BYB 8

Chapter 8

His eyes flashed open and Eunho asked back.

“Yes, yes. Jiwoo noona, the goddess of our neighborhood.”

Jiwoo. Jiwoo…

“I’m Joo Min-hyuk!”

The part-timer’s name could have been shit or soybean paste for all he cared.

Eunho, repeating the woman’s name to himself, chuckled and walked toward the shelves. He opened his phone to check the items he needed and put them in his basket, silently rolling the name Jiwoo on his lips.

It’s a name that suits the small, white woman well.

Suppressing the ticklish feeling in his chest, he carefully placed the needed items in the basket. Watching Eunho sweep items off the shelves, Min-hyuk said,

“Hyung! You should buy stuff like tissue and detergent from Cookpang. Convenience stores are expensive. But why are you buying that? Do you live in this neighborhood?”

His hand momentarily paused at the word “expensive,” but everything was needed today, so he had no choice but to buy them. Deciding he’d just have to buy them anyway, Eunho picked out a few more items. Ignoring Min-hyuk’s comment completely, he approached the counter and asked to check out.

“That’ll be 118,000 won.”

“What’s so expensive about that?”

“I told you it was expensive. And you only picked expensive stuff.”

Min-hyuk grumbled and urged him to decide whether he was buying or not. Eunho reluctantly pulled out his card. It was a card he always used to casually toss out, but for some reason, his arm felt heavy and his movement was quite slow. Unable to watch any longer, Min-hyuk snatched it from him and asked,

“Should I put it in a sseubong?”

Eunho frowned.

“What?”

“Sseubong.”

To Eunho’s ears, that word sounded like an insult.

“Are you cursing at me?”

“…What are you talking about? That’s not funny.”

Min-hyuk shrugged. Eunho was about to snap back but quickly shut his mouth upon seeing Min-hyuk’s expressionless face.

It wasn’t an insult?

Keenly realizing he had misheard, Eunho changed the subject as if nothing had happened.

“Put it in a bag.”

He deliberately opened his eyes arrogantly and spoke in a commanding tone. Min-hyuk looked at Eunho as if dumbfounded and let out a short sigh.

“So should I put it in a sseubong… Ah, sseubong means trash bag.”

Ah… that kind of sseubong. He thought it was an insult, but it turned out to be a trash bag.

Thinking that the abbreviations kids these days use were quite bizarre, Eunho frowned briefly.

Anyway, why would they put brand new items they just bought into a trash bag?

It seemed the weekend part-timer thought he had tons of money. Of course, since their first meeting was rather intense, it was understandable, but right now he was penniless and cast out, so he was practically a beggar. Eunho, who had a relatively objective grasp of his situation, coolly accepted it.

“I don’t have a hobby of throwing away new things. Put it in a proper bag.”

“……”

At Eunho’s words, Min-hyuk examined Eunho’s face closely, frowned deeply, and finally managed a smile. Like a robot. Hahaha.

“I smiled. You saw that, right? Okay? Ah, hyung. Stop with the weird jokes. You sound like an old man.”

“……”

“I’ll put it in a regular bag.”

As soon as the items were bagged, Eunho snatched it away and turned his back without hesitation. Then, deciding that since they’d hired a full-time employee, he should tell them to fire that sly weekend part-timer immediately, he opened the door.

“Hyung! See you on the weekend!”

No. Now that a competent employee like me has joined, you’re not needed.

Eunho, who arrived at work on time, submitted the resume completed by his former secretary.

“I brought it.”

His former secretary had said he’d created a suitable work history and emphasized that he should read it over and memorize it, but Eunho had never once opened it. He didn’t think he needed to go to such lengths just to get a job at a neighborhood beer joint.

The other side was probably just going through the formalities of receiving it anyway, so why bother.

“Yes, thank you for your trouble.”

Jiwoo opened the resume and acknowledged him. What trouble could there be in submitting a piece of paper? The polite greeting was amusing, but Eunho also smiled politely and received it.

“Don’t be surprised even if my specs are a bit excessive for getting a job at a pub.”

He didn’t know much about specs, but Jiwoo, who had been looking at Eunho’s excessively bright smile as if it were burdensome, turned her eyes to the resume.

“Okay, let me see. Um, your name is…”

“Song Eunho.”

Eunho, sitting at an angle, answered while flicking his toes.

“And your name is Jiwoo, right? Cha Jiwoo. Come to think of it, we never properly introduced ourselves.”

Yesterday, Jiwoo had also missed the timing and hadn’t asked his name. She figured she’d find out when she saw the resume anyway, and since she was reviewing it now, there was no problem.

