The Arrival of a VVIP (2)
When Young-hoon returned to the office, Deputy General Manager Cho had already vanished somewhere, and only Manager Kim remained at his desk.
Young-hoon reported to Manager Kim that he was heading out on a field assignment and would simply clock off on-site if he ran late. Manager Kim approved it without fuss—it was the beginning of the month, and there was nothing pressing to keep anyone around.
Young-hoon left the office at around four in the afternoon. On a clear day the drive to Ilsan took forty or fifty minutes, but the route into Jongno looked set to clog up, so he hurried. Sure enough, the trip to Ilsan went off without a hitch—only for the Riverside Expressway heading from Ilsan into Seoul to start slowing down. Even so, he counted himself lucky: it was before the true rush hour, so the delay stayed a mere inconvenience rather than a full-blown gridlock. He managed to walk through the doors of Uncheonggak in Jongno almost exactly on time.
Uncheonggak was a traditional Korean full-course restaurant housed in a hanok, its atmosphere as serene and secluded as a mountain temple hidden deep in the hills. It was Young-hoon's first time in an establishment this refined. When he opened the gate and stepped inside, an attendant checked his reservation and ushered him toward a room booked under his brother-in-law's name. No one else appeared to have arrived yet.
Left alone in the room, Young-hoon took in his surroundings. A folding screen stood along one wall, and hanging on another was a magnificent landscape painting—by whom, he couldn't tell. He was admiring the brushwork when the door slid open and his brother-in-law entered with a man in his seventies whose age was surprisingly hard to pin down.
Before he knew it, Young-hoon was bowing his head in a formal greeting. "Good evening. My name is Kim Young-hoon, Lee Ki-jin's brother-in-law."
"Pleasure to meet you. They call me Jang—I make my money moving money around Jongno. So you're Executive Director Lee's brother-in-law, hmm?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Handsome in a manly sort of way. Good. Are you married?"
"Not yet, sir."
At that, Ki-jin chimed in from the side. "There's a perfectly healthy, strapping young man, and not the slightest thought of settling down. Doesn't even seem to have a girlfriend. Chairman, if you know a nice, proper young lady, please introduce her to him."
After the usual round of pleasantries, Chairman Jang took the seat of honor while Young-hoon and Ki-jin seated themselves across from him. Before long, a woman in her late thirties, dressed beautifully in a traditional hanbok, opened the door and greeted the Chairman with easy familiarity.
"Chairman, it's been far too long. I thought I'd grow old and die waiting for you to visit."
"None of that flattering nonsense—bring out the food. I've brought a treasured guest, so you'd best serve him well."
Suddenly, Chairman Jang turned his gaze on Young-hoon. Apparently, something had piqued his curiosity.
"Did you say Young-hoon? I could be your father's age, so would you mind if I dropped the formalities with you?"
"Of course not, Chairman!"
"Then I'll speak plainly from now on. This restorative tonic Young-hoon brought—which dishes would pair well with it?"
"Chairman, it doesn't really clash with anything, but I'd say it pairs best with meat dishes. Red meat in particular should go down smoothly."
"Madam Kim, you heard him? Meat dishes it is, and skip the drinks—I've brought my own. Off you go now, and bring everything in when it's ready."
Chairman Jang briskly shooed Madam Kim out the door.
"Now then, Young-hoon, take out what you've brought. Executive Director Lee has been boasting so much I'm dying of curiosity."
"That's right, brother-in-law. Out with it, quick."
Young-hoon pulled a bottle of wine from his bag and handed it to Chairman Jang. The Chairman took it, and his face flooded with undisguised disappointment.
Just then, Ki-jin jumped in nimbly. "Chairman, the label may be bargain-bin, but the contents are the real deal. There's no need to be disappointed before you've even tried it. One sip, and I guarantee you'll never be disappointed again."
Only then did Chairman Jang's expression brighten.
The truth was, the wine had given him quite a shock. It was the kind of cheap bottle anyone could pick up at any mart. Anger had flared inside him, though he'd kept it off his face. That sharp-eyed Executive Director Lee must have read his expression like a ghost. Without that timely rescue, he would have simply risen from his seat and walked out. But the man had made such grand claims that he had no choice now but to at least give it a taste. So he ventured a careful question.
"Young-hoon, can this be drunk on an empty stomach?"
"Of course. Drink as much as you like, sir."
Ki-jin, sitting beside him, wasted no time barking into the intercom for three wine glasses. The man truly was the king of reading a room.
When the server brought the glasses, Young-hoon divided roughly two soju-glass portions of the wine evenly among the three of them. Chairman Jang swirled his glass and studied it.
"Young-hoon, that's not much and not little—an oddly precise amount. Is there a reason you poured it this way?"
"Yes, Chairman. Once you taste it, you'll understand. A single day's worth of the effect seems to run about two soju glasses."
Ki-jin added a helpful footnote. "Chairman, as I mentioned before... by 'effect,' that's exactly what I mean."
"I gathered as much. So I should limit myself to two soju glasses a day, then?"
"Not necessarily. Even if you drink more, it accumulates in the body, so the effect lasts in proportion to how much you've had. If you plan to use it every day, you could drink plenty today. But if today's the only day you need it, then about two soju glasses would be ideal."
