Episode 4 Part 2
Sejeong left the store after seeing Jihoon raise his hand and shake it.
She thought to herself that when she returns, she would tell her grandmother that she would be out for a moment, and to drag him out, and have a serious talk.
She has absolutely no desire to run into him again. So she wanted to tell him to stop chasing around and bothering her.
Ji-hoon finished his last spoonful as he heard the door close. He took a napkin from the napkin holder hanging from the ceiling and wiped his mouth, then took his cell phone out of his pants pocket.
A silent smile appeared on his lips as he stared blankly at the photo of Sejeong that he had taken earlier.
“Is this our Sejeong?”
From the kitchen, Sejeong’s grandmother approached him and pretended to know Jihoon after seeing the photo on his phone. Jihoon didn’t seem surprised and just smiled and responded to her.
“Yes, that’s right. I took the picture.”
“Isn’t my granddaughter pretty? Can she appear on TV?”
Ji-hoon nodded his head while looking at her.
“She’s prettier than those kids. First of all, she’s not empty-headed. She’s smart.”
“That’s true. But… are you by any chance my Sejeong’s lover?”
At her grandmother’s question, Ji-hoon nodded with an effort to lower the corners of his lips that were about to split.
“Yes. We suit each other well, right?”
“But… I heard Sejeong saying that she doesn’t have a boyfriend?”
Ji-hoon got up from his seat while coughing. Se-jeong’s grandmother looked up at him, he was so tall that his head almost touched the ceiling.
After he entered the store, Sejeong’s face turned red and she looked flustered, so she thought it was strange, thus she tried to talk to Jihoon while she was out. Instead of answering, Jihoon just nodded to her.
“I enjoyed the meal. I’ll come again.”
“Why, are you leaving already?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you wait until Sejeong comes?”
“I don’t think I’ll hear anything good when she comes, so I’m going to run away in advance.”
Ji-hoon smiled brightly. The grandmother thought that the young man in front of her, who had white skin and looked like a parasite, liked Se-jeong as he claimed.
Although he wasn’t the type to bow and be polite, she liked his unwavering confidence, and aside from everything else, he had a good appetite, which was a passing grade.
Also, the fact that he had a good taste in women was what she appreciated the most in him.
Se-Jeong returned back after sometime.
“Grandma, did he go?”
“Yeah, he ate everything in one go and left.”
As she turned to return back the daughter of Mimi, who had now entered kindergarten, was holding Sejeong’s hand, so that’s why she was delayed for a while at the snack shop. When she returned to the shop in a hurry, Jihoon was already gone. Sejeong felt embarrassed and bit her lip.
“Clean up quickly, Sejeong.”
The old woman raised her voice as she locked the door of the shop from the inside. Sejeong hurriedly took off her apron.
“Yes, Grandma. I’ll count the money quickly and do the dishes.”
“Okay. I’ll prepare the food.”
It had been a long day, so the most urgent task was to finish up quickly and go home. Even if I didn’t feel like it, I thought it would be better to meet Jihoon later at school and talk to him separately.
After washing, she took a deep breath and sat down in a corner of the restaurant, holding a box of coins with the paint peeling off in some places.
There were a lot of thousand-won bills and quite a few ten-thousand-won bills. Sejeong happily counted the money, forgetting about Ji-hoon coming and nagging her. The corners of her mouth naturally went up in a good mood. Her hands, which were busy sorting the bills by color while sitting at the table, suddenly stopped.
“… … .”
Sejeong rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. Her heart suddenly started pounding so fast that it hurt her. Her mouth went dry and her hair stood on end. Sejeong stared at the check for a moment, then finally got up from her seat and went into the kitchen.
“Ha… Grandma.”
Her voice didn’t come out well. Sejeong cleared her throat roughly and called her again.
“Grandma.”
“Yeah, baby.”
“What is this?”
The old woman, who was opening a large rice container and scooping out rice with a spatula, glanced at Sejeong. Then, she noticed the check in her hand and answered nonchalantly.
“Ah. That young man from earlier. He insisted that he didn’t need change, so I just took it. Are you going to eat soup, honey?”
“Grandma!”
Sejeong’s face was a mess. Her head was pounding and her heart was pounding like crazy. She had heard a story on the news about a check being found in the Salvation Army’s fundraising box at the end of the year.
