【Episode 009 – Perfect Women】
"Now that you're in law school, you'll have plenty of chances to wear suits. I wanted to buy you your first one. Hey, isn't there anywhere here to try it on? Can't you go to the bathroom and put it on? I really want to see you in this."
But at the time, it hadn't been a Thom Browne suit. She had bought it for me on a whim when we dropped by a DKNY store while on a date over the weekend.
"What is this?"
"What do you think? It's a suit."
"I can't accept this."
"Why?"
"Why are you buying me a suit?"
"I said I would."
"Even so, I can't take this."
"Why? Ah, are you worried it's expensive? Hey, this isn't that expensive."
If I were the me from ten years ago, I might have believed her.
The only brands I knew back then were Lacoste, Zara, and H&M at best.
I knew even less about menswear. The only suit I knew was the Kolon suit my father had bought and sent me to wear for my college graduation ceremony.
"It's Thom Browne."
Now I know. Having worked as an LSAT instructor in Gangnam for over seven years, I've seen and heard plenty.
"Huh! You know Thom Browne?"
She looked at me curiously.
I could fully sympathize with why she was looking at me like that. The me she knew from ten years ago wouldn't have known a hip brand like Thom Browne.
"I know. That's why I can't accept this."
"Wow! How?"
The fact that I knew the brand 'Thom Browne' seemed to excite her even more; she almost looked happy that I recognized the true value of her gift.
"Really? Jaeheon, wow—I'm seeing you in a new light. You even know Thom Browne. Pretty impressive, huh? Then you must know this is the hottest thing right now? Hey, I really thought long and hard to pick this out. I was going to take you with me to get fitted for the size, but you seemed so busy. So, can't you just try it on in front of me once? Please?"
The truth was, she had mentioned it often. That when I came to New York, she would buy me a suit. As repayment for helping her with schoolwork before.
I had accepted it then, but I didn't think I should now.
"Sorry, but take it back."
"Why?"
"It's too expensive to accept."
"That's not a reason to refuse."
"It is."
"It's the thought that counts."
"Jeong Sujeong, don't be stubborn. Take this back."
"Hey, Jaeheon! Are you seriously doing this? You come to New York and don't call once. No texts. No emails. Are you mad at me? If you're mad, say it. Why are you acting like this? It's not like you."
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"Then why are you acting this way? 'It's his first time in New York. It's a school where only the smartest kids in the world go, so he must really be overwhelmed. That's why he couldn't contact me. He must be busy. It's a little upsetting—no, it's very upsetting—but let me understand him. Let's do that, Jeong Sujeong.' That's how I held it in! I held it in like that and really thought long and hard and picked this out......"
Watching her sniffle, I felt at a loss.
Her emotional state was at the point where she was just starting a romantic relationship with me, but I was trying to shake off the last remaining feelings she had for me.
"Fine! Do whatever you want—throw it away or whatever."
She turned and left like that.
There was an expression she made only when she was truly sad. Her eyes were already moist by nature, but when she felt hurt, they sparkled even more brilliantly.
She had turned around so that I wouldn't see her crying in front of me.
I couldn't bring myself to grab her and tell her to take the gift back.
And so I had to return to my home in East Harlem carrying the Thom Browne suit.
"What's up, Heon."
"Hi, Mia."
"What is it? From the size of that shopping bag, it looks like a suit. Am I right? Oh—Thom Browne. I wouldn't have guessed. How unexpected."
Once home, I took out the emails I had exchanged with Sujeong and read through them.
Memories from over ten years ago came flooding back.
Some were embarrassing, some were touching, some were precious.
From my perspective, they were feelings from over ten years ago, but from her perspective, they were the present.
We had simply been too far apart to start dating, but the emails were practically those of a couple already going out.
I could understand why she had been so upset.
I was sorry.
Even if I couldn't end up with her in the future, the past her and I had been the best of friends, and she had been a good person to me...
I regretted not acting more considerately.
I intended to walk a different path this time, but I had absolutely no intention of hurting her.
I took the suit she had bought me out of its garment bag and hung it neatly in the closet.
[Me: The suit is cool.]
[Me: Thanks.]
..
[Sujeong: Really?]
[Sujeong: How's the size? Does it fit?]
---*---
40 Washington Square,
Vanderbilt Hall, Room 210.
1L Criminal Law class.
Maybe because it was still early in the semester, the students were all fired up. There were still ten minutes before the lecture started, but almost everyone was seated and waiting for the professor.
"Good morning."
"Oh, Heon. You're here?"
I sat in the seat next to Sein that she'd saved for me.
"Wow—have you already started making case briefing notes?"
"Yeah, aren't they great?"
Aren't they great? No, PERFECT.
They were perfect.
The foundation of Anglo-American law is common law, also called case law, a legal system centered on judicial precedents. This differs somewhat from the civil law system centered on statutory provisions; because of this, one of the first things that confuses students entering law school is the sheer number of precedents they must read and memorize.
I already knew Sein's note-taking skills. But even seeing them again, I was impressed.
Precedents are surprisingly difficult to understand.
Just because they are written by judges doesn't mean the rulings are always neatly organized; because of legal jargon—the specialized legal terminology and old Latin phrases mixed in—they are by no means easy to read through.
Moreover, the cases studied in the first year are often very old, making them even harder to understand, and it is no easy task to grasp the legal principles or the points of the rulings.
