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CHAPTER 06
It was definitely a familiar voice.
But that couldn’t be possible.
She didn’t know a single person in this unfamiliar land of Sinuiju. There was no way she could recognize anyone’s voice here.
Choi Hee brushed off the sound and stood up. She must have heard wrong.
As she tried to quietly slip out of the dark room, another familiar-sounding tone stopped her in her tracks once more.
“There’s nothing quite like sharing a drink of sake among geishas to relieve one’s fatigue, wouldn’t you say?”
Hearing it a second time made it certain. It was definitely someone she knew.
But she couldn’t place who the owner of the voice was.
Caught between curiosity and unease, curiosity won in the end.
She tiptoed back toward the paper partition separating the two rooms. Carefully, she poked a tiny hole through the thin paper with her finger and pressed her eye against it.
Through the tiny opening, she could see the people inside.
The gaunt man seated directly across from her appeared to be Japanese.
Two geishas, dressed so scantily it was hard to tell whether they were clothed or undressed, clung to both his arms. One of them giggled as she pinched his arm playfully.
“Minamoto-sama! You’re so naughty!”
Watching the scene, Choi Hee clicked her tongue inwardly.
Men really are all the same….
She turned her gaze away from the Japanese man and looked at the person seated with his back facing her.
Unlike the man across from him, he had broad shoulders and a tall frame.
A geisha sat beside him too, but instead of touching him, she simply poured him drinks.
Wait.
That back looked strangely familiar.
Where have I seen him before…?
As she compared the voice and the silhouette in her memory, the man suddenly spoke.
“By the way, have you heard, Minamoto-sama? The American Martyr Company has entered the railway business.”
“Gasp!”
The moment she heard the man’s voice clearly, Choi Hee clapped both hands over her mouth. Fortunately, the noise from the next room was loud enough that no one seemed to hear her.
That voice…!
“Since I saved you, shouldn’t you stop calling me shameless?”
It was unmistakably the voice of that shameless man.
Yes—those broad shoulders before her were the same back she had stared at all the way to Sinuiju Station.
But what is that shameless man doing here?
She pulled her eye away from the hole in the paper door and pressed her ear against it instead.
The conversation between the two men continued.
“Did you ask to see me just to talk about that, Mr. Lee?”
The Japanese man’s tone was irritated now, unlike before. Something clearly displeased him.
“Of course not, Minamoto-sama. You know how interested I am in the railway business.”
The shameless man answered smoothly, without the slightest sign of unease.
Railway business?
Come to think of it, the man had said he was an “ordinary businessman.”
Judging from this conversation, perhaps he hadn’t been lying after all.
“It’s a state-run project led by the Governor-General’s Office. What good would your interest do?”
“Not everything can be handled solely as a national enterprise. If you’d support me, I’d like to give it a try myself.”
“Forgive me for saying this, Mr. Lee, but it will be difficult. I know you’re a talented man worthy of the great Empire of Japan, but your background is lacking, isn’t it?”
“Surely you understand my loyalty to the Empire better than anyone, Minamoto-sama.”
“I do. But perhaps you haven’t heard about the incident in Jongno?”
Jongno?
Choi Hee leaned in closer. Jongno was where she had lived.
“What incident are you referring to?”
“A few days ago, a group of Joseon bastards threw a bomb at Jongno Police Station. Everyone’s keeping quiet about it, but Sinuiju Station was blown up that same day. Those vermin-like Joseon dogs!”
At the man’s words, Choi Hee bit down hard on her lip. The sharp pressure of her teeth brought the metallic taste of blood into her mouth.
“Brother… what is that smell?”
There had been the strange scent of gunpowder on her brother’s hands.
No. It couldn’t be.
Her brother wasn’t bold enough to throw bombs at a police station in Jongno. And he would never break the promise he had made to her.
But despite herself, she found her body leaning closer and closer toward the paper door, desperate for any scrap of information about him.
“I had no idea such a thing had happened.”
“Those slippery bastards. In the end, they never caught them.”
At the Japanese man’s words, Choi Hee unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
It couldn’t have been my brother… but still… just in case.
While she secretly calmed herself, the Japanese man continued in an agitated voice.
“That’s why I always said we should have crushed those cockroach-like bastards from the start! In any case, I’ll never do business with Joseon people again. Never!”
“But Minamoto—”
“Enough! You’ve ruined the mood. Let’s stop talking about such boring nonsense. Isn’t there plenty here to enjoy?”
“…Of course, Minamoto-sama.”
As the Japanese man burst into hearty laughter again, the women followed with bright giggles.
“Oh my, my lord, you shouldn’t!”
As the sounds of drinking and revelry resumed, Choi Hee finally pulled her ear away from the partition.
When she loosened her tightly clenched fists, they tingled painfully.
From beyond the paper wall, she could hear that shameless man laughing too.
Shuddering as though she had seen something filthy, Choi Hee stood up.
As if being shameless weren’t enough, he was also a lecher who surrounded himself with geishas.
“I really was right not to get involved with him.”
There was no point listening to their conversation any longer.
Quietly, she slipped out of the dark room.
