WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 168: Epilogue: This Is No Ordinary First Meeting (4)
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The shark was not quite fifteen cheok[1] long, as the spectators claimed, but just as Han San muttered that it was certainly huge,
Splash!
the shark rolled over.
Its great tail flapped! once, breaking through the seawater's thin, oil-like sheen.
Under the blazing sun befitting the peninsula's southernmost tip, its body emerged.
A long back, flanks glinting beneath the water, a sleek body without an ounce of excess fat. Each time its tail moved, that massive body slid forward.
“Wow...”
Han San had seen many animals in the mountains. Not long ago, he had even caught the Mountain Lord.
He had also gone to the sea many times in his previous life. He had even reeled in a striped marlin himself.
But this was his first time seeing a shark.
“It looks like a leopard.”
More precisely, it resembled the creature called a cheetah from the African savanna that he had seen on television in his previous life.
A dusky cheetah racing through the water. If it had a human-like way of expressing emotion, it would probably be smiling right now.
Fusataro asked those around him, “Are the preparations underway?”
The man who seemed to be in charge of North Harbor, along with the shipowners, stepped forward and bowed their heads.
“Yes, sir. We've secured a whaling ship with a harpoon gun as well. But, well, this place is narrow, so getting the whaling ship in will be difficult...”
Naturally, Han San heard their conversation.
He pointed to one side of the temporary dock.
“If we tear down that section, there should be just enough room for an ironclad to fit.”
Everyone's attention turned there. Soon, they all nodded.
“Ah! You're right!”
“The young man has a good eye. Have you worked on boats before?”
Han San laughed. It was no different from spotting animal trails in the mountains.
There was something more important, though.
“But do we really have to catch it?”
“Pardon?”
The man in charge of North Harbor blinked.
“What else would we do? We can't send out small boats while something that big is prowling around here.”
“Looking at it, this area doesn't seem to get much use anyway...”
Han San looked around once. After looking again at the crowd and the shark, he asked Hajama Fusataro, “Sir, does all this land around here belong to you too?”
Fusataro nodded.
“It is mine as far as the back there.”
“I see... Then.”
Han San immediately began making calculations in his head.
“How about stretching a wide net across the inner area? Keep that thing from going wherever it pleases. We can launch small boats from this side. It'll be a little cramped, but...”
Fusataro had seized Busan within a single generation. The great businessman of a port city ran the figures through his mind a few times and realized the estimate was not far off.
‘If the shark goes away, we can just remove the net and restore things quickly...’
The problem was this.
“Why should we do that?”
Couldn't they just catch and kill the shark?
Fusataro could not understand why Han San wanted to go to the trouble of putting up nets to keep it enclosed.
Han San gestured with his chin toward the spectators.
“Hasn't that crowd grown since earlier?”
Fusataro paused.
Han San was right. They had barely gotten out of the car and looked over the situation, yet the number of people had increased by nearly ten percent.
And it was still growing.
“I told you, the shark is really enormous!”
Some people were returning with friends, family, or acquaintances.
“What is going on? Why is everyone gathered here?”
Others spotted the crowd and wandered over out of curiosity.
“Driver Choi! Hurry up!”
People in rickshaws and even people who had driven over in cars kept arriving.
Han San grinned.
“Do you think we could make some money from this?”
Fusataro suddenly came to his senses.
Once again, the great businessman who had seized Busan within one generation understood exactly what needed to be done.
He rapidly gave orders to those around him.
“Put people in a line. Don't let chaos break out. Make them walk around this area in a circuit, like a railway line, so they can look at it as they go.
“Call Minejiro. And Kim Jitae as well. Tell them to come set up some yatai[2] food stalls up there. Borrow lanterns too, if you can. You handle getting permission from the authorities...
“Ah, right. There's a fine stuffed bear at my house. If we put it at the entrance...”
While Fusataro gave his orders, Han San was naturally not standing around idle. He dusted off his hands, stepped forward, and raised his voice.
