Siblings Working in Business (243)
The Bread Guy
After a successful shoot, they were on their way back to the Let’s Live Together a Bit filming location.
“Unnie, can I tie my hair up?”
“Sure. Do you need a hair tie?”
Seul-gi offered Eun-ji the hair tie on her wrist.
Eun-ji took the hair tie and quickly tied her hair up, unlike her usual meticulously maintained style for broadcasts.
“Ah, we have more filming, right?”
“Yeah. We have to be there for the evening shoot.”
Eun-ji, upon hearing they had more filming, deliberately undid her hair and gathered it, twisting it into a neat bun.
She often styled her hair this way because even when she took it down, the waves would fall in the same direction, requiring only a quick blow-dry before filming.
Seul-gi, watching Eun-ji’s insistence on the same hairstyle, cautiously spoke,
“Is there a reason you and Eun-ho always keep your hairstyles the same?”
It was the same question she had asked CEO Park before, only to be told to ask the siblings directly.
Eun-ho, who had been looking out the window, lost in thought, turned to Seul-gi and then met Eun-ji’s eyes.
Eun-ji, who had been focused on tying her hair, also looked at Eun-ho at Seul-gi’s question.
They both smiled wryly and spoke simultaneously,
“We made a promise.”
“We promised.”
“With who?”
When Seul-gi asked, they both answered simultaneously,
“Each other.”
“With the bread guy.”
Each other?
The bread guy?
Seul-gi tilted her head, puzzled by the connection between the two.
A time that even CEO Park didn’t know about, a memory shared only between them.
Their connection with the bread guy started when they were very young.
However, it wasn’t a pleasant first encounter.
He was young and, naturally, broke.
It had been a week since they had last eaten anything substantial, surviving on water from public fountains, even after rummaging through trash cans.
One day, as they were wandering around the market, looking for food…
They passed by an ordinary neighborhood bakery.
“Oppa, I want that! That! The one that smells good.”
Eun-ji, her stomach growling, drawn to the smell of baking bread, whined, despite knowing their situation.
He was a kid with a principle: ‘To be a good older brother and a responsible guardian for Eun-ji, I won’t steal.’
But hunger knows no principles.
After a week without food, he abandoned his principles and stole.
And that day…
He met the bread guy.
“…Wait, you! Aren’t you those kids who have been loitering around the neighborhood?”
“S-sorry!”
The moment he was caught…
Ironically, in that terrifying moment, the bread in his hand was still slightly warm, as if it had just come out of the oven.
Determined to keep even the crushed bread, he clutched it tightly in his fist and ran out of the store with all his might.
And he ran.
He thought the bread guy would chase after them.
But he didn’t. He ran back to Eun-ji, who was waiting expectantly, and opened his fist, revealing the mangled piece of bread.
They split the small piece in half and savored it, letting it melt in their mouths.
He had thought a small piece of bread would be enough, but the hunger he had tried to suppress returned, demanding more.
But there was no more food, so, filling their empty stomachs with water, they headed towards their safe haven, the abandoned house.
「“Aren’t you those kids who have been loitering around the neighborhood?”」
It was while climbing the wall to get to the abandoned house…
…that he suddenly remembered the bread guy’s words.
“Let’s take a different route today.”
“Why?”
“Just because.”
“No! I’m tired! That way is too far!”
He dragged Eun-ji, who was protesting, and took the long way back to the abandoned house.
Perhaps because they had walked so much on empty stomachs…
Eun-ji collapsed and fell asleep as soon as they arrived at the abandoned house.
And the next day…
Eun-ji was sick, perhaps because of yesterday’s ordeal.
She was panting, as if she was about to lose her breath.
“Oppa, I want to eat what we ate yesterday again.”
It was a request he couldn’t refuse.
He went back to the bakery.
He must have looked like a mess, but he tried to hide his appearance, keeping his head down as he entered.
And the moment he reached for the bread near the entrance…
“Little thief, let’s have a talk.”
He was caught red-handed by the bread guy.
He cried.
He couldn’t stop crying, thinking of Eun-ji, alone at the abandoned house.
Not long after they left the orphanage…
A drunk homeless man, looking down at him carrying Eun-ji on his back, had said,
He was the type to complain about the country, about everything.
But what stuck with him was a single sentence:
“If you get caught, you’ll be sent back where you came from, tsk, tsk.”
Even when people came with a food truck, offering free meals…
Even when someone offered them help…
The homeless man’s words, ‘sent back where you came from,’ had bound and isolated them.
