CHAPTER 6
The man from the house next door had struck precisely at her weakest point, as though someone had given him information about her beforehand.
She was used to being ignored, but she wasn’t accustomed to being hated, and the hostility came as quite a shock.
She didn’t even know why he disliked her.
After thinking it over again and again, Seyeon finally found a clue.
It was none other than Hansung Hospital, the man from next door’s former workplace and Kim Daehyun’s current workplace.
Kim Daehyun had a strong sense of elitism and was particularly close to medical staff at the same hospital who had graduated from the nation’s top medical schools.
Seyeon had once wondered whether that might have stemmed from his inferiority complex over not being admitted to one of those universities.
After all, people tended to see what they had themselves.
Myung Soyoung had told Kim Daehyun that Seyeon was going to Cheonghae-ri, and Kim Daehyun had passed that information on to the man from next door, who ran a clinic in Cheonghae-ri.
That was the conclusion Seyeon had ultimately reached.
She couldn’t find any other possible motive.
There was no way Kim Daehyun had gone out of his way to say anything nice about her.
She was the one who had been dumped for someone else, so why was he being so petty?
Seyeon found the whole thing utterly ridiculous.
The person who had brought her up and the person who had blindly believed whatever he was told were both equally pathetic.
Unable to sleep because of her anger, Seyeon tossed and turned until she heard a faint sound outside.
She held her breath and listened carefully.
It was the sound of Cheshire whimpering.
Seyeon left her room and went out into the yard where Cheshire was.
She had even bought him a small, cozy cat house, but Cheshire had come out of it and was lying on the cold ground.
He barely reacted when she called him.
“Cheshire.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
Seyeon’s eyes widened in alarm when she saw Cheshire lying there without any energy.
Beside him were traces of the food he had vomited up completely.
Seyeon picked up Cheshire and immediately went outside, then pressed the doorbell of the house next door.
She still didn’t know the neighborhood very well, and she certainly had no idea where the nearest animal hospital was.
In that desperate moment, the only thought that had instinctively occurred to her was that the man next door was a doctor.
“Excuse me.”
“I live right next door.”
There was no response even after she rang the bell, so Seyeon began knocking on the gate.
The lights were clearly on, so there had to be someone inside, yet there was no movement whatsoever behind the gate.
Only after she rang the bell several more times and knocked on the gate again did the man finally appear, his brows deeply furrowed.
“What are you doing?”
Someone connected to Kim Daehyun who had come here to make her life miserable.
Ideally, she wanted to stay as far away from him as possible from now on, but at the moment, she was the one who needed help.
“I’m sorry for bothering you, but it was urgent.”
“Cheshire threw up everything he ate, and I don’t know why.”
“Who’s Cheshire?”
“My cat.”
Yujin looked down at the cat in Seyeon’s arms and let out a hollow laugh.
He knew this cat well.
It was the yellow-striped cat that ate at Yujin’s house and slept at the house next door.
It was a cat that seemed like a stray, but somehow wasn’t quite one.
“So?”
Yujin casually folded his arms across his chest.
“You’re a doctor, and you know this neighborhood better than I do, so I wanted to ask for some help.”
“If your cat is sick, you should take it to a veterinarian.”
“Why did you come to me?”
“I know.”
“But I don’t have a car, and I don’t know where the nearest animal hospital is.”
“There’s no animal hospital around here.”
She had expected that.
There were far more things missing in this neighborhood than there were things available.
Should she ask him to lend her his car?
He looked like the kind of person who would refuse.
Maybe she should ask if he could at least drive her to somewhere taxis ran.
He would probably refuse that too.
His face practically had the words “I refuse everything” written all over it already.
While Seyeon was struggling internally, the man let out an irritated sigh and reached out.
He promptly took the cat from her arms.
“Why?”
“You asked me to take a look.”
“You can treat animals too?”
Seyeon hurried after Yujin as he carried the cat under one arm and entered through the gate.
Yujin’s house was quite different from Seyeon’s.
She hadn’t realized it from outside the gate, but the house was larger and the yard was much more spacious.
She couldn’t see the inside, but she could easily imagine that the interior was nicely decorated as well.
“Did you give him any food?”
