Chapter 56
Hyeon-woo, who was helping prepare dinner after returning home, asked the landlady with wide eyes:
“A guarantee?”
The landlady nodded as she brought out the bubbling stew. Today’s menu was soybean paste stew and bulgogi.
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
At Hyeon-woo’s words, the landlady’s expression darkened considerably. Beside them, Yejun, in the midst of his growth spurt, was focused solely on eating, slurping and chewing loudly, regardless of his mother’s deep sighs.
After finishing dinner and before going to bed, Hyeon-woo was about to go to the bathroom when he noticed the landlady sitting at the dining table. In the dark living room with the lights off, the yellow halogen bulb light illuminating only the table like a spotlight looked particularly melancholic and lonely.
Hyeon-woo had handed over his entire first month’s salary from his new job as rent. He had struggled to convince the landlady to accept it. That day, the landlady had told him in detail why she had taken him into this house. It wasn’t just because Hyeon-woo resembled her deceased first son.
Yejun had been the first to report the traffic accident that took the lives of his father and older brother. Yejun had witnessed the moment when his father, with his brother in the passenger seat, was about to change lanes after spotting Yejun standing in front of the academy, when a drunk driver’s vehicle speeding from behind collided with them, causing their car to flip over.
Yejun, who had blamed himself for causing this incident by insisting his father pick him up, using the excuse of not having an umbrella on that particularly rainy day instead of just taking the bus as usual, subsequently suffered from severe depression.
“If you’re like this too, how is mom supposed to live with such heartache?”
Perhaps those words had become shackles. From that day on, Yejun seemed to return to normal, even appearing brighter than before on the surface, but his mother could see that the child was rotting inside. Hyeon-woo couldn’t even begin to fathom how devastating that must have been for her.
Yejun had always seemed admirably bright without any shadows, but Hyeon-woo hadn’t known there was such a backstory. He felt ashamed for having judged people hastily based on appearances alone.
Hyeon-woo had been worried because he’d heard that Yejun’s grades, which had always been among the top in the school, had plummeted after the accident. But in the recent mock exam, he had regained his previous semester’s grades. This had happened in the two months that Hyeon-woo had been helping with his studies.
The excessively bright and cheerful appearance gradually disappeared as well. The landlady had even thanked Hyeon-woo for her son’s changes. Nevertheless, Hyeon-woo had insisted on handing over the envelope he was holding. Only when Hyeon-woo said that he would feel more at ease during his stay if she accepted at least this much, despite it being insufficient, did the landlady reluctantly take the envelope.
“Do you have something on your mind?”
Hyeon-woo approached the table and sat opposite the landlady who was sitting alone. As expected, it was about the guarantee issue he had overheard briefly during dinner. The debtor was none other than the owner of the cafe where Hyeon-woo worked.
He had noticed that the two of them had been talking frequently at the cafe lately, and it seemed to be because of this issue. He remembered the owner talking excitedly about opening a second branch soon. It seemed she was planning to raise the necessary capital through a loan. She had said that the loan limit from primary financial institutions was low, so she was looking into private financing.
“I owe that friend a lot. If it weren’t for her, this house would have all gone to my in-laws after my husband died.”
Since it wasn’t a problem he could offer a solution to, Hyeon-woo just sat quietly and listened.
*
The cafe was busier than ever with preparations for opening the second branch. With the owner being absent for long periods, Hyeon-woo inevitably had to manage the hall and counter at times. Since he had to go to the tutoring center in the afternoon, Hyeon-woo was always on the opening shift.
He opened the cafe door and changed clothes in the back room. After quality-checking and roasting the green coffee beans, he ground some for the espresso machine and some for drip coffee, transferring them to paper filters.
He opened the refrigerator to check the stock of fruit preserves, milk, and fresh cream used in beverage preparation, then placed orders for the quantities needed. He arranged sandwiches and cake slices attractively in the transparent refrigerated showcase.
While returning to the back room to measure the cream and syrup in the right proportions for making whipped cream, Jeong-hoon entered.
Ding-a-ling.
The bell sound attached to the top of the cafe door seemed especially cheerful today.
“Hi, Hyeon-woo. Preparing to open?”
