It was when the Taebaek Line train, having departed from Cheongnyangni Station, passed Wonju and entered the deep mountain region.
The mountains grew denser outside the window, and tunnels became more frequent.
Kim Mi-jeong sat by the window, staring blankly outside.
At that time, she was at the lowest point of her life.
She had lost nearly 300 million won because of a man she trusted in Seoul. Essentially, she had been defrauded.
To make matters worse, she invested another 200 million won, believing a close friend who said, "You'll make a fortune if you invest in Chuncheon."
When she visited later, it turned out to be useless land clinging to a mountaintop.
The money was gone.
The person was gone.
All that remained for Mi-jeong were a few pairs of hairdressing scissors and the bitter price of trusting people too easily.
That day, she had boarded the train from Cheongnyangni without a plan, only to realize she was on the Taebaek Line heading toward Donghae.
Up until then, she had never even seen Kangwon Land, nor had she ever experienced a casino.
Feeling stifled, she had essentially run away from home, loading herself onto the train.
She just wanted to leave Seoul.
That was when a man sitting across from her spoke up.
"Are you going to Sabuk?"
Mi-jeong looked up.
The man was smiling.
He looked a bit older than her.
His hair was graying, but his eyes were full of mischief.
"Yes."
"You're going to the casino, then."
"Why? Does everyone going to Sabuk go to the casino?"
"Pretty much. Not many people go to Sabuk for a meeting, right?"
Mi-jeong chuckled.
The man’s name was Choi Byeong-su.
People around him called him 'Stray Bullet.'
When asked why he was called a stray bullet, he replied,
"Because my life always flies off in the wrong direction, that's why."
At that, Mi-jeong laughed again.
At first, she just thought he was a talkative man.
But as she listened, it was interesting.
Stories about doing business in the Philippines.
Stories about losing money at the casino.
Stories about working as a welder in Seoul.
Stories about losing the money he earned at the Kangwon Land construction site back in the Kangwon Land casino.
None of them were stories of a normal life.
Yet, strangely, it was fun.
Byeong-su talked about his failures as if they were someone else's story.
"I went to the Philippines to make money. The casino made the money, and I just earned experience."
"How much did you lose?"
"Don't ask that. If I say it, I'll have to cry again."
Mi-jeong laughed.
"But you're fine now."
"Only on the outside. I've gone bankrupt a few times on the inside."
The train was passing through Yeongwol.
The two kept talking.
They moved from casino stories to stories about children.
Romance stories came up, too.
Mi-jeong said it had been almost a year since she broke up with her boyfriend.
Byeong-su said he had also recently broken up with the woman he was living with.
Byeong-su said,
"We're both single."
"So?"
"It could be fate."
"Do you always talk to women like this?"
"Don't call me 'mister.' I'm still at an age to love."
They laughed again.
It was a few hours from Cheongnyangni to Sabuk.
But for Mi-jeong, the time that day passed strangely fast.
Byeong-su didn't stop talking.
At some point, Mi-jeong was pouring out her own stories, too.
The story of losing money.
The story of being scammed by a man.
The story of losing her entire fortune because of the Chuncheon land.
These were things she wouldn't usually tell a stranger.
But somehow, the words just came out to Byeong-su.
It was the same for Byeong-su.
He boasted about losing his entire fortune in the casino.
"So what do you have now?"
Mi-jeong asked.
Byeong-su smiled.
"Driving skills."
"Is that an asset?"
"Anyone who has ridden in my car knows. I go anywhere—Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, anywhere."
"Do you make good money?"
"I make it well enough."
"Then why don't you have any money?"
Byeong-su looked at Mi-jeong for a moment and said,
"The casino eats it all up."
At that, Mi-jeong burst into laughter, holding her stomach.
By the time they neared Sabuk Station, they were like old friends.
Byeong-su asked,
"Where are you sleeping tonight?"
Mi-jeong couldn't answer.
She hadn't planned anything.
Byeong-su said,
"Then stay with me."
Mi-jeong looked at him.
"I just met you today?"
