The Son's Refusal
"Section Chief Kang, what were you two talking about for so long?"
It was the next morning. Kwak Young-ho, having run into him at the office, was talking to him before he'd even set his bag down.
"Oh, we just talked about this and that."
"Hmmmm."
He looked unusually preoccupied, so Kang Hyeong-seok lowered his bag onto his desk and spoke up.
"Is something the matter?"
"No, hold on. Just a second."
Just as Kwak Young-ho muttered this and reached for his phone, the door opened and Lee Jin-pyeong walked in. Kwak Young-ho waved him over at once.
"Assistant Manager Lee! Come here a second."
"Yes, sir."
Lee Jin-pyeong gave a short bow and came over, and Kwak Young-ho brewed coffee for the three of them in the break room.
In the morning break room, now thick with the heavy aroma of coffee, Kwak Young-ho handed the cups around.
"The thing is, I got a call last night."
"From whom, if I may ask?"
It was Kang Hyeong-seok's question, and Kwak Young-ho answered as he passed Lee Jin-pyeong his coffee too.
"You know that furniture factory. That gruff old fellow."
"Ah, yes, yes."
"He wants us to come out for a visit."
"Pardon?"
Kwak Young-ho, his gaze locked on Kang Hyeong-seok, took a sip of coffee — and apparently scalded his tongue, because he yanked the cup away from his mouth with a startled cry.
"Are you all right?"
"No, ah! Damn, that's hot. Anyway — you know Boss Kim Yeong-chan, right? He asked whether I could send you and Assistant Manager Lee over to see him."
So it's begun.
Careful not to let the thought show on his face, Kang Hyeong-seok took a measured sip of coffee.
He did say he'd arrange the circumstances himself.
Kim Yeong-chan was the desperate one. He urgently needed Kang Hyeong-seok's help, but apparently he felt that asking to send Kang Hyeong-seok alone, just like that, would look strange.
"Didn't he say he was shutting the business down?"
Lee Jin-pyeong put the question in his usual blunt tone, and Kwak Young-ho, blowing on his coffee, picked it right up. "That's exactly what I said!"
"I guess something changed his mind all of a sudden. One day he's talking about winding things up on the spot, the next he's asking us to bring samples."
"I see."
"Ha, jeez. What is this? I can't figure out why."
Kang Hyeong-seok laughed it off and shook his head as though it were nothing.
"People change their minds all the time. Something personal may have come up, or something that makes him need to keep the business alive."
"Or something bad happened — that's what has me worried."
Kwak Young-ho had done his share of sales work, running himself ragged from door to door. He must have swallowed more than his share of things he could never talk about.
"I understand what you're worried about. But Boss Kim Yeong-chan isn't that kind of man."
"Well... no, he isn't."
"Then there's nothing to worry about."
"You never know, Section Chief Kang."
Kwak Young-ho absently pulled out a cigarette, remembered where he was, and tucked it back into his pocket.
"He's a good man, I'll grant you — but you can never quite tell what a person is really thinking."
Work in sales long enough and you meet all kinds. People who look decent on the surface and are anything but, and the reverse. People who sidle up to you like the friendliest souls alive, then sink a blackened blade between your ribs, or bleed you dry through exploitation and fraud.
That was why Kwak Young-ho, who had dealt with people for so many years, rarely gave his heart to anyone he couldn't truly trust.
"We'll be careful."
"Aigoo, it all happened so fast I'm saying things I normally wouldn't. Anyway — you two line up your schedules and pay him a visit. The sooner the better. Today or tomorrow would be ideal."
Kwak Young-ho's eyes met Lee Jin-pyeong's. Lee Jin-pyeong raised an eyebrow, his expression asking, Did you have something to say to me?, and Kwak Young-ho shook his head, smile still in place.
"Assistant Manager Lee, I spoke out of turn earlier, so just go, do your job, and don't read anything into it. And if you can land a contract, even better!"
"Should I ask him why he changed his mind?"
"Oh, for goodness' sake! What are you talking about? Never mind, never mind. The man's personality may be a bit rough, but he's never once pulled anything shady in all this time. He's trustworthy."
It was after Lee Jin-pyeong murmured, "Understood," that —
"I'm free this afternoon. What about you, Assistant Manager?"
"I'll see if I can arrange my afternoon as well."
"No need to overdo it. You've got tomorrow too."
"It's really fine."
Kang Hyeong-seok smiled, the corners of his mouth tugging upward, and gestured with the hand holding his coffee toward his desk.
"Then I'll get the samples ready. If anything unusual comes up, tell me at lunch."
"Yes, sir."
Lee Jin-pyeong left first, and Kang Hyeong-seok and Kwak Young-ho lingered over a little more coffee before each returning to his desk.
For some reason, the feeling that today would turn into a busy day for everyone seemed to shimmer before his eyes as faintly as the steam rising off the coffee.
Clack.
Seatbelt fastened and Lee Jin-pyeong settled into the passenger seat, Kang Hyeong-seok turned the ignition. The engine, roused from its sleep, rumbled awake with a heavy growl, and in perfect silence they eased out of the cramped parking lot. The time was just past 1:10 in the afternoon.
"What are you looking at so hard?"
When Kang Hyeong-seok, sneaking glances at the passenger seat, asked, Lee Jin-pyeong lowered the tablet in his hand and turned his head.
"Company information."
"Ah, that place."
"Yes. I figured I ought to go over it myself too."
The tablet's screen displayed the details on the furniture factory.
"You've prepared thoroughly, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir. Just in case, I even rehearsed."
