The Bells Ring Twice
"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Shin Jeong-ah, Section Chief with Daejeong Mulsan."
Shin Jeong-ah drew a crisp business card from her card case and offered it across with both hands.
It was a bright, sunlit morning, and she stood directly in front of the factory of a quiet little company. The outer walls were painted sky blue, and in the yard an enormous dog, chained up, sagged into a long, lazy yawn.
"Yes, thank you. Though—where is the person who came before?"
A man who looked to be in his late fifties accepted the card, adjusted his glasses, and studied her.
"He left the company for personal reasons. I came by in person to let you know the account manager has changed."
"Aigoo, I see."
The man turned the card over in his fingers, then seemed struck by a sudden thought; he pulled a wallet from his pocket, fished out a business card gone gray with grime along one corner, and handed it over.
"I handle general affairs here. Your contact's been on vacation since yesterday."
"I'm the one who should apologize, dropping by without so much as a phone call."
It was right after Shin Jeong-ah had slipped the card into her case.
"Um—about Daejeong Mulsan, that is."
"Yes?"
"I'm only bringing this up because the person in charge has changed, but there's the matter of the payment, you see. Isn't there some way that could be pulled forward a little?"
Shin Jeong-ah was still smiling her working smile, but the amusement drained out of her eyes.
A beat later she lowered her head and began again, her tone all apology.
"That's outside my authority. I'm very sorry."
"You know how hard things are for everyone these days. All I'm asking for is a little accommodation."
"Send an official request to the company, and we'll discuss it internally and get back to you."
"Oh, come on now!"
Shin Jeong-ah pressed her lips shut and let out a soundless sigh.
Places like this made up most of her book of business.
Because she was in sales. Because she was a young woman. Because her title didn't carry enough weight.
"Pulling one payment forward isn't going to send Daejeong Mulsan staggering, is it? Am I wrong?"
Shin Jeong-ah smoothed her expression and straightened out of her bow.
"General Affairs Manager Lee Jeong-hoon."
"...What about it?"
"To my knowledge, you've made requests like this about payment before."
Wearing nothing but a professional's smile, Shin Jeong-ah continued in a flat, businesslike voice.
"And there was also the time your goods weren't ready on schedule, which caused serious disruption to the transaction."
"...Now hold on! That time—!"
"The typhoon, wasn't it?"
The general affairs manager's face went rigid.
The memory had come rushing back all at once. Which meant he knew exactly what Shin Jeong-ah would say next.
"Fortunately, the typhoon didn't cause you a lick of damage."
"......"
The man's mouth clamped firmly shut, and Shin Jeong-ah let her gaze drift over the building's outer walls and windows—old and worn, yes, but perfectly sound.
"The truth is, I did some looking into things on my own. If there were anything we could help with, I would have been glad to give it my full attention."
But there was no such thing.
To be precise, there had been no need for one.
"And yet your deliveries to your other clients all appear to have gone through normally. Well. That's a relief."
The manager turned his gaze away with a sour look and rubbed at his collar.
"As you're aware, we're bound to honor our contracts. Where the payment is concerned, what you're asking would breach those terms—so I'm afraid it's beyond my power."
When the man said nothing more, Shin Jeong-ah picked up the paper box of beverage gift sets from the floor.
"This—I couldn't very well come empty-handed, so I bought it at the store up the road."
"...Yes. Yes, of course."
"Well then, enjoy the holiday. As for the payment, I'll make some inquiries at the company as well."
Maintaining every formality to the very last, Shin Jeong-ah left the factory.
As she passed directly in front of it, the chained dog sprang up and hurled itself against its chain hard enough to set the links clanking. Shin Jeong-ah spared it not a single glance.
Step, step, step.
Only once she had put well more than enough distance between herself and the factory did Shin Jeong-ah glance back over her shoulder, eyes cutting sideways.
"Where does a two-bit con artist bastard get off getting lippy with me. Fuck."
Rubbing the back of her neck irritably, she stuck a cigarette between her lips on top of it.
Click—and the hiss of a flame catching.
"Whew!"
Her first cigarette of the day.
The nicotine rolled in heavy, weighing her body down before it fuzzed her mind over into a hazy calm. She kept her eyes closed for a while, savoring the ease it brought, and when she opened them again the fury had faded to a dull simmer.
