A Night of Smoke and Unwelcome Calls
The last rays of sunset were already beginning to spread across the lecture hall. It had been barely an hour since I had woken up.
I had smoked a cigarette, listened to Moon Gyeon’s report, eaten a meal, yet the drowsy feeling still refused to leave. The view of the Han River that filled the walls of the living room felt no different from the boring paintings in the art museum.
“No matter how much of a father you have, Grandfather is really too much, isn’t he? He’s such a relic, such a relic. How can he be even more of a relic than a grandfather in his nineties? …Ah, you mustn’t feel bad that I spilled the beans about your father. I was just worried about you.”
I had left the line open on my phone simply to dispel the lingering drowsiness.
“Out of the blue, what’s construction? Construction! Among the group subsidiaries, the one with the worst performance, not even second in the industry for years, but third for years!”
Moon Woo-min’s voice was disgusting. I turned the volume up by putting the phone on speaker.
“Does this mean you’re deliberately feeding me water? Huh? How important is the first debut in the business world? What kind of fucking subsidiary are they giving me? You’re really going to give it to your own son? Are you really my grandfather’s real son?”
Yesterday, out of nowhere, my father had called me and handed me the position of his son at the place he had pointed to—Wooshin Construction. The moment I heard it, I had laughed out loud.
After I decided to join the company, many people had been curious about what position he would receive.
People whispered behind my back that, no matter what, Wooshin’s flagship industries—cars, or the hotel that was currently seeing a surge in stock prices, or the emerging next-generation field of chemicals—might even start from the shipbuilding that had been Wooshin’s origin, the way my father had. They prepared themselves to be disappointed no matter what I received.
Construction, however, was a decision that went against all expectations.
“Why, don’t you like it? Is the dusty construction too hard and not stylish enough? Do you want something flashy like hotel, auto, bio like other corporate heirs? Is that what you want? Just swallow everything those other people built without any hardship?”
If I didn’t like it, he could have withdrawn the acceptance right now, but I said I would accept it even though I didn’t like it.
Turning away saying construction was scary would have been even less stylish. As my father’s performance was disgusting, the position of being able to wield him freely was tempting.
“So you still think Grandfather blames me for your mother’s death. It’s been more than thirty years already. I’m really sorry about that.”
The servant who had been setting down the coffee hesitated. His face listening to Moon Woo-min’s words had paled a little.
“I called you to cheer you up. Huh? Who else could keep an eye on you at a time like this but your cousin, me? I’ll prepare some people I can kill for you. At times like this, you just drink and fuck without thinking.”
The servant glanced at me before finally leaving. I lifted the glass without care. The cold liquid felt good as it swept through my insides.
“Didn’t anyone catch your eye at yesterday’s event? I mobilized all the connections I had when you said you were coming—connections with and without influence—to gather the deadliest men in Korea.”
Moon Woo-min still squealed like a pig. The coffee had cooled my head. Soon the lazy feeling would disappear as well.
“By the way, yesterday Han Joo-yeon was hanging around you. She’s been riding high lately and believes in her own popularity, so she’s got a temper, but her body is something else. It doesn’t have to be Han Joo-yeon. Just tell me. If you say the word, I’ll prepare a full course. Huh? Wasn’t there even one person who caught your eye even a little?”
Just tell me the name. Tell me anyone. Moon Woo-min was prompting like a parrot.
Even if the woman was satisfied, or if I fucked her to death, it would be nothing special. Nothing happened. Moon Woo-min had used his purpose, so he was about to end the call. The moment I reached for the phone.
Suddenly a woman’s face floated up.
A woman standing precariously on the stairs, delicate like blown glass. The atmosphere that seemed like it would shatter at any moment had drawn my gaze.
Her body swayed with each step, but it wasn’t to my taste; the delicate features finely embedded in her small face were exactly my taste. Or, for a man, anyone’s taste.
The contrast between the flushed cheeks and lips that showed vitality on her ghostly pale face was striking. I wanted to crush those cheeks and part her lips.
In short, she was a woman who was extremely seductive.
At that moment I had imagined sucking the flesh of the woman while smoking. It happened instinctively, without any thought process.
She was a woman who aroused low thoughts just by looking at her. Was it the woman’s innate talent?
I had seen quite a few women over time, but were there really women in this world with such talent?
The strangeness that had been there was now coming back together.
I had prodded the woman with a few lascivious words. It had been for taking out my anger on the incident in Cheongnyundong. Even so, the anger did not disappear, and instead the lust I had not felt in a long time boiled up.
It was the right time for the mood to be bad, and the right time for a woman who was seductive to appear. If I fucked her senseless, my unpleasantness might improve.
