New Normal - Chapter 6

That was how it started.

Kang Susan, without warning, launched straight into a round of personal questions. Like, where did she go to university? What was her major? Did she have any siblings? What did her parents do?

“So, are you seeing anyone?”

The kind of blunt question only an elderly man could toss out so casually — and one that would’ve felt rude coming from anyone else.

“Ah… yes…”

Jisoo hesitated, then nodded politely. Whatever his intention was, she had no desire to drag this conversation into an actual confession about her single life. Dating or marriage weren’t on her mind these days anyway — she’d rather dodge the trouble and just give him an easy answer.

“A serious relationship?”

It was oddly persistent, the way he kept probing. But Jisoo kept her polite smile firmly in place and answered as sincerely as she could.

“Yes, sir.”

At that, a flicker of disappointment crossed Kang Susan’s face. But before Jisoo could figure out what that expression actually meant, he’d already wiped it off and slipped right back into his usual blunt look.

“Ah, I see. These days, if you think you’ve found a decent one, they’re always taken already.”

“You flatter me.”

Jisoo bowed her head slightly in modesty, but the old man just clicked his tongue again, as if still dissatisfied, then took a sip of his coffee.

“Anyway. I noticed earlier — looks like you’ve been working on a thesis about my work.”

The sudden change of topic snapped Jisoo back to attention. She straightened her back and focused her eyes on him, ready to answer properly.

“Ah, yes. Last year I wrote a few short papers about your works from the 1980s. I’m actually including some of them in my thesis now. They’re incredible pieces, but… my writing doesn’t really do them justice. It’s embarrassing, honestly.”

“What’s your topic?”

“Well… I’m trying to look at them from the angle of international networks and a postcolonial perspective. Since I wanted to connect that with exhibition planning, I ended up focusing mostly on your works from the eighties. The topic’s actually too broad, so I think I’ll have to narrow it down soon.”

“Oh-ho.”

Kang Susan lifted his eyebrows in clear interest and gently set down his cup. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and for the first time, there was a hint of real warmth in his expression.

“Then you must know Professor Kim Suyeon from A University’s Art History Department, right?”

“Of course, sir. Yes, absolutely.”

There was still a bit of unease flickering in Jisoo’s chest, but at the mention of one of the top figures in modern and contemporary Korean art criticism, her eyes brightened at once. Seeing her face light up, Kang Susan lightly tapped the armrest of his chair.

“It’s nothing big — that person’s younger brother actually runs a small gallery and a little exhibition planning agency. Sounds like he’s cooking up something new this time, but the scale’s a bit much for how small his company is. He’s been whining to me about it — which he never does — so he must really be short on hands.”

“Ah, I see…”

Though the small talk was stretching on, Jisoo stayed perfectly attentive.

“Plus, you know how it is these days — all that talk about making art more accessible to the public and so on. Even the universities are opening up all kinds of lectures, right? I think they’re hoping to find someone who can help with that, too.”

Jisoo clenched her fists tight under the table. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Don’t get ahead of yourself. She kept repeating it in her head like a charm while waiting for his next words. She sat there stiffly, hands folded neatly on her skirt, squeezing them so hard her knuckles turned pale.

Her mouth felt suddenly dry. She reached for her coffee and took a sip just as Kang Susan spoke up.

“By the looks of it, you’d be perfect for the job. If you’re okay with it, I was thinking I might put in a word for you.”

The very second she sucked in a breath — moved by his unexpected, no, half-expected offer — the coffee went straight down the wrong pipe. She choked, coughing so violently it rattled her whole body. She tried to set her cup down in a hurry, but the dark liquid sloshed over the rim and splattered all over her ivory linen skirt.

“What’s got you so startled?”

“It’s just— cough — I’m so honored you’d even think that highly of me, sir. Cough cough…”

“Honored… you’re really too much. I said I’d just ask around, that’s all.”

Kang Susan let out a short, dry chuckle and gestured down the hallway.

“Go on, get that cleaned up. Bathroom’s at the end there.”

“I’m so sorry, sir. I’ll be right back.”

She bowed deeply and hurried away down the hall. She’d really wanted to leave a professional impression — but the unexpected chance that had just dropped in her lap left her so giddy she ended up making a clumsy mess of herself instead.

She worked at a museum, but in truth, her ultimate goal was always to teach at a university someday. These days, unless you were in the sciences, dreaming of a professorship was almost unrealistic — and in the arts, it was like trying to catch a star with your bare hands. Forget a full professorship; even landing a part-time teaching gig, traveling around the country for pocket change, was nearly impossible. Especially in a field where some schools didn’t even offer it as a major — sometimes not even as an elective or a basic general class.

She didn’t even have her degree yet, no real career to speak of — and now, by sheer luck, a chance like this had landed in her lap. It felt like winning the lottery. If it was with Professor Kim Suyeon at A University, anything that came out of it would be gold on her resume.

It was like someone had thrown her a thick, sturdy lifeline while she was flailing around in deep water. Soon enough, she’d find out exactly what it was. Maybe that shaman’s “great person” had finally appeared. Was it Kang Susan? Or Professor Kim Suyeon? Who cared. Whatever it was, it was an opportunity.

