The Presidential Election (4)
Once every last word had been said, I rode the elevator down from a South Korean apartment that could have passed for the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun. The moment I settled into the car Yeeun had prepared in advance, everything that had just happened began to replay itself in my head.
I had spent so long avoiding him, refusing every attempt this man made to reach me. In the end, I allowed it. And so there had been today's meeting, today's conversation — and in that conversation, I finally understood the true meaning of those cryptic words Acting President Lee Nayoung had spoken.
Good heavens. I had never imagined it meant something like that. I had simply thought that South Korean woman was talking nonsense. In a world like this, the idea that marriage could even be on the table had never crossed my mind.
But what had I said in reply... Right. That was it.
"I prefer a peaceful world as well."
"The people of the world call me a hero and put me on a pedestal, but..."
"Everything I have done was simply so that our comrades in the North would no longer have to suffer — so that even through this hardship, we could change the world into one where we can live as well as the South."
"That is why I consider this position more than I deserve. Even so, when they offered me the post I currently hold, I accepted it."
"The method you have described is a peaceful one, and a good one for me as well. I understand."
"As you said — I will meet with the gentlemen who have expressed an interest in me."
That was what I had told him. And then...
"Thank you."
"The things I said, the truths I laid out — they could easily have been unpleasant to hear. And yet you answered me like that. Thank you, once again."
He smiled as he said it, and then he took my hand.
The bachelor sitting across from me. Right. A man. A South Korean bachelor — the kind that only ever appeared in the dramas I used to watch in secret, hidden from the state security police.
Every South Korean man I had seen in person until now had been a soldier, so I had never really known what the difference was. But seeing one like this, up close — he was not as strikingly handsome as the Hallyu stars from those dramas, and yet there was something gentle about him, something warm and approachable...
Was it true, then, what the elders always used to say? South man, North woman?
"Unni!"
"Hm?"
Oh dear. Yeeun had said something and I had not heard a word of it. How awful of me.
"Hm? What did you say? I was thinking about something else and missed it."
"Unni, was this really a place we absolutely had to stop in Seoul?"
"....."
I had already asked once. She just kept staring out the window, not a word in reply. What the hell did she do up there to come back this far gone?
"Unni!"
"Hm? What did you say? I was lost in thought for a moment and didn't hear you."
Where had her mind even gone? She looked like her soul had left her body.
"I asked why we came all the way to Seoul just to stop at a place like this."
".... There was something important."
"Then why won't you tell me what it was?"
".... I can't say."
Why not?! That bastard had decided I wasn't in a position to hear it, and Unni just kept her mouth shut. What exactly was I lacking that I didn't get to know?
"Is that the kind of relationship Unni and I have? I followed you wherever you said to go, did whatever you said to do, and even now I'm working myself to the bone for your sake — and you're telling me there's something you can't say to me? That you have to keep it a secret? In the South they call this being hurt, you know. Remember that."
This was that rude bastard's house. I was sure of it. Which meant the person Unni had gone up to meet was that mannerless son of a bitch. And that son of a bitch's name was...
Right. Park Seonghun.
"You met that Park Seonghun bastard, didn't you? Why do you keep pretending you didn't when I already know and I'm asking you straight?"
"How would you know about that man?"
"I'm one of the people who told you about him, aren't I? I already know, so just spill it."
"... We talked about the integration of North and South. And about the future."
The integration of North and South? The future?
"You're going to have to be more specific than that."
"I mean... that's what it is. I've been set up for a matchmaking meeting."
"....."
What kind of bone-chewing nonsense was that supposed to be. A matchmaking meeting?
"Unni?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Tell me everything. Don't leave a single thing out. Right now."
The moment I heard it, I knew. Whether it was that South Korean woman or that bastard himself, someone was trying to take advantage of our kind, honest Unni and wring her dry...
"What are you sitting there for? You done sightseeing? Get us to Pyongyang. Now."
I was not going to stand by and watch that happen.
Flick.
Snap.
Flick.
Snap.
The sound of a lighter flicking open and snapping shut rang through the room. What I had heard was so staggering that I found myself opening and closing it over and over without thinking, trying to get my thoughts in order.
On the drive from Seoul back up to Pyongyang, I had wrung every last detail out of Unni. Why she hadn't been able to tell me. Why that bastard hadn't said a word to me either. So that was it. That was why nobody had said anything.
