Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Arum shed tears when Hojoon said that.

She remembered that Hojoon mentioned it in his book.

<There is no perfect myongdang in this world. Even if there is one, it’s pretty rare. That’s why there is bibo geomancy in Korea. That means creating myongdang by making up for what’s missing and helping what’s needed in terms of geomancy.>

Why did she recall that paragraph in his book while she was shedding tears?

“Why are you sobbing again? You look like a habitual crier. Do you like this jewel that much?”

“Yes, I like it so much. I’m not going to be treated as a trash can anymore. Boohoo…”

Hojoon was embarrassed, though he didn’t mean it.

“I’m sorry. Back then I didn’t know about geomancy very well. I just had to do as instructed. I really didn’t know that you were hurt so much.”

At that moment Hojoon thought of the law of mass conservation.

The law states that chemical reactions to raw materials only change the components of all the surrounding materials, not creating or destroying mass.

Though he used that expression, ‘trash can woman,’ at the lecture thoughtlessly, it was stuck in the earth like air without extinction.

He kept the lesson in mind again that he would keep his tongue under a bridle.

Arum stopped sobbing now.

“Are you done crying?”

She nodded.

“We’re even now. Hope you’re not complaining again,” said Hojoon.

“Do you want to have noodles? Aren’t you hungry?” asked Arum.

She had a good cry and now asked him about eating together.

But Hojoon like her positive energy force like that.

“Pull over there at the rest area.”

Getting close to the window, she pointed at the rest area for fear Hojoon might pass it.

Both of them went out to have noodles at the snack house in the rest area late at night.

Their relationship was reconnected that night.

***

Rubbing her eyes at 5AM the next morning, Arum got up. She went to the church for dawn prayer yesterday, but she gave it up. Instead she planned to have the ‘hour of contemplation’ at home, as instructed by geomancy master Paekhoon.

She has never thought of turning on the TV at that hour. Besides, she didn’t feel up to watching a religion TV. But she changed her mind.

She chose the Buddhist channel out of various religion channels. She read somewhere in an article that she could lose weight by bowing down 108 times. That method was in vogue.

“Now, let me start.”

She began to bow according to the monk’s recitation of man’s repentance of 108 sins.

She was short of breath when she bowed only four times.

Ugh? She had to bow another 104 times.

After bowing ten times, she squatted down.

The road to spiritual awakening was long and tough.

***

The advantage of getting up early in the morning was plenty of free time. Though she left for the office only ten minutes early, she arrived there 30 minutes earlier than before. She stopped by a coffee shop nearby to spend 20 minutes of free time.

“I want iced Americano coffee.”

She felt really fresh. While waiting for her coffee, she fiddled the necklace with the eye of Horus.

‘Give me a good energy force today,’ she wished.

Holding a coffee cup, she headed to the office. She usually waited in line to get on the elevator, but it’s not crowded today.

Everything went so smoothly that she even felt strange.

She arrived at her desk 15 minutes earlier than before.

“Great!”

At that moment she received a text message from Konsu.

It was one sent by Konsu.

<Good morning! You still have iced Americano coffee in the morning, right? I’m drinking it, too, thinking of you. You know, I put lots of syrup in it.>

And he sent a photo of the coffee on his table.

“What a guy!”

She giggled at that. And then she zoomed the photo to check if there was any woman around him. She instinctively found it out.

‘You’re still single!’

She wondered if this kind of joy was real happiness. Happiness could come from such a small thing, she thought.

***

The project titled ‘Newlyweds’ Geomancy Interior that Brightens Luck on Love’ was proceeding smoothly.

Arum was in charge of meeting, requesting interviews and managing consultation. Manager Kyong volunteered to help her, and Hojoon actively participated in the project.

Today they were supposed to select the newlyweds for the project.

2PM.

Hojoon arrived at the conference room of <Single Woman>. Arum and Manager Kyong led the meeting.

