DOGC Ch 16

Ryu Yeonho was dressed in a gray knit sweater. There was dirt on his shoes, and his hair was slightly disheveled by the wind. His eyes, which were always relaxed and calm, were filled with something akin to annoyance.

“Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to find you when you disappear without a word?”

“…You could just not look for me.”

He had wished to disappear without anyone knowing, but the opposite situation was thrown at him. Furthermore, this was the person he least wanted to face right now. The cruel heavens truly had a nasty way of never letting things go as planned.

Whether he was welcome or not, Yeonho sat down next to Seorim as if he would do what he had to do. Without even looking in his direction, Seorim rested his chin on his knees.

He didn’t leave a trail of breadcrumbs like in a fairy tale, nor was he on a leash, so how did he find him? Did he implant a missing person prevention chip in him or something?

“Why would I tell Mr. Ryu Yeonho where I am going.”

“We sleep under the same blanket. Aren’t we close enough for that?”

“You’re the one who pushed your way in as you pleased.”

“You slept just fine in my arms, you did.”

Naturally, the night he had spent with him came to mind. He hated it. The way unfamiliar feelings reared their head whenever he was with this man. A surge of defiance rose in him, and Seorim glared at the rocks being battered by the waves.

“I might want to run away, you know. I ran away to this village at the end of the land in the first place.”

“I’ll go with you, then.”

The unexpected answer was so dumbfounding that he could not help but turn his head. When Seorim’s eyes met his, Yeonho spoke in a calm tone, as if he were making a business proposal.

“I’ll help you run away better. If you want to go abroad, I’ll book you a plane ticket, and if you want to go to another region, I’ll give you a ride.”

“……”

“So just stay somewhere I can see you. Chasing after you is a pain.”

Taken out of context, the sentence was more cringeworthy than a love confession, but Ryu Yeonho’s expression was utterly placid. Seorim was silent for a moment before snapping back.

“Why are you following me?”

“Because I want to keep seeing you.”

Seorim took a small breath. The emotions that had been balled up in a corner of his chest churned as if unraveled by that single phrase.

“Why is someone who’s so good at calculating profit and loss acting so foolishly. Just ask me to do something for you. Whether it’s to pay you money, or to buy you a house. I’m telling you I’ll do it.”

Why would you do that for me. You don’t even like me, nor do you pity me. Why do you keep meddling in my life.

“You need to know how to use others, too. Are you just going to let yourself be foolishly kicked around and then disappear?”

A short silence fell. Seorim wrapped his hands around his own, which had grown cold. Yeonho continued to speak in a still calm voice.

“You ran away to live freely, didn’t you? Then be cunning and put yourself first. You, who have nothing.”

He sounded so sincere it was bewildering. It was not an emotional tone, but a dry and distinct sincerity.

“How can I use Mr. Ryu Yeonho when I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

“Do I have to be thinking something to do this?”

“Pardon?”

“It just bothers me when you’re not around. Enough to come all the way from Seoul to Haenam.”

It was such a raw and honest answer. Suddenly, the time he had spent confused and fretful, not knowing his inner thoughts, flashed by. As if letting out his pent-up emotions, Seorim suddenly spewed out sharp words.

“Do you know how truly strange you are, Mr. Ryu Yeonho? You’re like a madman. I’ve thought so since before.”

“Why, again.”

“Why don’t you ask?”

Seorim raised his voice, his words sharp.

“Is there really nothing you want to ask? Why I ran away, what happened between your father and me. Don’t you want to know!”

His frayed nerves shot out as if they had lost their orbit. But Ryu Yeonho still asked in a gentle tone.

“Because I don’t want to do anything to you, so why?”

“So why? Why do you just watch? What if I run away again while you do this?”

“Go ahead. Try playing ‘catch me if you can’.”

He could not understand at all why he was acting like this. Seorim looked at Yeonho, then shook his head from side to side.

“You’re not in your right mind.”

“In a world like this these days, a guy in his right mind is rarer.”

“Ha, honestly.”

“Just look at the people around you.”

After spitting out his mounting frustration, his insides calmed down a bit. As Seorim just gnawed on his lower lip, seething, Yeonho got up from his seat.

“Let’s go home.”

“…I don’t have a home.”

“Want me to buy you one?”

