Chapter 13
Chapter 13. Damn bastards
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Hearing Grandmother Kim Kkot-nim's angry voice coming from inside the fence, Taeseo turned away from the gate.
"Today doesn't seem like the day. I'll come back next time, then."
"What? Next time?"
It was at that moment.
"I'm telling you no, Grandmother. I really never did anything like that!"
The voice that followed Grandmother's scolding was unusually familiar.
"Your mind is rotten, you don't even know how to be ashamed in front of the neighborhood, and you're messing around with some strange man! Instead of doing what you're supposed to, you're out there having a good time with some strange man! I never taught you to be like this!"
"Grandmother, please, Grandmother!"
Taeseo, who had a good eye for detail and was quick-witted, tended to remember people's appearances and voices well. If Taeseo's memory served him correctly, the voice pleading with Grandmother was Ahn Yuna's.
Taeseo, who had been about to turn away due to the shouting from inside, changed his mind and pushed the green gate open with his hand, stepping into the yard.
"Excuse me."
In the middle of the yard, a stooped old woman was hitting a young woman with a broom made of twigs. The woman, raising her arms to defend herself from the broom, was Ahn Yuna, just as Taeseo had expected.
"Excuse me!"
Taeseo shouted at the top of his lungs. The old woman, holding the broom made of twigs, looked over.
"Who are you?"
"I'm from Namgyeong Development."
"I told you I have nothing more to say. Just go."
The old woman waved the broom made of twigs in her hand. She swung it as if to chase away an unwelcome guest, but Taeseo did not back down and eventually set foot in the yard.
"If you want to get a fair price, you should sell your land now. Stop being unreasonable."
The house was as dilapidated as its worn-out gate. The red slab roof, which looked like it had been repaired during the Saemaul Undong, covered mud walls that seemed like they could crumble at any moment.
On the cracked cement yard, things that didn't look like household items were scattered about, and nameless weeds grew sparsely between the grooved cement.
He could estimate the situation as soon as he saw the house. It was clearly a place with no source of income, so they were desperate to sell their mere 400 pyeong of land for a high price.
As Taeseo scowled, his gaze fell upon Yuna, who was looking at him with a flustered expression, as if wondering why he was there.
"It hasn't even been a year since I buried my husband on that land. His body hasn't even rotted away, so why would I dig up the land! There's no such thing in the world!"
She seemed to be resisting because she didn't want to move her husband's grave, but that wasn't the real reason.
He had heard that the old woman said she would sell the land immediately if they increased the land sale price fivefold.
So, her claim of not selling the land because of the grave was just an excuse. Taeseo, knowing this, repeated what previous land compensation agents had said.
"We will diligently prepare the relocation procedures on our end. We will also provide a more elaborate grave at the relocation site."
"Not that tiresome talk again! I've heard the same thing until my ears are calloused!"
The old woman rushed towards Taeseo and raised her broom made of twigs. Taeseo furrowed his brow and grabbed the handle of the broom as she swung it.
"You're tired of hearing the same story."
Taeseo snatched the broom handle from the old woman's hand and threw it into a corner of the yard.
"We are also tired of saying the same thing. So, I was thinking of telling you something a little different."
The old woman, having her broom taken away, looked at Taeseo with a bewildered expression.
"Other than telling me to sell the land, what else can you say?"
"As you know, the golf course Namgyeong Development is building is a public golf course. It's a facility jointly operated by the local government and Namgyeong Development, and we received permission as a national sports facility."
It seemed like she was trying to make a fortune with a mere 400 pyeong of land, but unfortunately, that tactic wouldn't work on Kwon Taeseo.
"You know that over 80% of the surrounding land has been acquired, meeting the requirements for compulsory land acquisition, right? If Grandmother Kim Kkot-nim continues to be unreasonable like this, we can just acquire the land at the official assessed value."
Strong against the strong, kind to the weak. Kwon Taeseo had always been infinitely strong against the strong and bestowed favors as if showing kindness to the weak.
Up until now, the people from Namgyeong Development had been hesitant because of that mere 400 pyeong of land, but Taeseo had no intention of doing so.
"This damn bastard, speaking with that mouth..."
As expected, the old woman's face contorted grotesquely. She had expected the people from Namgyeong Development to negotiate, but she seemed quite flustered by the threat.
"You should have just taken the money others received and sold your land. Instead of being so unreasonable."
"You're the one being unreasonable, trying to buy land when I'm not selling!"
Taeseo took out his business card case from his pocket. These were new business cards he had received upon being appointed to his current position as section chief after being transferred here.
"The people from Namgyeong Development who visited you before might have only spoken nicely, but now that I'm here as a representative, that won't work anymore."
