Chapter 7

“If you can’t pay me back in money, you can make it up to me with your body. By making pottery.”

Eden’s offer was far too specific to be a joke, yet strangely languid to qualify as a threat. To Ja-yeong, however, it sounded like a bolt from the blue. With that number hanging over her head, she could hardly think clearly enough to figure out what he was really after.

“Th-three hundred million won? How can a single watch cost as much as a whole house?”
“Don’t believe me? Look it up, then. Patek Philippe Nautilus…”
“I-I’m not saying I don’t believe you…!”

Eden shrugged, holding up the shattered watch for her to see. Ja-yeong’s face turned deathly pale. She didn’t even need to look it up. She knew perfectly well that the man standing before her wasn’t someone who would lie about money.

Chairman Jang Gwan-cheol was a food industry tycoon known throughout the country. Given how much he doted on Eden, it wouldn’t be surprising if the man wore a watch worth not just three hundred million won, but a billion. But even if that was pocket change to him, what about her? Ja-yeong didn’t even have thirty million won to her name, let alone three hundred million.

“No matter how you look at it, this is unreasonable! If you hadn’t stopped me, the watch wouldn’t have broken in the first place!”
“So you wouldn’t have saved her? Even with a bull charging straight at you?”
“……”
“Do you know how much an average Korean beef cow weighs? Seven hundred kilograms. That one was much bigger than a normal cow, so I’d estimate it weighed a ton. Ever been hit by a one-ton truck? No, you haven’t, judging by how you’re still alive and energetic enough to argue with me.”
“You’re the one being unreasonable, not me…!”
“Exactly. You. Not me. You could’ve died, and you wanted me to stand there and watch just because I didn’t want my watch broken? Then who was going to make my pottery?”

Faced with Eden’s rapid-fire rebuttal, Ja-yeong bit her lip. It made her even angrier that he wasn’t wrong.

“It’s none of your business, Han Eden, whether I live or die…”
“Even so, don’t go talking about dying in front of your grandpa!”

At that moment, Hwang Deok-ho, who had been listening in silence, suddenly roared. Ja-yeong flinched at the outburst from her usually gentle grandfather.

“Now that I’ve heard the whole thing, that Mr. Han ain’t said a single thing wrong! He saved your life! You oughta be bowing down and thanking him, not getting mad at him for saving you! That ain’t how decent people behave!”
“Grandpa…”
“Mr. Han, I’m sorry. Our girl’s still got a lot of growing up to do.”

Deok-ho brushed the dirt off Eden’s jacket with trembling hands. Guilt filled his wrinkled eyes.

“Since this happened while you were saving my granddaughter, it’s only right that I repay you myself… Just give me a little time. I’ve got a gold turtle I’ve been saving for when Ja-yeong gets married. I’ll sell that first…”
“Sir.”
“Of course, one gold turtle won’t be enough… I’ve also got a thousand-pyeong field by the stream. Once the tenant’s lease ends in the fall, I’ll sell that land, too…”

Ja-yeong’s eyes filled with tears. That gold turtle meant so much to her grandfather. The villagers had all chipped in to buy it for his seventieth birthday. He’d kept it tucked away in the back of his wardrobe, refusing to sell it even when his knees ached and his molars throbbed, always saying he would give it to his granddaughter when she got married. And now he was going to sell it because of her. Because of her alone…

“Why should you have to pay, Grandpa?! I’ll pay him back! I’ll do it!”
“With what money? You’ve done nothing your whole life but study and make pottery. You think three hundred million won is some dog’s name?”
“I can take out a loan! I’ll ask the head of Ijobyeongga to lend me some money, too… I’ll figure something out myself!”

Ja-yeong shouted in desperation, but her voice trembled pitifully at the end. She had no confidence in herself. She knew nothing about the world beyond handling clay, so how on earth was she supposed to come up with that much money?

Eden watched the painfully desperate family exchange with his arms crossed and a crooked expression on his face.

“Somehow, I still seem to be the villain here.”

His gaze shifted to Gwak Yeol-ho, who was edging backward. Still holding the reins of the bull that had caused the accident, Yeol-ho had been watching nervously. The moment the sum of three hundred million won came up, he’d started slipping away like a rat.

The clueless troublemaker was gone.

Eden turned back to Ja-yeong and Deok-ho, both of whom were now sobbing. He figured this was about the right time to make another entrance. The moment for the supposed villain to become a savior and throw a lifeline to a debtor backed into a corner.

“The creditor has already offered you a solution. Why are you making yourselves sick worrying about it?”

