What Waits Upstream
The day of the workshop had arrived. The sky was so impeccably clear it felt as though the heavens themselves were lending a hand, and the breeze rolling in was crisp and clean—the kind of flawless day that bordered on suspicious.
Vrroooom.
This was a workshop for Sales Team 1 and Sales Team 1 alone. With a small headcount and at least one member who couldn't drive, they'd agreed to set out from in front of the company. Kang Hyeong-seok was picking his way through the gridlocked morning commute when his phone rang.
Beep.
"Hello?"
"You at work yet?"
It was Shin Yo-sep. Kang Hyeong-seok checked the clock, then cast a glance at the car speakers connected over Bluetooth.
"Yeah. What is it?"
"If you've got nothing on today, swing by for a bit. There's something I want to talk about."
The voice was lower than usual, and Kang Hyeong-seok answered with one eyebrow arched.
"I've got a schedule, so that's a no-go. Why?"
"You remember the scissors, right? The ones I told you I found in the ceiling of an acquaintance's office."
Of course he remembered. It was the thing they'd unearthed in the ceiling of Lee Ha-yoon's office—Shin Jeong-ah's friend. It had even won him a friendly rapport with Ha-yoon herself, but nothing had ever come to light about what the scissors actually were.
"Did you find something out?"
"Not the kind of thing you discuss over the phone. Come by."
"Today's genuinely impossible. It's the workshop—I can't duck out of it."
"Your what?"
"A workshop."
A long-suffering sigh came bursting through the car speakers. It was the reaction of a man who couldn't have imagined such an excuse in his wildest dreams, but even Kang Hyeong-seok had no way around this one.
"It's a three-day, two-night trip. I'll head over the moment it's done."
"Where are you going?"
Eyes narrowing, Kang Hyeong-seok considered for a beat, then shook his head.
"Not telling."
There was something oddly fidgety about Shin Yo-sep today, and he had a feeling that if the man learned the destination, he might well come looking for them. It wasn't some grand itinerary, to be fair—but neither was it the kind of schedule Shin Yo-sep could be allowed to crash unannounced.
"A major client of yours, and this is how you treat me?"
"I'm afraid it's not business-related, valued customer."
Answering one joke with another, Kang Hyeong-seok watched the office building slide into view and rested his thumb over the end-call button.
"Just give me a few days. I'll call the second it's over."
"Hey—"
Beep.
A thread of hurt feelings had slipped in right at the end, but Kang Hyeong-seok hung up anyway. He did feel a twinge of guilt. Still, he was a working man; he couldn't very well toss aside the company schedule.
"Ugh, damn it."
If it's that urgent, he could've called yesterday.
Wearing a conflicted look, Kang Hyeong-seok sipped at the convenience-store coffee wedged in the drink holder as he turned into the company parking lot. Then he broke out laughing—a sudden, breath-punch of a laugh—because there, clustered in a huddle in front of Kwak Young-ho's car, stood the entire team.
"Hey! Manager Kang!"
Kwak Young-ho had recognized his car and threw a hand up, and the rest of the heads turned his way as well.
Kang Hyeong-seok threw open the door—engine still idling—stepped out, and gave the department head a small bow.
"Everyone's here early, I see."
"Me? Had to clear it with upstairs, plus a few things to get ready."
"You went to a lot of trouble, sir."
"What trouble? So—how are we all getting there?"
Only Kwak Young-ho and Kang Hyeong-seok had cars. Shin Jeong-ah, Namgoong Min-ah, and Lee Jin-pyeong usually used the company vehicles, so none of them had one on hand.
"I'll ride with Manager Kang."
"Right. Then Assistant Manager Lee can come with me. Min-ah, what do you want to do?"
"I've never been in your car before, sir—can I ride with you?"
Namgoong Min-ah stared at Kwak Young-ho's car with shining eyes. Not because it was a better car than Kang Hyeong-seok's—pure, innocent curiosity was all.
"The more the merrier for me, but poor Manager Kang's going to be bored out of his mind."
"I'm not that much of a stick in the mud."
When Shin Jeong-ah said it with a theatrical sulky edge, Kwak Young-ho threw his head back in a booming laugh.
"I know, I know."
"Manager Kang, you remember where we're going?"
"Yes, sir. It's saved in the navigation."
