ACJY C31

Taeheun answered the questions with a mix of lies and truth. The man concentrated on eating with an indifferent expression, not caring whether the other man babbled or not. Anyway, he was a very blunt person.

“Hey, it seems the neighboring village is using a lot of foreigners these days. They say the labor costs are low and they work really hard.”

Mr. Jang said, slurping his drink.

“Isn’t it inconvenient since they can’t even speak the language?”

The man, who had been silent until now, replied somewhat indifferently.

“You can say that again. I only know ABCD in English, so I wouldn’t be able to use foreigners even if they told me to.”

“Are they really that cheap?”

Taeheun chimed in.

“Well, the labor costs are cheap, but they usually provide three meals a day and lodging, so it evens out.”

“Ah, then it’s all the same. And what can you trust about letting foreigners into your house? Don’t you think so?”

“That’s true. They say you shouldn’t take in even black-haired beasts, let alone foreigners, right?”

Mr. Jang’s wife scolded him for his words.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Our village manages to get through the harvest season thanks to Jihye’s father and the women here, but the next village, all the young people have left for the city, leaving only the elderly. There’s no one to work at all, so how fortunate is it that foreigners are coming in?”

Mr. Jang and the man silently nodded, as if she wasn’t wrong.

“By the way, there’s a youth association here, right? Why don’t I see any of the youth association members?”

Taeheun asked, thinking of the youth association president and Kwon Yongjun.

“They’re all busy working in their own fields. Except for the youth association president and Yongjun.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Mr. Jang’s wife poked Mr. Jang in the side.

“Why? Did I say something wrong? It’s frustrating because the two youngest ones are just sitting around playing with their titles.”

“They’re playing because they can afford to. All the fields in this village belong to Yongjun anyway, so why would Yongjun work?”

“Really? Yongjun’s family must be very rich?”

“Of course. Now it’s just the land in this village and the next one left, but until a few decades ago, all the fields in Hwangmu Township belonged to Yongjun’s family.”

Taeheun recalled Kwon Yongjun’s handsome face. Even though he drove a Damas, he wore trendy clothes and his hair looked like he spent a fair amount of money on it.

“I thought the village headman was the richest in this village, but I guess not.”

He subtly inquired about the village headman.

“The headman has some money, but he’s not rich. He sold almost all the land he had when his second son got married, so there’s not much left. Honestly, it’s funny that he’s wearing the village headman’s armband without any proper land.”

Mr. Jang’s wife nudged him again and gave him a look. Mr. Jang reluctantly closed his mouth.

The man poured himself a couple of cups of coffee from the kettle but didn’t touch the oriental melons.

“But, young man, you haven’t gotten any rashes from the weeds.”

Mr. Jang’s wife looked Taeheun up and down, fascinated.

“Oh, me? I don’t get those. My skin is really good.”

“That’s a relief. You see, when Gibeom brought Jihye here about 10 years ago, he got a rash from working and suffered for months.”

Mr. Jang chuckled, bringing up the man’s past.

“Months, you say? He suffered for almost a year. After living in the city for a few years, he came back and got rashes he never had before.”

Mr. Jang’s wife added.

“He still gets them, doesn’t he? Right, Jihye’s father?”

There was no reply.

It was unexpected. To think that someone who looked so tough suffered from rashes. Moreover, he thought he had lived here all his life, but it seemed he had gone out to another region and returned. He was excited to learn two new things about the man.

As the topic of conversation turned to him, the man chewed on his paper cup with the sullen expression he usually wore when he heard something he didn’t like.

The short 30-minute break flew by.

He felt like dying going back into the greenhouse, but since he had started the work, he decided to earn at least half of his daily wage and stepped inside. The sweet smell of oriental melons, along with the suffocating humidity and heat, hit him all at once. Taeheun frowned and tried to put his wet T-shirt back on. Then the man pulled out a black T-shirt from the plastic bag he had brought in the morning and held it out.

“When did you pack this?”

“I’m going to change.”

“What? Are you telling me to wear it or not?”

“Wear it.”

“Thank you.”

When Taeheun smiled brightly, the man turned away, pretending not to see. The back of his neck was red, so it seemed he was embarrassed again.

“But I wonder if it’ll be a bit small for me.”

He muttered to himself as he put on the man’s T-shirt. The familiar cheap detergent smell emanated from the shirt. Sniff sniff, He buried his nose in the shirt and smelled it.

The work in the greenhouse was tough, but the time to finish did come.