I drew a cigarette from the case I kept close to my chest — the one I saved for myself — slipped it between my lips, and struck the lighter I had been fidgeting with this whole time.
Hoo...
I tapped off the ash. Unbelievable.
A conciliation policy for North and South? A symbol that our comrades could do the same? And Unni's marriage, all for that?
What kind of idiot would swallow that whole?
These were the same South Korean bastards who had been using us however they pleased since before the war — ever since they first approached us and told us to stage a coup.
No. That wasn't it. This was some brat's little game, trying to figure out what to do with us now that we held the military. Now that we had become a threat they could no longer push around as they liked, they couldn't come at us directly the way they used to. So look at them, pulling this cheap shit from underneath.
How cute.
Hoo...
Did they really think we would play along the way they wanted? Unni might. She was too kind-hearted not to. But the rest of us? Not a chance. This time, we would knock those South Korean bastards into shape and show them what happens when they try it.
I crushed the spent cigarette into the ashtray in front of me and called the brat who had cooked this whole thing up.
The ringtone stretched on and on. And then, at the end of it, a machine voice telling me to leave a message.
The subscriber cannot take your call. Please leave a message after the tone.
... What the hell was this bastard doing at this hour that he couldn't pick up a phone.
Spite flared up in me. I called again, and again, and again, until he answered.
"Yes. This is Park Seonghun."
"It's me. Lee Yeeun."
"......"
Beep.
What? I told him it was me and he hung up? He hung up!
I could not keep the anger down. I called again, and this time he picked up immediately. Good. That was more like it.
"What?"
That bastard's usual mannerless greeting came through the speaker — except his breathing was ragged, and something else was mixed in with his voice. What was that?
"I heard from Unni that you cooked this whole thing up."
"And?"
"Who is it?"
And whose voice was that supposed to be?
"Quiet. You move now."
Move? Move what?
"Yes... just a moment... haah..."
Why was this woman's voice out of breath too? Don't tell me....
Was he actually? Was this horny bastard... doing that while talking to me on the phone?
"Hnnh — haaahn!"
"What are you doing?! What the hell are you doing?! Is this how you people in the South take a phone call?!"
I knew he was a lunatic who had deserted just to screw some woman. I had known he was that kind of man. I just hadn't known he was this kind of man.
"What? The pervert who keeps calling back until someone picks up after they already hung up looks a lot crazier to me."
"Besides — was that your thing?"
"A fetish for listening to other people doing it?"
What was he talking about. I-I did not have some weird taste like that!
"I can't cater to that kind of taste, so go find another man."
"And like you heard — I'm busy right now, so don't call again."
Beep.
Seriously... I was busy as hell, and she just kept calling. If I didn't pick up that many times, you'd think she'd take the hint. But if it was Mother, I had to answer right away, so I couldn't even turn the damn thing off.
"Haah... haah.... I said, who is it."
"It's nothing. Just some idiot who stalks people over the phone."
The woman I was doing today's last round of Duty Sex with. I had been so busy explaining things to Lee Ayoung that I hadn't even had time to check her name again before coming in, so I wasn't entirely sure who she was. Seeing her in person, though, she was quite pretty, just as I remembered.
A hime cut of long black hair, and an outfit that suited it perfectly — the kind of clothes a rich family's daughter would wear. I was sure I had seen this style called a "virgin-killer" outfit on the internet once. And just as I had heard, those clothes were a pain to take off. Which, to be fair, made the pleasure of peeling them off that much better.
We had shared a cup of tea, and then I had taken her to the room that had been prepared, laid her down on the table, and spent a pleasant stretch of time taking her clothes off one piece at a time. Then the phone had kept ringing, so I sat down in a chair and told her to climb on and move by herself...
Now that I had hung up, I had to admit the view was not bad.
"Anyway, right now... focus only on me.... Okay?"
"I said, do you understand?"
"Yeah, yeah."
We would probably forget each other after today anyway, so I might as well give her my attention. Or maybe not.
"Shall we do this properly, then?"
I lifted the hime-cut woman who had been on top of me and laid her down on the table.
"Yesss... haah... haaahn...."
"Give it your all. You're the last one today... who knows? I might go another round."
"Yes... I'll do my best..."
Of course, it was a lie.