Midday Guest Chapter 7

“…….”

“Is it because you aren’t doing well?”

Yiwon momentarily stopped breathing. It seemed this man in front of him had read everything that had happened to him.

Then again, thinking back, even that night, the man had deduced from just a few pieces of information that the assailant was hiding in Haeundang.

Yiwon stared blankly at the face of the man standing stolidly before him. The way he tilted his chin and gestured with his head was slow.

“What are you doing?”

“…Yes?”

“It’s melting. Eat it.”

“Ah.”

Yiwon hurriedly sucked on the ice cream and looked up. The man was still in front of Yiwon, watching him.

Why isn’t he leaving?

Yiwon stood there stiffly with his mouth firmly shut. He was just waiting for this situation to pass quickly.

Across the street, the owner of the coffee shop came out to close the glass door, and upon seeing the man still on the street, hurriedly gave a deep bow.

The man accepted the greeting with a light nod.

In the meantime, a staff member who had climbed out of the passenger seat opened the back door. Only then did the man’s posture change. The gaze that had been pouring over Yiwon withdrew to a distance, and his expression turned cold.

“I had something to ask, but it’ll have to wait.”

The man looked like someone who would be leaving soon. Perhaps something urgent had come up, as the movements of the staff waiting for him became busy.

The black car made a click, and then the headlights turned on. Just as he was about to leave, he looked back at Yiwon and let out an “Ah, right.”

“If they’re family, disown them; if they’re an acquaintance, cut them off.”

“…….”

“You can’t fix a habit.”

The man took a cigarette out of his pocket and put it in his mouth. Yiwon stared at the man after finishing the half-melted ice cream in one gulp.

“It doesn’t seem like you can’t speak. It’s just that you’re a bit slow.”

The man said something nonsensical. Since Yiwon didn’t understand what he meant and just blinked, the man raised the corners of his mouth and smirked.

“Is that why you look like that?”

Yiwon only made a flustered expression by the time the man had turned his back and crossed halfway over the road.

See you again.

The voice flowing from the departing man’s mouth definitely sounded like that.

For a while, Yiwon stood on the empty street and watched the man leave. Exhaling the breath he had been holding, he unclenched his fists. Only then did he realize his palms were soaked with cold sweat.

☼

Thump, thu-ump…

Sitting at the foot of the wall, Yiwon held a trowel and pressed firmly into the ground. A weed that had been taking root in the ground, softened by last night’s rain, came popping out.

Yiwon shook the dirt off the roots and tossed it into a corner. Before he knew it, the pile of weeds he had gathered was quite large.

There were many places in Haeundang that needed careful looking after.

It was a matter of filling in the hollowed dirt paths where cars passed, trimming the bushes so the back path leading to the hills didn’t look desolate, and thinning out the weeds growing by the main gate.

The older a house was, the more it needed to be cared for to truly shine. This was especially true if one was operating an old traditional house as a guesthouse.

People liked the quiet atmosphere, but they didn’t like a neglected landscape; they sought peace of mind looking at the eaves and rafters, but often showed discomfort toward cobwebs and insects.

Stories of a guesthouse not being clean were an absolute “no-thank-you.” If the guests’ footsteps stopped, he wouldn’t be able to pay back the debt, and it was a predictable sequence that Kim Sunwoo would threaten him to give up the house.

Pulling, picking up, throwing away. Most things were pulled out by Yiwon’s hand, but one type of weed survived. It was the fleabane, which produced white flowers at the end of stems that grew up to the thigh.

Fleabane was a very old wild grass that had been settled in Haeundang long before Yiwon arrived. Since the flowers blooming on the slender stems made the wall look even more like Haeundang, he was leaving them alone.

Looking at the fleabane colony that had bloomed one by one and eventually formed a flower bed, he thought. He heard the name “Gaemangcho” (fleabane) was given because the weeds supposedly ruined all other farming as they grew, but he felt it had a modest and pretty appearance for such a name.

Yiwon walked along, grazing the flowers that had bloomed like small fried eggs with his fingers.

Zzzzt, zzzzt, the sound of cicadas rose and fell repeatedly.

It was just as he had put the weeds in a sack and moved them to the storage shed. Yiwon looked up upon hearing the sound of a car stopping at the parking lot next to the wall.

Who is it?

Is it a walk-in guest?

He pulled on the straw hat hanging behind his back and took the sunglasses out of his pocket to cover his eyes. A week had passed and much of the swelling had gone down, but the bruise marks were still visible.

