After a long while, he dressed up in a suit and took the red bus from Gangnam to Yongnam-si. He’d only managed to catch about two hours of sleep, but he wasn’t tired.
After grabbing a change of clothes from his gosiwon, he washed up at a nearby sauna.
Eyes followed Jiwon with every move he made, but he didn’t care. Not because he was used to it—he could never get used to it.
He dried his hair thoroughly and put on everything down to his underwear and socks, all items he’d been saving. Finally, when he put on his suit pants and jacket, he looked like a proper office worker. It overlapped with the past.
Back then, he lived without knowing what misfortune was. Until that incident, Jiwon’s life had been smooth.
He wasn’t rich, but he’d grown up receiving the full support and love of parents he could confidently call the best—a father and mother who gave him everything. It was truly a harmonious household. There had never been a single raised voice.
Growing up, he experienced the small accidents and misfortunes everyone goes through, but thanks to his parents, he easily overcame those too. Even as an adult, he found his calling without any particular worries, naturally dated and broke up with people until he met his ideal type, and at a somewhat young age, dreamed of a future with her.
It was a time when he was foolishly happy.
The neat face in the mirror soon contorted. The complexion that had briefly brightened also turned dreary.
Jiwon barely suppressed the urge to shatter the mirror and left the sauna.
Let’s not get depressed. It’s not time for that yet.
Calming his mind, he boarded the bus at 8:50 AM. Even at that hour, the express bus was crowded with commuting office workers and college students heading to school. Luckily, the bus doors closed right behind him.
Sitting in the one remaining seat, unlike the passengers who had their heads buried in their phones or were catching up on sleep, Jiwon just blankly stared at the scenery. Then he dozed off.
When his head jerked forward sharply and woke him up, Jiwon hurriedly checked his watch, worried he’d missed his stop. He was relieved to see only thirty minutes had passed.
Feeling embarrassed, he rubbed his face with his palm and turned his gaze back to the window.
How much farther had they traveled? The road that had been lined with tall buildings and apartments gradually became greener, then suddenly a city appeared. It looked similar to the new cities they’d just passed, but everything visible was brand new.
They had finally entered Yongnam-si.
Jiwon got off the bus and walked in the direction indicated by his map app. There were few pedestrians, giving him the eerie feeling of walking through a ghost town. After passing several office buildings with large banners reading “For Sale,” he arrived at Taeseong Building.
On the front of the building, just like the other buildings he’d passed, hung a banner reading “For Sale.”
As he entered the lobby, the first thing that hit him was the smell of coffee. Having left the gosiwon after eating only a single boiled egg, Jiwon was briefly tempted by the coffee but soon strode determinedly toward the reception desk.
The uniformed desk staff flashed him a perfunctory smile.
“Um, I’m here for an interview…”
He couldn’t quite bring himself to say “model agency.” He didn’t think he looked anything like a model, no matter how you looked at him.
Without changing expression, the staff member asked,
“Are you perhaps referring to SuperX Model Agency?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
“May I see your ID, please?”
The staff member took his ID and held out a visitor log.
Jiwon wrote down his name, contact information, and purpose of visit, then received a temporary access card.
“There’s a power issue, so the agency office bell isn’t working. Just use your access card to tap in and enter directly.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
He nodded lightly and headed straight for the entrance gate.
When he held up the card key, the gate lit up blue. He hurried through the gate before it could close.
There were four elevators in total. He pressed the button for the one that went to odd-numbered floors. In less than a minute, the elevator arrived. It was five minutes before 10 o’clock.
He was nervous. As the numbers on the elevator floor display climbed higher, his mouth went completely dry. Even though he wasn’t wearing a tie, it felt like his throat was constricting. As soon as he unbuttoned the top button of his tightly fastened shirt, they arrived at the 25th floor.
Getting off the elevator, he looked around left and right. The office on the right was completely empty, and the left side was so quiet that if not for the nameplate reading “SuperX Model Agency,” he would have thought it was an empty office too.
Recalling what the reception staff had said, he held up the card key, and the glass automatic door opened. He cautiously stepped inside.
All he could see was space without even carpet laid down.
What is this? Is it a scam?
As soon as that thought occurred to him, he heard someone say, “Are you here for an interview?” Startled, he turned toward the source of the sound. A rough-looking thug dressed in obviously gangster-lackey-style clothes asked, “Interview?”
“Ah, yes.”
He answered with an involuntarily sour expression.
The lackey paid no mind and jerked his chin toward the inside of the office. He could see a door labeled “Meeting Room.”
“That’s the interview room.”
Smacking his gum, he looked Jiwon up and down. A flash of contempt crossed the lackey’s face. Jiwon found him contemptible too, so it was six of one, half a dozen of the other.
