It is said character is more important than appearance. When you know someone’s favorite restaurant, you know their personality. Jeong Ayeong had a practical, plain personality. A quite stingy girl, too, described politely as frugal.

  “I have learned to drink from this place’s owner. Since it has seen three owners, I like Aunt Deoksan the most. The gizzard is easy to cook, but still, she gives me significant portions.

  “You worked at the company since the beginning?”


  Mussang, looking outside the window where dusk was setting in, responded half-heartedly. The restaurant was close to Pungguk Capital. The day was old, but no shopkeeper covered the various equipment and machinery with a tarp.

  The Tools Street was bustling with merchants and customers haggling. Korea had corrupt politics and protests against it, but the robust roots-and-shoots economy. That was the proper strength and momentum of the country.

  “Yes. I was the first employee. I started with the first owner. That’s why I am a manager without good looks or skills! Haha!”


  Jeong Ayeong laughed and pulled a chair and sat in it. The screech of the chair’s metal leg dragging on the floor rang in his ears. Then, as if the noise was the signal, a plump woman came out from the inner room.

  “Long time no see, Manager Jeong.”


  “I am stuck in Dongseong Street. I only come to Nowon-dong at the beginning of each month for supervision.”


  “Is that so? How is Mr. Bak?”


  “So so.”


  “Oh well. There must be no God. So the baddies thrive, and the good people struggle. I have never seen anyone as kind as Mr. Bak.”


  ‘My uncle is kind?’


  Mussang, dumbfounded, stared at the mistress of the restaurant. What she said shocked him greatly.

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  “I have never seen any man as handsome as him! You must have had some auspicious dream, Aysong.”


  Aunt Deoksan, scanning Mussang’s face, screamed. She dropped the nickel silver tray, which rolled on the floor and had its gizzards scatter all over the floor.

  “Mussang?”


  Aunt Deoksan’s eyes widened in wonder.

  “Auntie!”


  Mussang stood up suddenly. His chair scratched the floor with its metal legs and tumbled to the floor. She was Hyeyeong’s nanny, Aunt Deoksan. Even bullet wounds could not shake Mussang, but he couldn’t keep his composure when it came to his mother and Hyeyeong.

  Mussang stared at Aunt Deoksan. She was Hyeyeong’s nanny and maid. He had only seen her birth mother, Lee Minju, once but had frequently seen Aunt Deoksan for three years. Her appearance changed, but he could still recognize her. Such were connections. A few days after seeing Lee Minju, he ran into Hyeyeong’s former maid. Was it a coincidence or an omen?

  “Long time no see.”


  Mussang regained his composure at once.

  “How is the miss?”


  Mussang shook his head without answering. Aunt Deoksan seemed to feel awkward.

  “I am being too nosy! I will get you your food quickly.”


  Aunt Deoksan was in her 50s with an equal amount of life experience. She knew that she couldn’t be too nosy to a customer unless she worked for a census, even if he was an acquaintance. She came to her senses and ran to the kitchen, shaking her big butt.

  “Do you know her?”


  Jeong Ayeong’s eyes widened.

  “She is an acquaintance.”


  “You look surprised. She is not just an acquaintance. The world is small. Am I right?”


  “The world runs on connections. You are bound to run into people. When you do, there is a reason.”


  “Hmm. We came here to drink, not study philosophy. This is the first time I drink with a man other than Mr. Bak.”


  Jeong Ayeong tapped the neck of the bottle to get rid of the diluted part of the liquor. The skill of her hand told him that she was quite a drinker.

  “It’s an honor.”


  Mussang smiled shyly and held the glass.

  “The honor is mine. My hands are pretty expensive. I only pour for Mr. Bak.

  Jeong Ayeong held the glass and handed the bottle to Mussang.

  “Don’t hate Mr. Bak too much. He worked too much, trying to grow the business, and got ill. Now his days are numbered. Whenever he drinks, he regrets everything and strikes his chest. Now he has heart disease.”


  There was certain wetness to Jeong Ayeong’s voice.

