Yang’s Master Chapter 10.1 - The Man of Rumors

On Nanjing West Road in Shanghai, which developed alongside the racetrack, there was a pharmacy with a dark blue sign. While that street was overflowing with pharmacies, the one run by the middle-aged pharmacist Zhang Jun and his wife Wei Lan was a little special. The pharmacist, Zhang Jun, was kind and already had a fair number of regular customers, but these days, the number of customers had surged for a different reason.

“I’ve earned enough for my medicine.”

“Yes, yes.”

The assistant, who had just seen out a female customer insisting she had a cold and body aches despite her perfectly fine-looking face, let Zhang Jun’s joke slide past him and returned after putting up a sign that said ‘Lunch Break’.

Zhang Jun, holding two bowls of braised pork rice with scorched duck eggs, offered one to his assistant. The well-braised pork and bok choy were exceptionally generous. The assistant stared at it intently. For some reason, there was a huge difference in the toppings compared to the one the pharmacist was holding. Zhang Jun spoke with a mix of jealousy.

“My daughter insisted that I give that one to you.”

“Ah…”

The assistant looked at the rice bowl with a reluctant face. Even a single piece of bok choy was bigger than his employer’s. Though reluctant, the young assistant gratefully accepted the meal. Zhang Jun, saying they should eat lunch quickly, pulled out a chair, sat down, and picked up his chopsticks. The assistant also sat down opposite him.

“Looking again, your chopstick skills are so very graceful.”

Wei Lan, who had brought over some tea, complimented the assistant. With an awkward face, the assistant pretended to focus on his meal in silence. The food in Shanghai was very salty, sweet, and pungent. It was similar to what he was used to eating, yet different. The assistant, who had been silently moving only his chopsticks, suddenly stopped. Zhang Jun pretended to talk with his dear wife while stealing glances at the young assistant.

The assistant, who had been placed in the most visible spot in the pharmacy as if to be put in charge of the cash register, had recently gained quite a fame on this street. He had unusual ash-gray hair and eyes, and his face was fair with delicate features, like a beauty from the northern regions. His accent and pronunciation were a bit unique, making one wonder where he had learned Chinese, but that was not a major flaw in a racially mixed city like Shanghai. His appearance, which seemed to have a ‘foreign touch’, was also the biggest interest of the young ladies of Shanghai these days.

Even Zhang Jun’s well-raised daughter had completely fallen for the handsome assistant and would pop in and out of the pharmacy with a lunchbox whenever she had a chance. Of course, his daughter was only fourteen. Even if she fell head over heels for the twenty-five-year-old assistant, it would only remain a bitter memory of a youthful crush. Still, he could not forgive it. Zhang Jun was furious that his daughter, the apple of his eye, had completely fallen for the assistant, but it was all his own doing.

Zhang Jun had met the assistant on a cargo ship. It was a cargo ship he had hastily boarded by paying extra after missing the direct ferry to Shanghai. The young man, who had been collapsed on the deck, was covered in blood, having been stabbed several times with a knife. He thought the man would die even as he treated him with the bandages and hemostatic agents he had on hand as a temporary measure, but surprisingly, he clung to life. It was a miracle that he survived with only that much medical supply despite being pierced through. I must have been the reincarnation of Hua Tuo. Zhang Jun would say this boastfully like a habit whenever he saw the assistant.

The assistant would snort every time Zhang Jun got cocky. It was just a lot of bleeding, I wasn’t stabbed that deeply.

Ignoring the assistant’s correction, Zhang Jun went ahead and brought the assistant, who looked like he didn’t have a penny to his name, all the way to the pharmacy. His wife had nagged him relentlessly, asking how he could pick up a person in such dangerous times, but as it turned out, the new assistant led to the pharmacy’s revival. Now, even Wei Lan was very fond of the young, handsome assistant. The store bustled with people who came to buy medicine just to exchange a few words with the assistant, and Wei Lan was very pleased with him because he was pretty yet quiet.

“Not eating? Does it taste strange?”

Zhang Jun asked. The assistant, who had been staring blankly into space, belatedly came to his senses.

“No, it’s delicious.”

“Right? This place makes it delicious without being boring. Ah, should we all have hot pot for dinner?”

“That sounds nice. The weather has gotten colder, too.”

Wei Lan replied softly to her husband’s suggestion. The assistant listened to the couple’s conversation and then shook his head.

“I have something to do in the evening. I am sorry.”

“You don’t even have any friends, why do you always have something to do?”

At the reprimand, the assistant just bowed his head and smiled faintly. The slightly upturned corners of his lips suited his face well. The rarely smiling assistant reminded one of the old tale that praised a beauty whose smile was worth a thousand pieces of gold.

“Yes, I don’t have friends, but I do have things to do.”

As he refused in such a way, it was difficult for Zhang Jun to insist. He cut a duck egg in half and said to the assistant.

“You can’t run away until you’ve paid back all your debt to me.”

“I won’t go, I won’t go.”

The assistant chuckled and moved his chopsticks again. Zhang Jun was forcibly keeping the assistant at the pharmacy, telling him to repay the cost of the treatment from the ship.

“I have nowhere to go anyway.”

Pretending not to hear the softly added words, Zhang Jun popped the largely cut piece of duck egg into his mouth in one bite. It was sweet and delicious. The assistant followed his lead, cutting the duck egg and putting it in his mouth.

“This winter seems particularly cold. The heating bills will be quite high.”

Wei Lan said, moving her feet closer to the stove. The assistant nodded his head.

“It’s cold here.”

