The monk silently stared at Hyun-ho for a while. The man accepted his intense gaze with a calm expression.
“That’s an unusual earring you have,” the monk remarked, referring to the piercing in his right earlobe. To Tae-eun, it just looked like a simple platinum hoop.
“I bought it at a department store,” Hyun-ho replied lightly, determined not to fall for the monk’s insinuations. But the monk’s eyes remained fixed on the piercing.
“We’ll skip Hyun-ho’s reading,” said Kang Bo-yeon, finally regaining her composure. She retrieved the paper she had given to the monk and placed a white envelope with the payment on the small table before standing up.
Hyun-ho’s mother looked unwell. Boo Yun-hwa quickly linked arms with her and helped her down the steps.
“Is there perhaps a different birth date?” the monk called out from behind them. Tae-eun turned back with an irritated expression. The monk truly believed Hyun-ho’s fortune belonged to a deceased person. Clearly, he wasn’t as gifted as people claimed.
“That’s not possible,” Hyun-ho responded smoothly, his voice flowing with a rhythmic ease. He placed a hand on Tae-eun’s back and guided her out of the temple.
Under the guardian statues, Kang Bo-yeon was wiping away tears. Boo Yun-hwa was speaking quickly, trying to comfort her.
“He touched on the one thing that upsets my mother the most,” Hyun-ho murmured quietly as they stood together on the lawn in front of the temple.
“She still feels guilty whenever she thinks about that time…”
Tae-eun glared at the temple, her anger flaring. Just because someone was supposedly gifted doesn’t mean they can say whatever they want. Telling a well-adjusted person like Hyun-ho that he’s dead and not even offering an apology—she found the monk’s behavior appalling.
Then she heard a chuckle beside her. When she snapped her head around, Hyun-ho quickly covered his mouth, but his curved eyes gave away his amusement.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Glare at them again.”
“What?”
“Glare at the temple again. It’s adorable.”
She felt her cheeks flush and lowered her gaze. After a moment’s pause, she mustered the courage to look up again.
“Are you… still mad?”
“I was never mad to begin with.”
He started laughing openly now. Tae-eun widened her eyes and stepped closer.
“Really? You were never mad?”
“Yeah. I was just pretending to be mad because it’s cute seeing you so worried.”
She dropped her shoulders and lightly punched his chest, not hard enough to hurt. But he pretended to wince in pain.
“Don’t play around like that.”
“I’d promise, but you’re so cute I might forget and do it again.”
Tae-eun frowned and turned away. She had been so anxious, nearly in tears, trying to gauge his mood, only to find out he was just teasing her. The realization brought a fresh wave of indignation.
“Oh no, now you’re mad at me,” Hyun-ho said, stepping in front of her. When she refused to meet his gaze, he cupped her cheeks in his hands and gently squeezed.
“Hey, let’s go.”
At her mom’s call, Tae-eun slapped his hand away and quickly ran off. He chuckled, watching her sprint before turning to look back at the temple.
From a shadowy corner untouched by sunlight, the monk was still staring at him, convinced of his judgment yet clueless about whom he was dealing with.
With a nod towards the short-sighted monk, he leisurely left the temple.
***
“Mmm, this is quite tasty.”
Kang Bo-yeon, her eyes still red, seemed to regain some energy as she ate her sea urchin bibimbap. Without a word, Ji Hyun-ho placed a piece of fried eggplant on his mother’s rice.
“Hyun-ho, you’re so considerate. You should get married before Young-hoon,” Boo Yun-hwa praised, smiling at the scene. She seemed to be trying to erase the memory of the monk’s “dead child” remark.
“Really, when did you grow up so much? Running a café and even treating your mom to meals. So, when are you getting married?”
As he took a bite of bibimbap, he glanced at Song Tae-eun sitting across from him and smiled. She, startled by his gaze, lowered her head so far she almost buried it in her bowl.
“Shouldn’t you ask if he has a girlfriend first?”
Tae-eun suddenly felt a tightness in her throat and wanted to drink water, but she was too afraid of meeting his eyes again, so she kept eating her bibimbap.
“Please, just date someone already. You’ve been so picky since you were young, turning down every girl who liked you. It’s embarrassing for me when I run into other mothers in the neighborhood.”
