On her first day at the guesthouse, Eun-chae put off tidying her room all afternoon.
She left her suitcase standing by the door. Instead, she went out into the yard and pulled up a few weeds. The dirt on her hands felt unfamiliar, but strangely, she couldn't stop pulling weeds.
"You're not getting the roots out if you pull them like that."
Grandma offered advice from the wooden platform. Eun-chae gripped the weeds near the roots and pulled again. This time, they came up with the dirt clinging to them.
"Oh, it worked."
"See?"
On the morning of the second day, Grandma woke Eun-chae and took her to the kitchen garden. It was closer to a patch of neglected dirt than an actual garden.
"What should I plant here?"
"Try lettuce. It's the easiest."
Grandma handed her a packet of seeds. Eun-chae cut her fingertip while opening it. A short groan escaped her. Without even looking over, Grandma said,
"The bandages are in the kitchen drawer."
On the third day, it rained. Eun-chae sat on the veranda and watched Grandma make side dishes. Stir-fried anchovies, pickled garlic scapes. Her hands moved nimbly.
"Gran, show me how too."
"Start by cutting. Don't cut your hand."
Eun-chae stood at the cutting board and sliced garlic. The pieces were all different sizes. Grandma reached over, took her hand, and corrected the angle of the knife. Grandma's hand against the back of hers was colder than she'd expected.
On the fourth day, Eun-chae fixed the shed door. The hinges had come loose. She searched online for instructions and tightened the screws. It took more than two hours, but the door closed properly again.
"Hey, not bad."
Grandma tossed out the comment as she passed by. Eun-chae shrugged as if it were nothing, but she couldn't hide the slight lift at the corners of her mouth.
On the evening of the fifth day, tiny green shoots had come up where she'd planted the lettuce seeds. Eun-chae crouched down and stared at them for a long while.
"Gran, look. They're sprouting."
Grandma came over and looked down at the shoots.
"See? Plant something, and it'll grow."
For some reason, those words stayed with Eun-chae. She gently patted the soil with her fingertips.
That night, as Grandma cleared away dinner, she said,
"Someone from the real estate office is coming tomorrow. To check the market value."
Eun-chae's chopsticks stopped. Thursday, which she'd forgotten about for five days, was right around the corner.
Walking behind the man, Eun-chae asked, "If you buy this place, what are you planning to do with it? I'm just curious."
The man stopped and turned to look at Eun-chae. He blinked for a moment, as if he hadn't expected the question.
"Oh, we're not the ones buying it. There's a separate prospective buyer. We're just here to assess the condition."
"What are they planning to do with it?"
"I heard they plan to tear down the guesthouse and turn it into a café and glamping site."
Eun-chae stopped in her tracks for a moment. Tear it down. That word sounded unusually loud.
"Demolish it?"
"Yes. The building is pretty old."
The short-haired woman walking beside him joined in, watching Eun-chae's reaction.
"It's not confirmed. That's just the buyer's plan."
Eun-chae didn't ask anything else. Instead, she opened the front door and led them inside.
As they entered the living room, the man lifted his tablet and began taking pictures, starting with the ceiling. The wooden rafters, the old fluorescent light, even the stains on the wallpaper—he captured every detail on the screen.
"Looks like there's evidence of a leak in the ceiling."
The man wrote something in his folder. Eun-chae quietly watched the tips of his fingers.
Grandma was sitting on one of the sofas in the living room, watching them. Her expression hadn't changed. That bothered Eun-chae even more.
"How many rooms are there?" the woman asked.
"Four. This way."
Eun-chae led them down the hall, opening each door one by one. In front of one of them, the room where she'd stayed one summer at the age of twelve, her hand paused.
When she opened the door, the old stickers stuck to the wall were still there. Star-shaped glow-in-the-dark stickers, their colors completely faded.
"I'll take pictures in here too."
At the man's voice, Eun-chae came to herself and stepped aside. The shutter clicked, echoing through the room.
After looking through all the rooms, the two of them went out into the yard and took a few more pictures. Then, as they put away the tablet, the man said,
"I think that's all for today. Thank you for coming."
"Thank you for coming."
Grandma gave them a small bow from the veranda. Eun-chae stood by the garden bed and watched the sedan leave the yard.
Only after the car had disappeared completely did Eun-chae speak.
"Gran, did you hear what they just said? That they're going to tear it down and build something else?"
Instead of answering, Grandma sat down on the veranda. She carefully bent her knees as she sat down.
"They say they're going to tear it down and build something new. So what?"
"It's not 'so what.' Grandpa built this house, didn't he? And they're going to destroy all of it."
Still standing by the garden bed, Eun-chae looked around the yard. The spot where she'd pulled out the weeds five days ago, the shed door she'd just fixed, the kitchen garden where the shoots had come up—all of it caught her eye.
"Gran."
"What?"
Eun-chae hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"What if I ran this place?"
Grandma raised her head and looked at Eun-chae. For a moment, Eun-chae couldn't tell whether she should continue or stop.
"You said you've never run a business."
"I haven't. But after doing it for five days, I feel like maybe it wouldn't be completely impossible."
Grandma said nothing and looked at Eun-chae for a long time. Under that gaze, Eun-chae held her ground without looking away.
"That's not something you say lightly. Just the money that goes out every month—"
"I know. Still."
Eun-chae cut herself off and pointed toward the kitchen garden.
"That lettuce sprouted after only five days. I feel like I can do at least that much too."
Grandma let out a short breath. It wasn't quite a laugh or a sigh.
"Think it over again by tomorrow morning. How many times have I seen someone make a decision today and regret it tomorrow?"
"I won't change my mind."
"Sleep on it anyway."
Grandma pushed herself to her feet with her cane and turned away. After walking a few steps, she stopped and said without looking back,
"I'll call the real estate office... once you've really made up your mind."
Eun-chae quietly watched her walk away. At the end of the yard, the sunset hung over the roof.
That was when her phone began to vibrate. The number on the screen wasn't saved in her contacts.
Eun-chae pressed the call button.
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is Dasom Real Estate. I'm calling about the property we visited earlier. The buyer's asking you to confirm your decision about the contract by the end of today."