Shanghai, located in the southern part of China, was actually on the warmer side, but the assistant was unusually sensitive to the cold, making one wonder where he had lived. The pharmacist considered thinking about the cargo ship’s ports of call but then stopped. Eh, as long as he works hard, that’s all that matters! What good would it do to know his origins or past.

“Alright, let’s finish up quickly and get back to work.”

Zhang Jun put down his empty bowl and stood up. Wei Lan also rose to her feet, following him. The kind wife looked at the assistant and smiled.

“Take your time eating and then get up. You were the first to come to work today, too.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The assistant nodded his head at the consideration. In truth, he didn’t want to move an inch because of the cold. He huddled, pressing the frozen tips of his toes tightly against the stove, just as Wei Lan had done. The street visible beyond the window was still unfamiliar. A few strands of his somewhat longish ash-gray hair, which was loosely tied at the ends with a rubber band, flowed down his cheek and fell haphazardly.

Young ladies passing by on the street stole glances at the blankly sitting assistant. Some of them, rather boldly, waved their hands to acknowledge him. The assistant waved back at them and then fixed his gaze back on his bowl.

He had wanted to leave the sea forever, but the place he arrived at also had a sea. The sea wasn’t visible from where he lived, but instead, a large river cut through the city. This place, he heard, was also called a port city. Yang Euijoo observed the scenery, still filled with the excitement and busyness of the new year, in a strange city whose name he had only heard a few times.

This place is colder than Hong Kong. It was a cold that felt like his whole body would freeze solid. The Zhang Jun and Wei Lan couple said he was being dramatic, but Yang Euijoo sometimes woke up at dawn, shivering from a deep cold that felt like his fingertips would freeze solid. After waking up, he would have trouble sleeping due to a sense of emptiness.

He thought he would die, but a person’s life is surprisingly resilient. Without Cheon Yeomyung needing to worry, Yang Euijoo had survived safely.

The pharmacist who saved him on the ship was a good-natured man. He had bestowed his grace and even hired him as an assistant. The con artist who had lived by selling fake medicine in the filthiest slums of Hong Kong was now learning to do real dispensing work. Someone’s words that one must look at the long run in life were right.

Perhaps this time, he might be able to live a good life. But for some reason, he lacked motivation. Yang Euijoo once again stared blankly outside.

If he let his mind wander for just a moment, the face of the man who had stood dumbfounded on the dirty docks of Hong Kong, where whitish specks that could be either snow or dust were falling, and watched him leave, would come to mind. He had a premonition that it would not be easily forgotten. Of course. How could he easily forget such a relationship, those impressive eyes.

At that time, he believed that he could only succeed not by stabbing the other person, but by stabbing himself, and he really did it. Thinking about it now, it was a reckless attempt. Now, he felt he couldn’t stab his own body even with a gun to his throat.

Well, the end of the year was originally a magical time that made people a little crazy. Yang Euijoo, resting his chin on his hand, stared blankly outside for a while before finishing the rest of the Dongpo pork rice, out of consideration for the cute Zhang Xuan who had delivered the lunchbox. The rice had long since gone cold in the chilly air.

“Hey, care for a smoke?”

Zhang Jun shook a cigarette pack as he saw Yang Euijoo come outside with the empty bowl. Yang Euijoo pushed the bowl into the metal carrying case and nodded his head.

“Thank you.”

As he put a cigarette to his lips, Zhang Jun offered him a lighter. Zhang Jun, who had been a medicine seller in Shanghai for a long time, was well-off. His business acumen was good, and he had survived the notorious revolution that had produced numerous refugees in China. Yang Euijoo accepted the light that Zhang Jun offered. As the small orange flame flickered, it reminded him of a man who had insisted on using matches for some nasty reason.

The pharmacist and his assistant smoked side by side. Zhang Jun, now looking at the people who were openly staring at his assistant, muttered reluctantly.

“There are many beauties in Shanghai.”

“…Are you talking to me?”

“It’s true. It’s not that they’re looking at you because there are no beauties. There are originally many beauties, the pride of Shanghai is its many beauties.”

“What am I supposed to do about that.”

Yang Euijoo brushed off Zhang Jun’s unintelligible excuse and blew a puff of cigarette smoke into the air. Zhang Jun looked at his assistant with a wary eye. At first, it was understandable that he was popular with female customers, but these days, the number of male customers had strangely increased as well. Zhang Jun scratched his chin and asked.

“Do you have any thoughts on getting married?”

“…What are you talking about now?”

“A face like yours should get married early.”

At Zhang Jun’s nonsense, Yang Euijoo kept the cigarette in his mouth and ignored the words of the man who was his savior.

“It’s true! Let me introduce you to a good woman. How about it?”

“No, thank you.”

“Why? Don’t be like that, just give it a try. Marriage isn’t bad, you know? I might look like I’m henpecked by my wife every day, but that’s actually the proof of a good marriage and a man’s joy.”

At Zhang Jun’s nonsense, Yang Euijoo felt a familiar sense of déjà vu. Li Su had also constantly tried to set him up with women. He had no idea why all the people who picked him up were so eager to get him married. Yang Euijoo frowned.

“How can I get married when I don’t even have a nationality?”

“I’m saying you should at least start a household.”

“What the…”

Muttering with a cigarette in his mouth, Yang Euijoo rested his chin on his hand, which had grown cold again, and replied while looking at the people who were glancing at him with dead eyes.

“I like men.”

“…”

“So I can’t get married.”

Ash fell from Zhang Jun’s cigarette. It was the same color as Yang Euijoo’s eyes.

Yang Euijoo sneezed once. It was indeed too cold to sit outside and smoke. Zhang Jun, who had been frozen for a long while, crossed his arms to cover his chest and made a fuss.

“Not me! I have a fox-like wife and a bunny-like child!”

