Chapter 159: DATE
The setting of this novel is a parallel-dimension Earth.
February 14th, America — Bel Air mansion, Los Angeles.
American time: 2:00 PM (Korean time: 6:00 AM on the 15th)
Sujeong had arrived in America a few days earlier and had already received counseling at Emma’s clinic. Kate had sat in on the detailed psychological evaluation as well, and Sujeong was currently feeling relieved by the verdict that, aside from the trigger having been pulled, no particular abnormalities had been found.
She and Kate had unfolded lounge chairs by the pool at the home of a woman named Anna and were sitting side by side in their swimsuits, sipping drinks.
“Sujeong, when are you planning to head back to Korea?”
“Hmm… Course registration and all that. I might skip orientation, but I want to make the new-student festival. I’m thinking around the eighteenth.”
“Well, we’re both sophomores. No real need for either of us to hit both orientation and the festival…”
Sip. Sip.
After a mouthful of the lightly spiked drink, the simple pleasure of sinking into a heated chair. Even though it was winter, the air wasn’t particularly cold.
Curiosity about Anna—who lived in a mansion this size in Bel Air, one of LA’s premier wealthy enclaves—began to rise.
Steam drifted up from the pool as if to prove the water was warm, wrapping Sujeong’s body in heat.
Splash… splash…
“Kate, did you ask what Anna actually does?”
Right in front of them, the East Asian beauty who had introduced herself as Anna Cho—the owner of the mansion—was laughing and swimming with a blonde beauty. She looked to be in her late twenties, and Sujeong had liked her far too much from the start.
“She used to run a celebrity management company, but she liquidated everything last month. That woman Rachel over there is a lawyer; they worked together, apparently.”
Kate leaned in and whispered against her ear.
Anna, who had built herself a same-sex harem in America. Over the past two days Sujeong had met the psychiatrist Emma, the Rachel now in front of her, and even the rising Hollywood actress Jessica Hudson—all under this roof. A woman who ordered these extraordinary beauties around as if they were slaves. She had even cleaned house in a major way because she was returning to her homeland; the ones left behind were Emma, Rachel, and Jessica. That women of that caliber would abandon even their livelihoods to follow her…
“Hmm. Did you ask what country she’s from?”
“No. Emma wouldn’t say. Privacy.”
Emma. Counseling sessions with her always brought a sense of comfort. The problem was that receiving that counseling required coming all the way to LA—and yesterday Emma had dropped a bombshell.
“So you really don’t know where Emma’s going?”
“Yeah. They’re all following Anna back to her home country… even Jessica. She said she’d get in touch once they settle, so I guess we just wait.”
Given the surname Cho, the odds she was Korean—Cho or Jo—were high. Then again, just as there were Lees in England, Cho existed abroad as well.
“She’s Korean, right?”
“Hmm… I can’t really tell Japanese from Chinese, but looking at the surname and her English accent, she’s a lot like you. Korean-American, most likely.”
Just then Anna waved once and began kissing Rachel in the pool. Her subtle advances. After Emma’s explanation, though, she only ever tempted them playfully like this—never crossing the line. What was certain was that Anna occupied the male position and the other women the female one. Everyone obeyed her absolutely; the atmosphere was one of doing whatever she touched or told them to do.
Ever since the trigger had been pulled, neither Kate nor Sujeong herself had eyes for any other man or woman. Even the affection Kate had been slowly turning toward her could be felt flowing instead toward Ian—whose face she had never even seen. Sometimes it gave her chills, knowing that kind of brainwashing existed.
“Sujeong. That guy Ian… are you going to meet him the moment you get back?”
“I have to. And once school starts we’ll run into each other anyway.”
Sujeong felt a fresh twinge of guilt toward Kate, but Kate only reassured her that it was fine.
At that moment the two women climbed out of the pool, wrapped themselves in robes, and settled in: Anna on the lounge beside Sujeong, Rachel on the one beside Kate, both leaning back.
“Do you like the house?”
