JKA 2

Jiwoon muttered to himself as he headed to campus. The only way to kick that bastard out was to ‘become happy.’ But was that even possible? Jiwoon’s life right now was a series of garbage days, at maximum unhappiness.

Ms. Yoon watched Jiwoon’s retreating figure, his walk so listless it drained the energy from anyone watching, and shook her head. Then she picked up her broom and once again began to sweep in front of the real estate office.

“Walking around like that, even I’d be curious enough to take a peek. I wonder if he’s even eating anything.”

Jiwoon’s parents always sent the rent on the exact date without fail, so how he lived was none of her business. But she often thought of the two of them, who couldn’t hide their worry throughout the contract signing, asking her to please look after their son.

At the time, she had wondered why they were making such a big deal about their grown son living alone in Seoul, but seeing how he went about, she thought she could understand why they had been so worried. Not only was he bone-thin and quiet, but unlike the tenants in other rooms who were busy calling friends over to hang out whenever they were bored, Jiwoon’s room was always silent.

There was a reason why Jiwoon’s room was excluded from the list of suspects whenever other tenants contacted her about one particular room being too loud. According to one female student’s complaint, the noise wasn’t just any noise, but truly shrieking moans.

In short, she was going crazy because a specific room was fucking almost every single day. It wasn’t as if this kind of problem had never occurred before. In a studio building full of virile young men, if there was noise, wasn’t it either from drinking and partying or from being busy getting it on?

In Ms. Yoon’s opinion, Jiwoon’s room didn’t fall into either of those two categories. There had never been such a problem before, and Jiwoon himself hadn’t changed at all, so there was no way something like that could happen.

“…No, wait, he’s been looking even thinner lately. Could it be that someone is wringing him dry?”

For a moment, Ms. Yoon had an embarrassing thought, just in case, but she quickly shook her head back and forth. She decided she was just thinking something absurd because it was so bothersome how the noise complaints came from the floors above and below, perfectly skipping Jiwoon’s room.

“Every single day for a month? Goodness, if that were the case, he’d have had a funeral already.”

Then could it be that man, the one he called his cousin? Just as Ms. Yoon’s thoughts reached that point, a shadow suddenly fell over her. At this, Ms. Yoon stopped sweeping and looked up.

“Oh my, the…?”

Ms. Yoon seemed to recognize the person, but it was only for a very brief moment.

“Are you here to look at a room?”

About to say something, Ms. Yoon completely forgot it and hurriedly guided the man into the real estate office. She felt as if she had forgotten something, but she couldn’t remember what it was. The man, who naturally followed Ms. Yoon inside, sat down on the sofa and spoke.

“You have a building up here, don’t you? Nakwon Villa.”

“Yes, I do. Why?”

Ms. Yoon, sitting across from the man, was puzzled by the sudden mention of her building but found herself speaking to him as if mesmerized.

“But, you’re really handsome. Are you a model?”

“No, I’m just an ordinary office worker.”

Ms. Yoon couldn’t help but marvel at the appearance of the man sitting opposite her. That wasn’t what was important right now, but for some reason, she couldn’t stop complimenting him. Moreover, the man who was listening simply nodded his head as if it were a common occurrence.

“It’s nothing much, but I’d like to pay the rent on behalf of the residents from the 4th to the 6th floor of that Nakwon Villa.”

“Excuse me? What do you mean?”

Ms. Yoon, who had been studying the man’s face feature by feature, widened her eyes in surprise. The suggestion of paying someone else’s rent out of the blue was so absurd it felt like a splash of cold water to her senses. At this, as if he had been waiting, the man snapped his fingers, and Ms. Yoon spoke with a dazed expression.

“Ah… I see. Well, you must work at some kind of welfare center.”

“You could say it’s something similar. Shouldn’t one live by sharing what one has?”

“Of course, you’re handsome and kind, and truly… your heart is just as generous.”

“Yes, I wanted to be of some small help to the students who are studying hard. And that Nakwon Villa just happened to catch my eye. The word ‘nakwon,’ it’s just… I like it.”

“…”

“One shouldn’t take away the happiness of others for the sake of one person’s happiness, right? That’s why I’m trying to spread some happiness widely, at least to the floors moderately above and below.”

“Ah, only above and below…”

Despite the rather paltry scale for something he called “spreading widely,” Ms. Yoon found she had no choice but to nod. It was a strange thing.