“I’m picky about faces.”

Yang Euijoo replied to Zhang Jun in a relaxed manner and stood up from his seat.

“Are you saying I’m ugly?”

Looking at Zhang Jun, who spoke as if his pride was wounded, Yang Euijoo smiled, his eyes crinkling. At the smile spreading across the face of the rude assistant, who was not one to smile generously, Zhang Jun stopped mid-rant and paused. He hadn’t been able to see him properly on the ship, covered in blood, but now that he was properly washed and dressed, it was truly a handsome face gone to waste.

“Ah, geez.”

Zhang Jun scratched his head vigorously. He hadn’t asked what kind of story he had, but it seemed Yang Euijoo had lived a rather rough life. Looking at Yang Euijoo, who calmly confessed to liking men to someone he hadn’t known for long, Zhang Jun roughly tapped his cigarette a couple of times.

“You should be glad this is Shanghai. Because it’s a city of romance and freedom.”

The pride of a Shanghai native was sky-high. Yang Euijoo ignored Zhang Jun’s boast, which seemed to have become one with the city, and said.

“It must be nice to be so free.”

“Doesn’t it seem so?”

“Well, I’m not so sure.”

Shanghai, which had both a river and the sea, certainly looked free, but gruesome scenes often unfolded due to the oppressively flowing public order and surveillance. However, thanks to that, Yang Euijoo was also able to settle in as an assistant at the pharmacy without any major problems. Yang Euijoo was about to put the cigarette between his fingers when he frowned at the stiff pain that came to his shoulder. Because he had moved too strenuously after being injured, the places where he had been stabbed with the knife had not yet healed properly.

“How is your body?”

“It’s just so-so.”

“Why don’t you go see a doctor, even now? I may have learned first aid, but I’m not a real doctor, so it could get badly infected later.”

“Considering I’m still alive, walking around, and eating, doesn’t that mean there’s no problem?”

Yang Euijoo asked with genuine curiosity. He had been bedridden when he first arrived in Shanghai, but now he was perfectly fine. He was alive and well, and his wounds were slowly healing. The only thing that wasn’t healing was the painful ache in his lungs. No matter how much medicine he took, or how much warm tea he drank and curled up under the blankets, it just wouldn’t get better. The area under his eyes was always pale. Yang Euijoo knew in the basement that he had been severely broken, but then again, he wasn’t afraid of it.

At Yang Euijoo’s nonchalant response, Zhang Jun said with a serious face.

“You were lucky. What on earth kind of love quarrel did you get entangled in to be stabbed three times with a knife? Maybe try changing your preference.”

“A love quarrel, how unfair. Did I ever say it was a love quarrel?”

“It wasn’t?”

“…Maybe it was.”

Yang Euijoo wrinkled his nose as he pressed the cigarette butt firmly into the brown ashtray to extinguish it.

“And could you please consider it a problem of the other person whose preference I am, not a problem with my preference?”

“Wow.”

Zhang Jun clicked his tongue.

“You sure have a way with words.”

“Well.”

He always had a way with words. Even while fighting with Cheon Yeomyung to that extent, his mouth never died. Cheon Yeomyung always looked like he wanted to rip Yang Euijoo’s mouth apart, but he couldn’t touch him. Yang Euijoo took Zhang Jun’s words as a compliment and huddled, taking in the winter air that felt like it would freeze a person to death.

It didn’t feel like the New Year at all. Yang Euijoo stared outside. His eyes looked as if they were searching for someone, or as if they were lost in deep, solitary thought. A group of young ladies, wearing drab scarves and hats pulled down low, scurried past with short steps, huddled against the cold.

These days, people wearing qipaos were nowhere to be seen on the streets of Shanghai. Even just in Hong Kong, half the people wore traditional clothing, but in Shanghai, wearing such things would rather bring you harm. Yang Euijoo recalled the man who had dressed him. The troublesome knots that tightened at his ankles, the splendid gold and silver embroidery, the weight of the silk that wrapped around his body. The gloves worn on the hands of the man who would yawn lazily in bed, reeking of opium. Yang Euijoo deliberately rubbed his eyes at the shadow of the faint scar that remained like an afterimage.

“It would be nice if you really settled down.”

But not with my daughter. Zhang Jun hastily added the last part. If Zhang Xuan, whose dream was to marry a ‘prince’, had heard him, she would have thrown a fit, asking if her dad was going to ruin her love life. Yang Euijoo didn’t even reply. Am I crazy to feel romantic feelings for a kid ten years younger than me? Yang Euijoo nonchalantly blew out a puff of cigarette smoke and went inside the pharmacy.

As soon as he entered the pharmacy, the front door opened with a jingle. The slanting afternoon sun settled warmly inside the pharmacy.

“Sir, I think my head hurts so much.”

A lady wearing a yellow one-piece dress and a hat with a flower decoration said weakly, placing a hand on her cheek. It was a rarely seen bright outfit. Still, there were many such outfits on Nanjing West Road. This place had always been a bustling area.

“I am not the sir.”

Yang Euijoo wiped his hands on a wet towel and called out to Zhang Jun in a loud voice.

“Mr. Zhang, a customer!”

“No, I was…!”

Before the lady could hastily grab him, Yang Euijoo slipped into the dispensing room behind the counter. Wei Lan, who was sitting and pounding medicine with a thud, glanced at him.

“Wash your hands and sit here and grind this finely for me.”

As it was winter, the number of cold patients had surged. Yang Euijoo sat next to Wei Lan and took on the task of grinding the pills into powder in a mortar, then wrapping each portion in paper and folding it. The sound of murmuring voices could be heard from outside, then it stopped, and suddenly Zhang Jun, looking haggard as if he had aged 10 years, trudged into the dispensing room.

