I returned to the Philippines.
The hot air of the Philippines felt familiar now.
As soon as I entered the office, Sandro greeted me.
“Boss. You’re back?”
“Yeah. It was hard while I was gone, wasn’t it? Sorry.”
“Hard? It’s what we do every day. And now that the system’s settled in, it’s easy. It’s not like we’re the ones going out to the sites.”
“Still, there’s a lot to keep an eye on. If we leave things to others, they cause trouble.”
“Keke. That’s true. They really do cause a hell of a lot of trouble.”
“Did anything happen, by any chance?”
“It did.”
“It did? What? Is it serious?”
“Yeah. It’s serious.”
Sandro got up from his chair.
“Let’s go. To clean up the mess.”
.
.
.
The place we arrived at was Vicente Palace.
The five-star resort Sandro had said he would buy.
“The contract’s done.”
“Huh? Really? Good work. It must’ve been hard.”
“Of course it was hard. Who do you think I am? I’m Sandro. As soon as I held out the contract, they signed it right away.”
I was worried he might have held out a gun along with the contract, but I didn’t bother asking.
Looking at the resort while thinking of it as mine made it feel completely different.
In the Philippines, in Bohol, resorts were everywhere, but this was the only one that belonged to me.
Just as there are countless houses in Seoul, but only my own house feels special.
This resort was special too.
“Thank you, really. I absolutely love it.”
“You know what?”
“What?”
“You see that resort being built over there?”
The resort attached to Vicente Palace, the one we had purchased.
It was almost twice as big as Vicente Palace.
They had been building it busily for a while, and then at some point, construction stopped.
To be honest, it was something that bothered us a bit too.
It was nice to have a beautiful natural landscape spread out beyond the window; a construction-site view was not so great.
If the construction period were set and work was ongoing, there would be an end to it, so we could endure it,
but when it was stopped halfway like this, it was rather troublesome.
“Yeah. Hasn’t construction been stopped over there for a while?”
“It has. Turns out that was being built by this place’s owner too. The moment he saw me, he begged and pleaded for me to buy that too.”
“And?”
“I told him no. That thing isn’t even completed, and if you want to rebuild something that was abandoned midway, it’s not that different from building it from scratch. So I told him I couldn’t buy it.”
“I see.”
It wasn’t as if I had planned to buy it, so I didn’t know why I felt disappointed.
Sandro must have handled it well, but it still felt like a waste for no reason.
Buying that would cost a truly enormous amount of money.
It would take a lot of attention too.
It was too big a burden for us.
The resort had to be sour grapes.
It had to be something I shouldn’t have.
“So I told him that if he sold the land at least, excluding the building, I’d be interested in buying that.”
“Huh? What did you say???”
“Why are you so surprised? I only bought the land. Just the land.”
“Really?”
“Honestly, we should have charged him for the demolition costs too... But still, we’re doing business in the Philippines, so we can’t be too harsh. So we bought it for just the land price. He asked for forty million pesos (one billion won) just for the land, so I thought about it, but I figured that much was fine.”
That wasn’t fine.
It was an absolute jackpot.
And he had even purchased the resort attached to ours.
Overwhelmed, I threw my arms around Sandro.
“Thank you, Sandro. You made an incredible deal.”
“Alex. I’m feeling very uncomfortable right now. I don’t have a taste for being hugged by a dark, swarthy man. If you could take one step—no, two steps—back, I think I’d feel a little better. Can you do that?”
“Of course.”
That was what I said, but I didn’t step back.
I hugged Sandro even tighter.
That was how happy I was.
.
.
.
‘This is going to cost a lot of money, isn’t it?’
The overwhelming emotion lasted only a moment.
Once I actually looked around the site, I began to see places that needed repairs.
Vicente Palace, the resort we bought, had looked good when I passed by and glanced at it,
but once I looked closely, quite a lot of things that needed fixing came into view.
Was it a girlfriend?
Before you date, you don’t know, but once you start dating, you begin to see the flaws.
You see only the bad points.
This resort was the same.
After signing the contract, I could see its flaws.
Still, embracing even those flaws was love, wasn’t it?
I decided to embrace the resort with love too.
To be a little more precise, I decided to embrace it with money.
The bigger problem was the nameless resort,
the one where we had only purchased the land.
This place just needed money slathered all over it.
Even so, the fortunate thing was that we could shape it according to our own taste and feel.
I had to take comfort in even that.
Fortunately, I knew someone who understood this field very well.
.
.
.
“You mean here?”
Kang Jaeho was horrified when he saw the resort I showed him.
“It’s this big? It looks like there are more than seventy rooms.”
“Ah... ah... I don’t think I can. This is too large in scale.”
“I’ve never done anything this big. And the system is different from Korea, so it’ll be difficult.”
“I’m truly grateful that you’re giving me such a good opportunity, but the scale is too large for me to handle. I’m sorry.”
