Chapter 28: The Video Room
Chapter 28: The Video Room
Video Room
Weekends fly by in an instant.
I feel this way every time, but it was especially true this time.
“Wow! Is this a Korean palace?”
“Yes. It’s a palace from the Joseon Dynasty that stood for 500 years.”
I toured Seoul with Ellie.
I think we only spent a moment at Gyeongbok Palace.
To be honest, it was my first time visiting Gyeongbok Palace, even though I live in Seoul.
“What kind of place is Dongdaemun?”
“I don’t know much about its ancient history. But I heard it has a huge clothing market, so merchants used to come from all over the country to buy things. Now there are big shopping malls, and Chinese buyers come to purchase clothes wholesale.”
I feel like we only saw Dongdaemun and the Han River Park for a couple of seconds.
The only scene I remember is the Han River flowing and us walking beside it for a bit.
How did Saturday already pass and become Sunday evening?
“When are you scheduled to go back to New York?”
“Monday, 7 AM.”
“So soon?”
“I’d like to stay longer, but I didn’t want to be a burden, so I booked a short trip. And I have to get ready for my new job.”
“So you came all this way despite being so busy.”
Ellie had to catch a flight to New York on Monday morning.
Since it was her first real job, it was probably best for her to arrive a few days early to prepare.
‘I have a sudden urge to just buy JP Morgan.’
The world’s largest financial company. Its market capitalization was 370 billion dollars.
Not a chance with my fortune, though.
‘The world of finance really is immense.’
The more I studied economics, the more amazed I was.
I worked hard at Arcor and earned about 3.6 million won a month.
It wasn’t as much as a major corporation, but it was a pretty high salary, and with my extensive experience in part-time jobs, I thought I had a good grasp of the value of money.
‘I guess the world of money was bigger than I ever knew.’
The global bond market is said to be worth 119 trillion dollars, 100 times South Korea’s GDP.
Where did all that money gather from, and where did it go?
‘Working at JP Morgan, she’ll get to see and learn so much.’
I realized just how big of a market Ellie was stepping into.
Investing in New York, the center of the global economy, would bring her tremendous experience and growth.
“Seoul seems to have so many tourists.”
Myeong-dong was bustling with foreign tourists.
Since it was evening, street vendors were set up in the middle of the road.
From sweet sugar-coated fruits to chicken skewers, assorted grilled sausages, grilled octopus skewers, seafood pancakes, cucumber skewers, gimbap, japchae, grilled eel, jajangmyeon, fruit juice, and ice cream.
You could eat countless kinds of food to suit any taste.
Maybe because I grew up poor, I’ve always enjoyed street food.
“Myeong-dong is a must-see course for any tourist coming to Seoul.”
“I see. What’s famous here?”
Honestly, even living in Seoul, I rarely had a reason to come to Myeong-dong.
“Myeongdong Cathedral? The food? The dumplings? I’m not really sure why foreign tourists come to Myeong-dong.”
Maybe Myeong-dong only became famous because foreign tourists started coming here.
Eating dumplings and walking through Myeong-dong with Ellie was wonderful.
“I’d like to come here again. It will probably be even more developed by then, right?”
“Yeah. It’ll be even cooler. Myeong-dong has the most expensive land in all of Korea.”
“Commercial districts change over time, but I don’t think Myeong-dong will ever fail.”
“Yeah. For Myeong-dong to fail…”
I thought about it for a moment.
Just what kind of crisis would it take for Myeong-dong, where land costs hundreds of millions of won for just a few square yards, to possibly fail?
“Myeong-dong’s business is driven by foreigners. If the flow of foreign visitors from around the world stopped, it could fail.”
“I don’t think that would ever happen.”
“You’re probably right.”
As we walked around Myeong-dong, Ellie pointed to a sign on a building.
“Video? Is that a movie theater?”
“A video room?”
I’d been to one back when I was dating Han Chae-won. It was a bit awkward to explain what it was.
“Adults… well, teenagers sneak in too. You can watch a movie inside, just the two of you.”
“A private movie theater?”
“Not exactly. You can lie down and watch a movie. It’s not necessarily a seedy place, but… um.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I figured an explanation wasn’t necessary.
“Want to check it out?”
“I’d love to.”
We went into the video room and picked out a DVD.
While browsing through movies we hadn’t seen, Ellie found a DVD of the movie *Contagion*.
“I want to watch this.”
“The cast is Matt Damon? Gwyneth Paltrow? When did a movie like this come out?”
You can’t go wrong picking a movie based on the actors alone.
I couldn’t even count how many times I’d watched the Bourne series starring Matt Damon.
“Judging by the cover, it’s a movie about a pandemic.”
“The movie looks interesting. And you invest in pharmaceutical companies, don’t you, Shin?”
With a bit of curiosity, I handed the DVD to the part-timer.
“Room 15.”
For some reason, I felt like the part-timer was looking at me with eyes full of envy because of Ellie.
We went into the small video room and lay down close together on the bed.
“Aha. So this is what it’s like. No wonder you couldn’t explain it right away. It is private.”
“Yeah. Though it’s a bit dark.”
“This is a really interesting place. But I feel like it would be weird unless you came here with your partner.”
Honestly, I wasn’t very interested in the movie.
Now that my inhibitions were gone, my mind was filled with thoughts of touching Ellie.
But she was watching the screen so intently that I didn’t want to disturb her.
‘We can do that at home. People might hear us here.’
