“It may have started by accident, but I know you treat everyone politely and you’re working hard to learn the job. I trust you.”
“…Hic!”
At Sun-Ha’s gentle words, Shin-Yeon sniffled.
“Let’s go wash your face in the bathroom. The train’s delayed, so we still have a little time.”
Sun-Ha took Shin-Yeon by the hand and led him into the restroom.
Then, after Shin-Yeon washed his face and rinsed away the tear tracks, Sun-Ha dried it for him with paper towels.
Looking at his face, red from crying so much, he even brushed the water from his hair.
“Want to go for a walk tonight, just the two of us?”
“A walk?”
Sun-Ha slowly stroked around Shin-Yeon’s eyes, shadowed long by his lashes.
“We can look at the night scenery and help you feel better.”
When Shin-Yeon gave a small nod, Sun-Ha took hold of his wrist and said,
“Okay. Now let’s go greet the guests.”
“Yes.”
Let’s keep things as light as possible and focus only on work.
Right now, I’m Kim Yeon, a staff member at Seonjae Traditional House Stay.
The two of them headed to where people came out from the platform and welcomed the guests, who were in high spirits.
“Oh my, look who this is! Sun-Ha, is that you? You grew up so well!”
“No kidding! You turned into quite the strapping young man. Your grandmother must be so proud.”
“Have you been well? I’ll escort you to the car.”
Among the older women dressed in cheerful, travel-ready outfits were also a few middle-aged guests.
One of them, a particularly cold-looking middle-aged woman, exchanged greetings with Sun-Ha, then stared fixedly at Shin-Yeon as he smiled and greeted the other guests from the back.
Unaware of the gaze on him, Shin-Yeon put on the brightest, friendliest smile he could.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kim Yeon, a new staff member at Seonjae Traditional House Stay. You’ll probably be seeing me from time to time during your stay at the hanok. I look forward to taking care of you.”
“Oh my, they even have such a cute staff member here? Aren’t you pretty. Your parents must be very proud.”
“How can someone be this sweet and polite?”
“We’re friends of Mrs. Jeong, the owner of the hanok. Please take good care of us during our stay.”
At Shin-Yeon’s warm, courteous greeting, they all responded happily and introduced themselves in return.
From what he gathered, taking train trips together now and then with their close-knit group was one of their hobbies.
It was when Shin-Yeon was walking with the women, chattering like schoolgirls, toward the parking lot.
The cold-looking guest spoke to him.
“How old are you, student?”
“I turned twenty this year.”
“So you just became an adult. Is this part-time work?”
“Yes… I think so.”
The guest nodded, then looked him up and down from head to toe before saying,
“My name is Ha Min-Seon.”
“I look forward to taking care of you. I’m still new, so I’m in the process of learning the work and may make mistakes from time to time. If that happens, please let me know anytime, and I’ll correct it right away.”
Ha Min-Seon, who had been observing Shin-Yeon closely, nodded.
With his head still in turmoil, Shin-Yeon smiled as kindly as he could at the guests, trying to stay focused on work.
When they reached the parking lot, Shin-Yeon helped the guests into the pickup vehicle first.
In the meantime, Sun-Ha loaded their luggage into the trunk, then came over to Shin-Yeon.
He opened the passenger door and sat Shin-Yeon inside first, then came around to the driver’s seat and fastened Shin-Yeon’s seat belt for him.
There was something faintly wistful in the way he looked at Shin-Yeon’s face.
The guests, who had been staring at the two of them from the back, suddenly lit up like they had discovered the most entertaining thing in the world.
“Our Sun-Ha’s all grown up, huh?”
“The mood here is very suspicious, isn’t it?”
“So what stage are you two at? Getting to know each other? Dating? Already together?”
The guests teased them with interest, amused by Hwang Sun-Ha acting all modest when he was famous for having such a nasty temper.
Flustered, Shin-Yeon gave an awkward smile and turned his head toward the window.
Sun-Ha ignored the guests’ joking and stared at Shin-Yeon. When their eyes met through the window, he started the engine and said,
“We’re heading to Seonjae Traditional House Stay now.”
While everyone laughed and chatted merrily, Ha Min-Seon, seated in the back, looked out the window and muttered,
“They’re all so ridiculous… when the real one belongs to somebody else.”
***
Back at the hanok, Shin-Yeon stayed busy showing the guests to their rooms, running little errands, and relaying their requests to the management building.
With the guests who had arrived in the afternoon pouring in all at once, he was so busy he didn’t even have time to think about Seo Kyo-Shin or his family.
Shin-Yeon kept an eye on the guests until late evening and delivered the snacks the owner had specially asked for, one room at a time.
After checking before the end of his shift to ask whether they needed anything else and saying good evening to them as well, Shin-Yeon came back completely exhausted.
“Yeon, today was busy, so you had a hard time, right? Hurry in and get some rest. Take some snacks with you too.”
“That’s right, go on in. You look really tired.”
At the words of Jia and Soo-Jin, who were finishing up work in the management building, Shin-Yeon got off first and returned to the staff lodging.
Thunk!
