Chapter 13
Villain in Love
13.
Happiness, So to Speak
A small door tucked beside the main kitchen where Seongheon usually had breakfast opened into the staff breakroom.
It was a space Yeonwoo had never seen before. There was a small folding table for sitting on the floor to eat, a jade heating mat perfect for staff to lie down and soothe their aching backs, and a dilapidated television.
“Did you starve yourself all day just to catch someone on their way out?”
Manager Mun emerged carrying a tray set with soup, rice, and a few side dishes. Without being told, Yeonwoo, who had been sitting in front of the folding table, stood up to take the tray.
“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to take care of my own meals starting tomorrow.”
“I won’t stop you from eating, but I won’t beg you to eat either. So keep your mouth shut about being sorrowful or whatnot and look after yourself. This is where you come to eat.”
“Yes, Manager.”
Yeonwoo picked up her spoon as soon as she answered. Having just finished sweeping Unseondang, her fingertips were trembling, and the hand holding the spoon shook.
Fearing Manager Mun might scold her for having shaky hands after such a little bit of work, Yeonwoo immediately scooped up some rice and mixed it into the soup. It was soybean paste soup with fragrant shepherd’s purse.
After taking a quick bite, Yeonwoo’s eyes went wide. Manager Mun, who had been hesitating on whether to leave for the day, asked, “What is it? Did you bite a stone?”
“Oh, no. It’s not that.”
She chewed again.
“It’s just so delicious.”
“…Good grief, listen to her talk.”
“Really. The soup is truly amazing.”
“This is Domyeongjae. You think a bowl of soup like that is just some common thing? We don’t just throw things together because it’s for the staff. We use anchovies and large dried herrings brought in from the South Sea to boil a rich broth…”
Manager Mun, who had been rambling on without much thought, trailed off. Yeonwoo was focused entirely on her meal, looking as if she had lost her senses to the food.
After debating whether to leave or stay, Manager Mun seemed to give up, arching her eyebrows as she sat down across from Yeonwoo. At this, Yeonwoo waved her hand.
“I can eat by myself. You can head home now, Manager.”
“Going home isn’t the issue here.”
Manager Mun, resting her arm on one raised knee, called out to her. With her cheeks full of rice, Yeonwoo looked up.
“You said you lived in Seoul. What kind of job did you have?”
“I worked at a small architectural firm. A small-to-medium enterprise.”
“And what did you do there?”
“Just… whatever they told me to do. There weren’t many people, so the tasks weren’t clearly divided.”
As she swallowed the rice, thoughts of Cha Yunseok surfaced again. A pang of anxiety made the rice feel like a lump in her throat, and Yeonwoo took a sip of water.
Manager Mun continued her questioning.
“Then what happened to that job that you’re down here now?”
“…Actually, I quit.”
“Quit? Why?”
The question of ‘why’ caused a brief internal conflict. Should she tell the truth or not?
Many thoughts flashed through her mind, and Yeonwoo bought time by keeping the rice in her mouth.
This place, Domyeongjae, was in a rural part of Moksan County. The situation here was vastly different from the rapidly prospering big cities; thus, even though they lived in the same era, it was more appropriate to view Manager Mun as a person of the distant past rather than a modern woman.
She was someone who still wore a traditional hairpin. She was also someone whose concepts, ideologies, morals, and rules seemed to have stopped in a different time. It seemed unlikely that she would emphasize with a story about a stalker—a man clinging to a woman living alone.
Yeonwoo-ssi, honestly, wasn’t it you who led the Vice President on first?
Those were the words she had heard from a coworker immediately after reporting the stalker. Yeonwoo realized then that regardless of another person’s circumstances, far more people cared about their workplace not being the subject of public gossip.
Since even a colleague who worked by her side had made such a judgment, she didn’t think Manager Mun would take the news kindly. Moreover, since this was her mother’s workplace, the news might eventually reach her mother’s ears.