The movie was interesting.
It began with Gwyneth Paltrow returning from a trip, falling ill, and dying.
The infectious disease she brought with her spreads, people collapse, and fear spreads through the media and the internet.
It showed how quickly a pandemic could infect the world and cause tremendous damage.
It also depicted how people and society might respond.
Although I was a salesman, I watched the movie through the lens of my experience working at a pharmaceutical company.
‘Could something like that really happen?’
A pandemic.
A global pandemic with no cure, happening in this day and age.
The emergence of various strains, the increasing speed of the virus’s spread.
I didn’t have any expert knowledge of infectious diseases, but it didn’t seem impossible.
I remembered something shocking I once saw at a large general hospital.
I saw a young child, their hair cut short from chemotherapy, clinging to their mother and crying.
“Mommy, I want to go home. Let’s go home. Please? Please? Mommy, please!”
The utterly devastated look on the mother’s face.
If a pandemic were to break out, it wouldn’t be strange to see Myeong-dong completely empty, just like the desolate street scenes in the movie.
Reality would be even worse. We would have to watch sick children collapse and cry out in pain.
* * *
Kwon Hyeok-tae, the video room part-timer, was stunned the moment Kim Shin and Ellie walked into the shop.
‘A woman that beautiful?’
He saw many customers at the video room, but her beauty was something he would remember for the rest of his life.
‘Some people are stuck working part-time, while that guy gets to be with a blonde beauty...’
Jealousy boiled inside him.
Anger flared.
“I want to watch this.”
“The cast is Matt Damon? Gwyneth Paltrow? When did a movie like this come out?”
Kim Shin and Ellie chose their movie and went into Room 15.
Until that moment, Kwon Hyeok-tae had little interest in the movie itself.
A good number of the customers who came to the video room weren’t there to watch movies.
‘Lucky bastard. I’m so jealous.’
Kwon Hyeok-tae grabbed a rag and, on his way to clean another room, peeked into Room 15.
The room wasn’t completely obscured, so he could see a little inside. He had been expecting a very hot and heavy scene.
‘They’re just watching the movie?’
He checked again after thirty minutes, then an hour, but the two were still lying there quietly, watching the movie.
‘What on earth is that movie?’
* * *
As the movie ended and the credits rolled, Ellie asked.
“What did you think of the movie?”
“It was interesting. It gave me a lot to think about.”
“Like what?”
“What would happen if a pandemic like that occurred in real life.”
“If something like that really happened, the stock and bond markets could completely collapse.”
“I suppose so. But even if a dangerous pandemic spread, the medical community would step up. There are always people trying to cure any disease.”
Ellie snuggled into my arms.
“Your expression and your voice just now were so cool.”
I felt like a researcher developing a new drug at a pharmaceutical company.
Even though I’m just a salesman.
In any case, I didn’t make a move on Ellie in the video room.
But back at home, I could touch her to my heart’s content.
Ellie was even more passionate and responsive than on the first night.
And early the next morning, I saw her off at the departure gate of Incheon Airport.
“I have to go now.”
“Have a safe flight. Call me later.”
We drew the attention of everyone around us by sharing several deep kisses.
Ellie looked back several times, waving. And just like that, she was gone.
* * *
I went straight to the office from Incheon Airport and started on some paperwork.
‘I feel alone again. They say you can be lonely even when you’re married. I guess I understand that now.’
I looked over strategically affiliated companies and business partners to see if any were worth investing in.
A little earlier than usual, around 10 AM, I went up to the rooftop.
Team Leader An and Team Leader Seo were already there on their break. They were getting occasional calls from employees making their rounds in the Seoul area.
“Assistant Manager Kim, have a good weekend?”
“Yes, I did. And, I believe I need to officially give you this, Team Leader.”
I took the resignation letter from my inner jacket pocket and handed it to him.
I had told him over the phone, but I felt I should still follow the proper procedure.
I had looked up how to write a resignation letter online and personally wrote a polite and formal notice of my departure.
The content probably didn’t matter much, just like the personal statement on a resume.
“I see. You’ve made up your mind. Are you going to tell the other employees?”
“I have to.”
Team Leader An took the letter and patted my shoulder.
“You’ve worked hard, Assistant Manager Kim. There’s no one else who works as diligently and effectively as you.”
“Jong-yeop is pretty good.”
“He’s reliable enough.”
“I’ll inform the team members of my resignation today and begin the handover process.”
“Alright. Keep up the good work until you leave.”
Team Leader Seo spoke cautiously.
“By the way, Assistant Manager Kim. Is it true you kept playing with crypto, lost all your money, and only have 300 million won left?”
“...”
“If it’s true, I was going to give back the Rolex you gave me. I feel bad about it, you know.”
It was just something I’d said as bait for Na Sang-guk.
How utterly predictable that it had already spread throughout the entire company.
If the technology team leader knew, there were probably few people in the company who didn’t.
Na Sang-guk, who had treated me like a beggar during my entire four years at the company.
I was poor, it’s true, but he probably has no idea how deeply his casual remarks wounded me.
“That’s not true. I didn’t lose any money.”
“Really? Then why did a rumor like that start?”
“I’m not sure. It seems someone is spreading strange rumors. If you don’t have plans tonight, let’s go get some beef.”
“Beef?”
“I made a promise to Team Leader An. I’ll take you to the best restaurant in Gangnam.”
I decided to book the most delicious and expensive beef restaurant in Gangnam and take the staff there.