Chapter 8 — Memories of Jjolbok

“Ugh…”

“Are you all right, Ms. Anna?”

“Ah… I’m… I’m fine…”

“You’re not fine. You’re as pale as a ghost… Did you push yourself too hard for no reason?”

“No! I can do it!”

She didn’t look well at all.

Since both the accounting manager and I were perfectly fine, it didn’t seem to be pufferfish poisoning. Kim Anna’s symptoms looked more like severe indigestion.

She was dazed and weak, her tongue lolling out as she went meow, meow.

I felt bad for her for no reason.

Maybe I shouldn’t have told her that a junior who ate well looked cute.

“Is the medicine not working?”

“Ugh… It should kick in soon… No, it has to… I’m sorry…”

But Kim Anna’s condition didn’t improve.

She continued to moan weakly.

“No, it can’t be helped. Get plenty of rest. Part of the blame is mine for not being considerate enough. Let me see… The work assigned to you today, Ms. Kim Anna… depreciation accounts, right? I’ll handle it.”

“What? No, Mr. Lee.”

“I’m your superior, aren’t I? Listen to me.”

I knew she would feel uncomfortable about it.

But her health came first, and working in an abnormal condition would only increase the chances of making a mistake.

“Yes… I’ll definitely be better by dinner.”

“I hope you will.”

“Thank you… I’ll buy dinner…”

“Just get some rest for now.”

“Hmm… It’s a shame people don’t know what a nice person you are…”

Lee Jin-ho wasn’t particularly passionate about human relationships.

Because of that, the people at the accounting firm didn’t really know him.

He was generally remembered as a cold person who looked like he would be a somewhat exhausting boss. Occasionally, stories about his good deeds like today would circulate, but they never lasted long enough to become widely remembered.

That was the general perception of him.

“Exactly. Now, keep your mouth shut and rest.”

“Thank you…”

I took over Kim Anna’s work.

Seeing her collapse spectacularly onto the sofa in the corner of the office after leaving behind one last dying groan reminded me of the day after a university MT.

I had been so young back then.

“Let’s see…”

For Peter Pan Industries, I thought the declining-balance method of depreciation would be advantageous.

In this case, the corresponding account would be accumulated depreciation.

“Hmm… There aren’t any major problems…”

Under Article 62 of the Enforcement Decree of the Income Tax Act, depreciation expenses could be included as necessary expenses.

I would apply it in a way favorable to the company.

As a result, the company’s profits would increase.

“Oh my, take it easy.”

The head of accounting brought me a cup of tea.

Even though he could have simply asked one of his clerks to do it, he had come personally.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Well, there aren’t any particular problems, are there?”

“No. That’s right.”

He seemed restless, like a dog that needed to relieve itself.

Was there something he wanted to ask?

“About this… depreciation expense… The president asked whether there’s some way to use the amount left over after we write it off as an expense…”

“Hmm…”

“The accounting firm we worked with before just told us to figure it out ourselves and said they didn’t want to know. Then the chairman got furious and asked why anything should be impossible… Ha… I’m the one caught in the middle. I’m basically the punching bag.”

It was a situation I knew all too well.

It was similar to what had happened at this morning’s meeting.

“In other words, you’d like to have a little extra cash available. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes… More or less.”

False accounting.

The reason this company had remained unlisted was the owner’s greed.

“In that case, you can’t manipulate the books fraudulently. I can give you advice, but I can’t teach you how to break the law. However…”

“Is there perhaps some way?”

“Actually spend it.”

“What?”

His attitude was polite.

And he clearly wasn’t quite understanding what I meant.

“Exchange receipts. You or someone else needs to actually spend the money. I’m not the Financial Supervisory Service, and neither are the people who come in for a designated audit later, right? As long as you have sufficient documentation to explain the expenses, that’s enough for us. But if you can’t even prepare the requested supporting documents, an unqualified opinion might become difficult. You get the idea, right? At that point, the FSS really will come knocking.”

“Ah… I understand the nuance.”

“Yes. That wasn’t advice, and I didn’t say anything. Just consider it a private conversation in response to your question. Think of it as being similar to the saying, ‘Tax evasion is illegal, but tax avoidance isn’t.’”

It wasn’t as though these people would stop just because I told them not to.

I simply hoped they wouldn’t cross the line.

The larger the amount became, the more likely it was that eventually someone would follow the trail.

