By Zephyria 
It was a clean Cutback.
Morae, who stood up on the white-breaking foam of the wave in an instant, immediately turned her board and zigzagged across the curve of the incoming wave.
The dazzling movements, never missing the flow of the wave, elicited cheers from several people watching from the beach.
The quality of the waves was good, thanks to the wind blowing steadily from the distant eastern sea. Even from my perspective, having only observed surfing for years without ever riding a board myself, the conditions were perfect for leisurely enjoying the sport.
The sky and the sea were like a decalcomania on a piece of paper folded in half. Like an accidental marbling created by mixing blue and white paints under light pressure.
White clouds in a blue sky. White waves in a blue sea.
About ten people were waiting in the Lineup to catch waves, but Morae was the only surfer who actually caught a wave and rode it leisurely to the shore.
Her balance on the board was so perfect that it was hard to believe she was floating on the water, relying on nothing but a 6-foot 7-inch plank.
There was no sense of precariousness or danger. She looked more comfortable and free than someone riding a bicycle on land, and the wave was like a carpet carrying her. A magic carpet from an old tale from a faraway land.
“Wow… what would it feel like to ride like that?”
“Amazing. I’d have no regrets if I could just ride like that once.”
The people taking a lesson, only about 10 meters away from where I sat, stopped paddling their arms and marveled at Morae’s surfing. Their admiration soon turned into urging their instructor.
“Instructor, when can we ride like that?”
Hani Hyung, who had been facing the sea towards his students, casually turned his head, confirmed that Morae was the subject of their admiration, and sighed. His frown was clearly visible even over his sunglasses.
“The surfer you’re admiring right now has 7 years of surfing experience, and her ocean swimming experience… well, you could say she’s been floating in the sea since she started walking. But what about you guys?”
“……”
They were beginners, touching a board for the first time today, practicing paddling by flailing their arms while their styrofoam boards lay upside down on the sand.
At Hyung’s blunt honesty, their shoulders slumped. They looked like people gazing up at a summit from the foot of a high mountain before climbing it.
April.
The weather was still too chilly to enjoy swimming, but as soon as the temperature recovered enough to allow people to enter the sea wearing Wetsuits, beginners wanting to learn surfing and experienced surfers alike flocked to the beach. The recent surfing boom had significantly changed the landscape and types of tourism here.
Morae, having finished her surf, walked out of the sea with her board tucked under her arm. She skillfully unzipped her Wetsuit and pulled out her arms, then plopped down next to me.
“Oof! It’s been a while, so it was no joke. Every part of me aches.”
I took a water bottle out of my bag and handed it to her.
This was my first surf of the year in the East Sea. While Hyung and I spent our final days in the military during the winter, Morae had gone on a surfing trip to some island nation in Southeast Asia. But that was already about three months ago.
Despite saying it was hard, her wet face was clearly flushed with excitement. It was the unique energy that emanates from someone doing what they love. The cool, salty sensation of the sea transferred from her beside me.
When I first met her on this beach, arriving on Hyung’s bike, she was surfing. And on that day, when she walked out of the sea, offered me her hand, and smiled, I felt this same warmth and scent.
Perhaps that’s why. Though her name is Morae (sand), she always reminded me of the sea, full of moisture and vitality.
Not the dry, gritty sand spread on a schoolyard or piled up at a construction site, but sand as part of the sea, constantly wet by the incoming waves, changing its shape moment by moment.
It had nothing to do with whether she was an Alpha or not. It was the impression conveyed by Im Morae’s presence, not the action of the reproductive element, Pheromone. Besides, it would have been impossible for me, a Beta, to detect an Alpha’s Pheromone.
“How was it?”
“It was as clean as if you’d been surfing yesterday?”
“Did you surf better than Hani?”
I turned my head to look at Hyung, who was demonstrating for the students by paddling on his styrofoam board. Then, lowering my voice, I replied,
“Noona always surfed better than Hyung.”
Morae also glanced towards Hyung and then smiled at me discreetly, making sure she wasn’t caught.
