“Go in and start with the dishes.”

The boss, who threw rubber gloves at Ji Yeon Woo’s chest without warning, headed towards the counter.

Ji Yeon Woo’s gaze fell to the rubber gloves on the floor.

She didn’t expect hospitality. But she also didn’t want her basic human rights to be ignored.

‘In my situation, what can I do.’

Human adaptability is frighteningly fast.

All she had to do was pick up her discarded pride and put it away.

Ji Yeon Woo, who picked up the rubber gloves from the floor, entered the kitchen.

She slipped her hands into the damp rubber gloves and scrubbed the white plates hard with a foam-covered sponge.

‘Endure it. You can do it. Hold on.’

Endure it. Just hold on.

It was like a mantra she recited to herself whenever she was about to collapse.

When she repeated this to herself many times, she would gain the strength to overcome any situation.

But sometimes this mantra was of no use.

“Unni, when your hands are free, please bring out the basic side dishes for table 3.”

“Understood.”

It was when unexpected things happened one after another.

“I wonder what wind blew today for Nam Do Hyun, who’s always busy, to ask to have dinner together.”

Ji Yeon Woo, who was transferring side dishes onto a silver tray, turned her head.

For a moment, she almost dropped the tray she was holding.

She thought it was just someone with the same name, but Nam Do Hyun was really sitting at a table close to the kitchen.

The only fortunate thing was that he was sitting with his back to the kitchen. Other than that, everything was the worst.

Just last week, she showed him the sight of her being drenched in dirty water in the lobby.

But today, she had her hair tied up messily and was wearing a stained apron, serving side dishes at a barbecue restaurant.

Why did she have to encounter Nam Do Hyun every time she looked so shabby?

“Excuse me. Can we get some water here?”

There were a total of three people who came with Do Hyun.

One of them raised their hand and specifically called out to Ji Yeon Woo.

Since they made eye contact, Ji Yeon Woo couldn’t pretend she didn’t see.

Ji Yeon Woo took out a water jug from the refrigerated showcase and walked to the table where Nam Do Hyun was sitting.

Ji Yeon Woo, who quietly stood behind Do Hyun, placed the water jug she was holding on the table.

She leaned her body forward as far away from Do Hyun as possible and only stretched out her hand.

Then, without missing a single breath, she gently placed the side dishes down.

“Give us a bottle of beer and a bottle of soju too.”

Before Ji Yeon Woo could even turn around after setting up all the side dishes, Do Hyun’s party placed an order.

Ji Yeon Woo, who had briefly parted her lips, pondered. She was afraid Nam Do Hyun might recognize her voice.

Instead of answering, Ji Yeon Woo quickly went to the refrigerated showcase and brought back a bottle each of beer and soju.

She walked over silently and placed the alcohol on Do Hyun’s table. At that moment,

Do Hyun, who had been looking straight ahead, lifted his chin upward.

It was a close call.

Ji Yeon Woo covered her face with the silver tray she had tucked under her arm.

“Enjoy your meal.”

In a state of bewilderment, she spoke in a very unique voice and took refuge in the kitchen.

As soon as Ji Yeon Woo entered the kitchen and hid herself, the mouths of the party who had ordered the alcohol opened.

“Isn’t the girl who served us pretty?”

“But her voice doesn’t match her face at all? If not for her voice, I would’ve asked for her number.”

“She looks much younger than us. Sober up after drinking, you old men.”

Unlike the party members who took turns making remarks, Nam Do Hyun kept his lips tightly sealed.

Do Hyun’s eyes lingered for quite a long time on Ji Yeon Woo, who was intentionally showing her back.

Perhaps because she had been holed up in the kitchen since Do Hyun visited the restaurant, he finished dinner with his party and disappeared.

After midnight, all the customers finally left the restaurant.

Ji Yeon Woo, holding black garbage bags in both hands, pushed open the door connected to the kitchen with her back.

Then she stepped down the stairs and put the garbage bags on the floor.

“You’re sturdy.”

At the heavy voice that spread through the gloomy alley, Ji Yeon Woo quickly straightened her waist.

The boss, who was smoking in the alley, asked while still staring at Ji Yeon Woo’s buttocks.

“How was it? You said it’s your first time at a barbecue restaurant. Wasn’t it hard?”

Feeling uncomfortable with the eyes staring intently at her, Ji Yeon Woo wanted to avoid the spot.

“Yes. It was manageable.”

“It’s good that you think that way. Originally, working for someone else’s money is never easy. Even if it’s dirty, you have to do it, right?”

He flicked the cigarette ash with his index finger and stuck the cigarette back between his lips.

The boss, who roughly grasped Ji Yeon Woo’s situation, showed a sly smile.

“You don’t have money, you don’t have a home. It must be very hard for you now, right?”

The boss threw the cigarette he had finished smoking on the floor and approached Ji Yeon Woo.

Was it because it was the back of the building where the street lamp light didn’t reach, a secluded alley?

Even though he didn’t do anything, Ji Yeon Woo’s steps retreated.

“When you’re lonely, you’re supposed to mingle more with people and live.”

The boss’s hand touched Ji Yeon Woo’s shoulder.

Even though she was wearing clothes, an unclean energy seeped in from the hand that touched her.

“I can make sure you’re not lonely. If you treat me well, I can give you allowance too.”

She wasn’t unaware of what he meant by those words.

