“So, you’re saying you want to make sure they don’t go back to the village.”
He didn’t look surprised as if he’d heard something unexpected, nor did he show any sign of displeasure at having to listen to such a tedious and private story when all he’d done was suggest I paint.
Like the head of a private investigation agency who deals with such stories on a daily basis, he cut straight to the heart of the matter, devoid of unnecessary sentiment or curiosity. It was I, rather, who was bewildered by his attitude.
But he was right. In essence, that was it.
Now that Morae’s father had started to make his move, I had to get the two of them to a safe place as quickly as possible. I felt sorry toward my great-uncle, but that was ultimately why I had secured a day’s grace.
“I don’t want… anyone to get hurt.”
I said, rubbing the cooled surface of the teacup I’d been holding without taking a single sip.
He lifted the glass he had set down, took a drink of his liquor, and smiled at me from the corner of his eye.
“Why, you think I’m going to solve the problem by hurting someone?”
“……”
His faint smile seemed to say that it wasn’t a matter of inability, but of choice—that if he put his mind to it, he could very well approach the problem in such a way.
It was a face that reminded me of when he had warned me about my life with the Director, saying, 「Safely. Peacefully. I hope you have a secure life. Understood? Mr. Seo Yeehyeon.」
“Hmm, right. You’ll need money, anyway.”
Fiddling with the on-the-rocks glass on his crossed legs, he glanced down toward my feet. Then he muttered as if to himself.
“‘I’ll paint. Help me.’ So that’s what it meant.”
“……”
My decision to start painting again had been made a while ago, but if taken in the sense he meant, he wasn’t wrong.
The only painting of mine he knew was a single piece completed years ago, and right now, there was nothing I could say for certain about my art. And yet, as if my abilities had any value… how much of a losing proposition my request to help me in exchange for painting must have seemed from his perspective. I wasn’t ignorant of that, but I had no other cards to play. I couldn’t just rely on his kindness and ask for help without a reason.
He placed his glass back on the table, rested his arms on the armrests, and lightly clasped his hands.
“I’ll pay the contract fee upfront. You, Mr. Seo Yeehyeon, are someone I coveted and persuaded, so I can give you that much special treatment.”
It was a refreshingly unhesitating answer.
I, who had expected a series of questions, deliberation, and a proposal of terms, just stared blankly at his face in surprise. He then asked me how much I needed to set things right.
It wouldn’t be a fundamental solution, but in the current situation, there was no such thing as a fundamental solution anyway. Thanks to the enraged Mr. Lim, my great-uncle and grandfather would have to endure more harsh days… but getting the two of them to safety came first. I had to prevent this escape from ending as a clumsy act of defiance.
When he heard the amount of thirty million won, his expression subtly contorted. He looked as if he was doubting his own ears, or as if he had heard something deeply unpleasant.
“Are you saying they’re tormenting your family like that over a thirty-million-won debt?”
“Ah… that’s not it.”
I explained that the priority was to send Morae and Yeehan to Bali. As soon as possible, within the next few days if possible, I wanted them to be able to leave Korea. The plan had already been delayed enough because of me.
The light from the stand lamp between us, lit instead of the ceiling light, cast the shadow of his long, distinct eyelashes onto his cheek. After a moment of thought, tapping the rim of his glass, he shifted his gaze to look at me.
“Instead of that, let’s get rid of the root cause altogether. If we pay off your family’s debt, at least the direct cause for threats will be more or less eliminated, won’t it?”
“But, that’s too much money…”
To him, seventy million or a hundred million won might not be a large sum. It probably was. The very idea that such an amount of money could make a person’s daily life exhausting and allow their life to be swayed by others might be something he couldn’t understand, something that angered him.
But that was the life of my grandfather, my great-uncle, and many others. From dawn until dusk, taking only about one day off a month to go out on the boat, their hands never free from the smell of fish, my grandfather and great-uncle had been poor their entire lives. Things would have been worse if they hadn’t taken out a loan to buy the boat. The debt to Mr. Lim wasn’t all of it, either. Like pouring water into a bottomless pit, the need for money led to one thing after another, and taking in my father and me as extra mouths to feed was just one of the misfortunes that followed.
