Chapter 12
Episode 12. A Shitty Life
==========
Taeseo chuckled at the mention of buying a car like this. He had often seen women who knew nothing about cars. Ahn Yuna, who was twenty, was clearly one of them.
“Do you know how much this car costs?”
“Is it very expensive?”
“Yes.”
“Taking the bus to work in the morning quietly eats up a lot of time. I thought it would be more convenient if I had a car…”
“Indeed, your life must be tough too. Working, and then having to work at the convenience store after you get off.”
“Ah. Yes. It’s a bit like that…”
“You get rent income and convenience store profits, so why do you have to work so hard?”
“The convenience store profits and rent income are to pay off the loan taken out to build the building. I’m barely making ends meet, paying off the loan with my salary.”
“No, if that’s the case, why did you build the building?”
Asking about the profits and the reason for building the building was his way of laying the groundwork to tell her to fire the lazy part-timer. He was determined to tell her that the part-timer was freeloading off her money, even though she was working so hard to keep the convenience store running.
“The Namgyeong Golf Course is being built in front of our land. The villagers said that a road would be built in that direction once the golf course was established, and that building something there would be profitable…”
“Then why don’t you just rent it out? Why run a convenience store?”
“My grandfather originally ran a small grocery store there. But after he passed away, I didn’t know how to source the goods, and the villagers were upset that the store was gone…”
“It’s not like you’re doing charity work, and the business wasn’t doing that well either.”
“……”
Ahn Yuna couldn’t continue speaking and closed her mouth. Seizing the moment, Taeseo got to the point.
“Ah, speaking of which. The convenience store part-timer.”
“Part-timer?”
“There was a pale, fox-like guy working there during the day.”
“Ah…”
“Fire that bastard.”
Yuna asked back in a surprised voice at the mention of firing the part-timer.
“Fire him?”
“Yes. That bastard doesn’t work at all. He’s not even at the counter, just chatting with his friends out front, and he treats customers terribly.”
Ahn Yuna, who had been listening quietly, let out a low sigh.
“Yunho oppa is doing that again.”
“Doing that again?”
Did she know about it but still let such a guy get away with it? Taeseo raised his voice.
“If you knew, you should have fired him long ago. Guys like that just waste their salary doing nothing! From what I saw, the convenience store probably doesn’t make much money anyway.”
“I can’t fire him.”
“Why? You’re the building owner’s granddaughter and you manage the convenience store. You need to fire him 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 observed, Yunho seemed ready to hand Ahn Yuna over to that cattle thief named Jaeseop.
He had overheard him giving advice like, "Get her drunk and take her down," and later found out the voice belonged to Ahn Yunho.
“That bastard is your real brother?”
If so, then that bastard is a true scoundrel. No, he’s worse than trash, considering even dog droppings can be useful. Just as he was thinking this, Ahn Yuna replied.
“He’s not my real brother, he’s my cousin.”
“Then tell your grandmother and fire him. That guy is so ill-mannered that-”
“It’s because I really can’t fire him.”
Ahn Yuna cut Taeseo off, as if she didn’t need to hear any more.
“So, why exactly?”
“I’m living with my uncle’s family.”
“What?”
Ahn Yuna’s words made Taeseo’s mind race.
So if Ahn Yuna is living with them, then Ahn Yunho likely has a greater stake in the building than Ahn Yuna. It’s also clear that Ahn Yuna’s uncle’s family contributed more to building it.
“My parents passed away, and I have no one else. So I’m living with my cousin’s family… If anyone were to be fired, it would be Yunho oppa firing me, not me firing him.”
When he heard that Yunho was Ahn Yuna’s cousin, he thought the guy was leeching off Ahn Yuna. But that wasn’t the case.
“Your life must be pretty shitty too.”
That was all Taeseo could say.
As they sat in silence, the car approached the convenience store.
\ \ \
Another day dawned, as usual. Today was the day to visit the owner of the 400-pyeong land within the golf course site for the first negotiation.
“Yunho oppa is doing that again.”
