Chapter 36: Flames in the Alley

These days, I’m living as if there are 25 hours in a day.

At first, I used to fall asleep at midnight, but my sleep time has been pushed back by an hour each day.

With every passing day, I found myself drifting off to sleep later and later—1 a.m., 2 a.m., then 3 a.m.

It was because I’d been working on my manuscript non-stop, throwing my sleep schedule into disarray.

An irregular sleep pattern soon led to insomnia.

After writing until dawn, there were many days when I barely slept four or five hours before waking up.

To make things worse, my condition had gone downhill since I kept up with Cheon Nayoung’s documentary and worried over it.

Today, too, I only fell asleep just before five in the morning, but as soon as it turned nine, my eyes snapped open.

My body was far too tired for a morning walk as part of my routine.

‘I should at least have a cup of coffee.’

Since I’d thrown on some clothes anyway, I decided to grab a coffee and also get a meal at the ground floor stores.

After buying gimbap at the snack shop, I was heading to Omega Café for my coffee.

From a distance, I could hear the angry voice of the café owner.

“Please, just go.”

“Where did you hide my daughter!”

“I’m telling you, she doesn’t work at this café anymore.”

It was Cheon Nayoung’s birth mother, who had caused a disturbance at the café last time.

She quarreled for a while, then, screaming curses at the top of her lungs, finally turned away.

“Director, let’s talk again later.”

Since I had a bit of history with her from an earlier incident, I quickly ended my call, worried that I might get caught up in the mess, and turned toward the convenience store’s newsstand.

“Damn brat. Think I won’t find you? I know exactly where you’re hiding.”

Behind me, Cheon Nayoung’s mother walked by, muttering in a voice that sounded like scraping metal.

“Damn brat, this time I’ll really beat you half to death.”

I glanced sideways as she passed, and saw that her eyes were wild.

The stench of alcohol still reeked from her body, and even passersby were giving her a wide berth because of her crazed appearance.

‘She looks like she’s about to cause real trouble.’

It seemed necessary to let Cheon Nayoung know her birth mother was looking for her.

But I didn’t have her number, nor did I know where she lived.

The only thing I knew from our last conversation was that she attended ‘Daeseung Academy’ in Noryangjin.

“Damn, this is making me uneasy.”

Normally, I might have just brushed it off, thinking she could handle herself.

But after seeing her past in the documentary and learning how dangerous her mother was, I just couldn’t rest easy.

After some deliberation, I called Jo Minseong.

“By any chance, did Cheon Nayoung try to contact you?”

-Oh, you mean the person you mentioned last time, Writer? No, she didn’t.

“Whew, I figured as much.”

-But her father did contact me.

“Her father?”

-Yeah, he said to keep it a secret from his daughter, but asked if I could meet the person who gave me their business card.

“Could you give me her father’s number?”

When people talk about value for money, gukbap is always brought up.

But even the gukbap people always say, ‘For that price, you could buy so many bowls of gukbap,’ now costs nearly 10,000 won.

Back in my day, when I could fill up on cup tteokbokki for 500 won and socialize over a 1,000 won toast, 10,000 won was more than enough pocket money.

But for students these days, 10,000 won barely covers one day’s meals.

I once told this to Seo Ji-won, and she just laughed, saying, ‘Don’t act like you’re so much older than me.’

Her seniors, the first generation idols, used to shoot survival shows where they’d live for a week on 10,000 won.

Anyway.

Despite everything, there’s one place in Korea where you can still eat your fill for just 10,000 won a day.

That place is Noryangjin.

About five minutes’ walk from exit 3 of Noryangjin Station, there’s Cupbap Street.

Along Cupbap Street, not only cupbap but also all sorts of snacks and even pancakes are sold, so when you walk in, the street is full of all kinds of mouth-watering smells.

Even before lunch break was over, the street was already packed with academy students looking for a cheap meal.

I weaved through the street carts, cautiously checking the faces of the people eating there.

Soon enough, I spotted Cheon Nayoung standing in front of a cupbap stall, eating a 3,500 won kimchi tuna cupbap.

She’d pulled down her mask to eat, so it was easy to recognize her.

“One tteokbokki, two chicken skewers, please. I can pay for the fish cake after I eat it, right?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

When I suddenly stepped up and placed my order, Cheon Nayoung looked up at me in surprise.

I kept a straight face and set the plate with tteokbokki and chicken skewers, handed over by the stall owner, between us.

“Want to eat together?”

“What are you doing, mister?”

“What do you mean? Chicken skewers and tteokbokki. Grab some fish cake if you want.”

When I took a big bite of the chicken skewer, the teriyaki sauce loaded with seasoning and the taste of meat spread through my whole body.

