Chapter 7 …
By the next day, fortunately, Cheshire’s condition had improved. His activity level was good, and he had almost regained his former bright, alert gaze.
Just as the man next door had said, it seemed things would be fine if she simply kept an eye on him and adjusted the ratio of his food. Still, in case of an emergency, she made sure to find out the location of the nearest animal hospital.
“Just because you’re feeling a bit better doesn’t mean you should wander around. Stay quietly at home.”
After confirming that Cheshire had obediently gone into his cat house, Seyun left the house.
Today, she planned to visit a rental car company in town and rent a suitable car.
Having a car would mean she wouldn’t have to struggle up and down the stairs, and more importantly, she wouldn’t need to worry about other people’s gazes. She had already checked the empty lot behind the house where she could park.
For a moment, she considered driving down her own car from Seoul, but soon dismissed the idea. There were already enough rumors circulating about her—she didn’t want to add another topic to the mix.
Since she had to take a bus to get to the terminal, she came out to the bus stop and sat down on a bench to wait.
That was when it happened. The most eye-catching car in the neighborhood slowly came to a stop on the road in front of her. It looked like the man from the house next door was heading to work.
Having noticed Seyun early today, Yujin turned his head and stared straight at her. The two faced each other for a brief moment, as if in a standoff, separated by the passenger-side window.
“……”
Just what did you hear from Kim Daehyun that makes you act like this toward me?
The words rose all the way up to her throat, but she had no intention of letting them escape her lips.
Still, she didn’t want to lose the staring contest. She put strength into her eyes and glared back, but strangely enough, today the man next door turned his gaze forward first without a trace of sarcasm. It seemed he was simply going to ignore her.
It had only been three days since she came down to Cheonghaeri. There were still several days left before she started working at the resort, yet it felt as though half a year had already passed.
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She took a taxi from the terminal into town, but when she returned to Cheonghaeri, she drove herself back. She chose a plain, unremarkable midsize car—nothing that would draw people’s attention.
While she was in town, she also bought supplies for Cheshire and other daily necessities, loading them into the car. She had planned to go straight home, but when a small pier caught her eye beyond the coastal road, she changed her mind.
Turning toward the pier, Seyun got out of the car with coffee and bread she had bought at a café in town. There was a wooden bench nearby, so she sat down there.
How comfortable life was when you weren’t chasing bus schedules.
Seyun sipped her coffee while looking at the sky over the sea, where red hues were beginning to spread. She thought this must be what her grandmother meant when she talked about the pier sunsets she had seen as a child.
“Teacher Kim Daehyun said he’d arrange a dinner meeting with the head of the purchasing team at Hansung Hospital through his father. Hansung is famous for not accepting favors, so we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out. Still, our beds aren’t lacking in quality, so if things go well, it could end with a good result.”
While on the phone with her father, discussing the breathability of mattress fabrics, Seyun heard news she had more or less expected.
Judging by how delighted her grandfather had been, there was a high chance he had acknowledged Kim Daehyun as Soyoung’s match. If Daehyun could bring in Hansung Medical Center, nothing could be better than that.
Hansung Medical Center oversaw three top-tier general hospitals, and even roughly estimated, the total number of inpatient beds exceeded three thousand.
Best Furniture had long been supplying mattresses to Hansung, but now a gap had finally opened for them to slip in. They wouldn’t reach a conclusion immediately, but the mere existence of a possibility was hopeful enough.
“Miss, I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you a guest at the resort?”
That startled her.
Lost in thought, holding the disposable coffee cup with both hands, Seyun flinched at the sudden, gentle voice and turned to her side.
At some point, an elderly man was sitting right next to her. Wearing a fine fedora and a coat, he had neatly leaned his cane beside him and was looking at her with concern.
“…I’m not a guest, sir.”
“If you’re not a resort guest, then are you here visiting?”
“I’m not here to visit—I’m a resort employee. I start working next week.”
“Oh, so you’re a resort employee. I was worried since you were sitting here alone for so long—I thought something might be wrong.”
Only then did the elderly man smile with visible relief.
