Chapter 24
“Each of us gets a market?”
At the unexpected suggestion, everyone looked at one another with bewildered expressions.
Im Sang-ok calmly continued his explanation.
“Each haengsu will take charge of one market and help the merchants there. It’s not as though we’ll find some special solution just by all going around together in a group, is it?”
“That is true……”
He was right.
In truth, even if the haengsus took action, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
It wasn’t as though customers would suddenly flock to the markets, or goods would suddenly fly off the shelves, or rain would suddenly pour down.
In the face of a natural disaster like a heat wave, everything was useless. All they could do was go to the markets, lend a hand with the work, and keep the merchants company.
But even that could be comforting.
Im Sang-ok knew all too well that it was a helping hand extended during difficult times that moved people’s hearts.
Now was the time to win their hearts rather than sell them goods.
Im Sang-ok instructed them to help the merchants.
“Any method is fine. So long as it doesn’t go against morality. Help the merchants in every way you can, both materially and emotionally. The market can’t survive unless they survive, can it?”
“Indeed…!”
Some of the haengsus seemed inspired by Im Sang-ok’s words, passion visible in their eyes.
“Those are absolutely the right words.”
“All the more reason for us to step up at a time like this!”
“We can’t give up over a little heat like this!”
That was the end of today’s meeting.
There were no concrete goals or plans to speak of.
But simply inspiring them with the determination to save the markets could be considered sufficiently positive.
“Then I’m counting on you.”
“Leave it to us!”
And so, the meeting concluded with each haengsu taking responsibility for managing one market.
***
A short while later.
Even though the meeting had ended, many of the haengsus were still gathered in the main hall.
Their main topic of conversation was the markets they would be responsible for from now on.
“Which market did you get?”
“I got Dongmun Market.”
“Oh dear, that’s quite a ways away.”
“Then which one did you get?”
“I got Namsan Market.”
“What? That’s practically right in front of you!”
“And what’s the good of it being right in front of me? Namsan Market is tiny, so hardly anyone goes there.”
The markets had been assigned fairly through a drawing of lots.
In business, location was half the battle.
This month’s performance would be determined by which market they drew.
It was obvious that the larger and better-located markets would produce higher sales. On the other hand, markets tucked away in corners or located in places difficult for people to reach would be much harder to generate sales from.
The haengsus continued their conversation.
“Ugh, I’m already starting to sweat…”
“In weather like this, no one is going to come outside…”
The closer it got to noon, the hotter the sunlight became.
Fortunately, this place was shaded. If they had been standing under the scorching sun, the heat would have been so intense that they wouldn’t have been able to stand there for even five minutes.
Hayun, who had lived through summers surrounded by all sorts of modern conveniences in the present day until recently, found it even harder to endure.
‘Ah… If only I could feel the breeze from an air conditioner, I wouldn’t ask for anything else.’
Experiencing such sweltering heat for the first time in her life, Hayun could barely keep her head together.
That was when…
“Ha-seong.”
“Hm? Me?”
Han Seong-deok approached Hayun, who had been standing there blankly, lost in thought.
“Yeah, you idiot. Who else named Ha-seong is here besides you?”
“Ah, right. I’m Ha-seong, aren’t I?”
“Did the heat get to you? Why are you rambling so much today?”
Han Seong-deok looked at Hayun with an expression of incomprehension at her confusion over her own name.
“Anyway, which market did you get?”
“Me? They said Eun-pyeong Market.”
“Eun-pyeong Market?”
Upon hearing the name of the market Hayun had been assigned, Han Seong-deok’s eyes widened.
“Why? Is there some problem?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Han Seong-deok held his tongue.
Eun-pyeong Market, which Hayun had been assigned to, had once been one of the most prosperous markets in Uiju.
But when a fire burned down the entire market, everything disappeared overnight. The shops, the goods, and even the merchants. Everything had been reduced to ashes.
As the years passed, there were rumors that the market had been restored to some degree, but getting people who had stopped coming there to return was anything but easy.
Eventually, Eun-pyeong Market gradually faded from people’s memories and, at some point, came to be regarded as though it had never existed at all.
That had already been ten years ago.
‘It’s been a long time, so it should have gotten a little better, at least.’
Recalling his old memories of Eun-pyeong Market, Han Seong-deok tried to comfort Hayun.
“It’s a bit tough because it’s far away… but if it’s you, Ha-seong, I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“I’ve got to get going. Take care.”
“You too.”
After giving that brief advice, Han Seong-deok left.
He wasn’t in a position to worry about others right now. He needed to revive the market he had been assigned as quickly as possible, too.
As his pace quickened, so did Han Seong-deok’s worries.
“Heh heh.”
Meanwhile.
From not far away, Song Do-hyeon, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, let out a meaningful chuckle.
‘Eun-pyeong Market…’
Ten years ago.
The sight of Eun-pyeong Market reduced to ashes was still vivid in his mind.
At the time, Song Do-hyeon, who had been a servant, had been assigned to the restoration work at Eun-pyeong Market, and he remembered laboring there for days on end.
No matter how outstanding Im Ha-seong’s abilities were, reviving that place would be close to impossible.
The very foundations that made up the market had all burned away, so how could anyone possibly bring it back to life?
It would be the same even after twenty years, not just ten.
