Chapter 06
What was that scream?
When Kwon Woo snapped his eyes open, what came into view wasn’t his luxuriously decorated bedroom.
It was the Eunhasu Cafe, with Jangmi glaring down at him as if she wanted to kill him!
“Get your hands off me right now?!”
When Jangmi’s shrill cry rang out again, Kwon Woo realized that what he’d been holding wasn’t a body pillow—it was Jangmi’s waist.
The silk-like texture he’d believed in his dream was Jangmi’s smooth skin, and the subtle scent that had invited deep sleep was the laundry soap smell coming from her.
“…Ah.”
Kwon Woo hastily withdrew his hand, his face dazed.
Not only had he fallen asleep, but he’d even been sleep-talking while holding someone’s waist.
Embarrassing and apologetic as it was, it was also amazing how deeply he could sleep.
And for two days in a row, at that.
What was it about this cafe that made him sleep?
Was there something here that invited sleep?
Kwon Woo slowly raised his eyes and looked around the cafe.
There were only a few tables, and the interior was incredibly tacky. Old wooden chairs, a faded menu board, a large calendar on one wall, and a rustic wall clock.
It was clearly a space far removed from anything sophisticated.
Rather, it felt like stepping back in time by about twenty years.
But strangely.
Every time he came to this backward cafe, he got sleepy.
What was the reason?
“Mister, you were pretending to sleep and deliberately grabbed my waist, weren’t you?!”
“How long… did I sleep?”
“Hah!”
Jangmi huffed in disbelief, but Kwon Woo’s ears didn’t properly register her anger.
He couldn’t believe that he, who couldn’t close his eyes without sleeping pills, had fallen asleep so obliviously in this uncomfortable space.
“Over three hours! From right after you came in and downed that coffee, straight through!”
“Right after drinking coffee?”
“Don’t try any tricks. I came to wake you up, and you pretended to be asleep and grabbed my waist!”
“I’m sorry for grabbing your waist. But it wasn’t intentional.”
Kwon Woo raised himself from the narrow sofa and straightened his wrinkled suit jacket.
His hands, tidying his disheveled attire, quickly regained their usual perfectionist manner.
After three hours of miraculous deep sleep, his head was clear and his body felt as light as a feather.
It was the best condition he’d felt in years, not even once.
However, the sharp-tongued girl huffing in front of him had a ferocity that rivaled the relatives who growled at each other daily over control of Taesan Group.
“Are you sure it wasn’t intentional? Are you sure you didn’t touch me on purpose while pretending to sleep?!”
“Do you really think you’re that attractive?”
Jangmi’s mouth dropped open, speechless.
Then she looked down at herself.
A stretched-out short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and her hair tied up messily.
Even she could see it wasn’t a visual that would inspire a desire to embrace her.
Maybe she’d pushed too hard about it being a mistake made in his sleep.
Feeling embarrassed, Jangmi brushed her stray hair behind her ear to hide her awkwardness.
Kwon Woo explained again that it hadn’t been intentional.
“I suffer from severe insomnia. In my dream, I was holding a pillow, but it happened to be your waist.”
“Insomnia, my foot.”
Jangmi snorted.
“Someone who sprawls out and sleeps for three hours in someone else’s place of business.”
Perhaps because of the lingering sensation still on her waist, Jangmi glared at Kwon Woo, huffing for no reason.
She was a lifelong singleton who’d never had a relationship in her 26 years of life.
The men around her were limited to Seonho, the neighborhood oppa, the elderly who frequented the cafe, and the coworkers she’d only seen faces with at her Seoul company.
For Jangmi, that physical contact just now was a nuclear-level event.
The sensation of the palm that had firmly wrapped around her waist through a single thin layer of t-shirt was strongly etched in her memory.
And that face, too.
Even though he was a con artist, she wondered what a man like that would do with a girlfriend.
Then she suddenly snapped out of it.
What’s wrong with me, what am I thinking?
Jangmi quickly erased the strangely wandering thoughts from her mind.
“So stop hanging around here and leave.”
Jangmi spoke more brusquely, not wanting to get caught having entertained such embarrassing fantasies.
But in truth, her heart had been racing uncontrollably from the very moment Kwon Woo’s hand had wrapped around her waist. The warmth she’d felt through her thin t-shirt wasn’t easily fading.
