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A new series: Short Stories, Vol. I.

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  • A new series: Short Stories, Vol. I.

    I’ve wrestled with angels, all my life
    A post-Valentine’s Day story by N_Architect.


    “It is freezing in Busan and I am having hot barley tea all day.”

    She was preparing for her exam which was to take place in June.

    “I want to go back to university for further study.

    How is your daughter?” she wrote to him in her latest email.


    Fourty months back, on a cool weekday night of a mild South Korean autumn, Sean was lying tired in his bed at the Westin Chosun Busan. Dinner at Kuromatsu, the hotel’s Japanese restaurant, had just been concluded. Sean and his team had spent the last two days with the top management of Hanjin Heavy Industries over meetings for the new series of eight container ships which Sean’s company intended to build there. Almost all final details of the six hundred fifty million U.S. dollar contract had just been settled with the shipyard and construction of the series was about to commence soon.

    Full lobster teppanyaki dinner and wine was great; the chef was a young but very talented South Korean who he had been trained for two years at a famous Japanese restaurant in Chicago, Il. Sean’s team was invited post-dinner for the traditional Karaoke night out with the management of the shipyard but he was exhausted from the quick trip over to South Korea, so he politely refused. The opposite of course happened with Sean’s associates, however, as they were keen to discover what was waiting for them during and after the Karaoke night… Though an old fox in long-haul flying, Sean omitted dressing in layers this time upon his departure from the U.K. and, as a consequence, on top of the eastward flying jetlag he also got a pretty annoying cold after landing onboard Lufthansa’s A340-300 ‘Passau’ in Gimhae International Airport.

    Though in his mid-forties, of average height at best and with short grey hair, Sean had only been previously to Busan as a ship’s senior officer. His late maritime career was sailing as Captain on large container ships. This time, though, he was to come on a different mission: representing his company, Transocean, for this new big project in Hanjin, South Korea’s oldest shipyard. As most of the eight large ships in the series were to be built in parallel, his project supervision team would comprise of many experienced engineers. Most of them had been working with Transocean in similar projects in Japan and South Korea since the mid-seventies. Some of them were even in their late fifties or early to mid sixties.

    But make no mistake, no matter how calm and frugal-speaking Sean appeared, he was literally a raging bull during an average working day. He was particularly famous for swearing more often than anyone else and insulting beyond imagination senior managers of any Asian shipyard during meetings in the projects he had recently undertaken. Some colleagues called him an ‘animal’ because of this behavior, but this is why he was getting paid a hefty amount in these big projects – to protect the shipowners’ interests and put as much pressure as possible to the shipyard.

    On the brink of this cold developing into flu and getting him down to bed for a few days, Sean decided that a nice hot bath and massage, assorted by drinking fine hot South Korean green tea, would be the best course of action that night. At least this was guaranteed to make him sleep like a baby for some hours before checking out from the Westin Chosun in the morning and taking the taxi back to Ginmhae. He had just checked himself in 1K for tomorrow’s morning flight back to Munich, a flight that was to be followed by a connection to Manchester.

    A friend back home had told Sean about this Thai massage place, just across the Novotel Ambassador Busan. The massage place was open all day, every day. Though the place was not very far away, almost mid-way of Haeundae beach (the Westin is at the one end of that same long beach), he had to take a taxi from the Chosun. His condition did not leave much room for walking tonight.



    Sean walked past the light lit entry of the massage place as the automatic glass doors opened. He quickly decided on the full body ‘V.I.P.’ massage upon checking at the reception, and was escorted to the changing rooms. A lady was then waiting for him in the nearby special room, where they first give you their trademark relaxing foot massage.

    “Hello” she said courteously with her soft and obeying voice, bowing slightly forward.

    “Anneyong ha seyo”, he replied.

    “Oh – you speak Hangul?”

    “Well, that’s all I know at the moment…” Sean said.

    Soon-Bok had been working there for more than a couple of years. She was not happy, though. Pay was low and the job was quite tiring, although by choosing to work at night she could some days offset the negatives of these two arguments. Working night time paid slightly more and on weekdays not many clients would usually come after after midnight. She would normally go to work at eight in the evening, work till six in the morning and arrive back home an hour later. A six or seven at best hour nap would follow, then to wake up and take care of her small apartment, get something to eat, study English or Thai and then dress up in order to go back to work again.

    “Another tired traveler, I assume; let your pains be relieved with this relaxing massage.” was heard from the inclined seat that was next to Sean’s.

