Chapter 3: The Price of Not Looking Away

Seon-yul swallowed down the urge to curse and ended the call.
He loved his mother, but he couldn’t understand why she kept returning to her violent husband.

His beloved mother, his beloved Un-yul…
The three of them could be happy enough together, so why did she keep…

“Ha…”

His stomach churned.
It felt like sinking into a swamp he could never escape.

********

Seon-yul found part-time jobs easily, and he lost them just as easily.
The reasons for being hired and fired were both painfully clear.
The former was because he was handsome enough to make people turn and look twice on the street.
The latter was because…

“Miss, pour us a drink.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s because you remind me of my daughter, my daughter. Just think of us as your fathers and pour us a round, huh?”

A heavily drunk middle-aged man harassed Ji-young, a twenty-year-old who had just started her first part-time job.
Seon-yul, who had been about to head to the kitchen carrying three stacked 500cc beer glasses from the table next to them, froze mid-step.

“Pardon? Why would I pour drinks?”

“Puhaha! See that? Kids these days are like this. My own kid’s in puberty and talks back just like that. Here! I’m giving this because you’re like my daughter! Take it and pour us a nice cold one. Start with this guy right here.”

The middle-aged man rummaged through his wallet and held out a ten-thousand-won bill to Ji-young.
She’d heard there were lots of problem customers at pubs, but since this was her first job, she had no idea how to handle the situation.
When Ji-young hesitated and didn’t take the money, the man grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer.

“Ah!”

“Take it, miss. It’s fine. Uncles here have plenty of money, you know?”

“Hey, hey.  That’s not enough. Kids these days use different units of money. Even their allowance starts at fifty thousand won, I hear?”

“Oh yeah? Alright, I’ll be generous. Fifty thousand! No, I’ll even add the ten thousand I was going to give you! All you have to do is call me oppa just once!”

“Hey now. Oppa is going too far. Miss, call me Dad. Dad.”

The middle-aged men chatted among themselves, giggling as they boxed Ji-young in.
She managed to shake them off, but the money they had forced into her hand was still there.

Ji-young turned her head, looking for help.
Her eyes met those of a male part-timer clearing the table nearby.

The other workers had warned her, saying, “That guy’s a weirdo, don’t get close,” so she’d never exchanged a word with him.
His name was… Kang Seon-yul, wasn’t it?

‘What do I do?’

Ji-young’s eyebrows drooped as she glanced at the money in her hand, silently mouthing words.
Seon-yul’s stiff expression twisted sharply in an instant.

“Those filthy old bastards…”

Muttering a curse under his breath, Seon-yul strode toward Ji-young.
He snatched the money from her hand and slammed it down on the middle-aged men’s table.
The sudden appearance of a broad-shouldered man radiating open hostility made the men visibly flustered.

“Ahem, what’s this? Why’s a part-timer killing the mood? Kid, if you had a boyfriend, you should’ve said so.”

“Yeah. Seems like we misunderstood, so loosen up a bit. I mean, it’s not like we did anything weird. We were just joking because she’s like a daughter to us.”

Seriously?
Ji-young let out a hollow laugh at how completely their attitude had changed compared to how they’d treated her.
They’d tucked their tails between their legs without him even saying much.
It was obvious, but at least the situation seemed resolved, so she let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Just then, the owner, who had peeked out from the kitchen, spotted them and hurried over.

“Hey! Kang Seon-yul, stop it!”

The owner shouted urgently.
Stop it?
What exactly?
Ji-young tilted her head in confusion.

Splash!

“Ghk!”

A middle-aged man gasped in pain, holding his breath.
Ji-young’s eyes went wide as she looked back and forth between Seon-yul and the man.

“Cough—y-you bastard, what do you think you’re doing?!”

The face of the man who had handed Ji-young the money was drenched.
The three beer glasses Seon-yul had been holding were half-filled with leftover beer from other customers, and he had dumped them straight onto the man’s face.

“Ah, sorry. Dad.”

Though he hadn’t spoken loudly, Seon-yul’s low voice carried clearly to everyone nearby.
The man, who had just taken a shower in someone else’s leftover beer, jumped to his feet, his face flushed red.

“W-what? Dad?”

“I was trying to pour drinks, but my hand slipped. You’ll forgive me, right? Dad.”

