CHAPTER 7
Fortunately, by the next day, Cheshire was feeling much better.
His activity level was good, and he had almost regained the bright, alert look in his eyes from before.
Just as the man from the house next door had said, it seemed like he would be fine if she kept an eye on him and adjusted the proportions of his food.
Still, just in case of an emergency, she had looked up the location of the nearest animal hospital.
“Don’t go wandering around just because you’re feeling a little better, and stay quietly at home.”
After making sure Cheshire had obediently gone inside his cat house, Seyeon left the house.
Today, she planned to go to a rental car company in town and rent a suitable car.
Having a car meant she wouldn’t have to struggle up and down the stairs, and more importantly, she wouldn’t have to worry about other people’s eyes.
She had already found a place behind the house where she could park.
For a moment, she considered bringing her own car from Seoul, but soon abandoned the idea.
People were already talking about her, and she didn’t want to give them one more thing to gossip about.
Since she had to take a bus to the terminal, she went to the bus stop and sat on a bench to wait.
That was when it happened.
The most conspicuous car in the neighborhood slowly came to a stop on the main road in front of her.
It seemed the man from the house next door was on his way to work.
Today, Yujin spotted Seyeon early and turned his head to stare at her.
The two of them briefly faced each other as if they were in a standoff, separated only by the passenger-side window.
“……”
What on earth did Kim Daehyun tell you that makes you act like this toward me?
The words rose all the way to her throat, but she had no intention of saying them aloud.
Still, she didn’t want to lose a staring contest, so she fixed her eyes on him with all her strength.
But for some reason, today the man from the house next door showed no sign of mockery and was the first to turn his gaze straight ahead.
It seemed he was simply trying to ignore her.
It had only been three days since she came down to Cheonghae-ri.
There were still several days left before she started work at the resort, yet it already felt as though half a year had passed.
—
When she left the terminal for town, she had taken a taxi, but when she returned to Cheonghae-ri, she drove back herself.
She had chosen a reasonably ordinary midsize car that wouldn’t attract people’s attention.
While she was in town, she also bought Cheshire’s supplies and various other things she needed for daily life and loaded them into the car.
She had intended to go straight home, but when she caught sight of a small pier beyond the coastal road, she changed her mind.
Seyeon turned toward the pier, then got out of the car carrying coffee and bread she had bought at a café in town.
There was a wooden bench nearby, so she took a seat.
How comfortable life was when you didn’t have to rush around according to bus schedules.
Seyeon drank her coffee while gazing at the sky over the sea, where a reddish glow was spreading.
So this must have been what the sunset over the pier looked like when her grandmother had seen it as a child.
‘Kim Daehyun said he would arrange a meal with the purchasing team manager at Hansung Hospital through his father.’
‘Hansung is famous for not allowing favors or influence to work, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.’
‘Our beds aren’t inferior in quality either, so if things go well, we might get a good result.’
While talking to her father on the phone because she had become curious about the breathability of mattress fabric, Seyeon heard news she had already more or less expected.
Judging from how delighted her grandfather had been, there was a good chance he had accepted Kim Daehyun as a suitable match for Soyoung.
If Daehyun could bring Hansung Medical Center into the fold, there could hardly be anything better.
There were three tertiary general hospitals under Hansung Medical Center, and even a rough estimate put the total number of inpatient beds at more than three thousand.
Best Furniture had been supplying mattresses to Hansung all along, but now an opening had appeared for them to squeeze into.
They might not get a definite answer right away, but simply having a possibility was hopeful enough.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, young lady.”
“Are you a guest at the resort?”
What a surprise.
Seyeon had been sitting deep in thought, holding her disposable coffee cup with both hands, when the dignified voice suddenly came from beside her.
She flinched and turned her head.
An old man was sitting beside her, though she had no idea when he had arrived.
The old man, wearing a handsome fedora and a coat, had carefully leaned his cane against his side and was looking at Seyeon with concern.
“…I’m not a guest, Grandpa.”
“If you’re not a resort guest, did you come here to visit?”
“I didn’t come here to visit.”
“I’m a resort employee.”
“I’m starting work next week.”
“Oh, so you’re a resort employee.”
“I thought something might have happened since you’d been sitting here alone for so long.”
Only then did the old man relax, a comfortable smile spreading across his face.
“I was waiting for sunset.”
“It should be time for the sun to set soon.”
“Ah, sunset.”
“Just wait a little longer, and the sun will fall from the sky into the sea.”
“It’s very beautiful.”
