By Zephyria Having been robbed of all the money he had, Ryu Jeong couldn’t buy rice. Originally, he planned to buy some rice and ramen with the remaining money, and then, when his salary came in on Friday, he would make up for the deficit and repay it on Sunday. He only took out 30,000 won in a hurry, but the loan shark was making such a fuss over just 30,000 won, not 300,000 won. It wasn’t that he expected anything, but as expected, he was a heartless person.
Ryu Jeong stopped abruptly while going down the stairs. He raised his head, which had been lowered to look at the ground, and the scenery of Seoul came into view. As the shantytown, also known as Moon Village, gets closer to the moon at night, the bottom was visible at a glance, as if looking down from a high-rise building.
The brightly lit place, even late at night, seemed like another world. When he was young, he thought it was pretty, but now that he was in this situation, he couldn’t even admire it. When he looked closely, bright red crosses were sticking out here and there. Come to think of it, he came under the pretext of Sunday. If he came earlier than the scheduled date, shouldn’t he receive less interest? Ryu Jeong frowned at the late realization. Even if he had said it earlier, he wouldn’t have gotten anything out of it. Rather, he would have been punched for trying to teach him a lesson.
God would be very pleased. Ryu Jeong pouted and quickly went down the stairs.
“Welcome… oh, you’re here?”
“Yes. Hello.”
The Shop Owner was sitting in front of the convenience store, smoking a cigarette. When Ryu Jeong approached, the Shop Owner startled and jumped up. He must have thought he was a customer. After confirming that it was Ryu Jeong, the Shop Owner, with a disappointed look on his face, barely acknowledged Ryu Jeong’s greeting and sat back down on the bench.
The previous part-time worker, a student preparing for college entrance exams, quit after being accepted into university. Despite being notified two months in advance, the Shop Owner did not hire a new part-time worker. The Shop Owner filled the vacancy himself. The reason was that these days, kids were too clever and tried to get more than they worked for. Ryu Jeong knew that wasn’t the reason.
As he went inside and put his arms through the vest, he suddenly remembered being bumped in the back and subtly lifted his T-shirt. When he showed his back in the mirror, there was a fist-sized bruise. Judging by the unusual color, it seemed like it would last for a while. Still, it was fine as long as there were no problems with moving. Ryu Jeong swung his arms around and twisted his upper body this way and that, confirming that there were no problems, and came out to the counter.
The Shop Owner was still smoking. Ryu Jeong glanced at the back of his head, which was streaked with white hair, opened the register, and counted the cash. He refilled the cigarettes and checked the straws and wooden chopsticks. The Shop Owner hated it the most when the part-time worker just sat still because there were no customers, so Ryu Jeong quickly moved around, sweeping the floor with a broom and straightening the crooked name tag. After moving around like that for a while, he looked up and the Shop Owner was gone. He must have gone home without saying a word.
“Hyung, can you empty the ashtray outside?”
“Where do I throw away what I’ve eaten?”
“Ugh, damn it, look at this. Isn’t it funny?”
Since there was little foot traffic, there were hardly any customers visiting the convenience store. It was even worse as the time passed midnight. There were often cases where minors pretended to be adults and tried to buy alcohol or cigarettes, but the Shop Owner, who was sensitive to sales, pretended not to know even though he knew. Ryu Jeong also couldn’t ask for identification and silently calculated the bill. Perhaps because of that, there were many days when young students occupied the inside and outside of the store during Ryu Jeong’s working hours and made a lot of noise.
Honestly, as an adult, he wanted to say something sternly, but he was actually scared, so he couldn’t even make eye contact. He just had to be patient and wait a little longer. It would finally be peaceful after three in the morning.
At exactly three o’clock, they staggered away one by one. Ryu Jeong cleaned up the outside tables that the students had messed up and went back inside to wipe the table that was stained with ramen broth. Clang. As he was picking up the trash that had fallen on the floor, the bell rang. Not again? He sighed and looked up, and a man, not the students, was standing there.
The man paused for a moment when he saw that the counter was empty, then turned his head and looked at Ryu Jeong. He looked at his face once, then looked down at the convenience store vest Ryu Jeong was wearing, and then turned away as if he had nothing more to see. Because of his large stride, the sound of his shoes was heavy.
“…Oh, welcome.”
Ryu Jeong, who was awkwardly crouching down and stiff, finally managed to say hello after the man had gone far inside the store. He hurriedly finished what he was doing and went back to the counter, glancing at the man.
