Employee Welfare Is Shin Won-Tae (4)
That was when it happened.
“Ah, Hyeon-ah!”
“It’s Hyeon!”
Bright voices rang out from up ahead.
A cluster of courtesans came hurrying toward them — the same girls from Geumgangru he’d seen last time when they’d fooled Manager Jo.
One courtesan with a cute, innocent face approached Ihyeon.
“What are you doing out this late? Did you come to enjoy the night market too, Hyeon?”
Night market?
A memory surfaced. In summer, Hamwon apparently held night markets from time to time.
“Nice. Let’s take a lap around the night market before we go in.”
One of the courtesans shot Baek Wontae a quick look, then asked Ihyeon, “Who’s that gentleman?”
“He’s our employer.”
“Hmm, really?”
The courtesan nodded, then got straight to the point.
“Hyeon-ah, why don’t you hang out with us for a while?”
“Yeah! Come play with us, we’ll make it fun~”
The courtesans closed in around Ihyeon and boxed him in.
Ihyeon retreated in flustered confusion. “Ah, today’s a little… difficult…”
The girls pouted and pounced on him all at once.
“Seriously! It’s always difficult with you.”
“Is there even a day when it isn’t?”
“If we rounded up every man desperate to play with us, we’d need several carts.”
“So what if he’s handsome? ...Well, okay, that helps.”
They grumbled and bickered while Ihyeon flailed helplessly. No matter how many times Baek Wontae saw it, it was a masterpiece.
Still, they couldn’t waste all night here. He changed the subject.
“Ladies, could I ask for a recommendation? I need a gift for a woman who helped me out once. She’s about twenty, give or take.”
Every courtesan’s gaze snapped to him.
“A gift for a woman...?”
“A woman who helped you?”
“I’ve met a lot of people, and the ones who pick the best gifts always seem to be as lovely as you ladies.”
The sudden compliment made the courtesans burst into laughter.
“What is this all of a sudden? Flattery won’t get you anything out of us.”
“You’re a funny one.”
Then, from behind him, he felt a chill.
He glanced back and saw a knife-like glare in Ihwa’s eyes.
What was that about?
Ignoring the sweat breaking out along his back, Baek Wontae turned his attention back to the courtesans.
One of them spoke up. “I like sweets! Mooncakes stuffed with sweet bean paste, or fruit candied in honey!”
“Makeup! The new stuff that came out lately is amazing.”
“No, necklaces! Earrings!”
They each rattled off what they personally wanted, but soon their opinions converged.
“When all’s said and done, luxury is best!”
“Exactly, exactly.”
“If it’s expensive, women like it, right? If you buy her a dress from Bohwagak, no woman’s going to hate it!”
Baek Wontae stroked his chin.
“Expensive stuff, huh... So that’s the route.”
Then he slapped Ihyeon on the shoulder.
“There you go. Why don’t you buy it at Bohwagak?”
“No, wait—”
Ihyeon’s eyes wavered.
The courtesans’ attention shifted to him.
“Hold on, why are you talking while looking at Hyeon?”
“Don’t tell me... is Hyeon buying a gift for some woman?”
“You have a lover?!”
“You’re ditching us for another woman?!”
The courtesans exploded.
He hadn’t said a word about a lover, and somehow the gossip had already mutated beyond recognition. Even with the truth standing right there, rumors still had a way of growing legs.
Ihyeon’s face went red all the way to the ears. “N-no, that’s not it...”
He really was fun to tease.
Still, it was time to part ways.
Baek Wontae took out a bundle of coins and pressed it into one courtesan’s hand.
“Thanks for keeping us company. It’s a small token, but consider it payment for your advice. We’ll be going now, so enjoy the night market.”
“Oh my, you really don’t need to—”
“Well then, if you insist... We’ll put it to good use.”
With bright smiles, the courtesans drifted away.
At the same time, they gave Ihyeon a little finger wave.
“Hyeon-ah, next time you have to come play with us~”
“Come anytime~ We’ll be waiting♥”
Ihyeon wiped the cold sweat from his brow and let out a long sigh. “Ha... ”
The three of them walked through the night market’s narrow lanes. Crowds and all kinds of smells tangled together in the air. Tanghulu, toys, roasted snacks, odd little trinkets — the Dang siblings’ eyes sparkled at every new thing they saw.
Then Baek Wontae caught some grumbling in his ear.
“Hey, that’s a total scam!”
“You should’ve thrown it better, sir, heh heh.”
“It didn’t budge at all!”
He turned and saw people muttering as they left a needle-throwing stall.
A scam, huh...
Something about that smelled familiar.
As the saying went, a villain recognized another villain. Baek Wontae’s steps naturally carried him that way.
Wooden blocks were lined up on a shelf.
“You two, give that a shot.”
The three approached the stall. The sign said that if you knocked over the smallest red block placed farthest away, the prize was one hundred mun.
There were two red blocks set on an especially thick shelf.
Baek Wontae paid the fee, and the stall owner handed over a steel needle. Ihyeon and Ihwa each took one.
Whoosh.
He hadn’t even put much force into it; he’d just flicked his wrist and tossed it lightly, but the needle struck dead center on the red block.
The stall owner’s face stiffened.
But then—
Tick!
The moment the needle touched the red block, it bounced away.
Baek Wontae’s eyes narrowed.
The stall owner’s face broke into a grin.
“Hahaha! So close! If you’d just thrown a little harder, you would’ve knocked it over! Hahaha!”
Knocked it over, my ass. Anyone with eyes could see it had been nailed in place.
Now the reason the shelf wood was so suspiciously thick made sense.
