Chapter 44
Chapter 44
“What.”
Hee-yeon, who had just put a spoonful of gukbap into her mouth, asked back curtly, then immediately dropped her spoon as if throwing it.
“Damn, why is it so hot!”
Is gukbap supposed to be cold? Jae-gyu maintained a stiff expression as he handed her a glass of cold water.
Hee-yeon gulped it down in one go, then started eating the gukbap, blowing on it.
“This is amazing. You can’t get this taste in Seoul.”
“You said it was shabby, but you’re eating it just fine.”
“I said the town was shabby, but I’ll admit the food is good.”
Hee-yeon, who had claimed she missed the gukbap from down south so much, mixed all the rice into the soup and slurped it down.
Jae-gyu also took a few spoonfuls, then picked up his soju glass again. This seemed to go down better than the rice.
Only after she had finished more than half of the gukbap did Hee-yeon lift her head, looking as if she could finally breathe.
“It really is a good restaurant.”
“Told you so.”
“But you know…”
Hee-yeon hesitated for a moment, for some reason, then glanced around cautiously before speaking.
“You remember back home, right? That pork gukbap place by the docks, with the yellow sign, that put in sea fennel leaves.”
The memory was vivid. On days Father returned from sea, they’d eat one bowl there and take one to go. But he didn’t particularly want to remember it.
“Nowhere else tastes as good as that place. The broth was so rich it stuck to the roof of your mouth, it was amazing. Don’t you remember?”
Before the conversation could drag on, Jae-gyu changed the subject.
“Still living in Seoul?”
“Of course. I need to be there to do my entertainment work and all that.”
Hee-yeon, who had dreamed of being a singer since childhood, still hadn’t given up on that dream, even as she approached forty. Currently, she was an unknown trot singer performing at various events, but she vowed that one day, she would make her name known across the entire country.
“Lee Hee-yeon, do you have a lover there too?”
Jae-gyu’s voice was sharp as he asked. Hee-yeon buried her nose back in her gukbap, delaying her answer.
It was obvious. She was probably living with another lover. Jae-gyu’s mouth tasted bitter. He had no expectations of Hee-yeon anymore, but when he heard she’d suddenly appeared in Shinsu-eup, a flicker of hope had ignited.
“I thought you’d finally matured.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Get a grip.”
“Hey! I’m how many years older than you, and you’re still using informal speech?”
“Is that really what’s more important right now, to you?”
Jae-gyu refilled his glass and swallowed it in one go. Perhaps his head was clouded with anger, but even after three consecutive shots, it felt like he was drinking plain water.
Hee-yeon pushed her empty gukbap bowl aside and leaned forward. Her eyes grew serious.
“Stop giving me hell and tell me about yourself.”
“What about me?”
“Are you going to keep living here?”
“I like it here.”
The day Jae-gyu returned to his hometown after three years in China, he was pointed at, ostracized, and eventually driven out. Carrying young Han-gyeol on his back, he wandered aimlessly until he found this place, Shinsu-eup.
He could start a new life somewhere no one knew him. It was, in a way, his second home.
Jae-gyu liked Shinsu-eup.
The people he met here were easygoing, the land was good, and the air was clean. It was perfect for running a business that wasn’t overly demanding. And because Bom was here.
“I’m going to get married here and raise my child here.”
Hee-yeon finally picked up the glass she’d filled earlier and downed it in one gulp. She made a loud ‘Kkheuh’ sound, then her face suddenly hardened.
“Are you seeing a woman?”
“Yeah.”
“Who?”
“Would you know her if I told you?”
“Probably not.”
Short questions and answers followed. Hee-yeon, who had been asking one thing after another, let out a snort.
“Does she know?”
“Know what?”
“Your past.”
He just had a past that was a little more unfortunate and difficult than others. There were a few things he regretted. And there was an incident that shook his entire life, but…
“What’s so important about the past?”
Jae-gyu said that, emptying his glass again. Only now did the alcohol begin to spread warmly through his body. His heart pounded.
“Seon Jae-gyu, didn’t you say you were thinking of marriage? Then you should reveal everything.”
“…”
“One hundred out of one hundred, she’ll probably run away.”
Hee-yeon, who had spoken so casually, refilled her second glass. Jae-gyu held the empty glass in his hand, fiddling with it.
“Enough about me…”
“That thing you proposed? I thought about it, that’s why I agreed to meet today.”
Hee-yeon, who had been speaking so unreservedly until now, let out a long sigh for the first time.
Jae-gyu tensed up. So much would change depending on what came out of her mouth.
“My answer is… no. Sorry.”
A flinch. Jae-gyu’s shoulders trembled. His tightly pressed lips twitched up and down as if in a spasm.
He had thought it was a fifty-fifty chance. It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected this answer, but he couldn’t help but be shaken.
“What’s the reason?”
“Jae-gyu.”
Hee-yeon covered her mouth with a hand, her elaborately decorated nails standing out. A faint smile was visible.