“Doing that again?”
Did she know about it but still let such a guy get away with it? Taeseo raised his voice.
“If you knew, you should have fired him long ago. Guys like that just waste their salary doing nothing! From what I saw, the convenience store probably doesn’t make much money anyway.”
“I can’t fire him.”
“Why? You’re the building owner’s granddaughter and you manage the convenience store. You need to fire him 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 observed, Yunho seemed ready to hand Ahn Yuna over to that cattle thief named Jaeseop.
He had overheard him giving advice like, "Get her drunk and take her down," and later found out the voice belonged to Ahn Yunho.
“That bastard is your real brother?”
If so, then that bastard is a true scoundrel. No, he’s worse than trash, considering even dog droppings can be useful. Just as he was thinking this, Ahn Yuna replied.
“He’s not my real brother, he’s my cousin.”
“Then tell your grandmother and fire him. That guy is so ill-mannered that-”
“It’s because I really can’t fire him.”
Ahn Yuna cut Taeseo off, as if she didn’t need to hear any more.
“So, why exactly?”
“I’m living with my uncle’s family.”
“What?”
Ahn Yuna’s words made Taeseo’s mind race.
So if Ahn Yuna is living with them, then Ahn Yunho likely has a greater stake in the building than Ahn Yuna. It’s also clear that Ahn Yuna’s uncle’s family contributed more to building it.
“My parents passed away, and I have no one else. So I’m living with my cousin’s family… If anyone were to be fired, it would be Yunho oppa firing me, not me firing him.”
When he heard that Yunho was Ahn Yuna’s cousin, he thought the guy was leeching off Ahn Yuna. But that wasn’t the case.
“Your life must be pretty shitty too.”
That was all Taeseo could say.
As they sat in silence, the car approached the convenience store.
\ \ \
Another day dawned, as usual. Today was the day to visit the owner of the 400-pyeong 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 he had left on all night and opened the window. The hot air rushed into the cool room.
Feeling the heat of midsummer on his skin, he took out a cigarette from a pack lying on the floor of his studio apartment and put it in his mouth.
As he lit the cigarette, it crackled and burned. When he took a deep drag, he heard voices outside the window.
“Ahn Yuna came in a Porsche yesterday?”
It was Ahn Yunho’s voice. Perhaps it was a trait of the Ahn family genes, but Ahn Yunho was fair-skinned and delicate like Ahn Yuna. His voice was also close to a tenor, for a man.
“What? A car-poor from the second floor?”
The voice that followed belonged to that cattle thief, Jaeseop.
“Yeah. They came home together in the evening.”
Whether Ahn Yunho was acting as Jaeseop’s lackey or not, he was early in the morning, feeding the cattle thief information about Ahn Yuna’s whereabouts.
“Really? Wow, fuck. Is Ahn Yuna crazy?”
“You’ll be chasing your tail if you’re not careful. That car-poor guy has a good build, though.”
“Guys like that are all show and no substance.”
He could only laugh at the words of people who didn’t know if they themselves were all show and no substance, or juicy peaches.
“Hey, Ahn Yunho. You better keep a close eye on Ahn Yuna. You know? My family sold land in Namgyeong and got a huge compensation. If she marries me, Ahn Yuna will live a comfortable life without lifting a finger. If she gets caught up with some punk like that, she’ll suffer her whole life.”
“I know.”
“Tell your grandmother. Ahn Yuna is trying to follow in her mother’s footsteps.”
“Ah, should we? That sounds fun?”
Taeseo, having finished his cigarette, went to the sink, turned on the water to extinguish the butt, and entered the bathroom.
“Your grandmother said I’d be a suitable grandson-in-law, right? Since we’re on the topic, I’ll cover the convenience store counter, so go see your grandmother. Tell her to rat out Ahn Yuna so she can’t do anything shady.”
Outside, Yunho and Jaeseop’s conversation continued, but Taeseo didn’t care.
\ \ \
“Wow, it’s really hot again today. By the way, Manager, you’re already up. I was worried I should wake you.”