Crazy bastard. Seorim grumbled inwardly and followed Yeonho to his feet.

The sky had darkened.

It was strange how his heart felt a little lighter even though nothing had been resolved. When he went back, he might spend the dawn fighting with idle thoughts, but for now, it was okay. It seemed that his strange mental state had rubbed off on him from spending time with Ryu Yeonho.

🦅

When he was a child, there was a story his mother would tell him as she gently, gently stroked his belly when he went to bed.

‘When Mommy was pregnant with our Seorim, I wanted to eat peaches so badly.’

‘Peaches?’

‘Yes, the really juicy ones. So your dad would buy them by the box, and I would eat it all in one day.’

He imagined biting into a peach that was glistening and smooth. He imagined the moist, soft flesh collapsing between his teeth, and the juice dripping down his chin, which made his mouth water.

‘Was it delicious?’

‘It was so delicious. I ate so much that my mouth and arms all got sticky.’

Thinking of his mother happily drinking the sweet juice, a smile spread across young Seorim’s lips as well.

At the time, he had just thought, I guess she ate so many because peaches are so delicious.

Now, his thoughts were slightly different. His mother might have been able to eat nothing but peaches.

The thing called morning sickness was a more terrible symptom than he had thought. There was absolutely nothing he could stomach.

For several days, he could not eat well at the breakfast table, so his grandmother would fretfully nag Ryu Yeonho, saying, ‘I told you to take the kid to a hospital, what if it’s a really serious illness.’

How long do I have to live like this. Having a child is a disaster in itself, do I have to suffer like this too?

He had no one to raise the child with, and since the child was unwanted, he even considered just giving it up. But getting an abortion seemed difficult in his situation, hiding in a countryside village.

He did not know of any hospital that performed the procedure, and he was at a loss as to whether he could afford the surgical fees without health insurance, and whether he could hide this entire process from Ryu Yeonho.

It was on a certain morning, as Seorim’s agony piled up with no way out, that it happened.

“…Oh, this is delicious.”

Seorim muttered, dazed, after taking a spoonful of the seaweed soup on the breakfast table. He had never felt that seaweed soup was particularly delicious before, but today was different.

As the warm soup flowed down his esophagus, he felt his entire stomach getting warm. The texture of the soft seaweed strongly stimulated his appetite.

Seorim devoured the rice and seaweed soup frantically, like someone who had starved for days. Just moments before, even the smell of food had been torture, so once his appetite opened up, the rice went down endlessly.

“Oh my, what’s wrong with this child.”

The grandmother was so surprised she put down the plate she was holding with a thud. On the plate was a golden-brown grilled croaker.

He felt like he could eat that too. The smell was not nauseating. He peeled off the skin of the grilled croaker and ate it with the flesh. The outside was crispy and the inside was moist, and it felt like it could go down endlessly.

“The way he throws up and then eats well, it’s just like a pregnant one.”

“Keck, cough.”

The words the grandmother spat out made him choke for a moment. As Seorim coughed, Yeonho quietly pushed a glass of water toward him and said.

“He has a weak stomach, so he’s like this sometimes. He’s a picky eater, too.”

“You have to eat a variety of things. You gotta eat this and that to grow up big.”

“When he finds one thing he likes, he only eats that. Please make seaweed soup and croaker often.”

Does he know and is helping me?

He had never told Ryu Yeonho about the pregnancy. He wanted to hide it if possible, probably forever. Though he did not know how long he could hide it.

In any case, it was amazing how he could fabricate a lie so nonchalantly. Seorim, whose conscience was more alive than Yeonho’s, quietly shoveled rice into his mouth.

“How nice it is to see you eating well. Here, give me your bowl. I’ll give you another helping.”

Seorim, who had eaten more than half of the croaker flesh by himself, nodded his head.

“It’s delicious, grandmother.”

Wondering if other foods might suit his palate, he put some kimchi in his mouth, but immediately swallowed it down with water. It seemed that the only things he could eat were croaker and seaweed soup.

After that, Seorim finished off two more bowls of rice and seaweed soup that the grandmother had served him. It had been a really long time since he had eaten such a full meal.

After finishing his meal, his lower belly was protruding. It was even hard to breathe, so to aid his digestion, Seorim waddled around the yard. Yeonho, who was sitting on the wooden veranda watching him, opened his mouth leisurely.

