The Chaebol Heiress I Met at the Expo (2)
Reporters had materialized from nowhere, crowding in to photograph President Choi Jung-hee as she moved through the venue. Kim Chirok figured the coverage would be good publicity for H Group — and it would leave the impression that President Jung-hee, chaebol heiress though she was, was putting in real work rather than wasting her time on distractions.
Once the conversation wrapped up, President Jung-hee toured the Korea Pavilion. Visitors flocked around her, and staff from the Osaka branch along with the employees who'd come from H Chemical kept the general public at a distance. She walked through Halls 1, 2, and 3, though she didn't linger over anything in particular. She also took in the pavilions of the major nations — the United States and China — as well as the general exhibition halls, all of it rather cursory. A hundred and fifty-eight countries were participating in the Osaka Expo, but President Jung-hee limited herself to the three key national pavilions and the special Signature Pavilion.
She announced she would be heading to Kansai Airport. There would be no overnight stay in Japan. Someone of her standing had almost certainly done Universal Studios back in middle school.
The H Chemical staff were quietly pleased to hear she was going home. A high-ranking executive could pull you up the ladder — but they were also an exhausting presence to have around. President Jung-hee didn't put any difficult questions to the H Chemical director, and she didn't ask anything particular about the company's situation. Then again, she wasn't about to grill anyone inside an expo hall. Director Park had been tense for nothing.
President Jung-hee smiled and shook hands with the H Chemical employees as she said her goodbyes. When she took Kim Chirok's hand, she gave it an extra squeeze.
"Your name was unusual, wasn't it? What was it again?"
"Kim Chirok, ma'am."
With that, President Jung-hee left for Kansai Airport with her secretary and the Osaka branch manager.
The moment she was gone, Manager Lee started gushing.
"Wow! Kim Chirok! You're going places now. The top executive asked for your name a second time — that means she's going to remember you!"
"She probably just asked because it's an uncommon name."
"No, no. This is exactly when an unusual name works in your favor. Mine's way too ordinary. Lee Nam-ho — what's that supposed to be? Completely generic."
"Lee Nam-ho sounds better than Kim Chirok, honestly."
"Too ordinary. I don't like it. Our former president at H Chemical used to call me Kim Nam-ho instead of Lee Nam-ho sometimes, and it drove me up the wall. That'll never happen to you, Kim Chirok."
Kim Chirok found himself thinking that his father, for all his failures as a parent, had at least given him a distinctive name. The old man had taught poetry-writing classes at the neighborhood cultural center when he was younger — maybe that was why he'd chosen Chirok, "to cultivate the green."
It was an awkward hour to head to another tourist spot, so the group went back through the Expo halls they'd seen the day before. The exhibition was genuinely impressive. Even on a second look, it felt fresh. Being an international exposition, there were plenty of Western visitors as well.
While they were touring the Japan Pavilion, two young Japanese women in kimono walked past.
Manager Lee shouted.
"Ah, look — geisha!"
Director Park shot him down at once.
"Those women aren't geisha. They're just wearing kimono, traditional Japanese clothing."
"Really? I thought they were geisha."
"Geisha have a completely different hairstyle. And they wear white face makeup. You think a geisha would be crazy enough to come here? If they did, they'd have taken the makeup off and come in regular clothes."
"Director! We should take a trip to Kyoto sometime. Let's go to one of those teahouses where the geisha perform."
"They say you can't get in without a referral from someone they know."
"The Osaka branch manager joined the company the same year as you, didn't he? We could just ask him to make a reservation."
"He said it costs a fortune, too. Comparable to a night at a hostess bar."
"Should I start a savings club?"
"A savings club?"
"A geisha savings club. We pool a little money every month, and once we've saved enough, we take a group trip. Just the Planning Office staff. I'll run the thing."
"Are you feeling all right?"
"Feeling all right? Look, even Kim Chirok over here is lighting up with interest."
Kim Chirok waved his hands in a hurry.
"Ah — no, not me."
"And here I thought Kim Chirok was a real man. If you don't know how to enjoy life's finer pleasures, you'll never amount to a hero of any kind."
Director Park grimaced.
"Hey, Manager Lee Nam-ho. You go ahead and be the hero."
The group flew home the next day.
For the first time in a long while, Kim Chirok stopped by his mother's place in Bongcheon-dong, to drop off the gifts he'd bought at the Kansai Airport duty-free shop.
His mother lived in a villa up a hillside behind Bongcheon Central Market. It was a rundown building from the nineties, but it had two rooms and a small living room. Being on the third floor, it got plenty of sunlight. Of course, it was a rental.