“I did some special training while you guys were in the military. It’s nice to surf after a long time, but… the waves are too calm. Ah, I want to ride some Big waves!”
That was Morae’s catchphrase lately.
She had described many times the thrill of riding inside the hollow tunnel created when a Big wave curls and collapses, and the mystical feeling of being sucked into a different dimension of nature, not Earth.
Such waves were hard to find in the East Sea. Even Hyung, who had never surfed abroad, had only heard about them and seen them in videos; he had never actually ridden one.
As skilled surfers, they couldn’t be satisfied with just the waves of this sea. They felt a thirst, no matter how long they stayed on the board.
About 7 years ago? This beach, which now had over a dozen surf rental and lesson shops, was then lined only with seafood restaurants and cafes catering to tourists. Morae was the one who first brought a board to this sea.
After trying surfing on the recommendation of a guide during a family trip to Hawaii, she immediately bought a board and returned home. Traveling to a Pacific island and bringing such a large item back to Korea by plane were not difficult tasks for her.
Morae’s father was one of the wealthiest men in the vicinity, owning five or six large fishing boats and several restaurants. As the youngest and only daughter, with only older brothers, he spared no expense for Morae, who was like a cherished, albeit sickly, child born an Alpha.
Influenced by Morae, Hyung naturally took up surfing and was immediately hooked. As soon as the sea warmed enough for their Wetsuits to withstand it, the two would drive to this beach, a 40-minute ride away by bike, and I would sit on the beach like I am now, watching them repeatedly go out to the Lineup and be pushed back to shore, never tiring of it. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say my entire high school years passed like that.
“Shall I teach you? Want to try?”
It was a question I’d heard perhaps a thousand times over five years. My answer was always the same. Fiddling with the water bottle she had returned, I shook my head.
“Aren’t you bored?”
My reaction was the same this time too.
Although Hyung and Morae asked me periodically, they never actively tried to persuade me or force me into the sea. This time too, Morae just laughed, lightly tapping my shoulder with her wet fist. But her laugh held a hint of disappointment and worry that I was still the same even after completing my military service.
She stood up to go back into the sea. I also brushed off my rear and stood up, zipping up her Wetsuit for her. This was my role when either Hyung or Morae was alone.
“Alright, lift your back! Eyes forward, far ahead! Tighten your triceps!”
“Instructor, stop and let’s go to the sea!”
“With that arm strength, you won’t even make it 10 meters forward in the sea. Lift your back more. If you can’t secure your vision, it’s dangerous not only for you but for other surfers too!”
Morae chuckled at Hyung’s stiff, instructor-like tone and loud voice as he corrected the students’ posture and re-emphasized the importance of safety.
“He still hasn’t shaken off his military habits.”
I smiled back at her in agreement. Morae lightly patted my cheek with her cool, wet hand.
“Our Hyun-i is so fresh and clean. Who would think you’re a soldier who just got discharged?”
Soldier.
That’s right. Just a few months before enlisting, the military felt like a completely different realm from high school, like a fully formed adult who had completed their transition to the next stage. But now… I wasn’t even sure what that nearly two-year period had left me with.
“Don’t follow anyone who talks to you, just sit here. Okay?”
If I nodded, she would smile brightly with her face dotted with sea spray, then tuck her board under her arm and head back into the sea.
Crossing the boundary between the sea and the sand without hesitation, she would lift her head fearlessly on the unpredictable sea, just as Hyung was emphasizing to his students, and paddle against the direction of the waves towards the Lineup.
And then, miraculously, she would stand up on the fragile white foam that seemed like it could disappear at any moment.
No matter how many times I watched, no matter how many years passed, it was an astonishing sight.
■ ■ ■
The Fish market was in a state of disarray, preparing for the evening boats that would soon arrive. Auctions were already underway around a few boats that had come in early. Perhaps because the weather had warmed up, tourists were also quite noticeable. Shops selling iceboxes and ice were bustling with activity.