Along with the sound of the gate opening and closing, someone entered the yard.

“Hello.”

He didn’t know the man would come to Haeundang.

Yiwon stood awkwardly in the yard and welcomed the unwelcome guest. Without responding, he just gave a rough bow of his head while keeping his eyes on the other person—an odd posture.

When he looked up, the man was already watching Yiwon. The moment he felt that gaze, cold sweat ran down his back. Perhaps it was because he was tall and big. He kept feeling a sense of intimidation from the man dressed in a clean suit.

Yiwon reluctantly offered a greeting.

“…Hello.”

“Yeah, hello.”

“…….”

“You’re still doing that.”

Yiwon withdrew his gaze from the man who was looking only at him. Then he glanced around. There were two thugs occupying the yard, and if you added the ones lined up outside the gate, there looked to be at least eight.

Why did he come?

Bringing so many staff members.

Come to think of it, he remembered encountering him in the city a few days ago. The moment when the man coming out of the coffee shop saw him and approached came back vividly. Even the tension he felt soaking his palms after the man left.

“…….”

Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence.

While contemplating the reason for the man’s visit, Yiwon suddenly thought that he might have come to eliminate a witness.

Could he end up rolled up in a trunk just like the assailant? A sudden, ominous feeling made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Yiwon lifted his head to look at the man. Even though he was covered in a shirt and suit, it was easy to guess that he was of no ordinary build.

He pondered whether he could handle this man alone, but soon shook his head.

He clearly remembered the moment when the people who had caught the armed assailant with their bare hands treated this man with such formality. Even the scar, Oh Taesik, who had cleaned the yard and left, placing his index finger over his lips.

The moment he swallowed dryly to avoid showing his agitation, a calm voice settled over Haeundang.

“This is why first impressions are important.”

“…….”

“I didn’t come to catch you, so you don’t have to look at me like that.”

He must have failed at pretending to be composed. Seeing as he still had a wary look in his eyes, the man chuckled as if it were absurd. He beckoned Yiwon with a hand gesture.

“Don’t be scared, come here. I have something to ask.”

“…What is it?”

“Have you seen this person?”

The man held out his phone to show a photo. The face in the photo was someone Yiwon knew well. It was Kim Sunwoo. The creditor Yiwon had inherited along with Haeundang.

“…Yes.”

At the small sound Yiwon let slip, the man’s gaze turned sharp.

“Director.”

One of the thugs the man brought picked up a business card from the trash can and held it out. It was a business-card-sized advertisement flyer filled with loan information.

[Immediate Same-Day Loan] Non-face-to-face / Unemployed / Lowest commission Financial difficulties? <Sunwoo Finance> will solve them for you Cheap daily interest! Perfect secrecy guaranteed!

“It seems certain that he has already started his activities.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I beat the guy we caught here, and he confessed that they conspired for the job.”

“Can you catch him?”

“I can. I’ve stationed the boys all around the village, and there’s no trace of him getting out. He won’t last a few days like this. Just leave it to me.”

The man still seemed to be contemplating something. Hmm, making a low sound in his throat, he tilted his head toward Yiwon and asked.

“Do you see him often?”

“Not often, but occasionally.”

“How long has it been since you saw his face?”

“It’s been a while. Quite a long time….”

The man’s eyes demanded he continue with a more detailed explanation.

“Everyone around here, not just in Yonggung-ri, probably knows him. It’s a business that’s been lending money for quite a while.”

As Yiwon muttered pensively, the scar, Oh Taesik, clenched his fist and said.

“Without weighing this or that, I’ll wait here, snatch him up, and wring his neck!”

“Taesik, I told you it’s not that this time.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

“Did you really understand?”

“I understood.”

“Let’s do a good job.”

“Yes, Director.”

While feeling relieved that there was someone else they were looking for, he also felt a chill down his spine. So does that mean he’s going to wring his neck or not? If by any chance they actually did something to his neck, what was he supposed to do then…?

“You heard, right?”

He wanted to say he hadn’t heard. Stay calm. While he clenched his trembling hands, the man continued speaking as he sat on the edge of the wooden veranda.

“I came to catch that guy.”

“…He’s not someone staying here, though.”

The man looked up at Yiwon, propping himself up on the wooden veranda with one hand.

“You said you see him occasionally. If I stay like this, I’ll run into him once.”