episode_0014

“You’re not late. You kept your promise. Right?”

That’s what the old man said as soon as he entered the shelter.

What, what do you want me to do? You want me to praise you for doing a good job? It seems like the need for approval is trying to dominate your brain.

“Promises are meant to be kept in the first place. There’s no reason to be praised for keeping a promise.”

Of course, I had no intention of giving him the answer he wanted. The carrot therapy just didn’t work on him.

If the behavior pattern of ordinary people or pets goes through the process of ‘instruction > performance > praise/reward > repetition’, then the old man’s pattern is ‘instruction > performance > praise > I listened this time, so next time I’ll do what I want.’

“No, I didn’t mean to compliment you…”

“Or what?”

I asked back right away, just to see what this old man was going to ask for in return for keeping something so obvious.

“Just. I kept my promise… I hope you don’t worry too much in the future. Well, that’s what I mean.”

Look at this, I came back safely without you, carrying a load of luggage next to me. I hope you won’t nag me too much in the future. Isn’t that what you’re going to say?

I let out a deep sigh. I thought that even the three major breeds of dogs would have to bow out in front of this old man.

They won’t even listen if you discipline them. This damn human being will spit no matter how many times you tell him.

Because it was not enough to just say it, he protested by building up achievements and saying that he would not listen to me.

Then, as if he had finished saying everything he wanted to say, the old man took off his gear and threw his dirty clothes all over the shelter before heading to the bathroom.

If I had to find something different from usual, it would be that he didn’t leave behind only underwear, perhaps because he was conscious of the dogs and pigs.

“Mr.”

“Huh? Danhwa, is there a problem?”

Is there any problem?

Haha, are you crazy?

“Let’s take a look around. Does anything come to mind?”

At my words, the old man took a quick look around the shelter and opened his mouth.

“Did you eat? Am I right? It’s called medicine… Ugh!”

I didn’t hesitate to kick the old man. The white-haired man standing next to me was frightened by my actions and just kept rolling his eyes.

“Short story! Why, why all of a sudden! Is this violence? Huh? You, Huh? If you do this in front of everyone else…!”

“Just die. Just die. There are those who shit and those who clean up, right? Everyone else can see it and you’re saying that? Are you crazy? Shouldn’t I be the one to say that? The number of family members is increasing, and the landlord’s behavior is already disgusting. What can I learn from him? He even holds a ceremony for the person who cleans up. Right?”

“Ah, oh? It looks a bit clean. Did you clean it? I guess the house wouldn’t be in good shape without shoes. But please be lenient. Honestly, when you come back home after work, you want to just throw your stuff away. If you could show a little empathy and consideration as a fellow business partner, I wouldn’t have to get so angry… Ugh!”

Seeing this bastard who had no intention of asking for forgiveness, I felt the need to trample him down with affectionate violence disguised as empathy and consideration.

The pain in my arm, which had finally subsided due to the intense movement, came back a little, but I thought that a somewhat rough correction process was inevitable for my arm to heal quickly.

*

Hyeji watched Kwon Do-hoon being trampled by Danhwa’s feet.

As far as Hyeji knows, this is Do-hoon’s shelter.

Danhwa was just a tenant that Do-hoon had brought along? A lover? A colleague? In any case, she was somewhere in between. It was clear that she was not the owner of the shelter.

Since Hyeji herself only lived in the Pureun Apartment, all of her judgments were centered around the Pureun Apartment, so it was a bit difficult for her to understand the current situation.

The Blue Hill Apartments had a leader, Park Seung-ho, and under each of the leaders there was a head of the apartment complex, and under each head of the complex there was a head of each floor (shelter manager).

Therefore, life in the Blue Hills apartment was conducted under the strict supervision and management of the shelter manager, unless the person was someone with a certain level of authority like Hyeji’s father.

In Hyeji’s mind, the situation in which Kwon Do-hoon, who was clearly in power, was trampled by Dan-hwa made one of Hyeji’s conjectures go to a higher level.

This is because in Hyeji’s mind, she has only seen one case where people at the level of shelter director or village chief were in trouble with someone who was not of the same level.

‘As expected, Danhwa and Dohoon are not just colleagues or lovers. In fact, I think they are almost like a married couple. The reason they don’t have any children yet is probably because they are not a large group like us, they live in a private shelter, and Danhwa is still young.’

Hyeji thought Danhwa was young, but if you think about it, that was before the chaos broke out.

Not long ago, when I saw a 16-year-old girl having a baby in the building next to where I live, I thought that if Do-hoon and Dan-hwa had the right conditions, they would also have a baby right away.