“You really look like you’re pregnant.”

Startled for a moment, Seorim immediately refuted his words.

“What are you talking about.”

“You also look like a penguin. Are seaweed and croaker that delicious?”

“I guess it’s because it’s been a while since I had them.”

“You must be at ease. You picked at your food so much when you were at the mansion.”

Because nothing there ever put my mind at ease. Seorim stroked his plump belly up and down and frowned.

“When I saw you before, you were so pale and thin, you looked like a doll walking around.”

“The role is similar.”

“You’ve gotten a bit of a tan, too. You look better now.”

Yeonho picked up and ate a dried jujube from the basket. Seorim stopped circling the yard and went to sit down beside him.

“You’re different too, Mr. Ryu Yeonho.”

“What is.”

“You don’t even shave.”

The Ryu Yeonho in his memory was always in a white shirt and a neat appearance, but here, he had a shabby impression. The stubble that had started to grow on his smooth chin was like a cactus. His gaze had softened a lot too, making him seem more like a large cat than a snake.

He was annoyingly handsome. He did not really want to admit it, but Ryu Yeonho’s looks were quite fine. Perhaps the best among all the people Seorim had ever seen.

“What are you looking at so intently.”

“Pardon?”

“Do you like my face?”

He had gotten lost in looking and ended up observing him blankly. Seorim, startled, dropped his head towards the floor.

“I was just looking because you look interesting.”

“You want me to shave?”

“Because you look like a bum.”

“I am a bum.”

Putting another dried jujube into his mouth, Yeonho leaned his back against a pillar.

“It’s nice not working.”

“Is that okay?”

“What wouldn’t be.”

It probably did not matter since he had money to rot, but would Ryu Yeonho be okay? Complicated emotions showed plainly on his face, and Seorim’s eyes grew somber.

“Come here.”

Suddenly, Yeonho called Seorim. As soon as he lifted his head, the back of his head was grabbed, and something scratchy touched his cheek. At the prickly sensation, Seorim scrunched up his entire face and pulled his head back.

“Agh, what was that?”

“Ah, this is fun.”

Ryu Yeonho burst out into a big laugh. It seemed to be the first time he had seen him laugh so heartily. To rub his beard on someone else’s face and laugh, it was something an old man would do.

Was it true that the environment makes the man? Ryu Yeonho, who had only seemed like a psycho, looked a little more human now.

No, what am I thinking. Seriously.

Ostensibly, Baek Seorim had killed this man’s father. He did not know if Ryu Yeonho was aware of that, but in any case, he was not someone he should be sitting across from, exchanging childish pranks. He needed to get a grip, but he had no idea why he kept getting swept up in his pace whenever he had the chance.

Seorim looked at Yeonho with a sullen face, then got up from his seat.

He planned to go to the restaurant today. After washing up lightly and getting ready to leave, he was just in time for work. Since the smell of food made him reflexively retch, he also grabbed a mask and shoved it into his pocket.

The walk along the sea path to the restaurant in the town’s main street was short. Inhaling the cool air seemed to relieve his queasy stomach a little. He felt energized today because he had also eaten a hearty meal.

The moment he pushed open the restaurant door, the smell of oil and the fishy aroma of boiling broth hit him all at once. Seorim reflexively covered his nose and mouth.

“…Ugh.”

The only things that were really okay were seaweed soup and grilled croaker. With every breath he took, the smells of soy-based soup, vinegar, and frying oil jumbled together and wrapped around his windpipe.

Seorim took out the disposable mask he had brought and put it over his ears. The scent seeped through the mask, but it was much better than facing it with his bare face.

“You’re here? But you don’t look well.”

Oh Yeonji spoke with a concerned tone. Seorim gave a rough, awkward smile and quickly tied on his apron. His mind was completely filled with the sentence, ‘I must not smell anything.’

The dining hall was bustling with customers. A family table that had ordered cold noodles asked for more mustard, and an elderly couple in the corner added an order of seaweed soup. At the words ‘seaweed soup,’ his eyes instinctively turned.

Seaweed soup.

He had eaten it so deliciously in the morning, but smelling seaweed soup in this situation was another problem.

