Bohol, Philippines.
I’m at the office of “Bahala Na.”
“The bags you told me to find.”
Sandro held out four bags.
“Thanks. Here.”
I took ten thousand dollars from my pocket and handed it to Sandro.
“Come on, why do you keep giving me stuff like this? It’s nothing much, but every time you do this… I’m grateful, you know. I’ll put it to good use.”
“By the way, Sandro.”
“Huh?”
“How’s the tourism business around here?”
The fact that I’d been questioned at Incheon Airport kept bothering me.
If I didn’t come up with some kind of countermeasure, they would keep watching me closely,
and if I couldn’t explain my purpose for leaving the country and the source of my funds, I could be investigated at any time, or even banned from leaving the country.
I had to come up with a way.
A way to come and go without drawing suspicion.
When I was being questioned, in my panic,
I said I was thinking of starting a travel agency.
I remembered a one-person travel agency I’d seen on YouTube at some point.
They said it was always in the red, that it wasn’t easy.
It was a video saying that just because you liked traveling, you should absolutely never start a travel agency.
I don’t know why that came to mind,
but when I was being questioned, I thought a travel agency was the best excuse.
A job that would let me freely go abroad without being misunderstood.
A job where even if I went to remote places, I could call it product development.
I could have become a travel YouTuber,
but then they might ask me to show them my channel or footage.
So I said I was thinking of starting a travel agency.
But as I thought it over carefully on the plane here, a “travel agency” didn’t seem half bad.
The Philippines was already a country where tourism was thriving.
And there really were plenty of things to see.
Labor was cheap, and the infrastructure wasn’t bad.
If I put it together well, I thought it could become a decent travel product.
So now I’m seriously thinking about starting a travel agency.
I need to see if there are any good products.
“Tourism? Tourism is good, isn’t it? The number of people coming to Bohol increases every year. Resorts or hotels are guaranteed to do well, and restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs are good too. Whatever you do, it can’t help but work out.”
“What about travel routes?”
“There’s nothing special about the routes. They’re all set. It’s the same no matter who goes. The only difference is how many places you skip.”
“Are there no good places besides those?”
“Why wouldn’t there be? There are more than enough.”
“Then why haven’t places like that been developed?”
“What reason would there be? Because it’s inconvenient to get there. Either cars can’t get in easily, or it’s far, or if not that, it’s too underwhelming compared to the trouble of getting there.”
“Then Sandro, find places like that and leave me photos and videos. If they can be purchased, find out how much they cost too.”
“Why would you buy it when you can just go in for free?”
“If there’s a truly decent place, we buy it and monopolize it. If there’s somewhere only we can go, wouldn’t our product be more attractive? Or we could rent it out to other travel agencies for money.”
“That’s true.”
“So send the guys out and see if there are places like that. How long it takes from here, whether you can get there by car, what there is to see—take photos and let me know.”
I held out another ten thousand dollars.
“Put some gas in the guys’ cars and feed them too. You know what I mean, right?”
“I know. Ever since I met you lately, things have been going well for me. Hahaha.”
Sandro smiled slyly.
“If this goes well, things will probably get even better.”
“Really? But will this make money? Seems like it’ll only be small change. Are you going into tourism?”
“We’ll know once we try. Think long-term. Long-term.”
“I’ll look into it for now.”
“Don’t spread weird rumors.”
“Got it.”
“Then I’ll see you next time.”
I took the four bags and went straight to the airport.
This time, I used a forged passport, not my own—a Philippine passport.
The name Alex was written in the passport.
Thump, thump.
As I went through departure immigration, my heart started pounding for no reason.
I was scared they might catch me.
My hand holding the passport was sweating.
If you get caught forging a passport, it’s straight to prison.
Immediate arrest. Subject to criminal punishment.
Live in prison, then be deported to Korea.
After that, you’re put on a blacklist and barred from entering many countries.
It becomes difficult to go abroad.
But that doesn’t mean I can keep using my own passport.
Even in Korea, they’re already watching my entry and exit records closely.
I said I’d go to the Philippines, but not to Hong Kong or Macau.
But I couldn’t go to Hong Kong and Macau again on my own passport.
Sandro had told me not to worry because it was a well-made passport,
but I couldn’t help being anxious.