With a slow movement, Taeseo took out a business card from the case and offered it to the old woman. It was his way of letting her know that he would be the one negotiating land matters with her from now on.
The old woman tore the business card to shreds and threw it at Taeseo's face.
"A golf course is a public sports facility! What kind of national sports facility is it for idle people to wander around with sticks, stealing other people's land!"
"That's how the law is. If you feel wronged, you can sue after your land is expropriated."
"Just try to expropriate my land! I won't let you get away with it! I'll cut open my belly and die in front of your golf course!"
"Ah, yes, yes."
Taeseo took out business cards from the case at random and scattered them at the old woman's feet. About ten business cards fell around her feet.
"If you feel like negotiating, please contact the number on the business cards. I just came to introduce myself today, so I'll be going now."
The old woman looked dumbfounded, as if she had seen the most insane person. Taeseo bowed his head slightly, said goodbye, and turned to leave. The old woman, suddenly startled, shouted for her granddaughter standing in the middle of the yard.
"Yuna! Bring me some salt, salt! Hurry and bring me the salt!"
As Yuna brought salt from a large earthenware jar in the corner of the yard, the old woman followed Taeseo and Hyunwoo, who were leaving through the gate, and poured the salt, still in the basin, over them. White salt piled up on Taeseo and Hyunwoo's shoulders.
"You damn bastards! How dare you come to someone's house and threaten them!"
Following the salt, a basin flew towards Taeseo's back. The basin hit his back with a loud thud and fell to the ground. Taeseo got into the car without looking back.
Hyunwoo also brushed off the salt from his body and got into the passenger seat. The old woman, who had gone back inside the house, grabbed the broom made of twigs that Taeseo had moved to the side of the yard and ran out of the gate.
Just as the old woman was about to swing the broom at the car, Taeseo started driving.
With a roar, Taeseo's Porsche sped away. The old woman's broom cut through the air. She swung it so hard that, losing her target, she stumbled and fell to the ground.
"Grandmother!"
Yuna, who had followed, helped the old woman up.
Taeseo watched the old woman's figure through the rearview mirror. The old woman, who had gotten up, shook her fist a few times towards the car Taeseo was driving.
Hyunwoo, watching through the rear window, shuddered and said,
"You were supposed to persuade her, but why did you have to pour oil on the fire?"
"Do you think this old woman became like this because the previous agents persuaded her well?"
"I'm saying you should have tried to soothe her, but instead, you fought fire with fire."
"If I had placated her, she would have been even worse."
"Well, that's true."
Hyunwoo, belatedly fastening his seatbelt, clicked his tongue briefly as he recalled the old woman threatening to disembowel herself.
"Wow, but her personality is even more formidable than I heard."
"Indeed, she is formidable."
Her eyes turned vicious at the mention of compulsory land acquisition, her footsteps suddenly quickened as she chased them with salt and a basin, and her movements swinging the broom were like those of a demon.
Neither Hyunwoo nor Taeseo had ever met such a strong-willed old woman. They thought they would be less scared meeting the Grim Reaper than this old woman.
Five minutes after driving on the country road, they reached a convenience store in front of the village. As Taeseo got out of the car, Hyunwoo also got out of the passenger seat. The sun was now nearing its zenith, and the heat of the midsummer day grew more intense.
"Can I go home now?"
"What? Aren't you going to the office?"
"My work for today is done. What else is there for me to do at the office?"
Taeseo wasn't wrong. Since coming down to Seongwoo-eup, Taeseo's role was to persuade Grandmother Kim Kkot-nim to sell her land, while Hyunwoo was responsible for the reporting procedures and paperwork.
"No, but you should still go through the motions of working..."
The procedural formalities of work were for people like Hyunwoo, who had joined the company through normal channels. It didn't apply to Taeseo, who was a parachute appointee.
No matter how poorly he worked, Taeseo was ultimately in a position to manage the company, not to be promoted or fired based on performance reviews.
"It's over there."
It seemed Hyunwoo was overlooking the fact that Taeseo held the same title of section chief.
"Yes. Section Chief."
If the person working was faltering, the one giving orders had to make them aware of it.
"Isn't my job to persuade that old woman within three months, and if she's not persuaded, to expropriate the land and return to Seoul?"
"Yes. It seems to be that way."
"If you know that, why are you talking about formalities?"
"Still..."
"Go on. I'm going in."
Taeseo gestured as if to tell Hyunwoo to get lost and turned away. Walking towards the studio apartment on the second floor of the convenience store, Taeseo turned back after a couple of steps and looked at Hyunwoo again.
"Ah, right."
Hyunwoo was still staring at Taeseo with a dazed expression.