As soon as the work was done, the man took Taeheun to the village hall. He wondered why they were going there, but it turned out to be for a shower. The village hall had shower facilities for the residents, which were mainly used by the young men like him in the summer and as a bathhouse for the elderly in the winter, the man explained. The man always showered there after work and changed everything from his socks to his T-shirt. It was strange that he didn’t smell of sweat, and now he knew why.

Since he had given his spare T-shirt to Taeheun, the man put his sweat-soaked one back on. He added that if he didn’t have to go to town, he would have gone shirtless as usual. Taeheun remembered the day he first met the man. He thought he was showing off his body, but that wasn’t it.

Taeheun didn’t have any clothes to change into either, so he was still wearing the T-shirt he had borrowed from the man. Thanks to the man getting him a pair of green sweatpants from the youth association, he was able to avoid the misfortune of going to town in sweat-soaked pants.

“Get some sleep while we go to town.”

Taeheun said to the man as he turned on the car’s air conditioning.

The man replied curtly, “Yes.” And then he really fell asleep less than five minutes after the car started.

“What the… He could at least pretend to have a conversation before falling asleep.”

He grumbled.

Only three hours had passed since he had the snack, but he was hungry. It was ironic considering he had struggled to finish the bibimbap.

Thinking he should eat lunch first and then do some shopping or whatever, he turned on the radio. He lowered the volume for the man. The weather forecaster expressed concern about the early heat and then announced the rain forecast in a cheerful voice. With the northward movement of the monsoon front, the metropolitan area seemed to be entering the monsoon season from the middle of next week.

Will the rain make the work a little easier, or will it be a hardship? Taeheun glanced at the sleeping man.

The man, who had been in a deep sleep all the way to town, opened his eyes as if by magic when the car stopped.

“Let’s eat first.”

“Yes.”

“Naengmyeon is okay, right?”

Realizing they had parked in front of a naengmyeon restaurant, the man gave a short reply, “Yes.”

“Let’s have some dumplings too.”

Without a word, the man got out of the car.

Watching the man stretch, Taeheun turned off the engine. His whole body ached and felt stiff.

The money Taeheun earned after working for a little over six hours was less than 20,000 won. Mr. Jang had boasted that he was even given that much because he was a man. This was why everyone would rather do manual labor than farm work. Rubbing his stiff shoulders, he entered the naengmyeon restaurant.

Men who looked like public officials from the town office were eating with their heads down at each table. When two men, both over 180cm tall, entered the restaurant, everyone looked up as if they recognized them. Since the only empty seats were in the corner, the man headed there.

“Where are you going? It’s cool here.”

Taeheun grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him to a table where the air conditioning was blowing well.

“Do you mind if we join you?”

He asked after sitting down, and the middle-aged man and woman who were eating naengmyeon at the four-seater table reluctantly nodded.

“Ah, so cool. I have a knack for finding the best spots.”

He boasted.

A restaurant employee brought a kettle filled with broth and two cups.

“I’ll have mul-naengmyeon. Mr. Gibeom?”

“Me too.”

“Two mul-naengmyeon and two orders of wang mandu, please.”

“Just one order of mandu.”

The man corrected the order, looking back at the employee.

“No, two orders, please.”

The employee confirmed the two orders once more and then shouted towards the kitchen.

“I’m going to eat a lot. If there’s any left, we can take it to go.”

“…Yes.”

The man poured broth into a cup and handed it to Taeheun.

“I’ll just grab the cutlery.”

Taeheun reached towards the middle-aged man they had joined. The man frowned. He didn’t care. Taeheun was naturally brazen. In a good way, he was easygoing.

His uncle often said, “You’re frivolous like your mother.” As if he had any right to complain when he had such a frivolous son. Tsk. The thought of his uncle almost made him lose his appetite, but just then, plates of mul-naengmyeon and wang mandu arrived at the table.

“Looks delicious. Eat a lot, it’s on me.”

The man was about to grab his naengmyeon bowl with both hands and drink the broth, but stopped and looked at Taeheun.

“I got paid for the day. It’s a good deal if I can eat something delicious with this. Don’t you think?”

“Still…”

“There you go again. I worked hard for this money, so it feels different.”

“You didn’t earn much, though.”

“Come on. I want to buy you a meal with my own money, do you really have to dampen the mood like this?”

The man reluctantly agreed and then, careful not to touch the woman sitting next to him, brought his arms in and slurped the naengmyeon broth. Taeheun followed suit and grabbed his bowl.

They both ate the naengmyeon and mandu almost as if they were drinking it, without saying a word. Occasionally, when Taeheun said, “Delicious,” the man would nod. The meal was over when Taeheun finished off the two remaining wang mandu that the man had left. He felt like he was going to burst. Even Taeheun, who didn’t like the feeling of being full, was satisfied now.