Cheongyeon hid his embarrassment and thickened his face.
“You know it too, I spent a lot of money.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll double the hourly wage for today.”
“Thank you.”
Cheongyeon, who had been expressionless all along, suddenly flashed a smile.
“Sigh, how dazzling. What’s a flower like you doing in such a humble place? Hey, you were born with your face, right? You can manage to take a seat next to the boss of Peira?”
Tae Cheonoh, also known as Peira Boss, was as famous as Muwon. Although the exact nature of their relationship wasn’t known, people speculated that they might be relatives since they shared the same surname.
“I’m a man.”
“What are you saying? Tae Cheonoh is famous for his sodomy. That rumor has been going around for a while. They say Tae Cheonoh likes Tae Muwon. He reportedly follows him everywhere he goes.”
As someone who enjoyed gossip, she spilled rumors to Cheongyeon.
“Then I wouldn’t stand a chance even more.”
If Tae Cheonoh’s preference was Tae Muwon, then he would like a man of large stature. Cheongyeon quickly poured a beer for a customer who demanded it.
“But I heard that Tae Cheonoh is searching for an urban legend.”
“Urban legend?”
“Yeah, the song that singer sang earlier.”
“…”
Cheongyeon returned the lever on the draft beer machine to its original position. The foam overflowed, making his hands sticky. The woman spoke in a low voice.
“He’s searching for the Hwa clan.”
***
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Known as the “land on the sea”, Peira was a ship that had already gained a notorious reputation even before coming to Cheonghwa Town. There was no one on the entire continent who did not know the name of the ship Peira.
It has already been five years since they settled in Cheonghwa Town, having spent most of the year at sea.
As Muwon walked the deck, a dull sound echoed. He visited ship Peira after several days. After glancing over the main guns, he headed to the dome located at the stern. It was a huge dome made of welded iron pillars. Inside, lush plants grew between the iron pillars. It was a blue space that didn’t suit the iron and wood composition of the battleship.
Muwon opened the iron door and entered the dome. Inside was like a botanical garden, filled with various flora. He approached a rocking chair tilted in the center of the dome. As he sat down, the chair didn’t budge due to the legs firmly planted to the ground.
The light pouring down from the dome dyed Muwon’s forehead. He lowered his gaze, looking down. A tombstone was hidden under numerous leaves and stems, and on top of them, blue flowers bloomed. Although many buds should bloom to be normal, only one flower had bloomed. It seemed as if the stems and leaves were surrounding and supporting the single flower like a king.
This flower, with six petals, was a contraband dried flower. It was called that because it was dried but the original name of the flower was “Boksu flower”.
What’s the use of a king like this?
Muwon flicked the flower with his thumb and forefinger. The delicate neck of the fragile flower snapped off. People generally attached great meaning to rarity, but Muwon would have done the same thing even if there were only one Boksu flower left in the world.
“…Apothecary.”
Muwon murmured the person who suddenly came to mind.
The face that trembled as he clutched the stem also flashed before his eyes. Along with the raindrops running down my cheeks, landing on my chin and falling again and again.
There was a time, quite a while ago, when he briefly became interested in the apothecary because of Saturn. He wondered if the guy, who always seemed rough, had eaten something wrong because his face suddenly turned red while driving. He even considered pulling over.
Saturn could not take his eyes off the person who nodded and said hello before crossing the road. It was a man who carried beautiful flowers, but the face above drew away from the flowers. It was quite amusing to see Saturn pretending to be a well-mannered driver.
Saturn’s gaze was fixed on the back of the man who had already passed by. Muwon chuckled at the very honest reaction.
“Did you fall in love at first sight?”
“He’s beautiful even when you look at it multiple times, not just at a glance.”
Saturn seemed to already know the man. Muwon blurted out a sudden curiosity.
“What does that kid do?”
“He runs a herbal medicine store in the back alley over there, and the medicinal properties are very effective.”
