The Banner at the Village Gate

The car pulled away before I could get a single word out. All I could do was stare blankly at the empty stretch of road it left behind. What was I supposed to do about that now?

"Engineer Lee Seokhyeon?"

"Ah, sorry. My mind went somewhere else for a second."

"Well. It happens. Shall we head up?"

"Yes."

I stepped into the elevator with the team leader, bound for the office. A meeting was already on the schedule, he told me—yesterday's leak on tool WN-11. The day was starting this early. Watching that, I understood it well enough: an executive director's seat was not a job just anyone could fill.

And as the two of us rode up, the thought would not leave me.

What was that red just now?

The red shimmer I had seen by the car kept ghosting at the edge of my sight. Forget it. In the end I couldn't hold it in, and I spoke.

"Um, Team Leader."

"Yes."

"I have a bad feeling, so—before you get in the car today, would you have it looked over? The right rear wheel, especially."

"...Engineer Lee, you know cars too?"

Not really. No.

"Ahaha. Something like that."

Please forgive me. I had no choice but to say yes.

"If Engineer Lee says so, I ought to trust it. I'll call the driver."

He took out his phone at once and called.

The team leader lowered the phone. I watched him swallow. He had to be rattled.

"Engineer Lee?"

"Yes."

"...How did you know?"

I was no less thrown than he was. The space was tight enough that the voice on the other end of the phone had carried to me, too.

So it was real.

It had only been a red shimmer, but it had looked dangerous all the same. That was the only reason I had said anything—and the tire really had failed.

"Just... a hunch."

I said it with my best poker face on, then offered a small smile. The team leader let out a short breath of a laugh.

"From now on, if it comes from Engineer Lee, I'll have to listen."

"Ah, it's not that serious..."

"No. My eyes have never been wrong."

So we had that in common. Neither have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mine. Ha.

"Thank you."

In any case, I was grateful he saw me in a good light.

I got to the office, read the Inform—the shift handover—and was about to step onto the line.

"Seokhyeon. Don't come on the line today."

Senior Yeongseok stopped me.

What? Senior. Why on earth? Are you abandoning me?

"The deputy manager said you have to sit in on a meeting today. I'll watch the line myself, so don't worry. Go have a good meeting and come back."

"Yes. Understood."

If that was the reason, there was nothing to be done. I had known, more or less. I had already seen the team leader this morning.

WN-11 and WN-15, I bet.

The guess landed exactly. The Yellow Conference Room. I went in with the deputy manager, and as before the room held several section managers, deputy managers, and a department head. The team leader, too.

"Good morning."

I gave the greeting with my back straight and sat.

"Good to see you, Engineer Lee Seokhyeon."

The team leader smiled as he said it. I stood again and bowed.

"Good morning, Team Leader."

"Shall we start, then? WN-11 first."

The projector threw up the slides on WN-11. The scrubber, and the pipe with the hole in it. The place the leak had broken out, and the safety fence set over it. The team leader was the first to speak.

"Fortunately it was handled early, so it never rose to an Environment and Safety issue."

I let out a breath of relief. If it had been raised as an Environment and Safety matter, Senior Yeongseok and I—the ones on shift when it happened—could have been picked apart over nothing. That danger was gone. A relief, at least.

"What we do need to think about, though..."

The team leader issued a string of directives, and everyone wrote them down. Nothing out of the ordinary. Tighter patrols from the Environment and Safety team—about that much?

"Next item... WN-15. The engineer in charge? Walk us through it, please."

At his word I stood, and I gave once more the explanation I had given in the last meeting.

"So—"

"One moment."

Mid-explanation, the team leader raised a hand. I stopped and looked at him.

"How did you know the Temp Controller was the problem?"

"I assumed. I don't have much experience with a trace, so I had no choice but to fix the conclusion first and start the trace from there."

"Mm. You knew by instinct, didn't you?"

Oh. So he means to tease me.

I smiled and nodded. The team leader smiled too. And with that, the meetings on WN-11 and WN-15 were over.

It didn't feel as if we had done much of anything, and already it was time to leave.

Is a day like this even allowed?

A whole day, and all I had done was lap up the honey.

The next day, my mood was good. Because it was one of my rare days off? That was part of it.

Because I got paid.

I opened the mobile banking app. A crisp figure sat on the balance.

Solid as anything. With this, I could buy my parents ten gifts.

...They don't need a whole ten each, do they.

So just one each. Ha. The gift, of course, was thermal underwear. Heattech, the kind that holds warmth well. My parents worked outdoors; it came with the job. A perfect gift for cold like this. Mm-hm.

Should I get them down jackets, too?

Even after the Heattech, plenty of money was left. But they weren't here with me, so I let it pass for now.

I'll bring them later and buy the jackets then.

They would try to refuse, but no parent ever wins against their child. I was going to give them the gift whether they liked it or not. Heh. And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Heattech was not the whole of it. In the other hand sat a gold wrapping cloth.