Near the end of the pier leading to the breakwater. I sat perched on a low concrete pillar, built to tie up boats, and turned my gaze towards the sea.
The boats returning to the harbor after their day’s labor were appearing one by one from the distant sea. These were the boats that had gone out fishing at dawn.
A gust of sea breeze carried the smell of the ocean. As the sun set, the rapidly chilling weather made me hunch my shoulders, shoving my hands into the pockets of my transitional jacket.
Hyung had gone out fishing today with Grandfather and Great Uncle. If Hyung wasn’t on the boat, I rarely came to the harbor to wait for their return.
My Great Uncle, Hyung’s father, and our Grandfather had been pressuring Hyung to go out on the boat. This seemed to have started when Hyung was in middle school, even before I came here.
I was given an exemption, but Hyung was not. He had started occasionally going out on the boat in his late elementary school years to run errands, and by the time I came here, he was already fully equipped with the qualities of a fisherman who could contribute significantly.
However, Hyung considered it merely a temporary assistance for his hardworking grandfather and father, and had no intention of becoming a fisherman himself and boarding regularly.
But as if they had been waiting for his discharge, Grandfather and Great Uncle were pushing harder than ever. Their reasoning was that now that he had completed his military service, it was time for him to settle down stably.
Hyung was only twenty-three.
He had been resisting, refusing to go out on the boat at all after his discharge, fearing it would be taken as a sign that he intended to continue fishing, or cause them to expect it. But today, he had gone out to sea.
Morae’s phone had been turned off all day.
Grandfather’s boat came into view. It was a small, used fishing boat purchased by taking out loans from various sources. It was small enough for three strong men—Grandfather, Great Uncle, and Hyung—to fish.
The spot where I was sitting was our boat’s designated mooring. Hyung, standing at the bow and preparing to dock, made eye contact with me.
I caught the rope Hyung threw and tied it to the pillar. Hyung chuckled at my clumsy attempt to catch and secure the rope. Seeing him smile at me confirmed that nothing major had happened, and the tightness in my chest, which had been there all day, eased somewhat.
The catch was instantly transferred from the boat to the Fish market right next to the harbor, and a Fisheries Cooperative employee wearing a red hat gathered the auctioneers with a whistle. It took less than 10 minutes, by my perception, from the boat docking to the goods being awarded to the highest bidder. Everyone involved was a professional.
Without any separate instructions from Grandfather or Great Uncle, as soon as the auction ended, Hyung loaded the goods onto a cart equipped with an Oxygen tank and began delivering them to the winning sashimi restaurant.
As I followed Hyung’s broad back with my eyes, I suddenly felt a change in the air around me and turned my gaze.
“Old man, let me see you for a moment.”
Mr. Im, without even greeting Grandfather, who was his elder, spoke with a frown and immediately turned his back, leading the way.
Excluding outsiders, there wasn’t a single person buying, selling, or handling fish in this Fish market who hadn’t borrowed money from Mr. Im. The elders always said so. Whether exaggerated or not, it wasn’t entirely baseless, and our family was no exception; we owed Mr. Im money.
Grandfather and Mr. Im moved through the gazes of people glancing sideways, pretending not to look, and exited the Fish market, turning around the Fisheries Cooperative building. Once the two disappeared from sight, the surrounding murmurs returned to their original tone.
Only Great Uncle remained, unable to take his eyes off the significant lingering impression left by their vanished figures.
His eyes, deep with wrinkles for his age, peered from under the brim of his hat, which he wore low, from which the fishy smell never seemed to dissipate. His gaze, fixed on the spot where they had disappeared, then resumed the movement of his hands, which had stopped.
His hands, which he plunged into piles of fish with mechanical movements, preparing for the next auction, were tough and thick, as if incapable of feeling any emotion or pain.
My soft hands, which had never even split a fish open, suddenly felt like hands that had stabbed someone and were stained with blood, burdened by guilt. I instinctively hid them in my jacket pockets.
■ ■ ■
Grandfather said he would kill Hyung.
