Aunt Deoksan wiped her tears with her sleeve. Mussang and Hyeyeong were such a beautiful couple. Mussang was responsible and sincere at an early age. Hyeyeong was older than him but seemed younger. If the mother who had abandoned her young child hadn’t suddenly appeared and made a scene, they might have ended up as a good couple. Aunt Deoksan felt hot anger soar in herself.

  “The world is small. I had no idea that the boy Mr. Bak talked about could be you. Why did you live like that with a rich uncle? If she had known, she wouldn’t have opposed your coupling.”


  Aunt Deoksan said. Mussang emptied two shots without saying a word. He couldn’t focus on what Aunt Deoksan said. Memories that rolled in disrupted his headspace. Aunt Deoksan thought he and Hyeyeong parted because of Ms. Lee. That woman did kick him out, calling him a bum.

  She had a lowly soul. Greed and vanity blinded her. She confused humble pleasures with freedom. She twisted self-indulgence with courage. She used her abandoned daughter for her gain.

  Lee Minju, whom he met in the welfare center, was still the same. He couldn’t believe that a pure soul like Hyeyeong was born from her womb. Genes or the law of heredity were not reliable.

  “It’s all bygone things.”


  Mussang’s face looked as dry as fallen leaves in late autumn. He had wanted to kill her, but he couldn’t bring himself to harm Hyeyeong’s birth mother, so he just left her in the basement. (Mussang had no idea that Gim Geukdo had injected the Itai poison in Lee Minju’s head.) She was but one in many blundering humans. But he didn’t feel like defending her either to Aunt Deoksan.

  “I almost forgot!”


  Aunt Deoksan smacked her head and brought an envelope from the counter drawer.

  “Two months after Miss left for America, a letter arrived. It was before the house was sold, so I was able to take it.”


  “Thank you.”


  Mussang’s hand shivered imperceptibly. Love is like a burning fire. One’s first love is to brand one’s heart with its heat. Mussang’s heart had been imprinted so profoundly and vividly by the explosive emotion felt during his most reckless days.

  Aunt Deoksan handed him the letter and went into the inner room. Mussang took out another sealed envelope from within the envelope. The words “To my love!” struck his eyes. Circular, squiggly handwriting was Hyeyeong’s. Hot tears welled up along with hot emotion in his heart. He opened the envelope.

  [We met in April under the old pine tree.

  We shared deep feelings underground.

  In the sky, we shall be a pair of phoenixes.

  On the ground, we will be two trees with a connected branch.

  Even if the eternal universe comes to an end

  My longing shall not ever cease……

  ]

  The ancient poem whose words were changed by him ripped off the thick scab covering the wound. The heart-wrenching pain ensued. The connected branches were cut apart, and the wings of the phoenixes were cut off. Someone said that memories are the true essence of humans. Sweet and happy memories passed in front of his mind’s eye. He acted calm like an adult when he let her go, but that was just a fa?ade. His heart started to bleed.

  [My love, two months have passed since the scorching sun in Santa Barbara tanned our necks. The red curtain of the sunset faded, and the sodium lamps strewn along the Paseo Nuevo street were lit. Now I am to battle my loneliness in my apartment hotel room.

  I check my address book because I feel like talking to someone, but I have no one to call. Is the cuckoo still singing in your heart? I forget the beginning and end of the ancient poetry you recited. I hate myself for only remembering your hardened chest and sad face.

  What good is a master’s degree or a doctorate for happiness? I would like to sing next to my love, drinking rice wine. I want to enjoy the ecstasy of your firm chest pressing down on my breasts……

  I booked and canceled three flights in two months. I knew what you meant when you appeared in a waiter’s uniform and dumped me. I am going to be successful here. No matter what, I will succeed here and go home……

  Everyone acts desperate right before and after love. But I believe if love restrains the loved, that is attachment and self-centeredness. That’s why I left. Like cheesy pop lyrics, I had to leave because I loved you.

