One Cob of Corn

San drummed his fingertips against the bedsheet, a roguish grin spreading across his face.

"Well, fair's fair — my body does look like it was sculpted with some care. No wonder the doctor's eyes kept wandering."

The unexpected fastball sent Yun-seo into a coughing fit as she inhaled the wrong way, and he clicked his tongue and sauntered closer.

"How does someone so young have such terrible stamina? You choke at the drop of a hat. A doctor ought to be keeping up with her vitamins, you know."

A huge, thick palm thumped soothingly up and down Yun-seo's back.

"Kgh…… I do keep up with them, thank you very much."

Who here was worrying about whom? It was an absurd thing to say, and yet something about his shameless composure inexplicably took the edge off the awkwardness. Too embarrassed to bother shooing away the hand patting her back, Yun-seo simply edged sideways out of reach.

"Thanks for the percussion. Now let me take a look at that wound."

Having finally recovered her composure, Yun-seo cleared her throat and carefully peeled the gauze from his abdomen. Fortunately nothing had reopened or turned septic — but it wasn't exactly healing, either.

"This might sting a little."

The moment she dabbed on the cold antiseptic and began working it gently into the wound, the man's rock-hard abs flinched. Her own body seized up in sympathy, and she whipped her head up to look at him.

"……Did that hurt? I was trying to be gentle."

"Not at all. I'm fighting fit."

"Spare me the bravado. If it hurts, you say so right away. That wound is deep — we can't let our guard down yet."

"What's a man good for if he can't stomach this much? I survived a knife to the gut — this is nothing."

"Still, even so—"

"And thanks to it, I got to give you quite the show. Very satisfying all around."

"Oh, come on! Once is enough, I said — once!"

"No, no, I understand completely. You're right at the age when curiosity runs wild, aren't you?"

San snickered to the very end, stubbornly refusing to quit his teasing. He was clearly enjoying himself — savoring every twitch of Yun-seo's reaction as she trembled, desperate to get a word in.

And so the feelings churning inside Yun-seo surged up past all restraint. Patient, schmatient. In open revolt, she clenched her fist hard around the antiseptic cotton — then scrubbed it across the wound without mercy, and he let out a groan of protest.

"Ow — hey, easy there."

"Weren't you the one asking what a man is good for if he can't stomach this much?"

Without so much as a blink, she worked the cotton all the harder, and a low chuckle spilled out of him.

"So you do know how to get angry. How cute."

"What is that supposed to— ah."

In the split second she was wiping the wound again and shooting him a fierce glare, his thick hand swooped in and snagged her wrist. Pressing his broad palm over her captured hand, he relaxed her grip and began guiding it in slow, gentle circles across his belly.

"No wonder — your hands really are tiny."

"……"

"A wound like this calls for a little ho — a nice puff of breath. That's the proper treatment."

The heat started at the back of her hand, trapped under his enormous one, and shot straight to her face. Just as her bewildered eyes, flustered beyond help, flitted about with nowhere to land—

Krrrk—

"Yun-seo! You in here, girl?"

The grandmas came pouring into the health post in a rush, arms laden with steamed corn and sweet potatoes, firing off pointed little coughs like warning shots.

"Last week they went and took the whole week off for some Asian Games whatever-you-call-it — I nearly died of the suspense. Now remind me: what ever happened with the daughter-in-law and the brother-in-law?"

All of it in service of defending the live broadcast of The Woman Who Became My Husband's Mother-in-Law, the morning melodrama that had of late been shaking the entire island of Yanggido to its core.

Yun-seo played it cool, acting as though nothing whatsoever had happened — anything to avoid being caught in that compromising standoff.

"Oh, you're here! I was just disinfecting a wound. Absolutely nothing strange was going on, nothing that could possibly be misread……"

"Who's asking about all that? Is the television coming in nice and clear?"

The grandmas cut her off flat, betraying not so much as a fingernail's worth of interest in her suspicious stammering. Yun-seo, prickles of guilt driving her to over-explain, could only reply with a sheepish face.

"Ah. Well, I haven't checked, but the weather's cleared up, so probably……?"

The health post, blessed with the best reception on the island, was at this hour the elders' private cinema and favored hideout.

The grandmas settled themselves quite naturally in front of the television, all the while casting sly, wary glances at San, perched on the exam bed directly before the sofa. No matter how frightening an outsider who'd taken a knife might be, apparently he ranked just below the lead's bloody rampage of revenge.

"Now then, now then — everyone bring their morning vittles? Get 'em out, get 'em out. It's fixin' to start any minute."