He slammed the floor with a long pole set up in the yard, shouting that a fool who didn’t know his place and defiled his parents’ faces had to be beaten to death.
“You… where do you think you’re reaching, you bastard!”
Grandfather seemed less like Seo Yi-han’s grandfather and more like Im Morae’s grandfather.
“You took Mr. Im’s daughter and went… where do you think you’re going? Did you want to see this old man groveling as a sinner in front of Mr. Im, you son of a bitch!”
The pole struck the ground again with a sharp crack.
“Who said I took her? Who’s spreading such lies? I’ll tear their mouths apart!”
Hyung wasn’t entirely submissive either. I could picture his face, flushed with anger, shouting even while sitting in the room.
“Shut up! You’re the one whose mouth will be torn apart for taking a precious daughter to a motel, you punk!”
Morae and Hyung had been dating since middle school, and around high school, Morae’s family began to exert pressure when rumors about their relationship surfaced.
The pressure, which had initially been expressed only by occasional disapproval, as they thought the two were just young and would break up, gradually turned into concrete and substantial threats after Hyung’s discharge from the military.
A few days ago, after surfing, the two of them and I had parted ways, and I had returned home first. Hyung had returned late that night. It seemed someone had seen the two of them entering a motel and reported it to Morae’s father.
In such a small fishing village, such love affairs still became interesting gossip. The village was full of rumors about who was having an affair with whom, who had run away abandoning their children, and so on.
“People saw you taking Mr. Im’s only daughter to a motel… How do you think Mr. Im feels, you damn fool. No matter how much you try, Mr. Im will never give his daughter to you! Don’t you know that yet? Why are you chasing a chicken that won’t be caught, when you’re bound to be a dog looking up at the roof?!”
Although I wasn’t there, I knew without seeing that Hyung hadn’t taken Morae; they had gone together. While the conclusion that they went to a motel was the same, the two expressions carried entirely different meanings.
“Who asked that man for Morae? Is Morae his property? If she were your child, would you give her to someone else?”
“Stop talking like a naive child! Would someone from a family like that give their own child to a nobody like you?!”
Grandfather believed that the reason Morae’s parents opposed their relationship was due to their family’s declining status, but in reality, it was a more complex issue.
Grandfather and the other adults didn’t know Morae was an Alpha. In this village, besides Morae’s family, only Hyung and I knew she was an Alpha.
Alphas, said to be one in every 1,000 people in the country, were mostly concentrated in areas with high income and education levels. According to the statistics, this small fishing village of about 30,000 people should have around 30 Alphas, but in reality, there seemed to be only two or three. They were people who were merely ‘biological Alphas’ with little difference from Betas.
Most people, even in their lifetime, would find it difficult to even glimpse an Alpha with powerful pheromones and reproductive capabilities like the Golden Alphas depicted as protagonists in dramas and movies. Even if such an Alpha were born here, they would likely leave for a big city to utilize their advantageous conditions for success.
In this small fishing village, where Betas were the absolute majority and the average age was high, Alphas or Omegas were not viewed favorably. Discrimination against female Alphas and male Omegas was particularly severe. To them, female Alphas and male Omegas were nothing more than disgusting mutants.
That was the reason Morae’s family had lived in secrecy about her being an Alpha.
I don’t know the extent of her Alpha power, or how a female Alpha’s reproductive functions specifically worked, but it was difficult for her to conceive with a male Beta. It was almost impossible.
Because of that, Morae’s family opposed her meeting Hyung, a male Beta, and if she had even suggested pairing with a female Omega, it felt like one of them would stage a suicide attempt.
I can somewhat understand their feelings, wanting her to live a ‘flawless and smooth life in the eyes of others’ as a family member.
The problem was that she herself wanted ‘a life with Seo Yi-han’ more than ‘a flawless and smooth life in the eyes of others.’
The next problem was that her family was convinced she would surely regret her current choice.
To be able to make such strong assertions and guarantees about the future of others, not oneself. I can’t even utter a single word about my own future.
