Chapter 16

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Hamster Wheel
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“The convenience store.”

The unexpected answer made Taeseo turn his head toward the back seat to look at An Yuna.

She was leaning her head against the window, gazing out at the dark river.

“When we first opened the convenience store here, the head office came out and projected a year's worth of profits. They said we'd make at least three million won, but with me and Yunho taking turns, we barely clear one and a half million.”

“You could just quit.”

“If I quit, I have to pay a penalty for early termination. They say sometimes they reduce the penalty… but you have to prove you weren't negligent by fulfilling all the franchise obligations, to show the business isn't failing because of poor work…”

Her life was clearly tough enough, but having degenerate family members with greedy eyes, trying to snatch even the meager pennies she earned, had to make it even harder.

On top of that, the cousin who worked with her at the store didn't seem normal either. For the first time in his life, Taeseo felt a pang of pity for someone else.

“But,”

An Yuna, oblivious to Taeseo's thoughts, asked.

“Does that open?”

“What?”

“The ceiling.”

An Yuna pointed a finger at the ceiling. She was pointing at the square, black window in the middle of it.

“The sunroof?”

“Yes. That.”

He started the car and opened the sunroof. An Yuna shifted in her seat and looked up at the night sky.

The wind coming through the front window flowed out through the open sunroof.

The chirping of insects rode the air, filling the space. Like an insect by the riverside, Yuna remained still, gazing up at the night sky for a long time.

“I never knew our neighborhood had so many stars.”

Taeseo also looked up through the open roof.

He couldn't remember ever properly looking at the Seoul sky, nor had he ever seen the stars in it. He had lived his life forgetting that anything existed in the night sky, and was suddenly reminded that such things as stars existed.

“Stars... Well, this is the countryside, so of course there are a lot.”

“I guess so. It's natural for the countryside...”

An Yuna laughed emptily. The sound was as light and clear as the chime on a convenience store door.

“You know...”

But the words that followed were as dark as her laugh had been light.

“I've lived my life without even knowing what was in the sky.”

The twenty-year-olds Taeseo knew didn't talk like An Yuna. It wasn't an age for words like that.

“I just... wanted to say that...”

The sound of her breathing reached him as she leaned back in her seat, looking up at the night sky.

Listening to her calm breaths, the sound of her catching her breath, Taeseo was suddenly struck by how hard An Yuna's life must be.

A twenty-year-old youth who went to her day job, and after clocking out, worked at the convenience store until dawn.

Getting just a few hours of sleep before starting the same grind all over again—that was the life of An Yuna, who was only twenty.

Her life was so monotonous that even Taeseo, who had no interest in others, could see the hamster wheel she was trapped on.

“You idiot.”

But unfortunately, Kwon Taeseo was a twisted soul from the start.

Taeseo couldn't understand not only why An Yuna had no choice but to run on her hamster wheel, but also why she lived that way at all.

“Why do you live like that?”

If he were An Yuna, he would have found an easier way to live.

She was twenty, an adult. She should just run away. Why was she still here? Especially for people who weren't even her real parents or siblings.

“I don't know why I'm telling you all this...”

Was she sulking because he'd called her an idiot?

Or did she know herself how pathetic she was?

“Thank you for today. I think I should get back to the store now. I need to check the inventory and place some orders.”

Yuna declared their short break was over.

Taeseo scoffed, thinking she was just tying her own noose.

Aside from the pity he felt for her, he knew he would probably never understand An Yuna.

He started the car and headed back the way they came, toward the convenience store.

Like this farm road running parallel to the river, Taeseo and An Yuna's lives were parallel. Back then, he thought they would never intersect.

* * *

The next day during lunch, he stopped by Seongwoo Diner. The owner, who was sitting at a table trimming perilla leaves, shot up from her seat.

“Oh my. The young man is here.”

Taeseo bowed his head to the owner, and Hyunwoo, who had followed him in, did the same.

“You brought a friend this time? For two, right? Just a minute. The rice is almost done steaming. I'll go out to the garden and pick some fresh lettuce.”

The owner ran to her garden with a bright smile. She'd said she felt indebted to him because of the food recycling incident, and seeing how happy she was to see him, it seemed she wasn't just saying it.

Inside the empty diner, the savory smell of cooking rice filled the air. Unlike Taeseo, who felt hungry at all hours since he started living alone, Hyunwoo looked around the restaurant with a cheerful expression.

“How did you find a place like this?”

“Just passed by.”

Hyunwoo's curious eyes scanned the worn-out tables with rounded corners, the menu where items like ginseng chicken soup and spicy braised chicken were crossed out with red lines, and the words 'Only homestyle meals available' written below them.