“Why didn’t you just talk to her for a bit? The moment the customer saw my face, she became extremely difficult.”

“Oh…”

Yang Euijoo smiled faintly.

“She looked difficult, so I passed her on to you, sir.”

“Ugh.”

Left with nothing to say, Zhang Jun scratched his head, then sat down and just drank tea. Then he got an earful from his wife, asking if he was just lazing around and getting fat.

The couple soon began a childish argument. Yang Euijoo listened to their story as he diligently folded the medicine packets. By the time he had folded about two hundred packets, it was time to go home. Zhang Xuan, who had diligently arrived right on time, threw down her schoolbag as soon as she saw Yang Euijoo and rushed into his arms.

“Teacher Yang!”

“I’m not a teacher.”

Yang Euijoo said firmly, pushing Zhang Xuan away. He was scared that Zhang Jun would smash his head with the pestle he was holding. He didn’t want his head to be split open and to pass out again.

His only daughter, Zhang Xuan, who resembled her father so much that people on the street would stop her at the intersection and ask if she was Pharmacist Zhang’s daughter, was a young and cute fourteen-year-old girl with freckles sparkling on her cheeks. Zhang Xuan always combed her long hair neatly and tied it in coils on both sides, and whenever Yang Euijoo saw it, he would unknowingly think of Linlin.

“Then, Yang oppa?”

“Call me mister.”

Seeing Zhang Jun’s fists clench tightly, Yang Euijoo quickly corrected Xuan’s title. Xuan puffed out her cheeks and grumbled.

“Where is there a mister as handsome as Yang oppa? A mister is what you call someone like my dad.”

Zhang Xuan boldly sank her own father. Even though Zhang Jun was looking at her with a face that was about to cry, his daughter didn’t even spare him a glance. Rather, Zhang Xuan, like a girl who had just entered puberty, tried to explain with a fierce and passionate voice how Yang oppa—Euijoo was uncomfortable with this title—was completely different from the category of mister.

In the end, they decided to use the title Yang Uncle instead of Yang oppa. Of course, Xuan secretly whispered in Yang Euijoo’s ear that she would call him Yang oppa when her father wasn’t looking. As far as Yang Euijoo was concerned, it was clear that the title would forever be oppa. Apart from finding Zhang Xuan’s affection burdensome, the girl who had grown up being loved was truly cute. She was indeed too precious a daughter for Zhang Jun.

“Right, Yang Uncle. Did you hear the story about the gentleman at the intersection of Donglu across the street?”

Zhang Xuan chattered, clinging tightly to Yang Euijoo’s back as he finished cleaning and tidied up the pharmacy.

“They say he’s an incredibly handsome blond man. I decided to go see him with my friends tomorrow—”

“Zhang Xuan! Do you think I send you to school to go around sightseeing like that?”

Zhang Jun, who was checking the ledger and the cash box far away, yelled furiously. Zhang Xuan pouted her lips and hid behind Yang Euijoo’s back. Yang Euijoo, caught awkwardly between the two, moderately soothed them so as not to offend the father and daughter, and then put on his overcoat. Seeing Yang Euijoo wrapping a gray scarf around himself over a black leather jacket with worn-out sleeves and cracked, peeling cheap vinyl leather, Zhang Xuan clung to his arm.

“Yang oppa! Let’s have hot pot at our house before you go.”

Just as expected, the word uncle was not on Zhang Xuan’s mind at all.

“I have a prior engagement today, so it’s difficult.”

Yang Euijoo, having given a suitable reply, detached the disappointed Zhang Xuan and said goodbye to Zhang Jun and Wei Lan.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Come in a little later tomorrow. Ah, take your medicine with you.”

Taking the medicine Wei Lan gave him, Yang Euijoo went outside. The street, draped in twilight, was dim, and his cheeks were frozen solid by the cold winter wind. The house where Yang Euijoo lived was far from the pharmacy. The rent near the pharmacy was so expensive that he couldn’t find a room no matter how much money he scraped together. Yang Euijoo put in a coin and got on a tram that crawled through the streets of Shanghai. People’s gazes briefly fell on him because of his unusual hair color.

Yang Euijoo, who had lived in Yirang, screamed at the terrible prices in Shanghai, which demanded the amount to buy a chimney house every single month. In the end, the place he chose was a small room on the outskirts that Zhang Jun had arranged for him through his connections. The commute took about an hour, but it wasn’t too bad. He paid the deposit for that house with the dollars he had brought from the chimney house. Technically, it was Cheon Yeomyung who had found him a house.

After traveling for a while, transferring from the tram to a bus, Yang Euijoo got off and trudged up the long stairs leading outside, and opened the door of the corner house with a key. The door opened with a clatter, revealing a still unfamiliar room. Yang Euijoo, still wearing his coat, threw himself onto the creaky bed.

“Ah, it’s cold.”

Yang Euijoo sniffled and wrapped his arms around his throbbing stomach. The eerie feeling from when he had stabbed himself with the knife seemed to still linger. He had told Zhang Jun that he was fine, but his shoulder and stomach showed no signs of getting better at all. It wasn’t bleeding, it wasn’t festering, and the skin had healed quite a bit, but a subtle pain constantly followed. It was as if the man was clinging to him and cursing him. Indeed, when a person loses his mind, he does all sorts of reckless things.

He tossed and turned on the hard, cold mattress. It would be strange for his wounds to heal when he couldn’t even sleep properly. Every time he moved, there was a pain in his side like a stiff, knotted muscle.

