"Down the street, that dirty dog Lee-seki won't cough up what he owes-" "Things are not easy. Everyone's having troubles." "No, things are not easy at all, but your house is full of paying guests because you are the best cook in Kyungsangdo. The minister is staying with you now? Did you find him a bed? I told him your sea bream is the finest in Busan. Jun sniffed tha air, wondering if he could grab a bite of something before his next house, but he didn't smell anything savory.
Yangjin glanced at her daughter, and Sunja stopped cleaning the floor to go to the kitchen to fix the coal man something to eat. “But did you know, the young man had already heard of your cooking from your brother who stayed ten years ago? Ah, the belly has a better memory than the heart!" "The minister?" Yangjin looked puzzled. "The young fellow from the North. I met him last night, wandering around the streets looking for your house. Baek Isak. Sort of a fancy-looking fellow. I showed him you place and would have stopped in, ubt I had a late delivery for Cho-seki, who finally found the money to pay me after a month of dodging-"
"Oh-"
"Anyway, I told the minister about my wife's stomach troubles and how hard she works at the stall, and you know, he said he would pray for her right then and there. He just dropped his head and closed his eyes! I don't know if I believe in that mumbling that people do, but I can't see how it can hurt anyone. Very nice-looking young man, don't you think? Has he left for the day? I should say hello."
Sunja brought him a wooden tray holding a cup of hot barley tea, a teapot, and a bowl of steamed sweet potatos and set it before him. The coal man plopped down on the floor cushion and devored the hot potatoes. He chewed carefully, then started to speak again.
"So this morning, I asked the wife how she felt, ans she said things were not so bad and went to work! Maybe there's something to that praying after all, Ha!-" "Is he a Cath-o-lic?" Yangjin didn't mean to interrupt him so frequently, but there was no other way to speak with Jun, who could have talked for hours. For a man, her husband used to say, Jun had too many word. "A priest?"