Byeong-su said cheekily,
"That makes it even better. People you've known for a long time have too many calculations."
Mi-jeong laughed.
And, unbelievably, her heart was moved by those words.
At Cheongnyangni Station, they were strangers who didn't even know each other's names.
Yet, just two or three hours later, as they got off at Sabuk Station, they were talking about living together.
It didn't necessarily take a long time for love to begin.
At least, that was the case for them.
"Shall we live together starting today?"
Byeong-su said.
Mi-jeong hesitated for a moment.
Then she said,
"Okay."
That day, the two got off at Sabuk together.
And so, love in the casino city began.
The first two or three years were quite happy.
Mi-jeong earned money by serving at a restaurant.
It was a small restaurant in Gohan.
Byeong-su worked as a designated driver.
He was truly a good driver.
He was especially well-known in the area for long-distance driving.
Seoul.
Daejeon.
Daegu.
Gwangju.
Busan.
He went anywhere in Chungcheong-do, Jeolla-do, or Gyeongsang-do.
He actually disliked short distances within Gangwon-do.
"That doesn't make money."
His principle was clear.
One long-distance trip earned more than several short ones.
When he did well, he made over 5 million won a month.
If he earned a lot, 6 to 7 million won was possible.
Even during COVID, he earned about 3 million won.
He had many regulars.
"Call Stray Bullet."
Customers going far away looked for Byeong-su.
Because it wasn't boring to spend several hours in the car with him.
Byeong-su was a good driver, but he was an even better talker.
Politics.
Casinos.
Women.
Business.
Philippines.
Kangwon Land.
He could keep any conversation going for an hour.
Customers never had a chance to get sleepy while going to Seoul.
"Driver, you're a really good talker."
Then Byeong-su would say,
"If you're just good at driving, you're a designated driver, but if you're good at talking, you're a tour guide."
They lived on the money earned that way.
One day, Mi-jeong rented a small hair salon in a Sabuk apartment complex.
She named it 'Jackpot Hair Salon.'
To anyone who heard it, it sounded like she named it hoping for a big win at the casino.
But Mi-jeong said with a smile,
"I'm not looking for a casino jackpot, but a life jackpot."
The salon business wasn't easy from the start.
COVID hit.
The people in Sabuk decreased.
Tourists disappeared.
There were days when she opened the shop and didn't have a single customer all day.
Mi-jeong sat in front of the mirror and thought,
'Am I going to fail again?'
She was a woman who had already lost a lot of money in her life.
She didn't want to fail this time.
She made flyers.
1,000 of them.
She went around apartments and shopping districts.
She also distributed them in downtown Sabuk.
Student haircut: 8,000 won.
Adult haircut: 10,000 won.
She kept the prices low.
If a customer was far away, Byeong-su would drive his van to pick them up.
Jamiwon.
Jeungsan.
Nam-myeon.
Even near Manhang Pass.
He would leave even if the call came from over 10km away.
"I'll take you to the salon and bring you back."
At first, people didn't believe it.
But the car really came.
After they finished their hair, he would take them back to their doorstep.
It was the best service for the elderly in the mountain village.
Word of mouth spread.
"It's cheap there."
"They do hair well, too."
"They even pick you up by car."
One person became two, and two became five.
Later, nearly 10 people came a day.
There were many female customers, but not a few male customers either.
A poster of Lim Young-woong was put on one wall of the salon.
All the neighborhood mothers were fans of Lim Young-woong.
"Director, put up a bigger picture of Lim Young-woong."
Mi-jeong smiled and put it up.
Jackpot Hair Salon soon became not just a place to get hair done, but a neighborhood gathering spot.
Casino stories.
Complaining about husbands.
Boasting about children.
Stories about who won money.
Stories about who lost money.
All those stories flowed in front of the salon mirror.
The two's love was also quite famous.
In the winter of 2020, a small healing concert was held in Sabuk for residents exhausted by COVID.
Singers like Park Nam-jung took the stage.
People gathered after a long time to laugh and clap.
That day, Byeong-su suddenly grabbed the microphone.
No one told him to.
