The Yellow Line
Bubble, bubble.
The Red Line, big as a bowling ball, seethed like water in a pot. It looked ready to burst at any moment. Bubble, bubble. I wasn't worried. I was curious.
"..."
Above the head of the man in his mid-fifties, a Black Line drifted in a lazy sway. White Lines were goodwill—something good. A Black Line, then, was something bad. There didn't seem to be any need to tell him.
"You. What's your name?"
At the question, I lowered my head.
"Han Jiwoo, sir."
"Mm. You know who I am?"
"Yes."
The memory came back. He was the man who had been demoted to Pungjeon Distribution, then returned as a PR executive of Pungjeon Group—the very man the head of Public Relations worshipped like the heavens themselves.
"Information Documentation Department, was it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Mm. Let's see each other often."
Stepping off the elevator, the man in his mid-fifties headed for the executive offices, opposite Human Resources. I bent at the waist toward his back. If I wanted to keep going into Section D, I had to stay attached to this company for as long as I possibly could.
"Please take care, sir."
The reason Human Resources had called me in was nothing special. The police station had been in touch, they said, because I had helped a bus driver and saved dozens of passengers. They wanted me to come by tomorrow for a small plaque and a cash award.
"My goodness! Jiwoo, lighting up the company like this the moment you officially come aboard!"
The HR team leader clapped me on the back, his face flushed with excitement. Above his head, White Lines and Black Lines were mixed half and half. Red Lines had gathered at his throat and just below the middle of his chest, and every time he waved his arms a thick reek of cigarettes rose off his clothes.
"Make sure you wear your employee badge so our company name shows up nice and clear. Understood?"
"Yes, Team Leader."
"Mm, it's nothing much, but... have this, at least!"
Glancing around, the HR team leader handed me a pouch of red ginseng extract. The wrapper read:
100% Red Ginseng Concentrate
Ginsenoside Content: 21 mg
Hm?
Strange. Objects never showed lines. And yet lines were coming and going across the red ginseng extract—a very faint, an extremely faint blue line, wavering there. It fluttered so lightly that a single breath looked as if it would blow it away.
"Thank you. I'll enjoy it."
"Yes, yes, you do that! We're putting this in the company newsletter, so keep that in mind."
"Yes. I'll be going, then."
I left Human Resources and stood before the elevator again.
Clunk.
The moment the doors opened, a woman in her early fifties stepped out, dragging in rough breaths.
"Hahh... hahh...!"
Above her head, every kind of Black Line tangled together in a complicated knot, and the lines all pointed toward the executive offices—the way the PR executive had gone. I stopped for a moment and followed her.
Her stride was long and hard. As she passed, a few desk staff who recognized her ducked their heads. She must have visited the company a few times before.
"M-Madam...! What brings you here...?"
She was plainly furious. Her nostrils flared as she huffed.
"Where is that man? He's in there right now, isn't he?"
"Ah, yes... but right now..."
The woman in her fifties swept past them without hesitation. The staff scrambled to stop her, but not one of them dared lay a hand on her. She came to a halt in front of an executive office.
She flung the door open without a second thought.
Bang!
At the same instant, a neurotic voice burst from inside.
"Goddamn it! Who doesn't even kno— huh...?!"
Storming into the office, the woman unloaded a torrent of curses.
"Hey! You son of a bitch!"
The wall hid his exact expression, but the voice that answered was thoroughly rattled.
"H-honey...! What are you doing here..."
"You! You bastard! I've gathered all the evidence! You lunatic! And it's not one or two! Cheating with ten women—does that even make sense?! Huh?! You bastard! I'm so ashamed, how am I supposed to show my face at the hiking club again?! Huh!"
The sound of her beating the PR executive came through the doorway. Thud! Whaaack! Thump-thump-thud!
"Agh...! H-honey...! W-wait, just a—! I-I can explain everything...! Just let me explain— agh...!"
One of the desk staff carefully shut the door to the PR executive's office.
Click.
The curses that had been stabbing cleanly into my ears dulled into a muffled mumble. Wearing awkward looks, the staff scattered in a hurry, every face saying they wanted nothing to do with this, not even a little.
I went back to the elevator. I thought I understood the bowling-ball Red Line at the PR executive's groin. Play around that recklessly, and of course you wouldn't be healthy. I confirmed it once more. Red Lines were bad.
Ding.