“Yes. I’m so grateful you’re letting us stay somewhere like this.”
She could see perfectly well why Hollywood stars preferred this neighborhood. The residents all carried an air of leisure and generosity, and because the streets followed the foothills the scenery was beautiful as well. It wasn’t the ocean, but even the view overlooking Stone Canyon Reservoir… A place with both mountains and water. If she ever settled somewhere, she would want a neighborhood like this.
“Hmm… you said you were Emma’s high-school junior?”
“Yes.”
Eyes full of affection. Sujeong thought that if she still had a mother, she might look at her with eyes like that. From the depth of that gaze she didn’t believe the woman was only in her late twenties.
“You’ve been through a lot. And don’t worry too much about Emma.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m an American citizen now, but I was Korean until I was twenty-six. If I’m going back, it has to be Korea. And you said you go to Yeonseo University?”
A deep wave of relief washed over Sujeong; she nodded. Anna continued.
“I’m sick of my hometown, so I was thinking of settling in Yeonhui-dong. Taking Emma, Jessica, and Rachel with me and living happily. Becoming a family legally.”
“Ah!! So you’re planning to get married?”
Anna gave a soft laugh and reached out to stroke Sujeong’s hair. Warm eyes, a touch that felt maternal; Sujeong was moved and let her head rest under that hand.
“That’s one reason. And one thing and another…”
They traded questions and answers for a while. Anna never revealed her exact age, but Sujeong learned that she had come to America, worked as a celebrity manager, and made a great deal of money.
“Then when you go back to Korea, are you just going to take it easy?”
“Hmm. Still deciding. Jessica will only be in America when she has shoots anyway, so I might open a simple one-person agency again.”
Sujeong thought of the rising Hollywood star Jessica. How startled she had been yesterday seeing the actress stroll around completely naked. Born in Venezuela, she had already starred in two hits and firmly established herself as a lead with a guaranteed future.
“Ah!!! Then Rachel unnie and Emma seonsaengnim…”
“Rachel’s pursuing her international-lawyer track, so it’s fine. And Korea and America have a medical agreement; Emma can open a practice after just a simple test in Korea.”
“Then… shall I introduce you to my cousin?”
Sujeong thought of Min-jeong, her eldest uncle’s daughter. On her father’s side as well, after her parents’ deaths the relationship had grown distant. That had been her maternal uncle Park Yong-ho’s doing, but the estrangement was already too deep to mend, and she no longer felt the need. Among her cousins, though, Min-jeong was different; they had met for coffee both while Sujeong was in America and after returning to Korea, quietly keeping the bond alive. She pictured the top star of the Korean entertainment world.
“Hm? Who is it? Someone famous?”
“Kwon Min-jeong. In Korea she’s…”
“Ah!!! Min-jeong… I saw her once when she came to LA for a shoot. You’re her cousin?”
“Yes. Shall I arrange a meeting?”
Anna simply smiled and nodded. Then, with a strange little smile, she fixed Sujeong with a piercing look.
“All right, thank you. I don’t know the Korean industry well. By the way—you know Min-jeong’s tendencies, right?”
“Pardon?… Ah!!! Homosexuality…”
“Yeah. How sticky her eyes got looking at me from that side… Once we confirmed we had the same leanings, though, she backed off like a gentleman.”
Sujeong thought of her cousin. A few years earlier, despite the family’s opposition, Min-jeong had come out and turned the household upside down. And roughly six years ago she had even introduced the then-rising star Go Hye-rim as her lover—another shock. Sujeong thought she understood the “tendency” Anna meant.
“That… dominating?”
“Exactly. Both she and I like women, but it’s beyond simply liking them—we have to dominate. She brought that Hye-rim along back then, but it didn’t last. Hye-rim had the same streak.”
“Ah!! Yes. They dated about a year and broke up. With Hye-rim unnie. Last week I heard she’s seeing a married woman now, and that one’s in the middle of a divorce too.”
