Chapter 16: Remnants Of The Past Abandoned On The Streets

I took off my sunglasses and started walking around the store, picking up things that looked fun to wear on TV.

“Wow, is this a Hahoe mask?”

The next thing I saw after the sunglasses was a traditional Korean mask called Imaetal, which has a big, playful smile and a mouth that looks like it’s actually wearing a mouth.

I really liked the Imaetal, which seemed to reflect my inner self.

“I’ll have to pee myself if I see it at night.”

I picked up the Imaetal and decided to take one last look around, so I walked around the store and my eyes were drawn to a box on display.

“A tripod with a power bank?”

I picked up the box and read the description.

It was a multipurpose phone stand with a power bank function on the tripod itself, and the legs could be folded to extend and shorten the length so that it could be used as a selfie stick.

“Oh, this is great.”

I was intrigued and read the instructions on the back of the box carefully, which had various functions.

Among them, the additional feature that I liked the most was the gimbal function, which was a so-called anti-shake function that kept the phone level when you placed it on a pole and moved it.

“You’re a jjimkong too.”

I grabbed three items that I liked and headed to the checkout counter.

“Please pay for these three items.”

“Yes. I’ll help you.”

The clerk took the items, scanned the barcode, and called out the price.

“Sunglasses are 90,000 won, the phone stand is 80,000 won, and the Hahoe mask is 30,000 won, so it’s 200,000 won.”

When I heard the price, I finally felt regret and started to sweat profusely.

“Since you bought so much, I’ll give you a freebie.”

The clerk said that he would give me a freebie and went to the corner where the products were displayed and brought out a pair of transparent plastic glasses.

“If you look here, there’s a button. If you press it, an LED will come on. I brought it because I thought it would go well with the customer because it’s a pink LED.”

The glasses were translucent and heart-shaped and radiated a pink light.

I was thinking about taking out one item, but when he brought me the freebie, I couldn’t help but pay.

“Oh, thank you. I’ll pay with Pohnpei.”

“Yes, thank you. I’ll put it in the paper bag.”

“Yes, I’ll use it well. I’ll come again.”

After paying, I went out the door and muttered.

“This place is doing well.”

I felt the weight on my right hand as I went out and looked at the paper bag.

I quickly took out my sunglasses and put them on.

With a black ball cap, a black mask, a black long padding that went down to my ankles, shiny pink hair, and 8-bit sunglasses, I was a perfect Gwanjong.

I looked at myself reflected in the glass of the general store I just came out of and it was a sight to behold.

“Gwanjong pink penguin…”

I nodded slightly at the Gwanjong fashion that seemed like a cripple but was somehow satisfying, and then I took out my phone and opened the map to find the location of the clothing store.

According to the map, the clothing store was located past the Rodeo Central Plaza.

I looked up and saw a round plaza not far away, so I walked in that direction.

As I walked, I soon entered the plaza and saw the clothing store across the street.

The clothing store was located in the Rodeo Central Plaza, where the monthly rent seemed to be extremely high, and it seemed to be doing well, as if it was using the entire 5th floor of a large building, including the basement, as a clothing store.

Judging from the fact that it was at the top of the list when I searched for clothing stores nearby, I thought it must be a pretty famous place.

I was just about to walk to the clothing store after looking around the building.

I saw a homeless man shivering next to a bench in the plaza, holding a plastic basket in front of him.

The homeless man’s face was covered in dirt and dark, and he looked shabby, as if he had been hit hard by the winds of time.

He was wearing clothes that were torn and tattered, and you couldn’t tell if they were thin padding or rags.

His face was wrinkled and you couldn’t tell if he was an old man or an old man.

I wondered if I would have ended up like that if I had gotten hurt and not been able to even do street work.

When I came to my senses, my steps were headed toward the homeless man.

I approached the homeless man and looked down at him, and the homeless man looked up at me.

Blurry eyes that don’t feel the meaning of life.

Eyes that are afraid of death and just live, the same eyes I used to have.

I didn’t feel any sense of kinship.

I’m a person who is far from good.

A person who has a hard time even covering my own face with good deeds.

That was me.

