Lately, the Han River hadn’t been giving off a foul smell.
Instead, occasionally a whiff of detergent would drift over from who knows where.
Did they dump chemicals in because they were worried the rotten smell suitable only for a gutter life might reach the noses of the high and mighty living in the river-view apartments shooting up along the riverbank? However, while the fish living in the river might have a different opinion, even to Taesung’s worthless nose, the detergent smell seemed better than a fishy stench. At least the latter showed some effort to get clean.
Though drinking either would kill you all the same.
Taesung pulled out his cigarette pack. The crumpled lid had the warning “CAUSES ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION” stamped on it in large letters. Who gives a fuck whether the damn dickhead gets hard or not. Taesung grumbled irritably and stuck an impotence cigarette in his mouth.
‘Manager Kim’ quickly flicked his lighter. Either the gas had run out, or the flint just sparked pathetically—tick, tick—without catching fire. Manager Kim shook the lighter with flustered hands. Tap tap tap, tap tap tap—despite his desperate gestures hoping for even one small flame to ignite, the dead lighter showed no signs of coming back to life.
Taesung puffed out air and spat out the cigarette he’d been holding. Next time I should pick a different warning label, he thought.
“I’ll go buy a new one right away.”
“Forget it.”
An old man on a decrepit bicycle passed by, blaring a rowdy trot song. Taesung was watching the yellowed Korean flag fluttering behind the bicycle when he turned his head at the mumbling voice coming from behind. It seemed he hadn’t heard his phone ringing, drowned out by the trot music. Even though it wasn’t a video call, Manager Kim was holding the phone respectfully with both hands, his large frame bent over as he bowed and scraped, repeatedly answering “Yes, yes” with utmost deference. It was easy to tell whose call it was, so Taesung clicked his tongue and snatched the phone from him.
“If you have something to say, say it to me. Why are you chewing out someone who has nothing to do with it?”
-Mr. Han, I finally got through to you. You need to answer your phone for me to contact you. Did you block my number by any chance?
Did I block him? It seemed like during their last call four days ago, he’d blocked the number, swearing he wouldn’t be human if he ever spoke to this fucking bastard again.
“Block my ass, Team Leader Im, you probably did it yourself.”
Taesung habitually put the cigarette back in his mouth. Manager Kim shook the lighter that had long since died. The clicking sound grated on his nerves. Taesung snatched the lighter from his hand and hurled it toward the Han River. The damn river was too far away, so the lighter landed limply on the concrete-paved riverside area. Pigeons that had been gathered in small groups, pecking endlessly at the ground, waddled away, startled by the sudden bolt from the blue.
-Where are you right now?
“What are you going to do with that information?”
-The Icheon site contacted us. They said Mr. Han left without properly cleaning things up.
“If the meal’s laid out, shouldn’t they be the ones to eat it? What, do I need to spoon it up and shove it into their mouths myself?”
-We weren’t asking you to help for free. You officially received the demolition contract, and we’re just asking you to do that job properly… Honestly speaking, Mr. Han, if it weren’t for our president’s orders, there’d be no reason to give work to Hansae. Do you know how many places are dying to jump on this project?
“Save that bullshit for after you’ve looked into whose land that originally was.”
-Whose land is it? It’s land that Wonin Construction owned over 60 percent of.
“You fucking…”
Before the cursing could continue, Manager Kim hastily snatched the phone from Taesung. Unable to contain his anger, Taesung could only slam down the innocent cigarette and crush it thoroughly under his shoe. The paper tore and tobacco like sawdust spilled out. Manager Kim glanced at Taesung’s expression and shrank his heavy body like a boulder again.
“We’ve finished all the work we were contracted for. The foundation issues need to be handled by a separate assessment company hired by the construction firm. Honestly, the soil composition was different from what was initially communicated, so we had a hard time during demolition, and if you’re going to talk like this again… Yes, ah, I know. Yes, our president is well aware of that too, but also…”
“What the fuck do I know so well? Hey, Manager Kim, if you’re going to talk nonsense, hang up right now!”
Manager Kim sidled away crab-walking from Taesung, who approached as if he’d snatch the phone and throw it away immediately, bowing repeatedly. Even though Taesung had worked under the Wonin Construction president for a long time before going independent, he was currently in a subcontracting position—responding to the prime contractor’s power trips with sheer nerve was questionable even to him.