The man’s physique was quite intimidating. Of course, the black suit he was wearing must have had an effect, but Ryu Jeong had an experience where the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end the moment he made eye contact with him. Based on his past experiences, people like that were often involved in the dark side of the world. In the illegal gambling den he had visited with his father, and in the brothel he had gone to on errands instead of his father, who was busy gambling, men in suits were standing tall.
But that was just his experience and prejudice. Ryu Jeong knew very well that ordinary people would never go near an illegal gambling den or a brothel.
What does he do? Actually, he would have let it go without much thought usually, but because of his appearance, he kept looking at him. He only saw his face for a few seconds, but he was really handsome. Even though he could only see his profile, the line from his forehead to his chin was straight and delicate. Perhaps because of his unwavering posture, even his actions of just picking out items at the convenience store seemed upright.
Is that what a true adult man looks like? Ryu Jeong slyly raised his hand and fiddled with his nose. He had never thought his nose was ugly, but when he compared it to the man’s, it was low and round, and it looked very unattractive. He felt inexplicably gloomy and pursed his lips tightly, but the man had finished choosing his items and was walking towards the counter. Ryu Jeong straightened his posture as if nothing had happened.
So adults use this kind of perfume… Beep, beep. Mechanically scanning the barcodes, Ryu Jeong smelled the subtle fragrance emanating from the man. Unlike the men around him who only smelled of stale cigarettes, the man had a pleasant scent. He took a deep breath with the intention of remembering it. He didn’t think that day would ever come, but he vowed to wear this perfume when he wore a decent suit someday.
When he scanned the barcode of the Black tea drink last, a loud mechanical sound rang from the register. He was momentarily flustered, thinking it was broken, but he was greatly relieved when an announcement came out that it was a promotional item.
“Um, if you buy it, you get one more as a gift. It should be next to it…”
Ryu Jeong hesitated and conveyed the fact. It was common to leave it behind without seeing it when selling promotional items with buy-one-get-one-free or free gifts. Usually, customers would show that they were secretly happy and bring it themselves, but the man didn’t take a step even after hearing Ryu Jeong’s words.
Does he think the part-timer should bring it…? Ryu Jeong looked at the wrinkle-free jacket and pondered inwardly. Of course, there were people like that, but he had only seen elderly Grandfather and Grandmother customers do that, so he couldn’t hide his embarrassment. Ryu Jeong, judging that it would be better for him to bring it himself, put down the drink he was holding.
At the same time, the man sighed. As Ryu Jeong hesitated, feeling unnecessarily scared, the man brought another drink and put it down on the counter.
“There’s an ashtray outside. Is it okay if I smoke?”
The man asked, handing over his card. His low voice was as heavy as his atmosphere.
“Yes, yes…”
Ryu Jeong nodded and mumbled his answer. He had already finished calculating the bill and politely returned the card with both hands.
“Thank you. Come again.”
Ryu Jeong habitually greeted the man’s back. When he looked out the window, the man was sitting at the table where the high school students had been sitting until just now, taking out a cigarette and putting it in his mouth. It was the same cigarette, but it looked quite different from when the students smoked it. He didn’t swing his legs, didn’t spit while laughing. He was just exhaling hazy smoke and staring blankly at the dark void, just like a page in a men’s magazine he had read while waiting for a hospital appointment someday.
Is this what it feels like to see a celebrity you only see on television in real life? Ryu Jeong stared intently at the man smoking cigarettes one after another, and then was startled by the sound of the phone ringing in the store and went into the warehouse. The Shop Owner’s nagging about not spacing out and working poured out.
What time is it now? He should be sleeping, but he’s already watching the CCTV again. Ryu Jeong pouted and dusted off the shelves. But he pursed his lips tightly and worked, worried that he would say something again if he saw this. He lined up the scattered snack bags and emptied the full trash can and put it outside the back door. He had been doing inventory because there was nothing else to do, and quite a bit of time had passed.
Now there was nothing more to organize or clean. The man’s existence came to Ryu Jeong’s mind as he aimlessly wandered around the store. He hurriedly looked outside, but the man was nowhere to be seen.
“…Oh.”
Ryu Jeong, who had naturally grabbed a rag and went outside, stopped. The table was so neatly arranged that he wondered if someone had even been sitting there, and only one of the Black tea drinks that the man had bought was left on the table.
Ryu Jeong held the lukewarm drink in his hand and looked around. The empty alleyway was quiet, with not a single person or even a stray cat.
“Did he forget and leave it behind?”
What should he do? If he was nearby, he would run and give it to him. Ryu Jeong stood in the empty alleyway for a long time, looking out, and then quickly went inside, worried that he would get another phone call.