Red Cloak

Chapter 1: Life’s Unpredictable

“Hey, stop drinking.”

Ha-eun said, while taking away Seoyeon’s glass. However, Seoyeon was a person who couldn’t be stopped easily. She picked up a bottle of soju and gulped it down, then slammed it on the table and said.

“Really, isn’t he such a rascal? Everyone’s busy, but he’s taking pictures on his own and he’s always parading a camera around.”

“Yeah, yeah. Alright.”

Ha-eun soothed Seoyeon and eased the soju bottle out of her hand, thinking about how she’ll have to clean up all the bottles. As Ha-eun began to move the bottles on the table to the floor one by one. A quick-witted waiter rushed to clean up the empty bottles.

“Thank you.”

When Ha-eun bowed and acknowledged the employee’s kindness, the employee nodded and stepped down as if it was nothing, and left. She turned to Seoyeon who’d hit her head on the empty table.

Seoyeon, a public relations team member, is a heavy drinker. But it seems she couldn’t win drinking on an empty stomach.

“I didn’t think you’d pass out after two bottles of soju.”

Ha-eun sighed and picked up Seoyeon’s cell phone. I think I should call her boyfriend.

“I’ll pay in advance.”

Ha-eun, who contacted Seoyeon’s boyfriend on her cell phone, soon called in an employee and asked for the bill. It was a bar they regularly went to after work. The employee looked sorry for Ha-eun when he saw Seoyeon who’d fallen before 9 o’clock.

“Something bad happened today.”

She thought Seoyeon would feel insulted if she found out later, so Ha-eun said this as she held out her card. She wasn’t lying, Seoyeon had a really bad day.

“I’m sorry.”

Just in time, Seoyeon’s boyfriend arrived after receiving Ha-eun’s call.

He was already here. It hadn’t been long since she’d called him, but he immediately ran over and apologized to Seoyeon.

Ha-eun smiled bitterly at her friend’s good-looking boyfriend.

“Doyoon, what do you have to apologize for? I’m sorry for calling you.”

“No, you’re also drunk. Thank you for informing me.”

That was why she’d called Doyoon. Ha-eun nodded and plopped Seoyeon in his car. She wished he’d also give her a ride. She couldn’t drive because she’d drunk together with Seoyeon.

Doyoon, who carefully arranged Seoyeon’s position in the back seat, looked back at Ha-eun with a worried expression and asked.

“By the way, why did you guys drink so much?”

“Oh, well…”

When Doyoon asked, Ha-eun frowned and swept her head up. Today, Seoyeon went through a very bad experience.

“We had a rotation announcement today.”

“Yes, I heard about it. I heard you have a rotation every three years?”

Ha Eun nodded her head. The company Ha-eun and Seoyeon work for, Lee Sung-sa, had a department change every three years. Ha-eun and Seoyeon have already been in the company for five years. Employees who’ve been in the company for less than three years were excluded from the rotation, so it was the first departmental rotation1 for them.

And Seoyeon was also a candidate for promotion2.

“Someone other than Seoyeon got promoted.”

Ha-eun’s explanation wrinkled Doyoon’s forehead as he asked.

“Is it that Taeguk or Taegok from the same department?”

“You’re good at guessing.”

Doyoon sighed with his hand on forehead. It’s been five years since they joined the company so it was about time for Ha-eun and Seoyeon to be promoted to acting leaders. But of course, both of them had said they didn’t want to be too greedy.

“She didn’t say anything, but she was looking forward to it…”

Doyoon muttered, looking at Soyeon in regret. If anyone else had been chosen for the promotion, Seoyeon wouldn’t have been this disappointed.

But it had to be Park Taegon of the same department who was promoted instead of Seoyeon, and he joined the company later than Seoyeon.

“But the department has changed.”

Ha-eun spoke to Doyoon as if it were her last consolation. Since it would be Doyoon’s job, she wanted to give him something to comfort her with when his girlfriend comes to.

Doyoon sighed and shook his head. He was still dressed in a work outfit as if he had run here straight from work.

“That’s a relief.”

“Yes it is,”  Ha-eun said with a bitter smile.

“By the way, were you working overtime? Don’t you have to get back to work?”

“Oh no, I wasn’t. I heard an announcement was coming out today, so I was waiting to go in with her.”

She hadn’t contacted her, so she’d thought there would be a departmental dinner because they had good news. Doyoon looked at Seoyeon with a sad expression once again.

Ha-eun knew how hard her friend worked in the public relations department. But the guy named Taegon just walks around with a camera every day under the pretext of taking pictures for promotional papers.

“Please cheer her up.”

Ha-eun stepped down after saying so. Doyoon offered in surprise.

“I’ll give you a ride.”

“No, I’ll walk to sober up.”

“But…”

“It’s only nine o’clock. Please take care of Seoyeon.”

She might throw up at dawn because she’d drunk two bottles of soju on an empty stomach. It was the other reason Ha-eun had stepped back. Doyoon bowed to Ha-eun after gazing at her helplessly for a while, then got into his car.

“But at least you still have your man as a blessing, Lee Seoyeon.”

She has a boyfriend who would run to her every time she says she was drunk. Ha-eun really envied that. Ha-eun also had a boyfriend until she joined the company.

Her boyfriend, whom she used to work with, had suddenly started acting like a loser when she got a job before he did. They’d broken up a few years ago.

Following that, she became alone. 29 year-old Ha-eun, who works for a good company, had once tried getting blind dates too, but none of them went well.

“I guess it’s just not fated to be.”

Ha-eun began to walk home muttering like that. Her home wasn’t too far away because she chose a place not far from the company.

