A Certain Conspiracy (3)
No matter how he looked at it, Kim Chirok found Bang Mihee strange. She simply would not smile.
On a day like this, at a gathering like this, wasn't a secretary supposed to greet the guests with a bright, welcoming face?
Is she unwell, like Deputy Song said? They wouldn't keep a sick woman as a secretary, would they? Or does she really have some kind of family trouble?
When Kim Chirok snuck a glance in her direction, Bang Mihee turned her head his way. Their eyes met. Flustered, he dropped his gaze at once — reduced, in an instant, to a man with his head bowed.
Bang Mihee was no perfect beauty like the Japanese geisha Hirosue Yoshiko, but she belonged firmly in the ranks of attractive women. As a former dance major, she had the figure to match. On top of that, her makeup was done with such theatrical flair that she stood out unmistakably among the garden-party crowd.
A few of the affiliate presidents tossed idle jokes her way.
"Secretary Bang, you get prettier every time I see you."
Bang Mihee would offer only the faintest of smiles before her expression cooled back to ice.
One affiliate president went further.
"Miss Bang Mihee, you're getting so pretty the Chairman's going to dote on you even more."
At that, Bang Mihee shot the man a look.
Watching her, Kim Chirok thought she really was a haughty woman. Just as the Strategic Planning Office staff had said — she wasn't Bang Mihee at all. She was Bang Yeo-jeong, through and through.
Director Jang quietly approached him.
"That Bang Mihee standing over there — she's pretty, isn't she?"
"Yes, sir. She's a beauty."
"Back in her school days, she was known as the campus queen."
"Is that so?"
"Even now, plenty of men in our group companies have their eye on her."
"I didn't know that."
"You're still a bachelor, aren't you? A day like this is a golden opportunity. Once the guests leave, go ahead and make a move."
"Sir? Make a move?"
"Honestly, this fellow. I'm telling you to try getting to know her."
"Miss Bang Mihee barely smiles, and she seems rather cold. I don't think she'd be easy to approach. She's like an ice princess."
Director Jang stepped a little closer and dropped his voice.
"Did you just call her an ice princess? Then you should be the one to break the ice."
"Sir?"
"Shall I let you in on a top-secret piece of information?"
"A secret, sir?"
"President Jeong-hee has said that if Bang Mihee ever leaves her secretary post, she'll set her up with some kind of concession business. A reward for taking such good care of her father, I suppose."
"That's enviable."
"And some time ago, the Chairman said something to me."
"What did he say?"
"He said Bang Mihee is pretty and well-mannered, and that if there were a bright young man in our group, he'd like to match them up."
"Ah. So the Chairman said that."
"If one of our group employees married Bang Mihee, don't you think the Chairman would take that man under his wing? He'd treat him like a son-in-law."
"I... I suppose that's possible."
"The Chairman thinks of Bang Mihee as a daughter now. So he'd look after her husband quite well."
With that, Director Jang gave Kim Chirok a light pat on the back and moved on.
Marry the secretary he thinks of as a daughter, and the Chairman would treat you like a son-in-law?
It didn't seem impossible. Whoever married Bang Mihee would probably be paying New Year's respects to the Chairman every year. Connections didn't come more golden than that — a genuine golden rope, the kind that could pull a man straight to the top.
But Bang Mihee wasn't Kim Chirok's type. She was beautiful, yes, but not in an East Asian way — her looks were too Western. He also didn't care for the way she never smiled, or how she walked around with her chin held high.
Director Jang now approached Bang Mihee and whispered something to her. She shot a glance at Kim Chirok. His stomach tightened.
Is he talking about me?
Kim Chirok noticed the Chairman's water glass was empty and quickly refilled it, then stationed himself behind the Chairman like a sentry. Director Jang and Bang Mihee were still talking.
The guests were eating, but Kim Chirok held off. He would eat after they had gone. Bang Mihee wasn't eating either.
Some guests wandered about with plates in hand, circulating from person to person — the networkers, working the room.
The affiliate presidents came up one by one to offer the Chairman a drink. He seemed to have a low tolerance, accepting only small sips.
The president of H Electronics raised his glass.
"I'd like to take you to Kyoto sometime, sir."
"Travel's gotten hard for me these days."
"The okasan of Pontocho, in Kyoto's hanamachi, asked after you."
At the mention of Kyoto, Kim Chirok, standing behind the Chairman, pricked up his ears. He remembered something the Osaka branch manager had once told him — that he had gone along with the Electronics president just once to an ochaya, a geisha banquet house. And because the Electronics president had attended school in Kyoto, he was fluent in Japanese as well.
The Chairman accepted the drink, his eyes narrowing. A look of recollection crossed his face.
