Learning Tea Ceremony
“Whoa.”
So this does work.
Mm. Was it because of this face? This face really was useful after all.
Well, there aren’t many people in this world who truly hate flattery.
My grandmother said frostily, “You do say the oddest things.”
Mm. She does seem to like it, though.
“But Gongza’s body is weak.”
“What do you mean? Is there something wrong with your body? Anyway, mongrels are no good for this reason. They don’t come with a quality guarantee.”
Excuse me, Grandmother.
My human rights have dropped to the level of a pet. A quality guarantee? What am I, porcelain?
And purebred puppies are actually more fragile in the first place. Dogs from the countryside are the hardiest. Those ones can eat people food and still live forever.
I frowned. Grandmother lowered her eyes and said, “What, do you have a complaint?”
I have plenty.
With a long sigh, I said, “I mean I’m going to get stronger. You’re listening weird.”
She ought to reflect on herself a little. We’ve gotten close, haven’t we? How much longer is she going to keep calling me a mongrel?
“Hmph.”
“When Gongza gets strong, I’ll even carry you around on my back.”
I stretched both arms straight out, then pulled them in tight.
Just wait.
I was going to build muscle that was rock solid.
Muscle doesn’t betray effort!
I can do this! Come on! Acting training!
Grandmother looked down at me quietly, then said one thing.
“Then bow your head and let me smell it.”
Ah, that one’s hard. As expected.
I obediently lowered my head. Grandmother drew in another breath.
Haah. Haah.
Yeah, if anyone saw that, it sounded dangerously suspicious.
“But it’s been a long time.”
“Yes. I’ve been a little busy.”
“Gongza has been busy too. I was in that movie!”
“I know. It caused quite the stir.”
I grinned. “Did you perhaps watch it?”
Her lips puckered slightly, but she didn’t answer.
She did watch it.
Well, it did draw ten million viewers. It’d be stranger if she hadn’t seen the movie everyone else had gone to watch in theaters.
“It sounded dark. It must have been hard to film.”
I shook my head.
“Not hard at all.”
Well, the one-takes were a little difficult.
“I could shoot a hundred, a thousand more. Gongza was happy.”
A lead role in a ten-million-viewer movie.
No, actually, that’s an achievement.
Acting itself was fun, in truth.
I need more projects like that to come my way...
I clenched my fist.
Just you wait, hit films.
In this life, I was going to act to my heart’s content.
Grandmother, who had been sniffing the top of my head, said, “I truly cannot understand it.”
What, what can’t you understand?
When I looked up slightly, Madam Na Hwa-jin adjusted her glasses.
“Is it really that enjoyable? Even Sujeong was obsessed with acting.”
“Grandma, acting lets you become someone else. Do you know how thrilling that is?”
I straightened my shoulders.
“A piece of myself is preserved in one work. In film, I become eternal. Gongza lives forever there.”
Actors achieve a kind of immortality in another sense. To live forever is humanity’s dream, isn’t it?
Well, these days it’s more data than film, but still.
My self is preserved forever, after all.
“It’s not just that. If Gongza acts well, people will keep talking about me.”
“You mean fame?”
“Mm. That too. But someone will say, Did you watch that movie last night? Gongza acted really well. Did you see it too?”
A smile tugged at my lips.
“Gongza becomes a topic of conversation. And for someone else, watching the movie becomes a memory.”
To remain in the memories of many people.
“What does that matter?”
“It matters a lot. Gongza wants to act hard and keep living on in people’s memories.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
Grandmother’s brow furrowed. Then she let out a sigh.
“Sujeong said something similar, I think.”
Well, it’s the same profession. It makes sense they’d have similar wishes.
“I wondered why she brought home a child like this, but you oddly do resemble her.”
Huh.
Grandmother shook her head. I blinked, a little startled.
Did she just say I resemble Mom?
Wow, that’s huge.
Did she just kind of admit it?
That I’m Mom’s son, I mean.
Wow.
So it’s true that sincerity can move heaven.
I’d thought she was an unbreakable fortress because she hadn’t budged at all, but the door was opening!
Grandmother kept muttering, “Your eyes are exactly the same, so bright and shining...”
I smiled brightly. My eyes do sparkle a little.
“I didn’t know why Sujeong wanted to tie up her second son and beat him with a stick for this kid, but maybe it’s because he’s just like her.”
This, this is about a bat, right?
“Anyway, I just can’t understand it.”
No, you literally said you were starting to understand just now!
“So I said I want to get strong!”
Huh? Did I say that?
Let’s go with that.
She was really hard to keep up with.
I beamed and tugged lightly at the hem of her clothes.
“Yes!”
“And what, exactly, will you do?”
Crossing her arms, Grandmother spoke with exacting severity. “Anyone can make a resolution. You have to show it through your actions.”
Well, that was fair.
A little difficult, though.
I showed her the script.
“Gongza will do theater.”
Grandmother lowered her eyes. I burst out laughing.
“It’s my first play. But I’m going to do it. It’s a one-man show with just Gongza alone. It’s really hard.”
“Where is it being held?”
“I don’t know yet. The audience will be acquaintances and reporters. Actually, that’s why I’m even more excited. If I do well, they’ll praise my acting, won’t they?”
Honestly, that’s why I went in with both feet. Of course, I regret it now.
I must have been insane.
Why did I say I’d do a monodrama?
