Even if Deok-gi hadn’t breathed a word to his friend for the sake of his father’s honor, there was no guarantee that Byeong-hwa hadn’t heard it from someone else. It was equally likely that Byeong-hwa had schemed with Gyeong-ae to arrange a meeting with Deok-gi and was now taking Sang-hun to Bacchus in order to humiliate him or force him to make up for what he had done. Sang-hun sobered up quickly, feeling like an ox approaching the slaughterhouse. But his stubbornness reasserted itself; what, after all, could they do to him? He followed Byeong-hwa inside.
The four tables in Bacchus were occupied, and the air in the room was stale with smoke. Sang-hun couldn’t see anything when he stepped in because his eyeglasses immediately fogged up. He pulled them off as he moved closer to the stove.
“Don’t be so rude!” cried a woman in Japanese. A familiar voice. As Sang-hun looked over, he saw Gyeong-ae standing at the far end of the corner table. Intoxicated guests sat blocking her way on the left and right, and Gyeong-ae was arguing with them, trying to make her way through.
Gyeong-ae turned her head and saw Byeong-hwa. She called out with a twinkle in her eyes, “Nice to see you again.” When Sang-hun’s ruddy face appeared behind him, the light went out of her eyes, and she froze. She couldn’t believe it — how could he come here? Their eyes met, and both looked down.
Gyeong-ae had been about to make her way out, but she abruptly took her seat. The guests who had been pestering her had momentarily been distracted by the newcomers, but when Gyeong-ae sat down, they applauded. Byeong-hwa was irritated. Since there were no free seats, Gyeong-ae should have produced some extra chairs or at least suggested that they return later because there was no place to seat them.
“Isn’t the proprietor here?” Byeong-hwa clapped his hands angrily. The woman who ran the bar immediately materialized, saying, “How can I help you?” She was holding a paper dish with some change in it. The guests sitting next to the newcomers picked up their money and stood up.
Byeong-hwa and Sang-hun grabbed their seats. As luck would have it, Byeong-hwa found himself with his back to Gyeong-ae, while Sang-hun sat facing her. Byeong-hwa asked Sang-hun to change seats, but the older man ignored him. Gyeong-ae didn’t so much as throw a glance in their direction but openly flirted with her Japanese guests. She giggled and laughed with such delight that it was clear she wanted to show off to the newcomers. Wearing a simple Japanese robe called a kinsha and gold-rimmed glasses, she was dressed more modestly than Sang-hun had expected. But by the tone of voice she used to welcome Byeong-hwa and by the way she now interacted with her customers, she seemed to be quite a natural — a “whore” in Korean bar slang, or what was called a low-class bar hostess in Japanese establishments. Sang-hun frowned without knowing it, and his teeth hurt as if something heavy were caught between them.
“I’ll give you a reward if you down it,” the customer sitting next to Gyeong-ae was saying, eager to push the glass on Gyeong-ae.
“Oh, will you now? How much?”
He pulled out a wallet, fished out a ten-won note, and put it on the table.
“Okay, I’ll drink it,” announced Gyeong-ae.
A peal of laughter from the customers rose and fell.
Sang-hun glanced over and saw Gyeong-ae drinking from the glass, with her chin gradually tilting upward. As half of the yellow liquid flowed at a sharp angle into her mouth, Byeong-hwa turned his head to watch. He grimaced and then threw a quick glance at Sang-hun, who hung his head in despair.
Although the glass had not been full, when she finished it off all the Japanese customers around her applauded, shouting, “Good job! Good job!”
Gyeong-ae’s face was flushed, but a smile rippled over it. She sat slumped in her chair. She then helped herself to a cigarette as though it were a snack lying on the table.
“Ai-san, you shouldn’t drink like that just because you’re angry!” Byeong-hwa shouted in Japanese from his seat, but Gyeong-ae pretended she hadn’t heard. Snubbed, Byeong-hwa returned to his drink.
“Please have a drink,” he said to Sang-hun, who was gazing pensively at the flickering cigarette in his hand.
Byeong-hwa’s outburst to Gyeong-ae was nagging Sang-hun, who was convinced that Byeong-hwa knew everything. But why was Gyeong-ae drinking so much? She must be angry with me, Sang-hun thought. Or did she really just do it for ten won? Everything before Sang-hun’s eyes began to flicker into darkness.
Perhaps she didn’t regard Sang-hun as a stranger, a mere face in a crowd who might pass her in the street. What was suspicious, though, was that she seemed to be quite friendly with Byeong-hwa. Sang-hun figured that Gyeong-ae was not responding to Byeong-hwa’s overtures merely because he was there.
“How dare you hold me so cheap! Do you think I actually drank something I didn’t want to just for the sake of ten won?” Gyeong-ae’s shriek rang through the room. A ten-won note, crisp enough to cut a finger, fluttered down from Gyeong-ae’s hand.
“Well, how about a hundred won then?” A young man sitting next to her laughed.
“Hah! What’s a hundred won but ten times ten won?” Gyeong-ae laughed and glared at the man with contempt. “Do you think I’m some Chinaman playing tricks on the side of the road? A hundred won might be a hell of a lot of money, but put it back in your wallet. Buy your wife some underwear! Just because you have ten won left over from your meager bonus doesn’t mean you should squander it like this. Your wife will give you hell!” With a hearty laugh, she sprang to her feet.
“Isn’t she something?” Everyone around her clapped their hands and made an uproar. The snubbed young man who had put out the money sat with an awkward smile on his face. Then it suddenly dawned on him, in his drunken state, that he had been insulted, and his face turned bright red.
He blurted out, “You’ve got some nerve treating me with such contempt. I gave you the money because I promised it. I’m a gentleman! Do I deserve to hear such insults from the likes of you?” Nevertheless, it seemed to be so much hot air, since he had lost face in front of the other customers, who knew he had offered Gyeong-ae the money in order to win her favor.
“What a temper, eh?” Gyeong-ae said, stopping short as she wove her way out of the crowd. “Are you so flustered because I’m refusing money? You must be the kind of person who bows to a thief. In today’s world, it’s not easy to come across a person like you!” She laughed boisterously.
Others in the group clapped their hands and roared. “Hear, hear!” they shouted.
“Now, I don’t know how much money you have, behaving the way you do, but why don’t you take out all your money and treat us to something delicious?” Gyeong-ae teased.
“That’s it. That’s more like it. Our Ai-san is unique! Let’s hear it for Ai-san!” they shouted. The young foreign men were quite taken by the witty quips of the beauty they worshipped. The young man who had just seemed offended let out a laugh, too.
“Now that it’s come to this, we have no choice but to take our queen along with us! Hey, cough up that hundred won of yours. Ai-san, let’s go,” one young-man pressed her. Gyeong-ae didn’t move, still grinning.
“Of course we should take her along — if for no other reason than to pay respects to Ai-san’s great spirit. You guys spend the money, and I’ll take the credit,” another young man said, linking his arm with Gyeong-ae’s.