The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre by Yeeun Cho

Author:Yeeun Cho
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Honford Star
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Sabbath

Director Yu Hyeongyeong pulled down the stifling mask that covered more than half of her face. She felt refreshed for a second, but then the sharp, pungent smell of disinfectant penetrated her nose, making her grimace. The nasty smell intensified as she breathed in. She felt as though the olfactory cells in her nose would melt away.

She had been scouring three whole floors of the building with bleach since sunrise, so the awful smell was inevitable. She calmly straightened herself, wiping the frown off her face. Soon back to her serene self, she looked into the eyes of her staff standing in four straight rows.

“Thank you all for your work today!” she said.

“Thank you!” the staff replied, applauding.

After watching them get on the shuttle bus one by one, Hyeongyeong headed to her car. The stench grew worse and worse instead of fading away, giving her a headache. Irritated, she reached out a hand and fumbled through the glove compartment. The compartment was full of little packets of jelly that were sold in large quantities. She pulled one out, tore it open, and chewed on a piece of jelly, savoring its sweetness. The smell of disinfectant gradually diminished.

In the distance, she saw the huge shuttle bus making its way out of the parking lot. Hyeongyeong turned on the ignition of her car. On the side of the bus was a picture of herself smiling, holding a blue-green spray bottle of bleach, along with the name of her company, “Gwangnan Cleaning.” Feeling half proud and half embarrassed, she stared at the large picture of her face on the bus. She finally left the parking lot, driving slowly, when the bus disappeared from view. She was planning on taking a little nap before going out to give a guest lecture at a university in the afternoon.

Ever since her name made a business paper’s list of outstanding CEOs the year before, Hyeongyeong had been invited from time to time to give lectures, both small and large. Her company had made headlines for providing proper benefits to its employees, which was rare in the cleaning service industry. One of the employees had posted a story on social media about how the head of the company worked alongside the staff every morning, and people treated her like a saint for taking part in the difficult work. Someone had even taken a picture of her wearing a mask, which had led to a barrage of interview requests.

“Cleaning in the morning is a sort of spiritual practice for me. Most people consider cleaning to be simple labor, but the labor is a religious cleansing ritual of sorts in that it purifies what’s been contaminated. As I work and sweat with my staff every morning, I’m taking part in a spiritual ceremony. It’s not an act of service, nor is it a tool for me to manage my image and reputation; it’s simply something I do to strengthen myself.”

That was the answer Hyeongyeong had given to the aggressive

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