She came out of the alley near the company that was crowded with bars to a wide road. It was only nine o’clock so the streets were full of cars and people. The employees working overtime had finished their shift and were heading home. Those who were getting a drink together seemed to have finished their first round and were moving to their cars.

Ha-eun walked past people heading into the bars. It was getting cold. Upon passing through a street full of colorful lights and entering an alley, the surroundings gradually darkened.

“It’s a full moon.”

She wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t looked up inadvertently. Seoul’s sky is bright even at night due to its flashy signs and street lights, so a full moon provides ample lighting in comparison.

Ha-eun sighed at the moon and entered the next alley. Just as she entered the alley, the bright street suddenly became dark, frightening her.

In that moment, she could see something quickly flash by from the corner of her eye.

“Gasp!”

Ha-eun turned her head in surprise and frowned when she saw nothing there. Her heart was still pounding hard and fast due to the adrenaline.

“Was it a cat?”

She was a little less scared after spitting it out like that. She moved slowly, pretending not to be afraid. She was afraid that someone would give chase if she ran.

She walked slowly and listened to her surroundings, but she couldn’t hear anything aside from her own footsteps.

“I guess it was a cat.”

At such a reassuring moment, this time, she could clearly see something flicking by in the left alley.

She was so terrified that she couldn’t make a sound. Something really passed by. Something huge and black swooped in like the wind.

“I’ll be making a call.”

Ha-eun murmured and clenched her cell phone tightly. She was about to press the emergency button as soon as possible.

I should have asked Doyoon to give me a ride even if I felt bad or I should’ve waited until I sobered up to drive. Regret always comes too late.

She could see something passing across the alley in front of Ha-eun once more.

“Mom!”

By then, her straw-like courage had disappeared. Ha-eun started running toward the wide road. All she could think about was going somewhere bright.

Ha-eun began to regret her choices. I shouldn’t have walked. I refused because it was only a twenty-minute walk, but even then, I should have gotten into Doyoon’s car quickly when he said he would give me a ride.

Ha-eun, who ran for a long time, was forced to stop when she was out of breath. Only then did she feel her feet throbbing.

“Oh, it hurts.”

Of course, they would hurt more because she wore heels today. She wanted to sit in a crowded place but she only found somewhere that looked like a coffee shop.

A woman came out of the shop as she was still surveying it. The woman stood still, watched Ha-eun heavily breathing, and asked in surprise.

“What’s wrong? Miss, what’s wrong?”

She was gasping, in the middle of running away from somewhere. Ha-eun responded with a little relief for the woman’s concern.

“S-someone is following….”

She couldn’t speak properly because she was out of breath. At the sight of this, the woman took a cell phone out of her pocket and asked.

“Who’s following you? Should I call the police?”

I don’t know. Ha-eun looked back. What was it like to walk through the alley? At first, she thought it was a cat, but it was too big to be a cat.

The woman also followed Ha-eun’s gaze and looked behind her. She straightened her head as if she’d seen something and looked back at Ha-eun. She put away her cell phone and said, “Come in. Come in and have a seat.”

Ha-eun nodded and followed the woman into the store. Everything was fine. She just wanted to sit for a little while in a bright and crowded place.

The store she went into was an animal clinic.

Only after some time did Ha-eun sip the green tea offered by the woman and look around.

It’s her first time visiting an animal clinic. She’d never had a dog or a cat. The waiting room, the place directly connected to the entrance, was decorated in a sparse but cozy way.

It’s cozier than a human hospital. Ha-eun thought while looking around the place which was very different from the hospital she goes to. The vibe was similar to a pediatrics center.

The sofa was made of cloth, and animal magazines were placed here and there.

On one wall, there were bags of pet food and treats, and on the other, toys and other things she couldn’t recognize.

“How’s your foot?”

The woman who handed Ha-eun the tea asked, bringing in medicine and bandages. Ha-eun, who was looking around the clinic, looked down at her feet in surprise.

Her ankle had been throbbing.

Ha-eun frowned, looking down at her feet half-removed from her shoes. Maybe she had been too scared at the time. In hindsight, it might have just been a big cat.

“Will you be able to walk?”

She didn’t know. At the vet’s comment, Ha-eun tried to get up and stopped. She didn’t realize when she was running scared, but her heels were in a mess.

When she couldn’t get up, the vet pointed to the table and said.

“Put it up.”

“I-It’s okay.”

She actually felt more sorry than okay. The vet grinned as if she knew how Ha-eun felt.

“I specialize in animals, but I can at least treat a wound like that. You can’t walk home if you’re hurt, right?”

She was right. Ha Eun pulled her feet out of her shoes and frowned. Her feet really did hurt. And she didn’t think could wear her heels anymore.

It was such a waste. Ha-eun put her feet on the low tea table. The vet wiped the blood off her feet and ankles and began applying medicine to the wound.

“Are you a vet?”

The vet raised her head and grinned at Ha-eun’s question. Ha-eun looked at her smile and blanked out for a moment. It was so pretty. She looked like a celebrity.

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“Yes, I’ve loved dogs since I was a kid. Do you have any pets?”

The veterinarian was proficiently wrapping bandages around Ha-eun’s feet and ankles as she spoke. Looking at this, Ha-eun replied.

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Notes:

1.PR/N: In business, job rotations are usually part of an employee development program in very large companies wherein, usually low to mid level, employees ‘rotate’ or switch positions with another employee of the same level. The idea is to get multi-skilled employees and prevent boredom/alienation that could happen when they’re always stuck doing the same things. But ofc, people often prefer current jobs, esp. in Asian countries where people are mostly risk-averse, so there are always complications.

2.In this case, it looks like the rotation period is also paired with when employees are appraised and considered for promotions/bonuses etc.