I came to my senses at the alarm sound. I fumbled around the pillow area and picked up the noisy cell phone. The time was exactly 7 o’clock. When I barely opened my eyes, I saw a pitch-black room. I got out of bed groggily and pulled back the blackout curtains. The bright sunlight poured in, revealing downtown Seoul below.
The day had already begun in Seoul, one of the world’s busiest cities. I yawned and scratched my disheveled hair.
Rashanin had set the start of his day at 9 o’clock to match my work hours. Though I wasn’t normally someone who slept much, it was really nice not to have to rush for time. And that wasn’t all. The room was warm and the bed was wide and soft. Warm water always flowed from the shower faucet. I could eat anything just by ordering, and the hotel even did the laundry for my underwear.
With a bit of exaggeration, it felt like I had come to heaven.
“Heaven, huh.”
It was a wonderful quote. Though it was ironic that the being who presented this heaven was a vampire.
I clicked my tongue lightly and opened the balcony window. The cool breeze cleared my head instantly.
Rashanin wasn’t as difficult a guest as I had worried. He ate breakfast at 9 o’clock, my work starting time. He leisurely people-watched and returned to the hotel before 6 o’clock. He didn’t do anything lacking common sense or commit any illegal acts. However, the man who said he wouldn’t force but would coerce had an excellent talent for turning people’s insides upside down.
Just last Thursday was like that. While spending time in front of Changgyeonggung Palace’s Great Conservatory, Rashanin stared at me, not people, and said something.
‘It seems you’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday.’
‘I changed my shirt though…’
Wondering if it was because it was dirty, I looked here and there, but the dark gray suit was fine. But Rashanin opened his eyes narrowly and scanned me from head to toe.
‘How many suits do you have?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Never mind. Get up.’
‘…?!’
‘Guide me to a place where I can buy clothes.’
Instead of asking why, I guided him to a nearby department store men’s clothing section as Rashanin wanted. Even to me, who was clueless about fashion, Rashanin dressed quite well. Rather than dressing stylishly, his attire had no disorder. Because of this, I thought Rashanin was asking to go to the department store to buy his own clothes. That is, until he asked for my shirt size.
‘I’m telling you it’s a gift.’
‘I appreciate the sentiment, but I cannot accept.’
It was partly because the clothes were expensive, but most honestly, I didn’t want to receive anything from him. But Rashanin was a master at turning my insides upside down.
‘Do you know how much your current clothes don’t suit you? They’re so black and dull. Embarrassingly so to go around with.’
The men’s clothing store with its unfamiliar name was luxurious and even flashy, which was already strange, and on top of that, Rashanin pointed out it was dull, so my face turned red. I knew Rashanin was speaking bluntly, and I knew it was true. But being told such things by a handsome man with money was another matter entirely.
When I glared silently, Rashanin asked with his eyes as if wondering what the problem was. I held back what was welling up inside. Forget it. What’s the point of having an inferiority complex toward a man like that?
I let out a deep sigh and gave a rational reason for refusal rather than an emotional one.
‘This is a bribe. I can’t accept it.’
‘A bribe is established when favors and benefits are exchanged, but there’s nothing like that between you and me, is there?’
‘Still, I can’t.’
‘Accept it. I told you before, I’m used to coercion.’
Rashanin, who took a step toward me while smiling like a mischievous child, casually mentioned the word coercion.
‘Are you really going to contact the Russian ambassador over something like this?’
‘You seem to have read my mind. This is why power is good.’
‘Rashanin-ssi.’
‘If your superior bites at you, tattle to me. I’ll explain directly.’
I couldn’t beat Rashanin who said power was good, so I eventually nodded. And what remained was shopping like hell.
I had lived a life far from shopping. I wasn’t close to department stores either. But Rashanin looked completely familiar with it.
Rashanin ordered the store staff around with his chin while selecting and selecting clothes, and forced me to try on everything he chose. It was hard to count how many clothes I put on and took off. I deliberately didn’t check the price tags. After glimpsing five zeros on the first piece of clothing I picked up with two more numbers in front of them, I gave up. It was a self-abandoning sentiment of “it’s your money going out, not mine.”