“Ugh…”

Yang Euijoo groaned, sweating profusely, then wrapped the blanket around his body like a bamboo worm and fell asleep at some point. And not long after, he opened his eyes to the sound of a violent gust of wind that seemed to rattle the room and the windows.

A flash of golden light flickered outside the window. Yang Euijoo urgently got up, almost falling off the bed, flung open the window, and leaned his upper body out. The rain was pouring down harshly. What had woken him from his sleep was the sound of the wind, raging with a sudden downpour. Lightning flashed again with a golden light, striking down from the sky. Looking at the moon hidden behind the clouds, Yang Euijoo covered his exhausted face and panted.

He hated everything gold. It was a color he could not bring himself to like. Beautiful golden eyes, flowing amid the whitish snowflakes. Yang Euijoo slowly inhaled. The dark night’s light settled on his pale face, which was pouring with cold sweat. Only after confirming that there was no one on the dark, rain-drenched street of the outskirts did Yang Euijoo close the shutters again.

The rain beat noisily against the dirty windowpane. Yang Euijoo wrapped the scarf that had slipped down back around his neck and sat huddled by the window, hugging his knees. As he mulled over and replayed every single thing Cheon Yeomyung had done in the basement, an unforgettable anger, just like his unhealing wounds, arose. And at the end was the image of the man smiling, showing the palm of his hand with the nail mark.

He had no intention of forgetting. It was similar to the hatred Cheon Yeomyung held for Quan. This anger was an emotion that would be with Yang Euijoo for the rest of his life. He stared blankly at the dark outside, his face contorted from a throbbing headache. Wei Lan had told him to come to work slowly, but he planned to be the first to arrive again tomorrow, sweep the front of the store piled with dust and fallen leaves, and prepare to greet the customers.

The moment he thought that, a cough rose up. Yang Euijoo clung to the wet windowsill and coughed repeatedly. His back heaved with a dry, cracked pain that felt like he was coughing up blood. I won’t live long. Yang Euijoo let out a groan, threw anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving pills into his mouth, and gulped down some water. The water had a sandy taste that he had tasted somewhere before.

The next day, Yang Euijoo, who staggered to work due to lack of sleep, gave a troubled smile at the request of the little princess who brought five whole plates of dumplings as a bribe during lunch break. Zhang Xuan, her hair neatly braided down on both sides, grabbed Yang Euijoo’s hand and spoke earnestly.

“Yang oppa, just once. Huh? Just come with me once.”

Yang Euijoo didn’t understand Xuan’s intention of trying to take him with her, when she had said she was going with her friends to see the handsome blond man on Nanjing East Road. Yang Euijoo drew a firm line, saying, I’m busy with work. Zhang Xuan, on the verge of tears, clung to Yang Euijoo’s arm.

“I’ve already been bragging about oppa to my friends!”

So that was it. Yang Euijoo hadn’t liked being called a face-for-hire in Yirang either. He could have built another chimney house with the amount of harassment and insults he had endured because of this face. Zhang Xuan was certainly a cute and lovely younger sister, but Yang Euijoo did not want to be used as a bragging point or a spectacle for Xuan’s friends.

“I told you I’m busy with work.”

“Please!”

He couldn’t even pick up a dumpling properly because Zhang Xuan was clinging to him. Cheon Yeomyung at least let me eat properly, but I guess the precious princess of the pharmacy is different. Yang Euijoo had a useless thought and put the dumpling back down on his plate.

“Xiao An! What are you doing, making plans on your own? You’re making Euijoo uncomfortable.”

Wei Lan sternly scolded her daughter. But Zhang Xuan was persistent. She was really, really desperate and held Yang Euijoo’s hand tightly again. Zhang Xuan had her own reasons. She had bragged to her friends that she would bring a handsome and cool man, and she didn’t want to go downtown alone and be embarrassed. Zhang Xuan was a reasonably wealthy middle-class Shanghainese who had grown up without any major flaws, and she was even young. The precious only daughter also wanted to feel the sense of pride of having a handsome man by her side…

And isn’t it only natural, especially if that man is quite popular on Nanjing West Road these days? This was something a child of this age might imagine at least once. In the end, Zhang Xuan, with tears welling up in her eyes, pleaded.

“If you come, I’ll buy you ice cream too. There’s a really delicious chocolate ice cream shop on Nanjing East Road.”

This princess boldly said she would even pay for the date. Yang Euijoo couldn’t help but sigh. He didn’t want his benefactor’s daughter to be unnecessarily embarrassed in front of her friends either. Besides, Zhang Xuan was only fourteen. Yang Euijoo had swabbed decks alone at fourteen, but Zhang Xuan hadn’t lived that kind of life.

“Just this once. There won’t be a second time.”

“Oppa, thank you!”

Zhang Xuan shouted and jumped, clinging to Yang Euijoo’s neck. Yang Euijoo, without having eaten a single bite of the still-warm dumplings, patted Zhang Xuan’s back twice and then politely detached her. Zhang Jun had confiscated all the dumplings left for Yang Euijoo and was glaring at him with the chopsticks he was holding as if he was going to stab him. Yang Euijoo tried his best to avoid Zhang Jun’s gaze. He had so many holes in his body now that he was a little tired of being stabbed and wanted to decline.

“When do we have to leave?”

“In an hour.”

“…I’m still on duty then.”

Yang Euijoo said awkwardly, but Zhang Xuan didn’t even pretend to listen. The little princess whirled around to look at her dad and shouted.

“You’ll let me go, right?”

“Why should I!”

Zhang Jun, in a fit of childish jealousy, jumped up from his seat and shouted. He threw a tantrum as if Yang Euijoo had declared he would marry Zhang Xuan. But Zhang Xuan was one step ahead of her father. She placed her hands on her hips and said primly.

