‘If you want to drink, just drink with me. Anyway, don’t you not know anyone in Korea besides me? Isn’t that why you’re imposing on me like this, someone whose “face and name you only know”?’
As if reading what I was thinking from my dissatisfied expression, Jukyung crossed his arms and continued nagging. And what was he emphasizing about “only knowing face and name” again? It’s not like I said something that wasn’t true.
‘I might become close with other academy instructors and have drinking gatherings.’
I rebelled with a passive mumble.
‘Listen here, Kang Doyun-ssi. Unlike regular companies, academies don’t have things like company dinners. That’s because everyone finishes classes at different times, and usually classes end late at night and start at dawn, right? So there’s no time to drink.’
Jukyung lectured me as if frustrated with how clueless I was. Still, I tried to hold out one more time without giving in.
‘Since all the students are adults, if I become close with students, on Friday nights…’
Jukyung’s eyes flared.
‘Why would you meet students privately when you go there to work? If any problems arise from that, you’ll get fired. If rumors spread, you won’t be able to get employed at other academies either, and you won’t be able to pay me back, and while you’re sucking your thumb waiting until next year’s public recruitment, what are you going to do then?’
While making such strange threatening sounds that seemed to make sense and yet didn’t, Jukyung had fastened this watch on my wrist like shackles.
I thought what problems could arise from having a drink with students who aren’t minors, but it might be a peculiarity of Korean society. Well, even if I tried to argue, I didn’t know enough to say anything. If I had known it would be like this, I should have watched Korean dramas or news more often.
“……”
I looked down at the watch sparkling on my wrist once more. Well, I guess it’s fine since I like the design. Honestly speaking, this watch actually suited me better than Kwon Jukyung. Now that it’s on my wrist, it seems like it found its true owner. From the watch’s perspective, meeting a suitable owner would make it happier too. Later when I earn money, I’ll buy Jukyung a watch that suits him and tell him to hand this watch over to me as a debt-clearance commemoration.
Well… if this is real, it would be too expensive and impossible, but surely it’s not real, right? Maupassant’s “The Necklace” suddenly came to mind, and I giggled to myself.
Anyway, pleased with my reflection in the mirror and with my nervousness somewhat relieved, I left the house humming a tune. Since this was about standing in front of others, a well-managed appearance would be a plus if anything—it certainly wouldn’t be a minus.
—
***
—
However, my good mood didn’t last that long.
“Uh… so you’re saying the hourly wage is 230,000 won, right?”
I doubted my ears and confirmed once more. At my words, the woman sitting across from me, who was called the administrative director, raised the corners of her mouth and smiled.
“No. I’m telling you for the third time now that it’s 23,000 won.”
The corners of the woman’s forcibly raised mouth were trembling. The bright spring-flower-like smile that seemed genuinely welcoming when she first greeted me was nowhere to be found.
At first, she seemed delighted by my face and impressed by my smoothly flowing English. She had a fairly satisfied face even with the shabby demonstration lesson I had worked hard to prepare.
But just a few minutes later, now sitting across from me explaining the contract conditions, she was looking at me with eyes that seemed to view me as someone who looked fine on the outside but was lacking somewhere. However, I was also in an absurd state, so I had no idea how to respond wisely to the current situation.
While I couldn’t find words and was opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish, the administrative director, who had recovered her composure first, cleared her voice and continued speaking.
“Our hourly wage isn’t that weak. In fact, for a teacher without experience, this is probably the highest level, you know? You seem not to know well since it’s your first time, but if you go elsewhere, they’ll offer even lower hourly wages. Of course, we can’t give you many classes right away so the income looks small, but during vacations, there are classes almost all day long, you know? Then the monthly income isn’t that small either, and after getting through vacation like that, from the next month we can give you more fixed classes.”
“……”
First of all, I don’t think I’ll be doing this until winter. I thought to myself.
“In the case of corporate outreach instructor fees, the hourly wage is much higher, but if you consider the travel time and the limitations on class hours due to scheduling, you just get tired and the hourly wage ends up being similar anyway. Looking at your resume, your place is close too, so isn’t it better to comfortably do multiple hours here? If you want, we can also connect you with private tutoring during weekends or daytime hours when there are no classes.”
The administrative director began rattling off various coaxing words, perhaps thinking I was worth keeping even if my first impression wasn’t the best.
“And it’s difficult at first, but if your re-enrollment rate is good after 3 months, we can switch you to a commission system. I told you that starting with Korean-speaking conversation would be better since you’ve lived abroad for a long time, but if you want to switch to test English later, you can prepare a bit and go that way. Whatever you do, the most important thing is ability, but you have good academic credentials and excellent appearance, so if you do well, you could even advance to online lectures and become very popular.”
