Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Chapter 18

“That’s fine with me. Don’t you know she is so prudent?”

Arum protested in her heart, ‘Nope, I’m not!’

She got nervous at this moment.

‘What is this guy trying to say by praising me with nonsensical lie like that?’

Hojoon said, “As I said I was so busy, she might have felt it hard to ask me a favor personally. Right, Arum?”

She nodded for now.

“In fact, I’m so busy. Today, I just stopped by since she told me I could come anytime for a cup of coffee. I hope I didn’t disturb you. As I’m a geomancy consultant, I wondered what kind of place your company, the best woman magazine, was.”

“I’m so flattered by your praise!”

The editor felt like she was the greatest after that compliment.

“Please make yourself at home. Could you look around my office first? I wanted to invite you.”

Arum sensed the editor’s intention. And she felt she realized why the editor insisted on having him for the feature interview.

Hojoon examined the editor’s room.

It was a modern place in black and white. It looked as if he saw a sculpture of a museum. Her chair and desk were all brand-name products. Though she displayed accessories to the minimum, they were all expensive.

The skylight, her desk and accessories were all in their right places.

“Have you ever studied about geomancy? Perfect. It’s been a while since I noticed a room kept in spick and span like this. I think I know the reason why you have become the editor.”

Just like a guy in the service business, he was eloquent.

“Oh, really? I’m glad to hear that. As you know, we’re involved in a sensitive and creative work. Can you help us further in any way?” the editor asked in a charming voice.

“Why don’t you light a fragrant candle?”

Hojoon thought it would be good for her to light a fragrant candle on the side table.

“If you see the flame, you feel relaxed. I think you’ll hit on a lot of creative ideas, too. That’s the feature of fire.”

“Creative ideas?”

“If you look at the flame, your brain is activated. And it rekindles your primitive sense. You know how important fire was in the primitive age. It’s the candle that moves such an important thing to your room.”

Isn’t it nonsensical for him to talk about a primitive man igniting a flint in the age of science?

Taking turns looking at both of them, Arum was at a loss for words.

“Wow, you’re great. This is the very concept that I would like to feature in our magazine.”

“Well, thanks for your compliment. I think it’s a good opportunity to introduce geomancy to a larger audience. But I don’t cooperate with anybody who doesn’t believe in geomancy. That’s my only principle in work.”

Though he said that to the editor, each of his words was clearly heard by Arum.

“So, let me put this way. If I ever come to work with your magazine <Single Woman>, I’ve got one condition. You should assign an editor who can understand my philosophy on geomancy. And she would work with me in the field and learn. In that case, I can work with her immediately.”

“Of course!” said the editor, chiming in.

“Well, today I just stopped by for a cup of coffee…”

As if he was done talking, Hojoon said this bashfully.

“Oh, coffee!”

The editor ordered Arum to go out and have coffee with him.

“Let me contact you after I decide on the direction of our feature stories on geomancy.”

***

The battle of pride between the two editors was won by <Single Woman> for now.

Seated face to face with Hojoon at a coffee shop, Arum stared at him.

“When did I tell you to come over here for coffee?” she demanded.

“I know you wanted to say so, but you didn’t.”

“O my…if you keep abusing my mistakes like this, I’m going to report you to the police as a stalker.”

“Okay, no problem. Let me cooperate with <Miracle Woman> then.”

He knew how to play his cards right.

“No way, I can’t allow that,” said Arum.

As he met the editor already, she couldn’t give him a cold shrift.

“By the way, is <Single Woman> in competition with <Miracle Woman>?”

“Yes, when it comes to <Miracle Woman>, it is our editor’s motto to beat them.”

“I see. What a fierce competition! That’s why they were so happy to have me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they were really happy when I accepted their request for a meeting. And they are paying dearly for my consultation.”

The moment she heard that, Arum became impatient.

“So, are you going to collaborate with <Miracle Woman>?”

“Do I have to answer?”

“Are you going to sit on the fence?”

“Can’t I?”

As if to make fun of her, Hojoon answered with a teasing smile.

She felt annoyed. But right now she was on the defensive.

Hojoon stopped teasing her and asked, “Why didn’t you call me directly?”

“…..”

“Didn’t you call because you hate me?”

“I’m not childish, mam. I know how to keep my public and private life separate!”

“Then, why did you do so? It’s my strong desire to publicize geomancy widely through the media like TV, newspapers and magazines.”

“You said you’re busy. I hear your have already a fully-booked schedule for the next six months.”

“You don’t have to be concerned about that.”

Obviously he was determined to argue it out with her.

She got angry at that.

“So, why did you come to see me?”

“I hear you called me! I can’t stand it as I miss you often. Is it enough?”

When he raised his voice, she flinched for a moment.

“By the way…how did you know the caller was me?”

“Don’t you know you’re the only reporter with <Single Woman> who has done wrongdoings to me.”

She felt a prick in the heart at that.

“And I have the evidence on that day.”

Her heart sank at that moment.

“Didn’t you erase my pictures from your cell phone yet?”

“I did.”

“You told me you still had the evidence?”

She was edgy now.

“I was just joking,” he said.

But she confirmed in his trembling eyes that he didn’t.

“Erase them right away!”

“Well, I keep them as a token of remembrance.”

Arum was dumbfounded to hear his nonsensical response.

“As a token of remembrance? How weird you are!”

He was embarrassed. He didn’t mean it. He erased all her pictures, but found out there were still a couple of them saved in his cell phone.

“Got it. Let me erase.”

He took out his cell phone.

“You haven’t created any copy of that, right? In that case, you’ll be behind bars.”

The photo of the intruder taken in his cell photo was bizarre. On a closer examination, however, she looked cute with an innocent smile.

In the end, he erased only one of two such photos. And then he showed it to her, pretending to have erased them all. He wanted to verify to her that he really erased them.

“Just done! See this?”

At that moment she changed her facial expression quickly and snatched his cell phone even before he could stop it.

“I told you I erased them all!”

Hojoon sprang to his feet and held out his hand, but couldn’t touch her as she was standing, while checking out the photo album in the cell phone.

Finally she located the photo he didn’t yet erase.

“Erase this one right now!” she shouted, staring at him.

“Oh, you don’t have to. Let me erase it.”

“Hey, seriously. Let me keep just one.”

“Are you crazy?”

Arum began to erase her own photo pretty quickly.

Though Hojoon came to her quickly to snatch it away, Arum stubbornly grabbed it.

“O my, you’ve got a video here!” she shouted.

It was an unexpected bonanza.

“You want to delete only the photo, right?” demanded Hojoon.

“Are you going to post this video on the internet? Don’t you know it’s a crime?”

“How do I post this shit on the internet? It doesn’t contain anything to watch.”

“What” Something to watch? That’s a sexual belittlement. Are you talking about a woman’s face? That’s a personal attack!”

“O my god..you’re impossible!”

Hojoon tried his best to take it away from her. The moment he almost took it from her, his cell phone dropped on the ground.

And then the video in question was played.

“Who is that woman?” asked Arum.

There was heard the voice of a strange woman.

In the end, Arum watched the video playing in his cell phone. She was Soran Cho, the grand daughter of the chairman of Sola Electronics, the biggest electronics company in Korea.

How could it happen that Soran, a married woman, had been to his house when Arum was reported to the police for her unlawful intrusion into his house under the influence of alcohol!

But her surprise didn’t last long.