“Look at your Great Uncle. He insisted on a marriage his family opposed, and look at him now. Huh? Why waste energy on something that won’t work? You’re not in a position to waste your strength like that! Are you not thinking of your grandfather or father, who struggle to even hoist nets as they get older?”
My father’s sudden mention made me cover my ears, but it was no use. Grandfather was dredging up other family wounds, completely unrelated to the issue at hand.
“Why is Great Uncle’s story coming up? Fuck, can’t you just talk sense!”
Hyung kicked something, be it a washbasin or a bucket, and swore.
“You idiot, listen carefully to what Grandfather is saying.”
Grandfather’s tone, which had been boiling until now, suddenly changed. Unlike his previous shouting, regardless of whether the neighbors could hear, his voice was choked as if someone had grabbed his throat. It was as if the real point was about to be made.
“If you don’t do as I say, you don’t know what Mr. Im will do to you, you punk! For his daughter’s sake… he’s the kind of man who wouldn’t bat an eye to cripple someone like you, who has nothing. The only reason he hasn’t done anything to you until now is because he didn’t want to upset his daughter, not because he couldn’t! Listen to Grandfather. Break it off today. If you absolutely can’t bear to part, then go work on a deep-sea fishing boat for about a year. Listen to me, you bastard!”
Mr. Im.
Morae’s father, who was called ‘Mr. Im’ around here, not because he was a teacher by profession, nor because he was so knowledgeable in a field or commanded such respect, but simply because he was called that.
Unlike before, when he had just been irrationally angry, he was different now. After hearing something from ‘Mr. Im’ behind the Fisheries Cooperative building, Grandfather muttered fearfully.
The commotion only subsided temporarily when Hyung ran out of the house, but we were no longer so young as to not know this was just the beginning.
They wouldn’t stop.
Mr. Im would try to separate Morae and Hyung, and Grandfather and Great Uncle would try to put Hyung on a boat. That was their idea of ‘human duty,’ and their idea of Im Morae and Seo Yi-han’s ‘happiness.’ At least, they believed it was the path to avoid ‘unhappiness.’
I sat blankly in the room, exposed to Grandfather’s continued curses and the bickering between Grandfather and Great Uncle, who blamed each other, even after Hyung had stormed out.
When I first came here, this room was a mess. Clothes, comic books, surfing magazines were scattered about haphazardly, and on the low desk, unread reference books and textbooks were precariously stacked.
I, who had been shoved into a corner like one of those discarded items, started organizing the room by opening the window a few days later.
I arranged the magazines and comic books in order of publication, and sorted clothes by season and color before folding them into drawers. I organized textbooks and reference books by consonant and vowel. If Hyung messed it up, I tidied it again.
The only thing in this room I didn’t touch was a single photograph Hyung had taped to the wall.
Behind exotic palm trees backlit by the sunset, the silhouettes of two people surfing on a red sea were captured as tiny specks. The photo, which Hyung had torn from some magazine, had been in that spot since I arrived here five years ago.
Hyung used to say, as if it were a habit, that he would go live somewhere like that someday. He never said with whom, but Morae was naturally included in Hyung’s future. It was a naturalness that didn’t even require separate mention. They were two people who had never, not for a single moment, imagined anyone other than each other in their lives.
I tried to focus my consciousness on the photo, its corners curled and its color faded.
Bali… I spoke aloud the name of the exotic place Hyung had taught me.
“Those heartless bastards who don’t even glance our way, whether they’re sons or not, when this whole mess erupts in the family,” Grandfather’s curses were now directed at us father and son.
I was worried about Morae, but I couldn’t even send a message, fearing it might give the family an excuse to target us.
■ ■ ■
“Seo Yi-hyun. Seo Yi-hyun, wake up.”
I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I was curled up on the bare floor, still in the clothes I wore to the harbor.
It was Hyung who woke me. His eyes shone unusually in the darkness. It was an uncommon light.