“Then I won’t give you a kiss on the cheek tomorrow morning.”

Zhang Jun, who needed the sweet and lovely kiss his daughter bestowed upon him every morning to find the will to live through the day, quickly granted his daughter’s wish. Wei Lan clicked her tongue as she listened to the pathetic banter of the father and daughter and pushed the container of dumplings towards Yang Euijoo, telling him to eat quickly. Yang Euijoo had lost his appetite, but he forced down a few dumplings and then stood up, saying he would get some work done in advance since he was leaving early.

And exactly one hour later, Yang Euijoo, putting some distance between himself and Zhang Xuan who was stamping her feet and nagging him to leave quickly, left the pharmacy. Despite his shabby appearance in a worn-out leather jacket and jeans, Zhang Xuan couldn’t stop smiling for a while now, seeming to like Yang Euijoo.

Nanjing East Road, which started right across from Nanjing West Road where the pharmacy was located, was more glamorous, with more well-decorated buildings and shops. Yang Euijoo, who was glancing around at the magnificent and shining scenery of Shanghai, was startled when Zhang Xuan shrieked and shot forward like a bullet, and he quickly followed her.

“Xuan, you have to walk slowly!”

He nagged Zhang Xuan as if dealing with a five-year-old child, then let out a groan when he spotted a group of short, fourteen-year-old female students with sparkling eyes. It was obvious that these female students, running wild on the hormones of a tumultuous puberty, would be difficult to deal with. Zhang Xuan boasted to her friends that Yang Euijoo was her father’s distant nephew and worked as an assistant at the pharmacy. They talked loudly, only covering their lips with their hands, so that everyone could hear.

“I think that gentleman is more handsome.”

“No, he looks a little scary. I like Xuan’s cousin oppa more.”

“Hey, but he’s really handsome. I thought you were just bluffing.”

“Aren’t his clothes a little shabby? The gentleman was wearing nice clothes.”

“Doesn’t that have a certain vibe too? It suits him well.”

The teenage girls diligently evaluated the person. Yang Euijoo wondered if he should offer his thanks as he heard the girls praise his cheap jacket as having a ‘vibe’. The girls chattered for a long time with the person standing next to them, and then came to the conclusion that it was not fair to just argue with words about who was more handsome, and that they should check for themselves.

Yang Euijoo thought it was a relief to avoid the fate of drying up and dying like a mannequin frozen on the cold streets of Shanghai, and followed behind them slowly as if escorting them. Of course, his face was too destitute and tired to be called an escort. Yang Euijoo, with a pale complexion that made him look sick to anyone who saw him, was caught up in the group of fourteen-year-old girls.

Zhang Xuan, her shoulders held high as a mountain just from having bragged about Yang Euijoo, walked at the front, showing off to her friends. Looking at Zhang Xuan, whose cheeks were flushed pink and who was radiating happiness, Yang Euijoo arbitrarily decided to consider it as having paid back a little of the life debt he owed to Zhang Jun.

“It’s here!”

Zhang Xuan said, pointing to a shop that had pillars carved from beautiful white marble and an entrance made to look like an ancient temple from the distant West. The shop was small compared to how much Zhang Xuan had hyped it up, but there were quite a few people looking in through the glass windows from outside. Someone, their face flushed red, came out of the shop muttering to themselves.

“Aish, the prices are too expensive.”

In the muttering person’s hand was a shopping bag beautifully wrapped with a golden ribbon. Zhang Xuan, with a stiffly frozen face, checked one more time if the allowance she and her friends had pooled together was enough, and then strode forward confidently.

The shop specialized in perfumes. To think that they were confidently selling such expensive items when shop windows were being smashed every day and all sorts of luxury goods were being burned in the streets in the name of revolution or whatnot. Yang Euijoo slowly looked around the space filled with all sorts of fragrances and belatedly followed the girls inside.

“Some cute customers have arrived.”

There was only one employee in the shop. The man standing inside the shop, which was made with antique wooden furniture and shelves, greeted them with his bright golden hair falling over his forehead. Yang Euijoo stopped his unthinking steps and held his breath. His wounded lungs contracted painfully.

“Hello, we really came to buy perfume this time!”

The young princess of the pharmacy had no idea of that man’s danger. Yang Euijoo, with his hands frozen cold, pulled Zhang Xuan and hid her behind his back. Zhang Xuan let out a questioning voice from behind him, oppa?

“You.”

His hair color was completely different from the not-so-distant memory, but his features were still so intense that he wouldn’t be able to forget them even if he fell into hell.

“You, why are you here…!”

Cheon Yeomyung. There couldn’t be two pairs of such golden eyes in this world.

His fingers went numb. As if facing the biting winter wind head-on, Yang Euijoo couldn’t say a word.

He had thought that someday, they would definitely meet again at least once. Yang Euijoo knew Cheon Yeomyung. He was a persistent man. There was no way the man who had wandered around Yirang to find a guy who tried to run away after taking his money, even if it meant selling his gold tooth, wouldn’t pursue Yang Euijoo. Wasn’t he the man who had personally gone to Leningrad, to the Soviet Union, to find Mei?

Shanghai was closer than the Soviet Union. He had even thought that if Cheon Yeomyung were to one day be sitting in his secluded little room to greet him, he would calmly accept his fate. But he had never imagined they would reunite in this state, in this manner. Will I be dragged to the basement again? Will I have to beg for my life while submerged in a bathtub? If so, I have to at least save Xuan and send her to her parents. As Yang Euijoo trembled, his mind a complete mess, the other person showed a reaction he could have never imagined.

“Do I know you?”

A soft voice. A gentle tone. At the inflection, which was close to a perfect clown’s imitation, Yang Euijoo gaped blankly.