  “Bak Inbo may not have hit rock bottom as a human. However, he has someone like you near him. You wasted your time and money if you offered to drink with me to defend him. I cannot forget the ancient days, but I have already forgiven him.”


  “It must have been difficult. But, you are a good person.”


  Jeong Ayeong smiled and extended her glass.

  “I am not that good. Only the strong enjoys the right to apologize.”


  Mussang opened a new bottle and filled her glass. Jeong Ayeong drank it all at once and put two gizzards in her mouth at once.

  “Don’t smile. You look beautiful, but I also feel dizzy.”


  Mussang smiled further. She had a great personality, more outgoing than most men. He liked her unaffected character. She would be an excellent match for Emil, who had an easygoing personality.

  “Mr. Bak is a lonely person. I am not to judge his family history, but his wife’s family meddled with the business and embezzled money. That’s why he came here every day to vent. When he got drunk, he then began to talk about his brother and nephew, you. He told me you could lift a burlap sack full of rice with one hand at the age of twelve. I didn’t believe it. Then he began to cry, saying he hurt you too much. Six years ago, he began to donate to a group home. Even to this day, the company donates 3,000,000 won to the group home.”


  “I don’t feel anything. I am just surprised that a human can change to that extent.”


  Mussang felt indifferent. What happened happened. Only the strong could forgive. But, unfortunately, the weak didn’t get to exercise that right.

  “I think his guilt played a part in his decision to give you the company without any remuneration. He fooled his wife’s family by issuing CBs. That is also to let you inherit the company with a clean slate.”


  “The topic is too heavy. We are drinking for the first time. I don’t even work in the company. I am an outsider.”


  Mussang withdrew. Jeong Ayeong grinned.

  “You are the biggest shareholder of the company and soon will be its CEO. You are not an outsider.”


  “I didn’t want it. I feel kidnapped in sleep.”


  “Haha, I want to be kidnapped too then!”


  Her hearty laughter shook her breasts.

  ‘She will never run out of breastmilk.’


  Mussang had a sudden random thought.

  “My uncle was healthy even though he was short and thin. What happened?”


  “He suffered a stroke six years ago. A year later, emphysema too. It’s because he breathed in exhaust every day tinkering with old buses. The pressures from the Jangs, family problems, chain-smoking, and excessive drinking would have surely played a part. Bronchodilator, antibiotics, steroids, etc. He must have taken a truckful of prescribed medications. Now he has more side effects, and with his immunity reduced, they don’t work as well.”


  Jeong Ayeong’s tears glinted in the lamplight. Mussang liked her more and more. She was a kind and trustworthy lady. Of course, she wasn’t his to give, but even if she were, he wouldn’t want to give her to Emil, the player.

  “How long do you think Mr. Bak will live? I was shocked today. I thought he was going to die.”


  Jeong Ayeong didn’t say a word about the ability Mussang showed. Of course, such a superhuman power required certain secretiveness. Nevertheless, she was thoughtful enough not to inconvenience someone with shallow curiosity.

  “It could have been today. Or three months. I could balance his body but could not replenish his depleted life force. But, with my frequent help, he will be able to live for five more years.”


  “Five years!”


  Jeong Ayeong stood and bowed deeply.

  “Thank you. Mr. Bak is my savior. I got a job thanks to him. I could pay for the education of my two brothers. I could keep my elder brother’s bankrupt martial arts center from closing down. Thank you.”


  “We are here to drink, not thank. Sit.”


  Mussang waved away.

  “Your savior, my uncle, ruined my life. The favors and grudges of beings are hard to understand, like threads interwoven in a fabric. I have grudge and resentment mounted like a mountain, but I couldn’t abandon him when he died. Because of that, I got into trouble. I don’t want the company.”


  Jeong Ayeong glanced at the man neatly emptying his glass. He was heart-wrenchingly handsome. He was beautiful but also exuded masculinity. Wild men and intelligent men were both few and far between. A man both fantastic and wise might as well be extinct. Such a species was before her eyes. She understood why Mr. Bak boasted of having such a nephew. Had she been a few years younger… Jeong Ayeong swallowed. She felt the heat rise in her, and the thought of seducing him, blaming the alcohol, seemed more and more attractive.

