Dear Eddert - Chapter 7 - Belle Reservoir

Chapter 7
Translator: effe

Eventually, she tumbled back home. Her father and mother had already gone to work. They ran the oldest public bathhouse in town, and they were sincere people who never rested even on holidays. It wasn’t impossible to predict how she would appear as the only child in the eyes of such a parent, but there was a saying that nothing in the world grows up like a child.

「 “The soup’s in the fridge. Heat it up and eat.” 」

A message came from her mother as if her mother knew she had come to the house, how she knew it was like a ghost. Maybe she hid something like a surveillance camera in the house. Hyemi glanced at the ceiling, which had nothing attached to it, with her eyes.

Growl—

Thanks to the unintentional long walk, her stomach had been signalling that it was hungry. She hadn’t eaten anything since this morning. Did someone somewhere say that they want to die but want to eat tteokbokki? Those words had a deep impression on her today.

When she opened the refrigerator, it was full of her favorite food. Meatballs made with tofu and tuna, stir fry glass noodles with wood ear mushroom, salty and sweet beef stir fry, and spicy braised mackerel with aged kimchi. Hyemi decided to think once she ate.

Slurp.

The soft, well-cooked seaweed was chewy in the mouth. Hyemi scooped out the seaweed soup with a brisket, and put it in her mouth. Her stomach was full, so the feeling of depression went away a little bit.

‘It’s not that they don’t think about me at all.’

From an early age, she did not show any prominence in studies, and she had no special talent in arts and sports. She didn’t look good enough to be street casted, and her physique wasn’t particularly good either.

But there weren’t all good looking people in this world. If you look at the ratio, the exceptional people are about 1% of the total, and even that, 99% of ordinary people like her exist, so their speciality can shine.

Shaa.

Hyemi started washing the dishes while she felt like a philosopher. She thoroughly washed the plates, wiped them with a clean, dry cloth, and put them in the cupboard. Seeing the dishes lined up and neatly arranged made her feel a little better. It was thanks to her mother’s neat personality that the old house, which was three decades old, was still kept clean.

She nagged a lot, but she’s great at cooking. It would be the right answer to say that leaving home was hard. In this house, there was a mother who prepared the meal every day no matter how hard she hit Hyemi on the back, and there was also a father who was kind and homely, though he could not straighten himself while being pressed by his wife.

Hyemi activated a positive circuit in her head. It was her strength to be able to be happy quickly no matter what happened. She sometimes quarreled with her friend because she was angry, but the fight didn’t last long thanks to her apologizing soon after.

Even when she turned half of her answer sheet blank because she didn’t see the back of the exam paper, Hyemi just smiled. Her grades didn’t get any lower, and the sky didn’t fall just because she failed her exams.

When she was stressed, she was only hungry. Like this morning.

Although her mother cursed her nonchalant and optimistic nature for being easy going and lazy, Hyemi thought that good things were good. If there were much more people like her in the world, there would be no conflicts, and it would be much more peaceful.

‘I can just inherit the family business later, right?’

Hyemi’s father was the owner of a small bathhouse that had been run for two generations in the neighborhood. It was an old bath house, but regular customers felt comfortable because her friendly father was always at the counter. If it wasn’t for those two, it was obvious that when the 24-hour large spa entered the main road building, they would have had to close the business because it could not withstand the financial difficulties.

‘I’m confident I’ll do well if they let me do a part-time job at the bathhouse. There’s a small part-time job, there’s cleaning, and you can even bake eggs*.’

Hyemi let out a long sigh. There were also restaurants run from generation to generation, so there was no reason why it couldn’t be a bathhouse. No matter how much she thought her side could be much better, her mother was always anxious to get her out.

In fact, running a bathhouse wasn’t easy.

Note:

*) Koreans do eat hard boiled eggs in saunas! The eggs are cooked over the steam of the hot water and are said to have various health benefits.