CHAPTER~05
First Love
Bong-hee and Yeong-hee didn’t notice the change in Hwi-do’s expression as they kept chattering away.
“Right! I remember now. He looked like one of those TV celebrities. Yeong-won, how’s your boyfriend doing?”
A celebrity, seriously? If anyone’s the star here, it’s me. Do they even know how many followers I had?
Well… before I nuked that account, anyway.
“Come on now. Since when does a spring boyfriend ever last into summer? That guy was so clingy!”
Wow. A clingy man? Really?
Yoon Yeong-won, how did you even end up with such a cliché loser?
“Oh, that’s right! I remember now! He kept saying, ‘Let’s go to Seoul together! Come on, let’s go!’—even camped outside your gate like he was protesting or something. He was from your college, wasn’t he?”
Unbelievable. He even begged?
What a grand love story that must’ve been.
If some guy clings to your leg after being dumped, you should just slap him right across the face.
“That fella was like a weed, wasn’t he?”
“Sure was! So Yeong-won yanked him right out and planted this new young man in her heart instead?”
“He looks like he walked straight out of a Hollywood movie.”
Yeong-won glanced sideways at Hwi-do.
His face kept twisting, clearly unamused by all the praise coming from Bong-hee and Yeong-hee.
She gave a faint, dry laugh and waved her hand dismissively.
“Yes. My father’s on vacation, and we decided to close the store for now. And this guy is…”
She hesitated, wondering how to introduce him.
“Well, he’s my father’s friend’s grandson. He said he wanted to learn a bit of work here for a while.”
“Oh my! I’ve heard there are young people in Seoul who dream of becoming farmers these days!”
“So he’s a young bachelor who wants to farm, huh?”
Of course, Hwi-do would probably live a life completely opposite from that of a farmer. But Yeong-won figured that was the best introduction she could come up with.
Explaining who exactly he was, whose grandson, and why he was really here would just make things unnecessarily complicated.
She thought he’d appreciate the discretion.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t have been more wrong.
What?
My father’s friend’s grandson?
Came to learn some work?
Technically, none of that was false.
Hwi-do was the grandson of Madam Jang Mi-hwa, who knew Yeong-won’s father, Yoon Ho-gyun. And yes, he had come here under Mi-hwa’s orders to “learn some hard work.”
But still, it didn’t sit right with him.
The way she explained it made it sound like their connection only existed because of their parents.
As if, without those two, they never would’ve met at all.
No, Yoon Yeong-won.
That’s not true.
You and I… we’re not just “my grandmother’s acquaintance’s granddaughter” and “your father’s friend’s grandson.”
Hwi-do took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair. Under the sun, his black hair gleamed like obsidian.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, smiling playfully. “I’m the grandson of the man your brother knows and—”
He winked at Yeong-won.
“—Yoon Yeong-won’s first love, Kim Hwi-do.”
Yeong-won flinched, glaring daggers at him as her lips tightened.
He only shrugged, as if to say, What? I didn’t lie.
“Oh my goodness! So you’re Yeong-won’s first love?!”
“Our Yeong-won fell for quite the handsome young man, didn’t she!”
“Ladies, please teach me how to work properly. I need to learn how to cut weeds.”
He grinned slyly, wrapping an arm around Bong-hee’s shoulder.
“Oh, I’m very good at weeding!” she laughed.
Yeong-won watched them walk away—more precisely, she stared at the back of Hwi-do’s head, itching to smack it.
Hwi-do had good instincts.
Just one look at Yeong-won working at the far end of the field told him everything.
She swung the sickle without hesitation, cutting down weeds cleanly.
If he hadn’t followed Bong-hee, Yeong-won might have decapitated him instead of the grass.
She was probably pretending those weeds were his neck right now.
Good thing he’d chosen to learn from Bong-hee instead.
But technically, he hadn’t lied either.
Just like Yeong-won had called him her father’s friend’s grandson, he had every right to call himself her first love.
After all, ten years ago, she really had confessed to him.
Back then, Hwi-do wasn’t staying at Ho-gyun’s house but at the old Uhyeon Pavilion while attending Mayeong High School for a year.
One autumn afternoon, Yeong-won had come looking for him there. She’d asked if he was busy and said she wanted to take a short walk.
They walked in silence until they reached the ancient ginkgo tree—a designated natural monument.
Yeong-won spoke first.
“I heard you’re transferring.”
“Yeah.”
It was right before college entrance exams, and Hwi-do had already started the paperwork to transfer back to Seoul. The Mayeong Cultural Foundation had arranged everything, so it hadn’t been difficult.