Seyeon nodded.
According to what she had searched on her phone, the sun would set in a few minutes.
She had been enduring the cold just to see it.
“Do you like bread?”
The old man asked as he glanced at the bag of bread beside Seyeon.
“I don’t particularly like it.”
“I just bought it while I was in town.”
“Would you… like some?”
“If that’s the case, I suppose I’ll have some.”
Contrary to Seyeon’s expectation that he would refuse, the old man readily held out his hand.
Seyeon took a piece of bread from the bag, made it easier to hold, and handed it to him.
“The bread has gone cold.”
“When it’s cold, the texture suffers and it doesn’t taste as good.”
The old man tore off a piece with his fingers and tasted it, looking less than satisfied.
Unlike his gentle demeanor, he seemed to have rather particular tastes.
“It’s probably because we’re by the sea and the wind is cold.”
“It was warm until a little while ago, but it got cold so quickly.”
“When I was young, I used to tuck bread inside my clothes so it wouldn’t get cold.”
“If there was still some warmth left when I gave it to someone, both the giver and the receiver would feel good.”
“People these days don’t like hearing things like that because they think they’re old-fashioned.”
“It’s not old-fashioned.”
“My grandmother says things like that all the time, too.”
Although he had said the bread didn’t taste good, the old man tore off another large piece, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly as if savoring it.
“Do you live around here, Grandpa?”
“I don’t live here.”
“I come down occasionally.”
“I’m someone who worked at that resort company for a long time.”
“Is that really true?”
“Why would I lie about something like that to a young lady?”
At the old man’s words, Seyeon’s eyes sparkled with delight.
“Then… would it be all right if I asked you a few things?”
“Ask me anything.”
“I’ll answer everything I know as payment for the bread.”
Seyeon silently cheered.
She had met a good connection in a place she never would have expected.
Since he had worked at the resort for a long time, he was bound to know much more than she did.
“Have you ever worked on the guest-room team?”
“It doesn’t have to be here.”
“Another branch would be fine, too.”
“Not only here, I’ve worked at branches all over the country.”
“I cleaned rooms, handled customer service, managed parking, and there wasn’t much I didn’t do.”
Life wasn’t always filled with bad things.
She had encountered a rude neighbor and suffered an unpleasant incident as soon as she arrived in Cheonghae-ri, but hadn’t she unexpectedly found such a wonderful teacher in a place like this?
“What I’m curious about is the bed mattresses.”
“Mattresses?”
“Yes.”
“It’s near the sea here, so the humidity is higher than in other regions.”
“If moisture builds up inside the mattress, wouldn’t mold and bacteria multiply quickly?”
“And since there’s sea wind, wouldn’t the springs also corrode faster because of the salt?”
“The difference would probably be even more obvious in summer, but winter is just around the corner.”
“So I’m curious about what it’s like during the summer peak season.”
“What kind of work are you going to do at Sunrise Resort that makes you curious about all that?”
The old man gave Seyeon an intrigued look.
“I’ll be working as a member of the guest-room team.”
“When I worked there, all we had to do was clean properly.”
“Do guest-room team employees these days really need to know things like that?”
“It’s just a personal curiosity.”
“I thought knowing about it might help me with my work.”
Seyeon vaguely brushed aside the question.
No matter how innocent and uninformed the old man might seem, she couldn’t tell him everything that was really going on.
“Well, that’s a question I can’t answer right away…”
“Would it be all right if I looked into it and told you later?”
“I have a friend who can ask around and find out properly.”
“I’d feel bad if I were to trouble you that much.”
“It’s all right.”
“I told you, this is payment for the bread.”
The wrinkles around his eyes curved softly.
Seyeon smiled along with him.
Was this what an ordinary grandfather was supposed to feel like?
Even Chairman Myung, despite having some of the same genes, was intimidating to her.
But this old man she had met for the first time today felt strangely familiar, almost like someone she already knew.
“Look over there.”
“The sun is falling from the sky into the sea.”
When the old man pointed into the distance, Seyeon looked in the same direction.
The reddish glow spreading across the sky and sea like paint was so beautiful that she couldn’t take her eyes off it.
“…It’s really beautiful.”
“Yes, it really is a beautiful Sunrise.”
At the old man’s quiet words, Seyeon looked puzzled for a moment before smiling.
Between my grandmother and this old man, it seems English education in Korea back then was really terrible.
But what does it matter whether it’s Sunrise or Sunset?
It’s beautiful all the same.
