
At first, it had only been a contract.
The goal had been simple.
Use their abilities to survive and grow the business.
That was all.
But then—
Three meals a day shared at the same table, sweat shed through work, dangers survived together, and something had changed.
Ihyeon, who used to grimace at his lousy jokes; Ihwa, still awkward with this line of work; even the family head, who somehow had become even sharper and more prickly.
In just a few months, everything had become natural.
When it had started, it had been a vicious relationship with life and death on the line.
Baek Wontae set down his chopsticks.
He looked at them quietly.
…
Even though they were family bound by a blood-soaked, revenge-driven purpose, it felt strangely warm.
Maybe because they were a family with the same purpose, they understood one another deeply and valued each other all the more.
Heat he had never felt even in modern times.
The warmth he had wanted so badly, yet never been able to have.
Even Baek Wontae, whose blood had long since gone cold, could feel the heat coming from this family.
Before he knew it, he had seeped into their lives.
“...Huh?”
When he looked up, the bowls in front of the siblings were already clean.
There had been so much food.
They’d wiped it all out.
…
…
The siblings’ gazes shifted to the food still sitting in front of Baek Wontae.
It was still steaming.
Baek Wontae turned the lazy Susan on the table.
Swish—
The dishes rotated back toward the siblings.
“Eat up. If that’s not enough, I’ll order more.”
Ihwa stopped her chopsticks and said,
“It would’ve been nice if Father had come too.”
“We’ll bring the family head along next time. For now, just enjoy yourselves. Today’s for you two.”
At that, the siblings started moving their chopsticks again.
* * *
The meal ended only after Baek Wontae ordered more dishes and three additional servings of meat dumplings.
The three of them left the inn together.
In the siblings’ hands were candied treats and tanghulu.
Ihwa took a small bite of the tanghulu.
Crack—
The sugar shell shattered, and red juice burst out.
The sweetness spreading through her mouth made Ihwa’s whole face soften.
As the siblings enjoyed dessert, Baek Wontae spoke.
“I know a place I had my eye on. Should be pretty entertaining.”
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Cluck! Cluck!
“Take him down!”
“Fly kick! Use the fly kick, you idiot!”
The cries of chickens and the roars of the crowd blended together.
It was a cockfighting pit.
Ihyeon frowned.
“...Isn’t that just gambling?”
“Ahem. In that case, you should use the much classier word sports.”
He pressed money into the siblings’ hands.
“There’s a match on. You two pick one too. Let’s see….”
A huge sign hung overhead.
Vermilion Bird vs. Phoenix
“All right, I’m going with Vermilion Bird.”
After a brief discussion, Ihwa and Baek Wontae picked Vermilion Bird.
Ihyeon picked Phoenix.
“Huh? What, the underdog?”
Ihyeon said awkwardly,
“I just… had a feeling….”
Baek Wontae laughed and patted him on the back.
“That’s the spirit. If you’re a man, you’ve got to make one big bet at least once!”
They paid at the counter, received their poultry vouchers, and headed to their seats.
The iron cage at the edge of the cockfighting pit opened.
Two roosters flapped their wings.
The metal pieces strapped to their claws flashed.
Clang—
The gong rang to start the match.
The result was…
“Yeeeees!!”
“……!!”
Ihyeon’s clean sweep.
* * *
By the time they left the cockfighting pit, the sun had already dipped toward the western horizon.
The sky was dimming.
A cool breeze slipped through the hot, heavy air.
It was the street in early summer.
Pale pink hydrangeas, crimson roses, and pitch-black Hyeonrihwa painted the roadside in color.
Their scents teased at the nose.
With both hands clasped behind his back, Baek Wontae said,
“Let’s take a flower stroll while we digest.”
Ihwa’s eyes rested on the hydrangeas by the roadside.
Slowly, she reached out and plucked one.
The petals under her fingertips were softer than she’d expected.
Ihwa stared quietly at the flower in her hand.
There had been flowers like this in the Dang family garden too.
And yet, for some reason, today they looked completely different.
Her life had been nothing but labor, poison, and martial training.
Flowers had only ever been ordinary things scattered everywhere, or raw material for experiments.
Some flowers had even made her body ache horribly during toxin-resistance training, so just seeing them had made her shiver.
They might have had the character for flower in their name, but there had been no place for flowers to bloom in her heart.
She had never had the leisure to appreciate their fragrance, nor the time to simply look at them.
That was what flowers had been to her.
But now—
The touch of the hydrangea in her hand was so soft.
The tiny petals overlapped again and again, forming a rounded bloom.
For some reason, she found that shape beautiful.
For the first time, a flower had bloomed in her heart.
Then Baek Wontae spoke.
“Let’s go over there.”
Ihyeon and Ihwa both turned their heads.
A handsome sign hung above the shop.
Treasure Goods Pavilion.
“You’ve only got rough, worn-out clothes. Might as well get you a new outfit.”
At that, a cold sweat broke out on the siblings’ foreheads.
If it had been a normal clothing shop, maybe it would have been fine. But Treasure Goods Pavilion was different.
This was one of the most prestigious clothing shops in the Hamwon area.
It dealt in silk, embroidered robes, and expensive accessories.
The siblings knew this place well.
Not as customers—as porters.
The place where they’d hauled boxes and carried bundles of fabric.
They had touched silk until their hands were raw, but that silk had never belonged to them.
Back then, everything there had been far too expensive, and since they’d known nothing of luxury, it had only ever been cargo they had to carry.
“Let’s go in.”
Baek Wontae nudged them from behind.
Creak—
When they opened the door and stepped inside, a fragrance washed over them.
Inside the shop, clothes of every color shimmered in the light.
A clerk came out.
As befit a clerk at an upscale clothing shop, she was adorned in beautiful clothes and jewelry.
When she spotted Ihyeon and Ihwa, she called out cheerfully,
“Oh? Isn’t this the Hahoe siblings? What brings you here at this hour?”
It was a clerk they had run into often before.
The siblings greeted her stiffly.
“Hello….”
The clerk tilted her head.
“We don’t have anything to deliver today… so what are you here for?”
Baek Wontae stepped forward.
“We came to look at clothes.”
The clerk blinked.
“To… buy clothes?”