From the kitchen, a subtle smell of fire and the unique savory aroma of seaweed soup wafted over. Grimacing inside his mask, he was heading to a table when his stomach suddenly churned violently.

Seorim hurriedly turned his body toward the empty storage room behind the kitchen.

“Mr. Jeongnam, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. Just a moment.”

His stomach was in turmoil. He felt a sudden resentment for the child that was growing inside him. At the end of his retching, a sense of hopelessness washed over him.

What do I do about this. It will be trying to come out into the world soon, but I…

He hung his head for a moment and caught his breath. No matter how much he thought about it, no answer came to him. He pressed down on his churning stomach with his palm.

After finally managing to compose his stomach and mind, he came out to the hall. His hand trembled slightly as he set the utensils and filled the water glasses. It was much better when he tried to breathe only through his mouth.

Occasionally, he could see the outside through the gaps in the hall. Warm sunlight streamed through the windowpanes as if spring was slowly on its way. The world was naturally moving on to the next stage.

The time at the restaurant passed in a flash.

Around sunset, the way back to the guesthouse was a scenery that had already become familiar.

He had worked all day wearing a mask due to morning sickness, but the money he received after work and the peaceful daily life became a small comfort. Seorim sighed and took off the mask he had relied on all day, putting it in his pocket.

As soon as he set foot in the alley in front of the guesthouse, a salty and savory smell brushed against his nose.

Did she grill croaker for dinner too?

Along with a feeling of guilt, his mouth instinctively watered, and his chin tingled. Seorim slowly opened the door and entered the yard. And he froze at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

Croaker, croaker. And croaker.

Golden, glittering croakers were strung together in rows, hanging from the eaves of the veranda. The croakers, fluttering in the wind, swayed lightly just like flags.

In the middle of the veranda, several large plates with a faint charcoal scent were placed. On each plate, golden-brown grilled croakers were piled up high like a mountain.

It was truly as if all the croakers in the entire sea had been completely annihilated and hung up.

“What is, all this…”

“Baby, you’re here?”

The grandmother’s voice sounded affectionate.

“Hey, hey, we’re gonna eat our fill of croaker today. Every one of them is plump.”

“These are all croakers, right?”

“That one got all this for you to eat.”

Just then, someone’s shadow overlapped from beside the door. It was Ryu Yeonho. He walked past Seorim and placed something down on the veranda.

“Seaweed, what on earth.”

Another shocking scene unfolded in succession. Boxes filled with seaweed were stacked in layers on the veranda, exuding their presence. This wasn’t just to eat until you died.

“Oh my goodness, baby, hurry up and come sit. The croaker is so glossy it could be served on a king’s table.”

Seorim blinked blankly and then sat down at the table in a daze. The croakers on the plates were steaming, coated in a shimmering film of oil.

He picked up his chopsticks and carefully tore the back flesh of the topmost croaker. The flesh did not crumble but peeled away cleanly. When he put the steaming flesh into his mouth, the savory taste of oil and the mild taste of the inner meat spread over his tongue at the same time.

After swallowing the croaker, he also took a spoonful of seaweed soup. As soon as he put it in his mouth, his body reacted first.

One spoonful, two spoonfuls, Seorim hurriedly emptied the soup in his bowl. No matter how bad his morning sickness was, this was okay. No, rather, it was necessary.

That evening, four plates of croaker were emptied, and a whole pot of seaweed soup was also finished. The grandmother, while clucking her tongue that he must be possessed by a seaweed soup ghost, had a happy expression.

Croaker and seaweed.

He wondered if the child, having made its presence known in a seaside village, had a taste for seafood.

Seorim looked at his lower belly, where he still felt nothing, then flaked off another croaker and put it in his mouth.

🦅

After about a week, his morning sickness miraculously subsided a little. Now, Seorim could eat other foods, more or less.

However, seaweed soup and croaker still suited his palate the best. He had wondered when he would ever finish all the seaweed and croaker piled up on the veranda, but the ingredients hit the bottom at a surprisingly fast rate.

One more change in his eating habits occurred. It was that he started eating something at night before falling asleep.

He had never lived a life where he ate something called a late-night snack, but food eaten at night was more addictive than food eaten during the day. He did not have the audacity to ask the grandmother to prepare him a late-night meal, so Seorim would often just pick up and eat dried seaweed by himself.