So I made a move, but the woman refused. I was not sorry, so I did not catch her. I would simply bring another woman and lay her down.
However, the moment I abandoned that woman, the desire cooled off unnaturally.
“So there really wasn’t anyone? Or do you not remember the name? If you don’t remember, I can send a list of photos and age and body index. Just say it.”
At the time I had definitely heard the name, but I did not remember it. I had no intention of forcing myself to recall the thing I did not remember.
That was where it ended. I received the list from Moon Woo-min and wiped the drool off it.
If I had really wanted to have sex with that woman, she would be lying under me right now. So it was not to that extent.
“Hey, hey! You’re trying to hang up? Don’t hang up, let’s do a little more. Really, are you cold all the time? Ah, I heard there’s talk of an engagement with CK’s Jang Ha-rin lately, so that’s why, right? When I went to Cheongnyundong last time, Grandfather said something like that.”
“Ah, Jang Ha-rin.”
“Yeah, Jang Ha-rin. What, are you already looking at Jang Ha-rin? You’re not even engaged yet, are you?”
In truth, I remembered the woman not by the name Jang Ha-rin but by the nickname “6.” Because she had been the sixth woman among the marriage candidates my grandfather had presented at one point.
My grandfather, Woo Jang-gil, pursued innovation as one of the highest values in corporate management, but in family matters he held quite orthodox views.
After holding the Chulsooyeon last year, he had become unusually concerned about things after death. Before he died, he had decided to give his grandson, me, a proper family, and he had taken the initiative himself. The fact that I had divorced twice before weighed heavily on his heart.
Of course, what my grandfather did was only to give orders; in fact, his secretary had investigated the possible matches. My grandfather had narrowed down seven young people from the various chaebols that his secretary had found and presented them to me.
With his wrinkled hands holding mine, Grandfather had patted them and said, “My grandson’s wish.” I had smiled and answered.
“Then I shall accept.”
Every week I would go to the place my grandfather had set at the time and meet the women.
The time usually passed boringly. My grandfather had told me to meet each woman three times and decide. I had not wanted to clash with the elderly grandfather, so I had met exactly three times.
“How was it?”
“Not much.”
Every time I answered, Grandfather’s eyes would sink gloomily. The next day, through the secretary, a new list of candidates would arrive.
The lists that came over gradually became troublesome, and I was getting tired of giving the same answer to Grandfather every time.
Jang Ha-rin was the sixth.
There was still no emotional stir. As always, I had intended to spend just enough time and leave. After finishing the third meal with the sixth, just before leaving the restaurant, the sixth had said something unexpected.
“Even if we marry, there will be no trouble for you.”
The woman who had been looking at me for a long time without blushing and had blushed her cheeks.
“Marriage is like a kind of contract. You give and receive appropriately and spend a long time playing the necessary roles for each other. As long as you perform the minimum roles well, I won’t act troublesome by expecting more than that. We’ll enjoy what we want to enjoy separately, and we’ll do what we need to do together.”
It was a very deliberate statement. It did not match the attitude the “6” had shown during our three meetings.
It seemed someone had instructed her to say it. Probably the sixth’s parents, who were desperately pursuing the marriage with Wooshin. The “6” who faithfully carried out that instruction had become the first one to appeal to my heart.
“It’s good.”
“…Yes?”
“I said it’s good.”
The innocent purity of the woman faithfully following what she was told seemed useful. I also liked the definition of marriage she had spoken. If it was marriage in that sense, I thought it wouldn’t be bad. I also thought that even if I sent this woman away, someone else would take her place.
It was a marriage that had to be done anyway, and if it didn’t matter who was placed in that position.
“How was this time?”
“It was all right.”
Finally, when I answered positively, Grandfather had been happy. He had held my hand and patted it again, saying thank you.
Internally, I had felt it strange that the person Grandfather’s heart liked would be Jang Ha-rin of CK, but the matchmaker’s words that the compatibility was perfect had covered the sixth’s flaws.
I had thought it was fortunate that the sixth had a flaw. It would be good for the engagement, the marriage, and everything after that to go according to my will.
It had been a decided engagement. No one else had troubled me anymore.
“Huh? What were you sorry about that you looked at Jang Ha-rin?”
“Well. I can’t divorce three times, can I?”
Moon Woo-min burst out laughing. His laugh, which sounded like he was mocking me for when I had been scared of such things, was long. I laughed along. Laughing, Moon Woo-min continued to speak, but I did not listen and ended the call.
I checked the time. 5:27 PM. Even the lazy ones were now time to go to work.