[My First Love Lives in the Attic] 25
– Beat Bongnim Bathhouse Hard
“Ah, yes… What?”
She’d heard it before—when she came to the bathhouse with Hwaran’s friends. The owner of Bongnim Bathhouse was supposedly a woman in her 70s. At some point, Go Baekmo, now holding a drink, cut in with a smile.
“Our sister Deok-i doesn’t look seventy at all, right?”
“Seventy?!”
Muru’s voice shot up in surprise.
With a dozen people gathered around drinking, the group had become noisy and scattered, but at that exclamation, they all burst out laughing.
Apparently, there were many stories related to Kim Deok-i, the owner of Bongnim Bathhouse and her super youthful appearance.
“Our bathhouse has great water. I got married at twenty and bathed every day with this water. Hohoho, I just don’t age! Hohohoho.”
Honestly, that was a very convincing business promotion. Muru almost canceled her moonbath subscription on the spot.
“You went to Gangneung with your dad when you were little, right?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Wow. Sister’s memory is amazing. Bongnim spring water must boost your IQ too.”
Across the room, drunken Gi Tae-hee’s wife and drunk Oh I-gyeom seemed to be deep in conversation.
Kim Man-soo, Gi Tae-hee’s husband and chief of the district police where Hosik worked, was nowhere to be seen.
Hosik, who couldn’t hold his liquor, had passed out after four shots of soju and was soaking his feet in the bath.
Talim was cornered, clutching a portable gas burner, endlessly preparing more side dishes.
“I felt bad, really… after hearing you were living apart from your mom…”
Kim Deok-i patted Muru’s hand, her face filled with sympathy. As someone who had run the bathhouse for a long time, she seemed to know many of the neighborhood’s stories.
“You used to come here often with your mom when you were a kid. Remember? I’d give you free milk.”
At that moment, Go Baekmo noticed Muru’s gaze shift elsewhere.
It was toward the fridge in the locker room. Through the glass door of the old drink refrigerator—probably as old as the bathhouse—she could see neatly arranged milk cartons.
Though brief, Muru’s eyes trembled strangely.
Snapping her gaze away, Muru answered awkwardly.
“Y-yes, of course!”
Apparently, this place had been her mother’s regular bathhouse. Ah, if that’s the case…
“I came to Junsan… hoping to see my mother, but I don’t have her number… My aunt isn’t answering… Does my mom still come to this bathhouse?”
Kim Deok-i widened her eyes in surprise.
“She doesn’t come anymore. Can’t, actually.”
She emphasized the word “can’t.”
Go Baekmo asked in Muru’s place.
“If she just doesn’t come, that’s one thing, but what do you mean she can’t? There are only so many bathhouses in Junsan.”
“Well, how could someone in a nursing hospital go to a bathhouse?”
Nursing hospital?
Muru couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her mother, the same age as her father, was only 53. That was far too young for a nursing facility.
“Muru’s mom is in a nursing home?”
“She stopped coming here a long time ago, so I didn’t know either, but it seems she’s been unwell. My sister-in-law got old and was admitted to Hangyeol Nursing Hospital, and when I went to visit her… I ran into your mom. Apparently, her sister—your aunt—is a nurse there.”
The sudden influx of information left Muru dazed. It felt like the wall of frustration built by her aunt’s silence had finally cracked.
“My aunt… is a nurse?”
“Oh dear… This girl doesn’t know a thing about her mother or aunt.”
“Sister Deok-i, when did you see her in the hospital?”
“Not long ago. Last month? Or early this month? Hey! Gi Tae-hee!”
Deok-i shouted for Gi Tae-hee. Just as she was shaking I-gyeom’s knees with laughter, she rushed over.
From behind, I-gyeom yelled, “It’s Gi Tae-hee, not Kim!” Tae-hee turned around and smacked him on the back.
“Kim Tae-hee or Gi Tae-hee, what’s the difference! It’s all the same! Here I am!”
Tae-hee clinked glasses with Deok-i and shouted, “Cheers!”