Kang Jaeho continued to refuse, saying the scale was too big for him to take on.
Even so, his eyes kept turning toward the building under construction.
As if unable to let go, he kept looking at the building.
He seemed to be examining the surroundings and thinking about what kind of concept would suit it.
“First, I understand your opinion, sir. Still, since you’ve come all the way to the Philippines, enjoy yourself for now. If you need anything, please let me know.”
“No. I’m already being treated far better than I deserve.”
“Then rest up. How about going on a tour with me tomorrow?”
“A tour?”
“Yes. You’ve come all the way to the Philippines, so you can’t just stay at the resort and leave. There’s a tour that only our company operates exclusively. Let’s go there tomorrow.”
“Yes. Understood.”
.
.
.
When I saw that building with only its framework left, why was it? I thought of Kang Jaeho.
Of course, there was the fact that he had recently done a good job on the interior work for Candy Tour’s third floor,
but there was a feeling that couldn’t be explained by that alone.
I had the feeling that if President Kang Jaeho did this, he would do a truly excellent job.
So I just called him.
I told him I had something to discuss and something to show him.
I told him to come, talk with me, and do some sightseeing.
I told him I’d pay him for the day’s wages he’d miss from work, so he should just come in.
And as soon as he arrived, I showed him that resort first.
I told him I had bought that resort that was nothing but a skeleton.
From now on, it needed to be dressed and made up, and wasn’t he the best at that? I asked him to help.
President Kang Jaeho continued to refuse, but I saw it.
His hands kept moving.
I saw hands that wanted to draw something.
.
.
.
“You came out early.”
“Yes. I couldn’t sleep very well.”
“Why? Was the room uncomfortable? Oh, you should have told me. I’ll change it for you right away.”
“No. The room was wonderful. I just had some things to think about.”
“I see. If anything is uncomfortable, please tell me anytime.”
“Thank you for just saying that. The resort I’m staying at now is wonderful too.”
“The resort you’re staying at now is the one we purchased this time. Along with that building I mentioned yesterday. If you happen to think of any ideas while staying here, may I ask you to share them with me?”
“Ah. Of course. If I think of any ideas, I’ll tell you right away.”
As I drove, I asked Kang Jaeho for his understanding.
“I’m sorry, but I have something to take care of at this hotel for a moment. Would it be all right if we stopped by briefly?”
“Of course. We can stop by as much as you need.”
I naturally stopped by three hotels and resorts in Bohol that were known to have fairly good interiors.
I had documents to receive.
I had something to pick up in person.
The coffee here was good, so let’s have a cup before leaving. I used excuses like that.
Of course, none of it was urgent,
and it wasn’t anything I necessarily had to do myself,
but I simply wanted to show Kang Jaeho those hotels.
“Lastly, that over there is our shop.”
I pointed at the Candy Tour shop with my hand.
*******
This person was strange.
We had only met once.
And even then, as the former tenant and the current tenant.
When he said he would buy the furnishings for five million won during the contract, I had actually been grateful.
I had been worried he would ask me to restore the interior to its original state,
but he said he would use the interior as it was, use the furnishings as they were, and even give me five million won.
I had been agonizing because a used furniture dealer had offered to take everything for one million won.
To Kang Jaeho, he was someone to be grateful to.
Kang Jaeho had originally been an interior construction contractor.
He had started as a carpenter, then learned electricity and tiling by watching over others’ shoulders.
He enjoyed working on-site.
Then, one day, as he continued doing interior construction, better methods began to come into view.
When he told the people he worked with, they nodded.
They raised their thumbs and said he was impressive.
But his opinions were never reflected in the work.
There were no clients who would listen to the words of a construction grunt with only a high school education.
It felt unfair.
No matter how he thought about it, his method was better,
more efficient, and better aesthetically.
But there were no clients who listened to him.
Frustrated, he entered university.
He worked during the day and studied in the evening.
Once he received systematic education, and his on-site experience was added on top of that, ideas sprang up endlessly.
He obtained all sorts of certifications.
After graduating from university, he emptied out all the money he had and opened an interior design office.
The people he had worked with said they would help him.
They said they would promote him actively and told him to trust only them.
But,
only a few requests came into the interior design office.
And even those were requests that came through acquaintances.
Even while running the office, he kept going out to work.
He had no choice if he wanted to make a living.
The more he went out to work, the larger the sense of dissonance grew.
This isn’t how it should be done.
If I did it in my style, I could make it much more impressive.
But when the blueprint had already been made, he couldn’t do things as he pleased.
He held out like that for two years.
When he felt he could no longer continue, he eventually gave up on the interior design office.
He decided to remain simply as a worker who was good at his job.
But then, out of nowhere, this person called and asked him to do the third-floor interior.
And now he was asking him to do a large resort.
Was he insane or what?
He was dying to say, Stop doing this to me already~
And yet, starting from morning, he was being dragged around from this hotel to that hotel, and why were the hotels so wonderful?