Now this is the real one.

A gift set from the team leader, after I had handled WN-11. Nothing less than a set of hanwoo—Korea's prized native beef.

I'll eat it with Mom and Dad.

There was far too much to eat alone anyway. Exactly the right amount for a family. Both hands full and generous, I headed home. A good three hours from the company. A country village, the genuine backcountry. This was my hometown.

The cloth of it snapped and fluttered in the wind.

Sure enough. From the village entrance itself, a sight that let you feel the warmth of a country place.

A huge banner, hung at the entrance to the village. My father's name, and mine.

Embarrassing.

As if this were anything so grand. Ha. Still, it felt good. I walked the familiar country road, and a small, well-kept house came into view. This was home. All right. In I go.

"Mom! Dad!"

I called them at the top of my voice. From inside came a clatter of rushing feet, and then my parents burst out in their stocking feet, not even stopping for shoes.

"Aigoo! Seokhyeon! What brings you all the way here!"

"Get inside, quick. It's cold out."

Mom came over and patted my backside again and again. Dad watched from a little way off, hands clasped behind his back, quiet pleasure on his face. Warmth spread through my chest.

"I'm home."

Home. Mom. Dad. Your son had come back with both hands full of gifts.

First came the official presentation of gifts.

"Here."

I handed a set of Heattech to each of them.

"Aigoo! What's all this... you wear it."

"Ahem. Thank you."

Joy filled their faces. And then the last gift, the one that would leave even that joy far behind.

"And this."

I undid the cloth. It almost seemed to give off light. A deep, appetizing red. Beautiful marbling. Grade 1++ hanwoo, the very top.

"Good heavens! What money did you spend on this! Eat it yourself."

"Oh, come on. How could I eat this alone. And I didn't buy it with my money."

"...Did you steal it?"

Mom. What kind of son do you think you have.

"Work gave it to me. Said I'd done well. As a gift."

"Did they? Well, of course they would, for our son. Ho ho."

Mom. I'm wounded.

Anyway. The hanwoo was led off in Mom's hands and settled, with great care, into the refrigerator. Tonight's dinner would be beef.

"So. The work treating you all right?"

Dad asked. I nodded.

"Yeah. It's fun. The people are good, too. Oh—and I think the team leader sees me in a good light."

"Yeah? A team leader. Is that high up?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Yeah. Something like two rungs under the president? Really high."

"Ahem. I see."

He didn't say it, but I could feel satisfaction pass across my father's face. When a child does well out in the world, a parent's spirits can't help but rise.

I'll lift you both so high your shoulders touch the sky.

"So. You leaving tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I don't go in until the day after tomorrow."

"All right. Your room's just as you left it, so go and rest."

"Okay."

I had said enough of what I had been carrying. I picked up my bag and headed for the room. The room I had used up through middle school. High school had been a boarding school, so I had only come home on weekends, and in college I had lived away entirely. Even so, the room had not changed by so much as an inch.

"Hup."

I threw myself onto the bed. Soft bedding welcomed me, a coziness like laundry just done.

Why go to all this trouble.

A little dust, and I would have thought nothing of it. Instead the clean scent of fabric softener tickled the end of my nose.

Sleepy.

Maybe it was the tension letting go. Sleep came for me.

"Son. Get up. Let's eat."

My eyes opened at the voice calling me.

Agh. I went and fell asleep.

I rubbed my eyes and got up off the bed. From beyond the door came the smell of beef cooked just right. My mouth watered on its own.

That's going to be good.

I opened the door and stepped out to a table fully set. It was heaped with produce my parents had grown themselves, and at the center the grade 1++ hanwoo I had brought was grilling beautifully.

"Go on, eat."

"I will. You two eat, too."

"We are. We're eating."

A laugh slipped out of me. Sure. Of course you are. Not a shine of grease at the corners of their mouths, and a mountain of grilled meat besides. You've had plenty, haven't you.

I picked up pieces and pushed them toward Mom's mouth, then Dad's. They turned their heads to dodge, but there was nowhere far to escape. Before long they took the meat, putting on a show of giving in.

"It's good, right?"

"Yeah. It's good."

Only then did I take a piece for myself. Beef, grilled just right.

"Thank you for the meal."

The moment it was in my mouth, the meat was gone. Ah. So this was grade 1++ hanwoo.

Wait. How much of my paycheck is left? I can buy more, can't I?

"Maybe because our boy brought it. Tastes even better."

"Doesn't it, though."

My parents ate, satisfied. The whole family, gathered in one place for the first time in a long while.

This is nice.

Sitting alone in a studio with a beer and a bag of Brand X's extra-crispy crunch was fine, too. Having the whole family together like this was a hundred times better. I could even run my mouth the way you never can alone. The night deepened around our noise. So this, I thought, was the taste you worked for.