Kang Hyeong-seok silently curled the corners of his mouth upward.
So he does know. Why the Department Head took him along yesterday.
He was looking out for Lee Jin-pyeong. He wanted to hand him an achievement worth reporting upstairs, to build at least one result that would count toward the man's promotion. Knowing all that and still refusing to let it show — that was just like Lee Jin-pyeong. And turning around to repay the Department Head's effort like this was, in its own way, every bit as much him.
"Once we arrive, I'll be talking with the staff on-site. The briefing is entirely yours, Assistant Manager."
"Me?"
With startled eyes, Lee Jin-pyeong looked at Kang Hyeong-seok, who kept his attention fixed on the road — and then —
"I'll talk with the boss myself and check whether he truly means to keep the business going. If he does, I'll also need to confirm whether there's anything else he needs."
And he had to make sure that business could carry on. The boss had said his son weighed on his mind; resolve that, and the man would keep the business running.
Grrrum.
Braking at a red light, Kang Hyeong-seok flashed Lee Jin-pyeong a faint smile.
"I'm counting on you, Assistant Manager Lee."
Kang Hyeong-seok said it with a smile. He couldn't tell him everything, but his wish to see Lee Jin-pyeong do well was sincere.
Because of the way he was built, Lee Jin-pyeong had gone a long time without recognition. But Kang Hyeong-seok knew what kind of man he was, and so he genuinely wanted to see him succeed. No doubt everyone in Sales Team 1, Kwak Young-ho included, felt the same.
"Yes."
Whether he knew that or not, Lee Jin-pyeong answered with his usual blunt expression and tone.
Arf! Arf! Arf!
Still, the spirit Spitz perched on his lap seemed to understand Kang Hyeong-seok's heart, judging by the way it barked brightly at him, tail wagging all the while.
Thud.
Kang Hyeong-seok and Lee Jin-pyeong got out of the car and set off straight for the furniture factory.
They had stopped by just yesterday. No new buildings had sprouted up, no strange dog had been chained out front, and yet the place felt considerably different.
"Oh, hello there."
A man with sawdust dusting his face came toward them, pulling off gloves coated with black rubber around the palms.
"Pleased to meet you. We're with Daejeong Mulsan—"
"Yes, I know. Come on in."
Cutting Kang Hyeong-seok's greeting off clean, the man gestured into the factory with all the courtesy he could muster.
"I heard from the boss. That, uh, you'd like to sign a contract with us?"
"Ah, yes."
"Have a good look around. I'm the one in charge of this, so we can go over the details together. And the boss is over there, in the container."
Boss Kim Yeong-chan had laid the groundwork. With that understanding, the man led Lee Jin-pyeong alone into the factory.
Then Lee Jin-pyeong turned his head to look back at Kang Hyeong-seok, and there was something remarkably resolute in his eyes.
Go get 'em, Assistant Manager Lee.
I'll do my part, too.
Kang Hyeong-seok gave a solemn nod, and Lee Jin-pyeong followed the man into the roar of the factory floor.
Even so, Kang Hyeong-seok couldn't bring himself to move for a while, watching Lee Jin-pyeong run his briefing on the tablet, comparing their existing products line by line.
"Whew!"
Lee Jin-pyeong was hard at work too. Kang Hyeong-seok pushed out a breath that puffed his cheeks, slung his bag over his shoulder, and started toward the container.
Something tangled in that household. The reason he had to cling to the shrine hut. The son under threat.
He had to find the cause and lay the grievance to rest. Before the container door, Kang Hyeong-seok quietly closed his eyes, recited a short passage of sacred scripture in his mind, then knocked.
"Boss, are you in there?"
Bang! The door flew open as if he'd been waiting, and Kim Yeong-chan stuck his head out to sweep his eyes over the surroundings. Then, confirming that Kang Hyeong-seok was alone, he ushered him inside as though welcoming an honored guest.
Plop.
He sank onto a sofa whose leather had peeled clean away. The coffee pot began to fill with hot steam, and Kim Yeong-chan, standing before it, tore open two sachets of coffee mix and dumped them into a paper cup.
"Thank you for coming right over."
"Has anything unusual happened?"
"Well, actually... there is that one thing."
An embarrassed look. Anxious eyes. A voice faintly trembling.
Kim Yeong-chan's lips fluttered as he poured hot water into the paper cup, then set the finished coffee down in front of Kang Hyeong-seok.
Holding the paper cup of coffee, Kang Hyeong-seok met Kim Yeong-chan's eyes.
"What's the matter?"
"As you know, my son is coming tonight."
Kim Yeong-chan rubbed his dry lips as though they burned, then laced his rough fingers together.
"I told my son what you taught me yesterday, and the stubborn fool says he won't do it — not even if I beat him half to death."
What Kang Hyeong-seok had taught Kim Yeong-chan was a warding rite.
"Tss."
Kang Hyeong-seok drew in a breath through his teeth and took a sip of his coffee as well.
There has to be a reason.
Perhaps the son simply couldn't sense it himself. Perhaps he'd grown resentful of his father's constant comings and goings at the shrine hut. Or maybe all those years overseas had planted the word superstition so firmly in his mind that it would no longer budge.
But something was most definitely there.
Watching Kim Yeong-chan fidget restlessly, Kang Hyeong-seok let out a hot breath.
"W-what am I supposed to do?"
"I don't see any other way."
At once, Kim Yeong-chan's face stiffened and darkened.
"I'm sorry?"
"I'll take this chance to meet your son myself."
Unfortunately, there was no room left to keep dragging this out.