Midday Guest Chapter 8

Maybe I should have just said I didn’t know. Why do clever solutions always come to mind too late? Yiwon swallowed a sigh that was trying to escape and blinked. The man let out a heavy sigh, his face deeply contorted.

“It’s hot. Do you have anything to drink?”

“There’s water.”

The man laughed as if it were absurd.

“You said this is a guesthouse. Don’t you sell coffee?”

“I don’t sell it.”

Watching his reaction, Yiwon asked again.

“Shall I go buy some soda for you?”

“Give me water, then.”

The man then turned his head and looked down at the Haeundang yard and the sea visible beyond it.

Somehow, it didn’t seem like he would be leaving anytime soon.

Yiwon considered telling him that this was inconvenient and asking him to leave, but then stopped. Although they were talking normally for now, there was no telling when things might change or if he might end up being rolled up in a straw mat like that assailant.

Yiwon quietly headed to the kitchen.

He took a water bottle out of the refrigerator and poured a glass. After hesitating for a moment, he poured several more glasses. It was because the man’s staff, who were standing guard out in the scorching sun, had crossed his mind.

He went out to the wooden veranda with a tray piled high with glasses.

“Here you go.”

The man grabbed a glass and spoke with a voice laced with a hint of a smile.

“It’s been a really long time since I’ve had barley tea.”

“…….”

“I’ll enjoy it.”

“…Yes.”

The man emptied half the glass in one go and set it down on the veranda. Wanting to put some distance between himself and the man, Yiwon headed toward the yard with the tray.

The thugs downed their drinks on the spot and placed the empty cups back on the tray. Then, they said “Thanks for the drink” in stiff voices and bowed in a disciplined posture. Yiwon bowed back in a flurry and thought to himself.

Are they the same kind of people as Kim Sunwoo?

Running Haeundang, Yiwon had met all sorts of people and was used to most situations, but dealing with people who fell into this category was still difficult and taxing.

Yiwon fled back to the kitchen to organize the empty glasses. He was diligently scrubbing the few cups and even polishing them to a shine with a dry towel when the man, propping his hand against the kitchen doorframe—which was about a head lower than him—looked up at him.

“I wondered what you were doing tucked away in the corner.”

“…Can I get you something?”

The man peered into the kitchen for a moment and then shook his head.

“I’m going.”

He almost cheered at the welcome news.

“Keep a close eye out to see if that bastard shows up. I’ll be back to ask you again.”

His happiness didn’t even last three seconds before it withered away, and the spot was filled with the overwhelming sound of summer cicadas.

He was coming back.

It was truly a dizzying thing to hear.

☼

[There are no room reservations today]

The phone alarm rang heartlessly. It seemed the off-season was truly the off-season. Seeing as there hadn’t been a single inquiry about staying, let alone a reservation, for several days.

Yiwon sat on the wooden veranda and stared at the rain-soaked yard. Rain was pouring down as if a hole had been pierced in the sky.

If he didn’t send the money by today, Kim Sunwoo would come looking for him….

The thought of putting up with Kim Sunwoo’s rowdiness just because he was short by a hundred thousand won made him wonder how things had come to this. Yiwon, who was looking into his management app, turned on his messenger. It felt like he could hear a voice of temptation in his ear.

Should I try borrowing a little from a friend?

He immediately shook his head to clear the thought. If he solved this month, what about next month? This wasn’t a problem that could be solved that way.

“…Haaah.”

On hot days, he had no appetite because of the heat, and on days like today, he had no appetite because of worry. He thought of snacks, but with the rain pouring like this, even going to the supermarket was a chore.

From then on, he spent his time sitting on the veranda, repeatedly checking his phone once and looking out the main gate once.

He was worried that Kim Sunwoo might burst in, so he couldn’t do anything else or even kill time with a nap.

I wish I could just be swept away by the rain and float far out into the sea.

While he was having such thoughts while staring blankly at the murky sea, he heard a car entering the path leading to Haeundang.

…Could it be that he’s already here?

The mere thought made his heart feel like it was going to burst.

Yiwon checked the time first.

3:00 PM.

The time Kim Sunwoo came to collect money was relatively consistent. In the morning when he was hounding, and in the evening when he was collecting.

Wondering why Kim Sunwoo would visit at such an odd time, he jumped up from his seat. Out of habit, he also reached for and put on his straw hat and sunglasses.

It was just as he stepped down from the floor with a pale face and stood below the wooden veranda. A black umbrella revealed itself beyond the main gate.

