Chapter 7
After finishing her fieldwork as usual and rummaging through the house, Onyu hurried toward the fringe tree.
“Thank goodness. I was getting anxious, thinking I’d be late.”
Once she arrived under the fringe tree, she checked the time on her phone and sighed in relief.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead from the near run, a yellow minivan with “Blue Kindergarten” written on the side came to a stop in front of her.
As the van door opened, a teacher wearing an apron stepped out first. Then, with the teacher’s help, a boy and a girl in gym clothes carrying kindergarten bags got off.
“Noona!”
“Unnie!”
The children beamed and waved their hands brightly the moment they saw Onyu.
Cha Minguk. Cha Jinju.
Seven and five years old this year, they were siblings—the children of the 43-year-old youth leader Cha Oh-gyu, one of the few young adults in Daebak-ri, and his Uzbek wife Natasha.
These days, with farmwork picking up and Natasha heavily pregnant with their third child, Onyu had been entrusted with taking the kids to and from the public kindergarten near town.
“Goodbye, teacher!”
“Bye, Minguk, Jinju. See you tomorrow.”
“Okaaay~!”
After saying goodbye to their teacher, the siblings each grabbed one of Onyu’s hands.
“Did you have fun at kindergarten today?”
Onyu smiled warmly, making eye contact with Minguk and Jinju in turn.
Their faces, bearing more of their mother’s genes, looked exotic. Their eyes were particularly large, and their hair was a shade close to chestnut brown.
“Noona! Today, I got praised for drawing well at kindergarten!”
“Wow, Minguk! That’s amazing!”
“Jinju got praised for eating all her lunch!”
When Onyu praised her brother, Jinju proudly chimed in too.
“Jinju’s amazing too. Good job, good job.”
“Hehe.”
Beaming happily, Jinju raised her shoulders in pride.
“How about we make cabbage pancakes today? And for dessert, ice cream. I bought an ice cream cake earlier when I went into town.”
“Wooow—! Yay!”
The siblings cheered and jumped in excitement at Onyu’s suggestion. Their innocent joy brought a smile to Onyu’s face as well.
“Let’s go quickly and eat something delicious!”
“Hurry, hurry!”
“Okay, okay, let’s go.”
As the kids waved and urged her on, Onyu picked up the pace. The gentle spring sunlight poured down on the three walking together, hand in hand.
*
“Hi! Yonggi!”
“Hii~!”
“Woof woof!”
With loud, cheerful greetings, the children ran into the yard. The white dog Yonggi came out of his doghouse, wagging his tail.
“Minguk, Jinju. Wash your hands first.”
As she set up a portable burner and a small table on the wooden porch, Onyu called out to the kids playing with Yonggi.
“Okay!”
While the kids washed their hands at the faucet with enthusiastic replies, Onyu began preparing to fry cabbage pancakes.
“Now, Minguk and Jinju, can you help me pick some cabbage leaves? Can you do that?”
“Yes!”
“I can do it too!”
Responding loudly to Onyu’s request, the kids began peeling off leaves from the baby cabbage, like peeling onion skins.
“Is this too watery?”
Onyu checked the batter’s consistency with a serious expression. Today’s cabbage pancakes had to be better than usual.
Carefully adding more flour, she adjusted the batter again.
“Ooh, perfect. Just right.”
Satisfied with the texture, Onyu placed a frying pan on the burner. She was about to dip a cabbage leaf into the batter when—
Vroooom—
Screeech—
A heavy engine sound followed by the brakes echoed beyond the wall.
“Who could that be?”
Onyu tilted her head, holding her spatula. Just then, curious little Minguk ran outside and shouted loudly.
“Noona! Noonaaa—!”
“What is it, Minguk? Who’s there?”
“It’s huge! Really, really huge! A car this big came!”
He stretched his arms wide and shouted for her to come quickly.
“What on earth is he talking about?”
Onyu stepped off the porch and slipped her feet into her slippers.
“Minguk, what kind of huge car are you talki—…”
The moment she stepped past the gate, Onyu was speechless, her eyes widening in shock.
Minguk hadn’t exaggerated. A huge moving truck was parked right in front of her gate.
“What the—who parks in front of someone else’s house like this…? Excuse me! Wait a minute.”
Flustered, Onyu hurriedly called out to a worker getting off the truck.
“You can’t just park in front of someone else’s house like this!”
“They told us to unload here.”
“What? At our house?”
Looking surprised, Onyu asked again. The worker showed her a piece of paper.
“Isn’t this address 42 Daebak-gil, Inyeon-eup?”
“This is our house, but…”
Onyu trailed off, utterly dumbfounded. She glanced back and forth between the address and the worker’s face.
Just then, a sleek sedan pulled up nearby. From the back seat emerged a man whose face was all too familiar—Kang Iwan.
“Hello.”
And from the driver’s seat, cheerfully greeting her, was his secretary, Chief Ahn Hae-yo.
“Oh, you were home.”
Buttoning up his suit jacket, Iwan walked over to Onyu, nodding in greeting.
“I kept calling, but you didn’t pick up…”
“What is all this?”
Onyu cut him off with urgency.
“Don’t tell me… You arranged for this truck?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, ‘why’?”
Looking at the flustered Onyu, Iwan crossed his arms with a displeased expression.
“I told you I’d move into your house and search together.”
“You did say that, but… You can’t just show up unannounced! I haven’t even talked to Grandma yet…”
“Still?”
Iwan’s voice sharpened.
“I told you days ago. Still?”
“It’s only been three days.”
“Only three?”
Iwan’s gaze turned icy at Onyu’s reply.
“For me, it’s already been three days. No—four, including today.”
His muttered complaint was laced with irritation and anxiety.
Four precious days, wasted. His grandfather’s deadline was now less than two months away.
“Let me say this again—if anyone’s in a hurry here, it’s me. I’m desperate too. Every day that goes by drives me crazy.”
Onyu’s voice rose as she waved the spatula.
“But everything depends on timing. Do you know why I’m making cabbage pancakes today? Why I went into town to buy omija makgeolli? It’s all to get Grandma in a good mood!”
Onyu’s plan was simple.
Serve Grandma her favorite cabbage pancakes and omija makgeolli, then casually bring up the topic of Iwan moving in.
But this impatient man had charged in without warning—with all that massive luggage.
‘It’s not like he’s planning to settle here forever. What does he even need that much stuff for?’
She was too shocked to even laugh. Staring blankly at the moving truck, she heard Iwan call her.
“Na Onyu.”
“…Yes?”
Noticing the unusual tone in Iwan’s voice, Onyu looked at him nervously.
“From this moment on, our deadline is July 14.”
“What? Deadline?”
“If we don’t get the villagers’ consent by July 14, the entire project will be canceled.”
“What do you mean, canceled?!”
Onyu gasped.
“It’s just as you heard. The chairman ordered us to buy up all the houses and land in the village by July 14.”
“….”
“So, Na Onyu, you’re not exactly in a relaxed situation either. If we fail to find the lottery ticket, you’ll lose both the compensation and the winnings.”
“What the—this isn’t roasting beans on lightning! Who does a project with such urgency?”
“Exactly.”
Iwan sighed in agreement.
If only his grandfather had given him three more months, he wouldn’t have come all the way out to this countryside to find a lottery ticket.
‘So what does this mean? I have to resolve everything in two months too?’
Onyu felt her vision darken. This was a disaster. As she stood there reeling in despair—
“What on earth is all this?!”
A sharp voice rang through the air—it was the unmistakable voice of Madam Nam.