“Hey, remember that day you drove me to visit my sister-in-law at the nursing home? When was that?”
“Oh right… That nursing home on the mountainside? My husband was whining that he needed the car for fishing, so that was the first Saturday of this month. He only fishes once a month.”
“Tell her what happened then. Remember the elevator?”
“The elevator?”
Tae-hee thought for a moment and soon remembered.
“Yes, you said it’d been a long time since you saw them. There was a patient in a gown and a nurse. You were happy to see them, but the nurse didn’t even look your way. We were surprised when we heard they were sisters. The patient at least smiled a little and said hello.”
“…Did my mom,” Muru began quietly,
“…look very sick?”
At that, neither Deok-i nor Tae-hee could respond immediately.
Deok-i answered instead with another statement.
“This girl is her daughter. Says she can’t reach her mom.”
“Oh my goodness.”
Tae-hee looked flustered.
Deok-i seemed to understand the situation now—that Muru didn’t know her own mother’s current condition.
The story was all too familiar. A child who disappeared was found again, the couple divorced, the father raised the child elsewhere, and the child grew up not knowing a thing about the mother.
“If it’s Hangyeol Nursing Hospital, you’ll find either your mom or aunt there.”
Go Baekmo gently wrapped up the heavy atmosphere.
Just then, the door to the bath opened and Kwon Hosik reappeared after his foot soak.
“Everyone! As we bid farewell to B-Baru…!”
Apparently the combo of soju and hot footbath had knocked him out.
“This gathering! Is of great significance! Everyone here—!”
He was shouting nonsense in the middle of the bathhouse.
Talim, who had been flipping pancakes, threw down her spatula and stood to stop him. But drunk Oh I-gyeom beat her to it.
“I’ll never forget Bibaru’s jjamppong!”
The two drunkards shouted, “Let’s all toast!” and burst into tears.
“Huhuh… Where will I eat jjamppong now…”
“Don’t cry, man! You’re not the only one sad—sniff!”
Muru just turned her head. Talim picked her spatula back up.
* * *
The drinking party ended past midnight.
It was supposed to be Bibaru’s farewell party, but no one even realized the owners hadn’t spoken. Everyone stumbled out under Bongnim Bathhouse’s shutter.
Kwon Hosik and Oh I-gyeom had both passed out and were now piggybacked by Park Talim and Go Baekmo.
While everyone was saying goodbye repeatedly, Gi Tae-hee pulled Muru aside.
“I just remembered. I know where your aunt lives.”
“Sorry?!”
Another surprise—right after the bathhouse owner’s information.
“My second daughter tutors near here. When I go to pick her up, I wait outside and I’ve seen your aunt a few times.”
Tae-hee had seen Muru’s aunt. She remembered her because she had seemed cold and distant.
“Where is it…?”
“About 15 minutes on foot? A villa called Bibari Felice—just one building.”
“Bibari Felice?”
Talim, who was helping support the drooping I-gyeom, asked in shock.
“Yes, yes. Talim, you know it? I don’t know the unit number, but I saw her coming and going from lines 1 and 2.”
The drunk crowd had already dispersed.
Go Baekmo, carrying Hosik, was puffing and walking ahead.
Kim Deok-i had finished locking the bathhouse, and Muru asked Talim,
“Where’s Bibari Felice?”
“…Your house.”
From Talim’s back, I-gyeom wailed toward Tae-hee,
“Captain Auntie! I swear it wasn’t me! I’m innocenttttt!”
“Ugh, seriously.”
Talim hurried toward Hwaran’s house.
“What do you mean, my house?”
“The place you lived when you were little. I used to go there all the time…”
It was the villa they’d stumbled to drunk after dinner at Chief Kim Mansoo’s house.
Bibari Felice was that villa’s name.
Muru’s mother, father, and Muru had all left that house.
And now her aunt was there.
The aunt who won’t answer Muru’s calls.
Inside the room, Go Baekmo was snoring.
Kicked out with just a blanket, Muru lay curled up on the living room sofa in the dark.
