Limits of Paradise

The season that tinted the autumn leaves yellow had faded away. Residents who had finished harvesting tangerines hid indoors to escape the cold snap. The strong northern wind swept relentlessly over the sandy beaches and tangerine fields without mercy.

Trucks loaded with bright yellow crates crawled along slowly, hiding away, while on the ground, hardened snow and unsellable tangerines lay tangled together.

At this time of year, the countryside was very quiet. There were only sporadic tourists coming to enjoy the winter sea.

On the road leading to the beach, there stood a white two-story building that passed unnoticed by most visitors. Inside, a tall man stood alone, surveying the freshly cleaned interior.

He had called in a repairman to give the place a warm feeling with interior repairs, and at least in his eyes, it didn’t look bad. Soon enough, it should appear as a plausible cafe to any woman who walked in.

Ji Hyun-ho’s bright hazel eyes glanced beyond the window to the oldest tree behind the building. Ghosts were vying for dominance over that tree.

As soon as his gaze touched them, the ghosts froze as if turned into ice. He suppressed the urge to tear down even that tree and went outside. The cold wind lashed his face as it passed by.

This place, transformed into a cafe by him, was originally a family house shrouded in rumors of ghosts haunting it for decades. And indeed, ghosts had frequented it. It was not a haunt that ordinary people could handle.

The first thing Ji Hyun-ho did after buying the house was to tear down all the walls and cut down the rotten trees that surrounded it.

Ghosts, which had been living parasitically on the drooping branches like long hair, screamed in protest and gathered around the one remaining old tree. Leaving one tree standing was his final act of consideration.

During the extensive renovation that took three months, he erected a new tall wall up to his knees and painted all the outer walls white. He also laid plenty of grass on the barren cemented yard.

And he put up a small silver signboard.

［Hajung Café 61］

It was a space meant solely for one woman.

She had returned to her hometown after nine years. Now all she had to do was step outside. It would be a very short time compared to the patience she had shown all this while.

The corners of his mouth lifted lightly as he looked around the newly established place.

***

As Tae-eun settled into life in Seoul and descended to Hajung-ri, she expected a quiet and peaceful daily routine. However, her hopes were crushed as the reality unfolded quite differently.

Hajung-ri, a place that had been expected to be calm, was gradually buzzing with excitement. This was due to the candidates running for the position of association chairman going door-to-door in earnest as the important election approached.

With an upcoming election as crucial as choosing the governor, Song Giseok’s house became the neighborhood gathering place for Hajung-ri residents. As a former association chairman, he had everyone guessing whom he would support, and people with different agendas frequented his place, wearing out his doorstep.

As the landlord’s daughter, she quietly slipped out of the house with her dog as soon as the clock struck eight in the morning, avoiding the guests who came knocking early.

Dealing with the ten million population of the metropolis or the thousand residents of a small village was equally awkward for her. She couldn’t meet their eyes directly.

“Dodam, let’s go for a walk.”

With her white-furred dog leading the way, Tae-eun headed to the beach. Although there was still some unmelted snow piled up on the street corners, the cold seemed to have eased a bit since a few days ago. The January daffodils, which had endured the cold well, revealed their yellow faces along the road.

“Let’s take it slow.”

As they crossed the intersection towards the beach, the excited dog dragged her along halfway. Unlike the dog, whose attention was caught by the recycling bins, Tae-eun’s gaze was drawn elsewhere, still half asleep.

Across the road, there stood a newly built white building. With its low walls and no front gate, the wide lawn inside was clearly visible.

A new café?

As Tae-eun squinted and observed, her eyes suddenly widened. The white café, located just a house away from the convenience store, was a familiar place notorious for the haunted rumors.

Several residents had claimed to have seen ghosts while living there, and most couldn’t endure even a year before hastily moving out. So, it had remained vacant for quite some time.

While outsiders nowadays frequented Hajung-ri claiming to stay for a month, it used to be mostly long-time residents who had lived in one house for decades until five years ago.

In such a neighborhood, a house that changed owners so frequently had undoubtedly some strange aspects, beyond just rumors.

But a café? Surely, the person who bought it was either a mainland person who didn’t know about the ominous rumors, or knew but was blinded by the cheap price.

As Tae-eun squinted and observed with curiosity, she briefly saw a shadow of a person inside. A tall figure dressed in black was bustling inside the glass door. Her grip on the leash tightened.

The automatic door recognized someone’s presence and slid open sideways.

Instead of a ghost, a man slowly walked out.

However, her curious gaze didn’t last long.

“Hey.”