His mother was at home reading a poetry collection. She'd been an apartment cleaner, but here she was, reading verse with an air of quiet dignity. His mother read poetry in a Bongcheon-dong villa; his father read poetry in a mountain hut in a Gangwon-do valley. Kim Chirok figured that was probably why he'd gotten into Seoul National University — both his parents were people who kept books close.
Jong-hyeok, a friend he'd been close with because they'd lived in the same Dogok-dong villa, had parents who wouldn't go near a book. And Jong-hyeok had been terrible at school. These days he was working at some restaurant in Gangnam. He claimed to be a successful chef, but classmates who'd actually eaten there said the place was expensive and the food was garbage. Out of loyalty, Kim Chirok figured he ought to visit at least once, but he'd been too busy and still hadn't gone.
His mother was delighted with the gifts — a basic skincare set, Japanese sweets, and health supplements like Gaba Jin.
"Aigoo, my son goes on a business trip to Japan and comes back with gifts like these. Hoho. Raising a child really does pay off."
"They're not expensive. And honestly, there's nothing worth buying in Japan. We have all the same stuff here."
"No, Japanese products are good. If it's Shiseido cosmetics, people know the name. I'll have to show them off to my friends tomorrow."
"What's there to show off?"
"We have to show the people who looked down on us. That's how they stop looking down on us."
"I almost bought Dad a bottle of liquor, then decided against it. Once your knee gets better, you should go visit Kimhwa in Gangwon-do. It's time Dad came down from the mountain."
"Well. He ought to come before you get married, at least..."
Growing up, Kim Chirok had bitterly resented his useless father. Then, around the time he was discharged from the military, a thought had occurred to him: if his father had been driven into the mountains by sheer desperation, maybe that was something he ought to try to understand. So before returning to university after his discharge, with a little time on his hands, he went looking for that Wasu-ri in Kimhwa-eup, Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do — the place his father had always called Wasu-vegas.
His father's hut was another ten kilometers into the mountains from Wasu-ri itself. At first, his father didn't even recognize him. Kim Chirok's eyes filled with tears. The torn clothes, the salt-and-pepper beard, the bent back — it was pitiful. Looking closer, he saw his father was also missing a front tooth. No money, so he probably hadn't been able to get to a dentist in time. He was in worse shape than the people on that TV show about wilderness hermits. Even so, the hut had poetry collections and literary books.
"Dad! It's me. Chirok."
"Chirok? Aigoo! You've grown into a man. Come here, let me hug you."
His father hugged him once, then said:
"I'm sorry. I couldn't do a thing for you while you were growing up. And I'm sorry to your mother, too."
"I know you came here because you got hurt. Is your body any better?"
"It hasn't gotten worse than when I first came, so I suppose coming here was the right call."
"Aren't you lonely by yourself?"
"I've got books, a dog, chickens, and birds. I'm not lonely."
"There are a lot of books in the hut. Did you bring these with you when you came?"
"No. I borrowed them from the library in Kimhwa-eup. It's been a week, so I need to return them."
"Why not read farming books or something useful? What's the point of reading poetry like this?"
"There's nothing better than poetry for exploring what it means to be human and finding peace within yourself."
His father grinned, showing the gap in his teeth. He went outside, saying he'd boil some corn.
Kim Chirok picked up a notebook lying on the floor. His father had written poems in ballpoint pen, but Chirok couldn't make sense of any of it. The poems of Kim Sowol, Yun Dong-ju, Kim Chun-su — those he understood immediately. His father's poems were another matter. Truly impenetrable.
What kind of poetry is this? Poems only he himself could love.
Still, he was relieved that his father's condition hadn't gotten any worse. But he couldn't bring himself to ask his father to come down the mountain with him. Those had been hard times for Kim Chirok as well. He hadn't even finished school yet.
Eating the boiled corn with his father, Kim Chirok said:
"I just got discharged. I have to go back to university now."
His father was overjoyed to hear that Kim Chirok had gotten into Seoul National University. His eyes welled up as he talked about how much his mother had suffered.
"Once I graduate, I'll come get you. Come down from the mountain then."
But Kim Chirok had never kept that promise. He'd tell himself he should make time to visit Kimhwa in Gangwon-do, and somehow he never did. Now it really seemed like he ought to make the time.
His mother spoke.
"What are you thinking about all of a sudden?"
"I was thinking about Dad for a moment. I'll make time to go to Kimhwa."
"He says he's doing fine, so there's no need to force him down. You can bring your father once you're more settled. But you don't have anyone you're seeing, do you?"