I stepped into the elevator. Eat a quick dinner in the company cafeteria, then get to Section D and read late into the night.
Contract worker or not, moments like this made it real that I worked at a major corporation. I chose among Korean, Chinese, and Western, sat in a corner seat, and was just about to wolf it down when—
"Hey! Jiwoo! Hard man to catch, huh? What's gotten into you, eating at the company? Weren't you the one who had to get home even one minute sooner to watch anime?"
It was my fellow hire, Joo Chaeyeon. More precisely, Joo Chaeyeon of the open-recruitment track—a promising rookie currently working in the Strategic Planning Office. Above her head, White Lines fluttered this way and that. White Lines were good. In a way, I was relieved. She was one of the few from my cohort I could actually talk to, and a Black Line—even I, who barely cared about people—would probably have been a little hurt.
I answered around a mouthful.
"Not anime. Manga."
"Same thing, isn't it?"
Joo Chaeyeon sat down across from me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Completely different."
"You really are an otaku."
"Even among otakus, I'm mainstream."
"Ugh, I don't want to hear it. But why are you inhaling your food like that? You'll choke."
"I've got a schedule."
"Huh? Don't evening schedules usually involve eating?"
"Not always."
Joo Chaeyeon's eyes lit up.
"Ooh, a blind date? I hear these days some of them are just coffee or tea. And they only go eat if they actually like the person, right?"
I looked at her steadily. Fortunately, she had only about as many Red Lines as any ordinary person. Just then I noticed a faint blue line drifting over the bag she had set on the chair beside her.
"What? Why are you staring a hole through me? You fall for me or something?"
"Yeah."
"Ugh... an otaku, and he's toying with a woman's heart..."
"That thing in your bag. What is it?"
"What?"
"Something to eat."
"Huh? How did you know?"
Startled, Joo Chaeyeon pulled a wrapped parcel from her bag. The cover read:
She clicked her tongue and shook her head.
"My mom sent this from the countryside. She farms ginseng."
"Oh."
"What is that greedy look...? You want some?"
"Yeah."
I had already cleared my tray. I took out the red ginseng extract the HR team leader had given me.
"Since when have you been looking after yourself like that?"
"You should come work in Information Documentation sometime. You won't have a choice."
Joo Chaeyeon looked a little awkward.
"How's an elite like me supposed to end up there..."
At the joke, I couldn't help a short laugh. Above her head, a White Line gave a lively twitch. It wasn't malicious. I could feel she was teasing me because she genuinely cared.
"Watch the windows. You do know the French Revolution."
Joo Chaeyeon nodded with a grave face.
"One must always be careful."
Leaving that shameless face behind me, I set my mouth to the top of the red ginseng extract and sucked.
Slurp, slurp.
Bitter red ginseng slid down my throat. Somewhere inside me, a strange vibration seemed to stir. Without thinking, I ducked my head and looked down into my stomach.
A very pale blue line passed along my esophagus toward my belly, then scattered and vanished. Even so, near the esophagus, something like the blue smoke that had gone through still lingered, shimmering. The old saying fit perfectly: it didn't even send word to the liver. Blue lines were good, which was why I had eaten it—and it disappeared around the esophagus. Maybe I really did need to try proper ginseng, or wild ginseng.
No. First, back to Section D.
"I'm done, so I'm heading out."
As I stood, Joo Chaeyeon held out the dried ginseng.
"Eat this. Don't get sick. If today's blind date shoots you down, call your unnie. I'll buy the drinks. And you're coming to the cohort meetup next week, right?"
"Yeah. Thanks. I'll think about the meetup. Take care."
I said goodbye to Joo Chaeyeon and went down to the Information Documentation Department.
"Annoying."
Sighing hard, I left the company. Section D was closed. It seemed to open only during my working hours. If I wanted to read there with an easy mind, I would have to take leave—and then come in to work.
I was walking to the stop to catch the bus home when—
"Hm?"
Far off, I saw a line in a color I had never seen before. At first I thought it was an electronic billboard. It wasn't. Looking closer, it was a yellow line—a yellow close to gold. Gold was supposed to be a good thing, and yet the color made my back prickle for no reason and left me feeling unclean.
"Weird feeling..."
Without thinking, I followed the Yellow Line. Past the bus stop, I arrived in front of a small villa. There was a shaman's shrine in the basement, and there the yellow glittered.
Flutter, flutter.
Five-colored flags shook in the wind.