The other person looked at Yiwon with an expression of disbelief. It was the same for Yiwon, who stared at the other person with a flustered face.

A man dressed in a black suit under a black umbrella. The moment he confirmed the man’s face, Yiwon froze in his tracks.

“…Oh.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone run out barefoot.”

The man said so with a voice full of amusement. Yiwon, who had been dazed, lowered his gaze. The splashing rainwater was tickling his white insteps.

“With the rain pouring down like this.”

It was just as Yiwon faltered and took a step back. The rain that had been pouring over his straw hat and shoulders suddenly ceased. Only in a circle around where Yiwon was standing.

He slowly lifted his head.

A well-shaped hand gripping a pitch-black umbrella handle. Following it way up, he saw the man.

The man held the umbrella high and brought Yiwon inside it.

Because he was wearing sunglasses, his vision was very dark. Being under a black umbrella on a rainy day made it even more so.

Yiwon looked up at the man with a bewildered face.

The rain beat fiercely against the umbrella.

“You’re all soaked.”

The smell of rain, the smell of earth. A strange fragrance mingled between them.

“Well, I’m all soaked too.”

The man’s gaze headed downward.

The black shoes standing across from the white feet, and the hem of the suit pants covering them, were soaked in a gradient. The man slightly lifted a foot and smiled.

“Let’s go inside.”

“…Where, to?”

“Is there anywhere else to go right now besides your guesthouse?”

“…….”

“What about that guy.”

The “guy” the man was referring to must mean Kim Sunwoo. Yiwon glanced to the side and spoke carefully.

“He hasn’t come.”

Not yet. While he swallowed those words, the man stepped up under the eaves of the roof. Yiwon, who had been under the same umbrella, ended up standing side-by-side with him.

“I see.”

The man, answering briefly, folded the umbrella, shook the water off toward the yard, and leaned it against the wall. By the time Yiwon came to his senses, the man had already sat down on the wooden veranda, taken off his shoes, and even rolled up his pant legs.

The man looked up at the cloudy sky with an expressionless face.

“It’s really coming down.”

An employee who caught the small mutter approached him.

“They say it will continue to rain until dawn.”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon.”

“Will you be alright?”

“Yeah.”

The voice of the employee asking after him was quite serious. The man’s voice in response was also low and subdued. Did something happen? Observed that way, the man’s appearance seemed perfectly fine.

The man cast a glance toward the guest room. After staring calmly and quietly, he tossed out a remark in a light tone.

“Might as well rest for a bit before going.”

He’s going to do what?

He heard something unbelievable. Yiwon swallowed hard.

“Give me a room.”

“…….”

“Why are you silent? Did you close the business in the meantime?”

“…No.”

“Then take a guest.”

He didn’t have an impulsive personality like Kim Sunwoo, but he was a person who overwhelmed his surroundings with a strange sense of weight. Judging by the way he dragged the assailant away without any emotional agitation, he might be someone hiding something even greater than Kim Sunwoo.

Yiwon decided to pull out one of his go-to phrases for difficult situations.

“I’m sorry, but there are only four rooms used for the guesthouse. I think it would be difficult for everyone to stay together.”

“Aw, then that’s a problem.”

The man’s employee who had come up under the eaves, the scar Oh Taesik, grumbled and lost his temper.

“What about that room over there? It’d be perfect for the Director.”

“…That’s my room.”

“You’re sprawling out in the best room, I see.”

It felt like Yiwon wouldn’t have a word to say even if he were told to move his things out immediately. However, although Oh Taesik grumbled, he didn’t seize the room. Should he call it a relief? While Yiwon remained frozen in place, Oh Taesik, who had inspected the rooms with his own eyes, bowed his waist to the man and said.

“The Director can use one room, and I’ll have a few of the boys from below use the small one.”

The man, dressed in a soft-looking black shirt, a tie tightened perfectly at the collar, and a suit jacket draped calmly over his broad shoulders, waved his hand toward Oh Taesik.

“That’s enough, you guys head out.”

“Pardon?”

“I said go. All of you.”

“…Even so, you should keep at least one or two by your side.”

“Didn’t you hear the owner here?”

Oh Taesik scratched the back of his head and withdrew with a “Yes.”

The man’s gaze scanned up Yiwon’s body from bottom to top. Moving slowly, he snapped his fingers to pull Yiwon’s gaze to him.

“You, there.”

“…….”

“Check me in.”