By Zephyria After forcibly pushing Chief Yoon, who was clearly annoyed, into the department store, Lee Do-hyeon sat alone in the car and looked at the documents Chief Yoon had sent him by email. According to Chief Yoon, who claimed to have researched the data himself, quite a few people remained in Wolhyeon-dong even during the redevelopment project promoted by a large construction company a few years ago. The redevelopment project was scrapped, possibly due to unsuccessful negotiations in the process of obtaining resident consent, and since then, houses began to leave one by one, leading to the present situation.
Each time his long fingers moved, the documents filling the tablet screen slowly scrolled down. Perhaps Chief Yoon had arranged the documents in order of address, as the documents related to Ryu Jeong were at the very end. Before that, there were a few houses where fathers and sons lived together, and some houses where elderly people lived alone. Among them, he intuitively knew that the Grandmother with the surname Jeong was the one who Ryu Jeong often got food from when he was young.
The offer to send gifts was actually only for Ryu Jeong. He acted as if he would give him his side right away, but when he asked for his address, he bristled like a cat and became wary, so he ended up mentioning residents who had nothing to do with this matter. It seemed that the residents who were not even related by blood were quite precious to him. When he said that he would provide them with meat and fruit, his hesitant face unknowingly brightened. It was a hassle for Do Hwon, but he intended to keep his word since he had already said it.
“Everything is loaded, President.”
“Okay. Good job.”
He called Chief Yoon, who was resting on Sunday because he had no plans. Chief Yoon, who was busy just resting at home even though he had no plans, couldn’t hide his annoyed expression at his superior’s sudden call. If it weren’t for the fact that his bank account showed an amount far exceeding the average office worker’s salary, he would have quit immediately. Chief Yoon swallowed his complaints, recalling the balance in his bank account from the recent payday.
Lee Do-hyeon suddenly told him to go to the department store, gave Chief Yoon his personal card, and ordered him to buy several boxes of fruit baskets with a suitable composition. He did as he was told for now, but it wasn’t easy to carry and load those large, heavy fruit boxes into the car alone. Chief Yoon, wiping the sweat from his forehead despite the cool weather, pulled the seatbelt and asked with a puzzled voice.
“But why did you insist on coming here instead of going to our department store? Even based on last year’s sales, this is our competitor. I heard we fell behind in the third quarter as well.”
He seemed to not understand why they were spending money, not just a few pennies, at a competitor’s store instead of going to a local fruit shop. He felt the gaze through the rearview mirror, but Lee Do-hyeon continued to look at the tablet.
“Well, if I spend money at our department store, it goes into Lee Gyu-hyeon’s wallet.”
He hated even imagining making Lee Gyu-hyeon’s stomach full with his money when he was probably lazing around like a playboy. The reason was that he didn’t want to do anything good for Lee Gyu-hyeon, even if it meant increasing the sales of a competitor. It was a childish reason if you just listened to it, but Chief Yoon, knowing the circumstances, nodded his head, acknowledging that it was understandable.
“Where should we go now?”
“Livestock market.”
“Why the livestock market… I’ll start driving.”
Following fruit, now meat. Chief Yoon, who sensed that he would have to go through the same hardship at the livestock market as he did at the department store’s food section, swallowed a sigh. If they had gone to Younggang’s department store from the beginning, he wouldn’t have had to lift a finger to load things into the car. He wondered who the person was that made him go through so much trouble.
“Who is it? He’s young.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about. Don’t try to probe me and speak properly.”
“That friend who lives in Wolhyeon-dong. His name was… Ryu Jeong, wasn’t it? Aren’t the fruit boxes and meat all related to that friend?”
“…Chief Yoon, are you stalking me these days?”
Lee Do-hyeon raised his eyes and asked with a suspicious voice while looking at the tablet. Then, an absurd gaze came over from the rearview mirror.
“Do you think I’m that free?”
“You’re free enough to be doing this with me on a Sunday.”
“It’s natural for an office worker who works five days a week to be free on Sunday. You’re the one who dragged me out when I was finally resting.”
He realized that what he said wasn’t wrong. Lee Do-hyeon raised his eyebrows, acknowledging the error in his question. Taking advantage of the slightly relaxed atmosphere, Do Hwon, who had been thinking about something for a while, put the tablet he was looking at on his lap.
“A young kid lives alone.”
“I know. It’s unfortunate that he’s young. Twenty-three is still a kid.”
“But he’s doing more than one or two jobs. He has two jobs during the day, and he goes to work at night and works at a convenience store all night long.”
Oh my, that’s terrible. Chief Yoon, who had been listening indifferently, sighed as if he felt sorry for him.
“Isn’t it strange? He might not be earning as much as working at a company, but he’s still living in a place like that even after working so hard. He says he needs a lot of money, but what is he spending that much money on at that age?”
“Usually… it’s related to gambling.”
“He doesn’t seem interested in that kind of thing. He’s too nice to say no.”
Lee Do-hyeon’s voice suddenly grew louder. Chief Yoon, who was forced to look straight ahead because of driving, blinked his eyes as if he was dumbfounded. He wasn’t directly calling him a gambler, but he was frowning and defending the young kid as if he was the one who was offended. It was very awkward.
“If you think about it in a healthy way, it’s only saving. Or maybe it’s for college tuition.”
“He doesn’t go to school. I’m telling you, he only works.”
“Then you can only think about it in an unhealthy way. If it’s not gambling… I can’t think of anything other than debt.”
“What kind of debt would he have at that age?”
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be his own debt. It could be his family’s debt.”
“So you’re saying his parents passed on their debt to their child?”
“President, you know better than anyone that there aren’t only ideal parent-child relationships in the world.”
Lee Do-hyeon closed his mouth at the sharp remark. He rested his elbow on the window frame, covered his chin and mouth with his cupped hand, and looked out the window with a seriously distorted expression.
Chief Yoon couldn’t understand Lee Do-hyeon, who was getting so worked up as if it were his own business.
“So you feel sorry for him? Is that why you’re concerned?”
“I never imagined that I would have compassion for someone. You know that I don’t even have time to feel sorry for anyone.”
“I know. So what do you want to do? You bought too much for just taking care of that one kid. If he lives alone, he wouldn’t want to spend money on fruit, and he’ll probably end up throwing away most of this because he can’t eat it all.”
“I’m not just giving it to him. I made a promise with him.”
“Why don’t you give it to me? I’ve been living alone since I was in college.”
“You make good money.”
“You’re the one who gives me that money.”
While the two were bickering, the car driven by Chief Yoon arrived in Majang-dong. Just like at the department store, Lee Do-hyeon only handed over his card, and Chief Yoon had to handle everything. Unlike at the department store, where they didn’t know that Chief Yoon was a close aide to the owner’s family of a competitor, Lee Do-hyeon knew the store owner, so they were able to get help from the livestock market to load the car.
Loading several boxes of fruit and meat that were not just superficially fancy but clearly showed that he had spent money carefully, it felt like the car wasn’t moving forward even when he stepped on the accelerator. At this rate, the car would break down. Instead of making him do this, they could have just ordered it online and had it delivered. At the very least, they could have just paid at the store and added the delivery fee.
“By the way, Chief Yoon. Do you have separate sneakers to carry around?”
“I do. Why?”
“Change into those later. You can’t do it with the dress shoes you’re wearing now.”
“Why when I’m wearing them just fine…”
Chief Yoon, who was suddenly told to change his shoes, reluctantly said he understood. Then, a little later, he realized that the final destination after the Majang-dong livestock market was not a delivery company’s office but the Moon Village of Wolhyeon-dong, and he screamed silently.