Closed Door

“Is this your first time here?”

If I had seen such bright red hair before, I wouldn’t have been able to forget it. The man nodded in response to my question.

“We only have one item on the menu – seolleongtang, so that’s all I’ll bring you.”

“Uh-huh.”

I quickly went to the kitchen and returned with a bowl of seolleongtang and rice. The man made an admiring “Oh-oh”, and since his condition was clearly not quite normal, I generously added water and radish kimchi.

“Oh, a hidden gem, as they said. Khe-he.”

Even his interjections are strange.

The man hurriedly mixed the rice with seolleongtang and quickly ate everything, emptying the bowl in less than five minutes.

Looks like he was really hungry.

Quietly burping, the man stood up with a noticeably cheerful expression.

“So you’re the owner here?”

“…”

Owner.

Although it’s correct, I was silent for a moment, not knowing how to react to such a rarely used choice of words these days.

“I’m Charles Millian Park.”

“Uh… yes.”

A foreigner? Or a half-blood? But his face looks very much like a pure-blooded Korean.

“Why didn’t you open the door right away?”

“Because it was break time.”

“And that’s why you didn’t open the door? Was it a day off?”

Break, break, break, I’m telling you!

Maybe my pronunciation is too much like Konglish? Or, although it’s a completely implausible assumption, he didn’t know the meaning of the word “break”?

Charles! What’s wrong with you? You’re Charles Park. You should understand at least the word “break”.

“Anyway, the seolleongtang was delicious. Very delicious.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I came to conquer this area. From today, this is my territory. And I really liked the seolleongtang. I will protect your restaurant, which is now part of my territory.”

“…”

I heard that in some areas, thugs went around extorting money under the guise of rent or protection fees. Could this man be one of those gangsters, and he came to announce that he had moved his activities to this area?

Maybe I should have called the police right away?

I regretted it too late, but it was literally belated regret.

“How lucky that there’s such a hidden gem in my territory.”

Charles Park, who didn’t know the meaning of the word “break”, was talking about his territory.

If that’s the case, why not call yourself Tanaka or Nakamura instead of Charles?

(tl/n: I think Cho Roy was hinting here that Charles was playing his role of a “local authority” poorly, and even a randomly chosen Japanese name would sound more convincing in this context, which would also, minimally, but cover up the lack of knowledge of the word “break”.)

“Yes, thank you. That’ll be ten thousand won.”

“Oh, the price is very low too. Is it because the area isn’t very good, and it’s on the outskirts, so the food is cheap?”

“…”

Tanaka, no, Charles Park, who said this with a very satisfied face and started rummaging in his pockets, then silently looked at me, and I just wanted to beat him up.

They say when you think it’s too late, that’s the most appropriate time.

I quietly took out my phone from under the counter and called the police.

∞ ∞ ∞

When the last customer of the evening shift left, and I was about to close the door, Sa Gongwoo appeared with a pale face, slightly staggering. He looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t even eaten thin porridge, and his pale face resembled that of a seriously ill person.

“Are you done with work? Can you give me something to eat?”

He needed rest rather than food, judging by his appearance. But I appreciated his efforts to get here in such a state and opened the door that I was about to lock.

“I’ll give you food only because I feel sorry looking at you.”

“Our Choron is so kind.”

“Don’t pretend to be close and keep your mouth shut. I can easily change my mind and kick you out.”

If only I knew why all the customers coming today were so tiring for me.

During the day, a red-haired madman came and upset me, and in the evening, a long-absent scammer returned and spoiled my mood again.

I’m good too, only opening the door to feed such types. If they didn’t look so hungry, I would have just said that work was over and sent them away. Although I decided not to pay attention to other people’s circumstances anymore, it’s still difficult for me to ruthlessly drive away hungry people.

I reheated the remaining seolleongtang and served it to Sa Gongwoo along with a portion of rice. Sa Gongwoo, who had just moistened his dry lips with water, looked satisfied even before he started eating.

“Ah, good. The smell of food.”

“What were you doing that you didn’t even eat anything? Hurry up and finish eating. I need to close the restaurant.”

“Today I really didn’t plan to come.”

“Intentionally or not, as a result, you’re making me extend my working hours again.”

Although we were bickering as before, unlike previous times, his voice completely lacked vivacity.

“Just eat.”

“Thank you.”

Sa Gongwoo scooped up a spoonful of seolleongtang broth, made a loud “Kha” in approval, and then mixed the rice with seolleongtang. Then he took a few grains of rice and started chewing slowly.

