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Chapter 07
Study?
Yeonwoo’s face went pale with a distant look, while Jungha casually picked up the coat he had tossed aside and put it on.
“M-Me? Tutoring?”
“I heard you’re ranked first in the entire school.”
“…Who did you hear that from?”
“From Uncle Yanggyu.”
“Ah.”
Uncle Yanggyu was the caretaker who had managed the Ire Orchard for years in place of the lady of the house’s family. Compared to others, he knew more about Yeonwoo’s circumstances and often felt sorry for her. Sometimes he would give her small jobs and pay her, and it seemed he had let slip a few things about her to the mistress and Jungha as well.
“Quit whining and start from problem ten.”
“…”
His tone was flat. But there were still things Yeonwoo couldn’t make sense of.
According to her aunt last night, this mother and son who had suddenly shown up at the main house weren’t just moderately wealthy—they were far beyond that.
If it was Woo Jungha, then no matter how rural Gojung-eup was, there had to be plenty of good tutors he could bring in. It didn’t make much sense for him to hire someone like her, just a girl holding onto first place in a small countryside town.
Besides, the mistress didn’t seem like the type who’d be pleased about girls coming and going from her son’s room.
“I don’t think your mother would be too happy about me coming to the main house.”
For the first time, Jungha’s usually unmoved expression flickered at Yeonwoo’s words.
It was only a moment, but she caught the way his gaze sank into shadow.
Yeonwoo wondered if she had said something she shouldn’t have and closed her mouth again. Jungha replied in his usual calm voice.
“Don’t worry about that.”
“…”
“Just take it as it is.”
The memory of the mistress stiffening at just one remark from Jungha the night before flitted through Yeonwoo’s mind. Everyone has stories they don’t want told. It seemed even the ‘carefree’ Woo Jungha had some of those.
Realizing the situation somewhat, Yeonwoo nodded awkwardly, still shifting about stiffly.
Either way, it was clear that if she went back to the annex now, she wouldn’t get any rest. On top of that, her cousin—who had passed out after drinking a whole bucket of liquor the night before—would definitely be up by now, making it even more impossible to relax in her room.
“I’ll bring food when it comes.”
Jungha muttered as he opened the door and stepped out. Only after the door shut did Yeonwoo let out a long sigh, exhaling the breath she’d been holding.
The layout of the room finally came into clearer view.
A large wooden desk big enough for two people to sit at with ease, and a bed also made of solid wood. The wooden floors had been replaced with new linoleum just a few days ago after the mistress had thrown a fit, saying she hated the creaking sounds of wood.
Next to it stood a small wardrobe, with neatly folded clothes arranged where they couldn’t all fit inside.
“…Cleaner than I thought.”
Half-sprawled on the bed, her head burning with fever, Yeonwoo muttered. It was reckless to let her guard down like this, but if it was Woo Jungha, she figured it would be fine.
That boy wouldn’t even spare her a thought.
Her eyelids grew unbearably heavy, and sleep swept over her.
It was during the middle of Yeonwoo’s eighteenth winter.
Normally, her aunt would have told her to peel onions or trim scallions, but today she was nowhere to be seen. Only her drunken cousin roamed the annex.
Park Jungwoon had sniffed out and emptied a soju bottle her aunt had hidden away, and was now chain-smoking inside the annex.
“…Y-Yeonwoo!”
Her aunt burst in through the annex door, rounding the corner of the porch. Her face was unusually flustered, her neck and ears red, and Yeonwoo instantly knew something was wrong.
Suddenly, strength drained from her body, and her ears rang like alarm bells. Staring blankly at her aunt, she saw her lips stammer open.
“Your mother…”
Is dead.
Right after those words, the ominous caw of a crow rang out. And just like that, Yeonwoo was forced to head to a funeral home in a town she didn’t even know. She had no black clothes, so she went in her school uniform.
The small compact car her aunt drove pulled up at a funeral home on the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do. The thought that her mother was lying here, in a place she had never been before and where even mourners were few, made Yeonwoo’s heart beat sluggishly.
“The price is different depending on whether it’s a special room or a general one. Who’s the chief mourner?”
Money.
She learned even before seeing her mother’s body that funerals too required money.
When they said a chief mourner was needed, Yeonwoo couldn’t even stand. She knew nothing, so she could do nothing.
“The chief mourner should be a man anyway.”
And so it was her cousin Park Jungwoon, who had barely glanced at her mother’s face and was already drunk, who became the chief mourner. A drunken chief mourner—what a disgrace.
Still, if not for her aunt, they wouldn’t have even managed to hold a funeral properly.
Yeonwoo sat dazed, wearing a black skirt, her hair tied back with a single white ribbon pin.
“…”
She had been thirteen when her parents divorced.
She knew her father’s affair had deeply wounded her mother. Still, she wished her mother hadn’t lost her mind.
The mistress who had ruined everything ran off after siphoning money from her father. Her father then killed himself. And her mother, who had sworn to track down that woman and reclaim the money, would only appear once every year or two.
Each time, Yeonwoo was forced to move again.
“I can’t keep that wretched thing with me!”
“Come on, sister-in-law. Don’t you know this kind of talk drives people crazy? Even if it’s my brother’s fault—”
“Fine. But how much will you send me each month? You can send money, right?”
Even knowing Yeonwoo could hear, her grandmother, her aunts, and even this aunt spoke carelessly, treating her like a burden.
From the time she was left with this aunt, Yeonwoo had been branded the ‘money-eating ghost.’
That was her life. As much as her mother was miserable, Yeonwoo was too.
“Let’s eat before the guests come.”
Maybe even her aunt had been shaken by her younger sister’s death, because her normally harsh tone was now subdued.
Glancing at the portrait of her mother, which looked so different from how she remembered her, Yeonwoo sat down. The spicy beef soup tasted awful.
If only it had ended there.
But then the men in suits came—big, imposing men with terrifying presence.
“They say Kim Sukja’s daughter is here.”
“What’s her name again?”
“It’s Seo Yeonwoo, sir.”
The man who seemed to be the leader grinned, flashing gold teeth that gleamed under the light. With a click, click, he opened his Zippo lighter, and another man quickly slipped a cigarette between his lips.
The man’s eyes glinted sharply, like a predator spotting prey. It wasn’t hard to pick out ‘Seo Yeonwoo’ from the small number of people there.
Thick lips—ones that looked like they could chew tobacco leaves whole—curled open.
“Kid looks pretty risqué, doesn’t she?”
The unwanted appraisal made Yeonwoo’s breath catch in her throat.
“Hhhk—huhh… hhuhh.”
She couldn’t breathe. Yeonwoo’s face twisted in agony.
Her chest rose and fell sharply, struggling to take in even a little air. Sweat beaded across her face as a dark shadow fell over her.
“…”
He told her to sleep, but not like this.
Jungha’s fingers twitched, debating whether to wake her. Then he carefully gripped her arm.
“Seo Yeonwoo.”
His low voice pierced into her ear.
