Chapter 12

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: A Crappy Life
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At her saying she'd buy a car like this, Taeseo let out a smirk. He'd often met women who were clueless about cars. Twenty-year-old An Yuna was clearly one of them.

“Do you have any idea how much this car costs?”

“Is it very expensive?”

“Yeah.”

“Taking the bus to work in the morning eats up a surprising amount of time. I just thought it would be more convenient to have a car…”

“I guess your life must be exhausting. Going to work, then having to run the convenience store after.”

“Ah. Yes. It's a bit like that…”

“You get rent from the tenants and profit from the store. Why are you working so hard?”

“The store's profit and the rent have to go toward paying off the loan for the building. I'm barely getting by, using my salary to cover the rest of the loan payments.”

“Seriously? If that's the case, why even build the building?”

He was asking about her income and why she built the building to lay the groundwork for telling her to fire the lazy part-timer. He planned to snitch, telling her that while she was struggling to keep the store afloat, that part-timer bastard was just freeloading off her money.

“You know the Namgyeong golf course is being built in front of our land. The neighborhood people said a road would be built that way once the golf course was finished, and that putting up a building would be profitable…”

“Then why not just lease out the space? Why run a convenience store?”

“My grandfather used to run a small corner store there. But after he passed away, I didn't know how to order inventory, and the locals were all complaining that the store was gone, so…”

“It's not like you're running a charity. And business is terrible.”

“…”

An Yuna couldn't continue and fell silent. Seizing the opportunity, Taeseo got to the point.

“Ah, so about that. The convenience store part-timer.”

“The part-timer?”

“That pale, foxy-looking guy who works during the day.”

“Ah…”

“Fire that bastard.”

At the command to fire the part-timer, Yuna asked again in a surprised voice.

“Fire him?”

“Yeah. He does a shitty job. He's never at the counter, just calls his friends over to fool around out front, and his customer service is crap.”

Listening quietly, An Yuna let out a soft sigh.

“Yunho's at it again.”

“‘At it again?’”

So she knew and just let a guy like that be? Taeseo raised his voice.

“If you knew, you should have fired him ages ago. Guys like that just drain your salary without doing any work. And it doesn't look like the store makes much money anyway.”

“I can't fire him.”

“Why? You're the building owner's granddaughter and you manage the store. You have to fire guys like that to increase your profit margin. What's the reason you can't fire him?”

“He's also the building owner's grandson.”

“What?”

That made even less sense. From what Taeseo had seen, Yunho seemed ready to serve An Yuna up on a platter to that cattle rustler, Jaeseop.

He'd heard a voice advising someone to get her drunk and lay her. He later realized the owner of that voice was none other than An Yunho.

“Is that bastard your actual brother?”

If so, that bastard was a real piece of work. No, he was worse than trash—even dog crap had its uses. Just as he was thinking that, An Yuna answered.

“Not my real brother, my cousin.”

“Then tell your grandmother and get him fired. That bastard is so rude—”

“I really can't fire him.”

An Yuna cut Taeseo off as if there was no need to hear any more.

“So, why the hell not?”

“Because I'm living with my uncle's family.”

“What?”

An Yuna's words complicated things in Taeseo's mind.

So, if An Yuna was living with them, it meant that guy, An Yunho, had a bigger stake in the building than she did. And it was obvious her uncle's family had contributed more to its construction.

“My parents passed away, and I have no one else. That's why I'm living with my cousin's family… If anyone's getting fired, Yunho would be the one to fire me. I can't fire him.”

When he heard that the guy named Yunho was An Yuna's cousin, he'd thought the bastard was leeching off her. But that wasn't the case.

“Your life really is crap, isn't it?”

That was all Taeseo could say.

As the two of them sat in silence, the car approached the convenience store.

***

Inevitably, another day dawned. Today was the day to visit the owner of the 400-pyeong plot of land within the golf course site for the first negotiation.

Waking up early for the first time in a while, Taeseo turned off the air conditioner that had been running all night and opened the window. Hot air flooded into the cool room.

Feeling the midsummer heat in the air on his skin, he picked up a pack of cigarettes rolling around on the studio floor and pulled out the last one, placing it between his lips.

He lit the cigarette, the tip burning with a sizzle. As he took a deep drag, voices drifted in from outside the window.

“An Yuna came home in a Porsche yesterday.”

It was An Yunho's voice. Maybe it was a family trait, but like An Yuna, Yunho was fair-skinned and had delicate features. His voice, too, was rather high-pitched for a man.

“What? The car poor guy's car from the second floor?”

The voice that followed belonged to that cattle rustler, Jaeseop.

“Yeah. They came in together in the evening.”

It seemed An Yunho really was the guy's lackey. First thing in the morning, he was reporting on his cousin's activities to the cattle rustler who was so interested in her.

“Really? Wow, fuck. Is An Yuna crazy?”

“You're going to end up losing her. That car poor bastard is built damn well.”

“Guys like that are all show and no substance.”

All show and no substance, he says. Taeseo could only laugh at the nonsense spouted by guys who had no idea if he was a worthless apricot or a juicy peach.