He was that kind of person.
He got even more excited when asked to speak in front of a crowd.
"I met the woman I love here."
People buzzed.
Byeong-su pointed to Mi-jeong in the audience.
"It's that woman."
Applause erupted.
Mi-jeong's face turned red.
"He's crazy."
But she laughed, too.
Byeong-su kept talking.
"I met her while riding the train from Cheongnyangni, and I fell in love before arriving in Sabuk."
People laughed.
"I'm quite a good talker, you know."
This time, even louder laughter erupted.
Mi-jeong covered her face with her hands.
That day, their love story was officially revealed to the residents of Sabuk.
A couple who met in Cheongnyangni and fell in love before arriving in Sabuk.
It was a fast-paced love, fitting for a casino city.
But there was one problem.
Byeong-su made money well, but he couldn't save it.
It was because of the casino.
The gambling that started during his business days in the Philippines didn't stop.
He lost his entire fortune in a Philippine casino.
He returned to Korea and worked as a welder.
There was a time when he earned money by welding at the Kangwon Land construction site.
But when he finished work, he would go into the casino.
He lost the money he received for building the casino building back inside that same casino.
Byeong-su told that story with a laugh, too.
"The casino took back the money I earned building it."
People laughed.
But Mi-jeong couldn't laugh.
It was the same while working as a designated driver.
If he did one long-distance trip to Seoul, he made money.
If he worked hard for a few days, his pockets were quite full.
But after going into the casino and coming out, there was no money.
3 million won in one night.
5 million won on some days.
It disappeared in two or three hours.
Mi-jeong was dumbfounded.
"You drive all day to earn money, why do you give it all to the casino?"
Byeong-su always said something similar.
"If I did a little more, I could have found it."
"Find what?"
"What I lost."
"Then why are you trying to find it!"
A fight between lovers, like a married couple's fight, began.
Byeong-su said he was sorry.
He said he would never go again.
He went again the next week.
Mi-jeong cut hair in the salon all day.
8,000 won for one student.
10,000 won for one adult.
She had to stand all day doing perms and coloring to earn a few hundred thousand won.
Byeong-su lost ten, twenty times that amount in the casino in a few hours.
Mi-jeong said one day,
"Do you know how many times I have to cut hair to earn 10,000 won?"
Byeong-su stayed quiet.
"Do you know how many people I have to cut hair for if you lose 3 million won?"
Byeong-su couldn't answer this time either.
In the casino, the size of money changed.
To Mi-jeong, 10,000 won was money earned by cutting one person's hair.
To Byeong-su, 100,000 won in the casino was just one chip.
The two were looking at the same money in completely different ways.
The decisive incident happened when Mi-jeong injured her arm while working at a restaurant.
She couldn't work for a while.
Compensation money came out.
That money was very precious to Mi-jeong.
She needed it for medical bills and living expenses.
But one day, the money was gone.
Byeong-su had taken it to the casino.
Mi-jeong couldn't believe it.
"You even touched that money?"
Byeong-su said,
"I tried to win and make more for you."
At that, Mi-jeong laughed.
When you're too angry, you end up laughing.
"You're really something."
Byeong-su bowed his head.
"I almost won."
"Do you know what people who lose in the casino say the most?"
"What?"
"That they almost won."
They fought big that day.
But they didn't break up.
They lived together again.
No matter how much you hate the casino, you don't immediately hate the person.
There was the affection of living together for several years.
It was a love that started on the Taebaek Line train.
They met when they were poor.
They laughed together.
They did business together.
They endured in Sabuk together.
Mi-jeong believed that someday Byeong-su would quit the casino.
Byeong-su probably thought so, too.
The problem broke out somewhere else before the casino.
It was a woman.
Byeong-su was a good talker.
He made people laugh well.
He quickly became close with strangers, too.
That ability was his greatest asset in designated driving.
It was a slightly dangerous asset in romance.
From one day, Mi-jeong felt something strange.
Phone calls became frequent.
The time he spent outside became longer.
And eventually, she found out.
There was another woman.