I stood in line and waited for departure immigration, and then my turn came.
I handed the stiff passport to the immigration officer along with my ticket.
The officer glanced at me once, then checked the passport.
That brief moment of him checking the passport felt like an eternity.
Is this why they say not to live a life of crime?
As if nothing was wrong.
I tried to keep my expression as relaxed as possible,
but it felt like I could hear my own heartbeat.
Thump, thump, thump.
But soon, the immigration officer handed my passport back to me with a smile.
I took it lightly and thanked him.
“Thank you.”
.
.
.
I returned to the Philippines again.
There had been no problem with the passport.
Why had there been no problem?
Looking at my face, it wouldn’t be easy to think I was Filipino.
Strange.
I stayed in Hong Kong for two days.
I had delivered the package as soon as I arrived, so I had nothing to do.
I walked along the Avenue of Stars,
and rode a tour bus around Hong Kong.
Then back to the Philippines.
In that short time, Sandro had prepared quite a lot.
“When I asked the kids who live around here if they knew any decent places, a ton came up.”
Sandro showed me several photos.
Even at a glance, they were impressive enough to make me marvel.
They were so amazing that even with the photos taken like crap, they still made me admire them.
How incredible would they look in person?
That thought crossed my mind.
“Sandro. The more I think about it, the more I think we need to establish a company. Once we establish the company, do you know anyone good with legal stuff and documents?”
“There should be, right? If I look, I’ll find someone quickly.”
“Then find someone like that.”
“Got it.”
“Then I’ll go back to Korea, make some preparations, and come again.”
“Sure.”
******
I went around looking for an office.
I’m going to start a travel agency.
For a travel agency permit, an office is essential.
A lease contract is absolutely required.
Even if you run a one-person travel agency, you need an office.
And I have no intention of running a one-person travel agency.
I’m going to hire employees.
The reason I’m starting a travel agency
is to disguise the fact that I frequently go abroad,
but even so, I’m not going to just set up a travel agency and sit around doing nothing.
That would be even more suspicious and strange.
There need to be products, and there need to be customers.
I have to operate normally.
So what if I take some losses?
I can earn money by making deliveries.
I’ll operate an office normally,
put together tour programs, and recruit customers.
I’m going to run a travel agency.
I’ll become a boss too.
.
.
.
I found an office.
Near the goshiwon.
I rented the second floor of a three-story building.
About thirty pyeong in size.
The price was a 20 million won deposit and 1 million won a month.
They said the price had gone down a bit because there were a lot of vacancies these days.
When I first went to the office with the real estate agent, I was startled.
Because unlike the shabby exterior, the inside was decorated incredibly nicely.
It turned out it had been an interior design office.
Though it had now gone out of business.
In the case of an interior design office, customers often visited for meetings,
so a high-end interior would have been essential.
How could they mess up their own office and then tell customers they would do a good job on theirs?
And that splendid interior became mine for just 5 million won.
Including the desks and chairs.
When you do interior work, it costs a lot of money, but when you sell it, it’s worth almost nothing.
You can’t take it off and bring it with you.
Rather, it costs money to remove it.
If it’s the same kind of business, like a restaurant or café,
you might hand over the facilities and equipment as they are and receive a premium.
But in the case of an office, that’s rare.
If the landlord demands restoration to the original state, then you have no choice but to spend money again
to tear out the interior you paid for yourself, restore it to its original condition, and leave.
The owner of the interior design office said with a bitter expression that I could just use it as it was,
but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.
I said I couldn’t give him much, but I would give him around 5 million.
In exchange, I asked for the desks and chairs.
He said he had been planning to sell the desks and chairs secondhand anyway,
and that he’d bought good ones, but the used goods dealer had lowballed him so badly that he was upset.
He said he was actually relieved he could sell them like this, and held my hand tightly.
The office had a luxurious wood-toned interior,
and the CEO’s office, meeting room, pantry, and restroom were all perfectly set up.
The layout was good.
Now I just needed to hire employees.
.
.
.
“Ms. Jang Yunmi?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for coming in for the interview.”
“Not at all. The office is very pretty.”
Jang Yunmi spoke while looking around.
“Mm… thank you. You have quite a lot of experience working at travel agencies.”
“Yes. I worked only at travel agencies for fourteen years.”