“Hey, An Yunho. You keep a tight leash on An Yuna. You know, right? My family got a huge payout for selling our land to Namgyeong. If she marries me, she'll live comfortably without ever having to lift a finger. If she gets hooked by a thug like that just because he's handsome, she'll suffer for the rest of her life.”

“I know.”

“Go snitch to your grandmother. Tell her An Yuna is trying to follow in her mother's footsteps.”

“Ah, should I? That sounds fun.”

Just then, Taeseo finished his cigarette. He went to the sink, ran the water to extinguish the butt, and headed into the bathroom.

“Didn't your grandmother say a guy like me would make a decent grandson-in-law? Since we're on the topic, I'll watch the counter, so go see her. Tell her what's going on so An Yuna can't pull any tricks.”

Outside, Yunho and Jaeseop's conversation continued, but it was none of Taeseo's business.

***

“Wow, it's really hot again today. By the way, Manager, you're already up. I was worried I'd have to wake you.”

Taeseo just gave a lazy nod at Hyunwoo's words as he arrived in front of the convenience store.

He was about to enter the store for his morning coffee when he saw that An Yunho was gone, and the cattle rustler was manning the counter.

“Manager, you might seem like you're slacking off, but you're surprisingly diligent when it comes to getting things done. I mean, look at you, all ready for the meeting today without being late.”

Hyunwoo was sucking up, but Taeseo ignored him and glanced inside the convenience store.

Seeing that he'd left the counter to someone else and disappeared, An Yuna's cousin, An Yunho or whatever his name was, was truly a hopeless case.

“Anyway, we still have an hour until our meeting with the grandmother. Should we head out now and drive around the neighborhood for a bit? It's less than a five-minute drive from here.”

“No, go to the store and get me an iced americano.”

“An iced americano?”

“Yeah. And a pack of cigarettes.”

He was out of cigarettes and planned to buy more, but seeing the cattle rustler at the counter made him lose all desire to go inside.

A moment later, Hyunwoo came back from the store and handed him a plastic cup with an iced americano and a pack of cigarettes. Taeseo tore the wrapping off the pack and put a cigarette to his lips.

As he sat under the parasol, drinking his morning coffee and smoking, Hyunwoo followed his lead, sipping his own coffee and lighting a cigarette.

“We're leaving for Ms. Kim Kkotnim's house after coffee, right?”

“Yeah. Let's go, look around the area, and then head in when it's time. But what are we supposed to talk about when we get there?”

“First, we'll try to persuade her with money. If that doesn't work, we'll have to threaten her with compulsory acquisition of the land.”

The acquisition of the land within the golf course site was already complete. The only remaining plot was the 400-pyeong lot owned by the grandmother, Kim Kkotnim.

In the past, they would have finished the job by acquiring over 80% of the surrounding land and then forcibly seizing the rest. However, a recent ruling that deemed compulsory acquisition for golf course construction unconstitutional had put a stop to that.

“We've secured enough of the surrounding land for compulsory acquisition, right?”

“Yes. We've purchased well over 80%, so the conditions for compulsory acquisition have been met. Since it's a golf course operated jointly by private and public sectors, it also qualifies as a public project, so there shouldn't be a problem. However, the grandmother has been so unyielding that Namgyeong Development has been going through the negotiation process to resolve this amicably.”

Hyunwoo politely described the grandmother as "unyielding," but from Taeseo's perspective, the old woman was just being stubborn.

The price the grandmother was demanding for her mere 400 pyeong was comparable to what they paid for a 2,000-pyeong plot nearby. In short, she was throwing a tantrum to sell her small piece of land for an exorbitant price.

“Ah, fuck. I got stuck with the dirty work.”

People who refuse to listen to reason were always the most tiring to deal with. That must be why the logical Kwon Taejin couldn't solve it and sent him instead.

But when it came to being illogical, Kwon Taeseo was second to none.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It was time for a showdown with the old woman playing games with her land.

***

“Excuse me. Excuse me.”

Arriving at Kim Kkotnim's house at the appointed time, Hyunwoo knocked on the door several times, but there was no answer from inside. Instead, the sound of something shattering, followed by curses, came from over the wall.

With a troubled expression, Hyunwoo pushed back the sleeve of his suit jacket to check his watch.

“You damn wench! You damn wench! I put you through high school, and now you're acting like a whore! Acting like a damn whore!”

He had confirmed several times that they would be visiting at this hour, but from the sounds coming over the wall, it seemed the grandmother had forgotten their appointment.

“This is the right house, isn't it?”

“Yes.”

Answering Taeseo's question, Hyunwoo checked the name on the mailbox hanging by the main gate.

[Kim Kkotnim]

It was definitely Kim Kkotnim's house.

They said she was a stubborn old woman, and the voice coming from beyond the wall was certainly sharp and fierce.

“See a young man and you're just dying to throw yourself at him, are you? You'll end up just like your mother. Fooling around, getting pregnant, then abandoned and becoming a useless wench, just like her!”