As he approached the meeting room and was about to knock, the door suddenly swung open.
“You’re Kim Jiwon, right? Please come in.”
This time, a middle-aged man in a flashy wine-colored suit greeted Jiwon. A strong perfume scent assaulted his nose.
The monkey-faced man looked unmistakably like either an entertainment establishment manager or a gangster with a higher position than that lackey. Since he’d already anticipated this wouldn’t be a normal model agency, their appearance wasn’t disappointing.
Jiwon gave the monkey a slight nod and entered. There was another door behind the chair. Unlike the door he’d just entered through, it wasn’t a hinged door but a sliding one. Right above the door was a sign that read “Large Conference Room.”
Inside the office, there was only a single chair facing the entrance.
“Have a seat and wait for now. Would you like some water?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Wow, you have such a great voice.”
The monkey gave a thumbs up and disappeared into the large conference room.
Beep beep-.
The cheap digital watch on his wrist announced 10 AM.
Jiwon straightened his appearance and calmed his nervous mind. More than five minutes had passed since the monkey disappeared, but the inside of the sliding door remained quiet. He counted numbers in his head to settle his anxiety. He counted to a hundred, then started over at one, and when he reached thirty-two, the sliding door opened and called his name.
“Kim Jiwon. Please come in.”
Jiwon jumped up from his seat and entered the large conference room. Confirming that Jiwon had entered, the monkey closed the sliding door and disappeared as if trading places.
The large conference room was at least 60 pyeong in size and painted entirely white. Despite its name, it wasn’t a place for holding meetings. Facing the entrance was a long desk, but only one person was seated there.
The man wearing horn-rimmed glasses was dressed in a black suit like Jiwon’s. Beyond that man, he could see a studio. The floor and walls of the square studio, temporarily constructed using plywood, were entirely covered in red silk.
Proper lighting equipment and cameras were installed there.
Are they really recruiting models?
For a very brief moment, he had an innocent thought.
The man with horn-rimmed glasses said curtly to Jiwon, “Transcript.”
It was only two words, but he immediately recognized him as the man who had answered his phone call three days ago.
Jiwon took out the resident registration transcript he’d tucked in his suit jacket’s inner pocket and held it out. The horn-rimmed glasses gestured toward the desk with body language that suggested he didn’t want to touch Jiwon. As instructed, he placed the document on the desk and stepped back one pace.
Unlike the waiting room, there was no chair for Jiwon to sit in here. So while the horn-rimmed glasses looked back and forth between Jiwon’s transcript and the tablet PC screen, he had to stand the entire time.
He was anxious that the tablet PC might contain other information about him that he didn’t know about.
After a long while, the horn-rimmed glasses finally looked up.
“The first interview is a nude interview. We’ll take photos of your entire body, genitals, and buttocks. And if there are any scars or defects on your body, we’ll photograph those parts too. Of course, we won’t photograph your face. Are you willing to proceed?”
Though he did flinch very briefly at the word “genitals” that came from the horn-rimmed glasses’ mouth, he obediently nodded.
Right. There’s no way they’d give a huge sum like three million won just for having a conversation.
Has the opportunity finally come?
Jiwon barely managed to rein in his impatient heart.
Hasty judgment was forbidden. Still, he couldn’t help but feel hopeful.
“Then please put your thumbprint here.”
The horn-rimmed glasses gestured for him to come closer.
Jiwon read the document he pointed to. He couldn’t rule out other possibilities either. For instance, something like having his organs sold for cheap.
Of course, he knew better than anyone that organ trafficking was an urban legend. Because of movies and dramas, everyone thought such incidents were rampant, but in reality they were extremely rare. Instead, scam incidents where they lured people who needed quick cash by promising organ sales and then charging them for organ examination fees did occur occasionally. He knew all this, but since the possibility wasn’t entirely zero, being careful couldn’t hurt.
If I get caught up in it, it’d be a hundred percent certainty, wouldn’t it?
He didn’t miss a single word in the document. Contrary to Jiwon’s concerns, it read: “I absolutely consent to the interview method that will be conducted today, and I pledge to keep all matters related to the interview strictly confidential. If I disclose this secret, I will pay a penalty fee equivalent to 30 times the interview fee and will accept any and all disadvantages. I hereby confirm that I have accurately understood the above contract terms.”
Jiwon handwrote his name and resident registration number where indicated and put his thumbprint. As if waiting for this, the horn-rimmed glasses held out a tissue box. After pulling out two tissues to wipe the ink pad from his thumb, the horn-rimmed glasses gathered up the documents and tablet PC and moved to a different spot.