“Ugh…”
Dowoon opened his eyes as sunlight streamed through the blinds.
The meeting with Minamoto he had finally managed to arrange the night before had yielded almost nothing.
All he had left now was a monstrous hangover.
“You awake?”
Joseph, seated on the sofa opposite him, handed him a glass of water.
Dowoon sat up, trying to settle his queasy stomach.
As he gulped down the cold water, a droplet slid down the back of his neck.
“Michael, I’m amazed you even made it back to the office.”
“…I couldn’t very well spend the night at a kisaeng house.”
“After drinking yourself senseless like that, you should’ve just slept there.”
“…There’s too much to do.”
“Honestly, you’re made of iron.”
Joseph clicked his tongue as he watched Dowoon trying to sober himself up with cold water.
“Damn it! Why did the Jongno bombing have to happen at the exact same time as our operation?”
“It wasn’t someone from the Provisional Government, then? Was it a member of the Heroic Corps?”
“Michael, you really are uncanny. You’re right. Apparently a man named Sung Chihoon from the Heroic Corps was behind it.”
Dowoon groaned and shook his head.
Seeing this, Joseph asked cautiously:
“By the way… did you get anything useful from Minamoto?”
Instead of answering, Dowoon sighed and leaned back against the sofa, covering his eyes with one hand. His head pounded mercilessly.
“Then what are we supposed to do now? Even George’s information routes have all been blocked.”
“…Damn it.”
“Minamoto seems loose-lipped. Couldn’t we approach him another way? He’s the key figure in the railway project. Peripheral information won’t help much.”
“You’re right. Shige Minamoto… Minamoto…”
Dowoon ran a hand through his hair.
There had to be some way to pry information out of Minamoto.
Even if he was wary of Koreans now, that bastard definitely had a weakness.
“Ha ha, Mr. Lee. Finally, someone who understands me! Just keep this a secret from my wife. As you know, our family reputation matters.”
Suddenly, something Minamoto had said the previous night came back to him.
Dowoon abruptly leaned forward. His eyes gleamed with inspiration.
“Joseph, what kind of reputation do the Minamotos have?”
“The Minamoto couple? Nothing unusual, is there? Other than the fact they married into prestigious Tokyo families—”
“Exactly. Their marriage was arranged between families. And people say the wife is the more capable one.”
Dowoon snapped his fingers.
Minamoto had mentioned that he consulted his wife about even trivial matters.
“Jackpot.”
Dowoon smirked as he recalled Minamoto burying his face between the geishas’ breasts the previous night.
Choi Hee sighed deeply as she complained to Bok-i, who stood behind the inn counter.
“Bok-i, why are the people of Sinuiju so coldhearted?”
For all the work she had been doing daily at the kisaeng house, the money she earned was pitifully insufficient.
To make matters worse, two days ago the head mistress had discovered that she’d briefly fallen asleep in one of the guest rooms while working.
Claiming she lacked diligence, the woman had thrown her out.
Even though Choi Hee knew she’d been at fault, she still felt wronged. They’d worked her to the bone—couldn’t she rest for even a moment?
Seeing Choi Hee’s miserable expression, Bok-i’s brows drooped sympathetically.
“Miss from Gyeongseong, menial work just doesn’t pay well. Wouldn’t it be better to look for something else?”
“But nobody wants to hire me.”
Dejected, Choi Hee glanced toward the wall covered in job notices.
For days she had searched tirelessly for other work, but to no avail. No one wanted to hire a Korean woman.
“Look. There’s still nothing new today— huh?”
As she scanned the notices out of habit, her gaze suddenly froze on an unfamiliar red flyer.
Since she examined that wall every single day, she practically had every notice memorized.
Which meant this paper must have been posted that very morning.
She tore it down and read the words carefully.
Urgently Hiring Private Tutor
Subject: English
Requirements: Korean woman in her mid-twenties
Salary: Negotiable
Her eyes widened.
Had she read that right?
She read it again.
And then once more.
The words didn’t change.
A faint smile slowly spread across her face.
“Bok-i, this is talking about me! Look at this! The salary is negotiable!”
Unlike Choi Hee, who looked as though she had received the greatest gift in the world, Bok-i looked suspicious.
“Miss from Gyeongseong, doesn’t this seem too strange? Why specifically ask for a Korean woman in her mid-twenties?”
“Maybe they have a young daughter at home. Private tutors usually teach children. And Koreans are probably cheaper to hire.”
“Still, miss—”
“No, this isn’t the time for that.”
Stuffing the flyer into her pocket, Choi Hee grabbed the jacket hanging over the counter.
“See you later, Bok-i. I need to go here!”
“Miss from Gyeongseong!”
Bok-i called after her, but Choi Hee had already hurried out of the inn.
She quickly boarded a tram and headed toward the address written on the flyer.
Since she still wasn’t familiar with the city, she had to ask for directions repeatedly.
The place she finally arrived at was exactly as people had described: one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of Sinuiju.
Huge estates lined the street behind imposing walls that practically screamed wealth.
Taking a deep breath, she silently rehearsed her words.
Knock knock—
Forcing a bright smile onto her face, she knocked twice on the luxurious front gate.