Unaware of Jangmi’s feelings, Kwon Woo chuckled to himself, thinking that if he told Jin-geol about this, he’d never believe it.
“I’m awake now, so you can go about your business. Ah, if you don’t mind, I’d like another coffee to fully wake up. Lots of ice.”
“You’re awake, but you’re not leaving?”
Jangmi furrowed her brow.
“I’m not the type to give up and back down easily just because I’ve been rejected once.”
“So you’re saying you’ll keep camped out here?”
*Nod.*
“Until Mom comes back late in the afternoon after finishing work?”
Another nod.
Ignoring Jangmi, whose jaw dropped in disbelief, Kwon Woo straightened his back and pulled his laptop closer.
‘I’ve had a good sleep, so let’s get some work done.’
Fixing his gaze on the laptop, Kwon Woo opened up approval documents and project reports, quickly scanning them.
Jangmi, still wearing a flabbergasted expression, didn’t leave the table and glanced at his laptop screen.
But the documents he had open were unexpected.
It wasn’t some con artist’s shoddy screen. Complex financial statements with tangled graphs and densely packed professional planning documents were scrolling endlessly under Kwon Woo’s fingertips.
A glint of interest slowly appeared in Jangmi’s eyes.
‘Huh? This guy, maybe he’s not a con artist after all… maybe he really is from Taesan Development.’
Just as she narrowed her eyes and tried to peer closely at the monitor, Kwon Woo coolly twisted the laptop away, as if he’d caught an industrial spy.
“Why are you looking so intently at another company’s documents?”
“Mister, are you really from Taesan Development?”
He frowned in displeasure.
“I told you I wasn’t a con artist.”
“Have you ever seen a con artist admit they’re a con artist? They all deny it.”
At her ridiculous logic, Kwon Woo let out a dry laugh.
“Should I thank you for finally believing me now?”
“No need for that. I’ll believe you’re from Taesan Development, but my mom will never sell this place. So don’t waste your time and go back.”
“I can’t do that.”
Kwon Woo cut her off firmly.
*Tsk, tsk.* Jangmi clicked her tongue inwardly.
It would all be in vain anyway.
To Yeongran, this run-down cafe wasn’t just a means of livelihood.
—
[*This spot is where the Milky Way flows through the sky. No matter what happens, don’t leave this place and hold on. Then your daughter’s fate will shine like the Milky Way.*]
—
Twenty-seven years ago, Yeongran, who had worked at a cafe in Seoul, became pregnant with a child whose father’s identity was unknown. She sought a quiet place to live with the child.
That’s how she ended up in Dongchon-ri, her late mother’s hometown.
Before coming down here, Yeongran visited a fortune teller rumored to be very accurate.
There, she received a prophecy that if she settled on this spot, the child in her womb would live a happy life forever.
Having endured a difficult childhood herself, Yeongran desperately wanted Jangmi, even though she was raising her alone without a father, not to live as harshly as she had.
From then on, the fortune teller’s words became a faith and a law for Yeongran.
This place was like a giant talisman guaranteeing Jangmi’s peaceful future.
That was why Yeongran would never put the store up for sale, even if customers dried up and only flies gathered.
Telling Yeongran to sell the cafe was the same as telling her to throw away her daughter’s future.
Though the sign hung said ‘Eunhasu Cafe,’ the locals called it ‘Jangmi Cafe’ after Jangmi’s name. Yeongran would never sell this place, not even for a fortune.
No matter how high-ranking Kwon Woo was at a successful corporation, no matter how much money he offered or how persuasively he tried.
Jangmi shook her head at Kwon Woo, who was stubbornly persisting, and said,
“Well then, keep hanging around while I keep selling you coffee.”
Jangmi let him do as he pleased and turned toward the counter.
From her perspective, thanks to Kwon Woo, she could run the air conditioner at full blast, so it wasn’t all bad.
Just then, the door opened and Seonho walked in with a gust of hot air.
Jangmi smiled, revealing her even teeth at his appearance again today.
“Oppa, you’re here?”
Seeing Jangmi’s obvious delight, Kwon Woo scoffed.
*Heh, one guy gets called ‘oppa’ and I get called ‘mister.’*
Judging by appearances, I look much more like an ‘oppa.’
When working in the service industry, you should address customers with consistent standards.