What did she think back then about it? She had thought of pretending to be crazy and reaching into the Salvation Army basket and stealing it, but it was literally just a fantasy.
“Oh my, why are you yelling!”
Instead, the surprised grandmother yelled at her. Sejeong looked at her, sobbing. Her dry lips trembled. It seemed as if sweat had dried all over her body.
“What am I supposed to do if I get hit with something like this?”
“Sejeong he is your friend right? If I give you change, you can just pay him later. What’s the fuss? No, and… If he had a good meal, is it such a big deal to give 100,000 won? Judging from the way he was dressed, you looked like a rich kid…”
“Grandma!”
Hot tears flowed down from Sejeong’s eyes as she shouted, cutting off her words. Sejeong’s grandmother frowned in surprise.
“Why are you crying and making a fuss!”
“This isn’t worth 100,000 won…!!”
Sejeong cried, holding the check.
“Then what is it if not a million won?”
“This is 100 million! It’s written here… Here, it’s written straight in Korean!”
Clang!
The iron rice bowl fell from Sejeong’s grandmother’s hand onto the cement floor. White grains of rice scattered on the floor. Sejeong looked at her grandmother with eyes filled with resentment, gasping for breath. Drop, drop, hot tears flowed down her cheeks.
“What should I do if I get this… something like this… sob…”
My grandmother’s wrinkled hands trembled. Surprised and embarrassed, she uttered incoherent words.
“Oh my, Sejeong-ah. I didn’t know. I’ve only ever seen a check for 100,000 won… I didn’t even check it properly, I just put it in after looking at the color, Sejeong-ah. I thought that young man liked you… I thought it was okay to accept that much… This old lady is crazy, Sejeong-ah… What kind of punishment do you think I should get for selling out my granddaughter? Oh my, Sejeong-ah. I’m going crazy. Hurry up… Hurry up and come to me, Sejeong-ah… Huh? This old lady’s hands are shaking, Sejeong-ah. Oh my, baby…”
Sejeong ended up sitting on the floor and crying out loud. Her grandmother was that kind of person. She could pretend not to know and receive 100,000 won, but she was afraid of anything more than that.
Sejeong felt even sadder because she knew best the life of her grandmother, who had suffered all her life on the market floor, and she couldn’t stop crying at the harsh reality that her own life wasn’t much different.
For some people, 100 million won might be enough to buy a meal, but for her and her grandmother, it was a money that they had never touched in their entire lives.
“Ugh… Ugh… .”
Ji-Hoon’s handwriting, scribbled in an arrogant handwriting, was clearly visible on the back of the check that she was too afraid to even crumple up it.
Nothing I put in my mouth is cheap.
You are included among them, Ahn Se-jeong.
Sejeong sat on the floor and cried for a long time, wiping away her hot tears with the back of her hand. Her pride was hurt and she couldn’t bear it.
She had never been in a relationship, but she wanted to be on equal footing with someone. She had nothing, but neither her grandmother nor she had ever bowed her head to anyone.
What was Ji-hoon thinking as he left this check? Did he think that with this money, Ahn Se-jeong would bow her head and pretend to give in to him?
“Haa… sob… .”
Sejeong pretended to be crazy and imagined holding his hand. Then it would be comfortable. If she dated the son of a conglomerate, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about the cost of coffee when going on dates. She wouldn’t have to tremble over a movie ticket.
Tears flowed down her closed eyes without stopping.
This added one more reason why she could never date Ji-hoon. She didn’t want to become something that could be bought with money to someone.
The problem was that the presence of Ji-hoon, who was doing these crazy things, was growing bigger and bigger in her mind.
I had an uneasy feeling that I would eventually get caught up in him, who was approaching me in a way that I could not understand at all. Do Ji-hoon, who was striking at my weakest point, was lethal, but at the same time, my heart was boiling with excitement.
A sense of self-loathing swept over her entire body. Sejeong bit her lips painfully as if punishing herself and shook her head violently.
No.
That’s absolutely not possible.
***
“Do Ji-hoon.”
Sejeong called out to Jihoon in the hallway as he was leaving the classroom. Jihoon stopped walking and leaned against the wall awkwardly. He looked at her with an interesting gaze.
“Lets talk for a minute.”
