Chapter 45: The Tail Was Too Long (1)
“I brewed so tea, and you’ve arrived at just the right ti. Hurry and have a seat.”
The mont I knocked on the President’s Office door after being summoned by the Chairman, a booming voice welcod from inside.
Seated face-to-face with him in such a warm reception, I was t with a fragrant tea aroma that tickled my nose—one I’d never slled before.
“Thank you for the other day. The gift was so extravagant that I felt sorry my return gift was nothing much.”
“Extravagant, my foot! You turned that good-for-nothing son of mine into a decent human being. It’s not nearly enough! Oh, and that kimchi—you said you enjoyed it. After eating that kimchi, I even dread of my late wife for the first ti in ages. Still, you should’ve said sothing when you ca. I was disappointed you didn’t even send a ssage.”
“I’m sorry. I thought it would be presumptuous of , just an employee, to reach out for a personal matter like that.”
“Is that so? Ha ha ha! anwhile, the other guys bend over backwards just to get one of my business cards, but you’re not greedy at all.”
“Then, may I ask what brings here today?”
“Oh? Nah, I just didn’t feel right about us only exchanging things without seeing each other. Thought I’d at least see your face. So? How are those things I sent over—any good?”
“The computer was so good, I almost got caught by the other team mbers. They eventually found out, though.”
“Couldn’t you have made sothing up?”
“I’m not really one for lying.”
“So if soone asked who gave it to you, were you planning to say my na?”
“Yes.”
“You’re no ordinary man, huh? A person who lives without lying is practically an Immortal!”
“People do say that to quite often.”
“Guilty? Ha ha ha! I still haven’t lost my touch for reading people!”
Though the conversation felt aimless, he clearly had sothing he wanted to say.
It was probably related to the National Intelligence Service. That was the only matter connected to that the Daecheon Group wouldn’t be able to uncover.
But he didn’t ask.
Just as I hadn’t disclosed my connection to the Chairman to those around , it seed he also wouldn’t ask questions I’d find difficult to answer.
Instead of awkward questions, what appeared on the table was a small business card.
“Consider this us exchanging contact info. If anything cos up, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’ll do the sa.”
“Yes, I will. Thank you.”
“Alright, let’s have a al with my son soti. What do you like? Beef, perhaps? You know Usanjeong? The beef there is raised on ginseng right here in Gangwon Province…”
I thought I’d leave after receiving the business card and hearing the usual “Let’s have a al soti,” but the topic suddenly veered off into food talk.
Since I’d already wasted half the day on a post earlier in the morning, it seed like I was destined for overti today.
After Jinseong left, Director Shin Ji-cheol took his place shortly after.
“Has Manager Kim Jinseong left?”
“Nothing good cos from holding up soone who’s working. He said he was leaving, so I let him.”
“Were you able to find out what happened?”
“Nope, just asked if he was doing alright.”
“As expected, he’s not an easy one.”
“I felt like if I really pushed him, he might answer—so I didn’t ask.”
“Pardon? What do you an by that…”
“Ha ha ha! You don’t get what I an either, huh?”
Chairman Joo Man-ho was so delighted by Director Shin Ji-cheol’s confused reaction that he nearly shed tears.
“I was curious, but sohow felt like I shouldn’t ask. Like I was possessed or sothing. This mighty Joo Man-ho just sat there chatting about this and that with no backbone. That kid’s really sothing the more you see him.”
His assessnt of Jinseong was vague and full of abstract words, leaving Director Shin Ji-cheol looking unconvinced.
Regrettably, Chairman Joo Man-ho couldn’t think of any clearer way to explain it.
His private eting with Jinseong had taken place years ago.
Though Chairman Joo Man-ho was a man who rarely reversed a decision once made, it had still been a nagging concern to assign soone to tutor his son based only on instinct.
But watching his son change over ti, and now after this one-on-one eting, all that anxiety was swept away without a trace.
Jinseong hadn’t changed one bit since their first eting.
No, rather, the way he conversed so calmly in front of the Chairman felt like he’d grown into soone of even greater stature.
An imnse presence that words couldn’t fully express.
It was a precise conclusion reached without even knowing that Jinseong, who lived each day among Divine Beasts who had lived for thousands of years, possessed a presence no ordinary human could compare to.
“Oh, right! I got so excited I forgot to say what I needed to.”
Suddenly rembering sothing, Chairman Joo Man-ho slapped his knee and called his son.
“Are you off work? The kimchi container at ho doesn’t sll anymore, so go return it to your teacher tomorrow. Since when is returning an empty container part of our family’s manners! Fill it up with Korean beef!”
Ever the natural-born businessman, Chairman Joo Man-ho was quick-witted enough to even turn an empty kimchi container into part of his son’s lesson.
(Is Jinseong sleeping?)
(Yup! Today’s his day to sleep in.)
(Still, I’m hungry. We’ve got a packed schedule today, so we need to eat soon.)
(What’s the schedule?)
(Let’s eat first and think about it later.)
(So basically, you don’t have one.)
The chatter outside the door replaced the alarm I’d turned off for the weekend.
From early morning, it seed Sanyi had arrived.
I considered pretending to sleep a bit longer, but I felt sorry for Ria, who would likely have to wrestle with Sanyi at the door, so I quickly got up.