“There’s also the option of helping them start over somewhere new, so they can completely escape that family’s influence. About three hundred million won should be enough to lay the foundation for a new start in Korea, or five hundred million if it’s abroad.”
He took it a step further than just paying off the debt.
Three hundred million, five hundred million… Like when I’d heard the Director’s apartment was worth at least 1.5 billion, the amounts were so large I couldn’t even grasp them.
Yeehan and Morae would leave Seoul for good, and my grandfather and great-uncle would live somewhere Morae’s father’s influence held little power… Of course, doing so might solve all the problems except for Morae’s father’s wrath. To put it simply, yes. But I shook my head.
“I don’t have the confidence to pay back that kind of money.”
“You can just pay it back slowly. I have no intention of pressing you for it, not until you say you’re quitting painting.”
“I’m truly grateful for the offer, but… my grandfather and great-uncle probably won’t want to leave that village.”
It’s not as if that village is the only place under the sun; some people might think that paying off the debt and leaving for somewhere else is the solution. But the world wasn’t only made up of people who actively tried to solve their life’s problems like that.
Just as a mountain doesn’t get up and move just because it doesn’t like the desolation of the scenery or the chill of the wind, some people endure life by silently holding their ground in the place they’ve always been. Not with the proactiveness to overcome, but with the grit to withstand.
It might seem foolish to some, but that was how my grandfather and great-uncle lived.
After slowly taking a few more sips of his drink, lost in thought, he finally spoke after a long while.
“What I want is to create an environment where you, Mr. Seo Yeehyeon, can focus on your painting without any other worries. Even if moving your family is out of the question, the debt at least needs to be resolved for that to be possible.”
“……”
I couldn’t deny it.
“I’ll arrange for Hyung and Noona to be moved to a place of their choosing within five days, through an untraceable route. And I’ll take care of your family’s debt as well. One hundred million. A nice, clean number.”
He even offered a faint smile as he said it, then stood up to refill his empty glass before I could even answer.
There was the money tied up in the security deposit for the rooftop room. I had planned to send Morae and Yeehan off first, then pay him back once I got the deposit back. But it was true that if I could pay off the debt as well, it would ease my worries a little. Mr. Lim wasn’t hounding us just because of the seventy million won, but if that debt were gone, his immediate pretext would become flimsy.
It didn’t feel as hopelessly impossible as three or five hundred million, an amount I could never repay. If the painting didn’t work out, I could go back to the moving company, and if I scrimped and saved for three or four years, it wasn’t an impossible sum to pay back. Calculating it that way made it difficult to refuse his offer.
He, who had said he wouldn’t give me any alcohol, returned with two on-the-rocks glasses. Taking the cooled teacup from my hand, he handed me a whiskey with a high ratio of tonic water, its color pale. His was dark.
“To put it nicely, it’s a contract fee, but since it’s money that has to be recouped by selling your work, Mr. Seo Yeehyeon, it’s practically a debt.”
Sitting down across from me again, he leaned his body loosely against the armrest. His slanted gaze was relaxed, but for some reason, a sense of tension made me sit up straight.
“I’m aware.”
“Are you okay with getting so complicatedly entangled with me?”
“Honestly, I’m scared I won’t be able to pay back such a large sum… but if I can’t do it through painting, I will definitely pay you back by doing other work in the future.”
As I said that, he stared at me for a moment. He looked as if I’d said something harsh, as if he was hurt by my words. But it was only for a fleeting instant.
Quickly composing himself, he picked up the cigarettes from the side table as if he’d just remembered them and lit one.
“This is a contract fee for the paintings you will create, not me lending you money like a loan shark. So once this is resolved, don’t worry about anything else and just focus properly on your painting. If you neglect your art, that’s when you, Mr. Seo Yeehyeon, will be failing to fulfill your obligation.”
I nodded with the utmost gravity.
Good. Muttering so as he exhaled a long stream of smoke, he glanced at me, flicking the ash into the ashtray with a quick, slightly anxious hand.
“May I ask just one thing?”
Leave a Reply