Kim Cheol-soo, who broke up with Amelia, stood at the immigration checkpoint.
However, one of the staff members called out to me while waving his fingers and with a stiff expression asked to see the original invitation letter used to create the visa.
I had already submitted the invitation from Mariam when I applied for my visa, so it was a bit absurd to see it here.
However, Kim Cheol-soo smiled and secretly put twenty dollars into the employee’s pocket.
“You’re a friend who knows quite a bit of etiquette. Okay.”
The employee smiled and disappeared.
I thought that would be the end of it, but this time the security guard who was watching this scene closely from one side called out Kim Cheol-soo.
I also handed twenty dollars to the security guard who for some strange reason asked me to search him.
As I was trying to drag my suitcase out of the immigration counter, they dragged Kim Cheol-soo to customs to check my luggage, and handed me twenty dollars there as well.
‘This neighborhood is still the same.’
It was a place where there was a high possibility of getting into trouble on the way out of the airport if you were a person with a carefree personality.
In fact, there were stories of senior bosses who rebelled against employees who demanded unreasonable practices and ended up being accused of being terrorists and suffering in prison.
Of the $100 Lee Jun-hak handed over, $60 was spent on getting out of the airport.
Outside the airport, the darkness was getting thicker.
Kim Cheol-soo, who was looking at a sign with large light green letters hanging brightly, noticed an Asian man holding a sketchbook with his name written on it and quickly walked towards it.
“Are you Assistant Manager Kim Cheol-soo?”
“Yes. Manager Yuhoon Han?”
“Yes, that’s right. Nice to meet you.”
Kim Cheol-soo shook hands with Han Yu-hoon, who was stationed in Nigeria, and followed him into the parked car, loaded his luggage, and got into the back seat.
There was a large black man sitting in the driver’s seat, and when he saw Kim Cheol-soo, he held out his thick hand.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Keenan Okeny. I work as a driver at the expatriate.”
“Oh! Nice to meet you. I’m Cheolsu Kim. Please call me Kim.”
“Kim! That’s a nice tone. Hahaha.”
While I was briefly saying hello to Keenan, Yuhoon Han got into the passenger seat.
“I had a hard time coming.”
“No. The weather is muggy and I think Manager Han had a hard time waiting for me.”
Kim Cheol-soo said while looking at Han Yu-hoon’s half-wet shirt.
Han Yu-hoon, who had been irritated by the heat, felt relieved when he saw Kim Cheol-soo, who must have been on a plane for well over a day, and had a cheerful expression on his face without showing any sign of fatigue.
“Okay then, let’s go to a hotel in downtown Abuja. Keenan, let’s go.”
“Yes, sir!”
Han Yu-hoon handed the schedule to Kim Cheol-soo and gave a brief explanation.
“You will meet Mariam Abacha tomorrow afternoon.”
“I see. Are there any changes to what we exchanged via email?”
In response to Kim Cheol-soo’s question, Han Yu-hoon hesitated a few times before opening his mouth.
“I found out before I came here that Mariam Abacha is seriously ill and has difficulty moving.”
“Is this serious?”
“It is a disease that is difficult to cure even with the resources she has. It is the most common disease in Africa, and it is also a disease for which there is no cure.”
Hearing Han Yu-hoon’s words, Kim Cheol-soo suddenly thought of something.
“It’s AIDS.”
According to the data sent by Counselor Lee Deok-hoon, it was said that he had been living near a hospital since he was young, but it appears that it was not a hereditary or chronic disease, but a complication caused by weakened immunity.
At Kim Cheol-soo’s answer, Han Yu-hoon burst into laughter.
“I caught that right away. Yes, it’s AIDS.”
They said that the person I had to meet tomorrow was someone with AIDS, but Kim Cheol-soo answered lightly, as if he had no special feelings.
“okay.”
“Are you okay, Assistant Manager Kim?”
In modern times, it has been discovered that AIDS is a disease that is rarely transmitted except through sexual contact or blood donation, but in the past, the general public recognized AIDS as the dirtiest and worst disease in the world.
