Page 19 of Perfect Happiness
“What’s so interesting?”Jinu said, appearing behind Eun-ho.
Eun-ho turned around to find Jinu standing at the door to their cabin, his eyes bleary as though he had just woken up.Eun-ho was unable to answer him.
Jinu walked toward Eun-ho, but by the time he arrived at the window, the woman had already disappeared.Eun-ho hadn’t seen the end of the transaction and was worried something might have happened to the woman.What if human traffickers had appeared and kidnapped her?
From that day on, Eun-ho ran to the window every time the train made a stop.But the woman never appeared again.All he ever saw were empty platforms at night being blanketed with snow.
Eventually they arrived at Irkutsk Station, just west of Lake Baikal.They spent the night there and departed for Lake Baikal the following morning.The hotel staff assured Eun-ho that the lake was “very close.”But Eun-ho slowly realized that the Russians had a different concept of “very close.”After riding for several hours through snowy plains on a bus whose heater was cranked so high it nearly baked them to death, they boarded a boat—aptly named the Hover Craft—to cross the frozen Lake Baikal.When they reached the Olkhon Island, there was an old truck that must have belonged to the Russian military waiting to drive them to their final destination: Khuzir.The red sun was just beginning to set when they reached the inn.
Jinu opened Google Maps as soon as they checked in and finished unpacking.Apparently, there was a sacred rock called the Shaman Rock near their inn.As Jinu explained, the spirit of the rock would grant any wish made when the setting sun touched the mountain ridge across the lake.Not only that, but the rock was a sacred site for many of the world’s shamanic traditions, or so the travel guides claimed.
After such a long journey, the last thing Eun-ho wanted to do was leave the inn.But Jinu persuaded him to come by telling him it was just a “short walk.”
Jinu must have been using the Russian definition of “short” because it felt like they were on an Arctic expedition, scaling steep, slippery hills of ice and snow and jumping over gaping crevasses.
They barely met anyone on the trail, not surprising because it was already dusk.Eun-ho was starting to doubt they would get back before it turned dark.He also wasn’t sure if they should rely on Google Maps in such a foreign and remote part of the world.There was a not-so-insignificant chance that they wouldn’t be able to find their way back.But just as these doubts started to creep into Eun-ho’s head, large pillars wrapped in colorful strips of cloth appeared in the distance.
“That must be it!”
Jinu pointed to a towering structure of black rock located on a tombolo just behind the pillars.The tombolo was a cluster of large, jagged boulders that formed two large humps.And at the base of the rock were what looked like piles of stones that people had stacked.Eun-ho approached what he thought was a tall stack of rocks.Only after getting close to it did he realize it wasn’t a rock, but a person—or to be more precise, a woman with her arms crossed, staring up at the Shaman Rock.
Everything she had on was black—her muffler, her long padded jacket, her boots, her fur hat that looked like it belonged to Lara from Doctor Zhivago, even her hair was black.
She was standing in front of two piles of rocks, each composed of four flat black stones.Stuck in the ground between the two piles of rocks was a freshly cut branch and burned incense, as though someone had been mourning the death of a loved one.Despite the strong wind, the faint scent of incense was able to reach Eun-ho’s nose.
Eun-ho paused as he approached the woman.He didn’t want to scare her by getting too close without warning.If this were a busy city street, he could pass by her without a second thought.But they were the only people in the area.Eun-ho tried to act ambivalent toward her by turning away and looking out at the lake.
As the blood-red sun made its descent toward the horizon, the sky glowed purple.Everything else—the lake, the mountain ridge across the lake, the hills they had just crossed—was bathed in the blood of the sun.In the distance in the shadow of the mountain, a black Jeep was racing along the shore, kicking up a cloud of icy dust.
Eun-ho imagined what could be lurking under the frozen surface of this vast, primal lake.What would it be like to be trapped under the ice, in that deep, blue water?The power of this image sent a shudder through Eun-ho’s entire body.Suddenly, Eun-ho heard the sound of a camera.He turned around to find Jinu standing next to the woman taking pictures of the Shaman Rock.
The woman turned to look at Jinu.
Jinu stared back at her for a while before asking, “Do I know you?”He took a step closer.“I think I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
Eun-ho couldn’t believe Jinu.They hadn’t come all the way to Siberia just so he could hit on women.The woman turned away without replying.She immediately came face to face with Eun-ho, who was just two steps away from her.In walking over to Jinu to stop him from bothering the poor woman, he had accidentally blocked her escape.
The woman looked up into Eun-ho’s eyes.As she did this, the wind suddenly changed direction, blowing the hair out of her face.The light from the sunset refracted in her pupils, bringing out hazel flecks.Her eyes were asking him who he was.They looked scared, perhaps irritated, and were suspiciously studying every feature of his face.
There are two kinds of beauty in the world: universal beauty that all humankind agrees on, and exclusive beauty that only a few captive individuals can see.This woman’s beauty belonged to the latter.All Eun-ho could hear was his heart pounding out of his chest.
The woman blinked once, as if to ask him to step aside.He respectfully lowered his gaze and made way for her.As he looked down, he caught a glimpse of the bandages on her right hand.This was the third time he had bumped into this woman from the airport.What were the chances?
“Excuse me, you didn’t go to Dong-a University in Seoul by any chance?”Jinu asked from behind the woman’s shoulder.“Yuna Shin?Class of 2009?Majored in Russian literature?”
This caught Eun-ho off guard.So earlier, his asking her if they had met before wasn’t just a cheap pick-up line.
The woman slowly turned her gaze toward Jinu.Her captivating hazel pupils were so good at expressing emotion.Her eyes were clearly asking,How the hell do you know me?
“It is you.I knew I recognized you.”
Jinu gave the woman a friendly smile, but she wasn’t putting her guard down.Eun-ho could sense her back tensing up, even through her thick, padded jacket.
“Don’t you remember me?We’ve met before.”
The woman simply stared at Jinu waiting for him to explain.
“You made me coffee one time.At your apartment, when Jiwoon moved out.”