Tae-hwan, who was standing next to Ji-hoon, widened his eyes. Last time, he had told Se-jeong about Ji-hoon’s feelings, but Se-jeong didn’t react much, so it seemed like it would end like that. That’s why it was unexpected that Se-jeong suddenly spoke to Ji-hoon.
It wasn’t just him who was surprised. Those passing by also exchanged glances in silence, as if surprised by the unexpected combination of Ahn Se-jeong and Do Ji-hoon.
Sejeong had the best grades in the class, but she was always an outsider and kept quiet, so she had few friends. But now she suddenly called Do Ji-hoon. Ji-hoon had a bad temper and would often ignore people if he didn’t like them.
Everyone’s attention was focused on the answer that would come out of Ji-hoon’s mouth rather than what Se-jeong had to say to him. Feeling the people’s gaze, Ji-hoon asked Se-jeong in a soft voice.
“Have you eaten?”
There was a quiet commotion in the hallway.
“What?”
When Sejeong frowned, Jihoon glanced at Taehwan. Then he cleared his throat and opened his mouth again politely.
“If you haven’t eaten, should we go out and eat together and talk?”
Dozens of pairs of eyes surrounding them simultaneously widened. Ji-hoon was so rude to women who approached him that some even whispered that he had misogyny. They had never heard of him asking a woman to eat with him.
Even if it weren’t for Do Ji-hoon’s background as the youngest son of the Silk Road Group, his appearance was enough to make people stop and look back at least once while passing by.
His sharp facial features and arrogantly well-shaped eyes gave him a rough yet glamorous charm, and his model-like height and excellent body proportions added to his appearance.
There were some who mustered up the courage to rush forward after hearing that he had no girlfriend. The results were disastrous. It was like a nobleman who pretended not to hear the trembling confession and ignored it.
It is said that he hurled unspeakable curses at a senior who came to his house because of his hurt pride. It was only natural that people were surprised by the offer he made to Sejeong, who was always dripping with cold air.
“Let’s talk about this.”
Sejeong shoved an envelope she had been holding in her hand over to him. Jihoon looked down and looked at the envelope in his hand.
It’s not that he didn’t expect her to come out like this, but he didn’t think it would be given back so publicly in front of everyone.
A small smile appeared on his lips. Ji-hoon’s voice, which had been trying to be as polite as possible, suddenly became sharp.
“Why is the amount small?”
A quiet anger rose in Sejeong’s eyes as she faced him. She tried to hold it back, but she couldn’t. She glared at Jihoon, bit her lips painfully hard, and then opened her mouth.
“The meal you ate cost 70,000 won. I wanted to deduct 70,000 won and give you change, but then I thought about it and realized that I should buy a meal for my college friend. I’ll pay for what you ate yesterday.”
She wanted to smile at him, but her facial muscles felt paralyzed, so she stopped herself and instead glared at him, leaving only the whites of her eyes visible.
“I’ve never gotten anything from anyone. If you don’t want change, just take it.”
How much would she have to return if she deducted 70,000 won from 100 million won? Sejeong gritted her teeth as she looked at the envelope that Jihoon was holding out to her with a look of annoyance on his finger.
“Put it away.”
At first, Sejeong really thought about deducting the cost of the meal and returning it. But that was only for a moment. She was afraid that something strange might happen when she went to the bank to change the check.
The phrase written on the back of the check along with her name made the money feel like a bribe. Sejeong couldn’t bring herself to hand the check over to the teller.
I didn’t feel like sending such a large sum of money to someone else, and sending it by mail was even more impossible.
She spent the whole night thinking about it. She thought about just tearing up the check and ignoring Ji-hoon forever, but to her, money was something that should not be handled carelessly, even if it was just a thousand won.
In the end, she decided to return the check to Ji-hoon. During the entire lecture, including the moment she took the village bus from home to the subway station, Se-jeong had to be very careful about the envelope containing the check. The check, which was just a piece of white paper, was too heavy for her to hold.
“Okay. Got it.”
Ji-hoon shrugged his shoulders and moved his long hand.
Sizzle.
The white envelope containing the check that had kept her up all night was torn in half by his long fingers and scattered across the hallway floor.
Sejeong’s eyes opened wide in shock, and her small lips trembled. A thin voice leaked out from her pale face.