In Hyeji’s opinion, the two of them were a very well-matched couple.

After finishing organizing her thoughts, Hyeji sat down again on the sofa by the window and began assembling the parts.

Hyeji had no free access to machinery unless she followed her father to the workshop.

That’s how it was with the Blue Hills Apartments. Unless you’re clearly assigned a position, they don’t usually let you in.

He had a lot of knowledge about generators and other equipment thanks to what he learned from his father, and he could even do simple assembly and disassembly, but the problem was that leader Park Seung-ho didn’t like girls touching machines.

In common parlance, there was a group of people who thought that technical jobs like repairman and mechanic were men’s jobs.

So, even though Hyeji had the skills, she didn’t think about shedding the label of apprentice.

In fact, the label of apprentice was given to Hyeji by her father, who couldn’t stand seeing Hyeji so hot-tempered, and negotiated with leader Park Seung-ho.

No matter how much Hyeji thought about it, it didn’t seem like the label that followed her around would ever come off.

Kwon Do-hoon, Danhwa.

For Hye-ji, who was in that situation, the appearance of these two people was like a lifeline.

It’s a dangerous job, so we can’t send a technician. But since the person carrying out the order has no technical knowledge, it’s uncertain whether he will be able to retrieve the parts properly.

In order to maintain the huge complex called the Blue Field Apartments, the repair of the operating generator was urgent… and in the end, the one who was selected was none other than the apprentice worker himself.

Honestly, Hyeji was delighted the moment she was mentioned.

An opportunity to personally touch and experience the generators that I had only seen and heard about over my father’s shoulder.

The skills of the two people she followed were outstanding, and Hyeji was able to successfully chew, tear, taste, and enjoy three generators.

In the process, I had a bit of a hard time with Danhwa, who has a rather prickly personality, but what do you think?

Wasn’t he already a talented person who had been trained as Park Seung-ho, who would firmly secure the number one spot among all the survivor groups in this area in terms of personality?

Moreover, Hyeji wasn’t that scared of Danhwa. She only made harsh remarks about how an empty cart makes a lot of noise, and she didn’t actually do any harm.

Hyeji, who was letting her imagination run wild as she laid out unused parts and equipment from the first floor and basement of Dohoon’s shelter, suddenly realized that her surroundings were dark.

“Hey, pig.”

It’s a familiar voice. But I think you just called me pig instead of Hyeji.

“Uh…huh? Yes?”

However, Hyeji didn’t bother to point it out because she noticed that the voice was unusual.

“Don’t you have any sense? Do you want to get behind? Don’t you want to clean it up?”

“Not really… dirty, is it?”

“I told you not to mess it up!”

“Aaak!!!”

Hyeji experienced corporal punishment for the first time in her life. It was the first time she realized how painful it was to have the side of her head, or sideburns, pulled.

It’s not that I didn’t think about rebelling, but I couldn’t bring myself to think about getting kicked out and having to go back to that boring, stuffy, blue apartment.

I don’t know if it was Do-Hoon who decorated the shelter, but Hye-Ji saw that there were many areas for improvement and many areas where she could incorporate her own ideas, which also played a part in Hye-Ji’s decision.

In the end, Hyeji was able to learn deeply about organizing from Danhwa for the first time in her life. No, she had to learn.

In addition to that, I learned that grooming is really important and if you don’t do it thoroughly, your sideburns will turn bright red for at least a few days and cause constant pain.

In Hye-ji’s head, after going through many twists and turns, the power structure of Do-hoon Shelter became more organized.

‘Danhwa is the best. Uncle Do-hoon and Uncle Cheon-deuk are all hanging around. I just have to look good to Danhwa…’

As Hye-ji was thinking those thoughts, the sight of Do-hoon throwing his equipment on the floor and being stepped on by Dan-hwa unfolded before her eyes.

Hyeji looked around her, hoping something might happen.

‘The bolt washer fell off. I almost died…’

Hyeji immediately found a bolt that was missing a washer among the bolts that were arranged in pairs in the toolbox, and she picked up the washer that had fallen on the floor and put the two back together.

Seeing the guys paired up gave me a sense of relief and inexplicable pleasure.

‘Since it’s come to this, should I clean up the basement and the first floor as well? Then, even if I make a few mistakes, Danhwa won’t try to kill me. Besides, I think I’ll feel better just looking at the things that are cleaned up.’

Although it was not her intention, Hyeji, who was dominated by her desire to survive, ended up developing something similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder as a result of her repeated actions.