“Isn’t it fishy?”

As he lay there chewing on the seaweed, Yeonho would ask with a scrunched up face. Seorim would nod his head and reply.

“It’s delicious. Strangely.”

“I feel like I’m going to puke just looking at that.”

“I do feel it swelling up a bit inside my stomach.”

Seorim patted his lower abdomen, which must be full of seaweed. It was hard to tell whether his stomach was sticking out because he had been eating a lot recently, or because the baby was growing. It was actually for the better. If he could cover up the pregnancy by saying he had gained weight.

“You’re quite peculiar, too. Don’t you want to eat something like beef?”

“I don’t really know. Maybe my tastes are cheap.”

“My tastes are high-class, but I don’t particularly like beef either.”

I guess his tastes have to be high-class since he’s from a chaebol family. Seorim, who had been lying down looking at the ceiling, turned his body to look at Yeonho. Things like his sharp nose, his well-defined jawline, and the subtle muscles peeking through his clothes came into view.

“Were you rich since you were young?”

“Yeah.”

“That must have been nice.”

“It is nice. When you have a lot of money.”

Did he wear nice clothes, eat delicious food, sleep in a comfortable bed. Did he have a happy childhood without any worries about the future. Suddenly, he became a little curious about things regarding Ryu Yeonho.

“What kind of person were you when you were little?”

“I think I was similar to how I am now.”

“There’s no way a kid’s personality could be like that.”

“I wasn’t as dim-witted as Yeonwoo. I was rotten from birth.”

Seorim looked up at him intently and asked.

“Why were you rotten?”

“My father, as you know, was the way he was, and my mother died early. There wasn’t an adult to tell me what was wrong.”

“Your mother, why…”

“From an illness.”

Yeonho, lying on his side with his chin propped up, fiddled with Seorim’s hair. The touch that arranged the bangs falling over his forehead was meticulous.

“That’s why I said I wasn’t raised properly at home.”

Ah, that time. He remembered them exchanging introductions that were immeasurably rude, saying they both didn’t have mothers.

“Since I had no one on my side in the world, I thought the only one who could protect me was myself. I needed power to survive while rolling around in this world.”

The hand that had been stroking his hair slid gently down to his cheek. Yeonho gently prodded Seorim’s soft cheek with his index finger and said.

“I did everything I could. I studied to the point where no one could find fault, I flattered people, and I produced results. Do you know what the most certain way to be able to sway others is?”

“What is it?”

“It’s becoming someone the other person needs. The more people who need me, the more solid my position becomes.”

Somehow, in Ryu Yeonho’s way of speaking, Seorim could feel the intensity of the life he had lived. He had thought that he must have gotten everything he wanted easily, but it seemed that was not entirely the case.

“It’s also fun to grow a failed company. As you live, there are not many fun things left.”

“Isn’t it doing well now?”

“I revived it well. Well, as for the future… I don’t know.”

Looking at Yeonho’s narrowed eyes as he squinted, Seorim said.

“You seem to like fun things.”

“The easiest driving force that moves people is shame. Usually, people move when they’re embarrassed. Urgently, like a frog thrown on a fire.”

“And then?”

“When you get to a situation where you don’t get embarrassed by much, the next thing is interest. Because a guy who has enough leeway to protect himself finds life uninteresting.”

They were words that Seorim could not understand well. Because he had always been swept along by the current of life, he did not know what kind of mindset ordinary people lived with.

“At first, even small things are fun, but then you gradually become numb and look for bigger, more stimulating fun. Later on, you don’t even bat an eye at most things. That’s how you break down. Your heart.”

“Are you broken too, Mr. Ryu Yeonho?”

“Well.”

So this is what he was thinking. Seorim stared at Yeonho quietly, then blinked his eyes.

“You seem like a normal person now.”

“I guess so. Since I’m holding back and not throwing you down right now.”

Even when he says something that sounds normal, his essence is still a strange guy. When Seorim made a fed-up expression, Yeonho’s lips curved up loosely.

“Why don’t you try to sleep with me? You could do it right now if you just put your mind to it, Mr. Ryu Yeonho.”

