Japanese Women Yumiko and Yoshie (2)
After the meal, Yumiko and Yoshie said they wanted to head back to the hotel, looking worn out. They seemed ready to rest. Given how much they'd walked through the Myeongdong alleys that day, it was no wonder they were tired.
"Where did you book your hotel?"
"It's close to the Hollys Coffee where we first met earlier."
On the way to the hotel, Yumiko and Yoshie did some shopping. They bought dried seaweed and ginseng.
The hotel was a small place tucked behind the Sejong Hotel — a modest, mid-range establishment by the look of it. The hotel Kim Chirok had stayed at in Osaka last time had been a grand four-star, but this one didn't even look like it would pass for three-star.
Oh Ha-young at H Chemical said her father runs a hotel too, didn't she? Would it be a building on this scale?
Kim Chirok thought how wonderful it would be to own even a single hotel like this. He figured he could live comfortably for the rest of his life without ever working another day in an office. Manager Lee at H Chemical had told him that if he married Oh Ha-young, he'd inherit the hotel — and then he could just sit around counting money without doing anything else.
But Bang Mihee owned a five-billion-won apartment. For the price of that apartment, people said, you could even buy a hotel out in the provinces. These days, Kim Chirok found himself involved with women of considerable means.
Are they taking a liking to me because of my Seoul National University credentials?
The SNU premium seemed to be proving its true worth. Still, Oh Ha-young was too overbearing for his taste, which was why his heart was currently leaning more toward Bang Mihee. She was better looking, too. On top of that, Bang Mihee had been a dance major, so her figure was excellent. The only flaw was her haughtiness. When it came to saving face in front of his old classmates, Bang Mihee would probably be the better choice over Oh Ha-young — she wasn't just prettier, she was more refined. Someone like Bang Mihee would make his classmates envious, he thought. But then Jeong Chan-young was making moves on her, and he wondered how he was going to handle that. It was shaping up to be two men fighting over one woman.
Yumiko and Yoshie looked thoroughly happy after their shopping. They kept smiling, clearly delighted. When they parted in front of the hotel, they bowed to Kim Chirok and Jang Min-soo several times over — once on the street, once in front of the hotel entrance, and then again after opening the door and turning back. Jang Min-soo seemed so taken with these Japanese women that his mouth hung open.
Yumiko turned back and called to Jang Min-soo.
"Oppa, you're coming tomorrow, right?"
"Of course. I'll be there by nine. I have to see you and Yoshie get on the airport bus."
The two Japanese women went inside the hotel.
Kim Chirok was about to head for the subway when Jang Min-soo caught him by the hand.
"Thank you so much for coming today. How about we grab a beer at a pub before you go?"
"Beer? Well..."
"Come on. It's on me."
"Shouldn't we have gone to a pub with the Japanese women, though?"
"We drank a lot yesterday. And we went to Insadong, Bukchon, and the streets around Hongdae too."
"Ah, is that so?"
"And this afternoon we even went to Lotte Tower in Jamsil."
"Can you really just go around like that without going to work?"
"Hehe. I took time off. The pre-sales for the building we put up in the new city just wrapped up, so there's not much to do at the company anyway."
"So you work at a real estate sales company, Jang Min-soo."
"We do sales, but we also handle construction. We're small, so we can't take on big buildings. Still, the pay is decent, so I stick around."
"As long as the pay is good, that's what matters."
"There's a pub over there. Let's just have one 500cc each and go."
The two of them sat across from each other at the pub. Jang Min-soo ordered draft beer and some dried snacks.
Kim Chirok spoke up.
"That woman Yumiko seemed to like you, Jang Min-soo."
"Hehe. You think so?"
"You seemed to like her too. You had honey dripping from your eyes."
"Hehe. I've got good feelings about her so far, but the future is the problem. Yumiko will need her parents' permission too."
"Are you really thinking as far as marriage?"
"The truth is, I've dated twice and failed both times."