It was deep night, with only the light from the sodium lamp hanging above the gate barely reaching into the room. The house was completely quiet, and I could sense that it was raining. There was almost no sound of rain. Only the smell was different.
“Pack only what you need, quickly.”
Hyung spoke rapidly in a low voice.
“Morae will be waiting at Jae-yoon Hyung’s office. We’ll go to Seoul from there in Hyung’s car.”
Jae-yoon Hyung was the owner of the surf school, a close friend of Morae and Hyung. Hyung had worked as an instructor there before enlisting, and even after his discharge, he occasionally went back to teach temporarily and earn money.
It was a plan we had made a long time ago, since high school. To escape when it was judged to be the final situation, with no room for improvement.
It felt awkward that I was included in this escape, which was also a kind of elopement, but they had included me in the plan from the start as if it were natural.
No one was telling me to get on a boat, and no one was pressuring me to break up with a lover, but the fact that I had nothing was my reason to escape. I had no reason to leave, but I also had no reason to stay.
It started as a joke at first. In high school, lying on the beach and giggling, we would lay out absurd plans like a low-budget Hollywood movie, never imagining that the day would come when we would actually execute them.
Hyung and I moved without hesitation as we chose what to pack in our not-so-large backpacks. Nothing that was absolutely essential to take was here. From the drawers filled with stripes, I packed a couple of t-shirts and underwear.
Finally, Hyung, who stood up after shoving a favorite comic book into his backpack and zipping it shut, paused for a moment in front of the photo on the wall. Then, he tore the photo down, folded it in half, and put it in his jacket pocket.
The house, with its three rooms facing the sea in a line, had undergone modern renovations years ago, but its basic structure was that of a Hanok. We carefully opened the sliding doors and stepped out onto the raised wooden porch made of stone and cement.
As expected, a light drizzle was falling. The sea breeze touching my skin, exposed outside my clothes, was cooler than usual. It was an unsettling coolness that made the back of my neck shrink.
We crossed the yard, getting wet from the bothersome drizzle. Hyung gestured for me to climb over the wall instead of opening the gate. It wasn’t a very high wall. It seemed better than making noise with the gate.
As we started walking towards the wall, a door opened from the main house behind us. The sound of the sliding door being pushed outward. We reflexively stopped and slowly turned back.
It was Father.
In the darkness, where only the sound of unseen waves could be heard, Father sat inside the room, holding the doorknob, looking towards us.
Hyung and I stood in the rain, past midnight, with backpacks on, without umbrellas. It was obvious to anyone that we weren’t just going for a casual stroll around the neighborhood.
How would Father react?
Sweat instantly broke out on my forehead and down my spine. My heart pounded as if it would burst.
At this moment, my entire focus was on Father’s lips, more than the success of our escape. It wasn’t out of disappointment at being caught.
The past five years. Father’s lips, which had made me give up hope by repeating the cycle of expectation and resentment, and finally ceasing that repetition.
Silence was tiresome. Yet, I was also becoming a human most accustomed to silence, steeped in it. Father…
“Hyun-ah, let’s go.”
How long had we stood there, getting rained on? Hyung placed his hand on my shoulder. It wasn’t a gesture of urgency. He knew what I was thinking, what I was feeling.
We changed our minds and opened the gate instead of climbing the wall.
The iron gate, un-oiled for a long time and easily corroded by the sea breeze, creaked open. Hyung slipped out, and then I took a step outside the gate. With a more lingering heart than Lot’s wife leaving Sodom, I looked back again.
Asking where we were going. Asking us not to go.
Father never spoke.
■ ■ ■
The interior of the antique vintage cabinet was at its limit.
If the client had not made any specific requests, the principle was to organize it according to the photos taken before removing the items, but the interior of the cabinet in the photos could not be described as anything more than ‘messy,’ even in the best light. Regardless of the luxury of the collectibles, the display condition was very poor.
If the client were present, we would ask how they wanted it organized and follow their instructions, but the client was absent today. We had entered the new house by directly entering the door lock code, just as we had done at the previous house. Even as the move was nearing completion, the client had not shown their face.