"Good grief. How did my predecessor even do this job?"
For a client to behave that way, the person before her usually bore most of the blame—somebody who had acted as though discounts, concessions, whatever it was, would all be handed over freely. It would pad the quarterly numbers, certainly, but looked at long-term, it did the company no good whatsoever.
Assistant Manager Kang must have had it rough.
Word was the man's temper had been rotten besides. Having had to labor under someone like that as his own superior, Assistant Manager Kang's grievances must have run deep.
Cigarette still between her lips, Shin Jeong-ah trudged toward the bus stop and took out her phone.
Maybe I'll give him a call...?
She was curious, that much was true. Whether he was getting any real rest. Whether anything unusual had happened. That sort of thing. More than anything, he was someone she owed a great deal to, in any number of ways—it seemed only right to check in on him.
Hold on, though. If he picks up while he's with his parents, that might be awkward. Should I text first?
Vroooom.
Oblivious to the bus she was supposed to board as it rumbled past the stop, she agonized for a good long while. Then her mind was made up, and she pressed down firmly on Kang Hyeong-seok's number in her contacts.
"The party you are calling is currently on another call and will be connected to voicemail. Call charges will apply after the beep."
"Ah, damn it!"
That the call she had finally worked up to wouldn't even connect drew a hollow flash of irritation from Shin Jeong-ah.
(Son! Why didn't you come home last night?)
Kang Hyeong-seok was on the phone from inside his car. The phone hung on the dashboard with its charging cable plugged in, and the voice of the person on the other end—his mother—drifted out of the car's speakers.
"I got in too late yesterday, so I slept in the car."
(You'll catch a cold! You need to sleep somewhere comfortable!)
"People car-camp all the time these days, you know. Sleeping in a car isn't all that uncomfortable."
Anyone who had ever slept in a car knew the truth of it. It looked cozy enough at a glance, but the cramped space made it quietly uncomfortable. Still, it wasn't as though it had nothing going for it.
Sip.
Drinking the warm americano he'd picked up at a convenience store, he gazed at the scenery framed in the windshield. The parking lot sat at the foot of a mountain, and so the view was nothing to complain about. The mountain itself rose with imposing force, but more than that, having a wide-open sky be the first thing he saw upon waking—that had felt genuinely fine.
(All the same, sleep somewhere comfortable! If you must, come home and sleep!)
"You know how it was. Things ran late yesterday."
(Haah, why does your uncle have to go doing business with a person like that.)
"You know it wasn't Uncle's fault."
(Be that as it may—your uncle, and your father too, how can two grown men be so hopelessly naive?)
"Did something happen yesterday?"
(Don't even get me started. Yesterday your father just would not stop going on about you.)
Cup still in hand, Kang Hyeong-seok let out a laugh like a slow exhale.
His mother was telling him about what had happened at the hospital the previous night. They had asked Cheong-geum, and through her, help had been requested from other shamans; his uncle and his father had watched as they performed the rites to hold the calamity at bay.
(He says the shamans treated you like some exalted figure—and his eyes went round as a rabbit's as he told it. I have never seen that man like that, not once since the day you were born. Not once.)
"Dad's only saying that because he doesn't understand. It wasn't because of me—it was because of Master Lee Geum-kyeong."
(Your father says he doesn't think that's it?)
"Like I said, it's because he doesn't understand."
He had done his judicious smoothing-over, that was all.
The shamans had been showing proper courtesy to Kang Hyeong-seok's patron deity. And yes, granted, that courtesy extended to Kang Hyeong-seok himself, vessel of a very great god—but telling her things as they truly were felt likely to plant expectations far too grand. It was enough simply that her son wasn't looked down on anywhere.
That image was plenty.
"Oh? I've got a missed call from my boss at work. Mother, I'll let you go now."
(Already?)
"What do you mean, already? We've been talking for ages. And you need to get your meals in too, Mother."
(When are you coming home?)
"I imagine it'll all be wrapped up within the day. There's nothing dangerous, so please don't worry yourself."
(All right. If anything comes up, you call me right away! Understood?)
"I'm telling you, nothing dangerous."