The moment he stepped inside, Shin-Yeon collapsed facedown onto the floor of his room and kicked off his shoes carelessly with the expression of someone whose soul had left his body.
“Ugh… I’m dying.”
He lay there on the floor groaning from fatigue, then finally dragged himself up and took a hot shower.
Just as he was putting on the thick microfiber pajamas Sun-Ha had given him because it would be cold at night, there was a knock at the door.
“Yes!”
When he hurried out to the door after getting dressed, Sun-Ha held up a plastic bag.
“How about a beer and a walk?”
“…Alcohol! Just a second!”
“Dress warm and come out.”
When Shin-Yeon threw a padded jacket over his pajamas and rushed outside, Sun-Ha zipped it all the way up for him.
“There’s a glass greenhouse up on the hill. At night, when the lights are on, the atmosphere’s really nice.”
As he wrapped Shin-Yeon’s hand in his own and tucked it into his pocket, Sun-Ha said,
“A winter night in the countryside is a lot more charming than you’d think.”
Shin-Yeon quietly followed Sun-Ha as he led him up through the hanok grounds at night.
After climbing for about five minutes, a large dome-shaped glass greenhouse came into view in a spot overlooking the low hill and the scenery around it.
“Wow…”
“Let’s go in. It should be warm inside.”
Thanks to the little heater that had been turned on, the greenhouse—decorated prettily with cozy little lights—was pleasantly warm.
When they walked over and sat at the table in the middle of the greenhouse, Sun-Ha pulled cold cans of beer out of the bag.
“Have you ever had a drink before?”
“Yes, I have.”
Click! Hiss—!
After opening a beer for Shin-Yeon and handing it to him, Sun-Ha opened his own can too, then took out nuts and snacks for something to munch on.
“I don’t really bother with food when I drink. Help yourself.”
He opened the snacks and nuts in front of Shin-Yeon, then lightly tapped their cans together.
“You worked hard today.”
“You worked harder, hy—”
He caught himself before the word could settle naturally into Korean familiarity and instead ducked his head a little with embarrassment.
“You worked harder.”
The canned beer he was trying for the first time was nuttier than he had expected, and strongly carbonated. Letting out a breath at the crisp sensation, Shin-Yeon looked up at the dark night sky.
“So… can you tell me what kind of relationship you have with Seo Kyo-Shin?”
“Cough!”
At Sun-Ha’s blunt question, he choked on his beer. Even while coughing, Shin-Yeon stared at him with round eyes.
“With that kind of reaction, don’t tell me you’re going to say it’s nothing.”
“Um… Executive Director Seo was my older brother’s fiancé.”
“Ah…”
At Shin-Yeon’s answer, Sun-Ha clenched the beer can so hard beer sloshed out of it.
So that meant…
He had been talking about Shin-Yeon’s brother with the man who was supposed to become his future brother-in-law.
“I said it without knowing, but I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay… There were some complications.”
Staring down at his beer, Shin-Yeon took several gulps, then slowly confessed everything that had happened so far.
How Seo Kyo-Shin and Kim Shin-Hee had gotten engaged, and how Shin-Hee had been left free for three years before running away pregnant with another boyfriend’s child.
He confessed that, to save the company and the house, he had showered Seo Kyo-Shin with flirting and marriage proposals in place of the brother who had run away.
“…Seo Kyo-Shin really is a crazy bastard.”
Sun-Ha looked at Shin-Yeon across from him, sitting there with a beer can in his hand and quietly making his confession with a downcast face.
Flushed pink from the alcohol, Shin-Yeon blinked his long lashes and looked at him with eyes shining like pretty marbles in the light.
His pale skin made the bridge of his nose and his reddened lips stand out all the more.
A kid like this begged him to marry him, and he rejected all of it?
Thump, thump—
Sun-Ha’s heart had pounded in shock from the first moment he saw Shin-Yeon.
Now, looking at that gentle face brimful with tears, it felt like his whole mind was going numb.
“Even though I knew he thought I was joking… I really did end up liking him.”
“I see.”
“I didn’t know liking someone could make you greedy. I’ve never wanted anything before. This was the first time in my life… Even if it was only a joke, I wanted my first time to be with Executive Director Seo.”
It was pitiful, in a way, this ruined first crush of his born from such a young heart, and at the same time a little cute—
“So I had my first time with him and ran away.”
“…What?!”
At Shin-Yeon’s confession, Sun-Ha jerked his head up in genuine shock.
Shin-Yeon turned bright red from head to toe and mumbled with a face full of embarrassment and shame.
“Executive Director Seo likes my brother… but that day I kind of lost my mind… and somehow seduced him well enough to make my first time happen. Marriage was impossible to seduce out of him, though… Haha.”
Sun-Ha was so dumbfounded he went speechless, pressing a hand to his forehead as he stared up at the sky.
Seo Kyo-Shin really was a fucking son of a bitch.
“But I get it. My brother’s personality is toxic waste, but he really is beautiful. So how could someone ever want somebody plain like me? On top of that, I’m only a recessive omega…”
At Shin-Yeon’s utterly deflated words, Sun-Ha could only stare at him in disbelief.
What kind of nonsense was that?