Once her thoughts reached that point, she didn’t want to offer any further explanation. Yeonwoo swallowed the rice she was chewing and opened her lips.
“I wasn’t happy while working there. I guess I didn’t have an aptitude for it.”
“Aptitude?” Manager Mun looked unimpressed by Yeonwoo’s answer. Perhaps finding the reason more trivial than expected, Manager Mun let out a snort-like breath and replied.
“Where in the world is there a job that fits your ‘aptitude’? If it fits your aptitude, that’s a hobby, not a job.”
“That’s true, but still.”
“You’ll probably quit here soon too, then. Do you have an aptitude for this work?”
“I think I do.”
As Yeonwoo muttered this while taking another spoonful of soup, Manager Mun fell silent. Yeonwoo finished her meal quietly before speaking again.
“I think I was much more exhausted by life in Seoul than I realized. I was alone the whole time.”
…That night, that dawn.
She could never forget the rain on the day she fled Seoul with a single suitcase.
“My mom is here, and this is the familiar neighborhood I grew up in. Also, the flowers are pretty, and the sky is beautiful.”
Yes. What had she been so desperate to leave that place for?
“I think I just like it here.”
“You like it?”
“Yes. I do.”
When Yeonwoo said ‘I like it’ with emphasis, Manager Mun raised her eyebrows. Sitting with perfect posture, Yeonwoo picked up a side dish and gave a very small smile.
Let me not forget. I came here to survive.
Because she wanted to live. Because she wanted to return to the days when things were normal.
“I like it here so much that I don’t think I can ever go back to Seoul. So, I want to make things work here.”
Therefore, she would exert every ounce of strength to live. She would not invite misfortune, nor would she shrink away prematurely.
“W-why are you suddenly standing up in the middle of talking?”
“I’m finished. I’m going to do the dishes.”
“You’re done already? Did you drink it?”
“I was very hungry.”
If no one would protect her, she would protect herself.
Perfectly.
“Thank you. I enjoyed the meal, Manager.”
I am restarting the life I had briefly cast aside.
Her second night shift was easier than the first. There were no calls from Unseondang throughout the night, and Yeonwoo managed to catch snatches of sleep.
As the dim dawn broke, Manager Mun arrived for work and told her to go catch some sleep. Yeonwoo returned to the dormitory to rest. Recalling Manager Mun’s warning that she must be on time for the Vice President’s commute even if the heavens split open, she set six alarms before finally getting up.
Her sleep had been ridiculously short, but perhaps the quality was good, as she felt decent. Marveling at how long it had been since she woke up feeling refreshed, Yeonwoo left the dormitory with a relatively light step.
“Yeonwoo!”
She was on her way to the Main Hall. Yeonwoo turned around at the sound of Hyeonuk calling her.
“On your way to work? The Domyeongjae staff are hardcore. Going to work this early in the morning.”
“Hello, Young Master.”
“Young Master? Where did ‘Young Master’ suddenly come from?”
“The people here call you Young Master, so I thought I’d try calling you that too.”
Hyeonuk made a disgusted face and pressed his hands together as if begging.
“Don’t tease me. Please, I’m begging you. Don’t tease me.”
“I’m not teasing. I’m an employee here, so it’s only right to use the proper title. Isn’t that right, Young Master?”
“Argh, please! Please! Stop it! I said stop!”
As Hyeonuk squeezed his eyes shut, unable to bear it, Yeonwoo lowered her head and burst into laughter. Then, looking up again, she asked him.
“You’re up early. I guess you don’t sleep much in the morning.”
“Me? It’s not that I woke up early, I’m actually on my way to bed now.”
At the end of his sentence, Hyeonuk leaned his upper body in and whispered. Yeonwoo flinched, pulling her shoulders back in surprise.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve lived with my days and nights swapped. It means I’m unemployed.”
“Ah. Unemployed.”
