Chapter 35: There

“Min-jae! Where are you?”

“Brother! We set a new sales record. It’s actually twice our previous highest record.”

Three people emerged from the back of the aging room along with Min-jae’s voice.

Min-jae leading the way was one thing, but my eyes widened at the sight of Tae-hoon.

His tie was nowhere to be seen, and his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his forearms. His hair was disheveled and pushed to one side, and he was wearing disposable gloves with an excited expression on his face.

“Brother! At this rate, don’t you think you should hire another employee?”

Tae-hoon waved his gloved hand and laughed with a friendly face. His lawyerly aura had vanished, replaced by the look of a rookie part-timer.

However, what was even more flustering was the unfamiliar woman standing next to him. She had a small frame, about 160 centimeters tall, and wore round glasses. With a smile that showed deep dimples, she bowed her head slightly in greeting. Seeing her wearing gloves as well, it seemed she had joined in on the packaging work.

‘Min-jae, this guy, meeting a girlfriend behind my back while busy… he’s got skills.’

But seeing my expression, the woman suddenly stepped forward energetically.

“Hello, Senior!”

Senior? Why was Min-jae’s girlfriend calling me senior?

Her voice was clear. She bowed her waist ninety degrees in a polite greeting. It felt like a military-style greeting, or perhaps a clumsy imitation of a gangster’s salute.

“I am Ji-eun Yuk! I was sleeping at home when Min-jae called me to help out, so I apologize for meeting you looking so disheveled!”

She was so full of energy that it felt like an exclamation point followed everything she said. The sparkling eyes behind her round glasses were impressive. Min-jae quickly stepped in to introduce her.

“Brother, why are you so surprised? She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Oh? Did I… ask? Then, who is she?”

“She’s a junior who transferred into our department after you graduated, so you probably don’t know her. But she is still a junior. A very distant one.”

Ah, a transfer student.

“Her house is right near the shop, so I sent an SOS since I was in a rush. I didn’t have any other way to handle it alone. But with Tae-hoon joining in too, the work finished much easier than expected,” Min-jae explained with a smile.

Only then did I understand the situation.

“Ah… thank you so much. Both of you.”

Feeling apologetic, I bowed my head repeatedly to the two of them. Tae-hoon was still wearing his gloves, and Ji-eun Yuk was the same. It seemed both had been completely immersed in the work.

“It was nothing. It was actually fun,” Tae-hoon said as he pulled off his gloves. “I’ve only been doing legal work, so doing something like this feels refreshing. There’s a sense of immediate achievement.”

“Anyway, Brother, what are you going to do if this continues? We had over 100 orders today alone. There might be even more tomorrow…”

Min-jae wore a worried expression. He was right. If today was like this, how would I handle things in the future? But then, Ji-eun Yuk suddenly cut in.

“Could you hire me for the time being?”

“Excuse me?”

“Summer vacation is starting soon, and I was looking for a part-time job. Coffee shops and places like that don’t really suit my personality…” Ji-eun Yuk said as she pushed up her glasses. “Working here today, I think this place fits me perfectly. Packaging, labeling — I found those things really fun.”

She was bold. To say that so directly to someone she just met. I actually liked her honesty.

“And…” Ji-eun Yuk stepped closer and whispered, “My house is really close. A five-minute walk. I can come whenever there’s something urgent. I’m an all-weather part-timer who can handle emergencies like today and even surpass a full-time employee.”

However, Min-jae, who was standing nearby, suddenly intervened while waving his hands playfully.

“Oh, no! Brother, not her.”

“Why? What’s the problem?”

Ji-eun Yuk glared at Min-jae.

“Brother, she’s famous at school. For being a meat glutton. She eats as much as a professional mukbanger.” Min-jae looked at Ji-eun Yuk with a teasing smile. “Ji-eun really loses her mind when she sees meat. she might eat all the meat in our shop.”

“Senior Min-jae!” Ji-eun Yuk’s face flushed bright red. “It’s not that bad!”

“That’s why the guys gave her a nickname. Meaty.”

“Meaty? What is that?”

“During self-introductions on her first day as a transfer student, she said, ‘I am Ji-eun Yuk. Please remember me as the carnivore, Ji-eun Yuk.’ That’s how she’s been known as Meaty since that day.”

“When did I do that! Don’t lie!”

“You were drunk and can’t remember. You really did.”

Ji-eun Yuk started lightly hitting Min-jae’s arm. Just watching the two of them play around seemed to melt away the day’s fatigue.

“Then that’s even better. If someone who loves meat works at our shop, I think they’ll work even harder.”

At that, Ji-eun Yuk snapped her head up. Her glasses slid down slightly.

“Really? Is that truly okay?”

“Of course. I’ll make sure you get plenty of meat, so can you work for me?”

In that moment, Ji-eun Yuk’s expression changed 180 degrees. Her previous embarrassment was gone, and her eyes began to sparkle. Her voice seemed to go up an octave. I liked her high tension.

“Yes, I will start tomorrow morning, Boss!”

“Boss?”

