IMFOBO | CH 18 | Not a Thug, But a Lover

Not a Thug, But a Lover

 

Where did it all go wrong?

Was it foolish to wear my earphones and listen to music, so focused on every little move Ryu Tae-san made on the other side of the thin wall?

Or was it when I went to chase away the cat that’s been stealing food from the storage shed?

I swear, I had no idea Tae-san even knew the outdoor shower existed.

Let alone that he’d be using it.

I just assumed he was quietly asleep in the next room over since it was so silent.

Of all things, I ran into him like a woodcutter who stumbled upon a celestial maiden bathing.

And to make matters worse, it happened just when I needed to hide the fact that Ryu Tae-san, my future husband, even existed from the villagers. Now they’d caught us red-handed.

The situation was spiraling out of control.

Though utterly flustered, Eun-cho tried her best to collect herself.

‘Those Cheongrim village grannies, you just can’t beat their solidarity and speed.’

The village’s protective barrier, reserved solely for its residents, had been activated.

It was a force field strong enough to repel any stranger.

Plus, they’re all kind and good people, but they’re also known for their sharp tongues, so I had to stay on my toes.

‘Why is he doing something nobody asked him to do…? Does he think his brother is going to eat me alive or something?’

Eun-cho glared at Jeong-seok, the source of this entire mess.

Anyway, damage control came first.

“What brings you all here so late at night?”

“Eun-cho, you come over here right now!”

The angry grandmothers surrounded Eun-cho like a wall, adopting an aggressive stance toward Tae-san.

“Good-for-nothing bum,” “low-life thug”—the insults were creatively colorful, indicating they wouldn’t back down easily.

They were my reliable protectors, but to Tae-san, they were sure to be a nuisance.

Especially considering his personality, which valued efficiency above all else.

“Isn’t that the famous teacher Ryu’s brother? The one with the famously awful temper?”

“Yeah! I heard he’s doing construction work!”

Grandma from the persimmon tree house and Grandma from the blue roof house launched a fierce tag-team assault.

It was practically an interrogation, full of blatant intimidation.

It was obvious where they’d heard this ridiculous story.

I was speechless, but in a way, it was true that he worked for a construction company, so he was doing construction.

He just wasn’t the one carrying bricks.

“Yes, I work at Baekwoon Construction. I don’t do manual labor; I’m mainly in a management and supervisory role.”

“So, like… a foreman or something?”

“Something like that.”

Not even close.

How are those even remotely similar?!

There was an unbridgeable gap between “foreman” and “executive director”.

Despite that, Tae-san didn’t even furrow his brow, maintaining a gentle smile.

It was as if he’d swapped out his face for a different one.

Like a completely different person.

Unlike Tae-san, Eun-cho didn’t miss Jeong-seok’s tightly fixed expression.

It looked like he was staring into the gates of the afterlife, paying for his loose lips.

You’re not getting away with this, buddy.

“I’m the head of the village! Did you move here without telling us?”

This time, it was the village leader’s wife, considered the brain of the community for raising a lawyer son.

She made a grand entrance.

“I was planning to visit the village leader’s house first anyway. It’s nice to meet you.”

But Ryu Tae-san didn’t back down an inch from the village leader’s wife’s imposing presence.

Instead, he smiled brightly and offered his hand for a handshake.

The village leader’s wife flinched for a moment before reciprocating.

Look at that sly, charming smile, bewitching everyone.

Even the village leader’s wife, who believed her son was the most handsome man in the world, couldn’t help but doubt her beliefs.

“Wh-why would you visit our house?”

“I wanted to discuss a village development fund.”

The village leader’s wife was already starting to yield to Tae-san’s amicable approach.

Although it was a small minority, the village development fund was often regarded as a malicious custom or act of discrimination in the countryside.

It was something that had never occurred in Cheongrim.

The grandmothers started buzzing when that sensitive term came out of a stranger’s mouth.

The late-night gathering was heading in an entirely unexpected direction.

All because of Ryu Tae-san.

“The village hall seems pretty old. Is the roof waterproofed well?”

“Oh? How did you know at a glance? The building is about 30 years old, and I’m always worried about it leaking every time it rains!”

The village hall was the gathering place of all the elders in the neighborhood.

Everyone’s eyes suddenly widened, as if someone had scratched an itch they couldn’t reach.