“I can’t sleep when it’s dark. Only when the sun is high in the sky do I think, ‘Ah, it’s time to sleep,’ and pass out.”
Even though he wasn’t saying anything particularly profound, Yeonwoo nodded along as he whispered. Though they had last seen each other in school uniforms and were now meeting as full-grown adults, Hyeonuk acted without any reserve, as if they had known each other all along.
“But don’t be jealous. Being unemployed isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.”
“What could be bad about it?”
“What kind of woman would like an unemployed man? I reckon dating in this lifetime is a lost cause.”
Despite being born with a silver spoon, he was complaining about being unemployed. As Yeonwoo blinked in disbelief, Hyeonuk pointed a finger at her.
“Aha! Ji Yeonwoo. You were just mocking me in your head, weren’t you? Thinking, ‘Seriously, the haves are the worst. Look at this young master playing around on his parents’ money and having the nerve to say that.’ Weren’t you? Eh?”
Yeonwoo didn’t say anything, merely blinking her eyes. At that, Hyeonuk’s eyes widened.
“Whoa? You’re not denying it? Hey, you’ve become cold in the time we haven’t seen each other. I thought you were just kind and cheerful; I didn’t know you were someone who could wound a person like this. You’ve grown up twisted, eh, Ji Yeonwoo?”
As Hyeonuk’s eyebrows twitched this way and that as if he were truly hurt, Yeonwoo burst into laughter. It was a natural laugh that erupted because she couldn’t think of anything to say.
Once Yeonwoo started laughing, Hyeonuk’s mouth moved even faster.
“I mean, really, Ji Yeonwoo. Back in school, you only said kind and pretty things. What made you change like this? Tell me. Hurry.”
“I don’t know. Did I really only say kind and pretty things? I don’t remember that.”
“What are you talking about? The teachers loved you so much because the prettiest girl in Domyeong Middle School also spoke so beautifully. Is it enough just for your face not to change? Your personality has changed. It’s breaking my heart.”
As Hyeonuk added more words with eyes that weren’t truly hateful, Yeonwoo burst into laughter once again.
She had enjoyed a deep sleep, and the morning she woke up to was quite pleasant.
“Ji Yeonwoo. This isn’t something you can just brush off with a laugh. Don’t just laugh, say something. Where did the Ji Yeonwoo who only used refined and proper words go, huh?”
It felt as though the world was truly in the process of erasing her past.
“I’m sorry. I was just joking.”
The version of her that had been tormented by Cha Yunseok felt as if it were drifting away like a distant dream.
Thus, for the first time in a long while, both her mind and body felt light. She never imagined that the morning she used to face meaninglessly every day could feel so different. The fact that she was alive and safe, that she didn’t have to breathe in the anxiety mixed in the air.
…She was happy.
Enough to engage in such trivial banter.
When Yeonwoo apologized, Hyeonuk gave a sheepish grin. Yeonwoo watched him laugh along innocently before letting the rest of her laughter fade.
“It’s good to see you laugh. You really are exactly the same as you used to be.”
When Hyeonuk added that, Yeonwoo’s expression softened. Perhaps it was due to his unrivaled sociability, but she was starting to feel comfortable with Hyeonuk, a classmate she didn’t have many memories of.
It felt as if she had found an ally in a workplace that had been somewhat daunting.
It was then. Just as Yeonwoo was pouring out a smile as bright as the morning sun, Seongheon, who was hurrying to work, spotted the two of them from a distance.
Watching Yeonwoo, who stood facing Hyeonuk as he chattered incessantly, her face blooming with laughter, Seongheon tilted his head slightly.
Hyeonuk looked as if he were exerting every effort to make the person in front of him laugh. And as if rewarding that commendable effort, the woman was letting out a pure, clear laugh.
After watching silently for a moment, Seongheon shifted his gaze elsewhere, let out a short breath, and began walking again.
Why the heat was mixing into the cool, breezy morning air remained a mystery to him.