There was no way she could be unaware. The boss’s hand that clung to her shoulder was gently caressing it.

Ji Yeon Woo lifted her gaze that had settled on her shoulder.

“How much allowance can you give me?”

“What?”

“I’m asking how much allowance I can receive if I listen to you well.”

The boss, who was slightly taken aback by the words spat out without emotion, pondered for a moment before answering.

“I’ll give you 200,000 won each time you do it for me.”

“Ha. 200,000 won?”

The boss was quite startled, as if he didn’t expect a sneer to come out here.

“How much do you want then? You make an offer.”

“20 billion.”

“Wh-what? 20 billion?”

“Even if you give me 20 billion, I won’t do it with you.”

The hand that was gripping Ji Yeon Woo’s shoulder shot up above her head.

“You penniless b*tch!”

“Since I’m penniless, make sure to send every penny I earned today to my account without leaving out a single won.”

Even if that hand were to strike her cheek, Ji Yeon Woo wasn’t afraid.

She even had the terrible thought that it would be better to get slapped and receive settlement money instead.

As Ji Yeon Woo tried to turn around, the boss, whose heart was in a hurry, grabbed her wrist.

“Hey! Hey! Wait a minute!”

“Are you not letting go?”

The boss’s hand, driven by urgency, tightened with strong force.

He didn’t want to let this opportunity slip away entirely.

“Is it because I said I’ll give you 200,000 won? Usually, if you go to a karaoke room, you can fool around with two girls with 200,000 won. If you really insist 200,000 won isn’t enough, I’ll give you 300,000.”

“Disgusting.”

The words in her mind flowed out of her mouth as they were.

The face of the boss, who had been dumbfounded, reddened in an instant.

“D-disgusting? Did you go crazy from smelling the meat?”

Unable to hold back his rising anger, the boss raised his hand again.

If it was just to intimidate her before, this time he was really going to strike Ji Yeon Woo’s cheek.

Swish. It was before the thick hand cutting through the air could touch her cheek.

“You may have smelled the meat, but you smell even worse.”

“…!”

“Ah, so that’s why you went crazy.”

As she lifted her eyelids that had instinctively closed, Nam Do Hyun was standing in front of her.

Since when had he been here?

No. Since when did he notice that she worked here?

“Y-you, who are you?”

The boss, whose arm was grabbed, shook his shoulders back and forth but couldn’t move an inch.

“Your idea is quite unique. Is now the time to be curious about who I am?”

Nam Do Hyun, who chuckled, lost his smile in an instant.

“If it were me, I think I’d run away first out of embarrassment.”

“Don’t butt into other people’s business and get lost.”

“Your words have been really filthy from earlier.”

Do Hyun twisted the boss’s arm he was holding behind his back.

The boss, whose upper body was pulled forward, grabbed his seized arm with his remaining hand and shouted.

“Aaaagh! What you’re doing now is violence!”

“What you did is also verbal violence, so this is justified. Don’t you think?”

As Do Hyun’s grip tightened, the boss’s face contorted involuntarily.

“Ow! It hurts! Let go! I said let go!”

Do Hyun released the hand that was holding the boss.

No, rather than releasing, he intentionally shoved him into the garbage bag Ji Yeon Woo had put out.

The boss, whose head was stuck in the black garbage bag, struggled and fell on his bottom.

“Hey!”

When the boss, angered by the garbage smell flowing from his face, jumped up,

the back door opened and a girl who looked to be a high school student rushed out.

“Dad, what are you doing not coming in?”

The boss’s daughter alternated her gaze between the boss and Do Hyun.

As Do Hyun turned his attention to the boss’s daughter, the boss hurriedly climbed the stairs where the door was open.

“I was about to go in.”

He seemed to know that what he had done was shameful.

Afraid that Do Hyun would say unnecessary things to his daughter, the boss hastily entered the restaurant.

As the boss disappeared, the alley was engulfed in silence.

The whole situation was settled for now.

Ji Yeon Woo turned her body and stood facing Nam Do Hyun, who was standing in front of her.

Should she say thank you for helping her?

Should she ask why he intervened, why he hasn’t left yet?

While she was pondering, Nam Do Hyun walked towards Ji Yeon Woo.

In just two steps, even the proper distance disappeared.

Nam Do Hyun bent his upper body downward. His face brushed past Ji Yeon Woo’s cheek and moved to the side.

For a moment, it seemed like his breath grazed her ear.

With a soft thud, the apron string tied around Ji Yeon Woo’s waist came undone.

“Black really doesn’t suit you.”

His low voice, like a monologue, rang in her ear.

His long fingers, which had been caught on the string, fell away.

“Isn’t the first thing to ask usually ‘are you okay’ in this situation?”

Ji Yeon Woo’s eyes met Do Hyun’s as he slowly lifted his waist.

“I’m originally a person outside of common sense.”

Do Hyun, who straightened his upper body, stuck both hands into his pants pockets.

“What are you going to do now?”

“About what?”

“You have no money and no home, so where are you going to sleep tonight?”

He said he was a person outside of common sense, and it didn’t seem to be a lie.

Perhaps because she truly had no money and no home, an inferiority complex arose.

“You’re only poking at the sore spots.”

“I’m good at giving a disease and then the medicine.”

Nam Do Hyun took out the car key that was in his pocket.

“I’ll let you sleep over, so come to my house.”

Was the medicine he was offering some kind of shock therapy?

If so, it seemed to be working.