The moment Eden spoke up, both of them turned toward him.

“I told you. Give me pottery instead of money.”
“But… how am I supposed to give you pottery?”

Eden had expected relief to wash over her face, but dark clouds still hung over Ja-yeong’s expression.

Her helpless gaze drifted toward the kiln yard. The sight was devastating. The shelves had collapsed, and hundreds of pieces that had been drying were now shattered and crushed, indistinguishable from the muddy ground beneath them.

“It’s all broken. There isn’t a single piece left intact…”
“Then make them again. What’s the problem?”
“It’s the end of May! The monsoon season is right around the corner!”

Ja-yeong thumped her chest in frustration.

“Traditional kilns are vulnerable to moisture. Once it rains, we can’t fire them. I’m already struggling to fill my existing orders before the monsoon arrives, and now you want me to make all your pottery from scratch, too? Maybe next year, but there’s no way in hell I can do it this year.”

That was the biggest reason Ja-yeong had turned Eden down. His rudeness and condescending attitude had been secondary concerns.

Sticking to tradition also meant accepting the laws of nature. When the heavens poured down rain, potters had to put their work on hold. That was how Cheongso-yo had operated for 270 years.

“I’ll help.”

The only problem was that the word impossible simply didn’t work on this man. Eden looked as though the solution to an obvious problem were staring him right in the face.

“……Huh?”
“I said I’ll help. Problem solved.”
“How are you supposed to help? You’re a pampered Seoul city boy who’s never even set foot in clay!”
“I can help.”

Eden took a step toward Ja-yeong, his shadow falling over her.

“I’m confident in anything that requires physical effort.”

Silence fell. Ja-yeong’s eyes wavered.

Physical effort? What did he just say…?

The top few buttons of his shirt had come undone, drawing her gaze as if on cue. His firm pectoral muscles peeked through the opening, while his muscular forearms filled her field of vision beneath his tattered sleeves.

The memory of his solid, scorching body against hers when they’d tumbled across the dirt flashed through her mind. Ja-yeong’s face turned red in an instant, like a perfectly ripe tomato.

“W-what are you…?”
“I’m pretty strong, after all.”

Eden glanced at her reddening ears and curled his lips into a sly grin.

“I’d probably be better at hauling firewood with an A-frame carrier than you are. What were you thinking about, Ms. CEO?”

“W-who said I was thinking about anything?!”

Ja-yeong shrieked. Eden chuckled, unable to hold back his laughter.

“Oh, my goodness! Would you look at that! What in the world are we going to do?”

Just then, a booming voice announced the arrival of a savior: the village chief, Mr. Gwak.

A couple of workers carrying shovels and brooms came hurrying after him. They’d been searching for the runaway bull when his son, Yeol-ho, had told him about the disaster. They’d rushed straight over.

“All these precious pieces, smashed to bits… How in the world am I supposed to show my face around here after this?”

Deok-ho, who had been watching Eden and Ja-yeong’s heated exchange with a keen eye, turned to welcome Mr. Gwak.

“Is the bull all right? I was so distracted that I sent you off without checking its condition.”
“Sir, I’m a dead man. I don’t know how things got this bad…”

The village chief paced anxiously as he looked at the broken pottery. Then he took Deok-ho’s hands and bowed repeatedly.

“First things first, we’ll take care of all the cleanup here, so don’t you worry about a thing.”

Mr. Gwak waved to the workers.

“What are you standing around for? Hurry up and clean this mess! Yeol-ho, go get the truck! We need to haul away all the shards!”
“Yes, Dad!”

Yeol-ho popped out from wherever he’d been hiding and hurried off. Before long, the kiln yard was bustling with cleanup efforts.

“Ja-yeong, you go inside now. You must’ve been frightened. Don’t forget to take that calming medicine from under the cupboard.”
“Grandpa, I’m fine. I can help, too.”
“No, you’ll only get in the way. Go find Mr. Han a clean shirt to change into. He can’t very well go back to Seoul looking like that.”

Deok-ho turned to Eden with an apologetic smile.

“Mr. Han, we’ll finish discussing the money later. For now, go wash up and change your clothes.”
“My clothes are fine. I’ll help clean up, too.”
“Don’t keep making it hard for me to save face. Go inside and at least wash your face! Just look at that handsome face of yours, covered in dirt!”

With a hearty chuckle, Deok-ho gave Eden a light nudge in the side.

“Urgh…!”

A short groan escaped Eden’s lips. He instinctively doubled over and clutched his side.

In an instant, all the color drained from Deok-ho’s and Ja-yeong’s faces.