Mi-jeong asked,
"Do you like her?"
Byeong-su didn't answer right away.
That silence was the answer.
The love that began in just a few hours from Cheongnyangni to Sabuk started to end just like that.
Byeong-su eventually started living with another woman.
Mi-jeong became alone.
The people of Sabuk knew right away.
It was a small town.
Rumors of love spread fast, and rumors of breakups spread fast, too.
"He treated you so well, how could he do that?"
Customers said to Mi-jeong.
Mi-jeong laughed.
"How can I control a person's heart?"
She picked up her scissors again.
She opened the salon door.
She washed a customer's hair.
She rolled up perm rods.
She picked up the dryer.
Even if love ended, hair grew.
Customers kept coming to the salon.
And Mi-jeong had to live, too.
Around the casino, people who lose money are commonly called 'beggars.'
But not all beggars are the same.
Some wander around the casino empty-handed.
Some do manual labor.
Some work as designated drivers.
Some wash dishes at restaurants.
And some cut people's hair all day at a hair salon.
In terms of the ability to earn money, Byeong-su was not a beggar.
There were times he earned over 5 million won a month.
But the money he lost was greater than the money he earned.
In that sense, he was the most typical person around the casino.
He wasn't poor because he couldn't earn money, but because he gave the money he earned to the casino, he was always broke.
He was a master of driving.
He knew the way to Seoul.
He knew the way to Busan.
He went to Gwangju.
He went to Daegu.
He knew the roads across the country clearly.
But strangely, he always got lost on the way home from the casino.
Mi-jeong was the opposite of him.
She lost a lot of money several times.
She was scammed by a man and also fell for investment fraud.
She drifted to the casino city.
But after picking up the salon scissors, she found her way in life little by little.
The casino jackpot didn't hit.
Instead, one customer.
Then another.
That's how she built her days.
The name Jackpot Hair Salon was strange for that reason.
People waiting for a jackpot at the casino dreamed of their lives changing with one button press.
Mi-jeong's jackpot was different.
A customer coming in when she opened the door in the morning.
Mothers laughing while talking about Lim Young-woong.
Ten 10,000 won haircuts piling up.
That was a jackpot to her.
Sometimes customers asked.
"Director, is it completely over with that guy now?"
Mi-jeong laughed.
"It's over."
"No lingering feelings?"
She thought for a moment.
"I have lingering feelings for the love, but no lingering feelings for the casino."
Customers laughed.
"Still, it's amazing that you met on the train and lived together right away."
Mi-jeong laughed, too.
"I was crazy back then."
"Was he that good at talking?"
"If you listen for two hours, you'll fall for it. There's no woman who wouldn't fall for it."
Even so, Mi-jeong sometimes laughed when talking about those days.
It wasn't just bad memories.
There were days when she walked around the alleys of Sabuk with Byeong-su, handing out flyers.
There were days when she went to Jamiwon to pick up a customer.
There were days when he shouted that he loved her publicly at a concert.
Love ended, but the time that passed wasn't all a lie.
What the casino left in their lives wasn't just the loss of money.
It made them meet people,
It made them part with people,
It made them laugh,
It made them cry.
A man and a woman who happened to sit across from each other at Cheongnyangni Station got off together in Sabuk a few hours later.
They loved.
They earned money.
They fought because of the casino.
They reconciled again.
And eventually, they broke up.
It wasn't an unbelievable story in Sabuk.
There were many unbelievable lives in the casino street to begin with.
When night fell, the casino lights still brightly illuminated the mountain village.
The lights at Jackpot Hair Salon went out much earlier than that.
But the next morning, the door opened again.
Mi-jeong wiped the mirror.
She took out the scissors.
She turned on the dryer.
And said,
"Next customer, please come in."
In the casino, people dreamed of a jackpot dozens of times a day.
But for Mi-jeong, the real jackpot was perhaps something else.
Surviving without going bankrupt.
Not getting addicted to the casino.
Not following the man who left.
And opening the shop door today while earning money with her own hands.
That was the biggest jackpot of Jackpot Hair Salon.
