A Useless Gift
"The best we can offer comes to two percent, Senior."
"Ahem... Still, you see... a mere two percent... That's difficult. Difficult for us as well, Junior."
The President of Factory 1's gaze was parked squarely between Ms. Seonju's legs.
Through the whole meeting he had seemed to be reading the documents I handed over and studying my face, but his eyes never stopped drifting to the creamy legs of the woman seated beside me. For an office on the second floor of a factory — belonging to a man who kept moaning the company was one step from bankruptcy — the room was astonishingly opulent. Hardwood-panel interiors and a plush brown sofa, furnishings utterly out of place on the second story of a prefabricated panel building, were the tools that laid this president's vanity perfectly bare.
All through the meeting his stare had been fixed on her legs, on the space between her thighs, her knees pushed up by the low sofa. Her short black hot pants left her honey-smooth thighs almost fully exposed, and the slender calves above her high heels stole the eye outright. Even so, that man's gaze was a shade too brazen. Ms. Seonju had noticed it too; she'd set the file folder across her lap and tried, however she could, to cover up. But the sliver of gap between her thighs and the sofa was more than enough to set the imagination wandering toward what lay between her legs.
"Ah... this still puts us in a difficult spot..."
Even as he said it, it was obvious the President of Factory 1's heart had already tipped our way.
It was the fruit of a full hour of persuasion. An hour spent flattering the man, soothing him, threatening him, leaving the door open on the next contract and then hinting it might swing shut — hammering away at him without pause. By now he had no option left but to accept our proposal. All this stalling was simply him saving face before swallowing the two percent supply-price increase.
"Haha. Honestly, Senior... Now, think it over. We wouldn't bend this low — offering a raise like this — for just anyone. As you well know, Hyochang Tech is the finest company in the domestic machine-manufacturing business. That's exactly why we're going to such lengths to keep our contract with your firm alive."
At the flattery oozing from my mouth, the corners of the president's lips began to twitch upward, little by little. He did his best to hide it, but this man was hopelessly weak to praise, to a coat of sugar. Come to think of it... a personality like that explained why he'd taken the chairmanship of a nothing-special high school alumni association and showed no intention of ever stepping down.
"Senior. Do your junior one favor. I'm asking you sincerely."
Still seated, I made a show of bowing my head deep toward him.
"Heh heh, really... Come now, Junior. Head up. You're putting me in a spot again."
Just as I'd calculated. Only now did the president seem to feel his pride was being restored, and he warmed to the exchange.
"Heh heh, well... Fine, then. For my dear junior's sake, I'll do it. The two percent increase — I accept!"
"Thank you, Senior!"
"Heh heh. No need to thank me over that. Junior, from now on, don't you go bowing your head like that. What is the pride of us Hyochang men? Never bowing our heads to another soul — that's what!"
"Yes, Senior. I'll carve it into my heart!"
While sneering at him on the inside, I managed on the outside a face that looked genuinely moved by his words.
What a simple creature...
The kind of man who falls even for the shabbiest trick in a salesman's playbook.
"Senior. As for the rest, our legal team will come by tomorrow afternoon to finalize the rewritten contract."
"Yes, yes."
With all business concluded, I had no reason left to linger. I offered a courteous farewell and rose from my seat.
"Ah, hold on a moment, Junior."
Just as I stood to go, the president, who had been about to see me out, called me back. He walked to his desk, slid open a drawer, and rummaged through it. I found the spectacle odd — and so did Ms. Seonju, who had risen from her seat between us after sitting there in silence.
"Here, take this. A gift for you, Junior."
What the president held out after pawing through his desk was a white box.
"And this... would be...?"
Wrong-footed by the sudden gift, I reached out in an awkward half-stance and took the box he offered. It was slightly oblong — about the size of a gift box for a bottle of rice wine.
Cheongju, really? The holidays were still a long way off...
"Ah, a gift. You know our alumni association's secretary, don't you? He picked it up on a trip to Bahrain. Some kind of porcelain or other... I've got plenty of this sort of thing at home."
"Oh, I see... But why give it to me...?"
Holding the Arabian porcelain he'd handed over, I went on staring at him with an expression that plainly said none of this made sense. The box was far too light for anything that genuinely held porcelain.