Because I thought it was a disease I could catch just by holding hands or being next to someone, I had a lot of disgust, and I hated being in the same space or even living in the same neighborhood as an AIDS patient.
Kim Cheol-soo understood the intention of the question and opened his mouth.
“It’s a bit strange to talk to someone who has AIDS, but it’s not a disease you can spread just by talking to them, so I don’t plan on avoiding what I need to do.”
‘I guess it wasn’t for nothing that I was given the rank of assistant manager less than a year after joining the company. ‘He’s the type of person who filters out rumors and only believes in certain information.’
“Then we will proceed as scheduled.”
“Yes, Chief.”
After roughly coordinating the schedule with Han Yu-hoon, Kim Cheol-soo turned his head and looked out the darkened window.
‘AIDS.’
It’s enough
Mariam Abacha, 40 years old, put the book written on the table, pulled her wheelchair and headed to the window.
Because of AIDS, I suffered from numerous illnesses, which left me with many disabilities.
One of the complications was the inability to walk well due to weakness in both legs.
Mariam was so skinny that only bones and skin could be seen. Her eyes were directed to the wall outside the window.
There were a few ivy vines there.
The gardener tried to remove it, but for some reason she stopped him.
There were leaves hanging from the vines, and Mariam’s eyes quietly counted them.
“Thirty-one.”
If it weren’t for my father’s legacy, I would have died a long time ago because I would not have received treatment.
Mariam, who lost all of her beauty as a woman and wondered what use it would be to live a lonely life alone due to illness, suddenly remembered an email with unique content that her agent had sent her.
“When everyone was talking about how, you uniquely asked why.”
It was a simple curiosity.
Because it is a little different from the hyenas who promise that they can do anything if you give them money.
——————
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After her father’s death, Mariam has not left this huge mansion for five years.
My doctor visited me every day, and I had to swallow over 30 pills with every meal.
100 pills per day.
Only by swallowing it could I survive this difficult life.
She had hundreds of brothers and sisters, but as soon as they heard the news that she had AIDS, they all cut off contact, and Mariam, who became isolated and more depressed, lost interest in what was going on in the world.
Until the Obasanjo regime unilaterally froze bank deposits.
Mariam thought that her life was short, and like the contents of that book, she thought that her fate was like the leaves on the wall.
Like the main character in the novel, Jonesy, Mariam was praying that when all the leaves on the wall fall, she would be able to go to Allah’s arms.
However, because it was a sin to kill oneself or not to do one’s best in life, she was holding on to her faith and supporting a meaningless life.
That was the reason why they were trying to smuggle out their assets and take their bodies overseas.
“A guest has arrived, ma’am.”
Mariam turned around in her wheelchair while basking in the warm sunlight and looking out the window.
**
When Mariam saw Kim Cheol-soo, who had a white face but appeared wearing traditional Nigerian clothing, she thought he was a very unusual person.
While everyone I had met so far wore fancy suits and showed off how good they were at doing their work, I felt a strange sense of familiarity with Kim Cheol-soo, who looked good in traditional attire.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Cheolsu Kim from Hanyoung General Trading Company.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Mariam. Please sit over there.”
The place Mariam pointed to was a soft chair far away from where she was.
The servants working here were all wearing plastic gloves and masks, and I thought it was because of her illness.
Kim Cheol-soo, who thought that such misunderstandings were likely because the disease had not yet been clearly identified in academia, pulled out a chair and sat down right in front of Mariam.
Mariam, surprised by Kim Cheol-soo’s actions, tried to move back, but the wheelchair was stuck on the bed and did not move.
“It’s okay. I knew very well about Mariam’s illness.”
“Then wouldn’t it be better to be more careful?”
Kim Cheol-soo responded to her words with a bright smile as if it had nothing to do with it.
“I’m not worried because it’s not a disease that spreads through the air. Also, I have poor hearing, so I can only hear well when I’m close by.”