And when that happened, they would have to pay the appropriate price.

“As long as there’s no internal whistleblower, there shouldn’t be any problem. Just keep it reasonable.”

“Yes. Reasonable… Sigh… That man… He really needs to stop going to casinos…”

“What?”

“Ah, nothing. I was just talking to myself.”

I heard it, but pretended I hadn’t.

It wasn’t exactly surprising for a company owner to take gambling trips abroad.

“Let’s make a toast, Senior!”

Kim Anna raised her glass and held it toward me.

The liquor inside sloshed around excitedly, almost spilling over the rim.

“Cheers~!”

“Careful. You’re going to spill it all.”

“But I’m in such a good mood… Hehe…”

She was the very definition of a college student at an MT—dead during the day, resurrected at night.

We clinked our glasses.

A clear clink rang out, while underneath it sat spicy, appetizing chicken feet in all their glory.

“I told you I’d buy you something better. Is chicken feet really okay, Mr. Lee?”

“What’s wrong with chicken feet? I like old-fashioned restaurants like this.”

Amid the chatter of the other customers, she politely poured liquor into my glass.

Then I continued.

“It’s been a really long time since I came here. I used to come here often before I got married.”

I remembered the memories I had with my wife.

Yes, it was this exact restaurant.

This exact spot.

The place where the two of us had stuck out our tongues like idiots, and where we had made the decision to fall in love.

“Really? I thought you’d prefer somewhere more sophisticated, Mr. Lee. That’s surprising.”

“I only look sophisticated. My taste is completely Korean. I like chicken feet. You know how they make your tongue tingle?”

“Exactly. Your tongue naturally sticks out when you eat them. Hehe.”

Kim Anna stuffed one red chicken foot after another into her mouth as though she had completely forgotten about getting sick from the jjolbok earlier.

She certainly had a good appetite.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I had ever spent such private time with her.

I became curious about her as a person.

“How’s work? Do you regret becoming an accountant?”

“Hmm… I don’t know… I worked really hard to get in, but maybe because I’m still just a staff member… Outside of busy season, it feels kind of quiet?”

“I see.”

“Yes. I want to get assigned to a big company as soon as possible and work more independently. But to do that, I’ll have to become a senior as quickly as you did.”

Her eyes were ambitious.

And they held passion.

“Honestly, it gets a little boring sometimes. I’m quite ambitious when it comes to work.”

I understood why she never gained weight.

It was her competitive drive toward work.

She was a woman who wanted to climb.

Kim Anna was far more impressive than many of the men who considered themselves talented.

“That takes me back.”

Her answer reminded me of my own days as a staff accountant.

A very long time ago, when I was young too.

Back then, even Managing Director Choi Pil-yong had been young.

He hadn’t even become a director yet.

He had participated in my interview as a senior manager, and I still remembered the question he had asked me.

—Mr. Lee Jin-ho, when the firm’s opinion conflicts with your own, are you the type of person who speaks up about it, or the type who doesn’t?

Time was cruel.

The question was crystal clear, but I couldn’t remember my answer.

And unfortunately, I couldn’t remember what Managing Director Choi had said in response either.

Come to think of it, had I really changed over the more than ten years I had spent at the firm?

“Ms. Anna, as time passes, there will come a day when you miss today. Even just looking at today, isn’t it already giving you a headache? It’s an exhausting profession where you have to carefully navigate the relationship between the superior and the subordinate. That’s what we do.”

“Ah, I felt that at Peter Pan Industries earlier. And with the Daewoo Electronics case too…”

“That’s right. And besides, we can’t be perfectly righteous. If we were, who would hire us? When you think about it, we’re just technicians. We have to find our way around the law…”

I took another sip.

“And just like the pufferfish we ate earlier, which gave you indigestion, things can go wrong at any time.”

A blurred memory suddenly came back to me.

I think that during my interview long ago, I had talked about uncompromising justice.

I suppose I had changed a little.

From uncompromising justice to compromised justice.

Sssip—

I sucked my lips bitterly and continued my long lecture.

Like an old-timer.

“Maintaining your conscience while walking that fine line isn’t easy. Just like the version of justice Managing Director Choi talked about in the meeting.”

“Right… It’s difficult. Really…”

The conversation was starting to get heavy.

I needed to change the subject.

“Ms. Kim Anna, why did you consider giving up your major? You were studying life sciences, weren’t you?”

