Chapter 2
Her body bounced up and down as she rode along the unpaved coastal road after leaving the main highway. The latest hit songs played through her earbuds, but she didn’t recognize a single one.
Looking absentminded, Byeol parked her scooter in the corner of the yard after arriving home and went inside.
Their house was an ordinary brick home, the kind commonly found in fishing villages. Years ago, however, it had been considered a luxurious Western-style house that made the neighbors envious.
In other words, her family had once been quite wealthy.
For generations, ever since her great-grandfather’s time, the family had made their living at sea. There was always plenty of cash in the house, and they wore good clothes and fine shoes.
No one dared look down on her grandfather or father.
After all, half of the fishing boats docked at the harbor belonged to her grandfather.
But that prosperity didn’t last.
As imported seafood and the deep-sea fishing fleets of large corporations came to dominate the market, her grandfather’s boats increasingly returned empty.
A few years later, her mother began taking in side jobs from a textile factory, while her father opened a sashimi restaurant with her uncle that catered to tourists.
“It’s just another way to make a living,” her father had said through tearful eyes. “We’ll get through this.”
That had been over twenty years ago.
Not that things had become dramatically better since then.
Still, they took pride in the fact that they’d managed to survive without asking anyone for help.
Perhaps because of that, her mother—who still hadn’t given up dreaming of striking it rich—was less than thrilled when the daughter she’d educated and sent off to Seoul suddenly returned home under mysterious circumstances.
“Lee Byeol! Where have you been again? Huh? We suddenly got a group reservation today! Can’t you see your mother is busy?”
Her mother’s nagging began as she neatly folded customer aprons fresh from the dryer.
“And why is your company’s vacation so long? If you’ve got such a long break, why don’t you travel overseas like everyone else? Instead, you stay cooped up at home every day. You don’t even meet your old classmates. And when I arranged a date so you could meet a decent man, you didn’t even bother showing your face! Why do you always think only about yourself? Huh?”
“You’ve got the time, place, date, and even the person all wrong.”
“Oh, sure you do!”
Ignoring the lecture, Byeol peeled off her bulky padded jacket and sighed at her reflection in the mirror.
No way…
Did Seo Woo-hyun actually see me looking like this?
Like this?
Her bangs were plastered to her forehead with sweat.
There was a stain of spicy vinegar sauce on her shirt.
She hadn’t worn any perfume, so she carried the faint smell of raw fish.
Worst of all…
She looked filthy.
Looking herself over, she thought she resembled someone who hadn’t bathed in days.
If she could, she’d gladly turn back time.
“Lee Byeol! You little brat! Are you even listening?”
“Geez! I know! I said I know! I’ll go help, so stop worrying. That’s why I came home early today!”
“Then just say, ‘Yes, Mom.’ Why are you making that face?”
“Ugh! Enough with the nagging!”
Shouting back, Byeol brushed her messy hair aside and retreated to her room.
It hadn’t changed since her senior year of high school.
There was only a desk, a bed, a laptop, and a wardrobe.
With a heavy sigh, she flopped onto the bed.
“Why was Seo Woo-hyun there…? Why?”
Her head felt ready to explode.
She rolled across the bed twice one way and three times the other.
Lying almost upside down with both arms stretched over her head, the whole world looked inverted.
“This… has to be a nightmare.”
The very first thing she’d done after leaving Seoul and returning to Samcheok, where her parents lived, was buy a used scooter.
Then she’d spent nearly two weeks riding it all over the country.
She saw countless places.
She thought about countless things.
If she hadn’t done that…
She felt she would have fallen apart.
She would have drowned in grief and lost the will to live.
She wandered in search of a reason to keep going.
It was on her way back that she discovered the abandoned building.
The bizarre sign hanging outside read Parapara Hotel.
It had never operated even once—a hotel abandoned before completion due to legal claims over the property.
Drawn there simply because she missed looking out over the sea from somewhere high, she found herself meeting Mackerel, Cheese, Marshmallow, and Red Bean Porridge.
Those were the names she’d given them.
They all looked different.
They’d all been born in different places.
Yet they depended on one another while remaining wary of strangers.
Watching them had stolen her heart.
Four months had passed since she’d started feeding them.
Little by little, she’d brought her own belongings there until the place had naturally become her secret hideout.
But why…
Why did it have to be Seo Woo-hyun…?
Just as Byeol squeezed her eyes shut after rubbing her face—
“Lee Byeol!”
Her mother’s shout, ready for work, finally forced her out of bed.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!”
Opening her wardrobe, she put on the padded vest she called her “work uniform” before adding a thin jacket over it.
Looking at herself in the window, she couldn’t help laughing.
Red.
Yellow.
Blue.
If her friends saw her, they’d probably clutch the backs of their necks in disbelief.
But she’d learned that there was no outfit more comfortable for work.
That was precisely why she’d willingly returned to this kingdom of terrible fashion and endless nagging.
Because she knew…
The cheerful noise that never gave her a moment’s peace was, in truth, the greatest comfort she could have.
It had given her one more reason to keep living.
“What?”
After smashing the head of a rockfish with a cleaver, Tae-geon looked at Byeol standing beside him carrying a tray and let out a laugh.
“Why’re you asking about that? Planning to buy the building yourself? Did our daughter make a fortune up in Seoul?”
After draining the blood from the fish, splitting it in half, removing the bones, and peeling away the skin, Tae-geon switched knives and began slicing sashimi.
On top of a plate lined with shredded radish, translucent slices of fish were arranged one by one.
