6 Juri
"Boss! Boss!"
"What?!
What in the goddamn world happened to you?!
Who did this to you?!"
"We're being reported by the police!"
"Ho-how's that possible?! Don't tell me you screwed up the racket!"
"Well, Boss, some guy interrupted our racket with the Jung Chicken, Boss…
Now Jung chicken's free from our racket!"
"Damn it!
And who was that person that interrupted our racket?!"
"We don't know Boss!"
"You, the four of you, find out the identity of that guy who messed with our business!
We cannot bring shame to the syndicate...
To the Rat!"
.
.
.
"Alright, that'll be all for today. Kriiing kriiing!"
The class starts to laugh at my imitation to a bell.
"Hahahaha! Why are making the bell sound effect, Mr. Lee?"
"(shrug) I don't even know why.
I just realized that wasn't even the sound of a school bell, was it?"
"Hahahaha! It was of a ringtone!"
At least they're laughing.
"Alright, you can talk to each other while we wait for your next teacher."
The students begin to go with their chatmates as I maintain to stand looking at them.
"Oh, Hanchul!"
Hanchul responds to my call by looking at me and coming near me.
"Yes, Mr. Lee."
"Right now, your family's business will continue to run. And the police will now guarantee protection for you."
"It's all thanks to you, Mr. Lee."
"No probs. I actually can't believe your restaurant is a weak business despite the fact it's a chicken business. I mean what the hell, right?
But like I said yesterday, I'm going to eat at your restaurant. And also your classmates.
Right now, I'm looking at a guy who's going to put Jung Chicken on the top."
I see a smile slowly appear from Hanchul.
"Thank you, Mr. Lee."
"That time will come, Hanchul. For now, you focus on your study and your mom and dad will restore Jung Chicken."
Jung Chicken is, right now, in a failed state. Actually, not just that, but the street it's in is in a failed state, thus the protection racket. I just hope things will slightly change. I mean, are the police really that reliable?
.
.
.
I'm currently at the faculty room resting. I'm just sitting still with my coffee and my phone on my desk.
"How's your job so far," asks Mr. Pyo Chunghee, fellow math teacher. He teaches the seniors.
"Smooth sailing so far, Mr. Pyo. But man you must be taking your job seriously prepping them for Suneung."
"Well of course, Mr. Lee. They have to pass the Suneung or they'll fall behind."
"Hmm. Okay..."
It doesn't matter if they fall behind. They can just retake. It's not like they're gonna get suffocated by humiliation. But that's the sad part. And that sucks.
"By the way, you've been the talk of the seniors, no just the freshmen."
"Really? What do they say?"
"Really. You're smart and charismatic, that's what they say. They also say they wish you were their math teacher."
"And how do you feel about the latter?"
"That doesn't bother me, Mr. Lee."
"You're dedicated to your job, huh."
"You're right."
Ms. Kim approaches my desk and joins the conversation.
"Mr. Lee!"
"Ah, Ms. Kim. (waves)"
"How's teaching here so far, Mr. Lee," Ms. Kim asks.
I answer, "It's only been two days, but I'm still fine. Though I feel like I'm gonna be asked the same question everyday."
Mr. Pyo speaks, "Well, you're our namdongsaeng (little brother), so it's normal to ask you such a thing."
"Now I'm terrified."
*laughs*
I hear my phone's vibration as I get a message.
Mr. Yang just texted me to wait for him at Hongdae. It's far from Apgujeong, but I understand…
Or maybe Mr. just wants me to avoid what happened last night.
It's 8:30 PM now. I'm at the street waiting for Mr. Yang.
"Mr. Lee!"
Oh, there he is.
"How long have you been waiting here?"
"I walked around Hongdae for around twenty minutes. Just got here two minutes ago."
"That's nice."
"But I still don't know why here in Hongdae?"
"I like it here."
That's Mr. Yang for you, folks.
"Let's find The Coffee Prince," says Mr. Yang. He asks me, "You know the place?"