Seeing my face, the president put on a good-natured grin and clapped me on the shoulder.
"Heh heh! You looked so run-down, that's why. The way things stand, this contract raise will flatten you the moment you get back — so take this, at least, and lift your spirits."
Tch!
More like he was dumping off something he didn't want to keep. Either way, gratitude was due.
"Oh, yes! Thank you, Senior!"
That's what I said — but in truth I was thinking I'd just been saddled with a first-rate nuisance.
But I didn't know then. Didn't know that this object would go on to change me the way it did...
In the car back to the office from Ansan, it was Ms. Seonju who broke the long silence.
"That president gave me the creeps."
Perhaps the dragging quiet had grown too heavy on her young shoulders. She carried on as though my answering were beside the point.
"Back there, while I was sitting... Even when you laid the documents out for him, he barely gave the papers a glance. He just kept stealing looks at my legs the entire time."
Then maybe you shouldn't wear shorts that short. The words climbed all the way to my throat, but that old affliction of mine — the aversion to women — shoved them right back down.
"What is wrong with men? The moment it's a woman's body, out come the eyes and the drool... Honestly, it disgusts me. Women don't dress like this for men to ogle. We dress this way for ourselves."
What a joke!
"On the drive to Factory 1 earlier, you were sneaking glances at my legs too, weren't you, Team Leader?"
Ms. Seonju said this while staring dead at me. So that was it... She had shielded her legs with the document envelope because she'd caught me looking. I offered no rebuttal, just kept my eyes forward and kept driving. Unbothered by my silence, she went on watching me and talking. Her manner was as brazen as her outfit.
"Team Leader. Why is it you won't even meet a woman employee's eyes?"
At her words, a low groan dragged itself up from somewhere deep inside me.
"...... Just because."
"Oh, come on. Liar!"
She let a laughing smile play across her face and studied my profile.
"Team Leader, do you like men?"
Another groan of strangled temper boiled up inside me. Watching me wear it, Ms. Seonju nodded to herself and murmured on, assembling some private little deduction.
"Going by how you peeked at my legs, that's probably not it... But then, you can't meet the women's eyes either... Oh! Wait — could it be...!"
I flicked a sideways glance; she was watching me with a grin of pure mischief.
"Team Leader, don't tell me you're scared of women? Ho ho ho!"
Scared? Of women? Me? Me, scared of women?! No! I simply keep a proper distance from women, that's all! Boys and girls past the age of seven shall not sit together — I was raised on that precept from childhood! My grandfather, proud that ours was an old and upright yangban line, had me drilled in classical primers like the Dongmong Seonseup and the Sohak; the family discipline simply shaped me this way! So I'm merely a little clumsy with women.
And... and... Gayoon-noona... because of Gayoon-noona...
But none of that long explanation made it out of my mouth toward Ms. Seonju.
"...No."
Two short words — that was all that came. And at them, Ms. Seonju doubled over laughing and teased me without mercy.
"Then what is it? Why does that bright, cheerful man of yours turn into a honey-stuffed mute the instant a woman's in the room?"
She watched my face, smiling sweetly all the while. I gave her a quick sidelong look. Her face brimmed with curiosity, like a cat that had just spotted the perfect prey.
"……"
"Don't tell me... single since birth? Ahahahahaha!"
Ms. Seonju, who had been mulling it over, suddenly spoke as though the thought had just struck her, then cackled and smacked my shoulder.
"Whoa~ amazing! Thirty-five and single since birth?"
Propping an elbow on the passenger window frame, she swept her hair back and laughed in open disbelief.
Ms. Seonju... isn't this going too far? I am, for the record, the team leader of a department, and you are a contract employee. Where are your manners?! Contract status aside, a woman employee treating a man employee like this is workplace sexual harassment, plain and simple! Shall I file a formal complaint with the company?! Apologize this instant!
But for all the storm in my head, what came out of my mouth was once again a single short word.
"......... No........."
"Oh, please! As if! Whoa... my first-ever thirty-five-year-old who's never dated... whoa... incredible..."
Kim Seonju...! This girl — what does she take people for, seriously...!
I won't forget this!
For all the rage churning and boiling in my chest, there was nothing I could do but press the accelerator down a little deeper.