After sweeping through the men’s clothing store and even luxury stores, what I received from Rashanin was 6 classic suits, 7 casual jackets, 6 pairs of shoes, and around 10 each of knits, shirts, and pants. He also bought several sets of tie pins and cufflinks. Even when I said it was too much, the only response was the threat of “Should I make a call?”
When I returned to the hotel and reported as is to the department head, what came back was a sigh along with an order to handle it myself. Because of the willful vampire, moments that felt like holes would form in my stomach lining kept continuing.
And Rashanin was clearly enjoying those moments. I really could only call it a bad taste.
The man’s personality was certainly peculiar. Nevertheless, my doubts about him did not disappear.
No one would believe that one of the successors to the Grand Duke of Moscow came to Korea for vacation. Everyone including me suspected there was something. But Rashanin, as if to dispel suspicion, did nothing.
During the day, he people-watched, and when the day’s work ended, he holed up in his room and didn’t move until the next day. Last Friday, saying he wasn’t in the mood to go out, he spent time in the hotel lobby.
Like that, the man spent most of his time reading books, swimming in the hotel pool, or otherwise drinking tea. There was no sign of special outings, of course, nor even of contacting the outside through cell phone or computer.
Of course, I couldn’t know what he did when he was in his room. But the room was on the top floor of the 23-story hotel, and as long as he didn’t go in and out through the balcony, it was certain he hadn’t gone outside.
I leaned on the balcony railing and looked down. The hotel walking path looked like a miniature. No matter how great a vampire he was, it didn’t seem like he’d be safe jumping down from the 23rd floor.
While making an interim report to the department head, I heard a few things. Indoor wiretapping was difficult, but of course they had phone monitoring and surveillance cameras installed in the outer corridor, and to watch whether he went in and out through the balcony, the surveillance team was pointing telephoto lenses, he said. Of course, they got nothing.
That’s why it was even stranger. A rich vampire with an amazing face and body was living too virtuously. And his hobby was people-watching.
If Rashanin had been immersed in women and alcohol, I would have been troubled dealing with the aftermath, but I wouldn’t have felt this uneasy. There wasn’t a single woman’s shadow by his side. Having even heard that groundless rumors were circulating among hotel staff about me sharing the same room with him, I wanted to tell him to please meet a woman.
No, even if not necessarily alcohol and women…
I sighed and turned my gaze toward downtown Seoul in the distance.
I’m stuck here.
Even racking my brain, I couldn’t see into the man’s inner thoughts. They say you can know ten fathoms of water but not one fathom of a person’s mind—how can you know another’s thoughts? But still, if you look at actions, you can guess what kind of thoughts they’re having.
The vampire who came to Korea for vacation was doing nothing.
That’s right. He really did nothing. Just as office workers grab the TV remote and sprawl on the sofa when the weekend comes, Rashanin did the same.
I knew it was someone else’s business and I couldn’t say this and that, but still, the uneasy feeling didn’t go away.
“Well, this is…”
Various thoughts tangled messily in my head. There was nothing more foolish than agonizing over a problem that couldn’t be solved even after worrying for a hundred days.
I stopped thinking and stretched.
Another day had begun.
*
「You look like a different person.」
That was the first thing Rashanin said upon seeing me. Though I was a bit upset, I honestly admitted what should be admitted. When I stood in front of the mirror wearing not a classic suit but a beige spring jacket, there was a completely different person inside.
「Thank you.」
Since I received a compliment, I had to give thanks. It was just out of courtesy, but Rashanin sat at the table where breakfast was set with a satisfied smile.
The trouble I went through for Rashanin was about opening the room door for the staff who brought meals at 9 o’clock and driving. Having gotten free meals and a place to sleep, that much was nothing.
「Where is it today?」
Rashanin, who elegantly picked up his teacup, asked. His breakfast was just strong black tea and freshly baked bread. Of course, mine was rice and soup. On the first day, not knowing any better, I ordered tea and bread but couldn’t eat properly because it didn’t suit my taste. Rashanin told me not to feel self-conscious, so I boldly ordered Korean food. Perhaps because it was an expensive hotel, the food was delicious all around.
I swallowed the food in my mouth and answered.
「Deoksugung Palace and Deoksugung Art Museum.」
