Chapter 20

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: A Load of Bull
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When he returned to the room with the things he'd bought at the convenience store, An Yuna was pulling the filter out of the wall-mounted air conditioner.

Taeseo placed the items on the table and spoke.

“Why are you taking that out? I told you it's not broken.”

“Still, just in case.”

“The AC looks brand new. What do you mean, 'just in case'? I'm telling you, it doesn't smell.”

“No, actually… I didn't have enough money, so I bought it from a small appliance store.”

“Huh? So it's used?”

At the word "used," An Yuna flinched as if burned and stammered.

“But I bought the cleanest one they had. I just wanted to clean the filter, really, just in case…”

He had no intention of finding fault with it being used; instead, a dry laugh escaped him seeing An Yuna trying to take responsibility for everything herself.

“Forget it. Let's just eat.”

“Eat?”

“Yeah. You must be hungry after getting off work.”

“I can just go downstairs and eat the disposals.”

At the mention of eating disposals, Taeseo's brow furrowed.

“Why don't you just say you're eating a lunch box? Why call food 'disposals'?”

“We call all the lunch boxes that have passed their sell-by date and have to be removed from the shelves 'disposals.' Everyone who works at a convenience store uses that term.”

“I don't care who uses it. You can just call it a lunch box. Why call what you're eating 'disposals'?”

He was dead serious about this.

Taeseo's mother was the type of person who always said one must maintain a good appearance and be mindful of what one eats and wears.

He wasn't the type to follow his mother's words to the letter, but he still tried to dress well according to her philosophy and made a point of eating good food whenever possible.

Following that philosophy, even when drinking the same brand of liquor, he'd choose the 30-year-old over the 17-year-old. His mother hadn't specifically told him to buy expensive liquor, but he'd followed her words that faithfully.

To Taeseo, who had lived his life this way, An Yuna, who called the food she was about to eat "disposals"—things that were to be thrown away because they were no longer usable—was incomprehensible.

“If you ever call your food 'disposals' again, I'm kicking you out for real.”

“Ah, yes. I understand…”

Taeseo heated two single-serving rice bowls, grilled short-rib patties, and pan-fried beef in the microwave.

He took the perfectly fine filter from the hesitating An Yuna's hands, tossed it in front of the air conditioner, and pulled the chair she had placed there over to the table.

“Sit.”

Just then, the microwave beeped. Taeseo took out the food, spread it on the table, and pulled a sesame ramen and a can of tuna from the convenience store bag, placing them in front of An Yuna.

“You said you liked sesame ramen with tuna. Eat up.”

An Yuna looked at Taeseo as if to ask how he knew. Her face showed she'd completely forgotten that she was the one who had brought him sesame ramen and tuna on the first day.

He even placed the strawberry-flavored soda she had brought back then in front of her. Her eyes widened even more, confirming it was also a favorite drink of hers.

“You said the side dishes from Seongwoo Baekban were good. The lady there made all of these, so eat up before you go. I can't finish all this by myself.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you for the meal.”

An Yuna got up, filled the electric kettle with water, and started to heat it. Taeseo watched her for a moment before speaking.

“My mom… she's a 'grandma-auntie'.”

“A 'grandma-auntie'?”

“Somewhere between a grandma and an auntie.”

An Yuna chuckled at the word 'grandma-auntie.' The trembling she'd shown earlier when confronting her uncle after getting off the bus had completely vanished.

“My mom worries a lot and nags quite a bit. She's always nagging that you live the way you speak.”

“I see.”

“Yeah, she does. If I can nag like my mom for a second, don't use the word 'disposals' for the food you eat. It makes it sound like you're someone who lives on trash.”

The reason he was nagging—meddling, really—and telling her this was because he genuinely felt sorry for her. She was already surrounded by trashy people, and on top of that, she talked about eating disposals.

“But it seems you're not one to listen to your mother either.”

“What about me?”

“You said your mother believes people live the way they speak. But you don't exactly speak beautifully yourself, do you? You're always cursing, saying 'fuck' this and 'fuck' that.”

Well, look at this. Taeseo stared at An Yuna, dumbfounded.

“Hey, when did I ever say 'fuck' this and 'fuck' that?”

“When? Just today, I heard you throw in 'fuck' several times in a single sentence. Like it was some kind of filler word.”

“Seriously, what do you take me for?”

He swore he wasn't the type to talk so vulgarly.

“That's because people like your uncle don't listen to reason.”

At that, the hint of a smile on An Yuna's face deepened.

