“But our master ain’t gonna end up like that, is he?” Won-sam couldn’t imagine it.
“Could be. Who would have dreamed that when they rebuilt Gyeongbok Palace, Gwanghwamun, its southern gate, would end up facing the east in less than a hundred years? In any event, read the books I gave you. You’ll understand what I mean.”
After they parted, Byeong-hwa walked around town for a while before going to visit Gyeong-ae. She was in a hurry, all dressed up and ready to leave.
“What will you do when you meet the witch?” Byeong-hwa asked Gyeong-ae.
“Never mind what I’ll do. Let’s go out,” she urged him. Gyeong-ae wanted to leave before customers trickled in.
“It’s useless to go to Gan-dong. Let’s go have a meal, a combined lunch and supper.”
Gyeong-ae just kept walking. She took a crowded alley and entered a restaurant whose magnificent gate was wide open, without so much as glancing back at Byeong-hwa.
“This is not Kim Ui-gyeong’s house. ” Byeong-hwa teased her as he took off his shoes.
“No more chatter. Did you think I’d chase after this Kim Ui-gyeong, whoever she is?” She sounded magnanimous, as though she’d never be jealous of the likes of Ui-gyeong.
“So you ordered Mr. Jo Sang-hun to come here?” Byeong-hwa kept cracking jokes as he sat down close to the brazier.
“Stop talking nonsense. When are you ever going to wise up?” Gyeong-ae asked, roaring with laughter.
“I’m so wise that I have nothing to eat. What’ll I do if I become wiser than I am now?”
“That’s enough of you! Today I’m treating you so you might not forget about me when you swagger around as the son-in-law of a wealthy family.”
“No problem. But when a rich man pushes his daughter into the arms of a penniless man along with a bribe, what do you expect? It means that they assume that the husband-to-be will have concubines after the marriage. Why don’t you play matchmaker and find me a real knockout when the time comes?” Byeong-hwa gleamed.
“When the time comes, if you decide I’m not too ugly, I can be your bedroom attendant,” Gyeong-ae answered without missing a beat. Then she lowered her voice, and her expression changed. “Joking aside, Pi-hyeok seemed to like you a lot. Will you say yes?”
“I see that this matchmaker is truly inexperienced. Only after one is interviewed and hears all the details can one say yes or no,” Byeong-hwa quipped — not sure exactly what she was after.
“You were interviewed yesterday. The details you can piece together for yourself.” Gyeong-ae wondered if Byeong-hwa could be so stupidas to really believe that it was all about marriage, so she added, “The place for the newlyweds has been prepared outside Seodaemun, off Independence Gate. Whether you’ll be able to go there depends on how you behave.” Through her bright expression, she studied him.
Byeong-hwa had guessed as much, but he realized now that he was in the thick of it, and though his hair stood up on end, he felt oddly relieved, like a traveler who finally encounters a dark shadow after fearing that he’d meet a thief or a wild animal on the night road.
His face turned red, his eyes widened, and a surprised laugh came out of his mouth. He himself didn’t know what his laughter meant.
After being lost in thought for some time, he quietly asked, “But shouldn’t I have more details? In the first place, I can’t trust you, so how can I trust him?”
“You can’t trust him? I’m worried that you’re inexperienced, but honestly, it’s no big deal for me — I’m just the matchmaker. If things go wrong, he’s the one who’ll be in trouble. I’m just concerned that I’ll be ashamed for having recommended you.”
“That’s why you were toying with me all day yesterday, talking about making me a township clerk. Is this some kind of trick you two are playing on me?”
“Nonsense! What’s so special about Kim Byeong-hwa that the whole world would want to seta trap for you? Don’t worry, if you decide to take on the job and you have a firm resolve, go see him tonight. I’ve introduced you — you can get the details from him.”
“Have you known him long?”
“He’s a distant relative on my mother’s side, the next generation after my mother.”
Pi-hyeok had fled to Shanghai years earlier. There, he encountered a relative — Gyeong-ae’s uncle, who had escaped to Shanghai with the money Gyong-ae’s mother had entrusted him from the sale of her Suwon house. When Pi-hyeok returned to Seoul, he arrived with a letter from the uncle, in which he inquired about his family and enclosed one hundred won to contribute to their living expenses. After much effort, Pi-hyeok found that the uncle’s wife had had to sell the family home after her husband had run off and that she and her children were living in Hyeonjeo-dong, outside Saemun, in a rented house. As the family had nowhere for Pi-hyeok to sleep, and as he was in no position to stay at an inn, where he would have to worry about the prying eyes of others, he was brought to Gyeong-ae’s house, where he could stay for the time being.
Pi-hyeok kept an eye on what was going on in the outside world and studied Gyeong-ae’s behavior. He asked her if she knew anyone in his field, but she couldn’t think of anyone at first and paid little attention to his question. Soon after, she met Byeong-hwa and told Pi-hyeok about her new acquaintance.
Gyeong-ae admitted that she didn’t know exactly what Pi-hyeok did, and she wasn’t sure whether she would approve of his way of life, but he had taken the trouble of coming all the way from abroad. He asked her to find someone he could trust, telling her that he’d talk the matter over with the recruit and leave instructions with him before he went back home. Pi-hyeok would be impatient to get away as soon as possible after completing his mission, and Gyeong-ae would feel relieved only after he was gone. It frightened her to think that she might be implicated in Pi-hyeok’s plans, but she couldn’t just ignore him.
There’s nothing I can do if something happens! she concluded. Still, she was carrying out the plan as intelligently as possible and in such a manner that she could easily extricate herself should the need arise.
She told Byeong-hwa that they should prepare a story in case something went wrong. “Just say that a relative on my mother’s side wanted to find a son-in-law, and since I know Jo Deok-gi and his father very well, and you’re a friend of Deok-gi’s, I introduced the two of you. Otherwise, you can just say that Pi-hyeok came to see you and talked with you. We can say that was how you and I happened to meet.”
“You’re really scared, aren’t you?” he needled. “I could say that you were annoyed with me because I was chasing you, so you hatched a scheme with Jo Sang-hun and dragged me into it.”
“Stop talking nonsense! You should quit drinking and be careful from now on.” Gyeong-ae seemed to think they had talked enough business. She poured another drink and handed it to Byeong-hwa, radiant.
“Like the ending of popular stories — all is illusion! Shouldn’t the hostess pour me such a drink personally?” Byeong-hwa smiled and downed it before returning the cup to Gyeong-ae.
“You’re acting silly again!” She cast him a reproachful glance and slapped the back of his hand.
It was almost seven o’clock when they finished supper under the electric lights.
“Will you go right away?” Gyeong-ae asked as they stood outside.
“I’ll have to give it some more thought.”
A surge of irritation shot through Gyeong-ae. “Why? You’re scared, right?”
“Do you think I’m that helpless? Anyway, I have to sort out what kind of person he is and decide whether or not I can trust him. In the meantime, why don’t you give me Pi-hyeok’s real name?”
“You’ll have to ask him that yourself.”