Chapter 7
Episode 7. Peculiar Annoyance
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The convenience store building was the only modern structure in the area. Although it was a prefabricated building constructed for a company dinner, it stood tall as the sole building along the main road, and among them, it looked the best.
Taeseo, seated under the parasol in front of it, glanced at the building before turning to his secretary.
“It’s over there.”
“Yes.”
“From here, is it within 2km of the construction site?”
“Here?”
To the secretary, who asked in surprise, Taeseo gestured with his eyes towards the writing on the convenience store’s glass door.
Upon seeing the words [2nd Floor Studio Apartment for Rent], the secretary’s face lit up. It was a look of relief, knowing they wouldn’t have to struggle to meet their demanding boss’s requirements.
“Yes. This should be within a 1km radius.”
“That’s right. It took just over 10 minutes to drive here.”
The driver chimed in. From Taeseo’s perspective, the distance from the construction site to this place looked to be about 1km in a straight line.
“Go and get the building owner’s contact information.”
As soon as Taeseo finished speaking, the secretary darted into the convenience store.
The wind chime above the door jingled again.
Before the glass door had even closed, a clear voice saying, “Welcome,” reached his ears. His gaze was drawn automatically to the woman beyond the convenience store’s glass door.
“I’ll show you the rooms first. Would you like to follow me this way?”
The woman who had been working the counter at the convenience store was the one who showed Taeseo the studio apartment on the second floor. She said she was the building owner’s representative, or rather, his granddaughter.
Normally, Taeseo’s personality would have him delegate tasks like showing rooms to his subordinates, but this time, Taeseo followed the woman himself, inspecting the rooms.
Since there was nothing satisfactory in this neighborhood, he decided to check the accommodation where he would be staying himself. It was a case of the person in need digging the well.
“There are three studio apartments on the second floor.”
As soon as they went up to the second floor, a hallway ran in a straight line, and three identical gray doors stood side-by-side at the front of the hallway.
“In my opinion, this end room is the best among the three.”
The woman opened the door to the room at the far right. A room smaller than the bathroom in the Namkyung family’s main house was revealed.
“The reason I recommend this room is that it’s a corner room, so unlike the other rooms, it has two windows.”
Perhaps because few people came looking to rent a studio apartment, the woman explained the room with a face even warmer than she had at the convenience store.
“One window faces south, and there’s another facing west, so if you open both, you’ll get a cross-breeze and good ventilation.”
Taeseo gestured towards the opposite room with a displeased expression.
“What about that end room, not this one?”
“That end room?”
“Yeah. If this side is west, then that side is east, so the sunlight should be better in that room.”
In truth, the reason was less about the sunlight and more about the parasol and table placed beneath this room’s window, which he didn’t like. The local loafers he had seen earlier seemed to use this convenience store as their hangout.
What else would these people have to do, having sold all their farmland to Namkyung Group?
It was obvious that the young loafers would come to the convenience store to waste their time. And, incidentally, to catch a glimpse of the pretty part-time worker. Therefore, he could bet his right hand that if he opened the window of this room, he would constantly hear the chatter of those loafers.
“Actually…”
The woman hesitated, looking at Taeseo.
“I’m using that end room.”
“You said you were the building owner’s granddaughter.”
His words implied: why is the building owner’s granddaughter living in a studio apartment instead of the house?
The woman, perhaps quick-witted, understood Taeseo’s words, which omitted many sentences, immediately.
“It’s more convenient to live here to watch the convenience store counter.”
The building itself was a prefabricated structure that wouldn’t be worth much in an appraisal.
If the Namkyung golf resort were completed in three years and a road were built this way, its value would increase due to its roadside location, but for now, the income from this building was solely from the first-floor convenience store and rent, so it was understandable that the woman stayed close to the convenience store.
“Then give me the middle room.”
This time too, the woman couldn’t answer immediately.
“Well, actually, the second floor is also commercial space, but it was illegally renovated… the walls are quite thin.”
What that meant was that noise would travel through the walls.
“So, if some unsavory person rents the middle room, does that mean you and I will have to endure the noise?”
As the woman stammered without answering, Taeseo sighed.
“Then.”
If there had been any other alternative within 2km, he wouldn’t have rented a studio apartment smaller than a bathroom, but he had no other choice at the moment.
“I’ll rent both the middle room and this room.”
“What?”
“I detest noise. You also try to live as quietly as possible.”
He was about to add that she shouldn’t be a nuisance, but the woman cut him off.
“Yes!”
Perhaps out of gratitude for the tenant renting two studio apartments at once, the woman’s face brightened instantly.