Buzzing with excitement, Jisoo walked down the maze-like hallway, trying to calm her racing heart. But in her head, she was already picturing herself filling out her adjunct professor application. She caught herself humming under her breath and stifled it just in time as she reached the bathroom door. Without a second thought, she pushed it open—

—And froze.

She was so shocked she couldn’t even scream.

Through the thick steam, her eyes locked with dark brown ones staring right back at her. There he was: Chae Juwon, half-bent over, completely naked except for the pair of boxers he was just pulling on.

His bronzed torso was packed tight with corded muscle, his thighs strong like a thoroughbred’s. Between them — dark curls, and something long, thick, and heavy, flushed a deep red—

“….…”

“….…”

A silence pressed down on her like a tight hand around her throat. Light seemed to explode behind her eyes, blinding her as she found herself unable to tear her gaze away from it. Frozen stiff, mouth hanging half open, she couldn’t even make a sound.

It was Chae Juwon who finally spoke first.

“Could you… shut the door?”

The man’s short command came out calm — almost too calm, considering. His face was steady, composed, but the tips of his ears had gone a little red. His eyes flickered with the faintest tremor.

“S-sorry!”

Snapping back to herself, Jisoo slammed the door shut so hard it nearly fell off its hinges. She stood there frozen for a moment, then desperately tried to smooth her face back into something resembling normal. 

Nothing happened. Nothing to see here.

But her feet betrayed her, staggering like a broken robot until she had to lean her whole body against the wall beside the door.

The shape she’d seen, the color, the sheer size of it — it flickered behind her eyelids like an afterimage she couldn’t shake. And over it all, that ridiculous fortune from Seok Dorong rang in her ears:

Big. Thick. Hard. Huge.

A strange look spread across Jisoo’s face as she stared blankly into space. She raised a trembling hand to cover her mouth.

“…No way.”

***

Inside the car, a weird silence filled the air. Outside the window, the long summer day was slowly dipping into dusk, but the air in the car felt oddly cool.

“Are you cold?”

“…Huh? Oh—no, I’m fine.”

Jisoo blinked at the sudden question. Behind the wheel, Chae Juwon adjusted the AC vent with practiced ease, then shot her a quick sideways glance.

“You’ve got goosebumps on your arm.”

“Oh, do I? That’s—wait, what?”

She’d half-answered automatically but snapped her head toward him when the words registered. Their eyes met—and he had the nerve to smile back at her, perfectly calm, perfectly smug.

“I’m kidding. You just kept answering like a robot.”

He let out a short laugh through his nose and shrugged his broad shoulders. Jisoo bit down on her lower lip, tearing her gaze away before she said something dumb.

A man who’d casually announced—completely unprompted—that he doesn’t sleep with women from setups… and then, not long after, gave her an accidental full frontal show. And here he was acting like none of it had ever happened. Absolutely beyond normal.

Sure, it was good that everything on this trip had gone weirdly smoothly—almost like someone wanted to help her. And being offered a shot at teaching by Kang Susan was the kind of “small start, big ending” her horoscope had promised her. Seok Dorong’s prediction had come true: she’d met a “person of great fortune.”

But all of that was buried now under one haunting image: that shockingly large thing she’d accidentally seen.

Big. Thick. Hard. Huge.

Was that the huge thing Seok Dorong had meant? Was that it?!

It felt like some absurd fairytale—like that old folktale about the golden axe and the silver axe. Except this one came swinging straight at her in broad daylight.

If that was the huge thing… if he was the huge thing Seok Dorong had meant—

While Jisoo was busy spinning in circles inside her own head, replaying her absurd worries from square one, Kang Susan had given Chae Juwon a royal command.

“Take her to the station.”

It had been an awkward encounter, so of course she’d tried to decline—very politely, multiple times. But Chae Juwon, acting like absolutely nothing had happened, just picked up his car keys with that same calm face.

So now, all she could do was sit there stiffly in the passenger seat, pretending to be completely fine while she endured the occasional prickling feel of his gaze landing on her.

It was Chae Juwon who finally broke the strained silence.

“Did everything go well today?”

“…Yes. Thanks to you,” she answered shortly, eyes glued to the window. After seeing a complete stranger naked like that, trying not to act awkward just felt even more awkward—so she went with the first option: stiff and formal.

Her clipped tone made him glance sideways at her.

“Something interesting out there?”

“No—well, not really. I just… I like looking at the view when I’m in a car. Something about seeing all those shop signs lit up like that—it makes me feel calm, for some reason.”

She blurted out the explanation like she was delivering her final will, pouring out way too much detail nobody had asked for. To his credit, he at least gave her a small, polite “Ah.”

Outside, the long summer evening still blazed as bright as midday. She kept her eyes stubbornly fixed on that harmless light, because anywhere else—well, that might lead to disaster. Her neck was starting to ache from sitting so rigidly, but she powered through.

Beside her, Chae Juwon tapped the bridge of his nose with a finger, then glanced at her again, eyes cool and unreadable.