Martoons

Cast of characters

Fred

Mr Kang

Miss Ping

Thomas

*

“Have you eaten rice?” Kang asked, getting up from the couch and going over to open the office door.

Despite Fred’s time crunch, he almost involuntarily flashed a thumbs-up. In actuality, he was so hungry he could have eaten the arsehole out of skunk.

Kang called down the hall to Miss Ping. “Order up some Chinese noodles with black sauce from that new place down the street.”

“Mr Fred from Canada is very hungry. Make it a double size.”

He turned back to Fred. “Okay?”

Fred gracefully accepted and got up from the couch, proffering Kang a handshake. “I’m glad I came here today. This is my only chance to visit Thomas.”

“Ah, yeah. Lucky you came here at this time. I will close the doors in a little while.”

“I too must go to the countryside and visit my mother and many relatives. I must get ready.”

He started shuffling papers on his desk. “I would have left earlier but received a call from Miss No and we had a long argument.”

* What was their argument about? *

Fred excused himself, bowed and went out to reception. He felt good about his meeting with Kang.

And talk about perfect timing. Just as he set foot back in the lobby, a tall, Caucasian man pranced into the institute with bags of fast food in his arms.

“Oh!” Miss Ping said enthusiastically bordering on hysteria. “He’s here!”

Thomas stopped, shuffled a food bag from one arm to the other, freeing up his hand for a handshake. “Fred! Didn’t think you’d ever make it here. Come in the staff room.

“The Korean teachers are all gone today so we’ll able to hear each other!” He motioned his colleague deep into the room and closed the door behind him.

The Golden God sat down and attacked the bags of fast food he’d corralled. He took a burger out of one bag and peeled back its wrapping.

Clutching it in both hands, he took a huge wolf-like bite.

“I love it here in Ulsan,” he said between chews, “I’m making silly amounts of cash here.”

“Mr Kang doesn’t have personal problems like Mr Go and actually pays me on time regularly.”

“Plus I’ve got a ton of work under the table. I save most of my cash because … what can you buy here? It’s all Korean stuff.” He resumed his oral attack on his burger.

Fred had the urge right off to reveal Miss No’s deporting scheme but decided to wait until Thomas was done eating.

It was going to be close, though – only 15 minutes before he’d have to leave.

* Will Fred have enough time to adequately warn Thomas? *

“You’ve finally found your niche here,” Fred beamed. “I knew the moment I met you back in Edmonton that you’d do well here.”

“In Chinju you just ran into some bad luck.”

Thomas nodded but with reservations. “Yeah, but in Korea you just never know. This place comes at you from all sides.”

“I actually came here to tell you something…”

*

Tomorrow: Thomas and Fred chow down, with the latter keeping one eye on the clock…