“Yeah, almost done.”
“Wow, you’re doing well on your own now.”
Jeong-hoon and Hyeon-woo had become close while working part-time together here. Jeong-hoon had kindly taught Hyeon-woo everything from scratch without a single complaint. Jeong-hoon, who was the same age as Hyeon-woo, said he was working part-time to earn tuition money while back in his hometown for winter break.
Unlike Hyeon-woo who was a novice, Jeong-hoon even had a barista certificate. Jeong-hoon’s dream was to become a famous patissier and launch his own confectionery brand. That’s why he had chosen hotel culinary arts as his major. Watching Jeong-hoon talk about his dreams with shining eyes, Hyeon-woo felt somewhat envious.
“Jeong-hoon, can you watch me make coffee once?”
Jeong-hoon, who had come out wearing a black apron, nodded and stood beside Hyeon-woo. He slowly tilted the drip kettle filled with hot water, pouring it in a spiral pattern over the ground coffee in the dripper. As the coffee beans became soaked with the dark color, they swelled up thickly.
“See this? It’s proof that the beans are fresh. The gas inside the beans escapes, causing them to puff up like this.”
Hyeon-woo nodded, listening intently to Jeong-hoon’s words. He didn’t dislike the feeling of greeting the morning with the fragrant coffee aroma. He also enjoyed watching the anticipation on people’s faces as they waited for their ordered drinks, and the white noise filling the cafe wasn’t bad either.
As he worked, he became interested in the barista certificate that Jeong-hoon had mentioned obtaining. With a child on the way that he would soon have to provide for, he wanted to learn as much as he could while he had the chance.
After handing over to the next shift worker who arrived on time, Hyeon-woo stopped by the supermarket before heading to the tutoring center. He had butter and milk left, so he only bought onions, button mushrooms, and flour. He wanted to make mushroom soup as a snack for the children.
Today, he had to take care of the children alone all day. The director had given him advance notice that she would be absent due to an important appointment.
Ding-dong-.
“Hello, teacher!”
“Hi, Ji-hye.”
A smile spread across Hyeon-woo’s face as he greeted Ji-hye, who arrived first.
Each day was meaningful and significant. The time spent exploring himself felt more precious than ever. He had recently realized that he had never lived such an autonomous life before.
From a young age, Tae-geon had decided everything for him. Middle school, high school, university, even his major. Despite it being his own life, he had never made any decisions on his own. He had no memory of taking responsibility for his own choices, nor any experience of growing through failure.
He had no dreams. Tae-geon’s dreams were his dreams, and he had lived without questioning any of the options presented to him, all of which led back to Tae-geon. Like a planet orbiting the sun, he had allowed his life to flow along the orbit set by Tae-geon. Only when pushed to the brink did he realize how complacent and irresponsible that attitude had been.
He would no longer allow his life to be swayed by others. It didn’t matter how harsh the bare ground beyond the cozy, soft carpet Tae-geon had laid out might be. Even if he stumbled on stones, skinned his knees, and bled, he wanted to get up again and again, carving out an independent life with his own strength.
Ding-dong-.
Ding-dong-.
He greeted the children arriving one after another with the doorbell sound. Just then, the phone started ringing, so he hurried inside, but the ringing stopped just as he reached it.
The children gathered around the desk. There were only four today. Even though it was well past the start time for class, Ji-woo hadn’t shown up. Perhaps because she was from a single-parent omega household, she often weighed on his mind. He thought she might be late, but Ji-woo didn’t appear even by the end of class.
‘Could she have caught a cold?’
The media had been endlessly talking about how this winter was particularly cold compared to average years. With yesterday’s snowfall, it seemed likely that playing outside could easily lead to catching a cold.
After finishing the class, Hyeon-woo saw the children off. Despite his worries about them possibly causing trouble in the director’s absence, the children had followed his guidance well, making his concerns seem unnecessary.
He finished cleaning up and put on his coat. After carefully wrapping his muffler, he came out and was locking up when the phone inside rang again. It was long past working hours. Normally, he would have ignored the ringing phone, but today it bothered him strangely.
Hyeon-woo opened the door again and went inside, hurriedly answering the phone just before it stopped ringing.
