Jeju (1)
“Jain, long time no see.”
“Yes. Miki, it’s been a while.”
“Please, have a seat.”
Miki Ho offered Seong Ha-yeong a place to sit, and she took the seat beside Kang-hae.
“I was a little disappointed when I thought it was only going to be a meeting with Jain, but fortunately Kang-hae here helped make time in the schedule.”
Seong Ha-yeong managed an awkward smile, and Kang-hae gave one back just as stiffly.
“Then let’s eat first. The chef here is quite famous.”
Miki Ho called over a waiter and ordered the meal.
A little while later, the dishes were brought into the private room, and course after course arrived: appetizers that whetted the appetite, soup, seafood, meat, tofu, the main meal, and dessert.
The food was flawless, beyond criticism.
But Seong Ha-yeong had no appetite.
So instead of eating, she focused on talking with Miki Ho.
“What brings you to Korea?”
“Do you two know a company called Oasis Group?”
Oasis Group was a domestic company that operated foreigner-only casinos, luxury hotels, and resorts.
It ran five-star hotels and resorts with foreigner-only casinos in Seoul, Incheon, Busan, and Jeju.
Kang-hae didn’t know much about it, but Seong Ha-yeong had used the Oasis hotels in Incheon and Seoul before.
Miki Ho went on.
“Oasis Group is preparing to expand overseas. They’re already building a resort with a casino in Clark, the Philippines, and they’d also like to enter Hong Kong. That’s why I came here for meetings.”
“I see.”
“We have a meeting tonight. Would you two care to join us? It’s called a meeting, but really it’s just a light drink together. Don’t feel pressured.”
“No, that’s all right.”
“I’m fine too.”
Both Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong declined Miki Ho’s offer.
“Haha. What a shame. I wanted to introduce you two.”
Miki Ho looked genuinely regretful.
After that, the conversation drifted into casual matters, and the meal came to an end.
“So then, are you two going on a date now? I hear Jeju has plenty to eat and plenty to see.”
“……”
“……”
At Miki Ho’s words, Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong both flushed red.
“Haha. I’m joking. I know you’re coworkers. I’ve already arranged separate rooms for the two of you. The staff outside will escort you there.”
With that, Miki Ho rose from his seat.
Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong followed him out of the restaurant.
Outside, Miki Ho’s security team was waiting, and one of them was the same man Kang-hae had seen in Macau.
“Ah, I’m late with introductions. This is Victor Lam. I believe both of you have seen him in Macau.”
Miki Ho introduced Victor Lam to Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong.
Victor Lam gave them a short nod and a quiet look of greeting.
“Then I suppose the two of you already know Victor. He’s ex-special forces, just like Kang-hae.”
Kang-hae had never told anyone he was from special forces, but there had been the matter of killing Byeon Dong-jin in Macau and asking Miki Ho to clean up afterward, and there had also been the time he asked for weapons before boarding the ship to North Korea.
Anyone who knew those facts could guess Kang-hae had special operations training.
Kang-hae shook Victor Lam’s hand and appraised him.
Victor Lam had a sturdy build and a hard, disciplined look. His dark skin and blunt nose made him seem less like a typical Han Chinese and more like a mixed-race man.
“I’d like a word with Mr. Victor Lam for a moment.”
“……?”
Victor Lam looked at Miki Ho as if asking permission, and Miki Ho nodded.
Kang-hae led Victor Lam a little way from the others.
“How long have you been working for Miki Ho?”
“It’s been five years this year.”
“Where were you stationed before that?”
“I worked for the Malaysian Royal Guard team.”
“Then you’re from GGK(Malaysian Army Special Forces)?”
Victor Lam nodded.
But perhaps because he thought he was being interrogated, his expression wasn’t very pleasant.
“What is this about?”
Victor Lam asked bluntly, and Kang-hae repeated the warning he’d heard from Lin Xiaojing.
At Kang-hae’s words, Victor Lam’s face hardened like stone.
“Are you certain?”
“I can’t be certain, but caution is necessary.”
“Understood.”
Kang-hae returned to where Miki Ho and Seong Ha-yeong were waiting.
“Haha. I’m curious what a real man-to-man conversation was about.”
Miki Ho said that, then shook Kang-hae’s hand once more before leaving with a man who appeared to be a hotel staff member.
Seong Ha-yeong was curious too, but she didn’t ask.
An awkward silence settled between her and Kang-hae.
Then the hotel manager appeared.
“I’ll escort the two of you to your rooms.”
Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong took the elevator with him.
Their rooms were on the twelfth floor, the very top of the hotel, and both were suites.
They were right next to each other.
“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call.”
The manager handed them their key cards and disappeared back into the elevator.
Seong Ha-yeong hurried toward her room.
“Uh, Ha-yeong.”
But Kang-hae stopped her.
“Yes?”
“What are you doing tonight?”
“I’m going to rest at the hotel, then meet a friend for dinner.”
She had planned to see a friend who lived in Jeju.
“A friend?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Would it be all right if I came too?”
“……?”
“Well—”
“……?”
For a moment, Kang-hae considered bringing up what Lin Xiaojing had told him.
But he thought that would only make Seong Ha-yeong anxious.
So in the end, he chose a different excuse.
“This is my first time in Jeju.”
Seong Ha-yeong was taken aback.
“My friend isn’t very comfortable around strangers.”
With that, she refused his suggestion.
Then she went into her room.