Kim Cheol-soo brought the chair closer to the point where the disease called AIDS was overshadowed, and Mariam was even more embarrassed.
She knew better.
About the actions and looks people unconsciously show because they don’t want to get close to her.
But the Asian young man in front of me didn’t have that look.
It seemed like he really wanted to talk to me up close.
‘Are you not afraid of my illness at all? Or are you fearless?’
Mariam, who was embarrassed at first by Kim Cheol-soo’s overly proactive attitude, began to develop a liking for him as she could not detect any actions or eyes in Kim Cheol-soo that were avoiding her.
She internally looked back on her memories, wondering how many years it had been since she last encountered this kind of person.
“It is quite dangerous to take money out of the country without government approval. Even so, there are countless ways, but I came here because I thought that if I knew the exact reason why Mariam made this choice, I might be able to use a different method. .”
Mariam automatically nodded at the sight of Kim Cheol-soo looking directly into her eyes and speaking calmly in a sincere voice.
After talking calmly about the contents of the email exchanged earlier for about 5 minutes, Mariam looked at Cheolsu Kim and said,
“If there is a better way, I want to choose it.”
“I understand. But Mariam, do you really want to leave your country?”
She shook her head lightly at Kim Cheol-soo’s words.
“No. If there are no problems, I want to stay here. I get lonely even in familiar places, but I don’t know how much more lonely I will be living in a foreign place.”
She turned her head to look at the window as something came to her mind, and Kim Cheol-soo also stopped talking for a moment, looked away, and looked at the book on the table.
No matter how many times I read that book, it was torn apart.
It was a short story published in Korea under the title “The Last Leaf.”
Kim Cheol-soo immediately turned his gaze and looked where Mariam was looking.
A few ivy vines were climbing over the fence, but the rest of the place was neatly kept. Kim Cheol-soo turned his eyes to the booklet once again and saw Mariam stuck in the ivy.
‘Are you projecting yourself onto Jonesy, the heroine who has a lung disease and doesn’t know if she’s alive or dead?’
Mariam looked at the vines and spoke wearily.
“That’s all we’ll talk about for today. Can you come back tomorrow?”
“Of course. It looks like you need time to think about it.”
“yes.”
Kim Cheol-soo bowed politely and went out, and Mariam ate a simple meal with the help of the servants, took some medicine, and lay down on the bed.
Actually, I was able to finish the story well enough, but I felt like I wouldn’t have more time if I finished the story like this today.
**
Han Yu-hoon quickly approached Kim Cheol-soo when he came out.
“What happened?”
“They say we will discuss it again tomorrow.”
At Kim Cheol-soo’s words, Han Yu-hoon nodded with an expression of relief.
“Thank goodness. It came out sooner than expected so I thought the story was wrong.”
“Iknow, right.”
Kim Cheol-soo looked at his watch and said to Han Yu-hoon.
“I have some time left, so I’d like to visit a place.”
“where?”
“I’d like to visit the Toge area.”
Han Yu-hoon looked embarrassed at Kim Cheol-soo’s words.
“It is a very dangerous area. As Abuja began to be developed as the capital, all the poor people who lived in the area were crowded out, so the frequency of crime is quite high. Unless there is a special reason, I would like to stop you from going there.”
“I must go there at least once for this.”
“What does the Toge region have to do with this case?”
According to the data of Counselor Lee Deok-hoon, General Sani Abacha, who took office as president of Nigeria with the promise of eliminating corruption and injustice, has actually become a hotbed of corruption and injustice.
On the other hand, Mariam Abacha led large-scale volunteer work to care for orphans in the Toge region with the assets she inherited from her father in order to make up for her father’s lack of virtue.
When I met her today, I realized that she was not a political person at all.
That means she did volunteer work with a pure heart.
“Maybe I can give her hope in life.”
At Kim Cheol-soo’s words, Han Yu-hoon hesitated for a while before opening his mouth.
“You can’t get out of the car instead.”
“Don’t worry. We will only capture what the Toge area is like on camera.”