They had not mixed bodies even once since that heat cycle that was not a heat cycle. It was puzzling that there was not even an attempt to do something while sleeping under the same blanket every day. Because until now, Ryu Yeonho had been, in many ways, a person who did not hesitate to reveal his desires.

Even after hearing the question, Yeonho only looked at Seorim without a word. He tapped Seorim’s rounded forehead with his index finger and opened his mouth a beat later.

“Because you feel like a flower to me.”

“……”

“Flowers break if you pluck them.”

He says things like that with such a nonchalant expression. Feeling the area around the nape of his neck heat up, Seorim replied with an unnecessarily gruff tone.

“I’m a person.”

“People also break if you pluck them.”

Yeonho turned his body to lie facing forward. Following him, Seorim also awkwardly rested his head on the pillow. As the night deepened, only Yeonho’s gentle voice echoed in the small room.

“I think I’d be very regretful if I plucked you and broke you. Even if I possess you by breaking you, it’s meaningless. You’d be a dead flower.”

Seorim closed his mouth, and Yeonho also did not add any more words to that. A small silence fell. Outside, the sea breeze brought the sound of a lazy tide and carefully knocked on the window.

A moment later, Yeonho shifted his body again and asked quietly.

“Was there anything you originally wanted to do?”

At those words, Seorim gently bit his lower lip. The question was simple, but it was a kind of question he had not heard for a very long time. Something he wanted to do.

He closed his mouth and was lost in thought for a while. In truth, there was definitely something he had wanted to do. But it took a moment to dust off the dream he had hidden away deep in his heart, where no one knew.

“…Drawing pictures.”

Like a sound breaking the silence, Seorim answered shortly.

“I kept drawing until high school. I really liked drawing without any thought. I would copy things without knowing what they were, or just color as my hand moved.”

He felt Yeonho’s gaze linger on his cheek. Seorim looked up at the ceiling without deliberately turning back to him.

“But doing something like that costs a lot of money, and, well, the situation was what it was.”

Too many circumstances were entangled in those days to explain with words. His father’s debt, the poverty that resulted from it, his mother’s shoulders that drooped more with each passing day. All of those things were a reality that could not be drawn on paper or covered with a brush.

“Because drawing didn’t change anything.”

Seorim smiled bitterly.

“Securing the next meal was more important than the time spent drawing.”

The end of his sentence trembled faintly, but Seorim forced himself to act as if nothing was wrong, fixing his eyes on the ceiling. He wanted to lock away his emotions before the Baek Seorim of those days could rear his head.

“But I wasn’t that good at it either. No one acknowledged me.”

After saying it, he felt a little pathetic. He felt like a person who liked something beyond his means and ended up becoming nothing.

“Do you still want to draw now?”

“I don’t know. I’ve forgotten how to do it all.”

Seorim fiddled with the edge of the blanket. What was once so familiar to his hands now came to mind only vaguely. The feeling of his hand holding a pencil and the sensation of a brush soaking up paint. Where had it all gone?

“That’s fine, drawing.”

“What’s fine about it?”

“As a hobby. If it goes well, you could even sell it for money.”

“I told you I forgot everything.”

Despite the gruff reply, Ryu Yeonho’s tone was consistently low and calm.

“Whether anyone acknowledges it or not, you’re allowed to have at least one thing like that for yourself, you know.”

“What kind of thing is that?”

“Something that makes you keep on living.”

It was a sentence that fell lightly. But that one phrase landed with weight in a corner of his empty chest.

A dream that felt like it had already slipped through his fingers if he were to take it out again. A dusty path that could have perhaps been the driving force to continue living. It felt as if a single seed that had long been abandoned in the ground had suddenly started to breathe.

I’m allowed to have at least one thing like that for myself. It was the first time in his life he had heard such words.

Seorim took a small breath. It felt like something was slowly spreading through his stomach.

The conversation ended like that.

Where the words ended, only the quiet sound of breathing flowed. Seorim turned his shoulder slightly to show his back so that his body heat would not get any closer.

It was not that he was forcing himself away. It was just that if they were too close, his heart might move forward first. Because letting his emotions rashly touch another person was a frightening thing.

Seorim closed his eyes. Small lights flickered beneath his eyelids. His thoughts kept turning toward the direction where he could feel Yeonho’s presence.

This is dangerous.