“One must keep professional and private lives separate. I am a completely different breed of person from Kim Min-jae, who can’t tell the difference.”

Ji-eun Yuk bowed ninety degrees again and stuck her tongue out at Min-jae. This time, it was Min-jae who was flustered.

“What time should I come in the morning? What will my hours be? What’s the hourly wage? Oh, and you’re really going to give me some meat, right? I don’t need the expensive stuff. Maybe the leftovers? Scraps left over from butchering?”

Questions poured out like a waterfall. Min-jae and Tae-hoon burst out laughing at the sight.

“See? She becomes a completely different person when you mention meat.”

“Min-jae, make sure to pack plenty of meat for our junior when she goes home. She worked hard.”

“Yes, I will. Ji-eun, you did a great job today. Thanks, Tae-hoon.”

Ji-eun Yuk. She seemed like someone who would be fun to work with.

***

The phone rang at exactly 7:00 AM.

A throbbing muscle pain coiled around my entire body. It felt like the aftereffects of yesterday were continuing, but I had to get used to it now. From now on, every day would be a war.

Today was the day of my appointment with President Yoon. It was a situation where it was hard to leave the shop for even a moment, but I couldn’t break a promise I had requested first.

“Are you out?”

“Yes, I’m heading out now.”

A black SUV was parked in front of the apartment’s main gate with its hazard lights flashing. President Yoon waved from the driver’s seat.

The moment I opened the car door and stepped inside, the thick smell of cigarettes hit my nose. It was a smell deeply embedded in the seats. Not something from a day or two, but a smell accumulated layer by layer over a long time. I could feel how much time President Yoon spent in this car traveling across the country.

“Sorry, the cigarette smell is bad, right? My kids won’t even get in this car. Ha ha.” President Yoon laughed apologetically and rolled down the window slightly. The cool morning air leaked in and mixed with the tobacco smoke.

“No, it’s fine.”

“We’re going to two places today. The first is near Chungju, and the second is in Eumseong. They’re neighboring towns, but we’ll go to Chungju first and then head to Eumseong.”

The car began to move. President Yoon pointed to the cigarette packs on the dashboard. An open pack he was currently smoking and a new pack on standby sat side by side. He seemed to smoke quite a lot.

“Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“That’s good. This is a bad habit.”

Even as he said that, President Yoon pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth while waiting at a signal.

“Since it’s a bad thing, is it okay if I smoke just one by myself?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Oh, and there’s something I should tell you in advance.” He flicked a lighter and exhaled a long drag out the car window. “I told you during our last call, right? The farm owners we’re visiting today, especially the first one, don’t really like strangers. So, I’m going to introduce you as an employee from my office.”

“I see.”

“I’ll be speaking informally to you there, so don’t be offended. That farm owner cares a lot about hierarchy. It’s easier if we show him that I’m the boss and you’re the employee.” President Yoon flicked his cigarette ash out the window. “Don’t think too deeply about it, just nod your head and take a look around.”

“Understood.”

“But as you’ll see, large-scale farms are worth seeing.”

“Yes.”

As we merged onto the highway, President Yoon asked cautiously, “But President Jeong, why do you only sell high-quality meat? It makes it hard to expand the business that way.”

From President Yoon’s perspective, it was probably hard to understand. Why would I choose a difficult and picky path when I could make more margin with cheaper meat?

“I think you might be misunderstanding something.”

“What kind of misunderstanding?” President Yoon, who had been driving while looking straight ahead, turned his head briefly to look at me, his curiosity piqued.

“It’s not that I refuse to sell cheap or lower-grade meat. Consumers need affordable meat as much as they need high-quality, expensive meat.”

A flash of surprise crossed his face.

“But right now, the market is one where people eating the meat can’t transparently know what’s cheap or what’s expensive. Consumers are buying without even knowing what they’re eating.”

A hint of frustration colored my voice. To a middleman like President Yoon, it might have sounded unpleasant.

“So for now, I’m buying and selling high-quality meat. I want to be certain about at least the meat that leaves my hands.”

“Hmm…” President Yoon nodded with the cigarette still in his mouth. It was a gesture of understanding, which was unexpected.

“Once the business grows larger, I want to sell everything from imported frozen meat to the highest grade aged Korean beef, each with an appropriate price attached transparently. So that consumers can choose. That is my goal.”

The car fell silent. President Yoon wore a contemplative expression as he took a deep drag of his cigarette. As he slowly exhaled the smoke, complex emotions flickered across his face.

He seemed to want to say something, but ultimately kept his mouth shut. Only after a long while did he speak in a low murmur.

“I had similar thoughts when I was young. Doing business honestly, informing consumers transparently… those kinds of thoughts.” He shook his head. “But as it turns out, this isn’t something I can change. The system itself is the problem. No matter how hard one person tries…”

“That system — I’m going to try and change it.”

President Yoon looked at me for a moment, then looked ahead again and gave a short laugh.

“You really are an idealist. You’re trying to do a very difficult thing. Well, a young person should have at least that much ambition. Youth is certainly a good thing. I had times like that once, too…”

His words were a mix of criticism, worry, and a strange sense of envy.