“You seem to be close with the owner, too.”

“I told you, I just happened upon it.”

“It's just surprising, Manager. You don't seem like the type to come to a place like this.”

Taeseo didn't answer. He went to the refrigerator, took out a pitcher of barley tea, and poured it into a cup.

As if even that was a marvel, Hyunwoo's eyes widened. He watched Taeseo, then took spoons and chopsticks from their container and set them on the table.

He had dragged Hyunwoo here as soon as lunchtime started because of a sudden idea.

Wouldn't it be easier to approach An Yuna's grandmother after hearing about the local situation from a local?

He could just forcibly acquire the land, but the best outcome was to finish the job without any trouble. This was Taeseo's way of making an effort.

Just then, the owner came back inside, carrying a red basket brimming with freshly picked lettuce.

She took the lettuce into the kitchen and, without mentioning a menu, started clattering around, whipping up a meal. The spicy aroma spread through the diner.

“What are you making?”

“Just you wait. I'm going to serve you a spread that'll make your eyes pop.”

A moment later, the owner brought out a large metal tray with spicy stir-fried pork, rice, soup, and side dishes, and set it on their table.

“Try wrapping the pork in the lettuce. The lettuce I grow here in the countryside is different from what you buy at the market. It's so tender and delicious, you have no idea.”

The lettuce on the wide plate wasn't uniform in size like the kind from a supermarket, but it was much fresher.

“We'll eat well.”

Just as the owner had suggested, he placed a piece of pork on a lettuce leaf, added a clove of garlic dipped in soybean paste, wrapped it up, and put it in his mouth.

The savory flavor from the meat and the blend of red pepper paste were excellent. It was rich without being heavy, and the spicy kick was superb.

As Taeseo's chopsticks began to move faster, Hyunwoo spoke up.

“You said you came here for work.”

For someone who was here on business, Taeseo seemed awfully serious about his meal.

“It is work.”

Taeseo popped another lettuce wrap into his mouth, then leaned toward Hyunwoo, who was sitting across from him. He glanced toward the owner, who had started washing dishes in the kitchen, and lowered his voice.

“That woman is the town's biggest gossip.”

“A gossip?”

“Know your enemy, and you'll win every battle. For now, just eat.”

When they were about halfway through their meal, the owner finished the dishes, wiped her hands on her apron, and came out to the main dining area.

She sat at the table next to theirs, where the perilla leaves were, and started picking the stems. As she stacked the stemmed leaves in piles of ten, she turned toward Taeseo's table.

“By the way, is Yuna okay?”

At the mention of Yuna's name, Hyunwoo's eyes widened. He also knew that An Yuna was the granddaughter of Kim Kkotnim, the old woman who owned the plot of land within the golf course site.

“She was working the counter at the convenience store right after she got back from the hospital yesterday. She must be fine if she was able to work.”

Just as Taeseo said, Yuna had gone straight to the counter after returning from the hospital yesterday and worked as if nothing had happened.

An Yunho, An Yuna's cousin, had watched a girl younger than him get beaten so badly her head was bleeding, yet as soon as Yuna arrived, he handed over the counter and took off on his motorcycle without a second thought.

“Fine? She's working because there's no one else to do it. That damn Yunho... even after seeing what happened to Yuna right in front of him, he won't even cover one shift for her. Is there a more worthless bastard in this world?”

“They're not real siblings, are they?”

He asked, even though he already knew.

“They're cousins. But even for cousins, you'd think they'd be like real siblings after living in the same house for twenty years. But the men in that family are just so pathetic. If they'd taken after their late grandfather, they wouldn't be like this. Both Yunho and his father, all they know is how to spend money and fool around. They don't know how to act like decent human beings.”

“From what I saw yesterday, it didn't look like the first time she's been beaten.”

“Yesterday was nothing. In the past, they broke her arm... it was chaos all the time. They leave her limbs alone now because she brings in money, but if you were to see her undressed, there probably isn't a single spot on her body that's not bruised.”

“That's terrible.”

“Of course it is. In all of Seongwoo Town, there's no one with a more pitiful life than Yuna. Anyway, I hear you work at that golf course construction site?”

“Yes.”

It's said that the more you talk, the more you slip up. The owner of Seongwoo Diner added something she didn't need to.

“Whatever you do, don't go to Yuna's uncle talking about compensation or anything for that field with the gravesite.”

“Why not?”

“Yuna's uncle might steal the official seal and sell it off. The only land that family has left is the plot the store is on and the one with the gravesite. If that bum gets his hands on it, that family will be completely ruined.”