“What?”

“Hmm…”

The man’s face, as he tilted his head with a brazen expression, had an unfamiliar calmness. It was harmless, without any killing intent, hatred, or anger. Yang Euijoo, as if by instinct, looked around. The only familiar face was the man’s. He couldn’t see Linlin or Rose Rock. He was alone in the small shop. The man who never allowed anything other than custom-made suits was wearing a neat but ordinary ready-made suit, his hair down, and holding a book in his hand. It was one of the books that Zhang Xuan secretly changed the cover of to hide and carry around. It was a book of love poems that was popular among girls.

The shop owner touched his very beautiful face and raised the corners of his mouth. His smile was natural. He was composed even after seeing Yang Euijoo’s pale face.

“It’s not a common face, so my pride is starting to feel a little hurt.”

Really, does he not know me? Is he really a different person?

Yang Euijoo bit his parched lips as he looked at the face that made the girls gasp in admiration. No. Cheon Yeomyung was a born liar. He must be putting on an act, brazenly disguised with dyed blond hair.

“Yang oppa? Do you know each other?”

Zhang Xuan asked curiously from the side. Yang Euijoo clenched his sweaty fist tightly. Cheon Yeomyung was not a man who would show mercy just because someone was a child. He was the one who had tried to kill an unborn child in the womb. He grabbed Zhang Xuan’s shoulder to tell her to run away. But Cheon Yeomyung, that blond gentleman, actually knelt down to meet Zhang Xuan’s eye level and asked kindly.

“You seem to have quite an age gap, are you siblings with the young lady?”

“He’s my cousin oppa.”

Zhang Xuan answered quickly. At the same excuse Zhang Jun had told people, the man smiled with his eyes.

“Going out together as cousins, you must be very close siblings. I have many brothers myself, so I feel a sense of kinship when I see siblings with a strong bond.”

It wasn’t Cheon Yeomyung’s way of speaking. It was gentle and mild. His fluent Chinese was pleasant to listen to and had no unnecessary flourishes. The southern accent that the man used to attach to the end of his sentences like a joke was completely gone, it was a northern way of expression. Yang Euijoo, stiffly frozen, could only move his eyes. The eyes that looked at Zhang Xuan affectionately were the color of ecstatic golden champagne. Zhang Xuan blushed at the handsome man’s gaze.

“Cute customer, shall I show you something worth buying?”

At the gentle suggestion, she let out a cute squeal, “Kyaa,” and ran with her friends, chattering with excited faces. There was no time for Yang Euijoo to stop them. The girls were oblivious and each was boisterous. Even though they were customers whose atmosphere did not fit the shop at all, the man showed no sign of displeasure.

There’s no way Cheon Yeomyung would have such mercy.

Or is there?

That’s impossible.

Yang Euijoo looked at the man. The man swept back his blond hair immaculately and approached the girls. Then he took out and showed them a few small, cute, and charming perfumes that would likely interest children.

“For young ladies who are still young, small perfumes like these would be suitable. Most of them are fruit and flower scents.”

A white glove was visible on the man’s hand as he showed them a pale pink perfume bottle. It wasn’t the familiar black leather glove. Cotton gloves were gloves that both Yang Euijoo and Zhang Jun often wore when handling important items. It was by no means an out-of-place attire for a man handling expensive glass bottles. Yang Euijoo, though he couldn’t see through things, stared at the back of the hand as if trying to pierce through the glove.

But he couldn’t just abruptly tell him to take off the glove. No, he was afraid of what would happen if he acted aggressively in this situation. Yang Euijoo was watching the man ask Zhang Xuan if she liked the scent of green apples and plums when he happened to notice the name tag on his chest. At least that name, was not written as Cheon Yeomyung.

“Gentleman, have you tried the ice cream next to the apiary across the street?”

The girls soon latched onto the man and chattered away, talking about things completely unrelated to perfume.

“No. I haven’t had it before.”

“The ice cream made with tea, milk, and chocolate is really delicious.”

“Now that you mention it, I’m curious.”

“We’ll go buy it for you!”

One of the girls shouted. Her face was completely smitten with the handsome gentleman’s kindness and appearance. The girls talked excitedly among themselves and then turned to Yang Euijoo and said.

“Yang oppa, wait here. We’ll be right back.”

It might be safer for the girls to get out of this shop anyway. Yang Euijoo, still frozen, barely managed to reply, unable to even force a proper smile.

“Okay, watch out for cars.”

The shop, which a group of girls had noisily left, became quiet in an instant. Yang Euijoo glared at the man. The blond man still wore a placid smile. He showed no hostility towards Yang Euijoo. That’s why Yang Euijoo broke out in a cold sweat. A strange nausea and fear crushed him.

“You, really…”

“Monsieur, is there a customer ahead of me?”

Just as Yang Euijoo was about to open his lips to interrogate him, a new customer entered the shop. A pot-shaped skirt that came down to her knees, a small hat perched on her head. She was a very fashionable woman, right down to her neatly styled and rolled-up bobbed hair. The man gave Yang Euijoo a light nod as if asking for his understanding and then greeted the customer. It was a courteous attitude.

“You may come in, Madame.”

The woman took off her fur-trimmed cloak that came up to her neck and walked gracefully inside. She too, as if enchanted by the man’s beauty, enjoyed the service of him kissing the back of her hand with dreamy eyes. The owner of the perfume shop soon led her to the most splendidly and beautifully decorated display case and showed the customer a sparkling perfume bottle.

“How about this perfume?”