The grandmas' provisions began piling onto the table, one after another. The steamy, nutty fragrance of the humble subsistence staples swallowed the smell of disinfectant in an instant. At some point San had sidled up alongside and was surveying the spread crammed across the table, while the grandmas shucked their corn with busy hands and sneaked glance after glance his way.

In the midst of that strange standoff — everyone warily eyeing everyone else — Grandma Pil-soon picked up the remote and pressed down hard on the power button.

"Yun-seo, child, why won't the television come on? Don't tell me the thing's gone soft in the head."

Don't tell me it's still out. The storm yesterday must have knocked the signal clean out.

"One moment."

Yun-seo approached the dead-eyed television with a troubled face. No matter how she jabbed at the power button, the screen only spat out fizzing static.

"What's wrong with it…… I think it's the antenna. The wind was so vicious yesterday, maybe it got knocked out of alignment……"

"It's not coming on! It's about to start! Lordy, what a mess!"

Did they have to truck in an expert from the mainland again? Nothing ever worked on this corner-of-nowhere rock, and every blessed day it was nothing but money pouring down the drain. Just as the clamor erupted from every corner—

San, who had been spectating with great interest, gave a low, deliberate ahem and gathered every eye in the room.

"I think I could fix that. Mind if I take a look?"

"The young fella knows how to fix this thing?"

At the outsider's sudden intrusion, the grandmas gave him a dubious once-over, head to toe.

"And what would he know? Born with a face that says brawling's the only trade he's got…… Well, if he says he can, he can, I s'pose."

The wariness remained, but beyond it a faint glimmer of hope — we will not lose this drama — was spreading through the room.

This is going to end badly.

Yun-seo swallowed dryly, reading the shifting mood. Let those brutish paws anywhere near electronics and the thing would be smashed to bits, no question. She hurried to plant herself in front of San and dropped her voice.

"San, if you touch this wrong it will genuinely break for good. I've tried fiddling with it before, and every single time it only got worse. You have no idea how heartbroken the elders were each time."

"Is that so."

"So do us a favor and don't cause an accident — just stay put. We can pull up the missed episodes on a streaming service for them later."

As Yun-seo rose onto her tiptoes, eyes blazing, and hissed out the whisper, San's mouth curled slowly upward.

"Are you worrying about me right now? I'm a little touched."

"No, that's not it…… If it breaks beyond repair, I'll never get a moment's rest again either……!"

For the residents of this remote island, the morning melodrama was far more than simple entertainment. If it were completely ruined and left them unable to watch for days on end, no one needed to guess where that glacial fury would be aimed.

Despite her grave warning, San answered with unruffled calm and an easy smile.

"I can fix it. One look and I can tell — a loose connection on the coaxial cable, with the antenna knocked off its bearing. Tighten the terminal, reset the angle, and the picture will come right back."

Stunned by the fluent, technical explanation, Yun-seo felt herself momentarily beguiled, her brow arching up of its own accord.

"……You can really do it?"

"I'll know the details once I get it opened up."

"No, you really shouldn't—"

"I'll hog-tie those worries for you. Any way you slice it, this sort of thing feels like my calling. But……"

Trailing off, San peered over the crown of Yun-seo's head, past the grandmas. More precisely, his gaze, planted squarely in the pile of corn, looked oddly desperate — like a starving beast.

"Elders, if I fix that for you, any chance you could squeeze me in? That corn smell's got my stomach growling."

The hand rubbing at his belly looked woefully pathetic — a strange match for a man that size. When he shed his menacing air and flashed an easygoing, good-natured grin, the grandmas exchanged flustered looks and murmured among themselves.

"Eh? Eii…… w-well, sure. You fix it, and the corn's no trouble a'tall, is it?"

The sight of that hulking man smacking his lips over corn must have tugged at their heartstrings. Grandma Pil-soon, a kernel halfway to her mouth, nodded along absentmindedly, and San closed in on the television like he'd been waiting for precisely that.

Come to think of it, the man hadn't managed so much as a proper sip of water since waking. Keeping that enormous body running had to take a staggering amount of fuel, and the belated guilt of having failed, as his doctor, to provide even one simple meal pricked at a corner of Yun-seo's heart.

Things had been chaos every which way — but that was that, and this was this.

With no proper meal to serve him and the grandmas' clamor stacked on top, Yun-seo was out of options. Nothing for it but to hold her nose, resign herself to being fooled, and let him have at it.

In the end, she left him standing his ground in front of the television and went to fetch the toolbox from the storeroom. San stepped right up to the set, examined its back, and held out a hand to Yun-seo.