TMWCL Ch 3 part 1

Yeoreum hated gangsters.

The mob, thugs, hyung-nims and dongsaengs, it didn’t matter what they were called. She just wanted all gangsters to disappear from the world. She couldn’t even remember the face of her biological father, a man who had become a gangster. And it wasn’t like Yeoreum was okay with not having a father when she was young.

“Yeoreum doesn’t have a dad.”

“I heard Yeoreum’s dad is a gangster who abandoned his family!”

At first, it began with being teased.

As she grew up, the teasing naturally transformed into discrimination, and it quietly pushed Yeoreum into the margins. She was never a cheerful person, so she naturally got used to being alone.

Elementary school, middle school, high school…

At an age where the small space called school was one’s whole world, even the smallest flaws became the biggest source of shame. Either way, it wasn’t like it was all her fault, so she didn’t mind. However, her mother’s health wasn’t good. She worked hard, determined not to raise her child with gangster money. She firmly told Yeoreum that when one’s body couldn’t keep up, one would have to endure with mental strength. When she was young, she was able to endure life with that kind of mindset, but as she got a little older, her body broke down rapidly. As the days where she couldn’t work increased, and the money she spent was overwhelmingly more than the money she earned, they used some of the money that Kiju sent them and even resorted to borrowing money from private lenders.

“Oi, Yeoreum. How have you been? Oppa’s back.”

The thugs who came to collect the money not only called each other ‘hyung-nim’ and ‘dongsaeng’, but they also acted friendly with Yeoreum by calling themselves ‘oppa’ whenever they ran into her. They seemed to be waiting for her mother to give up on paying the money back rather than coming to collect a portion of the principal and interest.

She remembered their dirty gazes.

She hated the very existence of gangsters, but she hated her father more for leaving her and her mother in such a situation. And the fact that her father was also a gangster.

She hated him, but…

Vrrr. Vrrrrrr.

She woke up when she heard the vibrating sound.

Yeoreum barely managed to lift her heavy eyelids and pressed the ‘Accept call’ button on her phone without looking at the screen. Judging from the amount of light coming through the window, it seemed to be morning.

Her period had come and was now coinciding with the body aches. Her lower abdomen was throbbing, but she didn’t have any pain relievers on hand. To make matters worse, she only had one overnight pad left that she used for emergencies.

“Hello?”

She placed the phone on top of her face and answered the call.

Before falling asleep, Seungwoo had sent her a text complaining that she hadn’t invited him over to help her move. She hadn’t had much luggage, and the place she moved into was in much worse condition than the studio apartment she had been borrowing, so she had intentionally not called him in case he’d worry. But when she told him she didn’t have any luggage, he replied that he would buy her a housewarming gift and that she should invite him, Soojin and her boyfriend to a housewarming party. Yeoreum told him she’d let him know and fell asleep as if she’d fainted. Either way, the only person who’d contact her was either Seungwoo or Soojin. Yeoreum dazedly opened her mouth and spoke up.

“The housewarming party…”

[I heard you were sick.]

The voice that jumped straight to the point without even a greeting or an introduction was too low to belong to Seungwoo or Soojin.

“It’s you again, Ahjussi?”

Yeoreum replied weakly.

[Did you eat?]

“More or less… I hate some corn chips.”

[Corn chips? A snack?]

“Yes.”

She thought she heard him sigh from the other end of the call.

[Did you take some medicine?]

“…No.”

[Have you been to the hospital?]

“It’s not worth going to the hospital.”

[What are your symptoms?]

“I have a headache, a fever, no energy, and some pain in my stomach… But it’s not a stomachache. It’ll get better after I sleep. Ah, I need to stop by the convenience store…”

Normally, Yeoreum would have said, ‘It’s none of your business,’ and left it at that, but perhaps due to her muddled head, the list of symptoms automatically ran out of her mouth.

[Why do you have to go to the convenience store?]

“They sell pain relievers… And there are other things I need to buy, too. But there’s no point in telling you what it is, Ahjussi.”

[…Don’t go out and just wait.]

The call ended.

She knew she had to go to the convenience store, but it was a ten-minute walk, including several flights of stairs. When she was looking for a place, she thought it was close enough, but her place was located on the rooftop, and this multi-family building did not have an elevator. More importantly, Yeoreum could barely get up right now.

Eventually, she gave up and decided to sleep a little longer before going to the convenience store.