"Then drive safe. It goes without saying, but no accidents, understood?"
It wasn't that the department head didn't trust Kang Hyeong-seok. But with the whole team traveling as one group, even a minor collision would be a devastating blow in terms of manpower.
Kang Hyeong-seok nodded, his eyes drifting to Lee Jin-pyeong—the man who had only recently been discharged after a hospital stay following a traffic accident.
"I understand completely."
The remark had been made with Jin-pyeong in mind. And yet the man himself looked utterly unbothered—so very Jin-pyeong, Kang Hyeong-seok thought.
"Then we'll see you at the destination. If you want to meet up at a rest stop along the way, just have Manager Shin make the call."
"Yes, sir."
Sending Kang Hyeong-seok a look that said they're in your hands, Kwak Young-ho climbed into his car. And with Shin Jeong-ah settled into the passenger seat, Kang Hyeong-seok pulled out of the parking lot.
Vrroooooom.
"The weather's really lovely today."
"It is. Feels like it's been forever."
"Doesn't it? First time since the Sinjangkal, right?"
Shin Jeong-ah's face twisted for an instant before she forced a smile. Kang Hyeong-seok looked at her with an easy grin, then let his gaze return to the road ahead.
"Lovely weather."
The longer you live, the fewer reasons you find to look at the sky. As a child he was sure he'd gazed upward far more often, but adulthood and its busyness had gradually stolen away even the small luxury of a glance at the heavens. Every now and then, Kang Hyeong-seok granted the sky a look of its own as he followed Kwak Young-ho's car.
There was no need for it—the navigation was right there—but Kwak Young-ho held the lead all the same, as if to say, You'd better keep up.
Vrroooooom.
They took the car-only roadway, merged onto the highway, passed through the tollgate, and rolled down a road flanked by low-slung buildings on either side.
With a soft whirr, Shin Jeong-ah lowered the passenger window and the rear glass, letting the outside air spill in.
The air is wonderful.
Clear country air without a whisper of barnyard stench. Fresh and crystalline—like water that might wash the grime from a soul—it announced, beyond any doubt, how far they'd come from the city.
"Manager Kang, I'm going to, uh..."
"Go ahead."
Shin Jeong-ah smiled sheepishly and lit a cigarette, and for a while the smell of the city filled the cabin—then vanished just as quickly, almost as if embarrassed to be there. Kang Hyeong-seok held out his empty coffee cup, and she tapped the ash into it, carefully checking that none had escaped elsewhere.
And so, in that easy rhythm, they arrived at their destination: the pension.
Doors clacked open.
"Ahhh! Now that's fresh air."
Kwak Young-ho unfolded himself from the car and stretched out his stiff back, while Namgoong Min-ah stumbled out wearing a face heavy with sleep. In the meantime, Lee Jin-pyeong wordlessly unloaded the luggage, finishing the whole job so fast that no one even had the chance to offer a hand.
"Smells wonderful out here, doesn't it?"
"Doesn't it? I researched this place very carefully, I'll have you know. There's a sheep farm nearby, and the valley's only a little farther on."
Kang Hyeong-seok looked behind the pension building. A mountain stood there, thick with green, and though the valley itself stayed hidden, he could smell the water.
"It's lovely. Thank you for all the trouble, sir."
"Kuh! If Manager Kang says it's good, then I'm happy too. Alright, everyone—bags first, let's get settled."
As each of them grabbed their luggage, Namgoong Min-ah hurriedly threw out a question.
"Sir! Which rooms are we in?"
"Ah—women take the left staircase up to the first room. Men, the one across from it."
"Yes, sir!"
Then Min-ah boldly tried to haul off Kwak Young-ho's and Lee Jin-pyeong's bags as well, flustering even the unflappable Jin-pyeong.
Youth really is a wonderful thing. Kang Hyeong-seok exchanged a glance with Shin Jeong-ah, confirming they shared the exact same thought, and everyone split off to unpack in their rooms. When they regrouped in front of the pension, Shin Jeong-ah was placing an order at the little café on the ground floor.
"Everyone, go take a seat on the terrace out front. Manager Kang, give me a hand?"
"Of course."
Cups set down one after another on the terrace with Kang Hyeong-seok's help, and Shin Jeong-ah turned to the department head.
"Time for the briefing, sir."