"Chairman, tonight this wine is my treat to you—I bought it for the pleasure of your company. I've prepared your bottle separately. Here it is, Chairman."
Ki-jin handed an unopened bottle to Chairman Jang.
"Enough talk. Come on, then—let's all have a glass."
Chairman Jang lifted the glass to his lips, intending to savor the wine slowly with just a sip. But the moment that small mouthful spread across his tongue, he lost all composure. In seventy years of life, he had never tasted anything like it. In his younger days he'd been a serious drinker, no bar too low, but a liquor that wrapped around the palate this exquisitely was, without question, the first of his entire life. Only now did he understand what Executive Director Lee had meant by try it first, then talk.
Chairman Jang found his racing heart very hard to settle.
"Young-hoon, this is the finest thing my seventy years have ever tasted. Truly delicious. I'm ashamed of the sour face I made earlier. But one thing has me curious."
"Please, ask away."
"As you know, this wine is unmistakably cheap plonk. So why on earth does what's inside it taste this good?"
Unable to admit that he'd manufactured the wine himself using a magic circle, Young-hoon found himself telling an unwitting lie.
"Chairman, my hometown is in a deep valley of the Taebaek Mountains in Gangwon Province. Reclusive hermit-masters, men whose names no one knows, have long made their dwellings there, and I've known one of them since I was a child."
"Oh-ho, a hermit of Mount Taebaek..."
"Yes. When I went home this past Chuseok, I happened to run into him. He took one look at me and handed me a powder made from an elixir herb harvested in the mountains, telling me to mix a proper measure into my liquor. He said it showed its greatest effect in grape-based alcohol and in strong spirits like whiskey or sorghum liquor—so I mixed it into the cheapest wine I could find."
"Well, well. So that's the story. Then wouldn't mixing it into expensive liquor yield an even better effect?"
"The hermit said otherwise, but since I haven't tested it on expensive liquor, I can't say for certain. I intend to try it someday when the chance arises."
"And can you obtain that elixir powder whenever you need it?"
"I'm afraid not. The herb only emerges at certain times, so about once a year—and even then, only a small amount."
"Then you'd best make it last, hmm?"
"The hermit is researching a way to harvest the elixir in larger quantities. If he succeeds, he's promised to contact me first."
"And what effects did this hermit say it has?"
Young-hoon laid out, without exaggeration or omission, every effect he had confirmed since creating the wine additive.
"First, it makes the liquor taste dramatically better. Second, there is absolutely no hangover. Third, it slows aging. Fourth, it fills you with vitality. And fifth, it works wonders for a man's stamina. Because it's a powder ground from elixir herbs in their natural state, it has none of the side effects you'd find in something like Viagra—you need have no worries on that score. For women, he said it makes the skin fairer and more elastic."
"So Executive Director Lee was right after all—it really is a tonic?"
"Ahem. Didn't I tell you already? It's good for men, and if the liquor tastes incredible, game over—no?"
"You rascal, why did you leave out the anti-aging part? I want to live a long time too, you know."
"Oh dear—my apologies, Chairman."
Young-hoon, Ki-jin, and Chairman Jang continued their meal at a leisurely pace, letting the conversation wander from one topic to another. By the time the meal was winding down, Chairman Jang turned to Ki-jin with a remark.
"Executive Director Lee, so far you get fifty points. You understand? Whether it actually has those effects you described, I'll know by tomorrow morning. And if what you've said turns out to be true, I'll entrust my money to you. Are we clear?"
"Thank you, Chairman. I'm eternally grateful."
"Now, what about payment for the liquor?"
"You, Chairman, are the best judge of what this elixir is worth. Use your own discretion."
"Handing the pricing decision over to me—you must have quite a talent on your hands. Very well, I'll see to it that neither of you leaves disappointed. Young-hoon, if you ever go into business, you'll grow enormously. Should you ever need money, come to me. What would a man my age need money for anyway? All I require is a fine bottle now and then."
"Thank you, Chairman. I have a feeling your offer will prove a great help to me one day."
"In exchange, the price is that I get to beg the occasional good bottle off you. Tonight was a genuinely delightful dinner with a young friend. Let's share another meal sometime soon."
"Yes, sir."
"I don't hand out my business card as a rule, but for you, I'll make an exception. You give me one of yours as well."
Young-hoon and Chairman Jang exchanged cards. The Chairman's bore only three characters of his name—Jang Young-wook—and a telephone number. How remarkably simple.
"Young-hoon, it seems the Chairman has taken quite a liking to you. I got his card too, you know—but only after meeting him several times."
At those words, Young-hoon bowed his head once more toward Chairman Jang in gratitude. But the Chairman, as though it were only natural, turned to Ki-jin.
"Executive Director Lee, you need to learn to see the world more clearly. I can see this young man's brilliant future laid out before him—can't you see it at all?"
"Excuse me? What did you say?"
"Now, the meal's finished—up we get. As Young-hoon said, we've got to verify the performance for ourselves. Executive Director Lee, I'll call you tomorrow."
When the three men emerged from the restaurant after their meal, a luxury foreign sedan was waiting for Chairman Jang. The Chairman climbed into the car with the wine Young-hoon had gifted him clutched tightly in his hand.
Young-hoon's future had just taken a dramatic turn, all because of this meeting with Chairman Jang.