The hand gripping the blanket pulled up to his chin tightened.

With his eyes closed, he slowly, very slowly, took a breath. As his breaths continued, two, three times, the ripples in his heart subsided. The warm air that had seeped into the dark room wrapped around Seorim’s body like a final sensation before sleep.

A deep night silently descended upon the gently settling warmth.

🦅

Winter was slowly coming to an end.

The cold that had enveloped the village had softened considerably. In the morning, a faint dew formed on the windowpanes instead of frost, and the frozen ground gradually absorbed moisture.

A subtle softness was carried in the wind blowing from the sea. The seasons in the countryside flowed a beat slower than in the city, but they were that much gentler. Some would say that when the smell of soil and the smell of sunlight mixed together and brushed against your cheek, that was the scent of the changing seasons.

A small change also occurred in Seorim’s daily life.

Once he was able to eat properly and no longer needed to wear a mask, his quality of life seemed to have more than doubled. Thanks to that, his stifling life became just a little more enjoyable.

He felt like working at the restaurant, too. Thanks to having worked on and off, he had also saved up a certain amount of money.

Realistically, he did not have the means to give birth and take responsibility for the child, so he would have to have surgery. Seorim also knew that the sooner he did it, the better.

However, for some reason, he could not bring himself to make the decision. Had some absurd affection grown in the meantime just from carrying it in his belly for a bit? He did not even know for sure who the father was, and the person with the highest possibility was dead. What was he going to do in a situation where he could not even properly reveal his identity.

It was during the lunch hour of a day that was thus being filled with worries, day after day.

The restaurant, after a wave of busyness had passed, was enjoying a moment of tranquility. On the tables from which customers had left, uncleaned dishes remained, and from the kitchen, only the sound of washing dishes echoed intermittently.

Seorim, who was standing in a corner of the hall wiping down a table with a cloth, suddenly lifted his head. It was because an advertisement jingle he had heard sometime before was ringing through the radio.

—You’ve waited a long time, it’s time to go over the issues that have been heating up the business section! This is [I Want to Know, Our Economy!].

—I’m already looking forward to what kind of hot topics you’ve brought today.

—Haha, these days, there’s actually no room for other issues to squeeze in, so we only end up talking about that one company.

—That’s right. When you look at the business section these days, this company has a considerable share.

For some reason, he had an ominous premonition. The memory from before revived, and his heart started to race again, to the point of being breathless.

—Yes, we’re talking about Taehwa Construction. This company, which was one of the largest construction companies in the country, has recently fallen into a severe crisis.

—That’s right. The stock price was on a continuous decline for a while, and it’s still not showing any signs of recovery.

—Correct. Taehwa Construction’s stock price has currently plummeted by more than 30 percent compared to its peak.

So that’s why he said he didn’t know what would happen in the future before. Unlike Ryu Yeonho’s calm tone, the company’s actual situation seemed to be very bad.

Before he knew it, Seorim had forgotten about cleaning the hall and was listening to the radio, frozen like a statue.

—There are various backgrounds to how it came to this, but above all, the absence of the management is being pointed out as a major problem.

—Yes. After the accounting fraud scandal of former director Ryu Hyunjun broke out, the market expected a quick resolution, but now, even Executive Director Ryu Yeonho is not showing his face in any official capacity.

When Ryu Yeonho’s name flowed from the host’s voice, he thought his heart had dropped all the way to his intestines.

—If the top management doesn’t show a responsible attitude, investors have no choice but to be anxious.

—Some are even going so far as to say that Executive Director Ryu Yeonho has gone into hiding. The internal confusion within the company also seems to be considerable.

—It seems he was greatly affected mentally, what with his father’s matter as well. And Executive Director Ryu Yeonho is also, you know, young.

The two people on the radio exchanged small laughs. Listening to that, Seorim’s mouth tasted bitter, as if someone was scraping his insides with a rake.

—The general shareholders’ meeting schedule is being pushed back, and the investor briefing has also been postponed indefinitely, right?

—Yes. Because of this, not only shareholder trust, but also construction orders are taking a direct hit.

—The management needs to get their act together quickly.

—That’s right. The industry and investors are all on high alert, watching to see how Executive Director Ryu Yeonho and the rest of the top management will resolve this situation.