“All right.”
Kim Cheol-soo, who got into the car driven by Keenan, took out a digital camera and took pictures of Abuja.
As expensive cars such as Rolls-Royce, Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW passed by, everyone broke up and a group of skinny poor people wearing blouses with their genitals dangling crossed the street.
It was a sight that could often be seen in urban centers in Nigeria.
A city where the rich and the extremely poor, who would not be surprised if they starved to death at any moment, coexist.
Because the cost of living was slightly higher than in Korea and there were no proper industries except the oil industry, it was a country where if you did not become a member of a foreign company or government, you would inevitably fall into severe poverty.
As I entered the Toge area, I saw the sight of skinny black mummies walking around, even worse than the slums in Kenya.
– Ding-dong-deng.
As bells rang in the huge mosque, the black mummies took off their upper garments, spread them on the ground, knelt down, looked in a certain direction, and began Salat (Islamic prayer).
Because the majority of Muslims were extremely poor, Boko Haram, the most brutal terrorist group on earth, may have had no choice but to spread in Nigeria.
“It’s a serious place.”
Kim Cheol-soo spoke while filming the Toke region, and Keenan responded.
“The situation here has gotten worse since Sani Abacha died. I think they will block traffic in front of me, but I can’t go any further than this. It’s too dangerous.”
Keenan made a U-turn on his own without getting permission from Manager Han.
Han Yu-hoon turned and looked at Kim Cheol-soo.
“This will only end here.”
“Yes. That’s enough.”
**
“How long has it been since you’ve been outside?”
next day.
Mariam shook her head in response to Kim Cheol-soo’s question.
“I don’t remember the last time I left the mansion.”
“Then would you like to go out?”
“But the disease…”
Cheolsu Kim got up, went behind Mariam, and grabbed the handle of the wheelchair.
Emotions were not very important among people doing business.
Contracts are made based on thorough calculations such as how much benefit can be given to one side and how much can be given to the other side.
However, the Mariam that Kim Cheol-soo understood was a completely different type.
She may have arranged this meeting out of curiosity, but would she, facing death, have the strength to undertake such a complex, cumbersome, and labor-intensive process as negotiation?
Before signing the contract, Kim Cheol-soo thought that what she desperately needed was a will for life.
“oh!”
Mariam moved her body like crazy, and her servants rushed towards Kim Cheol-su.
However, Mariam stopped the servants and asked Kim Cheol-su.
“Kim! You could be in danger.”
“It’s okay. If it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, I’d like to talk outside the mansion.”
“Isn’t it really scary?”
“Yes. Because I know that it is not a disease that can be spread by doing this.”
Kim Cheol-soo answered cheerfully, and Mariam quietly looked up at Kim Cheol-soo.
‘He’s such a strange person.’
“…Of course.”
At Mariam’s answer, the expressions of the servants surrounding her brightened.
They rushed over and opened the door, and Kim Cheol-soo said while pushing Mariam’s wheelchair.
“It looks like you haven’t left your room in quite some time.”
Mariam has been locked in this room for about a year.
However, I never expected that I would leave this room because of an Asian person I had never met before.
He was acting as if he wasn’t here to do business, but rather wanted to change the mind of his friend who was heading towards death.
friend.
After news spread that she had AIDS, her relationships completely fell apart.
And now, little by little, she was feeling some sense that she had forgotten.
“yes.”
Did you stay well
After coming out of the huge mansion, Mariam took a deep breath, slightly blocking the hot sunlight with her hand.
Ripe yellow mangoes hung from the trees on either side of the mansion’s gate, and their scent entered my nose.
That mango tree was planted by her father and mother, and Mariam, who smelled its scent, suddenly remembered memories from her childhood.
And tears began to flow from her big eyes.
Kim Cheol-su pushed her wheelchair around the garden in silence, and her servants followed suit, quickly removing any objects that might be in the way.
When Mariam’s emotions calmed down, Kim Cheol-su climbed to the highest hill in the mansion and took out a digital camera from his pocket.