  “You are unbelievable. You referred to as trouble is the company targeted by Ms. Jang and her family. Mr. Bak struggled for six years to let you inherit a clean company. I was jealous, seeing all that by his side.”


  “I have all the money I need. But, no matter how much you have, you can only eat three meals a day. You can only live a hundred years. So, like I said, inheriting a company doesn’t interest me.”


  Mussang felt indifferent. He had the chairman of a multinational corporation doing his biddings. A small company like that wasn’t going to impress him. So he only accepted the offer because he had to.

  “Haha. I thought you were joking. But it seems like you meant it. So I shall deserve a third glass to celebrate meeting a real man!”


  Jeong Ayeong held out her glass.

  “Drink to your capacity.”


  Mussang did not force or suggest anyone drink. He doesn’t enjoy alcohol too much himself, but he scorns the forceful-drinking culture. Instead, everyone should drink to their capacity.

  “I feel left out!”


  Jeong Ayeong gave Mussang a mock-evil eye and sipped from her glass. This girl was a heavy drinker.

  “What is Utak doing these days?”


  “Since five months ago, he has been learning car parking and maintenance at the company. He does not do any sleazy things now. He is coming to his senses.”


  “That’s great!”


  Mussang nodded. When he saw Utak decimating the Sashimi gang, he didn’t look all too sleazy. It was also Ms. Jang’s fault that Utak wandered outside and didn’t feel at home at his own house. No one would have withstood the constant comparisons to the sons of other families.

  “Miss Jeong, do you have a boyfriend?”


  Mussang asked.

  “Why do you ask? Are you introducing me to someone?”


  Her alcohol-red eyes glinted.

  “How about a foreign guy?”


  “You are! If he is healthy and capable, I don’t care if he is Korean or foreign. At my age, I don’t get to be picky.”


  Jeong Ayeong was relatively relaxed about it, unexpectedly.

  “He is from the Foreign Legion. He is from the Basque Country in Spain but is a French citizen now. He is about 30.”


  “Oh, a foreign mercenary and a spring chicken! Sounds great.”


  “Wait a second.”


  Mussang held up the receiver of the phone installed in the restaurant and requested an international call. Jeong Ayeong stared at Mussang, who spoke in French and English. She had jokingly responded to his suggestion and didn’t expect him to call the person outright.

  ‘It’s the same genes.’


  She nodded. Mr. Bak also was straightforward. They were similar in that they sprung to action right after the decision. Mussang replaced the receiver and smiled.

  “He will come to Korea next week. His salary is about three times that of an average Korean bank employee, but he has a dividend income higher than that. So you wouldn’t have to worry about making ends meet.”


  “Hurrah!”


  Jeong Ayeong held up both arms. She didn’t feel drunk anymore. What great luck? Money and a man abruptly tumbled her way. A fortune teller at the entrance of the Dalseong Park had said that a particular person would remove the blockages in her fate.

  “This dinner is on me! I was acquainted with you, and now I will not be single anymore. Mussang, thank you for shining sunshine on my moldy life!”


  Jeong Ayeong stood first. She didn’t forget the energy between Mussang and Aunt Deoksan. Three bottles of soju were much less than what she could usually handle, but the young CEO-to-be didn’t need to be informed of the miscellaneous details of the company.

  When Jeong Ayeong left the place, Aunt Deoksan turned off the signage. The three laborers left in the room left too. Aunt Deoksan sat close to the table, dragging her chair.

  “I would like some too.”


  Aunt Deoksan held out the soju glass. Mussang filled it and his too.

  “How did you end up doing this?”


  “Cooking is the only skill that I know. I started this business to make ends meet. The wretched woman sold the house. When you and the girl left, my chest became empty. You two were such a great couple. It was a match made in heaven. God must not even exist.”