Midday Guest Chapter 10

“I didn’t sleep well. You woke me up.”

The man asked Yiwon while leaning obliquely against the doorway.

“What are you doing since the crack of dawn?”

“I’m going to prepare breakfast.”

“You eat breakfast too?”

His expression basically said, You made all this racket from this hour just to eat that dog-crap? Yiwon’s hand, which had been about to take an eggplant out of the bag to wash it, faltered.

“Don’t you eat breakfast?”

“Don’t tell me you’re making it for me?”

“Meals are included in the room rate.”

“I see.”

The man asked with a truly serious face.

“Does that actually leave you with any profit?”

“There’s plenty left over.”

“Impressive. My boys should learn a thing or two from you.”

As if seeing something truly marvelous, the man muttered and circled his finger toward Yiwon.

“Keep doing what you were doing. Don’t mind me.”

Yiwon sat with his back to the man, squatting on the ground. His gray T-shirt was a mess from the water splashing from the faucet. When he pulled at the fabric to straighten his clothes, the shirt only became more splotchy.

They say cooking is all about cleanliness. Maybe he should have started with an apron on. The skin on his back prickled. Even though he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head, he could feel the man watching him, which was becoming quite awkward.

He subtly shifted his body to sit at an angle to the man. Sure enough, the man was watching Yiwon with eyes still heavy with sleep.

His hair was disheveled from just waking up, his dress shirt was unbuttoned, and beneath his rolled-up sleeves, the muscles of his forearms twitched. The back of his hand propped against the floor looked fierce and rugged, striking even from a distance.

His hands, which had been rubbing the eggplant clean, came to a dead stop.

How can the back of a hand look like that…

By the time he lifted his head again, their gazes had already intertwined. The man curled the corner of his mouth into a smile.

Yiwon felt embarrassed, as if he had been caught peeping. He forced his neck, which had been stretched forward, back into place and stood up from his spot. The man’s gaze followed him up.

“You look a bit better now that you’ve taken off those dingy things.”

“…….”

“What time should I get up?”

“In about an hour.”

With that, the door closed. Clutching the red basket to his chest, Yiwon headed toward the kitchen, casting a subtle glance toward the space where the man stayed.

The atmosphere was entirely different from any guest he had hosted before. Was it because their first meeting remained such a unique memory?

“…….”

He hurried his steps, pointlessly rubbing the area under his chin with the back of his hand. Let’s not pay it any mind. He’s just a guest who will stay for a few days and pass through. Yiwon poured the prepared ingredients into a pot with a clatter and slammed the lid shut.

The man sat before a small dining table and began his meal.

Because the table was quite small compared to his frame, he had to use his chopsticks in a hunched posture. Yiwon thought he might complain, but he accepted the table and ate without a word. He was a man with good table manners.

The bones on the back of his hand and his prominent red veins surged ruggedly every time he moved his chopsticks. Seeing it up close confirmed it. This man is someone who uses his fists.

Clack. The sound of the man setting down his spoon echoed. Yiwon ate while pretending to be composed, but his gaze was still fixed on the man’s right hand.

Rough, mottled patches were briefly visible on his palm. They were traces of having touched something hot—burn scars. Did he get burned by fire? As Yiwon stared blankly at them, the man pulled his gaze straight up and asked.

“Aren’t you eating?”

“I’m about to eat now.”

He hadn’t expected to eat breakfast facing the man. It happened because when Yiwon set the table with only one bowl of rice and one bowl of soup, the man pushed one eyebrow way up and spoke.

‘I don’t eat alone.’

‘…Then.’

‘Bring another bowl and sit down.’

And so, he ended up having breakfast alongside a man who hated eating alone.

The man ate as if he had been starving for days. Even though Yiwon hadn’t grilled any fish or meat because he was in a hurry, the man didn’t ask why the side dishes were like this and simply ate heartily.

Yiwon watched the man with fascination. It was his first time eating with a guest who came to the guesthouse, but it wasn’t his first time eating alone with someone. Strangely, his gaze kept drifting, so he made eating soup a secondary task and focused on shoveling rice into his mouth while using the man as a side dish.

The man, having satisfied his hunger, asked Yiwon.

“Do you live alone?”

“Since last year.”

“Strange. A kid living alone in a place like this.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Is being old something to brag about… When Yiwon shot a sideways glare at him, the man’s eyes crinkled into a smile as he set down his chopsticks.

“What were you doing before this?”

“I went to school.”

“A college student?”

“Yes.”

