HH | Chapter 1

When Eunil first came to this house, what left the deepest impression on him was, above all else, the bed. It was absurdly out of place, sitting there in the empty living room, big enough for three adults to lie down on, so it was hard not to notice. According to Chief Heo, two rooms had been knocked through to make the living room. In that huge space, the only furniture was a bed, a work desk, an armchair, a footrest, and an air purifier, so calling it bare would have been an understatement.

It wasn’t just the size. What made it feel even colder was the complete lack of a lived-in feel. Not a single thing sat on the kitchen sink or the island table. A large built-in cabinet had been installed behind the table, and it seemed to hold all the appliances and household goods.

Chief Heo opened a door beside the sliding partition. The Alpha room, about the size of a bedroom in an ordinary house, was neatly organized with odds and ends, all kinds of cleaning supplies, and medicine. As Chief Heo explained each item one by one, telling him what it was for and how to use it, he took out a pair of gloves and handed them to Eunil. They were the white ceremonial gloves you often see at weddings.

“As madam has already told you, the boss of UK Chemical hates fingerprints. When you’re doing dry cleaning, please make sure you wear the ceremonial gloves. When you’re cleaning the bathroom or handling water, you must wear latex gloves.”

“Yes.”

“He also hates anything damp. After cleaning the bathroom, please make sure to finish with a dry cloth.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The place they entered across the living room was the dressing room. By size alone, and because there was a bathroom, it would normally have been called the master bedroom, but it had been decorated no less elegantly than a high-end tailor’s shop. Looking at the clothes hanging there straight and tidy, with nothing out of place, Eunil felt a little overwhelmed. It was on a scale that couldn’t even be compared to a military locker, and everything was in grayscale.

“After the laundry is dried, please iron everything, underwear included, and hang it up according to category. Underwear has its own hangers as well, so please hang them there.”

Chief Heo gestured to the air purifier, which was already running, and continued his explanation.

“Do not turn off the air purifier, even when you are ventilating the room.”

“Yes.”

Eunil nodded and busily tapped on the keypad of his phone.

‘Do not turn off air purifier…’

“Also, you must not go around barefoot. Please make sure you wear socks.”

‘No bare feet… socks……’

Eunil was taking notes on his phone when a sheet of paper fluttered into view. He took it absentmindedly, and as if he had been waiting for that, Chief Heo walked toward the front door.

“Read that and memorize it.”

Eunil skimmed the paper Chief Heo handed him. Everything he had just explained was laid out neatly and clearly. It was no less thorough than a report, and he found himself marveling again at the system of a large corporation.

“Oh, I can just look at this. Thank you.”

“How is it? Do you think you can handle it?”

Chief Heo asked with a negative nuance, pushing up the rim of his glasses.

Can he handle it? Eunil thought it was an absurd question. Of course he would make mistakes until he got used to it, but that was his own problem, and everything Chief Heo had explained so far was perfectly reasonable for helper work, nothing out of the ordinary at all.

So he didn’t at all take the meaning in Chief Heo’s words to be whether the person he would be serving was difficult. Besides, the pay was this high! He wanted to tell him he should be saying, “It should be manageable,” as if he were doing Eunil a favor, not asking if it was manageable.

“I’ll work hard.”

Eunil bowed his head and answered spiritedly. A fleeting, helpless smile touched Chief Heo’s face. As that expression surfaced on a face that always looked cold and stern, Eunil mustered the courage to ask the question that had been following him the whole time. Now that he had seen the house, he was even more curious.

“What kind of person is the boss here?”

Chief Heo paused halfway through putting his foot into his shoe and looked around the interior, where not a single thing could obstruct his view. After seeming to think it over, he soon tossed out the answer as if it were nothing.

“A person just like this house.”

“This house?”

Eunil also swept his gaze across the house. If he was like this house… first came the feeling that he was strange and unfamiliar. Cold, stiff, and chilly. Neat without a single crooked edge. Nothing seemed carelessly placed. No, it was more that there didn’t seem to be anything that could be carelessly placed.

For someone like that… the thought that he might be a little difficult crossed his mind, but it didn’t change his first impression of the house. Eunil only liked this house. The sightlines were clear, so cleaning would surely be easy. There didn’t seem to be anything to criticize at all.

“I think he’ll be a good person.”

At the half-awake smile in his voice, Chief Heo lifted his silver-rimmed glasses. He had thought Eunil must be a strong-willed sort, since he didn’t look the least bit intimidated even in front of madam Son with those sharp eyes, but now he wondered if maybe he just wasn’t thinking much at all. To look at this house and conclude that Cha Leehyup would be a good person. Well, if you thought about it, he wasn’t exactly bad. He simply acted as if the staff didn’t exist at all, so all Eunil had to do was do what was asked of him.

Chief Heo had no proper answer to Eunil’s assessment, and left the house.