“Have you been to Toge?”
“I don’t think I’ve been there in five years.”
“Did you build the Toge school there yourself?”
Mariam nodded at Kim Cheol-soo’s words.
“yes.”
Cheolsu Kim played the video from the digital camera and showed it to Mariam.
“The place was in ruins.”
Mariam held the camera and looked at the video recorded inside, then opened her mouth.
“The last time I saw it, it wasn’t in this area.”
“Because Mariam let go. If she hadn’t let go, the area might have become a better place every day.”
“But I don’t have the energy to do that anymore.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Cheolsu Kim nodded at Mariam’s words and opened his mouth again.
“Starting in 2001, in northeastern Nigeria, Islamic fundamentalists created a terrorist organization called Boko Haram. And its power is still growing. Starving people blame the world and join the terrorist organization themselves, holding guns in their hands and beating their hearts out. “They live with bombs attached to them, and President Olusegun Obasanjo is wary of their growing influence in the capital, Abuja.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“If we work hard for the poor in Abuja and alleviate their hunger like Mariam did five years ago, we will be able to prevent Boko Haram’s power from growing in Abuja. If that is the condition, Obasanjo will respond to the asset freeze. “You will be able to sufficiently compromise with the regime.”
“I can’t…”
“It would be much more meaningful than counting the number of vine leaves on the wall every day and waiting for death.”
Mariam blushed as if a secret had been discovered.
“you!”
“Although AIDS is an incurable disease, if you manage it well, you can live longer than you think. There is a basketball player named Magic Johnson who contracted AIDS 12 years ago. He is still alive and even active. Mind “It depends on what you eat.”
Mariam thought as she watched Kim Cheol-soo speak as if he was giving her sincere advice.
‘What on earth do you know about me? ‘On a subject that has never experienced the same thing as me!’
Mariam shouted angrily.
“Just two days ago I was dying!”
How can such a loud voice come from that small, skinny body covered in the shadow of death?
Kim Cheol-soo looked at Mariam with calm eyes and answered.
“Seeing you so angry, I think you’ll have a long life ahead of you.”
“I beg your pardon!”
“If Mariam participates in negotiations, our company and the Korean Embassy will do our best to support her.”
This time it was a business-like answer.
Variable tone.
Mariam thought it was difficult to identify a person named Kim Cheol-su.
She also had a cold expression and asked coldly.
“What do you hope to gain by doing that?”
“doesn’t exist.”
“…yes?”
“There is nothing.”
Mariam’s eyes widened as if she were taken aback by Kim Cheol-soo’s completely unexpected words.
“What do you mean?”
“Originally, I had planned to successfully negotiate with Mariam and the Obasanjo administration and then accept the fee they suggested. But I changed my mind when I saw you waiting for death, counting the vine leaves visible through the window.”
Kim Cheol-soo spoke seriously, and Mariam held her breath as she waited for his next words.
“I decided to be satisfied as long as Mariam survived.”
“Ji······. Are you serious?”
Instead of answering, Kim Cheol-soo took out the contract he had kept in his pocket and handed it to Mariam.
When Mariam saw the contract that did not list any fees for this work, she looked at the contract and Kim Cheol-soo several times, and her heart sank.
“Why…why are you doing this to me?”
Cheolsu Kim looked at Mariam with a smile.
When analyzed based on the information so far, Mariam Abacha was an altruistic person who was completely different from other Abachas.
I thought that if she could go back to the way she was before with the will to live, negotiating with the Nigerian government would not be difficult.
Because what she can do and what the Nigerian government wants are the same.
In the business world that Kim Cheol-soo has experienced so far, ‘trust’ is more valuable than ‘money’.
As trust builds, it makes impossible negotiations possible and is a great help in winning difficult business.
Instead of giving up the fee, what Kim Cheol-soo wanted to gain was ‘trust’.
As a bonus, I also wanted to give her the will to live.
“I think it’s a good enough condition if it can save people with just one contract.”
fantasy, modern,