    He turned his head round, and saw a Scandinavian in his early forties with a blond chin beard, looking at him.

    “Hello”, Sean replied.

    “Trond Arne Norvik, Jotun Paints Korea, nice to meet you.”

    “Sean Brogan, Transocean, it is a pleasure.”

    “What brings you here in Busan?” asked Trond.

    “Well, we came to finalize negotiations for this new contract with Hanjin, but I need to fly back to the U.K. tomorrow and to be honest I feel like a wreck at the moment…” Sean replied. “Shall I assume you live and work here?”

    “Yes. Came in Busan four years ago, a lot has changed since then...”

    At that moment Sook-Bok intervened gently and asked Sean to stand and follow her to the other room, for the body massage. His feet had been in the traditional wooden bucket for quite some time already and had softened enough, so he was practically ready for the treatment that would follow.

    “Sook-Bok-si! Take good care of my colleague, ok?” said Trond.

    “Nee” replied Sook-Bok, giving out a nice though shy smile.

    “Sook-Bok is a very nice girl, Sean”, Trond continued. “And single!”

    Her smile grew bigger and her face turned even shyer while leaving the room.

  • #2
    Sook-Bok could not hide her joy for having to give tired Sean a nice massage and also for the good words from Trond. Trond’s wife, a local, knew the female owner of the place and had been occasionally using the services there; this is how the Norviks knew Sook-Bok. In her late twenties, of average height, having a pretty thin figure and long dark hair and a very sweet and gentle look, her name stands for ‘gentle and blessed’.

    Sean lied flat on the thin mattress, almost feeling the floor. Sook-Bok got down to her knees and started preparing all the oils and towels on the side. She was still smiling, and Sean took the opportunity.

    “Are you really single?”

    “Ne”, she replied, smiling. “You also?” she asked back.

    “Yes”, Sean said. “But me, my life is a disaster zone…” he continued.

    Sook-Bok had a slight difficulty picking up English quickly and also did not speak that well. She did not respond to that comment and Sean figured out he should better talk a bit slower from now on.

    “I do English lesson”, she said. “I want to become better. Summer I go Thailand, for seminar.”

    “Course? What kind of course?”

    “Level two, Thai massage, injury repair.”

    “I see.”

    By that time she had started the massage. Sean began feeling the healing effects and also started to feel a bit dizzy. The green tea offered earlier in the other room had calmed him down and made him feel quite warm. Sook-Bok gently interrupted his peacefulness a few times in the one and half hour by asking if he is in pain from the abrupt pulling and twisting of his ends and joints during the massage.

    “You? Visiting or staying in Busan?” she dared to ask, at a moment when he was appearing to come back from a quick state of nap.

    “I am visiting, but I will come back in a month or so to stay. New project, for about two years…”

    “Ships?”

    “Yes, in Hanjin.”

    “Oh, I see. So you come for massage again” she replied, smiling.

    “Yes, why not? I would like to. You seem a very kind girl.”

    “You need to drink ginseng tea and echinacea now, will make you strong and resist cold. I can bring you some tomorrow”, she added.

    “Thank you, but I will fly to Europe in the morning. I will be back, though. Thank you, you are very kind…”

    Been around quite a bit, and with a broken marriage on his back, Sean liked Sook-Bok. She had something pure, gentle and understated. Her natural beauty was complemented by a surprising courtesy and kindness, and this made a strong first impression to him.


    “Boarding pass and passport, please, sir? The Asiana gate agent asked Sean.

    Lufthansa’s flight 719 to Incheon and then on to Munich was already boarding. Sean went down the jet way, entered 'Oldenburg' and quickly reached his seat, 1G, in the First Class cabin. He may as well had been onboard this bird before; however that did not seem to matter much now. All the conveniences and pleasures become so unimportant amidst one’s day when soul-scorching situations need to be confronted again and again.

    Two years in South Korea had gone by so quickly – Sean found it hard to believe. And life takes such unexpected turns sometimes. The shipbuilding project was successfully over but the upcoming court trial attendance in Stavanger forced him to leave South Korea quicker than originally planned. Almost everything seemed to be turning turbulent again in his life, after what was practically only a brief period of calmness.

    Not a lot to carry onboard this time, no magazines, no laptop. No appetite for doing any work, either. Just a small note, the lightest and smallest though metaphorically heaviest on-board item one may ever carry, folded in his shirt chest pocket.

    “Dear Sean,

    My English is not that good, I am still studying. Practice with you for two years was nice for me.