“If it’s that old, the underfloor heating system must be having problems too. The lifespan of hot water pipes is about 30 years. You need to replace them after that.”

“Oh my! That’s right, that’s right! You’re an expert, an expert!”

Ryu Tae-san instinctively knew how to win over the grandmothers’ hearts.

The easy-going, nonchalant attitude I was used to was nowhere to be seen in this polite and courteous man.

“You must have suffered a lot during the monsoon season. I’ll call someone tomorrow to fix it.”

The right amount of empathy and a perfect solution.

This is crazy. This man is not ordinary.

“Y-you’re going to do that? Why?”

“I’m a Cheongrim resident now, so everyone here is my grandmother, right?”

Did he coat his lips in sesame oil?

The smooth line that flowed out effortlessly began to melt the hearts of Cheongrim women.

“It would be nice to put up an awning outside and replace the benches.”

“That would be fantastic, but… you’re going to do it? That’s going to cost a lot of money. Don’t overdo it?”

The grandmothers, still unable to shake off their suspicions, stared at Tae-san, clutching their wildly beating hearts.

The aging of the village hall was a frequent topic of conversation, so everyone reacted as if a nagging tooth had been pulled.

They were trying hard to control the corners of their lips that were trying to turn upwards.

“I want to impress Eun-cho.”

“Our Eun-cho?”

“I like Eun-cho a lot.”

He’s using her first name.

It’s just using her first name, but why does it feel so strange?

It felt ticklish, like ants crawling on the soles of my feet.

“So, it’s okay to overdo it.”

This is a total win-win.

He’s charming Eun-cho and winning over the grandmothers.

I suspected that Jeong-seok’s theory of monthly girlfriends was just an exaggeration, but this can only be explained as a seasoned player’s aura.

To turn all the crotchety grandmothers to his side in an instant.

Eun-cho couldn’t believe it even as she witnessed it firsthand.

“Oh my, what’s going on, Teacher Ryu? He’s not a thug, but a lover?”

“Yeah. And he has some money even though he does construction work?”

Grandma from the persimmon tree house and Grandma from the blue roof house, who were at the forefront of driving Ryu Tae-san away, surrendered.

Jeong-seok was at a loss for words at the admission of Tae-san, and kept letting out sighs.

However, he wasn’t brave enough to rebel in front of his brother, so he could only swallow his anger inside.

Tae-san, who watched the whole scene, smiled brightly.

With the most harmless and pure smile in the world.

“This is when you use money.”

A heavy, final blow.

No one can beat that.

“I guess there was some misunderstanding. He seems like a good and honest person.”

“And he said he likes our Eun-cho so much.”

Ryu Tae-san’s face, his polite attitude, and even the repair of the village hall were added on top of that, and there was nothing to resist.

In the first place, there was no way Ryu Jeong-seok could beat Tae-san.

“I told you all not to barge in recklessly!”

Then a person was seen rushing into the house, panting.

As Eun-cho watched the savior gradually appear from the dimness, she somehow felt her throat tightening.

A scene that she tried to forget kept coming to her mind.

How could she forget Jin Gu-won proposing to Jo Tae-hee?

It hadn’t even been two hours since.

She had been uneasy since she saw the two of them in the apple orchard, and she would run into them before the night was over.

Eun-cho tried her best to erase that image and didn’t look at Gu-won.

She didn’t want to reveal to Gu-won the complex feeling of loss that she couldn’t convey in just a few words.

As she turned her gaze away…

“……”

This time, she accidentally made eye contact with Ryu Tae-san.

He would have avoided her gaze if it wasn’t so difficult, but the man’s eyes, deeper and calmer than a well, seemed to see right through her.

Like someone who had shown something she didn’t want to be seen, Eun-cho averted her gaze first this time as well.

“Grandma Baechoo! Don’t tell me you hit him with that? I told you not to hit people. Why would you hit such a good person!”

The grandmother who came after them with a hoe, enraged that they would corrupt our Eun-cho, lowered her tail.

It had been a long time since Ryu Tae-san had been upgraded from a hooligan to a good person.

“It’s getting late, so how about we wrap it up now that we’ve cleared up the misunderstanding?”

Eun-cho intervened to end the squabble between Gu-won and the grandmothers.

Little did she imagine that Tae-san’s eyes, looking at Jin Gu-won, were full of suspicion.