“I’m awake, co on in.”
-Clack.
No sooner had I finished speaking than the door burst open, and Ria and Sanyi ca running in and jumped on the bed.
“Good morning!”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah, you must be hungry, right?”
“My belly’s stuck to my back, it is!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’d have to starve for about a hundred years to get like that.”
“That’s how hungry I am! Observation… ob… observation technique? Sothing like that!”
“It’s an idiom.”
“How did you know that?”
“I read it in a book!”
Ria ran downstairs and ca back with a thin workbook that looked at least 30 years old.
On the cover, the title read: [Elentary Korean Idioms and Proverbs Dictionary], printed in bold Ming-style font.
A book no elentary student would ever want to read, both in design and title.
“You finished this whole thing?”
“It was fun!”
“I learned it too!”
Actually, this wasn’t the first ti a workbook had randomly popped up like this.
Occasionally, such workbooks would be mixed in among the picture books I bought in bulk from secondhand stores.
Ria wasn’t quite ready to read them yet, so I’d set them aside to be thrown out as scrap. How she found it and solved it was beyond .
Even more surprising, there wasn’t a single wrong answer on the answer sheet.
From picture books about toots and diarrhea to this—it was a remarkable leap forward.
“Did you try others too?”
“Yes! This one, and this one, and I finished this one too!”
All the workbooks Ria brought were yellowed with age. So were difficult even for an elentary student to solve alone.
Maybe I should consider sending her to elentary school this spring instead of kindergarten.
“Does looking at that make rice co out? Or cake?”
“Don’t go using what you learned on right away!”
“Ow ow ow ow! It hurts! I’m hungry and hurt!”
After all that ruckus in the morning, I was starting to feel hungry too.
“Since it’s morning, should we just have soy sauce egg rice?”
“Sounds good!”
“Oooh! That’s tasty too!”
A flawless choice for breakfast.
Even half-asleep, unless I accidentally spilled the soy sauce bottle over the rice, it was almost impossible to fail.
A few drops of Korean sesa oil from the market, and it could rival a hotel breakfast.
Simple, delicious, and just one side of kimchi would be enough…
-Clack.
“Huh?”
The rice cooker that should’ve been full of rice was empty.
“There’s no rice.”
“Right.”
“And there’s no uncooked rice either!”
The past few days had been chaotic with kimchi-making and other major mishaps, so I hadn’t gone grocery shopping—and that was my mistake.
Still, I couldn’t feed the kids ramyeon first thing in the morning.
In the end, I’d have to go grocery shopping. On a precious weekend morning.
“I’ll run to the store real quick, so you two stay here and watch the house, okay?”
“I’m coming too!”
“Don’t be silly. You can’t even use Transformation Arts. Just play with Ria. Ria, can you take good care of Sanyi?”
“Yes!”
The roles might’ve gotten a bit reversed at so point, but right now, Ria was the only one I could trust.
Whether I left Sanyi alone or took her with , she was bound to cause so sort of trouble.
Sotis I wondered if the shamans guarding the Divine Tree on Mount Gyeryong were actually raising Sanyi instead.
“You said you were going to buy rice, but you’re still not leaving!”
“I’m going now, you little brat!”
At the sa ti, over at the Sunflower Orphanage, iceboxes were being unloaded one after another from Dohyuk’s car, which had returned from Majang-dong since dawn.
Each icebox had a large sticker labeled 1 .
“Donating all this precious at… We’re always so grateful.”
“No, I just had so leftover at. Didn’t want to waste it. Last ti I was here, the fridge was completely empty.”
Feeling shy from receiving thanks from the head of the orphanage—who was old enough to be his mother—Dohyuk scratched his cheek.
In Dohyuk’s view, a few boxes of at bought with so spare change weren’t sothing to be so thankful for.
“Wow! So much at!”
“Mister ‘I’m Joo Dohyuk’ brought it!”
“Really?”
“I wanna see too!”
Thankfully, the kids, who noticed the overflowing at and Dohyuk, quickly cleared away the awkward mood.
“Guys, co here! Mister ‘I’m Joo Dohyuk’ brought at!”
It was only his second visit, yet the children ran up to him with the brightest smiles in the world.
But sothing about the na the children called him was strange.
“Hello, Mister ‘I’m Joo Dohyuk’!”
‘Huh? Not just Mister Dohyuk?’
Apparently, the statent Dohyuk had blurted out while leaving behind toys and pizza without warning had left a big impression on the children.
With the kids’ tiny hands joining in, they moved the at into the kitchen.
“You haven’t had breakfast yet, right? Please stay and eat. With this many grills, the at’ll be ready in no ti.”
“Mister, eat with us too!”
“Well… no, Mister’s full.”
Though starving from shopping for at since dawn, Dohyuk said otherwise.
He’d only just realized how much more he ate than the average person.
If he held back, there’d be more at for the kids.
Only recently had he realized that food he ate every day—or wouldn’t even touch because it was cheap—was sothing the kids sang about wanting to eat again.
“Alright, enjoy your al. Let know if you need anything.”
Dohyuk ruffled the kids’ hair roughly and got back in the car.
The flag on the navigation was set for the Dangsari Café.
Where Jinseong was no longer present.
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