* * *

Beep—. Bee—. Beep, beep beep.

Yeoreum woke up again.

The old doorbell let out a piercing sound. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but when she looked out the window, it was no longer sunny, and dark clouds had gathered in the sky. She barely managed to get up and stood in front of the door. She called out.

“Who is it?”

As expected of a place without any soundproofing, she could hear voices outside the door.

“I’m Yeoreum’s dad’s friend.”

“Why is Ahjussi…”

Had she given him her new address? If she hadn’t, wouldn’t this clearly be a violation of the law?

“Yeoreum, stop thinking and just open the door.”

This man was psychic. Just like he said, she stopped thinking about it and immediately unlocked the door. Haegun was standing in front of the door wearing a suit with two buttons undone as usual. She didn’t see his suit jacket. It was the weekend, so he probably didn’t go to work today, but he was still wearing a suit. It was an outfit that suited a gangster.

But why? Why was she a little happy to see him like this? It was clear that she had a high fever and was out of her mind. Maybe she should go to the hospital…

“Housewarming gift.”

Haegun lifted his hand that was full of plastic bags.

When Yeoreum took a step back, Haegun bowed his head slightly and stepped through the door. His unique scent of aftershave mixed with the smell of cigarettes wafted to the tip of her nose. Was he big or was this place just small? Yeoreum thought this as she closed the door and locked it.

Meanwhile, Haegun took off his shoes, stood in front of the door, and slowly looked around the room. The room was empty. It had cherry-colored molding and yellow linoleum floors with peeling edges. Fluorescent bulbs without any covers hung in a cross shape on the ceiling. If she hadn’t been sick since having moved in, she would have tidied up a bit, but it was empty inside, so there wasn’t anything to tidy up in the first place. The only space that seemed like a habitable area was the mattress with navy checkered bedding against one wall of the room. There was a pile of neatly folded colorless clothes in one corner, a backpack, and textbooks.

“…Where is the refrigerator?”

“Over there.”

In the spot where Yeoreum pointed to, there was a refrigerator that was about half as tall as Haegun. Inside the sink next to it, there was an empty lunch container that was drying.

“Looks like you’ve already eaten.”

“No, it’s a lunch box my boss gave me yesterday, but I spilled it on my way home and couldn’t eat it, so I threw it away.”

“Did you fall?”

“Yes.”

“The road on the way here is a bit rough. Your knees must have gotten scraped.”

“That’s just how it is. I’m going to lie down now. Don’t bother me.”

Yeoreum answered insincerely and went back underneath the blanket she had laid out. Her eyes were spinning, and she didn’t have the strength to argue with him.

“Don’t even turn on the lights. It’s my place, so if you’re not happy with it, you can leave. As you can see, I can’t see you out.”

Haegun laughed quietly with a bewildered expression.

“You have no sense of caution. This is quite serious.”

Regardless, Yeoreum closed her eyes. Only when she lay down on the mattress did she realize that she had let Haegun into her home. Her heart was pounding, and she couldn’t sleep. Instead, her senses seemed to grow more and more sensitive.

Rustle, rustle.

She heard the sound of plastic bumping into plastic. Haegun seemed to be preparing something without saying a word. The previous tenant had left behind an old mattress, a microwave, a coffee pot, a floor table, and a drying rack, so she had quite a lot of options. There was the sound of the fridge opening and closing a few times. Then he seemed to unfold the floor table that was propped up against the corner and set it up next to the bed.

“Yeoreum.”

He called her name in his characteristically flat voice. Yeoreum found it too troublesome to respond, so she remained quiet. Like a psychic, he spoke up.

“I know you’re not sleeping.”

“…What is it?”

“Eat.”

Yeoreum opened her eyes and sat up. There was a bowl of a famous porridge restaurant on the table. Yeoreum got off the mattress and sat down at the table. Opening the lid, she saw that there was a lot of abalone porridge inside. There were also basic side dishes such as pickled vegetables, dried radish, and radish water kimchi. Next to them were fever reducing medicine, a set of fatigue recovery supplements commonly sold at pharmacies, and a bottle of medicinal tea.

“You can sort this out later.”

Haegun placed the largest black plastic bag next to Yeoreum. It was enormous, like Santa’s sack. Yeoreum opened her mouth as she looked at the steaming abalone porridge.

“…Why are you treating me so well?”

“I’m very close with your dad.”