“What the hell are you saying?! Is this how you treat customers? Call the owner out here! Owner!”

“She’s like your daughter, but don’t I look like your son? Dad, are you discriminating between sons and daughters?”

I-is that really okay?
Ji-young gaped at Seon-yul’s shamelessness.
Things escalated even further after that.
When the middle-aged man started screaming at the top of his lungs, Seon-yul shouted even louder.

“What kind of crazy bastard are you?! How old are you, huh?! f*ck, you little punk!”

“Do you like ‘oppa’ more than ‘dad’? I poured you a drink, so give me an allowance too, oppaaa!”

His voice was so powerful that even the loud idol music and the drunken chatter in the pub were drowned out by that drawn-out “oppaaa.”
Then, silence fell.
It happened to be the exact moment the song changed, and everyone’s gaze snapped toward them.

“Y-you…!”

What? ‘Oppa’?
Why are those old guys ‘oppa’?
Ugh, what disgusting customers.
They must’ve told the female part-timer to pour drinks.
If you’re drunk, just go home and sleep.

That’s gross.

No one said it out loud, but everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Under the contemptuous stares of the entire pub, the middle-aged men’s faces flushed red and purple.

The owner, who arrived late with a mortified expression, bowed repeatedly to them.

“I-I’m so sorry. I’m very sorry, sir!”

“You’re the owner?
How do you train your staff, huh?
I’m classmates with the chief of the police station right across the street.
I’ll report that bastard and this whole place.
Got it?”

“Sir, that crazy bastard is fired as of today.
Fired!”

The owner had let things slide a few times because female customers liked Seon-yul, and now he’d gone and caused a major incident.
Seon-yul was fired on the spot.
It had only been a month since he started working at the pub.

After being showered with every curse imaginable by the owner, Seon-yul gathered his things and left through the back door.
Ji-young put down the rag she’d been using to wipe tables and chased after him.

“Um, excuse me!”

She thought he’d gone far, but Seon-yul was crouched next to a trash bin.
A cat that had been sitting in front of him darted away when Ji-young appeared.
When Seon-yul turned around, Ji-young scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“I-I didn’t get to thank you.”

“It’s fine.
I’m regretting it already.”

“Still, thank you. I didn’t expect you to handle it like that, but honestly, it felt so satisfying.”

“At least you learned one thing—that you shouldn’t do it the way I did.”

“Well, that’s…”

“If guys like that show up again, just ignore them and come inside. Have the male staff do the serving. Don’t expect help from the owner—just skip him.”

Grunting softly, Seon-yul pushed himself up.
Under the orange streetlight, the shadows on his face made him look painfully lonely.
Ji-young felt bad, thinking he’d been fired because of her.

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Still, you got fired… Um, they say if the owner doesn’t pay your wages, you should threaten to report him to the Labor Office.”

“I know. I’ve done it plenty of times.”

“Oh…”

“I’m going.”

With that indifferent tone, Seon-yul gave a brief farewell and walked away.
Watching his back, Ji-young mentally corrected his label from just “weirdo” to “righteous weirdo.”
It was a fleeting connection they’d never cross again, but he was someone she wouldn’t forget easily.
What had happened tonight, his striking looks…
And above all, that low voice that kept echoing in her ears.

‘…Could he be an unknown actor?’

Ji-young pulled out her phone and searched for “Kang Seon-yul.”
An unknown actor with that name came up at the top, but it wasn’t a man—it was a woman.
Ah, guess not.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket.
She failed to notice that another result listed “voice actor Kang Seon-yul.”

**********

Fired at two in the morning, Seon-yul walked an hour to get home.

Taxis were too expensive with the late-night surcharge, and the first bus was too far off, leaving him no other choice.

When he stepped into his rooftop room after braving the cold night air, his nose, red from the cold, started running.

Sniff.

Tearing off a tissue, Seon-yul wiped his nose and collapsed weakly into a chair.

‘So that’s why things felt suspiciously lucky lately.’

Up until he’d finished recording earlier that day, he’d thought things were going well.
But as if mocking him for that thought, fate piled trial after trial on him.
Getting fired for not holding back his temper was nothing new, but as always, it left him with regret.
There must’ve been a more flexible way to handle it…
The call with his mother also left his mind in turmoil.
His head throbbing, Seon-yul closed his eyes where he sat.

“…Acting. I just need to act well.”