After staring blankly for a while without saying anything, he soon opened his mouth.

“Hey, old man. Are you doing this in this weather to get lost?”

Just a few days ago, I was in a position where I should be pitied, but I felt ashamed of showing sympathy.

My speech, which had been changing little by little as if to prove that I was from the countryside, began to come out again mixed with a dialect and a unique accent.

Despite my swearing, the homeless man just blankly looked up at me.

“Hey, man. I’m busy trying to make a living.”

When the homeless man didn’t respond, he swore and took out a fake leather wallet that he had bought for 2,000 won at a stationery store when he was in elementary school.

It was now tattered and looked like no one would pick it up if I threw it on the floor, but it was a precious wallet that had been used for over 10 years, filled with love and hate.

He took out a crumpled 10,000 won bill from it, stopped, and immediately took out all the 100,000 won inside and put them in the homeless man’s basket.

“Ha, man. I earned that money from working hard. I wasn’t going to spend it, you piece of shit.”

The homeless man didn’t even take the money and just blankly stared at the basket of money.

After seeing the homeless man’s behavior, I took off my padded jacket and draped it over his shoulders.

“Put that on and have a bowl of hot soup nearby. Don’t freeze to death here.”

I didn’t want the homeless man to think that I was acting out of pity, because only harsh words kept coming out of my mouth.

“No matter how much of a dog you are, good days will come as you live.”

The homeless man didn’t take the money and was just fiddling with the clothes I gave him, so I picked up the money again, worried that someone might steal it, and forced it into the homeless man’s hand.

Without looking back, I quickly walked to the store.

“The pink penguin who was a slut turned into a crazy pink slut.”

A black ball cap, a hoodie that flowed down to her shoulders, sweatpants tied with clothespins, black socks, white sneakers, 8-bit sunglasses, and pretty light pink hair as the last highlight.

She was the epitome of a crazy woman.

“It’s so damn cold.”

As the cold air rushed into her milky white skin and her shoulders, which were as red as if they had been sprinkled with juice, I unconsciously quickened my pace and went into the store.

The store was warm and cozy, perhaps because of the light bulbs shining on the clothes on display.

“I thought I was going to freeze to death.”

As I entered the store, there seemed to be about ten clerks, considering the size of the store.

The clerks who were passing by looked at me like I was a crazy woman and passed by, busily walking around and organizing clothes even though there were no customers.

I was standing there blankly, not knowing what clothes to buy first, when one of the clerks who was looking at me whispered to a woman, and soon the woman walked over to me.

The clerks walking around had name tags on, but the woman in front of me didn’t have any.

The woman approaching me looked to be in her mid-twenties, very young and beautiful, and she was wearing a stylish outfit that seemed to be close to a suit, as if she was going to show me the true fashion of a career woman.

She had short hair pulled back behind her ear, and on one ear, she had a long surgical earring that looked casual.

The woman approached me, her heels clicking, and spoke to me.

“Hello, customer?”

It was my first time seeing such a beautiful woman in person, so I was dazed and then hurriedly answered.

“Oh, yes? Hello.”

“Hehe. You are a cute customer.”

“Uh… Thank you?”

“Your voice is also very beautiful. Every time you speak, it seems like juice is bursting out. I’ve never heard a voice like that before. Are you a voice actor?”

She must have thought I was nervous, so she raised both hands and made a circle, exaggerating her words.

“No. I’m just a freeloader in the corner.”

She smiled brightly and spoke kindly, as if trying to ease my tension.

“Ahaha. If there’s such a pretty unemployed person, then being unemployed can be fun.”

“Ah… haha, thank you.”

“You’re cute. Do you have any clothes you’re looking for? I’ll help you.”

She kept smiling and serving me, contrary to her appearance as a career woman who seemed difficult to talk to.

“As you can see from my current state, everything from A to Z is problematic, so I’m going to buy everything from underwear to clothes.”

“You can’t see it because of the glasses and mask, but you can see that I’m pretty just by looking at my jawline and face line. With that kind of appearance, you could actually look good in just rags. And deep fashion is originally difficult for the public to understand.”

Listening to her words, I thought that even clothespins were considered fashion.