“You there! Sir's hired hands! Let's put up the net together! Don't all come over here. From there to there! The rest of you, grab shovels and dig out that inner section!”
At the temporary dock of Busan North Harbor, the old man's voice and the young man's voice rang out in turn.
“There's lumber and nails in the warehouse, right? The leftover materials we gathered while restoring this area. Bring all of it over. Bring the glass too.”
“Please move the people back for a moment! Ah, I'll do it! Hand me that hammer!”
“Are all the lanterns here? Good. Drive posts into the ground in a row along here...”
“The stuffed bear! Rather than putting it there, hmm, let's put it here. Please grab that side. One, two!”
The two voices gradually became one.
“Hah! You're quite good at working with wood! You made something like a torii[3] in no time!”
“Ah, would Japanese people find it somewhat sacrilegious? I don't know much about this side of things. I was trying to make it quickly so people could easily tell the entrance from the exit, and it ended up that shape.”
“What would be sacrilegious about it? It only looks a little similar. It isn't actually a torii. We can just paint it blue.”
“I'll paint it. Hmm. While I'm at it, it would be good to make a few signs too.”
And so, a few hours later, Hajama Ayame arrived to find the following sight.
A stuffed bear from Mount Seorak was displaying its majesty inside a glass case made with generous amounts of precious glass.
Beyond it stood a blue-painted entrance, and past that, softly glowing lanterns had been planted in a row. A rope barrier had been set up inside the lanterns to keep people from falling in.
Ayame looked at the bear, then the entrance, then the bustling people moving about beyond it, before looking at the bear again.
“Mm...?”
She had vaguely heard that someone would come and move the bear that had been kept in her grandfather's garden somewhere. She had also heard something about a shark.
Her conversation with the farmers had gone on longer than expected, so she had put the bear and shark out of her mind. She had never imagined it would turn into this.
Just as Ayame looked around again, a man approached, waving his hand.
“Oh, Miss Aya! You're here!”
“Mr. San!”
Ayame's face brightened.
Han San beamed as he brushed the paint and sawdust from his clothes.
“Nothing happened on your end?”
“Not on mine!” Ayame held up her notebook and looked around. “It looks like far too much happened on yours, Mr. San.”
As she watched people looking around the stuffed bear in its glass case and walking side by side through the entrance, Ayame exclaimed in admiration.
“This is amazing! You made all this in the few hours I was at home, didn't you?
“And this... Mm. When I heard a shark had appeared, I thought you might shoot it or get on a boat and harpoon it, Mr. San... But you made something completely different?”
“Haha.”
Han San scratched the back of his head. Fortunately, the paint had already dried, so it did not come off on his hair.
“What I did was just come up with the idea, put up the net, and do some labor like hammering wood.
“What good are an idea and a bit of strength? To make this happen, we needed money, materials, and people. Sir provided all of that.”
“Hehe... Right? When my grandfather is working, he's truly someone you can rely on, right?”
“Yes. If I want to expand my business further, there's a lot I can learn from him. Busan and Chuncheon are on completely different scales, after all.”
Ayame's smile deepened. It was as if praise for Han San or her grandfather made her prouder than praise for herself.
And now Han San was praising her grandfather!
Han San noticed her expression and glanced upward.
“Ah, speaking of which. Sir is resting at the lodgings up there. Would you like to see him?”
“Mm... No! I want to stay with you a little longer first, Mr. San!”
With that, Ayame stepped closer to Han San. Her toes and shoulders, which had been bouncing restlessly as she looked around, stilled before him.
“Please show me around! I want to see what you made, and I want to see the shark! Mm. I want to walk with you too...”
It seemed as though the sound of someone's heart breaking could be heard from somewhere, but Han San smiled and bowed like a hotel concierge.
“Then, Miss, welcome to North Harbor Shark Walk.”
The sun was setting.
The two entered.
As people walked along the rope barrier and looked down at the water, they could see the enormous shark swimming inside.
“There is the fin!”
“It is making another round!”