Taeseo merely nodded at Hyunwoo’s words as he arrived in front of the convenience store.
Thinking of having his morning coffee, he was about to enter the convenience store when he saw Jaeseop, the cattle thief, manning the counter instead of Ahn Yunho.
“Even though the Manager seems to be slacking off, he actually works hard at what he needs to do. Seeing that he’s all prepared to not be late for the meeting today.”
Hyunwoo was flattering him, but Taeseo ignored him and glanced inside the convenience store.
Leaving the counter to someone else and being absent from his post, Ahn Yunho, Ahn Yuna’s cousin, was truly hopeless.
“By the way, there’s still an hour until my meeting with Grandma. Should I leave now and take a walk around the neighborhood? It’s only a five-minute drive to the village anyway.”
“No, go to the convenience store and buy me an iced americano.”
“An iced americano?”
“Yes. And a pack of cigarettes too.”
He had intended to buy cigarettes because he was running out, but seeing the cattle thief at the counter made him lose the desire to enter the convenience store.
A moment later, Hyunwoo returned from inside the convenience store and handed him a plastic cup of iced americano and a pack of cigarettes. Taeseo unwrapped the cigarette pack and pulled one out, placing it in his mouth.
Sitting under the parasol, drinking his morning coffee and smoking, Hyunwoo followed suit, drinking his coffee and lighting a cigarette.
“After drinking coffee, are we leaving for Grandmother Kim Kkot-nim’s house?”
“Yes. We’ll look around the area a bit and then go in when it’s time. But what should we 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 land acquisition.”
The acquisition of land within the golf course site had already been completed. The remaining land was the 400-pyeong plot owned by Grandmother Kim Kkot-nim.
In the past, they would have completed the process by acquiring over 80% of the surrounding land and then proceeding with compulsory acquisition. However, recently, a court ruling that compulsory land acquisition for golf course construction is unconstitutional has put a halt to such practices.
“We’ve secured enough surrounding land for compulsory acquisition, haven’t we?”
“Yes. We’ve purchased more than 80%, so the requirements for compulsory acquisition are met. Since it’s a golf course jointly operated with the private sector, it also has the nature of a public project, so there are no issues. However, because the grandmother is so adamant, Namgyeong Development has been going through a negotiation process to resolve it amicably.”
Hyunwoo described the grandmother’s stubbornness as “adamant,” but from Taeseo’s perspective, the old woman was being unreasonable. The price she was demanding for her mere 400-pyeong plot was equivalent to the amount paid for the surrounding 2,000-pyeong plots. In other words, she was throwing a tantrum to sell her small piece of land at an exorbitant price.
“Ah, damn it. I’ve taken on a dirty job.”
People who don’t operate on logic are the most tiresome. That’s probably why the logical Kwon Taejin couldn’t resolve it and sent me.
However, when it comes to irrationality, Kwon Taeseo is second to none.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It was time to go head-to-head with the old woman playing games with land.
\ \ \
“Excuse me. Excuse me.”
Hyunwoo, arriving at Grandmother Kim Kkot-nim’s house on time for the appointment, knocked several times, but there was no answer from inside. Instead, he heard something breaking over the wall, followed by curses.
Hyunwoo, with a perplexed expression, rolled up the sleeves of his suit jacket and checked his watch.
“You damn bitch! You damn bitch! I sent you to high school, and you’re acting like a whore! Acting like a whore!”
He had confirmed multiple times that he would visit her home at this hour, but hearing the sounds from over the wall, it seemed the grandmother had forgotten their appointment.
“This is the right house, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Hyunwoo replied to Taeseo’s question and checked the name on the mailbox hanging on the gate.
[Grandmother Kim Kkot-nim]
It was indeed Grandmother Kim Kkot-nim’s house.
They said she was a stern old woman, and the voice coming from beyond the wall was sharp and fierce.
“Seeing a young man, are you dying to get laid? You’ll end up like your mother. If you act carelessly like your mother, get pregnant, get abandoned, and become a useless woman!”