He had intended to say, ‘Don’t be a nuisance, or I’ll move out if you upset me,’ but perhaps because the woman’s smile had silenced him, or perhaps because the woman, who was smiling brightly without knowing anything, was already annoying, Taeseo swallowed his words and turned his head away.
He rented two studio apartments using Namkyung Group’s corporate card. The deposit for one room was 2 million won, and the monthly rent was 300,000 won.
He didn’t know how ordinary people lived, but renting two rooms cost a deposit of 4 million won and 600,000 won per month. Seeing that the secretary didn’t say anything, it didn’t seem like he was being overcharged.
After completing the lease agreement, Hyunwoo handed Taeseo another corporate card. It was a corporate card with a monthly limit of 2 million won.
2 million won was only enough for Kwon Taeseo’s drinking expenses for one day, but in his desperate situation, he accepted the card and entered the studio apartment with his luggage.
In the meantime, the woman had left the convenience store unattended for about 10 minutes and thoroughly wiped away the dust in the studio apartment. The room, which had been vacant since its completion, showed no signs of being handled. He liked that aspect.
The space, with its three-section sink, bathroom without a bathtub, and only a bed and built-in closet, could aptly be described as palm-sized.
The only consolation was that the white tone unified throughout made nothing visually jarring.
He had never stayed in such a shabby building before, but compared to the dusty construction site, this place was much better. He thought he could manage to live here, holding his breath, for about three months.
After all, even in Seoul, Taeseo was not someone who diligently went to work every day.
From the moment he was assigned here, he had no intention of going near the construction site. His plan was to resolve whatever this ‘entrenchment’ issue was and leave this town immediately.
Entering the room, Taeseo placed his suitcase to one side and lay down on the empty bed, which had no bedding. Next to the suitcase were the items his secretary had left.
‘When you go to work, you must wear your work jacket, work cap, and work shoes. This is the first major construction project in this area in a long time, so the local government conducts frequent inspections. They seem to be looking for any excuse to find fault, and as you know, given Manager Kwon’s position, please be careful for the time being.’
“Manager, my ass.”
As the secretary’s words came to mind, a curse escaped his lips. Being called ‘Manager Kwon, Manager Kwon’ after being demoted from executive director to manager felt like he was being deliberately provoked.
“First my brother, now this secretary, sigh…”
His parents would let him do anything as long as he didn’t disgrace their faces with a major scandal or block the eldest son’s path.
Although he had been living on the edge, crossing dangerous lines, Taeseo also knew exactly what lines he shouldn’t cross, and he had never crossed them.
This incident was unexpected, but if he just pretended to work and covered things up, anyone would call him back to Seoul.
Lying on the bed, Taeseo rested his head on his arms and looked out the window. A completely different landscape from the city unfolded outside.
Unlike his family home overlooking the Han River, from the window of this rural house, only on the second floor, he could look up at the sky.
The midsummer sun was long. Even at 8 PM, the sky was still red, and the day hadn’t ended. Only the sound of cicadas chirping loudly echoed emptily.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t had a proper meal today.
The secretary had said there were no decent restaurants in the area and that for meals, he should come to the 'hamburger place' set up at the construction site.
The hanba house, a temporary eatery for construction workers, was open from 7 AM to 7 PM, allowing meals at any time, but he had no desire to go there.
“Ha, fuck, why am I hungry again…”
He came down to the convenience store intending to buy a snack, but the shelves were empty.
Just then, his gaze met the woman’s as she emerged from the storage room behind the convenience store counter.
“Is there a restaurant nearby?”
“A restaurant?”
The woman blinked a couple more times, repeating his question. Her eyes were harmless, like a timid animal’s. Even though he was just asking for a place to eat, he felt like a ruffian in front of her gentle gaze.
“A place to eat.”
He furrowed his brow and put force into his voice. The woman seemed startled and quickly replied.
“Ah, yes, there is. If you go towards the town, there’s a Baekban restaurant called Seongwoo Baekban, which many locals frequent.”
Taeseo turned abruptly and left the convenience store.
She had a gentle face, yet somehow, he felt like he had run away from her.
Getting into his car, Taeseo drove in the direction the woman had indicated. In less than five minutes, he found a single-story building with a shabby sign that read Seongwoo Baekban.
The old sign was so worn it looked like it could fall off at any moment. For Taeseo, who was extremely particular about cleanliness, an old restaurant was not appealing.
“Ha, I’m going crazy, really.”
Just as he was considering starving, a hearty voice called out from behind him.
“Came to eat?
• Footnote
(2) Hanba House: A term referring to a temporary restaurant set up within a construction site.