It seemed like he was just talking about the medicine effects and shrugging it off. Then, Saturn’s expression suddenly changed to a somber expression.
“I wish I looked good too.”
Then, he might consider confessing.
“Want me to kidnap him for you?”
Saturn did not hide his expression that seemed as though it was saying ‘you’re really trash’.
However— Beeeppp! Muwon suddenly grabbed Saturn’s neck and stamped his face on the steering wheel. The apothecary was startled by the harsh horn and turned around. His eyes as round as a rabbit looked towards the car.
“Saturn, you got to see his pretty face one more time because of me. Fuck, isn’t that nice?”
And that was the first time Muwon saw the apothecary.
Then the second one, at the garbage dump.
At first it were flowers, and then trash. It was an impressive encounter that was polar opposites.
But apparently the apothecary was tight for money, so he worked part-time at a bar and even a cleaning service? Well, it didn’t make a lot of sense. Still, he had doubts. He did not ignore the small possibility that the apothecary might be a smuggler of the Boksu flowers.
Muwon intentionally burned the flowers to see his reaction, but the other person just looked like a scared animal the whole time. The sight of his light gray-brown hair getting wet with rainwater was indescribably pitiful.
Seeing that he had separated the garbage, it didn’t seem like a lie… Muwon had already looked into it and found out that cleaning outside garbage dumps was often hired as a day job. Since there was no need to clean the inside of the building, no identity verification was required.
But what kind of bastard living in Cheonghwa Town separated waste? The garbage was simply loaded into garbage trucks and headed to the landfill. They must have hired him to clean up the rotten smell of the garbage dump mixed with all kinds of filth.
Of course, if he was skeptical, he could dig into it endlessly.
‘Maybe I’m overworrying it.’
Muwon leaned against the back of the chair. The other’s pale hand holding the Boksu flower kept lingering in his mind.
Come to think of it—
“…The stem.”
Muwon straightened up as a thought suddenly occurred to him. Creak, the empty rocking chair shook with an old sound.
***
Cheongyeon, who went to the real estate agency without any expectations, thought he was lucky.
He was contacted by a resident of District C who wanted to move to District E where he lives. According to the owner of the real estate agency, the size and location of the place to move to was similar to that of the apothecary.
Cheonghwa Town, shaped like a flat pancake, was divided into sections along a waterway running through the center. The reason it was not called a continent was because it was closer to a floating city. The most expensive land in Cheonghwa Town was in districts A and E. This was thanks to the existence of a lagoon between the two areas.
In short, areas with fresh water were among the most expensive land, but of course, there was cheap land in District E as well. These were places with relatively low terrain.
“Cheongyeon, you know, right? Because it’s me, I was able to find someone to exchange for right away. If I didn’t have wide connections, there would be no choice. Who can find a house to move to in one day?”
Mr. Oh, the elderly owner of the real estate agency, looked at Cheongyeon arrogantly. Mr. Oh was sitting on a torn and worn leather sofa, exposing his bulging belly.
“Yes, I know it’s all thanks to you.”
As Cheongyeon responded obediently, Mr. Oh sipped the juice. There was not a glass of water in front of Cheongyeon.
“Honestly, Cheongyeon, an exchange brokerage like yours doesn’t make me any money.”
People who exchanged their homes through barter were those who had nothing. Most houses above the middle range, like here in the real estate agency, were sold with money. Everyone else was trembling with anxiety that someday their place might be submerged in water. Therefore, the higher the land, the more expensive the land was.
“So, even if it’s you, Cheongyeon, you have to pay 1,000 hwan as brokerage fee.”
Cheongyeon was taken aback by the brokerage fee, which far exceeded his expectations.
“Uncle, I don’t have money like that.”
Even if he sold 300g of Siberian ginseng branches, he could only get 1 hwan. So 1000 was an amount that could only be raised by selling a whopping 300kg.
Thanks for the chapters! I like this story, it’s different.
guardian pfp kyaaaaa~~~
+1!!