Job Search (4)
Seung-ho, who slept late, woke up abruptly when he heard the doorbell rung by his nieces.
“Grandma~Grandpa~ we’re here~”
“Have our puppies come? Oh! Come, give me a hug!”
“Shhh! You’re tickling me, grandmother.”
“Have you eaten breakfast? Doesn’t your mom take care of you? Why is she letting you go hungry?
“Grandma! Can’t you see how fat I am? I had breakfast.”
“Nonsense, I can almost see your bones. Why are you lying?”
“Huhahaha, I’m tickling, Grandma!”
Seong-ah and Sia were making noises with his mother. Seung-ho left his room and approached them.
“You have woken your uncle.”
“Ah… Good morning.”
Sia and Seong-ah let go of his mother. They shook his hand and greeted him awkwardly.
“Come on. Where’s Father?” Seung-ho looked around the house.
“I don’t know where he is. He started running around in the early morning. I didn’t even notice that these cute puppies arrived!”
My mother patted Sia and Seong-ah’s butts. His nieces twisted their bodies as if they are embarrassed in front of Seung-ho.
“Oh, grandma~ don’t do it~ sit down. We’ll give you a massage.”
“This grandmother is still fine! It’s okay if you don’t.”
“I’m trying to get pocket money from my grandmother.”
Seung-ho’s heart was thrilled as he watched Seong-ah and Sia rubbed their grandmother’s shoulders and legs.
He felt like he had a glimpse of how much they helped her mother.
He had an idea.
“When Father returns, shall we do beef for lunch?”
The eyes of his nieces glowed, though they tried to hide it.
“Son, do you want to eat beef? Do you want to eat beef, my cute puppies? I’ll go and buy some”, his mother started to fuss.
“Oh, no. Let me buy it.” Seung-ho started to take out his wallet. His mother looked at him with doubt.
Seung-ho laughed at his mother’s expression when he thought about the money he had on his bank after selling the had sold to the association yesterday and the money he had brought into the bank book.
“Mother, I have a lot of money. I will live.”
“How did you have money?”
“I sold all the stones to the association yesterday.”
It wasn’t his mother who responded, but the two nieces that were giving her a massage.
“Are you a Hunter, uncle?”
Sia looked surprised as he asked Seung-ho, who seemed to not be bothered.
He wondered if Min-ju told them his story, but looking at their expressions, it seemed that they do not know anything.
“Once I’m registered with the Hunter Association…”
“Wow! Show me your registration card!”
Sia immediately fell away from her grandmother and approached Seung-ho.
Seong-ah also stopped the massage and went next to him.
Seung-ho laughed at how cute his nieces looked with their curious faces. He entered the room and came out with his Hunter Registration Card.
He handed the card to Sia. Seong-ah was close by, and both started to read the card.
.
They checked Seung-ho’s grade and said it with a very disappointed expression.
“Eh? Class D?”
At the moment, Seong-ah didn’t know what to do and blushed, but Seung-ho didn’t care.
He wanted to explain that the grade had been issued 20 years ago, but Seung-ho did not make any excuses.
“Are you disappointed because your uncle’s rating was low?”
“Oh, no.” Seong-ah blushed some more.
He kept teasing her and stopped only when her face was too red.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of the door opening. His father came in, and a big smile formed when he saw his granddaughters in the living room.
“Oh, our princesses are here! Huh? Seong-ah, did your uncle bother you?”
“No, it’s just a little hot.”
The house did not get cold, and it was a temperature that could never be said to be hot.
“Today’s weather was very warm, and it’s perfect for a walk.”
“Father, I’ll go to the market. We’re going to eat beef. I sold the stones to the association yesterday.”
“When I sell it to the association, it hurts the price, but I don’t have much time…” Seung-ho added.
His father said it was unfortunate, but it took a long time to sell to a private individual as well.
Seung-ho had his arms around his father’s shoulders as they walked towards the gate.
“Isn’t it sad? If I had sold it to a private person, I would have gotten another 200 million.”
He held his father’s hand before going out of the gate. He watched him go inside their house and watched through their window his mother playing with his nieces.
He looked at the sky once and sighed.
“No millions can buy this life.”
* * *
“I’d rather have a chicken house…”
Seung-ho muttered as he took his doll’s mask.
When he asked Sia and Seong-ah about a part-time job, they introduced him to a part-time job as a mascot giving out flyers.
“Do you have money to set it up? If you push through, let me work part-time.”