“So you really were saving me.”

*She's really messing with me.* Taeseo scowled and turned his head away from An Yuna.

Strangely, his face grew hot, and the area around his neck and ears burned.

An Yuna also looked away from Taeseo and poured the boiling water from the kettle into two cup ramens.

“Like you said, sesame ramen with tuna is actually my favorite. I like drinking strawberry Welch's with it, too. There are a few 'golden combos' for convenience store food, and this is the best one for me.”

Sitting across from him at the table that was barely a meter wide, An Yuna looked at Taeseo with a happy expression, as if she had been served a luxurious feast.

“If you like it, then stuff your face.”

An Yuna held the cup ramen with both hands, waiting for the noodles to cook, and said.

“You're one to talk. You could have just said 'eat,' why say 'stuff your face'?”

“Who are you to nag me? Are you my mom?”

“And were you nagging me because you're my dad?”

“Don't talk back to me.”

Taeseo pushed the plate of pan-fried beef in front of An Yuna.

“Eat the meat.”

Pushing the grilled short-rib patties toward her after the beef, he said with a deliberately indifferent expression.

“They say protein is the best thing for healing wounds.”

An Yuna picked up a piece of pan-fried beef with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. Taeseo, who had been watching her small mouth chew the food as if mesmerized, scowled again when their eyes met.

“Shit. They really did a number on it.”

“On what? The meat?”

“Your face. What's that doing on a girl's face?”

In Taeseo's eyes, An Yuna's fair face was the most harmonious and beautiful he had ever seen on a woman.

With a face like that, there would be many ways to live comfortably without working so hard, yet they had gone and ruined such a valuable face...

“Eat the meat so the wound heals faster. Ah, shit. Just give me the ramen and you eat the meat and rice.”

As Taeseo reached out as if to snatch her ramen, Yuna quickly clutched her cup with both hands.

“I can eat the rice and finish the ramen too. I have a big appetite.”

“Uh, okay, fine. You can leave the ramen, just focus on the meat.”

An Yuna shyly averted her gaze from Taeseo. Then she lifted a hand from her cup ramen and touched the stitched wound on her forehead.

“Is it that noticeable? I thought my hair would cover it…”

“If you're worried about it, eat lots of meat. A scar will bother you for the rest of your life, so stop talking and eat the meat.”

“Ah, yes…”

As she lowered her head and chewed on the pan-fried beef, the rims of An Yuna's ears turned as red as Taeseo's cheeks.

***

Hyunwoo got into Taeseo's car, which was headed for Seongwoo Baekban.

“You're going to the diner again today, right?”

“Yeah.”

Although there was a construction site canteen next to the golf course entrance construction site, Taeseo never set foot in the place where the Namgyeong Development employees ate.

Eating among the site laborers was one thing, but serving himself buffet-style was not to Taeseo's taste.

“Well, I've bought ten days' time...”

Watching Taeseo mutter to himself while driving, Hyunwoo tilted his head.

“What do you mean, you've bought ten days' time?”

“Ah. An Yuna's uncle.”

“An Yuna's uncle?”

“Yeah. We agreed he'd contact me in ten days about the rent.”

“It's just about the rent, right? You're not thinking of negotiating the land purchase through him, are you…?”

From Hyunwoo's upright perspective, the idea of negotiating land compensation with such a scumbag was clearly unappealing.

“We'll see.”

An Yuna's uncle would come looking for Taeseo, if only for the rent, so it was as good as having set up a meeting.

In the meantime, Taeseo planned to gather information on An Yuna's family.

Having the upper hand in information was an indispensable part of gaining an advantage in negotiations, and that was one of the reasons he was heading to Seongwoo Baekban.

In any case, Namgyeong held the purse strings, and as their representative, Taeseo's goal was to handle things swiftly.

Taeseo parked in front of Seongwoo Baekban and opened the restaurant door. Unexpectedly, it wasn't the female owner who greeted him, but her husband.

“I was wondering if you'd come today, and here you are. It's hot out, so come on in and cool off.”

Taeseo gave him a wary look. He'd had a bad experience before when the man had packed leftovers from another customer's table into his side dish containers, so seeing him at the counter made him uneasy.

The owner's husband, oblivious to Taeseo's apprehension, brought water and placed it on the table where Taeseo and Hyunwoo had sat down.

“Have a glass of cold water first.”

As Hyunwoo poured the chilled barley tea into a cup, the owner's husband lingered around the table as if he had something to say.

“Hey… I hear you guys work for Namgyeong Development?”