Today's Reading
CHAPTER ONE
BLACK ORB
"YOUNGSTER, WATCH OUT FOR—"
An old man bumped into Jeong-su as they passed each other, but Jeong-su couldn't hear what it was he should watch out for. He turned around, but the old man had already exited the alley and disappeared. Perhaps he was warning Jeong-su to watch where he was going. But was that really it?
It was a hot Sunday evening, and Jeong-su, a thirty-one-year-old man in a T-shirt, shorts, and sandals, was out for a walk in the network of alleys behind his house. He exhaled a long stream of smoke as he thought about the fight he had just had with his father.
It was all because he had gone out to buy a few packs of cigarettes and had missed his parents' phone call. He'd called them back as soon as he returned home, but they didn't pick up. They called him again while he was in the bathroom, but when he called them back, the line was busy. Thinking they would call again if he just waited, he relaxed as he watched some Sunday-night TV.
Forty minutes later, his father called, mad as could be: "Why don't you pick up the phone? I called you twice, but you didn't answer. What on earth is going on? You should at least do your parents the courtesy of calling them back!" Jeong-su's father immediately started berating Jeong-su, not giving him the chance to explain. "Whatever. I called because I needed your help with something urgent. But I found someone else to help." And with that, Jeong-su's father hung up.
This had ruined Jeong-su's mood. His parents always called him on the weekends to ask how he was doing and pester him about getting married. He'd assumed this was just another one of those phone calls. He had no idea it was about something important. He'd considered calling his father back but didn't.
It was after this when Jeong-su, in poor spirits and holding a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, decided to go out for a walk.
He met eyes with a man in a tank top and shorts who was smoking in the alley. Jeong-su kept walking, turned a corner, and encountered yet another man, this one in a T-shirt and track pants. They were all smokers who had been chased into the alleys by their family members. Jeong-su thought it fortunate he could enjoy a cigarette without feeling guilty.
He considered his life a happy one. He was young, his parents were in good health, and he had a job, a house, and a car. Compared to those in the alley, his life wasn't so bad. Realizing this, he felt his mood improve.
It was strange. A person's mood could be easily ruined, easily improved, and just as easily ruined again. An angry phone call from one's parents, or an increase in the tobacco tax—that was all it took to ruin a perfectly happy weekend. He could only imagine how unhappy he would be if something actually bad happened, like being fired, getting into a car accident, or contracting a terminal illness. Indeed, if his happiness was so affected by something as trifling as an angry phone call, what if he were confronted with a real catastrophe? All Jeong-su could do now was wait until his mood improved and he regained his desire to live. But for that, he'd probably need a few more packs of cigarettes.
The summer weather was terribly hot. Jeong-su stopped walking once his body temperature started to rise, and sat on the steps near the entrance to the alley.
"Youngster," Jeong-su said, mimicking the old man's tone, "watch out for..."
For what? Was he really just warning Jeong-su to watch where he was going? Jeong-su shouldn't have been thinking about the encounter this much, but for some reason, it kept coming to mind. Lost in thought, he continued to smoke until four cigarette butts littered the ground around his sandals.
It was time to go home. Time for everyone—his parents, his friends, his enemies, even the old man from earlier that day—to get ready for Monday and go to bed. He figured he might as well join them. But before he went to sleep, he wanted to call his parents one more time. His father should have calmed down by now. And if not, there was nothing Jeong-su could do. He got to his feet and headed home.
But as he passed the place where he'd bumped into the old man, he thought again about the man's warning. He still had no idea what the man had been referring to. The man had been well-dressed: neatly combed hair, his shirt tucked in, a belt (which many old men forwent), and immaculate sneakers. Jeong-su knew of a few old people like this, who always dressed in nice clothes when they left the house. What was it like, he wondered, to live such a long and tidy life?
...