“…What are you doing now?”
Ji-hoon responded nonchalantly.
“Isn’t it something you don’t need anymore? It’s the same for me.”
“Hey… You can’t do that right now!”
Her voice rose, but her opponent remained calm.
“Okay, let’s go eat. You bought me a meal yesterday, so I’ll buy it for you today.”
A hot flame rose in Sejeong’s chest as she looked at him smiling smoothly. The bag on her shoulder fell down with a thud.
She was genuinely angry at the guy in front of her. Sejeong swears that she never thought that her life, where she was worried about a single ten-thousand won note, and Do Ji-hoon’s life, who was born into a wealthy family, were the same.
But what he was doing now was not something that could be dismissed as child’s play. Even if what he had torn up was not 100 million won but a single 1,000 won note, she would have been just as angry.
Sejeong wasn’t the only one who was worried about the check. Although she didn’t say much, she was worried about her grandmother too, and she couldn’t sleep at night and locked the door several times because of that money.
Unlike those who stayed up all night worrying, Sejeong felt so angry that she felt like exploding at the sight of Jihoon acting as if nothing happened.
“I told you to pick it up right now!”
When Sejeong shouted so loudly that the hallway of the classroom echoed, the people around her started whispering and looking at her.
“Why is she acting like that all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know. I guess she is going crazy.”
As Ji-hoon took a step closer to her, the people around him were even more surprised. They thought that he might raise his hand against Se-jeong. Considering the series of incidents Ji-hoon had caused at school so far, it was not impossible.
“I’ve never picked up something that fell on the ground. I’m not a beggar.”
Sejeong muttered as if spitting out bitter medicine to Jihoon, who was speaking softly while looking at Sejeong, while trembling with her arms crossed.
“Shut up and pick it up right now.”
Her white face was flushed, and her round forehead was flushed with a red color. Her small ears and the nape of her neck were as red as carrots.
Ji-hoon licked his lips with his tongue, remembering what her round lips tasted like. He tilted his head slightly and whispered to her softly.
“What will you do if I pick it up?”
“What?”
“If I pick this up, what will you do for me?”
“There’s nothing I can do for a worst-case scenario like you. So pick it up quickly.”
Ji-hoon licked his lips as if he felt regretful as he watched her trembling.
“This time, negotiations broke down again.”
He picked up her bag from the floor. He dusted it off with his large hands and placed it over Sejeong’s shoulder. He then turned around, leaving Sejeong speechless in her rage.
“Let’s go.”
The crowd that had been standing next to him followed Ji-hoon. The people around him who had been exchanging glances openly glanced at her and whispered.
“What, did Ahn Se-jeong got dumped by Do Ji-hoon? Isn’t that some kind of love letter?”
“Isn’t it money?”
“Hey, no way.”
Sejeong watched him walk away from the hallway, his long legs trudging along, then clenched her fists. On the hallway floor, a torn check for 100 million won appeared in an envelope, as if teasing her.
The flames of anger burning in her chest were burning her mind white. Sejeong picked up the torn check, held it in her hand, and began to run forward quickly.
“Hey, Do Ji -hoon, you are a dog, you better stand there!!”
Her loud voice echoed through the hallway. At the end of the hallway, as he was about to exit the building, he stopped and turned around. Sejeong was running towards him, calling his name. Jihoon smiled as he watched her running so fast that her long, tightly tied hair blew.
The early summer sunlight poured through the window. Sejeong ran towards Jihoon, grimacing at the dazzling light. She was thinking of slapping him in the face and telling him not to play around with her life like that. She was thinking of yelling at him, asking if 100 million was a joke, asking if everything was that easy for him.
“You… You…!”
Ji-hoon held Se-jeong tightly in his arms as she ran towards him and swung her fist, while holding the check.
“Nice catch.”
Ji-hoon whispered. She screamed and threw herself into his arms.
“Don’t! let go of me! Let go!”
She pounded his shoulder and back with her fist and yelled at him, but he didn’t move. He just wrapped his large hands around her neck and back, buried his sharp chin on her shoulder, and whispered with a small smile.
“Do you know what the expressions on the faces of the people watching us right now are? They’re all on the verge of popping out their eyes.”
“So what? let go!”