  I loved your soul, and I loved your muscular body. When your soul clouds over and your body collapses, will I be able to keep loving you? I couldn’t fool myself. Maybe I was wrong. I am crying right now, pounding my chest. But I am still determined to succeed. I will not die before I die. I will fight and rise victorious……

  You gave me the courage to enter a different world. I didn’t leave you more than I fled from myself. They say a woman is the home of a man’s soul, but I was not brave enough to be yours.

  Now you must go home. Now you must go home where the front gate is wide open, the blooming flowers welcome you, and fermented soybean soup is bubbling. I was happy thanks to you. I am still excited and will continue to be. But, it would help if you were satisfied too. It would help if you were rewarded for all the years of pain and suffering you endured.

  “What a load of crap!”


  Mussang swore loudly and crumpled up the letter. It made no sense. What did she mean with the flowers and the stew? Jinsun. Jinsun was only a little girl with pigtails who needed to take care of then. It was just an excuse. Three years of burning love couldn’t have cowered before Jinsun, who was only a little girl then.

  “Was our love just this for you? Do as you wish!”


  Mussang tossed the crumpled-up letter into the coal pit in the table. The two pieces of paper turned to ash at once. Humans relied upon each other but essentially were solitary beings. Why did she refuse to understand that they were two striving to be one?

  “Bye, my love.”


  Tears streaked down his cheek. He understood her pain. Hyeyeong left because of her mother, who became a traumatic memory. Aunt Deoksan was not wholly mistaken when she said they parted because of Lee Minju.

  Lee Minju was a feminist who never took care of her own family. Hyeyeong’s father, exasperated, married another woman with whom he had another family. Hyeyeong, at the age of seven, was abandoned and raised by Aunt Deoksan. Her desire to study pained her, who vowed to never become like her mother.

  She hesitated between the desire for passionate love and her ambition. That’s why he pushed her away to make the decision easier for her. If that helped her make her mind, it was good. But, unfortunately, he was the lingering one. Aunt Deoksan never came out of the inner room. The hall of the restaurant was lit until dawn.

  A moldy smell woke Mussang. Beams of sunshine streaming through the window poked his eyes like spears. They made a checkered pattern on the ceiling that awakened his synapses. He was in an inn in the back alley of Nowon. His temples pounded. The cheap, diluted soju brought the uninvited guest called a hangover. No one would have believed it if Black Mamba, the nightmare of the battlefields, could blackout due to alcohol. But if he intended to be drunk, he could.

  “I am cutting myself too much slack!”


  It was absurd. Hyeyeong’s letter shattered his diamond-like soul. His body had evolved into horror, but his soul stayed human. It was no surprise since he had always been struggling to retain his humanity. Resonance Wave cleared the hangover, brushed off the debris of nostalgia remaining in his head, and ousted the moldy smell through the window. He had a new girl. The bygones had to stay as bygones.

  He felt something inside the pocket of his suit jacket. It was the envelope from his uncle. He checked the amount and was a bit surprised. It was a 30,000,000-won check.

  “This is stupid. I needed that 200 won back then.”


  A cup of water is lifesaving to someone stranded in a desert, but a bucketful of water was nothing to someone swimming in a reservoir. So he checked the contents of the yellow envelope as well. There were financial statements, current reports, data, shareholder’s receipts, trust fund contracts, and a copy of his will for the past five years.

  He inherited 30 percent of Hyangsim’s shares for free like that. Then, when his uncle passed away, he inherited the remaining 22 percent. So he would be the absolute shareholder of a medium-sized company with annual revenue of 28,000,000,000 won with 52 percent of the total shares.

  “I may not be the reincarnation of an asura but a god of fortune in Islam!”


  Mussang laughed. In his adolescence, he suffered because of the lack of money. Now, money followed him everywhere. He might as well drown in it.

  The intercom of the room rang.

  “If you don’t check out until twelve, you will be charged. So if you don’t like that, you may want to hurry.”


  The deep voice of a middle-aged woman made the receiver vibrate.

  “Haha!”