“Tsk… Getting involved with someone who already has an owner is asking for trouble… Just how charming is this new woman that Min-jeong would take a risk like that?”
They kept talking around the shared topic of her cousin. Anna herself was quite clean about it—she claimed no homosexual leanings—so even when she approached playfully she never crossed the line.
“But if you naturalize, your Korean name…”
“You want me to tell you my real name? Heh. That’s a secret… I’ll keep using Anna. I didn’t have many good memories in Korea. And Anna doesn’t stand out that much even there.”
With languid eyes she took another sip of the cool cocktail and sank deeper into the lounge. Despite the air of experience, even to Sujeong’s Korean eyes she looked mid-to-late twenties. And more beautiful than anyone she had ever seen; Hye-yun came to mind, yet Anna might even surpass her.
“So—the man who pulled the trigger. Does he seem trustworthy?”
“Yes… He seemed like a good person. Every one of his women looked happy. My last condition was a man who could hold out for at least a day even if I was naked, and he passed that too.”
“Oh? He saw your body and still held back?”
Before Emma mentioned they were from the same school, Anna herself had looked at Sujeong with extremely sticky eyes in the bath. Perhaps that was why she now seemed to be giving Ian a positive evaluation, eyes full of admiration.
“Oh my!! If he’s that kind of man, I should warn Emma to be careful.”
“Pardon?… Why?”
She didn’t know Emma’s trigger condition. Since Emma had cautioned them to keep everything secret, she would have managed her own thoroughly. At the last session Emma had said that next time, if possible, she would bring Ian along—yet Anna’s words left Sujeong momentarily flustered.
“Emma is easy if she’s easy, difficult if she’s difficult, but somehow I have a bad feeling. The feeling that the moment she meets your man she’ll fall right over.”
“Ah… Yes.”
“Hohoho. I’m not that easy, so don’t make that face. And when did you say you’re going back?”
“I booked a flight for the eighteenth. But unnie and Emma seonsaengnim?”
“Early March for us. Jessica still has some filming left, so we’ll wait and go together.”
Relief settled in. She was returning to her homeland soon, and until now she hadn’t known when or where Emma was headed. Knowing Emma would arrive in Korea in early March felt good; the Anna in front of her also carried a strange familiarity, and Sujeong found she wanted to see her often.
“But is Jessica okay with it? Living in Korea, and if the marriage ever comes out…”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry. Korea and America have more agreements than you’d expect; the bigamy-information-protection law works over here too. It’s a fine rather than jail time, of course, but the amount is something neither reporters nor media companies can ignore.”
“Ah!! But why didn’t I know that?”
“Plenty of American upper-class types hold dual Korean citizenship. Heh…”
Anna laughed as if the whole thing amused her and drank her cocktail. The moment she mentioned dual Korean citizenship among the American elite, every piece clicked into place. Exactly the same as Korean chaebols and politicians.
“Then… celebrities too?”
“Shh!!! You know this is dangerous, right? Yeah. Just like Jessica becoming my concubine, there are plenty of women who will become—or already are—concubines. If there’s no marriage news by forty or fifty, almost ninety percent are already someone’s concubine. Fun, isn’t it?”
Ah… it’s the same here too. Exactly what Min-jeong unnie told me…
“Why? Disappointed because it’s just like Korea?”
“Th… No. Not disappointment, exactly. It’s just too similar to the reality of Korean celebrities that Min-jeong unnie described. She said if there’s no marriage news past forty, ninety-nine percent are concubines of chaebols or politicians.”
“Yeah. There or here. Looking at it that way, the Americans are craftier. They abuse the dual citizenship that’s handed out so easily because we’re allies. But keep this in mind: America gets the protection of the bigamy law, yet it’s still monogamous at the root. They can only play the wife in Korea. Maybe it’s even more miserable for the concubines of Americans who actually live in America.”
Well… if Ian-ssi marries me I’ll be the official wife, and my life is based in Korea, so it doesn’t matter.
“That makes sense… In a way, it’s pitiful.”
Anna nodded.