The voices from the radio faded, and a silence even greater than before descended upon the restaurant. The warm afternoon air somehow felt chilly. Even the sunlight that shone in through the window seemed a little cool.

Seorim, leaning against a chair, hung his head low. The words he had just heard swirled in his mind.

Executive Director Ryu Yeonho not appearing in any official capacity, the crisis of Taehwa Construction, impossible to regain trust. The host’s tone was familiar, but the words that came out were utterly dry. Like a verdict being delivered with all emotion excluded.

That Executive Director Ryu Yeonho was now in a countryside guesthouse, ladling seaweed soup for him.

The only reason he was holed up in Haenam was because of him. Guilt spread at a rapid pace, clearly soaking into his bones.

Emotions formed a round lump in his throat. It tasted astringent and could neither be chewed nor swallowed, just lingering in his mouth.

Why is he going this far.

He had said the company was one of the few fun things Ryu Yeonho could feel. And he had lived tenaciously to survive in the corporate world and rise to the top. His own world that he had built that way was collapsing, so what was one person like him that he would come down to the end of the land to stay by his side.

He had to put things back. Making him stay by his side while ruining the things a person had built up was not the right thing to do.

Of course, it would be very empty if he were to be separated from Ryu Yeonho. He might end up missing him much more than he was thinking now. He might suffer for days and nights and get sick from the heartache.

Still, he did not want to stand by and watch him collapse like this.

“Excuse me, boss. I’ll be leaving early today.”

“Hm? Is something wrong?”

“Something came up for a moment. Would that be okay?”

“Of course it’s okay. The busy time is all over, so hurry on and go. You worked hard.”

Oh Yeonji’s warm reply came back, and Seorim bowed his head in greeting before opening the door.

A cold, clear wind brushed past his cheek. It was the air of early spring, where winter had not completely left.

Seorim straightened his clothes with one hand. His walking speed was a little faster than usual. He thought it was probably because the responsibility resting on his shoulders was heavy.

He had to say it. That it was time to put things back to how they were.

With his resolve made, Seorim headed for the alley where the guesthouse was, treading on the spring air with the tips of his toes.

🦅

The guesthouse veranda was filled with the late afternoon setting sun. Neither the grandmother nor Ryu Yeonho was anywhere to be seen. He was always lying on the veranda like a loafer, but he did not know where he had disappeared to today of all days.

As he entered the annex, he heard what sounded like someone talking from inside the room. Seorim hesitated for a moment in front of the door, then carefully opened the sliding door.

“Handle it yourself. At least that much.”

Ryu Yeonho was on the phone. He looked at Seorim out of the corner of his eye with his cell phone to his ear. When their eyes met, a questioning light flickered in his light-colored pupils.

“I’m hanging up.”

As if conscious of Seorim, Yeonho ended the call. He looked at Seorim, who was standing in front of the room with a determined look in his eyes, and muttered.

“You have the face of a hedgehog protecting its young.”

“Mr. Ryu Yeonho.”

“Why are you here so early.”

Seorim pointed to the cell phone in Yeonho’s hand with his chin.

“That call, was it from the company?”

Yeonho looked down at the cell phone in his hand indifferently, then slowly lifted his gaze. A very subtle hint of distress brushed across the short movement but was erased as soon as their eyes met. He replied in a tone that had a touch of dryness.

“What are you going to do if you know.”

“I heard on the radio today. That Taehwa Construction is on the verge of bankruptcy. They said your stock price has hit rock bottom because you, Mr. Ryu Yeonho, have gone into hiding.”

“So?”

The single word that dropped was so short and placid that Seorim was at a loss for words for a moment.

There was no way Ryu Yeonho did not know that his name was being mentioned in the media and the detailed situation of the company. But he was making an expression as if he really was not bothered at all.

“What do you mean, ‘so?’. The company that you cherish so much, shouldn’t you save it? There’s no one but you right now, Mr. Ryu Yeonho. The one to save it.”

“The one who’s desperate will save it.”

“Are you saying you don’t care if it goes bankrupt or not?”

“Then I’ll just have to live here farming with you. Or become a fisherman.”

He was so dumbfounded that he was speechless. It was even more absurd because it was not a jokingly bantering nuance. Seorim opened his mouth a beat later.