Hyun-ho’s mother glanced at him lightly. Hyun-ho, taken aback by her comment, drank his water.
As Kang Bo-yeon muttered while eating kimchi, her gaze shifted across the table.
“Is it because of Tae-eun?”
“What?”
Tae-eun, feeling accused, raised her voice. She saw Hyun-ho smiling subtly out of the corner of her eye.
“No, it’s just that Hyun-ho has liked Tae-eun since he was little. I wondered if he’s comparing other girls to her.”
“That’s right, Mom.”
She glared at him, wondering what he was doing, but he just smiled at his mother.
“Tae-eun Noona is my ideal type.”
The spoon Tae-eun was holding fell to the floor. While the adults burst into laughter, Hyun-ho handed her a new spoon.
“Unnie, what do you think about letting Tae-eun date our Hyun-ho?”
“Oh, I’m fine with it. Tae-eun, what do you think? Want to give it a try?”
Her face was bright red; Tae-eun didn’t respond and focused on her food. The adults found her shyness amusing and laughed loudly until she was almost in tears, begging them to stop.
By the time they returned to Hajung-ri, Boo Yun-hwa was practically treating Ji Hyun-ho as her future son-in-law. As the SUV drove away, Tae-eun tugged on her mother’s arm.
“Please stop.”
“Why? He’s handsome, polite, and has everything going for him. Do you think boys like him are common these days? You should seriously consider it and stop seeing him as just a younger brother.”
She pouted as she hugged the dog, Dodam, but the dog squirmed, wanting to go to her mother.
“If you decide to date Hyun-ho, I won’t mind if you sneak out at night. Who knows? Maybe that marriage fortune for next year was about him.”
Eventually, Dodam wriggled out of her arms and jumped to her mother. Covering her ears, Tae-eun pretended not to hear and went inside.
After dinner, Tae-eun checked her phone and squinted. It was a message from Ji Hyun-ho, almost as if he had overheard their conversation.
[I’ll pick you up in front of your house at 9:30. There’s somewhere we need to go.]
Her parents usually went to bed by nine. Somehow, it seemed like he knew that too. Suppressing her needless suspicion, she replied to his message.
[Why? Where are we going?]
But there was no response from him. She checked her phone every five minutes, quietly opening the door and the gate in advance to avoid making noise when she left.
At nine, her parents took the dog and went into their bedroom. The house plunged into darkness as all the lights were turned off. Tae-eun turned on a small lamp and anxiously awaited his message.
At 9:30, she heard the sound of an engine outside. Then her phone buzzed briefly.
[I’m here. Come outside.]
Tae-eun quietly put on her coat and stepped out of her room. The rustling of the thick coat sounded loud in the silence. She slipped on her sneakers, trying not to make a sound, and carefully opened the front door. She couldn’t avoid the slight clatter as the doorknob turned.
Even though the cold wind touched her face, sweat trickled down her back. After passing the biggest hurdle, the front door, she easily went through the gate she had already opened. Only when she got into Ji Hyun-ho’s car did she let out the breath she had been holding.
“What’s going on?”
“I need to check something.”
Hyun-ho’s face was slightly tense. Puzzled, she straightened her sneakers and noticed something brushing against her foot. It was a black bag.
“What’s this?”
“A camera.”
He turned the car and headed towards the coastal road. She had no idea where they were going, what he needed to check, or why he was taking her along, so she just looked out the window.
His car passed the beach and headed towards a pier where small fishing boats were tied up. While the beach area had new buildings for tourists, the pier retained its old look.
Like her house, most of the homes had their lights off. However, the house where the SUV stopped had a bluish glow from a TV coming through the window.
“Is this the place?”
He nodded silently in response to her question, his gaze fixed on the house inside the low stone wall. The atmosphere made her feel like she should remain silent.
“Can you pass me that bag?”
She handed him the bag, and he adjusted the camera lens, aiming it at the house through the windshield.
Soon, someone emerged from the orange gate. He immediately started clicking the shutter in rapid succession.
The person who came out was someone she recognized. It was Han Ju-sam, the current union president, a middle-aged man with a sturdy build.
🍉🍉🍉