"So that's your story."
"When women pick a man, they look at his face, of course, but also at what he's capable of."
"Well, that's true, but..."
"But I'm ordinary-looking and I don't have any credentials to speak of, do I? I'm just a guy at a small real estate company. Women would be nervous about staking their lives on someone like me."
"Isn't it enough if the two of you just love each other?"
"Women these days have gotten smart. Rather than marry someone with an uncertain future, they'd rather live alone. And you can't really blame just the women for that, can you?"
Kim Chirok found himself thinking that if you were truly poor and had a weak resume, getting married really would be hard. He wondered if even he had only landed a job at a major corporation — and attracted women — because he'd at least graduated from Seoul National University.
The beer arrived. One sip and it was truly cold and refreshing — the kind of beer that tastes best after a long day on your feet.
"This beer tastes great. I feel like we should've asked Yumiko and Yoshie to join us for a drink. That was a mistake."
"I actually suggested a beer before we parted ways, but they waved me off. They said they were really tired today and just wanted to rest."
"They must have walked around a lot."
"Anyway, I really appreciate today."
"You're making too much of it."
"If I introduce someone with a solid standing — someone who works at a major corporation — Yumiko will trust me more. That's why I asked you to come, Kim Chirok. Thank you so much for joining us today."
"I had a good time too. Yumiko seems to have a nice personality, doesn't she? She has a bright face."
"Yes. Her personality is really wonderful. She always smiles when she looks at me."
Jang Min-soo wore an expression of pure bliss.
"Then things must be moving fast between you two?"
"There are still a lot of mountains to climb. By the way, Kim Chirok, what year did you enter university?"
Kim Chirok told him his class year. He'd retaken the college entrance exam and entered Seoul National University a year late.
"Still earlier than me, though. If you don't mind my asking, what year were you born?"
When Kim Chirok gave his age, Jang Min-soo's eyes went wide.
"You're two years older than me?"
"Really? I thought we were about the same age."
Kim Chirok was surprised that Jang Min-soo was two years younger. He'd assumed they were around the same age, or that Jang was maybe a year older.
"I've been through a lot, so my face looks older than it is."
Jang Min-soo pulled out his driver's license to show him. The license, issued by the Gyeonggi Northern Police Agency, clearly showed a date of birth two years younger than Kim Chirok's. This man really had been through a lot.
Kim Chirok said with a smile,
"You're still young. What kind of hardship could you have gone through?"
"I graduated from a no-name local university, and after I got out of the military I did every job under the sun. I was a delivery driver, I worked at a plastic injection molding factory, I did warehouse receiving and shipping at a food company."
"Is that so?"
"Hehe. But now I'm chasing my dreams in Seoul, working hard at a real estate company."
"You're not from Seoul originally?"
"Jeongeup, in Jeolla Province. My parents are still there. I live in Namyangju now."
"Namyangju?"
"A friend of mine was out that way, so I went there. The subway connections to the company in Gangnam are decent, and it's a newly built studio, so that's where I live. It's a new city, so it's clean and nice."
"You go to Japanese language academy in the evenings too. Seeing how hard you work, I have a feeling you'll succeed someday."
"Things have been looking up a bit since I came to Seoul."
"That's right. You met Yumiko, after all."
"And I'm so happy to have met someone like you who graduated from Seoul National University. I don't know anyone else around me who went to SNU."
"Haha. What's so great about graduating from SNU? We're all just people."
"I don't know if this is out of line, but from now on I'd like to look up to you as my hyung."
"What? Hyung?"
"You're two years older than me, aren't you? I want to think of you as my hyung and learn a lot from you."
"Learn? What are you talking about!"
"If I can tell my friends I have a hyung who went to Seoul National University, that's something to brag about. And I'll pass along real estate information from time to time too."
What? He'll pass along real estate information?