He hadn’t lived his whole life operating a guesthouse.

Up until last year, he had been attending the Department of Business Administration at Hankuk University. It was such a big deal that a student from a rural high school in Yonggung-ri got into Hankuk University that a banner was even hung at the village entrance; back then, Yiwon lived quite boldly and ambitiously, challenging himself with various tasks.

Jung Yiwon was always in the group leading school events, and his name was famous enough that people said you had to put Jung Yiwon on your team to survive group projects. Naturally, he was popular. He had dated a few people who confessed they liked him, but that was all. Strangely, he felt no attraction, and no thoughts came to mind.

Thanks to that, Yiwon earned a unique nickname. The Curse of 30 Days. Who could survive thirty days of dating Jung Yiwon? Yiwon knew the rumors floating around the lecture halls but didn’t care. What could he do? He simply couldn’t feel any charm from the other person.

He couldn’t just date someone because they showed interest and he wanted to reciprocate, or because they had agreed to meet and he felt he had to, or just to go with the flow. Eventually, after a few relationships fizzled out, he stopped thinking about seeing anyone. Instead, he just focused on school and became a scholarship student receiving full tuition support for the next semester. Looking back, he felt he had been doing pretty well for himself then.

The man watched the pensive Yiwon and said with a chuckle.

“You are a baby.”

“…I told you, I’m a college student.”

“Exactly.”

What kind of person is this… Yiwon swallowed his flustered feelings and asked.

“Well, then, how old are you?”

“You shouldn’t just ask an adult their age so recklessly.”

What is he, for real?

Regardless of whether Yiwon’s face contorted or not, the man just smiled brightly.

“Anyway. But why are you here doing this? Was studying not to your taste?”

“It wasn’t that, but…”

The days when he was driven down to Haeundang and lived without even basic household goods. His father, who couldn’t get a loan from banks, had no choice but to reach out to a private moneylender operated by a gang.

The loan for living expenses taken out with Haeundang as collateral snowballed in an instant. His father, who worked day and night with less sleep to pay back the money, passed away in a traffic accident while heading to a daily labor office at dawn.

The aftermath was left to his mother. When he attended middle and high school in Yonggung-ri, Yiwon helped out a fair amount with the work at Haeundang. But once he moved to a university in Seoul, he couldn’t do that anymore. There was only one of him, and the financial situation wasn’t favorable enough to hire a part-timer.

In the end, there was no way for the remaining family but to grind their bodies to endure. Later, when even his mother, who was running Haeundang alone, collapsed, Yiwon had no choice but to pull the card of taking a leave of absence.

There was no other way. He had to pay off the debt and pay medical bills, so he couldn’t attend school as well. That was how he came to take over and run Haeundang, and time flew by until it became the present.

Yiwon looked at the man and said.

“I’ll be going back soon.”

“I’ve rarely seen people who say that actually go back.”

“That’s not me. Once the redevelopment starts, I’ll settle things with Haeundang… and after that, I’ll definitely go back.”

Right now, he was busy paying off the private loan, but once he cleared the debt with the redevelopment compensation and got a job after graduation, he wouldn’t have to worry so much about making a living.

“Sure, give it your best shot.”

The man seemed to be letting Yiwon’s words go in one ear and out the other.

Yiwon let out a light sigh and lowered his gaze. Looking down at the table, the man had already finished every last bit. When Yiwon scraped up the remaining rice and set down his spoon, the man stacked the empty dishes and asked.

“Where’s the dishwasher?”

He was flustered. After blinking for a moment, he pushed the table aside, stood up, and looked at the man.

“There isn’t such a thing.”

“You don’t have a dishwasher?”

“No, I don’t.”

“You live a tiring life.”

Yiwon’s hand covered the man’s two hands clutching the dishes. The man’s fingers, which hadn’t flinched while holding the dirty dishes from the meal, twitched minutely.

“Give me the dishes. I’ll clean them.”

“Forget it. Since I ate, I should pay for the meal.”

The man looked around the yard and tilted his head toward the faucet.

“Can I wash them over there?”

“…Well, yes, but.”

This person is a guest. Why would he “pay for the meal”? It made no sense.

“Don’t do this, just give them to me. Just think of it like you’re at a motel and leave them there comfortably.”

“A motel? You’re so young and you’ve already been frequenting those places?”

“…It’s not like that.”

“What do you mean ‘not like that’? What are you thinking about that’s making your face turn bright red?”

What a ridiculous person. Yiwon opened his eyes sharply and looked up at the man.