“We’re going to visit the houses of newlyweds, as we planned originally. I had a call from Sola Electronics yesterday. They want a special geomancy lecture for the newlyweds,” said Arum.

Saying that, Arum looked at Hojoon. He seemed calm as if nothing happened between Soran and him. Arum would not have stayed calm in such a situation.

“So, how did you respond?” asked Hojoon.

“Well, I answered in the positive, and told them we would select thirty subscribers of our magazine.”

Manager Kyong asked, “Are they preparing any free gifts?”

“Yes, they have. And they would let the invited newlyweds freely use the home appliances on display inside the model houses,” Arum said.

“Really?”

“By the way, didn’t you have any call from Sola Electronics, Mr. Lee?”

“Nope.”

“You’ll be contacted soon. I hear they are going to ask you to give an individual coaching for the first 100 newlyweds who purchase Sola products.”

There was displeasure on his face.

“Who is going to give them individual coaching?” asked Hojoon.

“Of course, it’s you, president!”

“Oh my…they just decided it without consulting with me first. As I was not contacted on this, I can’t do.”

“Anyway, that’s what they want.”

Manager Kyong, who had been patient up to that point, asked,

“As many as 100? Our president coaching them one by one?”

“No, not really. These days they can post any video talk or video clip on their requests. I hear there was a famous Chinese company doing the same thing. It was allegedly the best electronics company in China. If they shoot a video and post it on the company’s internet homepage, somebody gave them a coaching. I guess it’s their marketing strategy.”

“Well, that’s the thing Sola Electronics has to take are of. Are they many applicants?” asked Hojoon.

“I’ve not yet announced it. How should I proceed? I’m thinking of post it on our SNS account and the special event on our internet homepage.”

“But…”

Manager Kyong said with a worried look,

“If we receive applications through SNS, many will apply. But we will be in big trouble if they change their minds in the middle. Why don’t we shoot for only those that we know?”

“Oh no… Who is going to miss the shooting? We’re helping them anyway.”

“Well, that’s your own wishful thinking. There are too many variants. If we select only those we already know, they won’t change their minds easily. The thing is how to find those newlyweds. Arum, are you going to get married?”

“Good heavens!”

“I’m not joking. Just experience it like me, though I’m divorced.”

“Stop it, Manager Kyoung. What do you think, Hojoon?”

He agreed with Manager Kyong.

“I think we need a more stable setting. As this project needs a photo shooting, the house should be large enough, I think.”

“That’s quite a pressure! Can’t we shoot in a small house?” asked Arum.

But Manager Kyong made fun of her, saying, “Nope, we need a large one for the purpose of shooting.”

Hojoon frankly opined about his thinking. He said he had visited the houses of viewers after doing an interview on TV several times, but he had nothing to do except for throwing lots of things away when their houses were too small.

That would be the case for newlyweds dreaming sweet dreams of marriage.

How could he give them coaching on geomancy when, in fact, their houses were too small to house a refrigerator, Kimchi freezer, a washing machine and a TV set?

Nonetheless, the new project should give them hope as well as useful information on geomancy .

“Do we know any soon-to-be newlyweds around us?”

Checking her SNS account, Manager Kyong looked for people likely to get married.

At that moment, Hojoon recalled a woman.

Just recently, he had received a mobile wedding invitation card from her.

Her name was Yuyoung, whom he befriended while they were attending middle school.

As she carried out her dream of being a flight attendant, she was now flying all over the word as a proud stewardess.

After he received the invitation card, Hojoon called her, “Hey, little girl! You’re getting married ahead of me.”

Though he called Yuyoung a little girl, she was a slender and tall lady with gracious look, liked by everybody at the church. Male students attending the same church at the time wanted to date her.

But she didn’t date any of them. She didn’t even look at them as she was such a devout Christian.

Instead she followed Hojoon as if he were her real brother.

Hojoon also doted on her, but didn’t treat her as a woman. So, they became closer.

But his relationship with her didn’t last long.