“I was waiting for the sunset. It’s almost time.”
“Ah, the sunset. If you wait just a little longer, the sun will drop from the sky into the sea. It’s very beautiful.”
Seyun nodded. According to what she’d looked up on her phone, the sun would set in just a few minutes. She was enduring the cold to see it.
“Do you like bread?”
The elderly man asked, glancing at the bag of bread beside her.
“I don’t particularly like it. I just bought it while I was in town. Would you… like some?”
“Then I suppose I’ll try a bit.”
Contrary to her expectation that he would refuse, the elderly man readily held out his hand. Seyun took out a piece of bread, made it easy to hold, and handed it to him.
“The bread’s gone cold. When it’s cold, the texture worsens and it doesn’t taste good.”
After tearing off a piece and tasting it, the elderly man looked dissatisfied. Despite his gentle appearance, he seemed to have a rather picky palate.
“It’s by the sea, so the wind’s cold. It was warm earlier, but it cooled down quickly.”
“When I was young, I used to tuck bread inside my clothes so it wouldn’t get cold. If it still has warmth when you give it to someone, both the giver and the receiver feel good. People these days say stories like this are old-fashioned and don’t want to hear them.”
“That’s not old-fashioned at all. My grandmother says things like that too.”
The elderly man, who had complained that the bread didn’t taste good, tore off another big piece and slowly chewed it, savoring it.
“Do you live in this neighborhood, sir?”
“I don’t live here, but I come down occasionally. I worked long-term at that resort company over there.”
“Really?”
“Why would I lie about that to you?”
At his words, Seyun’s eyes sparkled with delight.
“Then… would it be okay if I asked you something?”
“Ask anything. I’ll answer everything I know in exchange for this bread.”
Seyun silently cheered. She had met an unexpected stroke of luck. Since he had worked at the resort for a long time, he would surely know far more than she did.
“Have you ever worked on the resort’s room team? It doesn’t have to be this branch—another location is fine too.”
“Not just here—I’ve been to branches all over the country. I’ve cleaned rooms, handled customer service, even managed parking. There’s nothing I haven’t done.”
Life doesn’t always bring only bad things. She had run into a rude neighbor as soon as she came to Cheonghaeri, but hadn’t she also met a wonderful teacher like this in such an unexpected place?
“What I’m curious about is the bed mattresses.”
“Mattresses?”
“Yes. Since this place is near the sea, the humidity is higher than in other regions. If moisture builds up inside the mattress, mold or bacteria would grow faster. And with the sea breeze, wouldn’t the springs corrode more quickly due to salt? In summer, the difference from other areas would probably be clearer, but it’s almost winter now. So I’m curious what it’s like during the peak summer season.”
“What kind of work will you be doing at Sunrise that makes you curious about things like that?”
The elderly man looked at Seyun with interest.
“I’ll be working as part of the room team.”
“In my day, we just cleaned well. Do room team staff these days need to know things like that too?”
“It’s just personal curiosity. I thought it might help with my work if I knew.”
Seyun brushed it off vaguely. No matter how easygoing he seemed, she couldn’t tell him everything.
“Well… that’s a hard question to answer right away. Would it be okay if I looked into it and told you later? I have a friend who knows these things well.”
“I’d feel bad burdening you like that.”
“It’s fine. I told you—it’s the price of the bread.”
The wrinkles around his eyes curved gently. Seyun smiled back without realizing it.
Was this what ordinary grandfathers were like? Chairman Myung was difficult to deal with despite sharing blood, but this grandfather, whom she had just met today, felt warmly familiar.
“Look over there. The sun is falling from the sky into the sea.”
As the elderly man pointed into the air, Seyun looked in that direction. The red hues spreading like paint across the sky and sea were so beautiful she couldn’t look away.
“…It really is beautiful.”
“Yes. Truly a beautiful sunrise.”
At the elderly man’s quiet words, Seyun looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled.
Her grandmother was like that, and this grandfather too—Korea’s English education back in the day must really have been terrible.
But what did it matter if it was sunrise or sunset?
Beautiful was beautiful all the same.