    I bought this small present for you in Thailand. It is hub tea. The other is jujube & ginger tea. I made this tea at home. This is good for the cough and bronchus – it is good for your health. I worried about you when your nose was bleeding sometimes after coming back from the shipyard.

    I wish you are in good health. I am happy to know and be with you here for two years.

    I hope all will be well with the court in Norway and that you feel calmer after that.

    I will miss you and hope to see you again soon.

    Sook-Bok

    P.S. You drink the jujube & ginger tea after one week.”

    Comment


    • #3
      To separate is never easy. Sean knew that, and he just began to really appreciate the rewards of having established a relationship with Sook-Bok in Busan the last two years. We never realize how appropriate something is for us till we lose it… The benefits of this relationship which he would start to miss, the balance he would possibly start to seek soon again back in the U.K. and Norway. Deep inside him a very strange, sour and worrying feeling was starting to breed again.

      It had not taken him long to confess to Sook-Bok what he had gone through about a year before arriving in Busan for this project. A couple of months after they started dating, on a dry and chillingly cold windy winters night, he took her out to dinner and decided to talk to her about this.

      “I don’t know how to say this, but my 13-year old daughter was raped by two teenagers in Stavanger, Norway more than a year ago. My ex-wife is there to support her, but we are still waiting for the trial.”

      “I am sorry.” The chicken curry was very well prepared in that cozy Indian restaurant, but suddenly did not seem edible for Sook-Bok any more. She was taken by surprise.

      “They both need my support, you know. But I need to work and move on. It came as a shock to all of us. I want this to be over, I want them to be punished.”


      'Oldenburg' was already at 27,000 ft. when the purser swiftly approached Sean’s seat.

      “We will have to reset the mechanism of your seat, Herr Brogan” he said, in his typical German-influenced English accent. “Then all functions will be working again fine, including full back recline. By the time we land at Incheon all should be working perfectly. We apologize for this inconvenience. Please do let me know if there is anything else you may need during our flight.”

      “Thank you”, replied Sean.

      “It has happened to me before, but once they do the reset everything works fine”, the passenger sitting on the left of Sean, in 1B, said.

      “Well, whatever, I’m fine as long as they get it right, you know. Sean Brogan, it is a pleasure” replied Sean, offering his right hand forward for a handshake.

      “Marcus Robertson, pleasure to meet you. You are off to Munich or are you taking a connection to somewhere else afterwards?”

      “No, I am connecting to Manchester on Lufthansa. Bloody four hour layover…”

      “Well, guess we’re on the same boat. I’m also on the same flight to Manchester. At least with this flight we are getting away in changing airports before leaving Korea – this thing with Incheon and Gimpo is terrible, you know.”

      “Yea, yea, absolutely agree. What is your business?”

      “I’m into shipping; we are called all around the world on emergency for underwater repairs. I am personally visiting clients all the time, they are all important to us.”

      “So you’re like this guy who is chasing this ten million miles thing, in the movie, I guess…”

      “Well, I can tell you we watched this last week and have to say I quite enjoyed, as much as it reminded me of what a sad life I sometimes lead. Not that I travel as much as Clooney did, heaven forbid, but most of my flights are much longer than his.”

      “Tell me all about it…” replied Sean.

      The mountains awaiting him to climb upon his return to Europe came back to Sean’s mind again. Before he could even realize it though, and while the Lufthansa Airbus engines were sucking smoothly cold air at sub-zero temperatures, he fell into a short nap… Marcus noticed and with a gentle flick of a smile went back reading the novel his wife gave him as gift few weeks back, on his birthday.


      The smell of fresh coffee was all around Sean’s apartment in Stavanger. It was getting nine in the morning, so the Nordic landscape would start to get bright outside soon. This winter had been particularly rough in Northern Europe. In Sean’s heart though, the same winter had felt even rougher.

      Having checked his mailbox and quickly browsed the ‘Scandinavian Oil-Gas Magazine’ on his Firefox few minutes ago, the time had come for Sean to reply to Sook-Bok’s email message.

      “My dear Sook-Bok,

      It is a gift to find you again. I thought you had changed your life and already moved to Seoul…

      I am responsible for not keeping in touch and therefore would like to apologize for this. Hopefully my English is clear and easy to understand.

      It has been two very long and stressful years. The trial took place two weeks before Valentine’s day, finally after two postpones. They got what they deserved. Anne is much better as well. She is glad to finish high school soon and is already thinking about choosing a college in the U.S. I think we can now say that this is behind us, almost for good.

