The Country Life Diary of a Gangster’s Secretary

This chapter is paid for by Mimzy and Nemuru! 

A cool autumn breeze snuck in through the slightly open window crack. Hyeseong slowly opened his eyes to the still unfamiliar air and wind scent. 

He raised his upper body and gradually looked around. The space felt familiar yet foreign to his eyes. This had become a routine for Hyeseong upon waking up recently. Perhaps it was because he had not moved in long ago. Even though it was the house he used to live in, it still felt unfamiliar.

Hyeseong slowly gazed at the old, worn clock on the wall. Oddly, the clock was pointing to 2 o’clock. It seemed the clock had finally stopped in the early morning after ailing since yesterday, its battery drained. Picking up his phone, he noted an additional item on his shopping list for later when he went out.

“Not even 9 o’clock yet.”

The time was 8:30 in the morning. He had set the alarm for 10 o’clock, but his eyes had opened a full hour and a half earlier. Habits are a scary thing. When he attended Taesung, he would wake up at a set time like a robot and act according to a fixed routine. Even putting that aside, Hyeseong had never overslept or been late in his entire life. 

It appeared his body remembered that lifestyle. Well, it worked out. He had planned to do a major cleaning and overall touch-up of the house today anyway.

The house he moved into, that is, the house he used to live in, was much more spacious than the studio apartment he stayed at in Seoul. The ceiling wasn’t high, but it was a two-story country house. The location being rural, the house price wasn’t that expensive relative to the size either. Its old age was also a factor. Either way, it was a gain for Hyeseong.

He had gotten the house he lived in as a child for a lower price than expected and in an intact state at that. He still wasn’t used to the large size though.

Hyeseong, who had gone to the living room, slid open the door across from him. That was the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator, took out milk and cereal, and sat down at the table. One of the resolutions he made when moving here was to eat three meals a day well, but the current empty refrigerator was an exception.

Hyeseong naturally opened the messenger window while eating the still-crispy cereal. The only messages were a flood of crying emoticons from Park Dohyun and his aunt, Kang Sung-jin.

“……”

It’s not like he expected any messages to have arrived. He felt quite uncomfortable. Then, naturally going to the search window, he hesitated as he was about to type in the letters for Taesung.

“They say habits are scary.”

Hyeseong shook his head and pushed his phone far away. The sky visible through the large window in the living room was as high and clear as could be. The sunlight melted into Hyeseong’s black eyes. The house was old but had a warm ambiance. And a sense of leisure without any urgency or rushing. Hyeseong tightly closed his eyes. 

The cereal was soaking in the milk and becoming soggy.

* * *

The morning was spent quite busily. He swept and wiped the entire interior of the house. In fact, since the previous residents had left it extremely neat, there was no difficulty. After cleaning, he coordinated schedules with the delivery men who would deliver the pre-ordered appliances and furniture.

Hyeseong was a minimalist if you had to classify him, so there wasn’t much to bring in. There were basic things in the house already too.  

After roughly organizing the interior, he went outside. Come to think of it, he hadn’t looked around the house after moving in because he had been so busy.

The overall landscape of the neighborhood was the same as when he lived here as a child, but of course, the detailed scenery had changed.  

A notable change was that an unfamiliar house had been built next to the land where only Hyeseong’s house used to stand alone. It used to be an empty lot, but it seemed someone had built a house there.

Who could be living there? If they were this close, it seemed he should greet them.

With those thoughts, Hyeseong diligently moved his steps toward the bus stop. Then, stares poured in from the surroundings.

“……”

Turning his head, grandmothers and middle-aged women who had been working in the fields were staring intently at him.  

“That’s him, right? The bachelor who newly moved in!”

Then, one of the grandmothers clapped her hands. At that, the people around also lowered their voices, as if realizing something.

“An unfamiliar face was walking around in the village, so we were watching. Turns out it was the bachelor who was said to move into that red-roofed house.”

“Hello.”

As a rule of thumb, when settling in a place, it was essential to become acquainted with the residents. Especially in a more closed-off neighborhood like this compared to the city. Hyeseong approached and bowed his head.

“I’m Cheon Hyeseong who moved in a few days ago.”

Then the grandmothers laughed heartily, asking why he was being so polite.

“But my, the bachelor has such a pretty and handsome face.”

“Ah, thank you.”

The grandmother who looked the oldest stared intently at Hyeseong.  

“What was it, you said your name is Cheon Hyeseong?”

“Yes.”

“I think the son of the family who built that red-roofed house long ago was also named Hyeseong or something.”

Perhaps because it was an old neighborhood, there were indeed people who remembered. Hyeseong slowly explained. That he was indeed the son of that house. That he had returned. Then, everyone clapped their hands and expressed amazement. Among them were more people who remembered Hyeseong and his family. Hyeseong was stuck there a bit longer due to the barrage of questions that followed.

