Romancing on Jeju

Black cliffs shaped . . .

Black cliffs shaped like hexagonal pillars continued off to her side. How long had she been running? Twenty minutes? Thirty? She couldn’t tell whether what she was hearing was the sound of the waves or the wind. Either way, she had the feeling both were growing harsher. Romi knew she should be running toward where she could see lights. But she’d taken off into the dark woods to escape Pilhyun and ended up lost. The more she ran, the farther away she could tell she was getting from any other people. She had narrowly escaped the woods, and now all she saw were those black pillars that stood facing the sea. Even if she wanted to get back on the path she’d been on, she had no idea where it was. Somehow, she had to find someone and call the police. Dizziness and nausea flooded her senses. She needed to snap out of this, fast.

Sensing that someone was approaching her from behind, Romi gripped the bag tighter and took off running again. If only she could come across one person—just one. But even the Jeju Olle Trail that was usually packed with people was empty. She truly regretted having left without her phone. In this day and age, wasn’t going out without a phone no better than setting down your weapon and heading onto a battlefield? Actually, this was worse. More like rushing into battle without a ballistic helmet or anything for protection as the bullets rained down. Was Sumi all right? She had put herself in harm’s way to save Romi, yet Romi still hadn’t been able to report what happened to her to the police. She was about to burst with rage from how sorry and pathetic she felt.

Romi continued downhill, not knowing what direction she was headed in. Following the trail, this was the only way she could go. But the path led to the shore—from there, she wouldn’t be able to go any farther. The ocean was a gray blanket spread out under the purple twilight.

She was about to turn back when she spotted Pilhyun in the distance running toward her. Romi took off at full speed only to come face-to-face with those rock cliffs yet again. There was nowhere else for her to go.

Pilhyun caught up to her, clutching his knees and gasping for breath. “Damn, you ran awfully fast for someone who didn’t know where the hell she was going. You would think the effects of that drug would have kicked in by now.”

Romi thrust the bag out like a shield between them. “No wonder I’ve been so dizzy! You spiked the yogurt!”

Pilhyun straightened up and burst out laughing, incredulous.

“You just realized that? Are you dense? Is that why the drug’s been slow to take?”

“How would I know!”

There was no need to tell him that she’d only pretended to drink the yogurt, sipping a little because her mouth had been so dry and dumping the rest. Considering even that tiny amount had been enough to make her this dizzy, she wondered how potent the drug was.

“Why are you doing this to me? You’re the one who’s been stalking me, aren’t you?”

Romi put all the strength she had into shouting. She had to buy herself some time.

Pilhyun took another step toward her, grinning. It was a grin that set off goose bumps on her skin.

“Do you remember now? Who I am?”

“We’ve met before?” Romi asked, seemingly genuinely surprised, but Pilhyun clenched his fists and exploded with anger.

“You’re pissing me off! How can you not remember me? I’ve been to so many of your exhibits and autograph events!”

“You came to those?” Romi’s narrowed eyes widened as she studied him. He looked so vicious now that it was hard to recognize him by his features, but even when his expression had been neutral, she couldn’t say she remembered him. “I’m really not sure who you are,” she said.

“You don’t recognize me, yet you come all the way to Jeju to find some guy you met once or twice! I can’t deal with this!” Pilhyun stomped his feet. “This is your fault!”

As his expression grew more menacing, Romi considered that she should apologize, but even that much empathy would be wasted on a stalker like him. She felt her anger skyrocketing to match her fear.

“So what if I can’t remember you! So what if my memory is terrible! And so what if you managed to leave no impression whatsoever on me!” I can’t help that I don’t find you attractive, she almost said, but held back, swallowing the words hard. She was afraid to go that far. Besides, it wasn’t like she could remember people she did find attractive either. Look at me, she thought. I couldn’t even recognize the guy I thought I’d fallen for. Was she in the wrong for not remembering? Memory emerged somewhere in the interaction between a person’s innate capacity to remember and their relationships with other people—but did anyone have a responsibility to remember? Regardless, no one had the right to force another person to remember them. From the moment coercion entered the equation, the whole thing became an act of violence. Romi had a lot to say, but she couldn’t shape her racing thoughts into sentences. The world was spinning before her eyes, and she had lost all strength in her legs. As she watched everything around her swaying, Pilhyun broke into another broad grin.