“Han-gyeol resembles me too much.”
“What…?”
Jae-gyu frowned, staring at Hee-yeon.
Pale skin, slightly downturned eyes, and long eyelashes. A straight nose bridge that flowed smoothly from her brow to the tip of her nose, and lips with a strong reddish tint.
She was indeed the spitting image of Han-gyeol.
Even so, he didn’t want to admit it. Jae-gyu shook his head.
“Just because you gave birth doesn’t make you a mother, Hee-yeon.”
Lee Hee-yeon had given birth to Han-gyeol when she was twenty-one. But Hee-yeon had never raised Han-gyeol. That’s why Jae-gyu didn’t acknowledge her as Han-gyeol’s mother.
“Regardless, he’s my blood. The life I gave.”
“You’re good at saying things like that.”
“Jae-gyu. Next year, QBS Broadcasting Station is holding a trot audition program. I’m going to go on it.”
Jae-gyu looked at Hee-yeon, who had suddenly veered off-topic, with an unreadable expression. Hee-yeon curved her lips into a smile.
“But they say you need at least one sad story to stand out there.”
As soon as he heard those words, Jae-gyu shot up from his seat. Blood rushed to his head in an instant. The chair, knocked back by his sudden movement, clattered across the floor.
“Fuck, what did you just say?”
“That’s why I can’t grant your request. I’m going to appear before Han-gyeol now and reveal myself as his mother. And I plan to live with him from now on. There’s one more reason I’m doing this.”
Everything coming out of Hee-yeon’s mouth was horrifying bullshit. Jae-gyu was barely managing his rage, cold sweat trickling down his back.
An ominous sense of crisis washed over him.
⋆★⋆
A typhoon was forecast to make landfall next week. Yet, today’s weather was so clear and bright that there was no hint of it.
Feathery clouds were scattered across the brilliantly blue sky, and the blazing sun was intense.
Students walking around the sports field shielded themselves from the sun with fans or held handheld fans to their faces.
Dozens of stalls were set up on the sports field, displaying the main attractions of the day: the bazaar items. From above, they looked so colorful that they made for an impressively good photo.
Vice Principal Seok Gwan-su, the mastermind behind the Shinsu High School Bazaar, looked excited.
“Even the heavens are blessing our Shinsu High School Bazaar, indeed. Ahem!”
The principal was in Daegu today for a principals’ council meeting. Thus, Seok Gwan-su, who had become the overall supervisor for the day, urged the teachers not to stay in the faculty office but to come out to the sports field and enjoy the bazaar with the students.
So all the teachers came out to the sports field and were browsing the rows of stalls.
Bom was among them. Carrying a few thousand-won bills, Bom began browsing with Seo Hye-sook, starting from the section marked ‘Books’.
“This section seems to have the most items.”
“Books are always the easiest, aren’t they? I was right, wasn’t I?”
Seo Hye-sook’s prediction that 90% would bring books was accurate. Even if not quite that high a percentage, most seemed to have chosen innocuous books when told to bring things they didn’t use at home.
The book section presented a desolate scene, with many sellers but few buyers.
Most of the teachers headed to this section, filling up the empty spaces.
“But the books…”
Bom, who had been peering at the stalls for a while, trailed off as she spoke to Seo Hye-sook.
“Oh, for crying out loud!”
Bom was startled by the sudden, thunderous voice from behind her.
“Hey, you brats! I told you to bring things you don’t use, and you’re selling textbooks?”
Department Head Kang was yelling at the students selling books at the stalls.
“Ugh, these kids. They’re driving me crazy. What is this, Literature? Hey! That’s my subject!”
“You said we finished the curriculum, so…”
“Hey, you punk! Is there no second semester?”
“Oh…?”
“Ugh, I’m going to explode! Good grief!”
It seemed more than just one or two were selling them, as students here and there began hastily packing up their stalls.
It was a somewhat amusing situation, but Bom was serious. She anxiously scanned the stalls, wondering if there might be an Ethics and Ideology textbook.
Fortunately, no Ethics and Ideology textbooks were visible. Instead, amidst textbooks, workbooks, study guides, and old magazines, one particular book caught her eye.
《A Guide for First Love》
The student selling it was from Bom’s class. Bom glanced at Seo Hye-sook, who was looking elsewhere, then whispered.
“Seung-hun, have you sold a lot?”
“I haven’t made a single sale.”
“I’ll buy something. Anything. This… how much is it?”
Bom pretended to pick randomly, pointing with her finger at the book she had noticed.
“Two thousand won, no. Homeroom Teacher, just take it.”
“Why? Why won’t you take the money?”
“It’s a gift from me, Teacher, so you can get some romance in your life.”
“…I just picked something randomly. Just take the money.”
Bom took out two thousand-won bills and handed them over. Seung-hun, who had vehemently refused, finally took the money and, with a thoughtful touch, placed the book in a neutral-colored paper shopping bag he had prepared in advance.
“Sell a lot, Seung-hun.”