“That’s because… Ah… Doing experiments on mice was really hard for me… They’re living things, after all. I know sacrificing the few for the greater good is sometimes unavoidable, but I found it difficult…”

Although she claimed to have a scientific mind, the pufferfish incident earlier had shown that Anna was actually quite delicate and timid.

“If I had to justify it, I thought it might be better for me to be the one suggesting minor shortcuts instead. And I thought studying law and dealing with clear-cut numbers suited me better. Dealing with people is tiring too…”

“Ah… Once you gain more experience and get promoted, Ms. Anna, you’ll have to do sales too. Client management. You saw it today. Director Ma isn’t here today, but once you reach the director level, you’ll spend more time entertaining clients than handling your own work.”

Kim Anna sighed and chewed a piece of grilled intestines thoroughly.

“Sigh… I have to try. It’s too late to turn back now.”

“Yes. Hang in there. And since every client wants something different, the kind of entertaining you’re imagining isn’t necessarily the only way. There are also companies that prefer very dry, strictly business relationships, so you’ll manage.”

I washed down the chicken feet with another shot of soju.

Encouraged by that drink, my own suspicion slowly began to rise again.

“Do you remember when you asked me earlier about the tongue-curling gene?”

“Hmm… Ah! Of course I remember. Why?”

“This is just something I’m curious about… Are there any traits that could absolutely never appear between a biological father and biological mother?”

Maybe I was getting a little drunk.

No, I wasn’t drunk.

My suspicions had simply run ahead of me and were looking for somewhere to rest.

“Hmm… Blood type. The ABO blood group system. That’s almost an absolute rule.”

I had already checked the blood type.

Ever since the child was born.

“I see.”

“Other than that, color blindness, or polydactyly, and… Ah, but why are you asking?”

“Just… A friend of mine seems to be in a somewhat suspicious situation.”

When in doubt, blame a friend.

“Hmm… In the end, you need a paternity test. That’s the conclusion.”

“Isn’t that complicated? Don’t both parties have to agree?”

“Only if you’re going to use it as legal evidence. If you use a private testing company, it takes less than a week. All you need is a few strands of hair. Rather than suffering over it, a lot of people just get the test done and settle the matter.”

A paternity test.

What an unpleasant word.

It carried the implication that all the love of the past could suddenly be denied.

“Anyway… You said you were ambitious about work, so let’s talk about it again in three years. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

I smiled as I spoke.

Partly because I wanted to change the subject quickly.

I was also curious what she would say a few years from now, once she had left the staff level and become a senior.

At that point, she would have to become the company’s true workhorse, taking care of both those above and those below her, much like an assistant manager in an ordinary company.

Would she still say she was ambitious and wanted to do more work then?

“Yes, Mr. Lee. I hope you’ll continue to take an interest in me. And I’m really glad the Daewoo Electronics case went well today. You were amazing. I should start calling you Director in advance.”

“Absolutely no counting your chickens before they hatch, Ms. Kim. Haha.”

“Oh, but what’s going to happen to Director Ma?”

Director Ma Seung-cheol had been absent for the past several days.

There were rumors going around that he would soon be fired.

Apparently, he was busy preparing to open an office somewhere outside Seoul, and Kim Anna had probably heard the rumor too.

“Well… We’ll have to wait and see whether Director Ma can endure it or whether he chooses another path.”

“This place has a nice atmosphere.”

“Right? Since it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, I looked around for somewhere myself.”

This was a restaurant somewhere on the outskirts of Gangwon Province.

It was famous among the locals for its high prices, reservation-only system, and excellent quality.

There was even a rumor that it had been opened by a chef from a five-star hotel who had retired and settled down here.

But that was only hearsay, and it had never been confirmed.

“It’s a bit far, but I could come here once in a while.”

“Exactly. Anyway, how long has it been since we last talked?”

“I’m sorry, Na-young. I’ve been busy with one thing and another too.”

A man leaned back against his chair and stretched.

Then he pulled a small gift from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Oh my, what’s this?”

“What else? It’s a gift.”

The man answered in a casual voice with a slight yawn.

The woman looked inside the gift and was surprised.

“How did you get this? You remembered what I told you last time?”

“What do you mean, how did I get it?”

“This is a limited-edition necklace. Were there any left?”

“It wasn’t difficult for me. But I’m not putting it on you, okay?”

The man was the very embodiment of a rich bad boy.

He was not Lee Jin-ho.