"So... are you saying he's ignoring you?"
"Looks like it. I sent him several messages and even tried to call but it looks like he turned his phone off."
Se Ah fixed her hair behind her neck and looked out of the rolled-down car window. Da Hye puffed on her mint-flavored cigarette, then threw it out of another window, and put her hand back on the wheel.
"Do you think he got sick because you hit him a few times with a whip? Man, that's pathetic."
When Min Hyun left Se Ah's place that night, he did not come to work the following Monday and Team Leader Shin informed his colleagues that the intern was sick and had to take a whole week off because of that. It was only natural that Miss Yoon got worried and even blamed herself for his condition, after all, it was an unspoken rule that a dominatrix had to make sure that whatever they do, does not afflict their partners to the point where they get ill. She tried to reach him to make sure she was not the reason for his poor health but he neither answered her calls nor read her messages.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, don't worry about it. More importantly, look ahead - we've arrived."
Da Hye moved her chin, gesturing for Se Ah to look ahead as they drove past the giant wooden sign that read "Welcome to Tongyeong". Tongyeong was her mother's hometown; it was a small coastal city surrounded by mountains and water. She's been there only once when her family came there to sell her mother's house to pay a part of her father's debt, and although she has been anxious to come there for quite a while when she received a much-awaited call that informed her that the house was finally for sale again, she finally decided to go, and Da Hye was kind enough to offer her a lift.
"Shit, the air here is so clean that it is actually suffocating."
The woman rolled up the car window while Se Ah took a deep breath instead and smiled.
"I can get used to it."
They kept driving down the narrow street that, according to Da Hye's GPS navigator, was supposed to lead them straight to the house, and Se Ah could not help but feel a strange sense of peace and serenity; the town was quiet even on Saturday, there were barely any cars, and the distant sound of the waves hitting the shore mixed with random squeals of seagulls was almost like a bizarre lullaby to a tired city dweller.
"And we're here."
Da Hye stopped the car and looked around; she was not a fan of small towns - she was a city girl through and through, the crazy nightlife was her recreation, while the morning traffic noise was her lullaby. The two women got out of the car, and Se Ah noticed an old chubby man striding towards them clenching a thin paper folder in his tanned hands.
"Miss Yoon Se Ah?"
He made a proper guess by addressing Se Ah first to which she nodded and asked in return,
"And you are the real estate manager I talked to on the phone? Mr. Park Ho San?"
"That's right. Was it hard getting here?"
"Not on this baby!"
Boss Kang tapped on her new black BMW and grinned, fixing expensive-looking sunglasses on her suncscreened face.
"So, where's the hut?"
Mr. Park frowned at Da Hye's outward discontent, cleared his throat, and pointed at a small white house to their right.
"Here it is, the previous owners made some renovations so the house is in very good condition."
Se Ah stood in front of the house and held her breath - it looked exactly as she remembered it: white brick walls, a bright orange roof, a small vegetable patch on one side, and a flower garden on the other. The inside of the house, however, was changed beyond recognition - the walls were now painted pastel green, the brown wooden floors lost their creaking responses, there were no more leaking faucets or tiny cracks on the ceiling, and instead of the chipped wooden window frames that her mother painted herself, there were new white plastic frames with a thick layer of dust on them.
"So, what do you think?"
The real estate agent walked up to her, breaking the silence, and continued,
"The price went up since the previous owners fixed a lot of things in here but I'm sure we can talk them into reducing it a little."
The man handed Se Ah a bunch of property description papers and the first thing she noticed was the price.
"Seventy-five million won?!"
She almost shouted as she voiced that number which alerted both Mr. Park and Da Hye. The man put on an awkwardly guilty smile and scratched the back of his head.
"I know it's a lot but land prices went up this year plus this house has modern appliances and requires minimum renovations! Trust me, this is a very good price!"
Da Hye inspected the house herself, then stood next to her friend, and sighed.
"Well, he is not wrong, this house is as good as new, the fact that you don't need to fix a single thing here is a huge advantage."
Se Ah smiled faintly at Da Hye's reassuring face, then handed the papers back to Mr. Park, and said in a serious voice,
"Alright... Do the owners want to sell it urgently or I can take some time to think this over?"
"The owners are abroad and I don't think they really care as long as I sell the house eventually. Moreover, due to its high price, you are the first person who showed interest in buying the house so you can take as much time as you need. I will call you if I'll have another potential buyer."
"Yes, thank you."
Miss Yoon threw one last glance at the house, then offered the man a bow, came outside, and got right into the car. Her friend did the same, and when Mr. Park disappeared into another house, lit a cigarette, and put her hand on Se Ah's shoulder.
"So... How much do you still need to buy it?"
"Twenty million."
"Do you want me to help you out?"
Se Ah smiled and shook her head.
"I appreciate the offer but I can't do that."
Da Hye had already helped her with many things throughout the years so she did not want to burden herself with financial debt as well. In addition, this was something she had to do alone because she wanted to have something she could really call her own.
"Ugh, sorry, but I am glad that you don't want the money, it means I can still have you around for a little longer. I don't think I will ever find myself in a position where I would want to come here."
The woman laughed with a thin cigarette still between her teeth, then jokingly slapped Se Ah on her thigh, and started the car.
"Alright, let's get back to civilization now! This fucking fresh air is killing my polluted brain cells."
Se Ah was quiet during their entire ride back to Seoul; she woke up this morning thinking that she was finally closer to her goal but the seventy-five million won written on the contract were like a twist of a knife in her heart. She kept listening to Da Hye's awful singing to the blasting radio as she watched the rural sceneries get blurred by the speed of the moving car, while only one thought was running through her tired mind.
'It's fine. It's going to be fine.'