Choi Eunhyung was unexpectedly docile. Not a single rebuke about how a mere maid dared lay hands on him or touch a man's hair without permission.
As she worked the towel over his head, Hyungnam thought the warm thing beneath it was just like a large, obedient puppy. Then her gaze happened to fall on the sturdy back of his neck.
“……”
Unlike his handsome face, a raised, whitish knife scar ran from the thick base of his neck across to his firm left shoulder. It was an entirely different kind of scar from her own, which healed so neatly because she never cut very deeply.
There are probably more scars hidden beneath that black T-shirt. How did he get that one? It sounded like he'd been through a major battle yesterday. How many people has he killed? Why does he do such frightening things at such a young age?
Hyungnam swallowed hard.
Perhaps because the knife-wielding gangster was unusually subdued, she felt she might get away with being a little cheeky, just this once.
“How many…… people have you killed?”
She asked cautiously while gently patting his hair dry.
Choi Eunhyung turned his head slightly. His long eyelashes, blinking slowly, caught her attention.
“Got someone you want killed?”
“N-no.”
“I'm expensive.”
“Even if you saved a maid's wages for a hundred days, you couldn't afford me.”
He spoke almost with a sigh, breathing out hot air.
Hyungnam's lower lip twisted in displeasure, and her grip on the towel tightened for an instant.
“There's…… there's nobody I want to kill.”
“Then why ask?”
Choi Eunhyung snorted.
Apparently, he found it amusing that a mere maid was pursing her lips like a little bird and talking back to him.
“So you're not afraid of me.”
Hyungnam immediately pressed her lips together.
That's not true. I am afraid. It's just that you've been sitting so quietly while I dry your hair, and you look like you haven't even got the strength to lift a finger. That's why I let my guard down for a moment.
As the towel began moving more slowly, Eunhyung raised a hand and took it from her.
“That's enough. Go on.”
He began rubbing the back of his head with the towel, as though accustomed to doing it himself.
It would have been better if he at least let her put a damp towel on his forehead, but he seemed stubbornly determined to refuse despite his fever.
Hyungnam hesitated, looking almost reluctant to leave, then gave a small bow and turned away.
Once her back was to him, however, all her attention seemed to be drawn behind her.
His mere presence made Hyungnam remarkably tense. It was a different kind of tension from what she felt around Park Shineok.
Unlike the old man, Eunhyung's tall frame, sleek body, and muscular forearms radiated the fresh warmth of a vigorous young man.
Hyungnam shook her head slightly.
Stop thinking about men. I'll clear away the washbasin after he leaves.
She was trying to erase his silhouette from her mind by thinking of something else when his hoarse voice reached her from behind.
“Instead of worrying about other people, get yourself treated.”
“……”
“A girl with scars where people can see them won't find herself a husband.”
Hyungnam stopped on her way to the kitchen.
The wrist she had burned that morning suddenly seemed to sting.
Turning her head slightly, she stole a resentful glance at him over her shoulder.
As if you're going to find me a husband yourself. What's with the show of concern?
The head beneath the towel began humming a female singer's song.
The melancholy melody emerged slowly, note by note.
Before he had even finished the opening line, Hyungnam hastily withdrew her impertinent gaze and fled into the kitchen.
I know you're the culprit. I'll let you off just this once.
That was exactly what Choi Eunhyung seemed to be saying.
***
Standing on tiptoe, Hyungnam took down the calendar hanging on the wall.
She laid the enormous thing, larger than her own torso, on the coffee table and moistened her fingertip with saliva.
Rrrrrip.
The sound of tearing paper echoed through the quiet living room.
The old month, covered in untidy scribbled notes, was gone, replaced by a clean new one.
With only two sheets remaining, the calendar had grown considerably thinner. Hyungnam hung it back in its place.
She stepped back to check whether it was hanging straight, but something still bothered her, so she nudged it ever so slightly to the left.
Satisfied, she folded her arms and admired the calendar.
Then her gaze settled on the bank's name and logo printed at the bottom.
Korea Development Bank.
She did not know much about it, but she knew it was a real bank, the sort that opened savings accounts for people.
“……”
Remembering Park Shineok's broad, flat face as he panted over her just yesterday, Hyungnam quietly clenched her molars.
The nerve of him. He insists on keeping the neighborhood representative in his position, extorts money through fraudulent daily loans with interest rates that change every day, then deposits it all in a real bank and makes a fuss about getting an expensive calendar because he's a VIP.
“Hey, Hyungnam.”
Her brief contemplation was quickly interrupted by someone's arrival.
Chilgu was carelessly brushing off his feet as he removed his shoes. His scalp was bluish from what appeared to be a fresh haircut.
Hyungnam bowed her head to him.
“Yes, Chief?”
“Pack the chairman's things. About a week's worth.”
“Pardon?”
When she looked up with wide eyes and asked again, Chilgu frowned, pulled a cigarette from the inside pocket of his jacket, and put it between his lips.