Instead of letting her go, Ji-hoon slowly stroked the back of her head with his large hand as if soothing her.
“If you had just eaten with me and talked in a quiet place from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been so bad that people would have seen you like this. Don’t you think so?”
“Haa… Hey, Do Ji-hoon. Do you think everything is a joke to you?”
“No way.”
Sejeong struggled to escape from his large arms, but the arms that held her body were strong. The tip of her nose was filled with the scent of Jihoon’s perfume. The fresh and strong scent made her dizzy.
“Do I… do I look that funny to you?”
“No. To me, you just look fucking beautiful.”
“Keep you flirting aside when you talk with me.”
“I don’t like it.”
Sejeong clenched her teeth. Her head was overloaded and her stomach was churning.
“You… will regret it.”
“Why?”
Sejeong didn’t even have time to mull it over in her head. The unrefined sentences just came out of her mouth without even going through her head.
“If you don’t let me go now, you will never have the chance to have sex with me again.”
It was perhaps a ridiculous threat. And Ji-hoon fell for it beautifully. His thick eyebrows twitched, and the big hand that was holding her tightly loosened its grip.
“Is that a… trade right now?”
His voice, husky and low, was filled with excitement. She had hoped for it, but as expected, Do Ji-hoon was a person she couldn’t get along with. Se-jeong was out of breath and grounded her teeth.
“Think whatever you want.”
The moment Ji-hoon completely released the strength in his arms, Se-jeong pushed his shoulder and then hit him hard on the cheek.
Tatch!
The lips of those watching them opened silently. Tae-hwan and Ji-hoon’s friends who were next to him froze at their place. Se-jeong’s hand that had hit Ji-hoon’s cheek trembled.
“You, don’t ever…don’t you ever play with money again, this is a warning.”
As Ji-hoon’s eyes instantly turned cold, his friends who had stepped back from him shared anxious glances. One side of his face turned red and he took a step closer to her. Se-jeong’s eyes sparkled with moisture.
“Don’t…come any closer.”
Ji-hoon took a step closer and stared at her intently. He had already been slapped twice by her.
If hitting him was this shocking to her, then he wanted to get hit everytime. but every time she hit him, Sejeong’s expression was so amazing that he was more dumbfounded than angry. He was the one getting hit, but she was always the one crying.
“Hey… Don’t come near me…!”
Ji-hoon snickered and reached out, pulling her into his arms. Se-jeong was trembling slightly, but she didn’t push him away.
“Sejeong-ah.”
He called her name in her ear. Sejeong flinched again. He gently stroked the back of her head and whispered.
“I never played with money.”
“… If that’s not a joke… then what is it?”
Sejeong muttered in a tearful voice. He rubbed his face against her ear and smelled her body. His whispering voice was breathtakingly affectionate.
“It cost me 100 million to make you mad and come running to me. It cost me exactly 100 million to make you call my name first, the person to whom you treated like an invisible being.”
“…ha….”
Sejeong couldn’t answer his question, so she just took a deep breath. Jihoon hugged her and giggled, while stroking her shoulders.
“If you think about it, you’re a pretty expensive woman, don’t you think?”
The heavy teardrops that had been hanging in Sejeong’s eyes eventually fell and soaked Jihoon’s shirt.
“That’s okay.”
“huh….”
He comforted Sejeong in a pleasant voice, stroking her head as tears welled up in her eyes.
“You can afford to be expensive. I don’t treat people like cheapskates.”
“You… Do Ji-hoon, you really are not in your right mind.”
“That’s right. Even after getting slapped, I still want to kiss you again.”
Ji-hoon blurted out clearly enough for everyone around him to hear. Se-jeong couldn’t raise her head in his arms. She buried her flushed face in his wide chest.
Her hot breath spread across Ji-hoon’s left chest. Ji-hoon held her tightly, looked around, and opened his mouth.
“What are you looking at, you fucking bastards?”
A proud smile spread across the corners of his long lips, which were turned up at the ends.
“Is this your first time seeing a couple quarreling?”
The check was completely crumpled in Sejeong’s tightly clenched fist. She closed her eyes in his arms. The sunlight streaming in through the thick window was beating down on her body as if it was going to stab her.
It was early summer, when cicadas were chirping and squealing in unison. It was the day that Sejeong officially became Jihoon’s lover at school.
