Chapter 2 …
The house with the pretty blue roof looked exactly the same as it had in the photos and videos. One compact house, and an even smaller yard. Having been refurbished by a contractor, it was now in a perfectly livable condition.
When she stepped through the front gate, the first thing that caught her eye was a yellow-striped cat stretched out beneath the wooden porch.
The way it lay there, staring back with indifferent eyes, was so confident that it felt less like she was the homeowner and more like the cat was. Even when she placed her suitcase on the porch and sat down right beside it, the cat didn’t run away—only let out a long yawn.
—…Take care of your health, and be careful around people. Don’t push yourself too hard, and if it doesn’t feel right, just come back up here, even now.
“I’ve only been down here for less than a day, Grandma. And I came to work, didn’t I?”
With her phone wedged between her shoulder and ear, Seyeon organized the luggage she’d brought. Her grandmother, Madam Yeonsoon, was worried about nothing but Seyeon. She had opposed Seyeon going down to the unfamiliar countryside alone until the very end.
—Teacher Kim Daehyun is coming by later to say hello. If the chairman gives his permission, it sounds like the two of them will set a date soon.
“…Really?”
Kim Daehyun was the son of the head of internal medicine at Hansung Hospital, a famous general hospital in Seoul, and he himself also worked there as an internal medicine specialist. Until recently, he had been Seyeon’s boyfriend, but now he was dating her cousin, Myung Soyoung. Almost no one knew that it was a case of rebound dating.
—It would’ve been nice if you’d come down after seeing the two of them. You said you start work next week, so why did you rush down so early?
“There’s a lot I need to prepare.”
In truth, Seyeon knew that Daehyun would be coming to say hello at the Seoul house that evening. She didn’t want to waste energy managing her expression while looking at him, and it was also true that she needed time to adapt to this place. So it was half truth, half lie.
Though both were granddaughters of Chairman Myung of First Living, Seyeon and Soyoung had different grandmothers. Seyeon’s grandmother, who had once worked as a housemaid before becoming a second wife, was still addressed as “Madam” by the family of the chairman’s eldest son—even now, after marrying Chairman Myung, giving birth to a son, and that son having a daughter who had grown into an adult.
—Is there really not a single person around you who says they like you?
“Yeah. No one.”
—Why do you always say there’s no one? So many people ask me to introduce you to them.
“They’re just saying it out of courtesy. I told you not to take it seriously.”
The men her grandmother’s acquaintances recommended all looked decent on the outside, but every one of them had some kind of flaw. It was like selling slightly bruised fruit at a cheaper price.
Kim Daehyun had been a flawless piece of fruit—someone she happened to meet by chance when she took her grandmother to the hospital.
—Have you seen the neighbors? Is the house next door okay?
“I said hello briefly earlier, and he even cheered me on, telling me to do well.”
—That’s a relief. I was worried someone strange might be living next door.
“Let’s come together sometime later. It’s the kind of neighborhood you’d like, Grandma.”
The man next door was strange enough, but Seyeon chose a white lie. She didn’t want to pile yet another worry onto her already anxious grandmother.
After ending the call with Madam Yeonsoon, Seyeon stepped out onto the porch and looked at the cat lying in the yard.
She’d only looked away for a moment and thought it had left, but somehow it had returned to the yard and was lying there in the exact same pose. It definitely seemed to regard this house as its own.
Seyeon folded her legs, rested her crossed arms on her knees, and stared at the cat with interest. The cat didn’t avoid her gaze, engaging her in a silent staring contest.
“Cheshire.”
Propping her cheek in one hand, Seyeon spoke lazily. The peacefulness of the moment slowly loosened the tension she’d been holding.
“From now on, your name is Cheshire.”
Just like the riddle-loving cat from Alice in Wonderland.
Seyeon let out a small laugh and stood up.
Standing on the porch, the rooftops below came into clearer view. The downside was having to climb quite a few stairs, but watching the sunset light settle over the clustered rooftops turned that drawback into an advantage.
As she quietly watched the sky turn red, Seyeon suddenly recalled something her grandmother had once said to her.
“For the longest time, Grandma thought ‘sunset’ in English was beautiful sunrise. Your brother told me that was a beautiful sunrise, you know. I don’t remember anything else, but I remember that clearly. Beautiful sunrise.”