It seemed quite dramatic to them that Hyeseong, who had left the neighborhood at a young age for unfortunate reasons, had returned as an adult, and to the house he used to live in at that.

“I’m curious, who lives in that blue-roofed house?”

Hyeseong pointed next to his house.

“Ah, there? That’s Mr. Park’s house, right?”

“Yes. But I heard a rumor that Mr. Park hasn’t been seen at all for a week or ten days.”

“I also heard something in passing that he moved too! Someone checked and the inside was completely emptied of luggage and everything.”

“Oh my. Then the few moving trucks driving around a few days ago weren’t just for bachelor Hyeseong, it seems.”

The grandmothers and middle-aged women were busy talking among themselves in front of Hyeseong who had asked the question. In summary, it seemed unclear whether the man who lived in that house had moved or not.

“Thank you for letting me know. Then I’ll get going now.”

“Okay, hurry and go take care of your business. Ah! If there’s anything you need, tell us everything!”

“Yes, yes. Do you have some side dishes and such? If not, let us know.”

“Our family runs a fruit store at the intersection up ahead! Come visit if you want to eat something.”

Hyeseong expressed gratitude one by one to the hands that wanted to take care of him and walked back to the bus stop. In a place where not even 10 buses ran, the intervals between buses were never short either. But he wasn’t impatient.  

30 minutes later, the bus to go downtown arrived like that. As soon as he got on and sat in an empty seat, his phone vibrated. Hyeseong flinched as if he had committed a crime.

He had been reacting like this whenever the phone rang these days. Hyeseong finally let out a sigh of relief only after seeing the name on the screen.  

“What.”

– Hyeseong, what are you doing?

Park Dohyun’s bright voice came from the other end of the receiver. 

“I’m going grocery shopping.”

– Did you finish unpacking?

“Roughly?”

– Then I want to come today!

“What? Today?”

Previously, when he showed Dohyun a picture of the house he was moving into in Seoin-si, Dohyun jumped up and down saying it was totally cool. Something about it looking like a house you’d only see in movies. Having lived in Seoul his whole life and tumbled around abroad for several years, it probably looked like that to his eyes.

Then he abruptly asked if he could come to hang out and sleepover, so Hyeseong said he would contact him once things were organized. But that didn’t mean today.

However, Dohyun excitedly babbled on and on and then hung up just like that.

“No, this is really……”

At times like this, he wondered how he became friends with this guy. He was about to call back and tell Dohyun not to come, but the thought of him already excitedly getting ready-made him decide to just leave it. Right, if it was a hurdle he had to go through anyway, it might be better to quickly get it over with. Hyeseong opened the memo pad and added the food he would make for Dohyun to the grocery list.

Hyeseong, who had generously done the shopping at a large discount mart, had huge plastic bags in both hands. The urge to take a taxi arose, but he managed to hold back and closed his wallet.

While waiting for the bus, a promotional truck slowly passed by on the road.  

[Haewon City Redevelopment Confirmed! Come to Haewon City with clean air and great livability!]

Hyeseong blankly took in the passing vehicle with his eyes. Although he had decided to come to Seoin-si, there was one reason he had been reluctant.

It was because of that. In the past, Seoin-si and Haewon-si were separate cities, but about 10 years ago, the two cities were integrated. More specifically, Seoin-si was incorporated under Haewon-si. Haewon-si had a larger area after all. Currently, Seoin-si corresponds to the administrative district located in the northern part of Haewon-si, and while people in the past called it Seoin-si, recently, many people have started to call it Seoin-dong.

In other words, the detailed address of where Hyeseong currently resided was, strictly speaking, Haewon-si Seoin-gu Myeongwol-myeon.

However, even though the two regions were integrated, they had a strong tendency to be separated, and above all, Myeongwol-myeon where he was located was a rural area. Among eup, myeon, and dong – it was a myeon. So even if Taesung was selected as the redevelopment construction company for Haewon, there would be no involvement or unexpected encounters.

With that thought, he had chosen this place as his residence after some hesitation. With those thoughts, Hyeseong slowly boarded the bus to go home. It took about 20 minutes from downtown to his house. After getting off at the bus stop, he had to walk for about 5 more minutes.

If he walked while looking around at the surrounding scenery a bit, it took about 7 minutes. The scene of the house’s front yard was gradually coming into Hyeseong’s view.

“Huh? Why is there a car……”

Then, the sight of a car parked in Hyeseong’s yard caught his eye. Since it was a car he was seeing for the first time, he approached slowly with curiosity.

This chapter is paid for by Mimzy and Nemuru!