“That’s a long time.”
“Yes. I enjoyed working at travel agencies.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“I took childcare leave, but around the time I was supposed to return, my baby kept getting sick and we had to keep going to the hospital, so I couldn’t return and just resigned.”
“Is your child all right?”
“Yes. They’re healthy and doing well now.”
“That’s a relief. When you worked at travel agencies, what kind of work did you mainly do?”
“Over fourteen years at three travel agencies, I experienced practically every kind of work. From product planning to marketing, customer recruitment, operations and management, and customer service. Whatever you assign me, I can do it well.”
“To be honest, I have no experience with travel agencies. I’m starting this after seeing just one promising travel product. Can you help me?”
“I think I’ll be a great help, actually.”
“For a while, you may have to work alone. Would that be all right?”
“That would be more comfortable and better.”
“We need to get the travel agency permit first. Would that be possible too?”
“Of course. Absolutely.”
.
.
.
[Tourism Business Registration Certificate]
Business Name: Candy Tour.
Name: Gong Inbae
Address: Seoul
Business Type: Comprehensive Travel Business.
This certifies that the above business has been registered as stated above in accordance with Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Tourism Promotion Act.
The tourism business registration certificate came out.
I think I hired the right employee.
Jang Yunmi really did everything by herself.
It seemed she hadn’t been lying when she said she had done everything at a travel agency.
In no time at all, using only the rough plan I had given her, she prepared the documents and obtained the tourism business registration certificate.
I had heard it wasn’t easy, but Jang Yunmi succeeded on the first try.
Not only that.
Even though it was an empty office,
Jang Yunmi built the system.
She said that now, once I went to the Philippines and created the product,
we could register the product right away and start recruiting customers.
Everything was ready.
.
.
.
Bohol, Philippines.
“Look at this. We took pictures of this many places in the meantime.”
Sandro held out a tablet.
They weren’t just photos.
He had put the photos into a PowerPoint and made a file.
Sandro did something like this? I couldn’t believe it.
“Oh~ How did you do this?”
“Well… there’s a guy I hired this time. You told me to hire someone good with documents. I hired someone suitable, and he made it like this.”
“Really? Bring him here.”
A short while later, a small-built man who looked about thirty came in.
“Hello. My name is Patrick.”
“Nice to meet you, Patrick. You made this?”
“Yes. I made it so it would be easy for you to view.”
“Thank you. It looks good. But Patrick, in your opinion, are there any good places among these?”
“Yes. There were a few.”
“Would you tell me?”
“Two waterfalls are good, and this valley here is fairly wide and nice too. The road there is good as well.”
“Anything else?”
“This place requires a bit of climbing, but there are lots of fireflies. If you go at night, it’ll be very beautiful.”
“Mm…”
I listened to Patrick’s opinion.
It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t unique either.
Most tours here are like this.
There’s nothing special.
It was something many tourist sites in the Philippines, in Bohol, already had.
I felt like we needed some kind of differentiation.
“Are there any other places?”
“There are, but they’re too far from Alona Beach here. If you go all the way over there, it’s too hard to come back, so I excluded them.”
“What’s over there?”
“There’s more to see. There are caves, a place called Emerald Canyon where water flows between cliffs, and a lake called Lumina Lake that glows at night.”
Good.
It was good, but it would be hard to go there and back in one day.
Bohol is bigger than you’d think.
Then one thought flashed through my mind.
“Could we possibly camp here?”
“Camp?”
“Pitch tents, cook food, and sleep there.”
“I don’t know why you’d want to camp uncomfortably, but there’s no reason you couldn’t.”
“Then let’s try planning the schedule that way.”
“With camping?”
“Yes. Because we’re thinking we have to leave from Alona Beach and return the same day, we can’t go farther even if there are good places. And if we camp, that problem is solved all at once. Camping beside Lumina Lake. Isn’t that cool?”
“Would it be?”
“Of course it would. Let’s go for now. Let’s go and buy it. That land.”
.
.
.
Of course, we couldn’t buy it immediately.
I wanted to buy it under the company’s name rather than my own.
But there was no company yet.
Establishing a company came first.
With Patrick’s help, I established a company.
I named it [Candy Tour] here as well.
All right. Now that the preparations are done, let’s go buy some land.