On top of that, catching instances where verdicts are overturned on appeal or further appeal, changing the legal doctrine, or where the application of the law differs due to minute differences in the facts, requires reading carefully several times over.
Looking at Sein's case briefing notes, I felt strangely reassured. From the facts to the issues, legal principles, ratio decidendi, and even any points added later—if the word 'perfect' wasn't meant for this, when would it be?
"What are you doing at lunch later? Do you have any RA work?"
"No."
"Great. My brother Dongwook found a really good pasta place in SoHo and said we should go for lunch later. Let's go together."
"Sure. I'll buy."
"Huh? Why?"
"As a bribe to get you to let me see those case briefing notes later."
"Come on. Forget it."
"You're not going to show me?"
"I'll show you even if you don't buy me food."
"That won't do. I'll treat you a lot from now on."
"Come on—what's a broke kid going on about... Never mind."
"Hey, I have a lot of money. I saved on rent. And I'm going to have a lot more."
"How?"
Because that's how it's going to be.
"We're going to be lawyers, right? We have to make a lot of money as lawyers."
"Ah—so that's what you mean. If that's what you mean, then of course... wow."
Sein cut her sentence short with an exclamation of admiration, her gaze turning toward the classroom entrance. Wondering what was going on, I followed her gaze and saw Eleanor Young, who had just entered the classroom.
"She's seriously no joke. Even as a fellow woman, she's so pretty."
Blonde hair styled in thick waves.
A small face with a high, prominent nose bridge.
Red lips.
Though hidden behind sunglasses, her eyes evoked anticipation despite having been seen before.
A white T-shirt, tight jeans, and a leather jacket casually draped over them.
She was another kind of 'perfect'.
Looking at her, you become certain that the world is unfair. A woman that beautiful was also smart, and from the way she dressed, it seemed her family was well-off too.
While Sein couldn't close her mouth, Eleanor walked up to the table where we were sitting.
Her direction and mannerisms seemed like someone planning to sit next to us, so I placed the bag I'd put on the table down and greeted her,
"Hi, Eleanor."
She walked past me as if she hadn't seen me. Then, she sat at the table in the very back row.
'Did she not see me?'
"But why did she ignore your greeting?"
"She probably didn't see me. She's wearing sunglasses."
I was pretty sure she had looked our way, though...
The moment I was debating whether to gesture toward her again, Professor Rachel Lindberg entered.
"Now then, as I announced last time, shall we start with a quiz before we begin class?"
Eleanor Young (1)
"Professor!"
Even though the minute hand on the clock on the wall had passed the '2' and was almost at the '3' with no sign of the class ending, a male student sitting in the front row cautiously raised his hand.
"What is it, Frank?"
Professor Rachel Lindberg, who taught Criminal Law, remembered the students' names quite well. It had only been a week since the semester started, but she already seemed to have memorized most of the students' names.
From experience, this was a characteristic of professors who gave frequent quizzes.
"I'm sorry, but it's already 11:10."
"So?"
"Ah... wasn't this class supposed to end at 11?"
"As far as I know, there are no other 1L classes on Wednesdays at 11. Do you have somewhere you need to be in a hurry, Frank?"
"Excuse me? Not particularly..."
"Then, I suppose it's because my class is boring?"
Besides having a weak sense of time and remembering students' names well,
"Ah... no. I stopped by the Registrar this morning to ask about something..."
"Relax, Frank. I'm joking. There's no blacklist, so don't worry. I was just playing around. Hoo—look at the time already. When I get absorbed in something, I sometimes lose track of time."
Professor Lindberg enjoyed joking around.
"If I run over time again, you can point it out like you did today, Frank."
"Ah... yes."
If no one told her, class could drag on for several tens of minutes, and conversely, she could arrive several tens of minutes late. Still, the students liked her lectures because she was always cheerful.
"But is there really no blacklist? Ah, well, I may not write it down in my notes. Couldn't there be one in my heart? While thinking to myself, 'That bastard was so bored he kept staring at the clock waiting for class to end.' Isn't that right, Frank?"
"Excuse me?!"
"Kekekek. I'm joking, joking. Now then, let's wrap up what we didn't finish today in Friday's class and end here, shall we? Ah, at the start of Friday's lecture, I'll give you a short quiz on today's lesson about Mens rea (criminal intent), so everyone..."
And another characteristic was that she dearly loved giving quizzes.
But Frank was no pushover either. Even before Professor Lindberg finished her sentence, the guy shot his hand up again.
"Alright, Frank. I'll finish up soon. Give me 30 more seconds."
"Professor, that's not it. We took a quiz today too."
"So? I told you the first day that I give a lot of quizzes."
"That's true, but... we have a lot of 'Wine and Cheese' events this week and next week because of the power outage last week."
"So?"
"Ah... so..."
"What? Are you going to say that to your clients when you're a lawyer? That you can't submit an opinion letter because there are too many parties this week?"
"Excuse me? Ah... I think that's a slightly different matter..."
"Why?"
"During orientation, the professors said 'Wine and Cheese' events are just as important as classes. They told us not to miss them if possible..."
"I'm joking. For some reason, Frank, I feel like you're going to be my unfortunate joke partner this year. I have that feeling. Okay. Wine and Cheese is important too. Got it. Then the quiz will be moved to next week. Everyone thank Frank. Alright, see you next class."
And so Wednesday's Criminal Law lecture ended, and Sein and I naturally gathered our bags without either of us having to say a word, heading toward the Goldin Lounge.