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Chapter : 01
One month ago.
The weather had grown noticeably warmer.
It seemed the long winter was ending and spring was on its way.
Opening the window for a moment to air out the room, Iseol was admiring the forsythias blooming in clusters along the stone wall when she noticed students coming in downstairs. She picked up the apron she had washed and hung out to dry.
If you went down the narrow staircase, you’d find the small snack shop her grandmother ran.
“What are you coming down for? You should be resting,”
her grandmother said as she plated tteokbokki.
“You must be tired from looking after those kids all week.”
Schools in island regions were places most people avoided working at, so they were usually staffed by mid-career teachers aiming for promotion or rookie teachers with no real choice.
Once she actually started working on the island, Iseol understood why everyone avoided it.
The island’s scenery was beautiful, but if the weather turned bad, you couldn’t step off the island at all—a fatal drawback.
On weekends, she came out like this to help her hardworking grandmother, but when she got stranded on the island, it weighed heavily on her.
“Tired? Not at all. Look how energetic I am,”
Iseol replied.
Still, she was glad she could come out today.
Smiling, she lifted her arms to show her strength and moved to take orders.
The students who had just taken their seats were regulars at her grandmother’s snack shop.
They were whispering among themselves, sneaking glances at three male customers sitting in the corner.
Following the students’ gaze, Iseol looked over as well.
The men gave off an extraordinary air, as if they didn’t want attention, yet nothing about them—from head to toe—was ordinary.
Their urban, polished looks stood out immediately, completely out of place in this rough, rural snack shop.
All three were tall and strikingly handsome, radiating a natural presence. Even the casually worn jackets, high-quality pants, and shoes they had on were overly refined, creating a sense of distance.
Tearing her eyes away from the strangers, Iseol approached the students.
“Hey, guys. Giseok, you got a haircut. Youngtae, are you going to a wedding or something?”
At her words, the friends burst out laughing and nudged Youngtae with their shoulders.
“Didn’t I tell you dressing up too much just makes you look more country?”
“Who says I dressed up?”
“Why not? You look great.”
At Iseol’s praise, Youngtae’s face flushed red.
Seeing their closely cropped hair, acne, and innocent faces still untouched by the world reminded her of the kids in her class.
“What’ll you have?”
“Four servings of tteokbokki, six rolls of gimbap, five servings of fish cake, and three servings of sundae.”
They were growing boys, and their appetites were enormous.
“Alright. Wait just a bit. I’ll have it right out.”
After writing down the order, Iseol walked over to the three men in the corner.
Up close, they seemed even bigger and more intimidating, and she swallowed unconsciously.
Despite their refined appearance, there was a raw, dangerous aura about them that made it hard to approach.
For some reason, she was reminded of the local loan sharks who came once a month to cause trouble and demand repayment.
These men didn’t have vicious eyes, crude manners, or tattoos covering their bodies like those thugs—but still.
There were much nicer restaurants nearby, so why come to this shabby snack shop?
Of course, the food was famous for being delicious and cheap, so people did come from far away.
“Have you ordered?” Iseol asked.
Among the three, the man who looked the oldest and had the sharpest gaze spoke.
“Yes, we have.”
Despite his piercing eyes, his voice was surprisingly deep and rich, lingering in her ears.
“I see. I’ll bring it out shortly.”
Only after returning to the kitchen did Iseol finally let out the breath she’d been holding.
Her nape felt damp with cold sweat.
“Grandma, what did table nine order?”
“It’s all ready. Take it out.”
Her grandmother pointed to a tray with tteokbokki, gimbap, and fish cakes.
Iseol delivered the food to the three men, then returned to portion out tteokbokki and cut up some fried snacks for the ravenous students.
“Iseol’s here? I’ll take sundae and tteokbokki to go, too.”
The woman from the hair salon next door ordered from outside and spoke to Iseol.
“Hello, Auntie.”
“I heard you couldn’t come last week because of the storm warning. Must’ve been stifling.”
“I heard you helped Grandma at the shop last week. Thank you so much.”
“Oh, don’t mention it. Between us.”
“Then I’ll give you extra.”
As she packed the order, the woman suddenly recoiled and shouted.
“Oh lord, those rotten bastards. They’re back again—didn’t they just come by recently?”
Startled, Iseol’s hands froze.
The men approaching with loose, swaggering steps were the local loan sharks.
Calling them moneylenders was generous—they were gangsters who preyed on innocent people and did any filthy thing for money.
Bulging eyes, the rude habit of chewing gum noisily, spitting everywhere, tattoos crawling up from their hands to their necks.
She should’ve been used to it by now, but cold sweat ran down her back.
It all started when her father, who had failed a major business in Seoul, borrowed from loan sharks to try again.
After injuring his leg, he could no longer work, and the interest snowballed.
Repaying the debt fell entirely on her grandmother and Iseol.
As the men entered the shop, customers began quietly calculating when to slip away.
“Our dear teacher’s here? Didn’t see you last week.”
A man with long, narrow eyes and a deep scar on his right jaw grabbed a freshly made gimbap roll and took a huge bite as he spoke familiarly.
Behind him, his underlings snickered, eating fish cakes without permission and kicking items lying on the floor.
Several nearby customers hurriedly left the shop.
“Our boss was pretty disappointed he didn’t see you last week.”
The “boss” he referred to was the Jeonnam branch manager of the loan company Future Credit, the most cruel and terrifying man among them despite his polished appearance.
“When someone talks to you, you answer. Why are you glaring like that? You looking down on me?”
The man glaring at Iseol was the branch manager’s right-hand man—dumb but strong—yet he was called “Manager.”
“Our boss thinks you’re pretty, feels sorry for you, so he’s been lenient. You think that makes me a joke?”
“……”
“I’m not like our boss. I could twist your neck right now. Got that?”
As the man stepped right up to Iseol, baring his eyes, her grandmother jumped between them.
“We paid last week! Principal and interest, every last won—why the hell are you back again!”
Her hot-tempered grandmother grabbed the man by the collar.
“Hah. You pay a pittance and act proud. That barely oils my boys’ bellies. Business is booming here—if you’ve got money, shouldn’t you be paying whenever you can?”
“We have to live too! If we hand over everything we earn to you lot, then we—then we—!”
“Grandma, you’ll get hurt. Please, don’t.”
Iseol tried to stop her, but it was useless.
“Has this old hag gone senile and decided to die?”
The man roughly shook her grandmother off. Losing her balance, she crashed to the floor.
“Grandma!”
As Iseol rushed to help her up, nearby students stepped in to assist.
Suddenly, the man shot out his arm and brutally grabbed Iseol by the jaw.
The pain was excruciating, and terror surged at the thought that one more squeeze could crush her bones. Her whole body trembled, but she could do nothing.
She grabbed his wrist with both hands, trying desperately to pry it off, but he didn’t budge.
Then—
“Let go of that hand.”
From inside, there was the sound of a chair scraping back as one of the strangers stood up.
It was the man with the beautiful voice who had said earlier that they’d already ordered.
The man beside him seemed to try to stop him, but he soon walked toward where Iseol stood.