The person who said he was hungry and asked for food actually couldn’t eat normally. His pale appearance really looked more like a sick person than a hungry one.

“…Are you sick?”

“Yes.”

I regretted asking, getting an instant answer. But unlike his joking tone, he really looked unwell, and I involuntarily felt instinctive concern.

“Apart from the pale face, you look normal. Do you have an upset stomach? Gastroenteritis, food poisoning, something like that?”

“Just a bit under the weather. But when I see Choron, I feel better.”

“If you think the illness goes away just from seeing me, then it’s probably just plain pretense.”

“No, I really feel bad. It’s a pity I can’t show you where because it’s in an inaccessible place.”

“I wouldn’t want to see it at all, so you can keep your regrets.”

I sharply refused, looking askance at him, thinking he might be trying to make an indecent joke. Sa Gongwoo chuckled, seeing my disgust, and then coughed.

“I guess you tried to find another victim but got what you deserved. I told you that you wouldn’t be able to make a living from scamming.”

“It’s nice that Choron is worried about me.”

“I’m not worried!”

Oh, enough, enough talking.

I hit myself in the chest with my fist, feeling a heavy mix of irritation and frustration.

“It seems Choron was doing well without me.”

“I’ve lived perfectly fine for 20 years without you, you know? Who are you that I couldn’t manage? On the contrary, I was more at ease when there wasn’t a scammer constantly coming here.”

“And I was worried all the time. What if something happens while I’m not here? What if gates appear nearby? What if you encounter a blind monster? What if bad people approach again? But it seems you were doing well, and I feel relieved.”

Sa Gongwoo seemed to have completely forgotten about the food, he propped his chin with his hand and smiled, staring intently at my face. But his face was still sickly, and I didn’t understand what he was so happy about. If this was also some kind of preparation for deception, I could only say that his efforts were praiseworthy.

“If you say we were acquainted ten years ago…”

“Fourteen years ago.”

“You’re too specific in unnecessary details. Okay, fourteen years ago. Isn’t it strange that you didn’t show up for all these fourteen years, and now you’re worried about me after not seeing me for just ten days?”

“Can we talk about the past now?”

Looks like he remembered well my words not to mention past connections.

“Although I said not to do it, you still keep bringing it up. And right now, I don’t particularly want to listen. But okay, go ahead. Tell me what you were doing all these fourteen years that you so zealously talk about, and why you suddenly became so worried about me just now.”

“Actually, all this time I was constantly getting news about you. Sometimes I observed you and grandmother from afar. Whether she was healthy. Whether Choron was growing well. I was a bit upset that you were doing well without me, but at the same time, I felt relieved that you were okay.”

“Wow.”

“When grandmother died, I should have come immediately, but at that time I was in the gates. When I came out and learned the news, I came right away, but I was still very late.”

“Oh really.”

“I was worried that our Choron would be kind and trusting to everyone, without any caution, but it turned out quite the opposite – you became distrustful of people, which surprised me but at the same time made me happy.”

“And what do you want to tell me with this? That you’re not a scammer and I should trust you?”

“No, you shouldn’t. I’d like you to believe me, but on the other hand, I think it would be better if you didn’t trust anyone at all.”

“You understand correctly. I don’t trust anyone and don’t plan to trust in the future.”

“Yes, yes. You’ve grown up well, our Choron.”

Sa Gongwoo nodded with a satisfied look, smiling as if he had raised me himself.

Did he want to be believed or not? Was he going to deceive me or not? Was this a long-term plan or just a lack of a plan? It was difficult for me to understand what this Sa Gongwoo was thinking.

“How noisy, just eat. What is this, I can’t even close the restaurant. You really tire people out.”

“Choron prepared food without even closing the restaurant, so I should eat.”

He’s struggling to eat the cold seolleongtang, distracted by the conversation. This sight could put off even a casual observer’s appetite.

“If you don’t want to eat, don’t force yourself.”

“No, I want to eat. When I was in the gates, I constantly thought about this. Ah, I should eat seolleongtang at least once a day! Is this a seolleongtang addiction?”

“Not funny at all.”

Sa Gongwoo laughed “ha-ha” in response to my reproach. Then he started coughing heavily, and before he could cover his mouth with his hand, bright red blood gushed out.

“What, what is this?”

The coughing didn’t seem to stop, and Sa Gongwoo continued to shake even with his hand covering his mouth. His hand, which was frantically searching for napkins, was stained red. The seolleongtang, into which blood had fallen, turned bright red as if red sauce had been added to it.