“Just do it reasonably.” ―That was all the client asked.
Ah, there was one exception.
“Paintings are absolutely, absolutely, absolutely handled with care.” ―This was the only request the client, who had seemed not too particular during the contract, had emphasized several times.
The client, who had moved into an apartment with a splendid view facing the cluster of buildings in Yeouido across the Han River, possessed not only expensive decorative items but also a considerable number of paintings.
To exaggerate slightly, there were artworks hanging everywhere in the house, leaving little blank space on the walls, and one of the four rooms was used solely for storing paintings.
At first, I thought they might be a painter, but despite the large number of works collected, there were no painting tools visible. It was highly probable they were an avid collector or someone working in a related field.
It had been a long time since I had seen so many paintings at once. In the past few years, the only paintings around me had been the shark family and angel wing murals painted on the uphill road leading to Grandfather’s house.
“What is the world coming to? Such things are actually happening, aren’t they?”
Behind me, as I pondered the placement of an intricate porcelain doll dressed in 18th-century attire, the team leader’s agitated voice could be heard. He was probably watching the internet news.
The team leader and the other four members had already nearly completed their assigned tasks of organizing and cleaning. They were waiting for the client, passing the time by sitting on the carpet laid to protect the floor while moving furniture and boxes.
Normally, the team included an auntie in charge of the kitchen and bathroom, but today, I was filling in for her because the auntie and her husband, who were a couple, needed to look after their grandson, who was just over 100 days old, as an urgent matter had arisen.
Although my grades in school were quite high, I had not gone to university, and I didn’t have the confidence to smoothly navigate organizational life, even in a simple office job. Since I was in a situation that was almost like being chased, I put aside jobs that required full-time employment.
Then, I noticed the part-time job at the moving company.
The team leader, while remarking that I didn’t look like I had exerted myself and that my height was a waste, was not someone who made unfair complaints. Putting aside everything else, I applied solely for the daily wage paid on the spot, but I could also freely choose the days I worked, and the pay was decent.
“What’s wrong? Did something else happen?”
To the other crew members who showed their curiosity, the team leader began to relay the news in an angry voice.
“Some Alpha bastard got drunk and caused a scene in a taxi. So, the taxi driver got angry and dropped him off anywhere on the way. This guy, drunk, didn’t even know where he was and wandered around until he ran into an Omega. What’s unbelievable is that the Omega happened to start her cycle earlier than usual that day, so the owner, feeling generous, let her go home early to take her medicine.”
Even from that much, I could guess what had happened. The other crew members also seemed to understand, as they all expressed their sympathy in their own ways before the story was even finished.
“That bastard argued with the driver, kicked the seats, and opened the car door while it was moving… You can’t blame the taxi driver for pulling him out halfway… Even if the owner wasn’t a bad person and hadn’t let her go early, she wouldn’t have ended up like that. I don’t know how things work. If even one thing had gone differently, this wouldn’t have happened…”
I silently listened to the team leader’s lament about cruel fate, idly fiddling with the hem of the 18th-century lady’s dress.
“When you think about it, Alphas are no different from beasts. They might be handsome or intelligent… but when you hear what they do on the news, it’s outrageous. They say they can’t control themselves with reason, is that even human? I find it unsettling that people are swayed by that hormone or pheromone thing, perhaps because I’ve never encountered an Alpha in my life.”
The second crew member, who had been working with the team leader for about 30 years, raised his voice even higher than the team leader’s to condemn the Alphas.
If the team leader was compassionate, the second crew member was closer to being righteous. Because of that, it seemed they had been involved in various incidents over the years they had worked together.
“People like us, but especially Alphas and Omegas, need money. Without money, they lose their dignity and become beasts in an instant. New drugs and such are expensive to manage. Anyway, the victim is unfortunate… What kind of coincidence is it that so many things overlap? Can such things happen in the world?”