Changmin asked, stroking, and rubbing his phone beside him.
Changmin was working part-time for a while before going to the military.
“I don’t want to set up a chicken house because the timing is not good, but I wanted to tell you that even if I really start a business, I won’t hire you.” Seung-ho joked.
“Well, I’m going to the army soon, so it does not matter.” Changmin replied. “Oh!”
“What is that?” Seung-ho looked at Changmin, who looked excited at a message received on his phone.
“Look at this!” Changmin showed him a photo on his screen. The face looked familiar.
He wondered if he saw it wrong. He pressed his face closer. It was Seong-ah.
“Uh? Are you interested in her?” Changmin asked.
“Is this your friend who sent this picture?”
“We’re not close, but I know he is a Hunter. He’s always looking for pretty girls around him. Sometimes he sends me their photos to brag.” Changmin grumbled.
Seung-ho thought for a moment with a serious expression.
“Listen. Go ahead and hand out the leftover flyers for me.”
“Wow, are you going to leave me alone and take a rest?”
“Please do it alone. I’ll give you my wages.”
“Oh! Really? Alright then!”
Seung-ho ran out quickly, anxious about his niece. He hurriedly called Min-ju.
“Yes, brother?”
“Min-ju, how are you? Where’s Seong-ah?”
“Seong-ah? There’s something I was going to give you a while ago. By the way, why did you call?”
“Call me once you have spoken to her.”
“What is it? What are you doing?”
“No, just… I’m worried that Seong-ah doesn’t look like you, so she’s so pretty.”
“Ha, really… I got it. I’m hanging up.”
Min-ju ended the call, seemingly offended by Seung-ho’s words.
But in less than a minute, she called him.
“Oh, Seong-ah’s phone is off. Do you know what’s going on?”
“I will find out. Does she have a boyfriend?”
“When she gets out of school, she comes straight home every day, or come to fetch me at work in Power Plus… what is happening?”
“Don’t worry; I’ll contact you later”
After hanging up, Seung-ho ran back and grabbed Changmin’s shoulder.
“Hey, do you know the address of the friend who sent you the photo?”
“Hyung, the doll head! You didn’t give me the doll head!”
“Do you know your friend’s address?”
Changmin jumped at the tone of Seungho’s low voice.
“No… I know… What’s wrong?”
“I have something to do with that friend. Give me the address of the house.”
“Why do you need it?”
“The picture you showed… I know her.”
“Oh, really? Oh no. This brother is really bad.”
“Faster!”
Changmin’s hand was busy for a moment as he wrote down the address.
“Hey. He’s an H-type, C-class hunter.”
“I also have a Hunter certificate.”
“What? Really. But why do you work part-time? D-class?”
“Yeah.”
It was D-class 20 years ago.
* * *
Seong-ah was shocked when a strange man suddenly appeared in front of the house and gave her a box.
She tried to return it immediately, but the man disappeared quickly. She waited, but she didn’t think he would return.
When she went back home and opened the box, there was a note with a time and a phone number on it. She was shocked to see that there is also 2 million won in the box.
She hurried to call the number right away so she could return the money, but the man on the other line just begged her to go out and date him.
Seong-ah refused him and the money; she had no reason to receive it and did not want to receive it.
He told her to come back to the playground nearby and hung up.
“Mom, I’ll come back in a little while.”
“What is that stuff?”
“Oh, I got something wrong. I have to go.”
“Yeah, come home soon, or dinner will be over.”
On the way, Seong-ah went to the playground near the house.
It was a cold December afternoon, with the evening rushing in. The sun was setting early.
She found a man sitting in the corner of the playground.
“Don’t give me this. There is no reason to receive it, and I do not want to receive it.”
She handed the box to the sitting man, but he did not want to take it. He just continued sitting and staring at Seong-ah.
Seong-ah shook the box in front of the man.
“Take it quickly. I have to go in for dinner.”
At Seong-ah’s words, the man got up from his seat.
He was tall. As the man’s gaze looked down on her, Seong-ah trembled slightly.
“If you live in an apartment like this, you are surely leading a poor life. Are you proud?”
“I beg your pardon?”
The man’s words looking around were outrageous. Seong-ah’s face turned rose-red with shame.
Then the man hit the box off his hands, spilling its contents on the ground.
“You bitch.”
Seong-ah turned around and tried to escape the playground, but she lost her footing and felt a strong shock in the back of her head.
‘My mom is waiting…’