I took a deep breath and said, “So there’s a lot I need to learn. I have to learn tea ceremony too.”
“Tea ceremony?”
“Yes. Mama said she’d call a teacher for me! Gongza is going to study hard.”
Actually, I didn’t need to go quite that far. Still, it would be good to know the basics.
“Why would you call in a teacher just to learn tea ceremony?”
Mm, what does she mean by that?
“Sujeong should know that already, shouldn’t she?”
Ah. So Mom had studied it.
“She does know it, but not well enough to teach it.”
“That can’t be right. Though, I suppose Sujeong would dislike something like that.”
Mm, Mom isn’t really into tea ceremony. Well, she suits physical things more.
She’s active.
Still, if she actually tried it, she’d probably be good at it.
“No helping it. I’ll teach you.”
Huh? What did you just say?
“Come over here.”
Uh, Grandma.
Th-that’s really sudden.
I glanced around cautiously.
I don’t know for sure, but...
This must be her own kind of kindness.
People like this don’t spend their time carelessly.
Then what I need to do is obvious.
I smiled brightly. “Really! I’ll go!”
I spread my arms and hugged Grandmother. Of course, I had to avoid her cane, so I only wrapped my arms around her waist, but still.
“Thank you!”
Grandmother blinked, apparently not expecting that. She looked a little flustered.
“I-I am strict.”
Of course you are. As if I’d forgotten.
“Yes! Gongza will work hard!”
“Hmph. Then let us go over.”
“Yes!”
I trotted after her.
She really does seem strict.
Still, it would be nice if we got closer.
You have to spend time together to grow close.
Walking ahead, I opened the door for her. Madam Na Hwa-jin stepped out with stately composure.
* * *
I didn’t exactly take it lightly, but...
I looked quietly down. Teacups and a kettle came into view.
They probably all have proper names, don’t they?
I knelt and looked up at Madam Na Hwa-jin. The exacting old lady sat with one leg raised.
Wow, for a second I thought I was looking at a queen from the Joseon dynasty.
She suited a title like Grand Dowager Empress perfectly.
Mm. If she’s the dowager empress, then what am I right now?
Probably something like the child brought home by the princess.
I knelt properly and folded my hands. I didn’t know why, but it felt like that was what I should do.
I’m glad I acted in sageuk dramas in my past life.
Even if I only ever played commoner roles.
Thank you, etiquette teacher, for teaching me the basics of manners.
I desperately recalled everything I had learned back then.
Grandmother said, “Mm. Your posture is not bad.”
G-good. Thank goodness.
“Sujeong must have taught you.”
Not really, but let’s go with that.
“I am strict. I’ll teach you once, so listen carefully.”
I nodded.
Grandmother pointed with her finger. “That is the teapot, the water bowl, the saucer, and the teacup.”
The terms were unfamiliar. I absorbed them desperately.
Teacup and saucer I know. So the kettle is the teapot.
Work harder, brain.
Well, I’m the sort of person who memorized scripts for a living.
Grandmother pointed to the bowl beside the teapot and asked, “What is this called?”
I smiled brightly. “The water bowl.”
“Your head is not entirely empty.”
I grinned. “Thank you!”
“Mm. Watch carefully.”
Grandmother filled a pot with water, then poured it into the water bowl. After that, she transferred the water into the teapot.
“What do you think I’m doing now?”
How on earth would I know that?
I only ever drank coffee as tea, for crying out loud.
I drink iced Americanos even if it means I freeze to death!
Grandmother poured the hot water into the teacup.
Ah, I think I know.
I answered at once. “Are you warming it?”
Her eyebrows rose.
“Correct. It’s preheating. Where did you learn that?”
From my past life.
A junior colleague who liked coffee used to do that sometimes.
Though I ended up burning my tongue on the hot Americano anyway.
Come to think of it, I wonder if that guy is doing well.
When did that bastard debut? At first he showed up as a muscular thug.
As I was thinking about all this, Grandmother said, “Well? Why aren’t you answering?”
Ah, I’d forgotten. I quickly improvised, “Sometimes the teacher does it for us.”
“For tea?”
As if. I shook my head.
“For steak!”
Grandmother’s eyes sharpened.
No, preheating isn’t just for tea, you know.
You warm the plate for meat too. That way the meat stays hot longer.
“True. Dishes are served warm too.”
Fortunately, she didn’t pick a fight over that.
“Watch closely.”
Grandmother poured the water from the teacup back into the water bowl. Then she emptied all the preheated water into the largest vessel.
“This is the waste water container.”
Mm, so that’s where you dump the water.
“Now the preheating is finished. It’s time to drink the tea.”
I blinked.
At last, the main event.
Grandmother poured water from the kettle into the water bowl and checked the heat with her palm. The movement looked deeply elegant.
That’s how grace shows itself.
I watched carefully.
Grandmother brewed the tea in the teapot that looked like a kettle, then poured it back into the water bowl.
I asked at once, “Why not pour the tea straight from the teapot into the teacup?”
“You pour it into the water bowl and wait for the dregs to settle.”
Profound.
“That is how tea ceremony teaches patience.”
Oh, I see.
I waited quietly. Tea was poured into the cups. The pale green color was beautiful.
Grandmother lifted a teacup to her lips. I watched that carefully too.
So that’s how it’s done.
She was immensely graceful.
Even after a previous life and this one, I had never really understood elegance, but now I felt like I did.
After taking a sip, Grandmother said, “You try.”