“Those Pride bastards tipped off the cops. Fucking assholes, sticking their noses into somebody else's fight.”
“Ah……”
Pride was the name of the hotel that housed Park Shineok's casino.
Hyungnam did not know the details, but she vaguely remembered hearing that there had been considerable trouble even when the casino first moved into the hotel.
Apparently, the two sides simply did not get along.
“He's only going to Japan for about a week, so hurry up and pack.”
Hyungnam nodded and quickly went into the master bedroom.
Since she managed the household, she knew exactly where everything was kept.
She opened a huge lacquered paulownia chest, took out a suitcase, and carefully packed several sets of underwear, pajamas, exercise clothes, and suits.
Does that mean I won't have to put up with him for a whole week?
She would not have cared even if he refused to pay her a week's wages.
By now, she was receiving considerably more in payments for sex than she earned in wages.
An innocent smile floated across her previously listless face.
Hyungnam gripped the suitcase handle firmly and left the room.
I'll ask Gyeongja to go to Namsan with me. We can buy cotton candy. We can stay out until late at night, have dinner somewhere outside, and only then come home.
Just as she was about to hum a tune, Hyungnam's steps gradually slowed.
There were two other men in the living room besides Chilgu.
Did Chilgu tell them they could come in whenever they pleased?
It was not her house, but her delicate brows still drew together with suspicion.
“Finished packing?”
Chilgu, who was smoking, turned and acknowledged her.
When Hyungnam nodded, a man in a suit who had been sitting with his back to her, smoking with Chilgu, slowly turned his head.
There are moments in life that can never be forgotten.
Hyungnam had a premonition that this would be one of them.
The instant Choi Eunhyung's gaze struck her like an arrow, the air stood still.
Her ears felt muffled, as though she had been plunged underwater, and everyone except the two of them became little more than shadows stripped of their identities.
In a world where everything else had blurred into meaninglessness, only Choi Eunhyung remained in sharp focus.
His eyelids lowered slowly, as though taking their time to conceal his jet-black eyes.
Like incense curling from a burner, pure cigarette smoke flowed from the dark depths of his mouth, drifting out in a languid dance.
As he took the cigarette between his fingers, his suit jacket shifted slightly.
A fresh scent of tangerine peel suddenly swept over her.
Hyungnam squeezed her eyes shut as though the fruit's juice had splashed across her face.
“Hello.”
He slowly raised the hand holding his cigarette.
His hand was astonishingly large.
Is he greeting me?
It was suspicious how familiarly he was behaving simply because they had exchanged a few words once.
Besides, she was hardly pleased with herself for having been momentarily captivated by that face of his.
Hyungnam answered with nothing more than a careless dip of her head.
“What about the chairman's medicine?”
“Oh, right.”
At Chilgu's question, Hyungnam exclaimed and returned to the master bedroom.
She opened the mirrored medicine cabinet in the adjoining bathroom.
Rows of medicine bottles stood neatly inside.
This one's for his blood pressure. This one's for diabetes. And this one is……
An aphrodisiac.
Her round face twisted into a grimace.
Bastard. Fucking bastard. No wonder he can't control his lust at his age, swallowing this kind of shit.
In any case, she had no idea how much of each medicine he took, so she decided to pack everything.
Hyungnam gathered the medicine bottles in her arms, carried them out, and reopened the suitcase.
She carefully tucked them between the clothes so the containers would not break.
When she had finished, Chilgu waved a hand as though to say that would do.
“Don't go running the boiler full blast just because you're alone. Hold out until the first snow.”
Although Chilgu spoke like a stern elder of the household, he winked one of his narrow eyes.
She had known him throughout her three years as a maid and understood that he was only teasing.
Feeling slightly better, Hyungnam answered obediently.
“Yes, I will.”
“And do as the boss tells you.”
“Pardon?”
Her upturned eyes, round as droplets of water, widened in confusion.
But you just told me the boss was going to Japan. I've only just finished packing his suitcase.
Before she could ask, Chilgu gestured toward a subordinate standing nearby.
A young man Hyungnam had never seen before picked up the suitcase and walked steadily toward the front door.
“Manager Choi will be acting chairman for the next week. Take good care of him.”
Hyungnam turned toward Choi Eunhyung in dismay.
He was leaning against the back of the sofa as though perched on it, smoking endlessly.
His long legs, clad in black suit trousers, intruded into her field of vision.
“Manager Choi, I'll be going now.”
“Take care, Chief.”
Chilgu bowed respectfully to Choi Eunhyung, who must have been considerably younger than him, then disappeared through the front door with his lackey.
“……”
“……”
Bang.
The front door slammed shut, and a rush of chilly air swept into the room.
Hyungnam lifted only her eyes to glance sideways at Eunhyung.
He wore an expression of utter indifference, merely letting cigarette smoke escape his lips with a weary sigh.
Hyungnam lowered her head dejectedly.
The first day of November.
The tiger had left the house, and a fox had settled in its place.