The homeless man, who had warned them, had no qualms about accepting free food and help himself.
“I’m an adult. You’re just kids without guardians.”
The always-drunk homeless man had mocked him, his laughter grating on his ears.
The homeless man’s words came back to him vividly when the bread guy grabbed him.
So he pleaded,
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I was wrong. Mister, please don’t call the police. We don’t want to go back!”
“…”
“I-I have to stay with my sister. She, she can’t be without me. I stole because she’s sick. I’m sorry. I was wrong, Mister.”
He begged and pleaded, asking him not to call the police.
Looking back, if he had looked at the bread guy’s expression then, he would have realized they had misunderstood.
But the moment the bread guy let go of him, he forgot about running and just prostrated himself on the floor…
…his hands clasped together, his head bowed.
Just then…
The bread guy gently placed his hand on his shoulder and filled a brown paper bag with cream bread and other pastries.
“This isn’t free. If you’re the kind of person who can accept this bread and say ‘thank you,’ then come back here.”
As he walked out of the store, holding the bag filled with bread…
He felt a mix of confusion and an overwhelming sense of happiness, a feeling he had never experienced before.
“Eun-ji!”
“Oppa…?”
When he proudly showed Eun-ji, who greeted him weakly, the bag filled with bread…
And the light returned to Eun-ji’s lifeless eyes…
He decided he had to go back, as the bread guy had said.
He thought he could trust this man, and for the first time, he felt a glimmer of hope.
However, there was one problem: they were young.
They didn’t know that eating bread on an empty stomach could make them sick.
But even though they got sick, the food gave them strength.
After being sick for a few days…
He went back to see the bread guy, as promised.
“You’re back. Well, you can’t work looking like that, so go wash up first.”
“Where…?”
The bread guy pointed to a small room in the back of the bakery.
“There’s a bathroom in there. You said you have a sister, right? Bring her and wash up together.”
Although he was hesitant at the bread guy’s gruff order, he trusted him.
“We’ll be back!”
He brought Eun-ji, and they showered together.
“Black water! Haha.”
“Haha.”
The sight of the grime washing away under the warm water was like a fun game to them.
But when they came out, giggling…
“…Tsk.”
The bread guy frowned, looking at them.
“Wash up again.”
“A-again?”
“You didn’t even wash behind your ears or the tops of your heads properly. What kind of washing was that?”
The bread guy taught them how to use shampoo and soap.
When they came out after their second shower…
The bread guy just shook his head silently.
They went back into the bathroom and scrubbed themselves clean.
Their initially playful shower turned into a determined battle against grime.
They went in and out of the bathroom over five times.
“That’s better.”
The bread guy finally smiled in satisfaction.
“You can’t stay naked, so put these on.”
Toss.
When the bread guy tossed something towards them, Eun-ji and he instinctively closed their eyes.
It wasn’t a physical attack, as they had feared. When they opened their eyes, they saw clothes and pants wrapped in plastic, with a star pattern, lying on the floor.
While they were showering, the bread guy had gone to the market and bought them underwear and clothes.
“The ones with the stars are underwear, wear them inside. The other clothes and pants go on top. You know how to dress yourselves, right?”
“Yes!”
“Put them on while I’m serving customers.”
The bread guy gave them a brief explanation and then went to attend to his customers.
Eun-ji and he struggled to put on the clothes.
Having only worn hand-me-downs, the smell and feel of new clothes were unfamiliar and exciting.
As they were admiring the feel of the new clothes, they looked at each other and burst into tears, smiling.
“…Why are you crying?”
“…Why are you crying?”
“I don’t know.”
“Me neither.”
They just kept crying, smiling at each other.
They sniffled, got dressed, and waited for the bread guy to return.
Actually, they tried to wait, but exhausted from the warm bath and the scrubbing…
They passed out.
When they woke up, the bread guy was sleeping next to them, as if he had fallen asleep while watching TV.
There were many sticky notes with reminders on them inside the bakery, presumably left by the bread guy.
Whenever they found a sticky note and asked him about it, he would often say he forgot and then attend to whatever was written on it.
Among the certificates and awards hanging on the wall, there was one with his name on it.
But perhaps because they asked so many questions…
Or perhaps because human memory wasn’t that great…
They had forgotten his name and only remembered him as the ‘bread guy.’
Perhaps because of that, he was now fixated on remembering people’s names.
Although everything was unfamiliar, their experience at the bakery, where they felt safe for the first time, was a happy one.
It was a short time, but until the bread guy closed his shop, they stayed with him and learned about ‘kindness.’