“Will I be able to contact you after you go?”
“Probably not.”
Once he moved, he’d have to prepare for studying abroad—a plan his grandmother had made for him without asking.
“Ah… I thought you’d at least stay until the exams.”
Her quiet disappointment seemed to sink into the crisp autumn air.
“You can’t stay a bit longer?”
He looked at her—at the golden leaves swirling around them. The fallen ginkgo leaves carpeted the ground like a sea of gold. The wind rustled through the branches, waves of sound washing over them.
Amid that golden tide, she grabbed the sleeve of his uniform.
“Yoon Yeong-won.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you… like me?”
Yeong-won nodded.
“Mm-hm. I like you.”
And what had he said back then?
“Don’t joke around.”
Then he turned his back and walked away, retracing the same path he’d come—alone, just like the first day he’d arrived in Mayeong.
If he hadn’t asked that question, would Yeong-won have confessed at all?
Looking back, he wasn’t sure. It felt like he’d forced her to reveal her feelings.
Or maybe… that’s exactly what he did.
Damn it.
Hwi-do pushed away the memory and swung his sickle again.
These weeds refused to go down in one clean cut—just like his regrets.
Yeong-won kept getting closer, yet he couldn’t take a single step forward.
Why was he so clumsy about everything?
“Hey, Hwi-dong! Not like that,” Bong-hee called out.
“…What?”
“Hwi-dong! Don’t just hack at it with brute strength. Hold the stem low and flick your wrist—snap, snap!”
He scratched his ear.
No matter how many times she said it, she kept calling him Hwi-dong.
“Um, ma’am? It’s Hwi-do, not Hwi-dong.”
“Hee-dong?”
“Hwi-do! Like the ‘hwi’ in whistle!”
“Alright, alright, Hwi-dong, try again.”
…Fine.
Maybe it was easier being “Kim Hwi-dong,” the bumbling farmer, than “Kim Hwi-do,” the man who’d broken her heart.
He hunched over and went back to work, glancing enviously at Yeong-hee using her power mower on the other side of the field.
After a quick shower, Yeong-won set some side dishes, soup, and a fried egg on the table.
“You okay?” she asked.
Hwi-do sat there trembling.
Not just his arms—his back throbbed, his neck itched from a sun rash, and his cheeks were still burning red.
Most of all, he was starving.
His stomach felt glued to his spine.
Ah. So that’s what she meant.
Now he finally understood what Yeong-won had meant when she’d said, ‘If I skip breakfast, I’ll die.’
“Eat first.”
The moment she said it, he grabbed his chopsticks.
Normally, he was picky—barely touched side dishes unless they were the main dish. But right now, he wasn’t Kim Hwi-do, heir to a major food conglomerate. He was future farmer Kim Hwi-dong, and farmers ate everything.
“This fern salad’s from Aunt Bong-hee.”
The fern was soft and savory, sliding right down.
“And the rice is from Aunt Yeong-hee.”
The grains were so sweet it felt like honey had been mixed in. Everything stuck perfectly to his tongue. He raised the bowl and shoveled food in.
“And this egg—my dad’s chicken laid it.”
If it was the same rooster that had been crowing this morning, he wanted to go tell it that it could crow all day long for all he cared.
“Hey, slow down a bit.”
Even after finishing the kimchi and potato soup, his mouth kept watering.
“Hey. Kim Hwi-do.”
What’s in this stir-fried fish cake? It’s shining like lacquered wood—it’s too good.
Maybe this was why his grandmother wanted him to learn cooking in Mayeong—because someday he’d inherit the family’s food company?
“Hwi-do.”
He froze when Yeong-won grabbed his wrist.
“…Hwi-do. Slow down. You’ll choke.”
It was the first time she’d said his name softly like that, and it threw him off completely.
He blinked, set down his chopsticks, and came to his senses.
“I just… didn’t eat much yesterday,” he mumbled.
He added quickly, embarrassed, “Had a sandwich at a rest stop for dinner, that’s all.”
“There’s more rice. Eat as much as you want—just eat slowly, okay?”
“Okay.”
Yeong-won quietly watched him eat.
His flushed cheeks, slumped shoulders, and trembling hands as he used his chopsticks…
He’s twice my size, and yet—what, does he never exercise?
How was someone who didn’t even work out built like that?
It had only been a single day, but he already looked completely worn out.
No, this wasn’t right.
“Kim Hwi-do,” she said seriously. “I don’t know what you did wrong… but just apologize and go home.”