  He couldn’t help but laugh. Middle-aged Korean women were invincible. Mussang, the angel of death, the king of Novatopia, and the owner of the Doba oil field was no match to a middle-aged Korean woman.

  Mussang went home in the afternoon in broad daylight. It was a significant change for Mussang, whose routine was as set in stone as a Swiss clock. Jinsun welcomed him with a smile without saying a word. Flowers were in full bloom. A fermented soybean stew was bubbling.

  “Let’s have a drink, Jinsun.”


  “How come?”


  “We need to discuss family matters.”


  Jinsun stared at Mussang. He rarely cracked a joke. If he said family matters, it was going to be family matters. But, on the other hand, if he slept outside and asked for liquor he usually didn’t like, he did have something to talk about.

  Jinsun went down into the basement. She had five barrels of Sciaccarello sent by Emil in the cellar. Mussang only enjoyed two liquors: Sciaccarello and Valentine ’30.

  Sciaccarello is native to Corsica. The grape plant enjoyed basking in the Mediterranean sun and wind, rooted in granite soil. That rendered the flesh of the fruits firm and the resulting wine slightly peppery. Unfortunately, the produce was not great, and it was not imported to Korea.

  “It isn’t too bad to enjoy autumn with some drink in broad daylight amid a bamboo grove. I have a beautiful woman by my side. The bustling bamboos accentuate my appetite. The world seems easygoing at times like this. This should be sufficient, but my heart still feels empty.”


  Mussang muttered. Jinsun felt her heart drop. Mussang was vulnerable to kindness and love. She suddenly remembered the beautiful Korean woman. She accepted the young British lady called Edel, but she couldn’t get Hyeyeong. She was only going to burden Mussang. She would use him as a stepping stone, not be a stepping stone for him. That was her take on the matter.

  “Mussang, it must be costing you to look for your mother. Of course, it is not much, but I wanted to help.”


  Jinsun didn’t reveal her doubt and held out a passbook from within her clothes.

  “What is this?”


  Mussang opened the passbook.

  “2,100,000 won? Jinsun, you are quite good with monetary matters. How were you able to save up this much with your nurse’s salary?”


  Some life returned to Mussang’s empty countenance.

  “You pay for all the expenses. I could save up almost all of my salary.”


  “Thank you. I will have flyers printed with this. We shall cover the whole country with flyers.”


  Jinsun was well aware of his wealth. She just wanted to contribute to a good cause. Mussang touched, pulled Jinsun close to him, and hugged her. In his embrace, Jinsun smiled triumphantly.

  A husband’s success is up to his wife’s. A fire shall be put out with a more significant fire. If Hyeyeong was a campfire, Mussang’s missing mother was a forest fire. She successfully put out the campfire with the forest fire. She was pretty a tactician.

  “Mussang, be patient.”


  “I was orphaned at nine. It has been 17 years since my mother went missing. I am supposed to be used to waiting now, but my heart still feels empty to this day.”


  “Neopchi established a headquarters in Busan and hired 500. The great monk clucked his tongue. He said it is a waste of money and time.”


  “I know. The monk is usually right. But as a son, I couldn’t do anything. If it weren’t for the Teacher, I would be in Busan myself now. This liquor is quite mild. Geukdo!”


  “Yes, sir!”


  Razor, who was waiting outside the pavilion, came at once. Mussang tried to discourage him, but he kept staying near Mussang.

  “Bring me some Geumbok-ju.”


  “How come?”


  “A pine worm needs pine needles. I need some pigskin and gizzards.”


  Mussang stared at the cheese and bacon served with the liquor. They didn’t go well with the wine. His taste must have reverted.

  Gim Geukdo brought the grill, charcoal, pork belly, and ssamjang. Gim Geukdo, keen and clever, became the butler of Eungsim-je in a few days. Even the highly intelligent Jinsun was impressed at his keenness. If Ssamdi was a flying bear, Geukdo was like a deft swallow. Jinsun wondered from where Mussang was bringing these people.