“Yes, that’s right. And your name was…?”

“Song Eunho.”

Jiwoo, who had been looking down at the resume, paused and asked again.

“Your name… what did you say it was?”

“It’s Song Eunho.”

“No, it’s not. Look here… Mr. Chunsam.”

Jiwoo, looking back and forth between the resume and Eunho’s face, let out a long sigh.

“You should give me your real name. After all, this is an interview.”

As Eunho leaned back, looking bewildered, the woman made an even more bewildered expression.

“Mr. Song Chunsam. Even if you have a separate name your family calls you at home, the name on your resident registration card is your real name.”

“…Wha, what?”

“Mr. Song Chunsam. And you’re a high school graduate.”

“……”

“A high school diploma isn’t bad, but it’s not exactly excessive specs for getting a job at a pub either.”

“……”

“It says you sold bean sprouts, so you worked at a market? Then why on earth were you wearing that suit that day?”

Really, what an incomprehensible person. Jiwoo muttered.

“Wait. Just a moment.”

Only then did Eunho urgently raise his right hand to stop Jiwoo’s words and, with a troubled expression, pulled his resume over to check the characters.

<Song Chunsam>

“!”

Crazy.

Jeon Gyu-jin! How dare you turn me into Chunsam?

“It’s a bit… I suppose you’d want to hide it since it’s not a trendy name, but I’d prefer you use your real name. So we don’t get confused.”

“No, look here. This is, there’s been some mistake with the name.”

“A mistake?”

What kind of mistake could there be with a name? Jiwoo stared at him with wide eyes, and Eunho was at a loss for words, unable to give any answer.

How could he explain this?

My second name, which can only be explained as an intent to mock me.

Whose doing was this? Had his former secretary’s liver swelled up? Or could it be that his father had done it on purpose?

Did he take away my name along with discarding me?

“…Never mind. I’m sorry.”

Eunho clenched his teeth and apologized slowly. In any case, he couldn’t keep bickering about the name. He couldn’t confuse the woman further either.

“I’ve been calling myself Eunho all along… I forgot. That’s what they call me at home. So from now on, my name is Eunho…”

“No, Mr. Chunsam.”

Jiwoo, with her clear eyes, firmly drew the line.

“I like your real name, Mr. Chunsam. It’s warm. It’s a bit unexpected since it doesn’t match your impression, but still, it’s a good name your parents gave you, right? Have some confidence.”

She had a pretty name herself, yet she said “Chunsam” was fine?

Eunho shot daggers with his eyes, but Jiwoo pretended not to notice until the end.

“I’ll keep calling you Mr. Chunsam.”

Then she confidently smiled and extended her hand. When Eunho glared at her fingertips, she even gestured with her chin as if asking why he wasn’t accepting the handshake.

Was it just his imagination that he felt he was being paid back? Recalling the situations where he had teased her while tying on the apron, Eunho clicked his tongue. Was this woman enjoying having him in the palm of her hand now that she’d caught one over him?

It strangely riled him up.

But somehow, it gave him a pleasant tingle at the back of his head and made him laugh. Crazy bastard. His dopamine was flowing freely over a few jokes like this. Even though he was riled up, he liked it. Eunho eventually let out a wry laugh at himself and reached out to grasp her outstretched hand.

“Fine. I’m Song Chunsam.”

Eunho’s thick-knuckled hand completely enveloped Jiwoo’s small hand.

In that instant, he felt so good that heat rushed to the back of his neck. Jiwoo’s hand was squishy and soft, and surprisingly warm. The warmth transmitted from her small hand seemed to spread heat to every corner of his cells, setting his entire body on fire. Eunho held his breath for a moment.

He didn’t want to let go.

No, he wanted to pull her in and embrace her body. He wanted to do even more than that without hesitation. Thinking that he couldn’t make any rational judgment and that his brain was clearly broken, Eunho held her hand a little tighter.

He could feel the woman flustered.

Her clear eyes wavered, and a slight tension entered her arm. That faint embarrassment pleased him. Eunho let out a hollow laugh. Beneath the table, his lower body where blood was heavily rushing ached painfully—what was her embarrassment compared to that?

“Now, now let go of my hand…”

“Manager-nim must like Chunsam.”

“!”

The woman who couldn’t hide her expressions well flushed red instantly. Not liking the result of her premature joke, she even bit her lips restlessly.

Quite satisfied, Eunho slowly released her hand.

“Yes. I like him too.”

Maybe I like you.

Hiding the words that would follow behind a laugh, Eunho stood up from his seat first. Following suit, Jiwoo, who had been struggling to compose a calm expression, also sprang up and hurriedly fled toward the kitchen.