The dog, having thoroughly sniffed the smell around the recycling bins, suddenly crossed the road. Despite her frantic tug on the leash, the dog ran across the road, paying no heed to anything but what lay ahead.

“Hey, Song Dodam.”

Dodam rushed into the café that had opened wide. It was clear that her grass-crazy dog was eyeing the grass inside the wall. Just before causing trouble in someone else’s business, she pulled the leash hard.

“You can come in.”

At that moment, a thick, rough voice came from inside.

She met the eyes of a man with a lot of brown in his eyes. His eyes, of a subtle color, didn’t clash with his brightly bleached hair or his large presence. Although his right ear was adorned with piercings, oddly enough, his demeanor didn’t feel light.

Tae-eun’s gaze immediately fell on the man’s shoe tip. Her heart pounded. The fact that the man in front of her was handsome had nothing to do with it.

“Pets are allowed, so feel free to come in.”

The man squatted down and reached out to the dog. He tried to approach him with a laugh, but Dodam, panting, tried to approach him. She had no choice but to hold the leash loosely.

Dodam, who sniffed the palm of the man who approached and smelled like a dog, suddenly lay down and started rolling in the grass. After looking at Dodam with a blank face for a moment, the man stood up, picked up a broom and a dustpan, and went into the café.

Tae-eun still hesitated to enter the café and stayed at the boundary between the café and the sidewalk. While Dodam might be a dog, she didn’t know what could go wrong.

She saw the man tying an apron around his waist inside the glass door. She sighed as she watched the dog messing up the lawn. It seemed like she would have to buy a cup of coffee as a price for the lawn usage.

‘It should be okay if I sprinkle salt before entering the house….’

Tae-eun held her breath and quickly moved her steps. The automatic door opened, and the warm air touched her cold cheek. As she approached the counter, she saw the man’s back, who was operating the espresso machine.

“Um…?”

A voice as tiny as an ant flowed out. The man holding a clean towel turned around. She gathered her courage, holding her gaze from falling down again.

“Can I order now?”

As she asked, the man’s eyebrows slightly raised. Underneath, the light-eyed eyes seemed impolite. It felt similar to an uncomfortable feeling.

As the unintended staring contest continued, her heart shrank. Did I say something wrong? Even ordering a cup of coffee in the café was not easy for her right now.

The café was well lit. The man’s eyes seemed to absorb the sunlight and reveal the iris inside. It was when she, who had become frightened, hesitated and took a step back.

“What would you like to drink?”

The man’s low voice flowed out.

“Um… a warm americano, please.”

He took the order with a businesslike face and turned around, immediately making a shot.

She let out a silent breath she had been holding. Even though her heart was vibrating, she felt proud of herself for ordering the coffee that would come out the fastest.

“The bill…”

“Just take it.”

The man handed her a white paper cup without taking her phone for payment. Her hand holding the phone was left hanging in the air.

“As a first-time guest, it’s on the house.”

The man’s tone wasn’t very friendly, but there was a hint of a faint smile in his eyes. It was hard to imagine that he had just had a fierce staring contest with her a moment ago.

“Your dog is cute, come again next time.”

“Thank you.”

Tae-eun politely thanked him and took the coffee. She appreciated the free coffee, but she wouldn’t come to this café again. If the owner was this unfriendly to her, then even more so.

The corners of the man’s mouth seemed to rise slightly. However, when she glanced at him again, he immediately had a blunt expression.

Although the café overall had a warm atmosphere, her neck kept feeling stiff, perhaps because of the ominous rumors that the place originally had.

Even the owner didn’t seem ordinary.

Tae-eun resisted the urge to look around and said goodbye once again. The man nodded. There was no way to poke fun at the polite or impolite attitude of the owner.

As she hurriedly walked towards the entrance, she suddenly stood upright. Her eyes shook as she discovered the white letters on the automatic door.

[OPEN 10:00 – 20:00]

She quickly left the café and untied the dog tied to the rock. Then, as she walked quickly to the beach, she checked the time on her phone.

It was only 8:28 now.

She could understand why the owner seemed annoyed.

 

 

🍉🍉🍉

T/N: I did some edits on the chapter and I think it will be the best to post the note here too, there will be some scenes or dialogues pertaining to Tae-eun “being cut by scissors” or tormented by scissors (like in the synopsis of the novel), but after doing some research about it, there appears to be no Korean idioms related to it. The closest and most logical explanation I could find is that it is being used as a metaphor to describe her experience in her dreams. So, she’s not literally “being cut by scissors”, but rather, it’s a metaphor. Just in case anyone will be confused.