Because I know what he means, I happily respond, "Definitely. It's where the drama with the same name was filmed. Yoonwoo told me about it and we visited the shop."
"Mr. Han did? I see, that's good. So you know where it is then. Lets' go."
And so we go for the Coffee Prince.
We order coffee and food, get them and from there, we pick up where we left off.
"Shall we pick up where we left off?"
"Yes, of course.
What was the question again?"
"I'm afraid it was interrupted. The question was, 'How did you know about UCA?'."
"How did I know about UCA? I was in touch with Juri back then."
"Juri?" I asked until I realize.
"Wait, you mean Marjorie?! My mentor?"
"Yes, your mentor. We were friends back in college."
Marjorie majored in education at Harvard, so that makes sense.
"And you're one of the few people who knows the agency?"
"Juri was tasked to assassinate an American diplomat in Busan. I'm sure you know it. It was a success, as expected, but I witnessed what happened."
"You saw what happened?"
"I just… entered the pool room when I saw her wearing a maid outfit and holding a taser as the victim was floating in the pool."
Marjorie killed the American diplomat who was actually a spy for a terrorist group. That's what I know. But this is the first time hearing this. I don't know why Marjorie was hiding this.
"How did you respond to it?"
"I was just standing still the whole time until Juri approached me."
"What did she say?"
"Juri said to be quiet, that I was out of CCTV range. She trusted me not to say anything about what happened. She trusted me. Fully."
"And the agency never knows that up until this day. Nice going, Mr. Yang.
Which brings me to this question: what's with Y.K.?"
"Y.K. was my underground name. Under that name, I was doing dirty work to protect my family from danger. You know business."
"You were doing dirty work? And your family doesn't know about it?"
"My family doesn't know about it. Yes, I was doing dirty work, but not as dirty as your agency does. I myself did not kill. Just torture, ransom, things like that, and I did those things all by myself.
Why, you ask? Because I thought I could do better than the authorities, or anyone else. Until I found out about Hong Shinsoo stealing money from SH Electronics and framing my brother for it."
"Now I'm very curious. You said things in past tense. What happened?"
"Juri found out about my doings when I came in touch with her for the assassination you performed. She was pissed because she said I was different from when we were in college. So she proposed a deal: the assassination would happen in exchange of abandoning dirty work."
Seriously? Marjorie did that?
"From that point on, I stopped doing dirty work and entrusted my family's protection to the authorities. Although, the danger became much lesser than before, probably because they got scared of you."
So my hit actually scared off those that endangered Mr. Yang's family? Now I wonder if Marjorie anticipated it.
"But now that she's not here with us..."
Mr. Yang looks at me as if he's expecting me to make a sad look. But I give him a happy look with a smile instead.
I tell him, "I'm used to it, so it's fine."
"Juri must've trained you to be mentally tough too."
I murmur, "Yeah. She did." Then I suddenly spout, "Hey, what's with the name 'Juri'?!"
"Juri sounds like a Korean name so I called her that and she liked it."
That sounds nice actually. I kinda liked the name as soon as I heard it. I think it was out of question, but still I wanted to ask him that.
"Any questions?" Mr. Yang expects more questions from me.
I answer, "I might have more in the future, but right now there's one more." Mr. Yang nods as if to say okay.
"One of my advisees looks familiar-"
Mr. Yang interrupts, "You mean Song Yoona?"
"Um, yeah- What the?!"
"Song Yoona… is the daughter of Song Hanbyul, SH Group's chairman."
So my hunch was right after all. Yoona, Minyoung's deskmate, is actually from the chaebol family. Her family name. Her familiar face… from ten years ago. Now I got it confirmed from Mr. Yang.
"How can you not recognize her right away," says Mr. Yang.
"It's hard to recognize a 6-year-old Korean kid from the past, you know?
Anyways, so Yoona is a part of a chaebol family, meaning she's rich.
Why is she studying in a public high school?"