“……”

How close could they be for him to treat her like this? Yeoreum looked at Haegun with doubt in her eyes.

“Why are you looking at me with such a cute expression? Do you want me to feed you?”

“Absolutely not.”

Haegun smiled. His slightly crooked smile also made him look handsome. His gaze slowly lowered to her lips. Maybe it was just the atmosphere in the room, but his dark pupils seemed to sink even deeper.

“It seems like Yeoreum is too busy looking at me to eat, so I’ll go. Make sure you eat.”

“Wait a minute.”

As Haegun moved to turn around, Yeoreum called out to him.

“What is it?”

“That is… I learned that it isn’t polite to send away a guest empty-handed.”

“Am I Yeoreum’s guest?”

“Because I said it was a housewarming party.”

“So? What are you going to give me?”

Yeoreum got up from her seat and walked to the coffee pot. She boiled some water and rummaged through the cupboard. She had said all this in a spur of the moment, but she now realized that she didn’t have anything like tea in her new place. After thinking for a while, she remembered that Soojin had given her some coffee mixes a while ago, claiming they tasted good when mixed with ice and milk. Yeoreum thanked Soojin in her heart and walked across the room again. She took out the coffee mixes from her bag. She stumbled a few times as she made the short walk across the room, but she did her best to hide any signs of struggle.

After the water was boiled, she poured the coffee mix into a cup and poured the hot water inside. How much should she put in? She eyeballed it and poured it all at once, thinking it was just like a hot Americano at a cafe. The color was a little lighter than the coffee from a vending machine, but it didn’t look bad.

“Here you are. There isn’t a place to sit, but please make yourself comfortable.”

“Yeoreum is polite.”

Haegun, who accepted the mug, leaned against the wall diagonally opposite of Yeoreum. Yeoreum returned to her seat. Even though they were sitting like this, the room was small, so there wasn’t much distance between them. Haegun briefly looked at the coffee she had given him before smiling faintly.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to be a barista.”

“It’s because it’s my first time. I plan to do a much better job from now on.”

“You’ll get better for what?”

“To become a barista.”

Haegun smiled faintly and took a sip of the coffee.

“You don’t like to lose an inch.”

“My mom told me not to lose to bad people.”

“You learned well.”

Yeoreum checked the black plastic bag lying next to her. Her eyes widened when she saw what was inside.

“…Did you buy this, Ahjussi?”

“I told someone to buy it.”

“Who? Taehyuk-ahjussi?”

“Someone else.”

Inside the bag, there were all kinds of sanitary pads from all kinds of brands. Some with wings, some without wings. There was a set of small, medium, large, overnight, thin overnight, and even panty liners.

“How did you know it was that time for me?”

“You can’t do what I do without noticing things like that.”

“Makes sense.”

Yeoreum picked up a spoon and ate the abalone porridge. Regardless of whether it was purchased by gangster money or something else, the abalone porridge was richer and tastier than the basic abalone porridge she bought whenever she mustered the courage to spend the money.

She muttered in a voice full of despair.

“It seems that Dad is good at his job. Judging from how much you like him, Ahjussi, it seems like gangster work suits him well.”

“It didn’t seem like it suited him that well.”

“Then why is he working under you, Ahjussi?”

“Because he wants to look good in front of you.”

“Then he shouldn’t be working over there.”

“Fighting is all he knows, so if he wants to look good to his daughter, he should at least join a qualified organization.”

“I thought you said he doesn’t do anything illegal.”

“At the very least, he didn’t engage in being a loan shark, selling drugs, or pimping.”

Yeoreum nodded silently and moved her spoon. For some reason, it was a reassuring remark.

“Uh, Ahjussi…”

After a brief pause, she opened her mouth.

“…Is Dad doing well?”

“……”

This time, Haegun was late to answer her. Since he was not the type of person to be late to respond, Yeoreum looked at him with a puzzled glance. He stared at the window next to the mattress with an inscrutable expression on his face.

“I don’t know since he’s not here.”

“Ah, I guess you’re right. You said he was overseas, right? That it would be difficult to contact him.”

“That’s right.”

“I wasn’t that curious anyway. Well, whatever… And, Ahjussi…”

Yeoreum pretended as if she wasn’t bothered. Haegun turned his gaze to her.

“Do you happen to have some free time today?”

Yeoreum just stared at her bowl, embarrassed to be making this request.