Having reassured her time and again, Kang Hyeong-seok ended the call. Then he stared at the darkened screen, his face every bit as bitter as his coffee.
How was he supposed to tell her?
That he might yet come face to face with the bastard who had scattered this calamity.
Slurp.
Cradling the coffee, still breathing warm steam, in both hands, Kang Hyeong-seok gazed out the window, then drew a long, deep breath.
Then he picked the phone up from the dashboard and dialed Shin Jeong-ah.
Ring, ring, ring.
(Hello?)
(Oh? Off your call now?)
"Yes, I'm free to talk. Have you finished up all your work as well?"
(I have. But more to the point—Assistant Manager Kang, your voice sounds off?)
Uncanny. This woman.
Wondering whether his worries had seeped into his voice after all, Kang Hyeong-seok took another sip of coffee and opened his mouth.
"Nothing in particular."
(That's not your usual tone? Be honest with me. Is this tangled up with something bad?)
"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with, Section Chief."
(That's a hurtful thing to say.)
At the sudden frost in Shin Jeong-ah's voice, Kang Hyeong-seok smiled wryly. Was it because she worked in Sales? Or did that thing they called a woman's intuition actually exist? She spoke with the conviction of someone certain that something was wrong.
"It's just... some family matters."
(Then spit it out, all of it.)
"Really, it's nothing you need to—"
(You solved my problems for me, and I'm not allowed to solve yours? Why do you keep disappointing me like this?)
Faced with that bedrock stubbornness, Kang Hyeong-seok let out a soundless sigh and explained the previous night's events one by one.
(So it is serious!)
"Yes. Which is exactly why I said you needn't worry."
(Haaah!)
"It's a matter that's nearly settled as it is. And there's nothing dangerous about it."
(Where are you?)
"I'm sorry?"
(You said you'd have to comb through a mountain, didn't you? It's not as if you can drive around in there. Are you planning to do it alone?)
Kang Hyeong-seok's eyes widened by degrees. Shin Jeong-ah was saying she would come with him.
"W-wait, Section Chief. Do you even know where 'there' is? It's not happening."
(Drop it! I'm telling you I'll be fine.)
"Section Chief!"
(Assistant Manager Kang, I pay back what I owe.)
Kang Hyeong-seok sighed, past any thought of muffling it. At that, Shin Jeong-ah blew up and fired off one thing after another, but none of it reached him.
He was grateful, truly, for her offer to come along. And it was true that two people sweeping a mountain fared far better than one. But what if something happened to Shin Jeong-ah—someone with no direct stake in this affair and no shamanic power to protect herself?
(Are you ignoring me? Why aren't you saying anything!)
This time he strangled the sigh, drew one long breath, and spoke.
"However I look at it, I can't allow it. Something could happen to you, Section Chief—that's the whole problem."
(I'm stronger than you, Assistant Manager Kang.)
What on earth was this now? Kang Hyeong-seok's eyes rolled—then it came back to him: she had trained in combat sports, and she had no idea just how vicious and punishing the military unit he himself had come out of was.
"Ha-ha."
(Are you laughing at me? Hey!)
Wearing that awkward smile, Kang Hyeong-seok fell into brief thought. Before long, he spoke.
"All right. I'll be in your care this time."
(That's more like it!)
Her answer came back swift and satisfied, and she sent him her location on the spot. He punched it into the navigation—not far at all. She wasn't far from the mountain, either, his destination.
"We may end up doing some hiking. What are you planning to do about clothes?"
(I've got a hotel booked nearby. We'll just stop by there for a minute. Or I'll buy something on the way and change—whatever.)
Remembering that Shin Jeong-ah came from money, Kang Hyeong-seok pressed a palm to his forehead—and let it drop.
"Understood. I'll be there shortly."
(Yep!)
Call ended, Kang Hyeong-seok started the engine. Then he began to drive, following the route the navigation traced out to meet up with Shin Jeong-ah.
Ting-a-ling. Ting-a-ling.
On the passenger seat, the sacred shaman bells rang twice. Just as they had that once before. As if to tell him that this time, of all times, the work ahead was meant to be carried out by the two of them together.
Having rung those two chimes, the shaman bells made no further sound.