"A briefing? Come on now."
"It's still a workshop. You didn't plan absolutely nothing, did you?"
Everyone knew perfectly well this workshop existed in name only. In practice, it was a vacation—but a workshop was still a workshop, and the bare minimum of appearances had to be kept. That was Shin Jeong-ah's point.
"As you all know, the plan is to relax in moderation and head home. That's about the whole of it."
"...There's really nothing, sir?"
Kwak Young-ho's face creased into a mischievous smile.
"Well. There are a few things I've had in mind, actually. Hold on—don't write them down."
"Oh, you don't need them noted?"
Namgoong Min-ah, who had been reaching for her phone to take notes, received a nod from Kwak Young-ho as he continued.
"You all know ours is a line of work that travels for a living. It'd be a little sad, wouldn't it, to come all this way to unwind and still spend the whole trip running around. So I've planned it with as little moving about as possible. Sound all right?"
Everyone nodded, or agreed in silence. They were salespeople. Unlike ordinary office workers rooted to their desks from clock-in to clock-out, theirs was a trade that only functioned out in the field.
"You really did put thought into this, didn't you?"
Shin Jeong-ah said it teasingly, and a smile spread across Kwak Young-ho's lips in answer.
"Of course! There was a day I ran the field myself—I know exactly how that feels."
"That explains it, then. I peeked into my room earlier and found a smart TV. Every streaming app on it, too."
"That's for anyone who wants to watch something at night. But still—we came all this way. It'd be sad to just sit still inside the pension, no?"
Kwak Young-ho took a sip of coffee through his straw—cool enough to clear the whole head—then gazed over the scenery around the pension as if savoring it.
"Tonight we'll do barbecue. And beyond that? We play. That's the plan."
"Yes!"
Namgoong Min-ah clapped her hands in delight, while Lee Jin-pyeong quietly lifted the lid of the barbecue grill beside him, then set it back down.
"Sir, should I go out and buy the meat?"
At Kang Hyeong-seok's question, Kwak Young-ho checked his wristwatch and shook his head.
"We've got time to spare. Later, Manager Kang and I will go grab the meat and vegetables together. In the meantime, the rest of you can set up for the barbecue. The pension's handling the charcoal and the dishes."
"Understood, sir."
"Then shall we start with the valley? A little walk, a little sightseeing."
Pointing his thumb in the direction the smell of water drifted from, Kwak Young-ho rose to his feet, and the rest of the team followed with light, easy expressions.
Shaaaaaaa!
"Whoa! That valley's practically a waterfall."
"Probably from all the recent rain, sir."
"Even so, my goodness. Just look at it."
"There's an embankment farther up. Shall we climb a little higher and see?"
Delighted, Kwak Young-ho moved upstream along the pouring valley. Greenery crowded thick around them, and patches of water moss clung to the stones just so, until the place felt like some deep backcountry far removed from civilization. Even so, a path worn naturally into the earth by visitors wound upward, and Kwak Young-ho was able to climb the slope, steadying himself on low branches.
"Now this is a whole different world!"
Whether the pension's owner had built it or it had always been there, the water around the embankment ran calm and slow.
"Water like this, you could get right in and play."
Kwak Young-ho stripped off his shoes and socks without ceremony, and Namgoong Min-ah readied herself to plunge in like a retriever finally meeting water.
That was when it happened.
Shin Jeong-ah, the corners of her mouth curved in a soft, contented smile, suddenly sensed something wrong—something off—and turned her gaze on Kang Hyeong-seok.
"Manager Kang? What is it?"
He was staring, blank-faced, at the head of the valley. His look was so fixed, so unnaturally still, that Shin Jeong-ah followed his line of sight to the very same spot.
"Don't look."
His voice caught up a beat too late, and Shin Jeong-ah understood, all at once, why he'd said it.
Shaaaaaaa.
Upstream, where cool, clear water poured without pause toward the embankment, something dim had come into view. No—it was really there. Something was there.
Shin Jeong-ah's eyes darted to Kang Hyeong-seok, but he was still watching the upper reaches of the stream. Then he gave a single, heavy nod.
Shaaaaaaa.
Trembling leaves, water, grass, and moss. And there, high above in that valley where all of it wove together in harmony, a ghost stood bloated fat with water—motionless, staring back at them.