Underground

ark

  Copyright 2011 by Soyeon Park

  It had been a week since Jun moved to the new town. The 12-year old boy with a pale face and kind eyes didn’t have a problem making friends. He immediately got involved with the popular group. Some of their fathers and his dad were colleagues. However, getting to know everyone was more tiring than exciting.

  Jun walked into a block jam-packed with apartments. It looked like a maze made of apartment buildings. It was hard to believe that this whole area was a hot piece of real estate. It was the whole point of living on this block. That’s why Jun’s family was there.

  Jun felt someone was watching him. When he turned around, Min was there. Min was the guy who wore a taekwondo uniform all the time. His name was sewed on it. That’s the only reason Jun remembered his name. Jun looked at him carefully for the first time. Where everything around them was new and luxurious, Min stood out like a sore thumb. Min was obviously from the working classes.

  “Take me to 5-108.”

  5 meant the building number and 108 meant the number of the apartment. Jun wondered what was up with him. Building 5 was the exclusive part in this exclusive neighborhood. While Jun was thinking about Min’s connection to the place, Min grabbed his arm. Min was strong and rough. “A typical working class guy!” Jun thought.

  Apartment 5-108’s door was open. Min went inside without hesitation. “What rude, uneducated behavior,” Jun thought. Jun felt responsibility for bringing an uncivilized child here. There must be very important people living in this apartment. Jun thought there must be a need for interpretation between this animal-like boy and them. If they find Jun charming, it might lead to an opportunity to build a network with important people in the future. It was the philosophy of Jun’s dad. Jun walked in.

  It was a bit of a disappointment for Jun. The furniture was rather humble and old. Jun knocked on one of the doors to look for someone to explain the situation while watching Min to make sure he didn’t steal anything. Jun couldn’t hear a thing. He opened the door.

  Light entered the room. The room was full of old maps, paintings, and books. Some of them were written in Chinese. Jun could smell the smell of time. The smell of old books possessed him and dragged into the room. He took one of them from a shelf and dropped it accidently. The book was so old that pages fell out and scattered on the floor. He picked them up quickly but couldn’t figure out which page belonged where. He was going to put all the pages together and arrange them as if nothing happened. That was the moment when a pair of floppy slippers showed up in his line of sight.

  Jun couldn’t move. It was as if he were frozen. Only his eyes could move. He looked up. Jun was too frightened to move or say a word. There was a skinny old man standing and staring at him. The old man was so skinny, as if a live skeleton had come out from a science lab. The only difference was that he had skin. It made his eyes seem so big. Jun was frozen.

  “Good afternoon.”

  Jun said it. Jun heard that his voice was shaking. So was his body.

  “Did you leave the door open again?”

  The old man’s voice was like thunder. Jun shrank back. There was another man in the living room. Younger. Gentle looking.

  “They are from the house,” the younger man said.

  Jun wanted to correct him about where he was from, but the old man looked serious. Jun decided to stay quiet. At the same time, Jun couldn’t wait to find out Min’s connection to this old man.

  They all sat down on the sofa. The old man was Mr. Choi, the famous, grumpy old man in the neighborhood. A notorious real estate dealer. He specialized in buying cheap houses from poor people and left them empty until he could sell them back at a higher rate. His stepson, Hyunil, was assisting him.

  “We won’t sell our home,” the rude little boy shouted. It was brave of Min, but it failed to threaten Mr. Choi. Min’s words scattered in the air.

  Mr. Choi stared at Min with silence. Min stared back. The more Min stared, the clearer it became that he wouldn’t win this game. He imagined how the fight was going to be. He had been told how rich Mr. Choi was. He knew what money could do. He’d heard about many people who fought against this old man. No one had won. It was a devastating feeling to know there was not much he could do. As if Mr. Choi read Min’s mind, he went back to the dark room where he had come out from. Min knew he had lost today. He would lose this game.

  Min felt like he was going to explode. The anger and frustration was roiling inside of him. He was looking for a way out. Min started to breathe heavily. His heart beat so fast. He wanted to scream but couldn’t allow himself to show frustration. He was only a boy but he was still a man.