People strolled along, watching the shark and cheering.
Children riding on their fathers' shoulders squealed, while women beside them covered their mouths and laughed.
Ayame also stretched her neck and peered into the water. At first, she was busy looking this way and that, following the cries of the crowd, until Han San pointed to one spot.
“Over there, Miss. Behind those bubbles.”
“Mmm... Ah! I see it!”
A long fin rose above the water like a sail.
It glided closer, then turned in a smooth circle. Beneath the sunset-stained surface, its huge body briefly revealed itself.
Ayame seized Han San's hand.
“Wow! It really is huge!”
“Ah, Miss. There's paint on my hands... It's dry, but there might still be some powder...”
“The tail! Mr. San, look at that tail! It only moved once, and it has already gone that far! Its tail is so powerful!”
Han San could not pull his hand away. He only cleared his throat several times.
“Y-yes... Earlier, it suddenly rolled over and splashed all the way here. When I saw it then, I thought, wow, this thing is really handsome.”
“It certainly is handsome.”
“Yes. I thought the same when I saw that stuffed bear. But this one is really... If it were a mountain animal, I could catch and stuff it. But I don't know much about sea creatures. And unlike mountain animals, as long as you stay out of the water, sea creatures can't harm you. So I thought that rather than catching it, perhaps we could do this instead...”
“Mhm! I understand what you mean. I want to see it roll over too.”
“It might do it again later. It's done it several times since earlier.”
Ayame nodded, continuing to watch the shark. Each time its tail and fin churned the water, she held Han San's hand a little tighter.
Han San hesitantly held her hand in return as they watched the water together.
Whenever the shark came into view, people's eyes were naturally drawn toward it, and their steps slowed as they tried to get a better look. But the Hajama Trading Company employees stationed around the area immediately kept the line moving.
“All right, all right! No stopping!”
“You can go slowly, but please keep walking! If you still want to see more, the exit is over there. Go out that way, walk around, enter through the entrance again, and make another round!”
The people obediently complied.
There was a reason lining people up was the beginning and end of crowd control.
Ayame and Han San kept walking too. At that very moment, the shark happened to turn toward them, allowing the pair to walk alongside it.
The two walked on the dockside, while the shark swam along the channel.
But their journey together beneath the twilight was soon due to end.
“Ah. We're already at the exit...”
They had reached the exit of North Harbor Shark Walk, which Han San had made as well.
Ayame glanced sideways at the shark that had been following alongside them, looking a little regretful. Han San thought of Fusataro, who would be waiting at the lodgings, but smiled.
“Shall we make another round?”
“Yes! This time, we can take it a little more slowly...”
Then Ayame suddenly lifted her nose. Han San turned at the same time toward where Ayame was looking.
A moment later, the two looked at each other, and Ayame smiled shyly first.
A row of food stalls was waiting for the people who had finished a circuit and exited.
“The smell of grilled squid has been drifting down from up there for a while now...”
“There is fish cake too... Wow! They have makgeolli!”
People whose legs had grown tired found empty seats at the food stalls. There were simple meals, makgeolli that could be scooped and drunk with dippers, and snacks for children.
Glancing at them, Ayame bent forward with her hands clasped behind her back.
“Mr. San, you must be hungry, right?”
“Yes. We've been doing quite a lot of physical work...
“Wow. Is Busan ganjang different from the ganjang we use? That squid over there. It looks like they're grilling it with ganjang, and the smell is incredible...”
“Mhm! Me too! When I left home earlier, I didn't feel like eating much, but ever since we started walking Shark Walk, the smell has been so good... Let's buy something to eat!”
“Yes!”
When Han San readily nodded, Ayame happily skipped toward the food stalls.
Footnotes:
[1] A cheok is a traditional Korean unit of length, roughly 30 centimeters, though its exact measure varied by period.
[2] Yatai (屋台) are Japanese mobile food stalls or street carts.
[3] A torii is a traditional Japanese gate marking the entrance to a Shinto sacred space.
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