There were indeed such unbelievable things in the world, things that could only happen when coincidence upon coincidence overlapped, things that seemed impossible. Like a large truck hitting a protagonist crossing a crosswalk at a green light, things so sudden and lacking in plausibility that they wouldn’t even be used in movies or dramas.
“Maknae, is the kitchen almost done?”
“It’s all done.”
I answered, setting down the porcelain doll holding an umbrella at a slight angle.
The work was practically finished a long time ago. I was just fidgeting unnecessarily because I was uncomfortable mixing with the Hyungs, who were at least fifteen years older than me.
“They said the client will arrive in 10 minutes, so let’s finish tidying up and head home.”
The foreman’s voice, as he said this while dusting himself off to tidy the carpet, was now filled not with sympathy for the Omega mentioned on the news, but with anticipation for going home.
As soon as all the cleaning tools were packed and sent down in the ladder truck, the client arrived. Their expression and movements clearly showed they were in a hurry. Apologizing for being absent for so long, the client handed the foreman an envelope, suggesting they all go out for dinner.
Customer service was the foreman’s job, so I only caught a glimpse, but the client, dressed in comfortable yet stylish clothes, didn’t seem particularly demanding, just as I’d heard. The inspection was also over in an instant. Apart from the room where the paintings were kept, they only opened doors to peek inside.
While waiting for the elevator, everyone was busy praising today’s client. They said that if they only had clients like this, the job wouldn’t be so unbearable, not just because of the dinner money.
“But it seems they live alone in a place like that. They must be quite capable.”
“Right. Even if it’s a lease, an apartment this size in this building would be around 1.5 billion won.”
“Is this place that expensive?”
The other drivers’ eyes widened simultaneously, their faces mirroring the same expression, upon hearing the information casually dropped by the youngest member besides me, a Hyung in his thirties.
1.5 billion won. To me, it was no different from 10 billion, 100 billion, or even a trillion won. It was just a large sum of money, devoid of any sense of reality. A very, very large sum of money.
“We met a client who even gives us money for a get-together, we’re lucky today. Should we buy lottery tickets?”
“Hyung, how much is it? I’m tired of samgyeopsal and soju, if it’s a generous amount, let’s eat something else today?”
As the second driver urged him, the foreman was about to pull out the envelope from his back pocket and open it when, ding-dong, the sound of a lock being released came from inside the entrance we had just exited. The foreman quickly tucked the envelope back into its place.
“Just a moment!”
It was, of course, today’s client who urgently called us back.
“Who cleaned the kitchen?”
We all hesitated, unable to answer immediately, wondering if something was unsatisfactory or if a mistake had been made, and we glanced at each other. The drivers, who had been excited about the unexpected dinner money just moments ago, were now filled with disappointment.
I calmly tried to recall, but we hadn’t broken or lost anything. It wouldn’t be the worst-case scenario. Reassuring myself, I cautiously stepped forward half a pace.
“Our team’s cleaner was absent today, so I took care of it.”
I answered, looking down at the client’s feet instead of their face. They must have followed us out in a hurry, as they were wearing slippers with stockings.
“Uh… as you can see, this friend is still young… If there was something you didn’t like…”
The client, however, smiled brightly at the foreman who was defending me, saying it wasn’t that.
“No, it’s not that… Would you perhaps like to work at my place? You’re completely my type.”
“……”
I couldn’t grasp the meaning and just moved my lips.
“Ah, I phrased that strangely, didn’t I? Your working style is completely my type. I’ve been so busy lately that my house is a mess… and I’m the type who gets stressed when things aren’t organized… Finding someone I like isn’t easy, so it’s been difficult, but when I opened the kitchen cabinets…”
The client, who had been rambling with a hint of complaint, suddenly stopped.
“Are you… Yi-hyun? Seo Yi-hyun?”
From under the brim of the cap I wore low, I confirmed the client’s face, which had called my name precisely. It was the first time I had properly met the client’s face that day.
By the standards of my life, it was a moment when a person, pushed to the back of the backstage and long forgotten, instantly reappeared center stage.