If they wanted to revive Eun-pyeong Market, they would need support from the government office at the very least.
“There’s no doubt I’ll win this competition. Heh heh.”
Leaving Hayun, who was still wilting from the heat, behind, Song Do-hyeon leisurely walked away.
***
“Huff, huff. I’m really going to collapse at this rate.”
After finally making it to Eun-pyeong Market by a circuitous route, Hayun wiped the beads of sweat from her face.
In this era, when there were no cars, buses, or bicycles, the only means of transportation were one’s own two feet.
“This really is too much. Coming all the way to a market this far away.”
It was the kind of heat that made her not want to go anywhere, not even somewhere right in front of her, let alone a market.
If it hadn’t been an order, Hayun would have managed her work indoors for at least this month.
Going outside and expending her energy in weather like this was disadvantageous in many ways. Once she worked up a heavy sweat, she simply couldn’t bring herself to do any other work.
But merchants who needed to earn even a few pennies a day just to make a living had no choice but to head to the market, swallowing their frustration.
Knowing how they felt, Hayun had also struggled all the way here.
But…
“Th-this is the market?”
Upon seeing Eun-pyeong Market, Hayun was at a loss for words.
Every single stall was covered in dust, and the alleyways were so desolate that there wasn’t even an ant in sight.
There were even shops presumed to have gone out of business long ago that still remained like abandoned houses, creating a bleak atmosphere.
It was almost astonishing that the market was still operating at all in such a state.
‘Now I understand why Seong-deok reacted like that.’
Hayun finally understood the expression Han Seong-deok had worn earlier.
That was when…
“A-a customer!”
“Hey, everyone, come out quickly! We’ve got a customer!”
“What? A customer?”
As someone showed their face at the entrance of the market, the merchants came rushing out in a swarm like cockroaches.
“Huh?”
They surrounded Hayun and began enthusiastically hawking their wares.
“What kind of goods are you looking for? If you’ve come all the way here, you can’t be looking for ordinary goods.”
“I don’t know what you’re buying, but you’d better hurry. You never know when everyone might close up shop.”
“We may look like this, but we’ve got everything you could need. Just tell us what you’re looking for. We’ll get you anything.”
“Don’t go saying you’re just going to look around and come back. I’m keeping an eye on you.”
There was a desperate look in the eyes of the merchants surrounding Hayun.
Unless they had gotten lost, almost no customers came to Eun-pyeong Market.
And in this sweltering weather, even fewer.
“It’s just that……”
It was difficult for Hayun to tell them outright that she wasn’t a customer.
She finally managed to speak.
“I’m… not here to buy anything.”
“Then?”
The surroundings suddenly fell silent.
The merchants quietly waited for Hayun’s next words.
“My name is Im Ha-seong, from Mansang.”
“What? From Mansang?”
“You weren’t a customer?”
Upon learning that Hayun had come from Mansang, disappointment appeared on the merchants’ faces.
“Ah, what a letdown…”
“Of course, there’s no way a customer would come to a place like this…”
“Tch, looks like today’s sales are shot too.”
Then one merchant crossed his arms and asked gruffly,
“But why’d Mansang come all the way here? You lot haven’t shown your faces around here for the past few years.”
“If you’ve come to offer us goods, you’d best forget about it. We all barely make enough to live from one day to the next.”
Certainly, putting Mansang’s goods into a place like this was unreasonable. That was why none of the other haengsus had come here during that time.
They had only forced Eun-pyeong Market into the assignment because there weren’t enough markets for each person to take one.
If it hadn’t been for this situation, no one would ever have come looking for Eun-pyeong Market again.
And Hayun had been given the task of reviving that very market.
Hayun calmly began trying to persuade them.
“It’s not that. I’ve come to help all of you.”
“To help us?”
“How is Mansang supposed to help us?”
“We’ll have to think about that little by little from now on.”
Even though Hayun said she had come to help, the merchants’ reactions were lukewarm at best.
“You’re saying you’re going to revive a place that no one has managed to save for the past ten years? Oh, please. You really think you can do that?”
“If a market that had someone from Mansang come by could be revived, it’d have been revived long ago.”
“We’re only hanging on here because we have no other choice. If I were even a little younger, I’d have left this place long ago.”
“I appreciate the thought, but don’t strain yourself too much. This is a dead market anyway.”
Just as the merchants said with self-deprecation, Eun-pyeong Market was closer to a shantytown than a market.
The shops had been roughly cobbled together from scraps of wooden planks, and more than half of those were riddled with holes.
Rainwater dripped from the ceilings, and whenever fierce gusts of wind blew through, even the planks that had barely been fastened together would often be torn away.
If someone hadn’t told her that this was a market, its desolate appearance would have made it difficult to believe.
‘There really isn’t an answer here….’
She had thought of several possible solutions, but she hadn’t expected the place to be this badly ruined.
Everything she had prepared was useless in this situation. Infrastructure that was practically nonexistent. A remote location tucked away beneath the mountain. And the merchants’ hearts, which had been reduced to ashes.
On top of that, there wasn’t even a decent patch of shade, so expecting anyone to come here in this heat wave was unreasonable.
Everything about the place was simply the worst.
‘How on earth am I supposed to fix this place?’
For once, Hayun couldn’t hide the bewilderment on her face.
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