He couldn’t stay still, so he took photos.
There were so many things to use as references here and there.
And then they arrived at the Candy Tour office.
People were lined up in a truly long queue.
“President, are those people lined up to go on the tour?”
“No~ They’re waiting to see if there are any cancellations. The tour was already fully booked before this.”
“There must be a lot of canceled tickets, then?”
“Almost none. Those people worked hard to reserve them too.”
“Then why are they waiting?”
“Just in case. Once the tour departs, they won’t have a chance anymore. Before that, they’re waiting to see if perhaps a canceled ticket comes up. We’ll head out right away.”
Together with the boss, who had asked to be called Alex, he set off on the tour.
Wherever Alex appeared, people approached him to greet him and act familiar.
It seemed they were trying to get on Alex’s good side no matter what.
Was he a more impressive person than expected?
He looked too young for that.
“This place is called Emerald Canyon, and it’s a place we operate exclusively. That long line you saw this morning was all for this place and Lumina Lake, where we’ll go later. Since this place is exclusive, only we can enter. It was so beautiful that we bought it.”
Alex led the way, and Kang Jaeho followed behind him.
When they reached the entrance, a man holding a gun was guarding it.
And the scenery that met his eyes made every thought in Kang Jaeho’s mind stop.
Was this really the same world?
He wondered if he had crossed time and space to arrive here.
He understood at once why those people wanted to come here so badly that they would stand in line like that.
He took out his phone and began taking photos like mad.
“There are some different views if we go down below, so shall we head down a bit?”
They walked through Emerald Canyon, where no one else was around.
They crossed by boat over the emerald-colored river flowing between the canyon walls.
It was, without question, the greatest experience of Kang Jaeho’s life.
New ideas sprang wildly inside his head.
He felt that he could design the interior with Emerald Canyon as the motif.
The exterior should connect with the sea,
and even Vicente Palace next to it should be given a sense of unity.
The signature color would be emerald.
So it could feel cool yet mysterious, and contain a sense of nobility.
The hotels he had seen that morning were helpful.
An image of what I had to do flashed into my mind at once.
I was going crazy with the urge to draw it right then and there.
As soon as we left Emerald Canyon and got into the car, I took out my tablet and sketched out that rough design.
I was sure I would never forget it, but leaving it recorded was another matter.
And then there was the camping at Lumina Lake.
Kang Jae-ho had his very soul stolen away there.
The next day, on the way back to the hotel.
Kang Jae-ho mustered his courage.
“Boss. About what you mentioned last time…”
“What?”
“The resort interior design.”
“Yes.”
“I know I’m lacking, but would it be all right if I gave it a try?”
“Hahaha. Of course. That’s exactly what I was hoping for.”
“Then I’ll truly do my very best.”
“I’ll be counting on you.”
*******
- I haven’t heard from you at all lately. I’ve been receiving the goods just fine, but still, I’m a little hurt.
I got a message from La Fei, the owner of Macau’s Golden Lotus Gang.
Saying he hadn’t heard from me enough.
Saying he was hurt.
It was true that the frequency had dropped a lot recently.
The amount of drugs I delivered at once had increased.
Since they didn’t know by what method I made the deliveries, they had made their requests cautiously.
After all, the larger the quantity, the harder the delivery.
That was why they had asked for the deliveries in small amounts.
But I had been bothered by having to enter and leave the country too often, so I asked if we could increase the quantity,
and they actually welcomed it very much.
Deliveries that used to be once a month had become once every three months, sometimes once every five.
But that was only an excuse.
There was another reason I didn’t stop by the Golden Lotus.
First, I didn’t want anyone to see me making deliveries if I could help it.
With La Fei, I had no choice but to show him my face during our first deal,
but there was no reason to keep showing it.
La Fei kept telling me to come by and have fun,
but I had no desire to go.
I just wanted us to remain in the relationship of making and receiving deliveries.
That much was enough for us.
Second.
Marian was there.
So it felt a little burdensome.
Even if I met her, I wouldn’t know what to say.
I wouldn’t know how to act either, so I chose to avoid it.
[Sorry. I’ve been a little busy with work.]
- Looks like you have a lot of deliveries besides ours?
[I do have a day job, you know?]
- Delivery wasn’t your job?
[Of course not. I get paid a salary too.]
- That’s unexpected. But if you’re going to work for a salary, how about working with us? I’ll give you the best treatment in this business.
[Thanks, but I’ll pass. I’m satisfied with what I’m doing now.]
- Is that so? That’s too bad. Anyway, do you happen to have any spare bullets left?
[Do you need them?]
- It’s not urgent, but I’d like you to fill us up sometime soon.
[Got it. I’ll look into it.]
- Thanks. Come by anytime. You should see Marian too.
[Yeah… I should.]
I let that unconfident answer stand in for my feelings.