“I think you’ve got the wrong idea. I appreciate what you did last time, but I’m not interested in you, mister.”

“I know. Wow, even the tteokbokki here is delicious. What is it with these cupbap places, everything’s good. Aren’t you eating?”

“Geez...”

Cheon Nayoung acted prideful for a moment, but seeing me enjoy the tteokbokki, she eventually gave in and picked up her chopsticks.

“I’ve been coming to this neighborhood for two years. This place is the best.”

“You’re right. Perfect seasoning. And drinks are only 500 won? Want one?”

“Only if you’re paying.”

“Of course. The least I can do.”

After eating half the chicken skewer, the long wooden stick started poking out, so I had to awkwardly bite from the side.

Watching me get sauce on my lips, Cheon Nayoung clicked her tongue, grabbed a nipper, and gestured for me to come closer.

Snip—

She clipped off the end of the wooden stick with the nipper, making it easy to eat straight on again.

Seeing that she’d let her guard down a bit, I slowly brought up what I’d come to say.

“I heard by chance—you were in a famous commercial, right? The ice cream girl.”

“...How did you know?”

“Your father told me. He said you were here. He figured if he asked directly you wouldn’t tell him the truth about wanting to act.”

I tried to keep things casual as I set down the used skewer and asked gently.

“Do you still hate acting that much?”

“...”

Cheon Nayoung shoved the last piece of tteokbokki into her mouth and chewed in silence.

‘She always dodges the topic of acting.’

Sighing softly, I picked up a hot fish cake skewer, brushing it with soy sauce.

“That’s not why I came today. Your mother showed up at the café again this morning.”

“Oh... I thought so.”

“Not that it’s really my place to say, but be careful. She seemed really upset about something.”

“Yeah. What could she possibly be so angry about?”

Cheon Nayoung muttered in a tired voice.

Just then, I heard someone causing a commotion at the entrance to Cupbap Street.

I turned my head to see what the noise was about.

And that was when I locked eyes with Cheon Nayoung’s birth mother, who had tracked her down all the way to Noryangjin.

She was even more drunk than she’d been that morning, and she stomped right towards me.

Then she spotted Cheon Nayoung beside me, opened her mouth wide, and started yelling.

“You ungrateful brat! I knew it! Studying? You, study?! Ha!”

Cheon Nayoung’s face turned to stone when she saw her mother.

“The café owner said you’re here studying for the college entrance exam. I told him not to be ridiculous! How could you study with a head like yours?”

Apparently, the café owner, fed up with her constant visits, finally spilled Nayoung’s information.

I stepped in front of the frozen Cheon Nayoung.

“Who are you, get out of the way?”

“Let’s not do this here, Ms. Cheon.”

“Oh, you’re that guy from the café, aren’t you? What the hell are you doing dragging my daughter around!”

She wouldn’t even listen, just spitting out her words and ignoring everything else.

“Why are you always hanging around Nayoung? Who are you, anyway?”

“It’s not like that. Please, calm down.”

“What are you planning to do with my daughter? She’s not the kind of girl to waste her life with a guy like you! She’s going to be a great actress, a star!”

She shoved me aside and grabbed Cheon Nayoung by the shoulders, pestering her like a madwoman.

“Right, Nayoung? My pretty girl. Come with mom and audition, okay? You should be an actress. So many directors adore you.”

“Stop it, Mom... please...”

“Look at your face. Look what this junk food has done to your skin. No, that’s it. You need to get treatment. Let’s go home, okay?”

Cheon Nayoung struggled to pull her mother’s hands from her shoulders and pushed her away hard.

Her mother’s eyes flashed wildly.

“I sacrificed so much for your success! How could I have raised you just to see you waste your time here eating this filthy food!”

“Just stop! I told you not to come looking for me.”

People started gathering around, and Cheon Nayoung bit her lip as she listened to her mother’s nonsense.

“If I went through all the trouble to have you, you should’ve just become an actress like I said. Why don’t you ever listen to your mother!”

“Please, just stop already!”

“How dare you raise your voice at the mother who gave birth to you?”

Unable to hold it in anymore, Cheon Nayoung screamed in frustration, but her mother only got more hysterical.

“Fine, then! If you’re going to use that face to hang around with a man, I’ll smash it myself!”

Cheon Nayoung’s mother grabbed the nipper used to cut skewer sticks from the cart’s table.

“You rotten brat!”

She lunged, looking ready to hurt Cheon Nayoung, and my body moved before I knew it.

“Watch out!”

As I threw my arm in front of Cheon Nayoung, a searing pain shot through my left shoulder.

“Kyahhh! Mister!”

I saw the nipper’s jaws embedded deep in my forearm.