"The okasan — you mean Chieko?"
"That's right."
"Chieko must be over fifty by now."
"Her skin is still so fair she looks like she's in her thirties."
"Is that so? I was the one who put up Chieko's hair..."
Kim Chirok wondered what "putting up her hair" meant.
The Electronics president smiled.
"The mizuage ceremony — when a geimaiko spent her first night — that doesn't exist anymore."
"Is that so?"
"These days, geisha can make a living just from performances, even without a dannasan, a patron. It's a world overflowing with tourists."
"Times have changed."
"That's why geisha nowadays date young men their own age. They don't get involved with clients."
"Haha, is that right?"
"But Chieko is an old-fashioned woman. She seems to miss you a great deal, sir. I'll take you to see her soon."
"I can't go anymore, not with my health. Tell Chieko to come visit Korea instead — as a tourist, for a change of scenery."
"Understood. I'll pass that along."
"And don't mention any of this geisha business to my secretary over there talking with Director Jang. One shouldn't speak of such things in front of a young woman."
"Of course, sir."
Hearing this, Kim Chirok thought once again that the Chairman was a truly admirable man. Telling someone not to talk about geisha in front of a young woman — that was the mark of a real gentleman.
By now most of the guests had left, and the Chairman had retired to the villa's inner quarters. Director Jang called Kim Chirok and Bang Mihee over.
"You two did well today. Go ahead and eat."
Kim Chirok and Bang Mihee sat down together in the garden to have their meal. He had eaten with her before in the company cafeteria, so today he tried striking up a conversation.
"Eating outdoors like this gives the food a different flavor, doesn't it?"
Bang Mihee glanced at him once and said nothing.
Director Jang came over.
"On a day like this, Mr. Kim, you should pour Miss Bang some wine."
"Yes, sir."
Kim Chirok smiled and poured her a glass. Bang Mihee gave a slight nod of thanks.
Director Jang looked at her with a twinkling, conspiratorial smile.
"Secretary Bang! As I mentioned before, Mr. Kim Chirok had the top scores when he came in through open recruitment. He does excellent work, too. People from Seoul National University really are different. He's going to go far in this company."
Bang Mihee still showed no reaction.
Director Jang turned to Kim Chirok.
"Mr. Kim, where do you live these days?"
Director Jang already knew everything about Kim Chirok's background. He asked anyway, casually, for Bang Mihee's benefit.
"I live in Bongcheon-dong."
"Are both your parents still with us?"
"Yes, sir."
"And what do they do?"
"They just... stay at home. They're getting on in years, so they've retired."
"Any siblings?"
"Just me."
Director Jang turned to Bang Mihee.
"Secretary Bang, you live in Sillim-dong, don't you?"
"Yes."
"So you two live in the same direction. You must run into each other on the way home sometimes? Ah, that's right — you drive, don't you, Secretary Bang?"
"Yes."
"And your father was a school PE teacher, was he?"
"Yes."
"Any siblings?"
"I have a younger sister."
"She must be pretty, taking after you. What's she doing these days?"
"She's a Pilates instructor."
"Oh, is that so? An athletic family, it seems."
Kim Chirok gathered that Bang Mihee wasn't wealthy. She wasn't the daughter of a hotel-owning family like Oh Ha-young from H Chemical's General Affairs Department. She didn't seem desperately poor like him, either. The daughter of a school PE teacher would have grown up at least middle-class. And yet Bang Mihee went around in designer clothes that didn't quite match her station. She even drove an imported car.
Does the Chairman slip her spending money now and then for a job well done? Or does her father have some other source of income?
Director Jang stood up.
"Well, you two enjoy your meal. I've already eaten, so I'll go have a coffee over there. Though, Secretary Bang — if Mr. Kim poured you a glass of wine, shouldn't you pour one for him in return?"
He cleared his throat and moved to another table.
Bang Mihee poured Kim Chirok a glass of wine. He received it with both hands, as if the gesture were an honor.
"Whereabouts in Sillim-dong do you live?"
"Near Sillim Station."
"Strange — I've never run into you on the way home."
"The Chairman instructed me to drive. And I come in a bit early in the morning."
"Ah, of course. Secretaries would need to arrive early to tidy the Chairman's office, water the plants, and so on."
"There's that, but I also have to review his schedule in advance."
"I heard you majored in dance..."
"Yes. I graduated from S Women's University, Department of Dance."
S Women's University's dance department had a certain prestige, but it didn't suggest she'd been a particularly strong student.
They had been talking for a while when President Jeong-hee appeared. She smiled.
"You two look quite close."
At that, Bang Mihee's lips puckered in a pout, and Kim Chirok flushed with embarrassment.