“It’s not that. I saw people going in and out. Did the legal dispute finally get settled? You’re always up to date on things like this, Dad.”
“If you’re curious, it’d be faster for you to investigate yourself. Aren’t you a reporter?”
“Oh, come on. Being a reporter doesn’t mean I know everything.”
“That’s true. You’re a reporter, not a fortune teller.”
He chuckled.
“Anyway, I heard a big company from Seoul bought the place. Paid off all the outstanding claims, apparently. They’re planning either to rebuild it or renovate it. Not just that building, either—they’re supposed to redevelop the nearby tourist attractions too.”
After saying that, Tae-geon wiped his knife with a white towel and raised his thick eyebrows.
“So you…”
He pointed the knife toward her.
“Stop going there, got it? It’s someone else’s property now. There are plenty of cats hanging around our restaurant too. If feeding cats is your hobby, feed those ones instead.”
“Oh, Dad.”
She pouted.
“Those cats are practically my own. It’s different.”
Still deep in thought, Byeol watched as the sashimi platter he had just prepared was placed on her tray.
After sprinkling a few flakes of edible gold over it, Tae-geon pointed toward the second floor.
“All right! Delivery!”
“Here I go…”
Smiling brightly as though nothing had happened, she climbed the stairs.
The restaurant buzzed with weekend customers.
The family restaurant operated by letting customers choose fresh fish on the first floor before eating upstairs on the second and third floors, paying separately for side dishes.
Because so many families visited, her father’s restaurant offered an unusually large children’s menu.
Unfortunately…
Its name was Lee Byeol Fisheries.
Everyone had urged her father to change it.
He stubbornly refused.
“My Byeol is my greatest blessing! Why should I change it? What’s wrong with my daughter’s name?”
What’s wrong with it?
Because hearing it makes people feel sad.
Remembering those words, Byeol pursed her lips while arranging side dishes neatly onto serving plates.
“Byeol! Chop the octopus!”
“Unni! Can you take care of the table for twenty?”
Hearing that a tour group had arrived, her mother rushed out of the kitchen.
Receiving the knife with practiced ease, Byeol frowned slightly before quickly chopping the wriggling octopus.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The rhythmic sound echoed through the kitchen.
Moments later, the large group entered amid loud greetings.
Looking up curiously, Byeol peeked toward the entrance.
They were unlike the people usually seen in this town.
Men in immaculate suits.
Perfectly styled hair.
Even wearing expensive cologne.
As she finished drizzling sesame oil and sprinkling sesame seeds over the chopped octopus and stepped out of the kitchen—
Her eyes met those of the last man entering.
The very man who had ruined her perfectly good day.
The one she never wanted to see again.
Seo Woo-hyun.
Standing at the entrance with one hand in his pocket as he removed his shoes, he smiled faintly.
Byeol, on the other hand, froze as though her face had turned to stone.
Broad shoulders.
Long arms and legs.
Ridiculously tall.
Even his skin seemed to glow.
He had a way of drawing everyone’s attention.
Just as he always had.
The handsome man stared at her, his narrow eyes slowly squinting.
Without making a sound, Byeol mouthed,
“What are you doing?”
Just then, several middle-aged women helping at the restaurant walked past her, gasping in admiration.
“Oh my, I thought he was a celebrity! Byeol, I’ll take that plate for you. Which table?”
“…Table eighteen.”
“What?”
Handing over the octopus dish, Byeol continued glaring at Seo Woo-hyun, who still hadn’t looked away.
“Table. Eighteen.”
Woo-hyun chuckled as though amused before disappearing to join his companions.
After the aunt muttered that she pronounced things too sharply and walked away, Byeol hurried to the cashier’s desk and flipped through the reservation book.
She found a familiar name almost immediately.
M&P Holdings & Resort Group – 20 people
Seo Woo-hyun
010-48**-****
6:30 p.m.
See?
I knew it.
It wasn’t a coincidence.
The reservation had indeed been made under Seo Woo-hyun’s name.
There was no way one of his employees would reserve a table using the boss’s name.
Which meant…
It had to be him.
Is he deliberately cornering me?
Does he want me to apologize? Explain? Make excuses?
He wants a proper answer about that day… doesn’t he?
She glanced toward him as he took his seat among the others.
Somehow, he looked completely out of place in such a noisy restaurant.
“Byeol! This is for table ten!”
Three large trays piled with dishes were actually meant for Seo Woo-hyun’s table.
Quietly, she carried the food upstairs.
She could feel his gaze following her with every step.
But he didn’t say a word.
After delivering every dish they had ordered, she took off her apron and headed back downstairs.
Better to do miscellaneous work on the first floor than risk running into Seo Woo-hyun upstairs.
Watching the daughter who used to recoil at the smell of fish now working so naturally, Tae-geon smiled crookedly and pointed toward a pot.
“I don’t know what got into you, but take this upstairs. It’s for that group from Seoul. Tell them I put a little extra care into it.”
“I don’t want to go to the second floor. Can’t Auntie take it?”
“They’re swamped up there. You do it. Oh! Welcome!”
Casually brushing off her refusal, Tae-geon hurried to greet another customer.
Byeol sighed deeply.
As she rubbed the back of her neck while looking at the pot filled with the choicest cuts of fish—
A cold breeze swept through.
It carried the scent of rain.
Dark clouds hung over the deep blue sea as rain began falling.
Perhaps spring was approaching.
It had been raining often lately.
Looking toward the distant sky with a dissatisfied expression, Byeol fell silent.