      Myself I have been quite tired lately but the company is doing well, especially if you think the recession we all going through. I have been traveling a lot as well, mainly to America.

      My life has not changed much. I miss Korea, and I miss you. There are so many things I would like to share with you.”

      His Blackberry suddenly rings.

      “Sean speaking...”

      “Sean, good morning. The board finally agreed last night to go ahead with the drillships. We need you to fly to Samsung this week for the first round of negotiations with the Koreans.”

      “Sure. Listen, Dag, I’m quite tired. I know you guys need me here, but I feel I just want to go back and at least start this project. Now that I’m settled with the Anne’s trial, do you think this would be possible? I need to go back and get my life starting again…”

      “We would have no problem with that, Sean. Just fly there this week and we’ll fix the details when you get back, all right?”

      He’s so glad he did not manage to finish that email few minutes ago. Now he can add a last, small but important paragraph, before hitting that ‘send’ button.

      Sean goes straight from one call to another.


      “Cecilia, could you please get me on Friday’s SQ flight to Singapore? I’ll fly from Copenhagen. Please book fourteen foxtrot, if possible. And do let me know which one is the first morning flight to Incheon the next morning, ok?”

      About an hour later, and few thousand miles away, a soul with dark long hair is about to check her email once more, on her second short break from studying in the day.

      “I will be in Busan next weekend.”

      Life was, once again, about to get another unexpected turn.

      - o -

      Comment


      • #4
        Happy ending!

        Comment


        • #5
          A very interesting read so far. And to echo phaleesy's comments, I hope there is a happy ending!

          Comment


          • #6
            amazing story! please continue

            Comment


            • #7
              Great read, bet it'll make for an interesting tv miniseries as well
              Le jour de Saint Eugène, en traversant la Calle Mayor...

              Comment


              • #8
                I thought the story was completed, hence my comment 'Happy ending!'.

                He was going back to Busan and he'd see her again. We could make up the happy ending ourselves.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Well... the title is "Vol I" i thought there's a continuation for this...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by mhadian View Post
                    Well... the title is "Vol I" i thought there's a continuation for this...
                    That's just my interpretation. Everyone would have differing opinions of course.

                    I thought vol 2 would be about another couple and everyone is kinda 'connected' somehow.

                    Anyway, we'd have to wait for the author to tell us what else is in store for us!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      First of all, thank you all for your comments. Please always bear in mind that any kind of constructive feedback on how I write is more than welcome and very important to me.

                      By 'Vol. I' I meant that this is the first story I publish as part of these short stories series.

                      The specific story had a beginning and an end, at least for us here - phaleesy spotted it right.

                      Anyone who likes to know what happened next for Sook-Bok and Sean can do only one thing: imagine.

                      'Vol. II' could be something else, don't ask me what, have not thought about it yet. Yes, it can be a continuation of this story, but then probably I would have not named this one 'Vol. I' and would have preferred to use something like 'Part I' or whatever else.

                      Incidentally, I plan to use the same notation ('Vol. I') for something else as well, something that is coming up and which will also be new here. It is an idea I had for quite some time now; I will post in due course (will not tell you what it is - only a small hint: it will be posted in the Trip Reports section, and you'll love it...)







                      Let me now test how observant some of you are:

                      While all characters and stories I use are taken from real life and reflect actual events or situations that have taken place (with names or important details slightly changed in order to protect the privacy and anonymity of the referenced parties), one of the characters in my first story is taken from us here in SQTalk.

                      Who is this character, and how is that referenced in the story?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Thanks for a great read, N_Architect.
                        The visual imagery is great too.

                        Is the SQT character....Marcus?
                        F all the way. Settle for J. Usually whY. Sigh.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by SQJunkie View Post
                          Is the SQT character....Marcus?
                          Yes. And who is he?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by N_Architect View Post
                            “Well, I can tell you we watched this last week and have to say I quite enjoyed, as much as it reminded me of what a sad life I sometimes lead. Not that I travel as much as Clooney did, heaven forbid, but most of my flights are much longer than his.”
                            - o -
                            Originally posted by MAN Flyer View Post
                            Indeed.

                            We watched this last week and I have to say I quite enjoyed, as much as it reminded me of what a sad life I sometimes lead. Not that I travel as much as Clooney did (heaven forbid), but most of my flights are much longer than his.
                            It's our dear MAN Flyer!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Naturally yes, it is MAN Flyer.

                              I'll pay the royalties to him next time we meet...

                              Comment

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