Baek Wontae tapped the siblings on the shoulder and lowered his voice.
“Do a little maintenance.”
...
The siblings nodded.
Their eyes changed.
Ihyeon picked up a needle.
His arm drew back.
Swish!
The needle flew, slicing through the air.
Ihwa lifted her own needle next and tossed it casually.
Whizz!
The siblings’ needles left their hands and crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, flying straight as arrows.
Crack—!
The red block shattered to pieces.
And there, at the center of it, hidden beneath the wood, stood an iron nail.
“...Huh?”
The stall owner’s mouth fell open.
When the three of them pinned him with cold stares, he quickly slapped on an awkward smile.
“H-Haha... Ah, there it is! There’s the winner! Please, take your prize!”
Baek Wontae stepped forward. Schemes like this were basically his side specialty.
“So it really was a scam?”
The stall owner waved both hands and tried to explain. “A scam? N-now, hold on! The prize is huge, so I just adjusted the difficulty a little—”
Baek Wontae curved his lips.
“Want to visit the constabulary?”
“What... what should I do?”
Baek Wontae smiled thinly. “Easy. Nobody’s seen this yet, and we’re not saying a word.”
He held out his palm.
“That depends on how sincere you feel like being.”
A little while later, the stall owner handed over a heavy sum with trembling hands.
Baek Wontae took the bundle of coins and weighed it in his palm.
“Thank you. May your business prosper.”
* * *
The three of them sat down beneath a nearby tree.
Baek Wontae’s gaze shifted to Ihyeon.
He spoke quietly. “Ihyeon, what are you thinking about so hard?”
“Huh? No... nothing.”
But he couldn’t hide the tension in his face.
“Let me guess. You were thinking about the gift?”
“...”
He was silent for a moment, then finally admitted it. “...You really can’t fool you.”
“If it’s bothering you, let’s go back to Bohwagak.”
“That’s... I’m not sure. Would that really be enough?”
Ihyeon’s mind was tangled.
Like the courtesans had said, if it was expensive, would that be repayment enough?
It would probably settle the debt of gratitude.
But...
Something in his chest felt stuck.
For someone like Im Huiseon, he wanted to give something beyond a price tag.
Or was that just him meddling where he shouldn’t?
What if she really did prefer something expensive?
Maybe he was the only one making a fuss over nothing.
His unfinished thoughts spun around and around in his head.
Then he heard a familiar voice.
“Oh? Isn’t that the Hahou siblings? And... the young master from last time too!”
He looked up.
A middle-aged woman stood there — the innkeeper who had helped them during the Dangmun incident not long ago.
Baek Wontae brightened and stood. “Ah, Innkeeper! Thank you again for what you did back then.”
“Oh, it was nothing. We all help each other out.”
Her gaze moved between Baek Wontae and Ihwa.
“What happened that day... honestly, I’ve got a mountain of questions. But I suppose everyone has their own circumstances.”
Baek Wontae smiled with easy charm. “You really do have the eye of experience.”
They traded a few light jokes before Baek Wontae asked, “Are you here for the night market too?”
“Yes, more or less. A little sightseeing, and maybe looking for something useful.”
Then, as if something had just occurred to her, she added, “Ah, Innkeeper. Could I ask you to recommend a gift for a woman who once helped me? She’s about twenty, give or take.”
“A gift?”
The innkeeper smiled faintly and shook her head.
“A gift isn’t something you should ask someone else to choose for you.”
“Then...?”
“What matters more than what the gift is, is whether you can pour your heart into it. If your heart is in it, anything can become a gift. If it isn’t, then even the most expensive thing means nothing.”
Ihyeon’s eyes widened.
Baek Wontae lowered his head. “Thank you for the wisdom.”
“Think nothing of it.”
The innkeeper disappeared back into the crowd.
Baek Wontae looked at Ihyeon. “So? Did you figure anything out?”
“...Wait here a moment. I’m going somewhere.”
Ihyeon went back the way they’d come.
Not long after, he returned with a small bundle tucked in his arms.
“That’s the present you chose?”
Ihyeon nodded silently.
Baek Wontae snorted. “Yeah. Doing what your heart leans toward is the right answer.”
The three of them played around a while longer before returning to the Dang residence.
* * *
That night.
Ihyeon’s room.
A small lamp burned softly.
Carefully, Ihyeon untied the bundle.
Inside were fine silk and high-quality fragrance powder.
He picked up the silk and scissors.
Snip.
He cut the fabric with painstaking precision.
The knotting, the stitching, the embroidery — nothing was done carelessly.
Every motion held a quiet sincerity.
Little by little, a neat, delicate silk pouch took shape.
He measured out the fragrance powder and filled it, then tied the cord closed.
An incense pouch.
He stared at it for a long moment.
Something he couldn’t quite put into words had been poured into that tiny thing.
He stood, reached into the inner pocket of his coat, and pulled something out.
A small, worn incense pouch he always kept close to his heart.
Its scent had long since faded, and the fabric had been polished smooth by years of handling. In the center, there was a single careful piece of embroidery.
Hyeon.
A gift left behind by his mother.
For Ihyeon, and for the people of the Dang family, an incense pouch carried a meaning beyond ordinary objects.
So the most sincere gift he could imagine was a handmade incense pouch like that old one.
As that thought settled in, his face heated.
His heart was beating in a way that felt strangely unfamiliar.
He shook his head hard.
It was wrong to have thoughts like this.
They were people from different worlds.
Getting needlessly close to her would only put her in danger...
Even as he told himself that, his face showed no sign of calming down.
There was nothing he could do but lie down and try to sleep.