Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The four men continued to drink.

Gun-Ho felt like he could drink more than usual that day, maybe because he did a good exercise earlier by playing golf.

Once the beautiful melody from the Shamisen stopped, a young lady in Kimono entered the room. Her face was covered with a geisha make-up; she was probably Mori Aikko girl that Amiel was talking about. She was a dancing geisha. The lady placed a hand fan she was carrying on the floor and kneeled, and then she placed her head on the floor and bowed to Gun-Ho’s party.

“I am pleased to meet you. My name is Mori Aikko.”

When Mori Aikko lifted her head slowly, Gun-Ho’s party was all shocked.

“Wow! She is so beautiful!”

This woman had a peerless beauty.

The eyes of all three Asian men—Gun-Ho, Young-Jin, and Jeong-Rok—except Amiel widened. Amiel probably couldn’t fully appreciate this girl’s beauty because he might not know about the Asian beauty as much as the other men in the room. Jeong-Rok was especially lost in admiration of her beauty.

The two other girls who were holding Shamisen started playing music again.

And Mori Aikko who was kneeling on the floor picked up the hand fan from the floor and slowly stood up. She started dancing along with the melody from Shamisen.

“Wow!”

She looked like a fairy from heaven. Attorney Young-Jin Kim swallowed his saliva and Gun-Ho felt itchy somewhere on his body. Jeong-Rok couldn’t close his mouth while watching her dancing.

The melody from Shamisen sounded sad. Many old melodies tend to sound sad compared to music these days. Aikko, this time, started singing along with the melody of Shamisen. She sounded sad.

“Sadameno Mijjiwa Gadenagoomo…”

Gun-Ho clapped Jeong-Rok on the waist, who still kept his mouth open.

“Could you translate the lyrics?”

“Oh, it says that even though the path of your destiny is a long way, you need to conceive scent.”

“Hmm.”

Gun-Ho thought that the singing Mori Aikko seemed to be somewhat pitiful. Maybe it was the melody that she was singing made him feel that way, but it practically made him choke up.

“Of course, the path of destiny must be a long way.”

The lyrics made him think of his life. Gun-Ho came this far putting all his energy and time into an effort only to make money, and he was not sure if it was the right way to live his life. Mori Aikko folded the hand fan and kneeled on the floor again, and she placed her head on the floor and bowed.

“Thank you for watching my humble dance.”

The three Korean men were just sitting there without saying a word, and Amiel clapped and laughed broadly.

“Wonderful!”

The three Korean men finally woke up by Amiel’s clapping sound and started clapping along with Amiel. Mama-sang who was sitting next to Gun-Ho’s party said,

“Did you enjoy her dancing? Mori Aikko is the most beautiful and the most popular girl among the dancing geishas in Tokyo.”

“It was fantastic.”

“Mori Aikko doesn’t dance for any person, but she does only for special people. I asked her to come to dance for you because Amiel-san brought a special guest—President Goo.”

Aikko stepped backward towards the door and walked out of the room after bowing again.

Amiel talked to Mama-sang pleasantly.

“Aikko looked prettier than the last time I saw her. In my American guy’s eyes, she is very pretty.”

“She is pretty and extremely popular; however, I’m worried about her because she hasn’t put her hair up yet. She became already twenty years old this year.”

“She didn’t put her hair up yet?”

Gun-Ho remembered people saying that expression in golf when a person hadn’t been in a golf field yet. He thought maybe Mori Aikko was practicing golf these days. He asked Mama-sang,

“Mama-sang, what do you mean by that she hadn’t put her hair up yet? Is she playing golf in an indoor practice facility?”

“Hahaha, it has nothing to do with playing golf. Not putting her hair up means she is still a virgin.”

“Really? She can date a man then.”

“I meant that she couldn’t find any man to put her hair up yet. Because she is a geisha, we are looking for a man who could put her hair up for her among our guests.”

“Among the guests?”

“Yes, the guest who would put her hair up must be a gentleman who has a good manner and discipline. That man will become a sponsor to her forever. A geisha gets a reliable and stable sponsor and she usually doesn’t get married. A geisha chooses her own sponsor who is the best gentleman among gentlemen.”

“Hmm.”

The geisha’s customs intrigued Gun-Ho.

“There must be tons of men who would put her hair up since she is such a beauty.”

“Of course; however, Aikko is very picky. She said she wouldn’t choose anyone if not the best man in the world.”

Gun-Ho wanted to ask if it is possible for a foreigner to put her hair up, and then he decided not to. However, the interpreter—Jeong-Rok was asking the same question to Mama-sang already.

“Does she mind having a foreigner as her sponsor? Like a British or American guy?”

“Hahaha. Are you thinking of Amiel-san? Amiel-san is already married. Aikko wouldn’t even consider a married man as her sponsor. The thing is that it’s hard to find a single man who could afford to come to our bar since it is very costly.”

“There are single young men who have a wealthy father.”

“Aikko hates those types of men. She said those guys must be spoiled.”

“Hmm.”

“Aikko has her own sad life story. She lost her parents in a car accident when she was little. Her parents were teachers in an elementary school in Sapporo City. As an orphan, she moved from one relative’s home to another until she came to Gion (Kyoto’s famous geisha district). She was 14 at that time. Hahaha, by the way, you all are more interested in Aikko rather than your drink.”

“Oh, we will have another bottle of sake, please.”

Even after Gun-Ho came back to New Ontani Hotel, he couldn’t stop thinking about Aikko. Her thick eyelashes, shiny eyes, and full lips… Gun-Ho couldn’t help thinking about her. Especially, thinking of her shiny skin made his heart flutter.

“Mori Aikko, I want to see her dancing again. Can I go that bar again on my own? But I can’t speak Japanese.”

Gun-Ho felt extreme thirst; he took out a bottle of water from the refrigerator in the hotel room and gulped down water. Gun-Ho decided to return to Korea for now, promising himself that he would come back again in the near future. He couldn’t stay in Japan any longer this time even though he desperately wanted to, because Attorney Young-Jin Kim had to go back to Korea to work; his vacation was almost over.

When Gun-Ho came back to Korea, he received a phone call from Won-Chul Jo again.

“Gun-Ho? How was your trip to Japan?”

“It was okay. Thank you for asking.”

“We will have the gathering with high school friends the day after tomorrow at Suk-Ho’s bar.”

“Suk-Ho from Gyeongridan Street?”

“Yeah, he said he would close the bar that day and lease the place to us for our gathering.”

“Really? Okay. I will be there.”

When Gun-Ho arrived at Suk-Ho’s bar, there were about ten high school classmates. They already started drinking.

“Hey, Gun-Ho Goo! It’s hard to recognize you. You changed a lot. You look like a real business owner now.”

Won-Chul Jo stood up when he saw Gun-Ho entering the bar.

“How was Japan? You went there to play golf?”

“Hey, Gun-Ho, you are having a nice life. You went to Japan just to play golf, huh?”

Suk-Ho showed a seat to Gun-Ho.

“I save a spot for you, Gun-Ho. Was the traffic heavy on the way here from Gangnam?”

Gun-Ho looked around the room. Half of the friends were wearing a suit with a tie and the other half was wearing a jacket. The ones who were wearing a suit and a tie must be employees of some companies.