“It’ll take about 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to Chungju. You look tired, so get some sleep.”

He said that and turned down the radio volume slightly. However, with my thoughts so complex, there was no way I could sleep. He didn’t ask anything else.

The lyrics of the song he sang along to sounded particularly philosophical. It was a melody I wasn’t familiar with at all.

“Ah… Big Brother Tess! Why is the world like this…”

Indeed. Whether it was 100 years ago or 100 years from now, why is the world like this?

***

After driving for 1 hour and 30 minutes, we arrived at the first farm in Chungju.

The farm, situated at the foot of a mountain, was larger than I expected. Several long steel buildings were lined up, and even from a distance, the characteristic smell stung my nose. As soon as we got out of the car, President Yoon’s transformation began.

“Hey! Come over here and introduce yourself!”

I wondered if this was the same man who had been friendly and offered me a cigarette just moments ago; his demeanor had changed 180 degrees. He suddenly pointed at me and shouted. Without even a moment to prepare mentally, the director’s cue had been given.

Ah, he’s already started acting. It was a situation he had warned me about, but experiencing it for real was both funny and oddly unpleasant. Was it because President Yoon’s acting was more realistic than I expected?

A man in his sixties walked out from the farm entrance. He was tall with broad shoulders, but his face was set like a stone. Clad in work clothes, he exuded an intimidating aura.

“Oh… hello, President!” President Yoon suddenly changed his vocal tone and bowed deeply. The smooth, easygoing version of him was gone, replaced by a completely different person.

“You’re here,” the farm owner replied bluntly. He then stared at me wordlessly. It was a look that demanded I identify myself.

While I hesitated, President Yoon gave me a slight shove on the back.

“He’s our new employee. Hurry up and greet him!” President Yoon commanded with a tilt of his chin. I didn’t think he needed to take the acting this far… but President Yoon seemed to be secretly enjoying it.

“Hello.” I bowed my head deeply in greeting. The farm owner gave me a bored once-over and then just nodded. President Yoon was lost in his solo performance, acting like a terrifying boss.

“Let’s go in,” the farm owner said, turning around. President Yoon caught my eye for a second and made an apologetic face. I gave a small shrug to tell him it was okay.

***

As we entered the farm, I was first overwhelmed by its scale. It was on a different level from what I had seen from the outside. Giant rectangular buildings, easily 15 meters wide and 80 meters long, stood in rows at regular intervals.

It was about the size of two soccer fields put together. On the walls of each building, several massive ventilation fans over 1 meter in diameter were installed, all spinning incessantly and making a whirring sound.

Unlike humans, pigs have almost no sweat glands on their bodies. They only have a few around their snouts, so their ability to regulate their body temperature by sweating is limited. Therefore, if those fans stop, the pigs’ lives are in danger. They would also suffocate if toxic gases like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide from the manure weren’t constantly ventilated out. The incessant whirring was the lifeline for 8,000 pigs.

“This is Building One, and they go all the way to Building Eight,” the farm owner explained bluntly. Looking in the direction he pointed, identical buildings really did continue endlessly.

“Eight buildings?”

“Each building holds an average of about 1,000 pigs.”

1,000 pigs in eight buildings meant 8,000 pigs. It was a staggering number. Seeing my surprised expression, the farm owner shrugged.

“What are you so surprised for? There are over 100 farms in the country larger than mine.” His voice was nonchalant, as if this were obvious. “I guess you’re a rookie who hasn’t been to a mega-farm yet.”

“Ah… yes.”

As we approached the entrance of the first pigsty, a powerful smell was already stinging my nose. The farm owner opened the steel door.

The moment the door opened, all my senses were attacked at once. The first thing to charge forward was the smell. The pungent scent of ammonia and the musty stench of manure were intertwined, making it hard to breathe. My eyes even stung.

Next was the noise. The grunting of pigs. Squeals that erupted suddenly. The mechanical noise of the automatic feeders running. The sound of water dripping from the dispensers. And above all, the noise of the ventilation fans spinning relentlessly overhead combined to make it feel like being inside a factory.

The floor was slatted. It was a structure designed so that waste would fall through regular gaps in the concrete. Between the black cracks beneath my feet, I could see manure flowing.

However, as we went further inside, I felt something was wrong. The spacing between the pigs was too tight. I had expected four or five pigs per pen, but there were more than ten. The pigs didn’t even seem to have room to lie down properly.

“The space is a bit tight,” President Yoon said to the farm owner.

“You have to think about efficiency. If the space is wide, it’s a loss,” the farm owner replied as if it were nothing. The pigs were pressed against each other, and some were even standing on top of others. There seemed to be almost no room to move.

As we went deeper, the farm owner suddenly stopped walking.

“Ah, this is good timing. I need to look at the ones scheduled for shipment tomorrow.” He began to observe the pigs in a large pen closely. He poked and prodded the pigs one by one with a stick that looked like a cane.

“The one in that corner, it looks like it put on some weight.” The farm owner pointed to a pig that looked overweight. “This one is going ‘there’.”