“No, you know Hyopyeong outsources to sub-subcontractors. You saw what happened recently when things went to shit… I mean, when there were problems with sub-subcontracting. We honestly paid extra attention because it’s a Wonin project too… Yes, yes…”
Manager Kim, who kept moving sideways, eventually had to stop when he hit the lawn fence. Taesung, who had followed him relentlessly, succeeded in snatching the phone. Just as he was about to throw it somewhere again, Manager Kim urgently shouted:
“Mango! I haven’t backed up our Mango’s photos yet, President!”
His raised hand trembled. Taesung alternated between looking at the phone where that repulsive person kept repeating “Hello?” and Manager Kim pleading with his hands clasped together, then ground his teeth and pressed the end call button. Manager Kim stroked his chest in relief as he got his phone back.
“I told you not to take pictures of the damn cat with the company phone.”
“The image quality is better on this one… I’m sorry.”
Manager Kim answered sullenly while carefully cradling the phone against his thick chest. He’d found it suspicious that the work phone issued just a month ago had camera lenses clustered together like a dragonfly’s eyes. These guys don’t even treat company money like money.
Unable to contain his own anger, Taesung roughly ran his hands through his hair. His neatly combed hair became disheveled and messy.
“Ha, did everyone at Wonin Construction crack their heads open just like their president? Why can’t they understand that if we drop the work, they’re the ones who’ll be desperate?”
“President, can’t we drop the Wonin work now?”
At the cautious question, Taesung glared at Manager Kim without a word. His already fierce-looking impression, with eyes torn long like a snake’s, became even sharper.
“Honestly, haven’t we grown enough to stand on our own now? It’s not like we’ll starve to death right away if we don’t take Wonin Construction work. Honestly, the guys have a hard time whenever we take on Wonin projects. They demand a lot of this and that. And it’s not like they pay us a lot either. This time too, I had a hard time placating the guys who were saying, ‘Are we Wonin’s lackeys? Why do we have to be treated worse than dogs?'”
“Who benefits from cutting ties with Wonin?”
“Hyung, give it up now. Do you think doing this will get us back into Wonin?”
“This bastard.”
When Taesung clenched his fist, Manager Kim, as if accustomed to it, squeezed his eyes shut and offered one cheek. The sight looked pitiful, and feeling pathetic about his own situation—no different from getting slapped in Jongno and spitting in the Han River—Taesung relaxed his hand.
“I told you to call me President. What are we, gangsters? Huh?”
A motor roared loudly in the distance. A boat with water skis attached passed under the bridge, spraying white spray. It seems even shit water becomes bearable to dive into once you cover up the smell.
“Ugh, still, I can’t go into the Han River. You saw the trash floating in it.”
Like someone standing in front of Taesung watching the water skiing and whispering to a friend—no matter how well you dress it up, if the essence is shit water, there would be people who couldn’t go in.
One person glanced at Taesung and poked his friend’s side. Since it happened to be a moment when Manager Kim had his head deeply bowed with a death-like expression, they both hurried away without anyone taking the lead. All he could hope for was that they wouldn’t report them. Damn random ID checks should have a limit.
“President. I’m wronged too.”
After wheezing for a long while, Manager Kim raised his head with bloodshot eyes. He’d told him countless times not to act like this on the street, but seeing he still looked like this, people really were hard to fix.
“Who doesn’t know that Chairman Noh was thinking of you as his successor? That bastard Jang Hyeokjin was set up as a puppet president and then swallowed up Wonin whole—I’m furious about it too. But still…!”
Woof woof, woof woof woof!
The sound of a dog barking loudly cut off Manager Kim’s words. Taesung looked down at his chest where the sound originated. Perhaps because the dog barking and vibration were going crazy together, he suddenly felt nauseous. Taesung swallowed back dry heaves and pulled out his phone from his inner pocket.
[Dog Dick]
That’s strange. I definitely saved it as ‘Fucking Bastard Dog Dick,’ so why did the end get cut off?
Taesung reflexively moved his finger toward the end call button, then sighed and pressed the call button.
“Yes, this is Han Taesung…”
-Come to the office.
The call ended.
Han Taesung stared blankly at the screen showing the call ended message, then slammed his phone on the ground. He couldn’t tell whether the dog barking he’d set as the dedicated ringtone was that bastard’s voice, or his own voice for panting and running when that bastard called.