The moment the door shut, she muttered to herself in an irritated voice.
“Why is he like this? He’s just confusing people……”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
That evening.
At a window seat in a sashimi restaurant overlooking Jeju’s blue sea, Seong Ha-yeong clinked glasses with her friend Kim Min-ji.
“Cheers~!”
Kim Min-ji had been friends with Seong Ha-yeong since private kindergarten, and they had stayed together through elementary and middle school.
She wasn’t from as wealthy a family as Ha-yeong, but her father ran a major plastic surgery clinic in Gangnam and was its director.
She had grown up without lacking anything.
After three failed attempts, she finally entered a medical school in Seoul, and everyone assumed she would inherit her father’s hospital.
But she didn’t.
Even before graduating, she had been worn down by pressure from her family to get married.
The man in question was the son of an influential political family.
The problem was that Kim Min-ji already had a boyfriend at the time.
Her parents didn’t care.
In the end, Kim Min-ji severed ties with her family, came down to Jeju, and opened a dermatology clinic.
“Seong Ha-yeong, when everyone was telling you to come down here, you didn’t even show your face, and now all of a sudden what wind blew you this way?”
“I came because I missed you.”
“You sent me nothing but a single potted plant when I opened the clinic. Hmph.”
“Aw, come on. I was busy.”
“Whatever. Just eat some sashimi, you brat.”
Kim Min-ji laid some sashimi onto the plate in front of Seong Ha-yeong, and Seong Ha-yeong ate the wild daebangiri—a prized local catch.
Its fresh, springy texture was superb.
And it called for alcohol all on its own.
“Ha-yeong, how have you been lately?”
“I’m still a civil servant. What else?”
“You really are something else.”
“How so?”
“I mean, if you just grit your teeth and stay under your grandfather, that old man would probably take care of everything for you.”
“Excuse me, Ms. Kim Min-ji.”
“……?”
“That’s not really something the only daughter of a hospital director who owns three buildings in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam, should be saying.”
“Hahaha.”
The two women laughed at each other, then clinked glasses again.
Before long, empty bottles of soju began stacking up one by one on the table, and Seong Ha-yeong’s cheeks and ears had turned red.
“So, Ha-yeong, are you seeing anyone these days?”
“No.”
“Then is there a guy you’re sort of seeing?”
“Sort of seeing?”
“Yeah, some kind of thing.”
“Well……”
The moment Seong Ha-yeong heard the word, she thought of Kang-hae, and hesitated.
“What? You do, don’t you? You must. There’s no way you don’t.”
“Enough. Just drink.”
“Enough, my ass. Spill it to your older sister.”
“I thought it was a thing, but I was the only one thinking that.”
“No way. Did you get played? You, Seong Ha-yeong?”
“……”
Kim Min-ji knew that since childhood, Seong Ha-yeong had been confessed to by countless men, and she had never once seen her cling to a man or shed tears over one.
But Seong Ha-yeong had gotten played like that……?
It was unbelievable.
And when Seong Ha-yeong heard the word “played,” her expression stiffened.
She hated to admit it, but the circumstances did make it seem that way, and when she remembered the way Kang-hae had asked if he could come with her before they arrived here, anger rose in her chest.
Na Kang-hae, you bastard……! You were trying to play me again!
Seong Ha-yeong took another long drink, and Kim Min-ji kept firing questions at her without pause.
“What kind of guy is he?”
“A coworker.”
“What does he look like?!”
“Well, not bad.”
“You, of all people, saying even Kang Dong-won would be, ‘Yeah, not bad’—and that’s all you’ve got? How handsome is he, then?”
“He’s not exactly the flower-boy type, but he’s masculine, and he’s got that youthful look too. But his eyes…… Ah, forget it! It’s over anyway. Let’s talk about something else.”
“So you confessed?”
“……”
Seong Ha-yeong thought she had said something close enough to a confession.
At that café where Kang-hae had said he was going to leave the National Security Office.
But strictly speaking, maybe it hadn’t been a confession after all.
“What? Don’t tell me you’re the only one who likes him, the only one getting hurt, the only one doing all that crap?”
“I’m not, okay?!”
Seong Ha-yeong snapped, and Kim Min-ji kept going.
“Oh, it is. You’re playing the tragic heroine all by yourself right now.”
“Hey. I told you, that’s not it! That bastard was the one who drew the line first!”
“Listen, Seong Ha-yeong. When you’re driving, do you only ever stick to the left lane?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Honestly, you idiot. If you’re in a hurry, you change lanes even in a tunnel. You should’ve made the first move!”
“……”
And at that same moment, in a café in the building next to the sashimi restaurant where Seong Ha-yeong sat, Kang-hae was drinking coffee and eavesdropping on her conversation with her friend.
While dining with Miki Ho, he had planted a GPS device and a small listening bug inside Seong Ha-yeong’s clutch bag.
Just in case something happened, like a kidnapping.
And in the process, he had unintentionally ended up hearing her talk about him as well.
For some reason, it was embarrassing.
More than that, he felt an unfairness that burned even hotter.
Still, isn’t saying I played her a little much……?
With that thought, Kang-hae waited for Seong Ha-yeong’s drinking session to end.
Her night with Kim Min-ji went on late into the dark hours.
It was past midnight by the time Seong Ha-yeong took a taxi back to the hotel.
And Kang-hae followed behind her without her noticing, guarding her as she moved through the night.
Thus the first day in Jeju passed.