I walked toward the saloon and saw Ryeowook standing in front of the barber chair with his face in his hands and his head lowered.

“I can’t believe this…” He muttered quietly.

I didn’t know what to say so I just stood in place watching him with concern. He sighed after a moment and removed the “out to lunch” note from the barber chair. It was almost dark by this point and the work day was nearly over. All the townspeople had left already to go back to their apartments so the main area of the town was empty and quiet.

“…we can start fresh tomorrow.” I said quietly, knowing that probably wouldn’t make the situation better but wanted to say something supportive.

Ryeowook didn’t respond and continued to put away his utensils and lock up the shop.

Suddenly I got an idea. “You can fix my hair. I’ll pay you.”

He stopped moving and looked at me.

“Then you would have made some kind of income today.” I added.

He slowly shook his hand and waved me away. “Don’t worry about it. I brought this on myself. It’s not like anyone actually get their hair cut on a daily basis. Most of the time I get people who just want beard or mustache trims or bang cuts. I don’t charge a lot because it’s just me working here so I don’t get a lot of income anyway.”

“If I’m gonna start working with you, I think we should raise the prices so you can earn a better income.”

“Once more people come, then I can consider that. But for now, it is what it is.” He finished locking up his shop and moved down the stairs toward me. “I’m gonna go home.”

I stepped back so he could pass by me and move toward the apartments. After watching him go for a second, I called out to him. “Hey!”

He stopped and turned to me.

“…I’m very grateful you gave me the opportunity to work with you. I promise I’ll do my best starting tomorrow and we will become so popular that we will earn a lot of money. You can earn back the amount you lost from the gambler.”

He stared at me. “How did you know about that?”

“I saw it happen yesterday. He ended up giving your money to the banker. Apparently he doesn’t have a lot of money himself and has to live in inadequate conditions. Kyuhyun wanted to help him, but he shouldn’t have taken your money.”

“…I didn’t know Sungmin was that broke.” He said quietly.

“Even so, Kyuhyun shouldn’t have hustled you like he did. That wasn’t nice.” I shook my head and looked down.

After a moment of silence, Ryeowook sighed a little. “It’s just a couple of paychecks. I’ll get more.”

I looked at him.

“It’s getting pretty dark. I should walk you home.” He looked toward the apartments.

I smiled a little. “Okay. Thanks.”

As we walked together past the closed shops, we were both silent. It didn’t feel terribly awkward, but every time I tried to even glance at him, he didn’t return the gesture. From the first moment I talked to him, it felt like he didn’t like me, but he offered me work, so that must not be true. Actually he seemed to act nervous around me, not that I knew how he acted when he was around other people.

“This is your house, right?” He looked at my closed door then to me.

“Yeah.” I bowed politely. “Thanks for keeping me company.”

He nodded.

We stood in silence for a couple seconds, then he cleared his throat quietly and took a step back. “See you tomorrow morning.”

“What time does your shop open?”

“9 AM.”

I nodded. “Got it. See you tomorrow.” I waved.

He nodded again and turned around to walk to the right. I watched him go for a moment then turned the door to my apartment and walked inside, closing the door and turning on the nearest lamp. I turned toward my bed, gasped, and jumped back in surprise.

“Good evening.” Leeteuk smiled and waved. He was sitting on my bed cross-legged.