That was a tempting offer. Kim Chirok's family had never owned any real estate in their entire lives. They'd never even owned a cheap villa in Gyeonggi Province. He thought that if things went well, he might be able to make use of Jang Min-soo. But he smiled politely and said,
"You need seed money for real estate investment. I don't have that kind of money."
"If you work at a major corporation, it's easy to borrow from the bank. You don't have any debt, do you, hyung?"
Kim Chirok was poor, but he was a man without debt. He'd never had a reason to borrow money, and no bank would lend to someone with no collateral anyway.
"No. I don't have any debt."
"Then we're good. From now on, drop the formal speech. You're a hyung two years older than me."
"Haha. Drop the formal speech? Don't be ridiculous!"
"Where do you live now, hyung?"
"I live in Bongcheon-dong."
"I see. So not Gangnam. You're so good-looking I assumed you lived in Gangnam."
"You have to have accumulated virtue in a past life to live in Gangnam."
"Oh, by the way — our Japanese instructor at the academy lives in Jamsil, and she seems to like you, Kim Chirok — I mean, hyung. That's the impression I get."
"I have someone I'm seeing."
"Hehe. I figured as much. A guy with your credentials and a good job wouldn't be without a girlfriend."
Kim Chirok had said he was seeing someone just to avoid the hassle, but the truth was he and Bang Mihee hadn't actually promised each other a future. It would be more accurate to say they were still feeling each other out.
"We are seeing each other, but we haven't promised a future yet."
"Hyung! Let's toast to each other's success."
So Kim Chirok and Jang Min-soo smiled and clinked their glasses together. After taking a sip of his draft beer, Kim Chirok said,
"Have you ever been to the place where Yumiko lives?"
"Hyung! I won't answer unless you drop the formal speech."
"Haha, well then. All right."
"You mean Kashima City in Ibaraki Prefecture? Yumiko said she'll tell her parents officially when she goes back this time. We took a lot of photos together yesterday too."
"Didn't you say Yumiko works at an outlet mall?"
"Yumiko's job doesn't seem all that stable either. It's probably something like a part-time gig, in our terms."
"Yoshie's job seemed more stable..."
"Yoshie says she works at a fisheries cooperative, but Kashima itself is a tiny city. A small town of sixty thousand people. She probably works in an office with three or four employees."
"Yoshie seemed to have a boyfriend."
"I told you. Her boyfriend is a herbivore type, so they go on dates but neither of them is even thinking about marriage. That's why she seems open to dating a good Korean guy if she finds one."
"Is that so?"
"Someone with credentials as high as yours might be too much, hyung, but if it's a guy with a solid job who looks like Jungkook from BTS, she'd be okay with it."
"Haha. Where would you find someone like that?"
"I think those two will come to Korea often. I'll study Japanese even harder in the meantime. I'll work as hard as you do, hyung."
"It's gotten late. Shall we get going?"
The two of them rode Line 4 until they parted ways at Sadang Station. When they said goodbye, Jang Min-soo gave Kim Chirok a thoroughly respectful bow.
Back home, Kim Chirok wondered whether he and Bang Mihee could really end up together. He also worried about what would happen if that haughty woman acted that way in front of his mother or father. Especially if she found out his father was a nature-loving recluse and his mother had been a cleaner — would she look down on them?
But he figured that once they got married and were living well, that kind of behavior would disappear. She'd become a woman who smiled brightly and had good manners, like the Japanese women he'd met today.
The Japanese women I met today are cute, but they're not beautiful with great figures like Bang Mihee. Bang Mihee is a woman who joined an airline and then got selected as a secretary on the airline's recommendation!
Kim Chirok found himself thinking about where he might take Bang Mihee this weekend. So he gathered his courage and sent a KakaoTalk message. This was the first time in his life he had ever sent a woman a message like this.
After a while, a reply came. With a trembling heart, he opened KakaoTalk.
"Sunday is possible? Yahoo!"
Kim Chirok let out a whoop of triumph.