The shop still had no employees other than the man. He handled the entire interaction from beginning to end. Yang Euijoo watched the man with the familiar face and familiar voice treat the elegant lady with actions and a way of speaking completely different from his memory. He was different from the Cheon Yeomyung who, when necessary, would easily spew vulgar and base words, and was equipped with both profanity and a sarcastic attitude. This man was so subservient that if the customer wished, he would not only kiss the back of her hand but also willingly join her for teatime.

“We only have one of each product in the shop. Whatever you choose would suit you well, but for you, Madame, I would especially recommend a perfume that adds vanilla and musk to an elegant iris.”

At the compliment provided by the blond-haired, golden-eyed gentleman, the customer willingly paid a high price. It was a smooth purchase without even any price haggling. The customer left the shop with a happy and satisfied smile, holding the perfume that the man had personally wrapped for her. It was truly a wet goods business. How worldly. Yang Euijoo thought to himself, then met the man’s eyes and bit his lip. A faint trace of blood spread over his lips, which were chapped and cracked from fatigue and malnutrition.

The Cheon Yeomyung he knew should have grabbed him by the hair the moment they met and dragged him like a dog. Wasn’t it only natural to be treated as less than human, just as he had been in the basement, or as Yang Euijoo’s life had generally been? But the man in front of him did not do that. There was no violence, no verbal abuse. A gentle smile, an attitude that wasn’t even high-handed…

Yang Euijoo was not in his right mind. At this moment, it was easier to just believe that this was not Cheon Yeomyung; Yang Euijoo only wanted to escape from this situation. Even though he knew that running away was not always the right thing to do.

Is it really not you? He wanted to ask, but he was afraid of all the possible answers to the question. In a silence muddled with anxiety, the man who was tidying a tray covered in red velvet asked softly.

“Are you not interested in perfume, customer?”

It can’t be. It has to be not him. How could a man crazy about his business throw everything away and come all the way to Shanghai? Wasn’t the man busy taking on troublesome tasks in Hong Kong? Yang Euijoo contorted his face as he looked at the face that had come close in front of him. The blond gentleman did not smell of burnt ash and firewood, damp fog and wet earth, but of blades of grass and an unknown, rich floral scent. It was a fresh yet sensual fragrance.

“I don’t… need any.”

“That’s a shame. I thought it would suit you well.”

The man who answered leisurely was unfamiliar in every way, unlike the memory of Yang Euijoo. Of course, Cheon Yeomyung had had his gentle moments, but the blond man now was different again. He felt a sense of incongruity in everything but his face. Yang Euijoo stared intently at the name tag on the man’s chest. The man, perhaps noticing his gaze reading the jumble of alphabets, said.

“It’s Joseph.”

It was an unfamiliar name.

“But I prefer to be called Yosef.”

He nonchalantly took Yang Euijoo’s hand, lightly turned it over, and exposed his wrist. Yang Euijoo flinched and tried to pull his hand away, but the hand that held him gently, not painfully, could not be shaken off, like some irresistible force. Yang Euijoo, noticing that his own fingertips were trembling faintly, felt the urge to curse.

Yosef, however, did not tie or break Yang Euijoo’s wrist. The man pressed his own wrist against Yang Euijoo’s and gently rubbed it a few times, creating friction. Yang Euijoo, for a moment, couldn’t believe the man’s actions and stared blankly at what he was doing with wide eyes. Yosef smiled as if enjoying himself, then extended both his wrists and gently brushed them under Yang Euijoo’s earlobe and down his neck where his pulse was racing. The distance between them was instantly erased in the intimate contact. From the outside, the two of them almost looked like they were hugging. Yang Euijoo shoved the man away, screaming as if in a shudder.

“What is this…!”

“You seemed to like my perfume.”

So I transferred it to you. Yosef answered nonchalantly. His smile was as terrifying as it was handsome. Yang Euijoo’s face turned bright red as he panted, a mixture of fear and anxiety. Every time he took a ragged breath, his lungs ached, and Yang Euijoo contorted his face.

Could there be two men in this world so impressively beautiful?

If so, that would be the end of the world and a sin of God.

“You…”

But Yang Euijoo had no more opportunity to talk with the blond man with the angelic appearance. The girls, holding ice cream in their hands, came rushing back into the shop. They instantly filled the small shop with their own vitality. Zhang Xuan, as she had promised Yang Euijoo, held out a chocolate ice cream to him.

“Try it, oppa. It’s really delicious.”

Zhang Xuan urged Yang Euijoo. He barely managed to stop himself from frowning automatically at the excruciatingly sweet taste after just one bite.

“The ice cream here has the true taste of chocolate, I tell you.”

Zhang Xuan’s confident words were not wrong. The ice cream was very rich, as if it were made from melted chocolate. That’s why it was a little too much for Yang Euijoo’s palate, which was accustomed to cheap things. In fact, there seemed to be a friend who also found the ice cream overwhelming, as a girl with long hair neatly tied into a single braid said to Zhang Xuan.

“That one is too sweet. I think vanilla is the best one here.”

“Vanilla is too common.”

Although they had been talking about ice cream with tea and milk before going to buy it, what each of them held in their hands was filled with chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. They were cute and lovely colors, but the ice cream was too sweet to eat. Yang Euijoo, holding the ice cream cone in his hand, tried to persuade the girls.

“We can’t eat ice cream inside the shop, so let’s go out and…”

“Why? Please eat comfortably here. There are tables too.”

The man, Yosef, who had suddenly come up behind him, spoke and snatched the ice cream from Yang Euijoo’s hand.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Yang Euijoo said in a thorny tone without realizing it. The sparkling golden-haired handsome man answered Yang Euijoo nonchalantly.

“Eating is forbidden in the shop.”

“…Didn’t you just say to eat comfortably?”