“Yes.”
“What did you give him?”
Yujin sat on the wooden porch and examined the cat from various angles as he asked.
“Sarizen Seven Fish.”
“I heard it was the most expensive one, so I bought it.”
“I gave it to him once during the day and once in the evening, but…”
“It’s because his food suddenly changed.”
“Give him only water tomorrow and keep an eye on him.”
“Then, starting the day after that, mix a little of the new food into whatever food he was eating before.”
“I don’t know what he was eating before.”
“I do.”
“I was wondering why he didn’t come over today, and now I see he’s changed restaurants.”
With that, Yujin handed Cheshire back to her, went inside, and returned carrying a bag of cat food.
Apparently, Cheshire had been eating here all this time.
“Are you sure he doesn’t need to go to a hospital?”
“If you feed him like that for a few days, he’ll usually adapt.”
“If he still doesn’t get better, then take him to a hospital.”
The man from next door had been a great help to her.
Regardless of how awkward their relationship was, gratitude was gratitude.
“I’m sorry for bothering you so late at night.”
“Thank you so much for taking a look at him.”
Holding Cheshire in one arm and the bag of cat food in the other, Seyeon bowed her head in thanks.
She then turned around to go home when she heard a slightly questioning voice behind her.
“Don’t you have anything else to say to me?”
Seyeon stopped and turned around.
She thought about what he meant before letting out a small sound of realization.
Ah.
This was a consultation too, so she was supposed to pay a consultation fee.
There seemed to be an additional charge for nighttime consultations.
“If you write down your account number and the amount on a piece of paper, I’ll transfer it to you right away.”
Instead of using her phone, Seyeon decided to receive the information on paper.
She didn’t want to expose her contact information by entering her number into the man’s phone.
“Ms. Myung Seyeon, let’s stop dancing around the subject and talk honestly.”
“I know why you came down here.”
“But it won’t do you any good.”
“So don’t waste your energy.”
“Stay here for a few days, then go back.”
“If something can’t be done, then it can’t be done.”
As she listened to him, Seyeon confirmed that her guess had been correct.
Myung Soyoung and Kim Daehyun.
Through the mouths of those two people, the reason she had come to Cheonghae-ri had been leaked.
Soyoung had laughed at Seyeon for saying she was going to Cheonghae-ri, but at the same time, she had been wary of her.
She didn’t want Seyeon to achieve anything there.
Kim Daehyun, who had joined forces with Soyoung, was bound to feel the same way.
But what did any of this have to do with that man?
Why did it matter to him whether she made an effort or not?
“I came down here with a goal.”
“How can I just go back?”
“I have to see it through as far as I can.”
“You must be the persistent type.”
“I’m above average at most things.”
“I’m better at long-distance running than sprinting.”
“I tend to be good at activities that require patience.”
Seyeon once again realized just how small the world really was.
How much did this man know about her?
“You’ve put on enough of a show already, so save your pride and go back.”
“If you keep hanging on, that’s a sickness.”
“And let me give you one more piece of advice.”
“Having a doctor for a husband may not be as nice as you think.”
“So there’s no reason to regret it or think you’ve lost something valuable.”
He knew everything.
He even knew that she had dated Kim Daehyun and then broken up with him.
But did he really have to repeat everything he had heard directly to the person involved?
Seyeon firmly tightened her trembling lips and glared at him.
“What right do you have to be rude to me nonstop like this?”
“Rude?”
“Can’t you see that I’m actually explaining things to you quite kindly, Ms. Myung Seyeon?”
Yes, there were people like that.
People who thought their own worth increased the more carelessly they treated and belittled others.
That was why he had casually told her at the hospital earlier that she seemed to have grown up well, but hadn’t been raised as someone precious.
“A doctor can’t cure his own illness, they say.”
“But it seems you don’t know anything about the illness you’re suffering from either.”
“What don’t I know?”
“I think you have a serious illness.”
“The kind called being an absolute jerk.”
“What?”
“I just examined you too, so let’s call that payment for the consultation.”
Leaving the dumbfounded man behind, Seyeon turned around without hesitation.
She decided that she would ignore that thoroughly rude man from now on as well.