  Finally, he burst into tears. His tear drops were so large and heavy that Min soon had a little stream on his face. It wasn’t only his face where the stream ran. His uniform was getting wet. The stream couldn’t handle the amount of tears, so it started to overflow. Min’s face was covered with tears.

  The tears mixed with the dust which was on his face originally. It made Min look awful. It made everyone in the living room embarrassed but him. Jun and Hyunil didn’t know what to do.

  Hyunil offered Jun a cookie he had made. Jun didn’t feel like eating, considering the situation Min got him into. Jun wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. However, Jun was going to have to wait until Min stopped crying by the looks of it. So Jun thanked him quietly and had a bite.

  The cookie was amazingly delicious. It was so soft and sweet. Egg and milk gently swirled inside of his mouth and disappeared down his throat. The taste was so magical it made Jun think that it wasn’t too bad being involved with this hassle. Jun was beginning to feel better, but Min’s stream had become a river on his face.

  “Your dad had a deal with Mr. Choi. There was an additional condition. Mr. Choi is doing you a favor.”

  “How can it be a favor when you take away someone’s home?”

  “Things are complicated with adults. You will understand when you grow up.”

  “What is so complicated about it? How many houses can a man live at once? A man can be in only one place as far as I know.”

  Min walked out. Jun couldn’t swallow the last bite of cookie. Jun said goodbye quickly to Hyunil and ran after Min. Jun came out thinking that he had to run to catch up with Min, but Min was standing right in front of the door.

  “I can’t find a way out.”

  Min looked so lost surrounded by shiny modern buildings, luxurious foreign cars, and well-dressed people wearing designers he’d never even heard of. He looked so out of place. Jun began to understand that Min didn’t exactly want to be part of the life here. All he wanted was peace.

  Jun had a package of cookies Hyunil gave before he left Mr. Choi’s apartment. Jun wanted to take it home. While he was thinking of what to say to Min, they were already in front of Min’s place.

  It was a tiny rundown place. There was a huge tree growing next to the house. It looked like the tree would get larger and tear the house apart soon. Jun couldn’t imagine living in it.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Min realized that Jun was following him. It was annoying and embarrassing. Jun wasn’t supposed to see all that. Especially not Min’s place.

  “Get lost.”

  Min grabbed Jun’s collar. Jun had never been in a violent situation like this before. Jun was frightened. At that moment, a guy walked out from the tiny gate.

  “You must be a friend of Min’s.”

  He was Min’s father. Unlike Min, Min’s father was friendly and he kindly invited Jun in. Jun didn’t want to go in considering what happened just now and over the last few hours. Min’s father insisted. Jun blamed his parents who had taught him to be polite to everyone. He hadn’t learn
ed how to refuse yet.

  The inside of the house was even smaller. They walked around the root of the tree. Min’s father was searching for something to treat his guest with, telling Jun that Min never brought any friends over. Jun wasn’t surprised. Jun had seen enough of Min.

  “We have this.”

  Jun noticed there wasn’t much for them. He said something about the cookies. Min’s father looked into Jun’s eyes for a moment.

  “Will you do me a favor?”

  Jun was afraid. What would this lead to next? He had been through a lot today already. It was almost too much to handle in one day. However, he was a polite kid. He felt like he’d been cursed for not being able to say no. He just couldn’t say it. He hated himself as he felt the smile form on his face.

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “Will you be a good friend to my boy?”

  Jun looked at Min. Min looked angry. Jun couldn’t tell if Min would be even angrier if he said no.

  “Of course, we already are.”

  Min faked a big smile. Min’s father laid the cookies out on a plate and set it on the floor.

  Apparently Min’s father was a handyman who fixed everything. He was going to go out to work. Jun was ready to escape from Min as soon as Min’s father went out. Before he left, Min’s father gave a hug to a girl behind a door. There was a girl. Jun was surprised by the fact that he could miss another person living in this