Master Lee has news… both good and bad.

 

 

 

Cast of characters

 

 

 

Fred

 

 

 

Master Lee

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

 * Master Lee’s good news and bad news *

 

 

 

The good news was that Thomas’ visa had arrived and he left for Korea bright and early the next morning.

 

 

 

Master Lee had dispatched him to an ‘Englishy’ school in the more temperate south-eastern region of South Korea.

 

 

 

The small, traditional town of Chinju had a population of 325,000.

 

 

 

The bad news took a little while for Fred to realize.

 

 

 

And, as is usual when dealing with Koreans, it wasn’t directly revealed – it was indirect, and communicated through silence.

 

 

 

After Thomas left, Fred didn’t hear a peep from Master Lee for several weeks.

 

 

 

As the end of another month approached, Fred’s rent, student loan and credit card payments were coming due.

 

 

 

He was counting on his thousand-dollar-per-head recruiting fee from the Master.

 

 

 

He continually recalled the Master’s mantra:

 

 

 

“You can make big money… You can make big money…”

 

 

 

Fred didn’t doubt it.

 

 

 

In fact with Thomas, he had made some big money.

 

 

 

He just hadn’t collected any!

 

 

 

His security company was piling shifts on him, but the work was boring at best; dehumanizing at worst.

 

 

 

Working the night shift was bad for health.

 

 

 

All Fred’s job represented was a pure trade of his valuable time for a paltry minimum wage, which was really ‘maximum’ wage.

 

 

 

The Master Lee fee problem started bugging Fred and he woke up early one morning thinking about it and couldn’t get it out of his head for hours.

 

 

 

About to climb the walls of his room, he called Master Lee.

 

 

 

“Any word on my fee?” he dared to ask right off the top.

 

 

 

“Ah Meesta Fled, you must be patient.”

 

 

 

* What happened to Thomas? *

 

 

 

Surely Thomas had arrived safely in Korea but he hadn’t phoned Fred yet, even though he’d promised to as soon as he touched down.

 

 

 

Fred wanted that peace of mind.

 

 

 

And he was just plain curious about what it was like there.

 

 

 

Somehow Fred had to get through to Thomas directly to find out what was going on.

 

 

 

He’d tried to get the owner’s number before but Master Lee had stonewalled him.

 

 

 

Now he had a new idea that might not offend the Master.

 

 

 

“Master Lee, Thomas’ wife must contact him. She told me it is a family emergency.

 

 

Maybe his daughter is gravely ill. Is there a way she can contact him directly?”

 

 

 

Master Lee didn’t question the fake drama and coughed-up the number for Chinju.

 

 

 

Fred calculated the time difference and called early next morning (evening in Korea) after his security shift.

 

 

 

Using an international phone card, he called from a pay phone just inside Donna’s Pony parking lot.

 

 

 

The phone had chunks missing and graffiti scrawled all over it.

 

 

 

After dialing dozens of numerals and screwing it up a few times because he was tired, Fred waited through a series of rings, clicks, pauses and static.

 

 

 

Then a recorded voice: “All circuits are busy.”

 

 

 

* A derelict inadvertently aids Fred *

 

 

 

Before trying again he spotted a derelict down in the corner of the parkade taking a leak.

 

 

 

Frustrated from not getting through, Fred slammed down the phone and went to deal with the homeless guy.

 

 

 

Strangely however, the pay phone rang right then.

 

 

 

Fred stopped dead in his tracks, whirled around and rushed back to answer.

 

 

 

A Korean woman was on the other end saying something.

 

 

 

Fred deciphered the name of an English school from what she said, so he knew it was the right number.

 

 

 

Then static took over.

 

 

 

“Hello!? Hello!” Fred yelled into the phone.

 

 

 

teacher! I’m calling long distance from Canada.”

 

 

 

No response.

 

 

 

The woman on the other end repeated her same introduction.

 

 

 

He repeated his request. “Hurry please. This is an emergency.”

 

 

 

Again, nothing.

 

 

Fred figured out that the microphone on his phone’s receiver was not working so she couldn’t hear him.

 

 

 

In a panic and fearing he might lose the call, he whacked the receiver on the stainless steel shelf under the phone.

 

 

 

“Can you hear me?”

 

 

 

* More Korean games for Fred *

 

 

 

“Yeah, yeah,” the Korean said loud and clear. “Hello, hello?”

 

 

 

The phone worked.

 

 

 

Fred breathed a sigh of relief and started babbling gibberish into it; he was so excited to get through.

 

 

 

His first real, live contact with Korea!

 

 

 

He calmed down so as not to sound like a complete idiot. “May I speak to Thomas – the Canadian teacher – please?”

 

 

 

The connection quickly deteriorated and now sounded like greasy bacon being fried at too high a temperature.

 

 

 

Fred could barely make out the woman.

 

 

 

Was she covering the phone and mumbling to someone else?

 

 

 

Then she came back on the line. “There is no Thomas here.”

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

Tomorrow: Fred is put through some frustrating ordeals.