Gu Yeonsu
I couldn't hold back my laughter, but Yoonchae was serious in her own way. Nodding, I said,
"Alright... Then I understand... That should do it, right?"
"If you find the candidate suitable."
Myeongsuk rose in my mind. In the end she was the one who chose the people; I was merely performing the formality—that much was certain. And so that these candidates would not take me lightly, and for the sake of the reverence our team always spoke of, Yoonchae had given them prior coaching.
The phone rang then, and Yoonchae left the room once more. It was Myeongsuk.
"Did you like the first candidate? She seemed quite taken with you."
"Taken with me?"
"Yes. She said Jisin-nim had decided to back her."
I let out a hollow laugh. The woman had been pretty enough, yet she had struck me as a little slow—and that impression seemed to have been correct.
"Since she's someone Myeongsuk selected, as long as there's no particular problem, I approve as well."
After a brief silence Myeongsuk spoke again.
"The Seongyodan answers directly to Jisin-nim. From now on you'll need to look after them a great deal and encourage them. I'll create as many opportunities as I can. Treat them well and they'll work that much harder."
I agreed and hung up. Myeongsuk kept stressing closeness with them. Inwardly I too hoped they would run hard for us, and I felt grateful to those who would do so.
I looked at the second applicant's file lying there. Gu Yeonsu. A forty-two-year-old licensed real estate broker. Ordinary brokers handled property sales in a single neighborhood, but this woman operated across the entire capital region. She kept an office of an entirely different order from the neighborhood realtor shops people usually pictured. She employed several staff and mainly dealt in new apartment and office construction sales and redevelopment projects throughout the capital area. Through real estate auctions and the like she had amassed considerable wealth and maintained solid connections among the upper class as well.
Thinking that was about right, I tossed the file aside and was glancing at my phone when the internal line from Myeongsuk came through. She relayed that the candidate had arrived. I straightened my posture and sat. To play the part of a leisurely cult leader I lounged at a slight angle and waited. As expected, after a knock Yoonchae entered first to announce the next candidate's arrival.
The woman who followed Yoonchae in was nothing like the first candidate, Ryu Minhwa. She walked in naked yet with a certain poise. Her body was a touch slimmer than average, but given her age the elasticity of her skin fell short of a younger woman's. Still, her hairstyle and makeup suggested she took care of herself. The most striking detail was that she had no pubic hair at all. Whether she had waxed it or been born without it I could not tell, but not a single strand remained.
She wore gold-rimmed glasses with very small lenses, and her eyes were far from ordinary. After Yoonchae withdrew, the woman walked to the center of the room where the chair stood. Her breasts were not particularly large, yet the overall lines of her body were still present. With confident strides she approached the chair and sat.
Honestly, her looks, her gaze, and that boldness left me a little cowed. With an expressionless face the woman spoke.
"My name is Gu Yeonsu. I run a real estate brokerage."
Her voice carried both composure and confidence.
"Not long ago, at Go Myeongsuk's recommendation, I attended a gathering of Cheonsiman-gyo for the first time. And again at Go Myeongsuk's recommendation I applied to the Seongyodan."
She appealed that her sphere of activity covered the entire capital region, giving her numerous connections and influence. She went on about how her business differed from ordinary real estate agents. I was not really listening. I felt slightly pressed by her strong presence and intimidated by her confident demeanor. Of course I was trying not to let it show.
When she finished, the woman stared straight at my face, waiting for my reaction. I sank into thought. This woman seemed never to have lowered herself before others. That was why she was making such an effort to appear even more assured, and why she had spent so much time explaining how remarkable she was.
It was strange that someone like that would endure being completely naked simply to meet me. A person this proud and arrogant would normally have rejected such a demand outright. Yet if she was here in this situation, she must clearly have something she needed. There had to be a reason she wanted to cling to us even like this.
Even so she showed no sign of it and instead radiated an aura that tried to overpower me. I pulled myself together and looked at her squarely. She sat looking right back at me. I had met this sort of thing often enough. When I went to speak at certain gatherings there would be people sitting with cynical faces, walls around their hearts, as if to say, "Go on, try me." But those were precisely the people whose walls, once they crumbled, collapsed without end.
In a low voice I said,
"So...?"
At my unexpected remark her eyes widened.
"Pardon?"
"You seem to have outstanding connections, a thriving business, and quite a bit of wealth. Why do you want to join the Seongyodan?"
I had grown used to speaking casually to people by now, and I no longer cared about it in the slightest. Especially in a situation like this, it was effective for seizing the initiative.
"I received a request from Go Myeongsuk."
This woman did not use the title "Seonja." That meant she was the type accustomed to standing on her pride and overpowering others.
"Just because you received a request?"
She seemed a little flustered, as if this lay outside her expectations. Clearly she had thought I would come out with something like "Well, thank you." Moreover, as her background suggested, she carried the attitude that she would be doing me a favor by "personally" helping with the missionary work of a small religious group like ours. In any other situation I would have been the one bowing my head first and asking for her help. At any rate, if she kept her walls up like this she would not be of much use to us going forward, and later we might end up being led around by her.
She could not answer my question. Shifting my posture a little, I said,
"I'll accept your good intentions with gratitude. Passing on the good memories you've gained through our gatherings to others is your own heart's desire, but it doesn't seem we'll need the kind of help that would come under the name of the Seongyodan."
She was clearly bewildered by this unexpected turn, though she was straining not to show it. Leaning my head forward, I said,
"Rather than that, I want to hear about you."
I looked straight into her eyes. The woman who had been glaring at me as if locked in a staring contest flinched. In the softest voice I could manage I said,
"Aren't you tired?"
"What?"
Her venomous expression wavered slightly.
"You seem to run your business on a grand scale, but life never flows the way people plan, does it? You must have had a hard time. Especially as a woman, fighting against this harsh world—hasn't it been exhausting? Dealing with people who raise their voices and come at you just to protect their own interests—hasn't that worn you down?"
The confidence and arrogance she had worn when she entered the room were now softening on her face. Even saying the same things, I had a talent for making my words sink straight into a person's ears. I was certain that every single word of mine was lodging in this woman's ears right now.
"Coming to our gathering in the first place—wasn't it because you wanted to breathe a little? You've endured steadfastly because everyone leans on you, but at some point didn't you start wanting to rest, to lean on someone yourself?"
Her expression twisted. I felt it was time. Slowly I rose from my seat. Crossing past the table, I approached the woman sitting alone in the middle of the room. She could no longer hide her contorted expression as her gaze followed my movements. I went to her side and slowly bent down to take her hand. It was different from a young woman's hand, and very cold. Realizing she too must have been tense, I felt a strange emotion.
"Rather than worrying about our work, I would rather you rest more. If I can become that resting place for you, I would be more grateful than anything."
A small tremor ran through the hand I was holding.
"I will always be here. When you are weary and exhausted, I will be your shade and your shelter in this place. Even if you betray me, I will not hate you, and I will pray for your happiness. Why else would we be Cheonsiman? This is a place where all the people of this world can rest their hearts. So don't carry the burden of missionary work or anything of the sort. I simply want you to come here and rest."