Her grandmother had an older brother who wasn’t very good at English. On an evening dock, where the sunset dyed the sea and sky the same color, he had taken out a piece of bread he’d carefully saved and offered it to his younger sister.
It was the only memory her grandmother had of him, having lost both parents and siblings at a young age and becoming an orphan.
When had her grandmother’s brother—who might still be alive somewhere—realized that it was the wrong word? Judging by how he’d saved the bread instead of eating it himself to give to his sister, he must have been a very kind brother.
“…Beautiful sunrise.”
Seyeon let out a soft chuckle. Maybe the fact that she’d ended up working at Sunrise Resort really was something like destiny.
“Cheshire. I’ll go get the food, and you guard the house. That’s our rule.”
After solemnly instructing Cheshire to watch the house while she went out to secure supplies, Seyeon set off early in the morning. Though communication was a bit limited, the fact that there was another living being in the house besides herself felt surprisingly reassuring.
She sat on the bench at the bus stop—where buses stopped only three times a day—and waited for the first bus heading to the terminal. If she bought necessities at the market near the terminal and looked around the nearby shops, the timing should roughly match the return bus.
Cheonghaeri was a quiet neighborhood, but not completely silent. According to her prior research, the construction of the luxury resort Sunrise Resort nearby had begun to breathe life back into the dying town.
Even so, compared to Seoul, it was still nothing but calm and peaceful. Peaceful enough to feel like you could generously understand and forgive anything—though not enough to embrace an ex-boyfriend.
While waiting for the bus, Seyeon recalled the text message she’d received from Daehyun a few days earlier.
I want to rise higher than my father. That’s all.
Daehyun had been honest when he said he needed the title of First Living’s son-in-law to succeed further. He’d quickly realized that Myung Soyoung would be more helpful to his ambitions than someone like Seyeon, who had her limits.
Her uncle, the son of Chairman Myung’s first wife, had started as an executive director in the management planning team and risen to the president’s seat early on, while her own father, who’d started as a section chief in R&D, was still stuck as an executive director in the R&D team.
Soyoung, who’d graduated from some obscure foreign university, had started out with the title of team leader in the sales planning department, while she herself—despite graduating from a prestigious domestic university—had started as an assistant manager in the B2B team.
That was why this move to Cheonghaeri was important. Chairman Myung had publicly declared that the person who contributed most to winning the Sunrise Resort bid would be entrusted with the future of First Living.
Do I want to rise higher too, like Kim Daehyun?
She was deep in thought, staring ahead, when a car stopped slowly right in front of her at a signal. It was an expensive car—something rarely seen in the countryside.
“……”
The face of the man gripping the steering wheel was familiar. An expensive car, a luxury watch, an appearance lacking humility, and a personality devoid of altruism.
For someone supposedly throwing his weight around in a rural neighborhood, he lived an excessively urban life—and didn’t seem to care about hiding it.
Seyeon watched the man with sharp eyes.
Come to think of it, wasn’t he not the academy director, but something like Director Si? No way… he’s not my competitor, right?
There was no guarantee that Best Furniture—the industry leader—hadn’t sent someone like him down here as well.
At that moment, sensing her gaze, the man turned his head. When he spotted Seyeon staring intently at him, his lips moved slightly.
What are you looking at?
“……”
As soon as the traffic light changed, the rude man drove off without hesitation.
When Seyeon got off at the bus terminal—which was relatively quieter than the day before—the corn granny was selling in the same spot as yesterday.
“Miss, we meet again? Did you get home safely yesterday?”
The corn granny greeted her warmly first.
“Yes, hello, Grandma.”
As Seyeon bowed her head slightly in greeting, the round pager bell placed beside the granny suddenly flashed red and buzzed loudly. It was the kind of circular pager commonly seen in cafés.
“Oh dear, looks like it’s my turn already.”
Holding the pager bell, the granny hurried off somewhere. And right behind her, an old man holding an identical pager followed along. Outdoor pager bells—it was quite a peculiar sight.
Wondering if there was a café around here, Seyeon watched them, only to see the two of them rush into a nearby building.
Standing tall and imposing among the cluster of small shops was Seoul Clinic.