Whether she was in urgent need of manpower right away or whether she really liked me, the administrative director maintained a friendly attitude until the interview ended, laying out a rosy future.
I came out in a somewhat dazed state, had a cup of coffee, and had my second interview at another place, but the conditions there weren’t much different. At least the first language academy hadn’t been trying to scam me about the hourly wage. This place said they could do a commission system from the very beginning and suggested taking professional profile photos and distributing them throughout Gangnam. Of course, with me bearing the photography costs. I naturally recoiled in horror and shook my head.
Photos.
Of course, I didn’t know whether my father was trying to find me or not. My father was also quite stubborn, so unless I prostrated myself and went in saying I was sorry and would do everything he told me to, there was a higher possibility that he was treating me as a non-existent son, saying he didn’t need a son who wouldn’t listen. Or he might be planning to just leave me alone to suffer for now, then forcibly drag me back and force me to marry when the time came.
Whatever the situation, wanting no unexpected variables to arise, I didn’t want to create an opportunity for my location to be discovered by spreading my photos here and there.
After having interviews at four places over a week, I finally decided to work at the first language academy that guaranteed the most classes. The salary conditions were the same everywhere. I was an idiot for vaguely thinking I could easily earn tens of millions of won per month once I started working properly. It wasn’t that the academy was trying to scam me—I just didn’t know anything.
The day I stopped by the academy to sign the contract and came home with textbooks, having agreed to start classes from next month, I was somewhat dejected.
For now, having agreed to teach only two morning time slots on weekdays, 4 hours of classes, I was almost on the verge of panic after calculating my monthly income. If it had been right after I had just escaped being a homeless person, it would have been fine. It would be enough if I just paid for an inn and ate at regular restaurants. But with just that, how was I supposed to buy clothes to wear, obtain a laptop and phone, and when would I save money to get a place to live?
And most of all, the debt I now owed Jukyung was the problem. Just the clothing costs alone—how much was it already? Even if I gave away my entire month’s salary, it wouldn’t be enough for one suit. Just how much do people who earn such salaries spend on clothes? Still, when you look around, everyone seems to be showing off their style and changing clothes every day.
Even after the first weekend, Jukyung arbitrarily bought several new outfits and tossed them to me. Telling me not to commit the atrocity of wearing the same outfit multiple times. He said such things were terrorism to him. Honestly, I didn’t even ask exactly how much money was spent that way.
As my things began to fill up the dressing room in that manner, now even several months’ worth of salary wouldn’t be enough to give to Jukyung. No, what do you mean several months? At the current level, even years of earnings wouldn’t be enough. It’s not like I wouldn’t eat at all either. Besides, didn’t he tell me to pay rent too? I thought ‘how much could it be’ and didn’t even ask how much that was either. My hands and feet suddenly trembled as if I had low blood sugar.
They said that during vacation, classes would increase beyond full-time to the point of suffering from sleep deprivation, but even assuming my income would triple that way, I still felt hopeless.
I opened Jukyung’s laptop and started searching the internet. How to succeed as a star instructor, the highest income of English instructors, how much can you earn at most as an instructor, etc.
After spending about an hour with bloodshot eyes wandering through that ocean of information, I calmed down a bit. Even if it wasn’t a sufficient amount, at least it didn’t seem like a situation would occur where I’d have to hang myself for not being able to pay back the debt I owed Kwon Jukyung. Once again, excessive positive hormones made me conjure up rosy fantasies.
Well, somehow it’ll work out. As long as I don’t take out private loans, what could go wrong? The money I owe can be paid back somehow. Even though Jukyung is a bit picky and perverted, he wasn’t such a heinous guy that he’d sell a friend to an anchovy fishing boat or organ trafficking ring over just a bit of money.
He wouldn’t…
Let’s believe he wouldn’t.
Setting aside the question of whether Jukyung thinks of me as a friend.
Besides, it seemed that these days, if you became a star instructor by hitting it big with online lectures, earning a fairly high income wasn’t that difficult. There was a lot of talk that it was much better than getting hired somewhere mediocre and becoming a salaryman. If your abilities backed you up, having excellent looks seemed to be somewhat of a selling point too—couldn’t I also properly utilize my natural looks and succeed as a handsome type?
With such thoughts, I regained my peace of mind while dreaming of a rosy future. Right. Wracking my brain and worrying wouldn’t solve the problem. I needed to cast aside the gloomy thoughts and sprint forward while looking ahead. First of all, hadn’t I, who had nearly become homeless, successfully gotten a job and now developed into a proper working professional? That meant things were being resolved quite smoothly. Things would get even better going forward.
After comforting myself like that, I now opened my textbook with an excited heart.
“……”
Why is life always one mountain after another?
