Shaking off her thoughts as if trying to clear her mind, she fluttered her hands in front of her.

“What are you doing?”

Feeling her movement, Woo-jin frowned and asked, and Soo-yeong replied in a cheerful tone, different from before.

“Seol Woo-jin, I’ve thought of a condition. For the long-term contract.”

“What is it? Money?”

“The money you’re paying now is enough. My condition is a 5-minute walk with me each day. How about it?”

Woo-jin’s face suddenly turned grim. What was this woman saying?

“Go outside?”

“Yes.”

“With you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Just, being inside all the time is suffocating.”

“Did Seol Ji-hyeon ask you to?”

“No? The representative told me not to eat with you if you refuse to eat. But a walk? Why would he ask that? It’s like you’re so cheeky, or rather, so insolent, I mean…”

“Pretend to speak wrongly and insult me to my face. Call me cheeky and insolent.”

Woo-jin spoke coldly, and Soo-yeong hesitated for a moment before bravely continuing.

“Anyway, it seems like Seol Ji-hyeon is spoiling you too much. Right?”

“What are you saying? Who’s spoiling whom?”

“Well, every time you call, he rushes over, and does whatever you ask. If you indulge children like that, they become spoiled.”

“Hah.”

Woo-jin looked at her as if he had nothing to say. There was no one who dared to speak so boldly to him in high school.

Is she doing this because she knows I don’t hit women?

But his hand under the table was already clenched into a fist.

“I’ll consider long-term work if you agree to walk with me for 5 minutes every day. Think about it, Seol Woo-jin.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Dismissing her suggestion with a gesture, Soo-yeong retorted in frustration.
“You promised me!” Soo-yeong exclaimed.

“What did I promise?”

“To experience the first snow together! It’s only a month until the first snow, you know?”

Honestly, it was uncertain whether the first snow would actually come in a month, but early winter often brought the first snowfall.

Woo-jin couldn’t understand why he made such a pointless promise. Was he out of his mind at that time?

So, he decided to feign ignorance.

“I don’t remember that.”

“Oh, come on! You remember everything, don’t you? It will be even more awkward if you suddenly have to go out in the snow. That’s why we should practice beforehand.”

“I don’t remember, and I don’t want to practice.”

As Woo-jin stood up abruptly and turned around, Soo-yeong coldly said,

“Then, no long-term contract.”

“Fine. Do whatever you want.”

As Woo-jin left the kitchen, Soo-yeong glared at his broad back.

Hearing her daughter’s words, Young-soon’s face brightened.

“The representative offered that job to your aunt? Four hours a day for 400@ won?”

“Yeah. It’s a sweet deal, right?”

“It’s a great opportunity for your aunt. The representative must really think highly of her. But your aunt still seems to be in pain, doesn’t she?”

“It’s not for right now, only after she’s fully recovered.”

After laying the groundwork with her aunt’s sweet job offer, Soo-yeong subtly steered the conversation to the main topic.

“Mom, I think it’s weird studying all day at the library.”

“What’s weird?”

“I mean, I keep studying without moving… I keep getting rejected from every application… I think I’m getting a bit depressed.”

Young-soon’s face turned pale. She had been worried that her daughter might be feeling down about her current situation.

“Don’t just stay in the library. Take breaks, maybe do some fitness. Being indoors all the time can really depress a person.”

“Yeah. I think so too. That’s why I was thinking of working part-time for just two hours a day…”

Her mother’s expression turned strange.

“Part-time work?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of part-time job?”

“I was thinking of doing the housekeeping job Auntie did before. Just until I get a job.”

Young-soon’s eyes hardened.

“Why don’t you do part-time at a tutoring center instead? Why would you want to do housekeeping of all things?”

“Tutoring part-time isn’t just two hours. You have to prepare in advance, and during exam periods, you have to do extra classes. It’s no joke. But here, when I tried it, it’s just resting in a spacious, clean house. I barely work for 15 minutes, just pushing a mop in the living room. It’s so easy, and the pay is double what I would get at a tutoring center.”

“Just clean up your own room.”

Young-soon said incredulously. Her daughter barely keeps her own room clean, and now she wants to clean someone else’s house? Moreover, why would such a young person start housekeeping?

“If I got paid for cleaning my room, I’d do it with zeal.”

Soo-yeong said with a grin, but Young-soon firmly replied,

“Look for another part-time job. Not that one.”

Young-soon had always been firm with her decisions. Knowing this, Soo-yeong never pushed after a refusal.

Now, she had to think of another strategy. How?

As Ji-hyeon placed a meatball on Woo-jin’s rice, he mentioned,

“Na-eun visited.”

Woo-jin paused in scooping his rice at the sight of the meatball.

“She’s changed a lot. She’s not the same Na-eun from before.”

“She must have aged, like me.”

Woo-jin responded nonchalantly while chewing on the meatball. Ji-hyeon picked his words carefully, knowing he couldn’t spoil Woo-jin’s appetite.

“She’s working in the web novel team at Daiber. Interesting, right?”
“What’s so surprising about that? …When did she come back from the U.S.?”

Woo-jin’s unexpected inquiry about Na-eun brightened Ji-hyeon’s tone, relieved that the topic wasn’t making him uncomfortable.

“She’s been back for two months. Seems like she read all your writings during that time.”

“She wouldn’t normally be interested in my stuff.”

“Do you want to meet her? Na-eun seemed to miss you.”

“Is she going to whine in front of me again? No thanks.”

“I don’t think she will. She’s changed, you know? She even said you were a show-off king during your school days. Does that sound like her?”

At this, Woo-jin lifted his head and looked straight at Ji-hyeon. For a moment, Ji-hyeon thought Woo-jin was actually seeing him and met his amber eyes.

“Did you two gossip about me?”

“No, it wasn’t gossip, just reminiscing about the past.”

“Tch.”

Woo-jin finished his meal more neatly than most sighted people and gulped down his water, surprising Ji-hyeon with his reaction.

Just a year ago, Woo-jin would have angrily stormed off at the mere mention of Na-eun. Back then, he would have left his meal unfinished and retreated to his room.

But this time, he casually discussed Na-eun and finished his meal. It was a significant change. Was this Soo-yeong’s influence?

As Woo-jin stood up, Ji-hyeon looked at him blankly, prompting Woo-jin to speak sharply.

“Stop staring, you’ll bore a hole in my face.”