“But now all that is over. I won’t let you slip through my hands again.”

Romi lifted her head to look him squarely in the face as he came closer, but she couldn’t see well in the dark. Even if she had a sharp mind, she would hardly be any match for a man as evil and extreme as this one.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Romi asked.

Pilhyun’s voice sounded like a slowed-down tape playing in her ears.

“Yooouuuu’ll juuuuuust haaaave to waaaaait and seeeeee ...”

Romi took a step back, but there was not much room for her to go any farther. What was she going to do? She’d wanted to tell Kyungwoon one last thing before the trip was over ... Pilhyun reached for her. Romi wildly brandished the bag she was holding.

“Don’t come any closer!”

The moment Pilhyun’s hand touched the bag, out came what sounded like the fluttering of thousands of wings at once, and suddenly everything went black. There wasn’t even time to think, What’s going on? as thousands of bees surrounded them. The powerful roar of wings made it hard to hear, and it was impossible to see anything properly.

“Ack, what is this!”

Several bees homed in on Pilhyun in his blue polo shirt. As he swung his arms around, struggling to chase them off, he staggered back.

“Argh! Go away!”

But most of the bees were circling Romi. Pilhyun had no choice but to back away from her slowly. Romi, too, could only take a few steps back, toward the sea.

Suddenly, someone shouted from the direction the bees had come from.

“Romi!”

Romi looked around, trying to orient herself toward that voice. She couldn’t see much at all with the bees obscuring her view, but she was certain the person running toward her now was Kyungwoon.

“Kyungwoon? Kyungwoon!”

Even with the bees around her, Romi waved her hands. Kyungwoon was holding a can of repellent spray as he made his way to her through the swarm.

“Romi, throw me the bag! Throw it!”

“What?”

She couldn’t hear a thing over the buzzing. She started to run toward Kyungwoon, but Pilhyun reached into the siege of bees and grabbed her by the arm.

“Let go of me!”

While they struggled, the buzzing of wings grew louder. The bees rushed toward Romi again, and Pilhyun ultimately had no choice but to release her. The noisy droning of the bees spread to fill the night. The sound seemed endless. But just then, an even louder sound rang out from the beach and drowned out the buzzing.

Bang.

The gunshot didn’t seem to concern the bees in the slightest, but everyone on the beach froze. A man in a black suit had one hand raised high in the air. In that hand, he held a smoking gun.

The man in glasses next to him shouted at Black Suit in utter disbelief. “Are you insane? Why would you fire a gun here of all places?”

Black Suit seemed not to have understood him. The man in glasses waved his hands and shouted again, in English, “No! Don’t shoot!”

Romi recognized him—finally, a face she knew at first glance. It was Chakyung’s fiancé.

Chanmin tried to approach Romi and Pilhyun, but because of the swarm, he hesitated, reaching out with only his hands.

“Just my luck,” Chanmin said. “What do you think you’re doing? Hand over the bag, now.”

Kyungwoon stepped in front of Chanmin, blocking his path. “What’s going on here? Why does he have a gun? Tell him to get rid of that thing, fast! This is dangerous!”

“You’d better move, before things get even more dangerous.”

Chanmin’s words were brazen, but his hands were trembling as he shoved Kyungwoon back. The military was one thing, but none of them had ever seen someone fire a gun in real life. Kyungwoon moved to block Chanmin again. The two of them glowered at each other.

The situation on the beach was already growing thorny. Romi was surrounded by a swarm of bees; Pilhyun couldn’t get to her easily because of the swarm; Chanmin and Kyungwoon were midstandoff; and the man in the suit was still holding the gun. To complicate matters further, another cry went up from a new arrival at the beach. It didn’t sound like one person, either, but dozens of women shouting. Between the buzzing of the bees, the firing of the gun, and the cries of the human horde now on its way, the beach had become the site of sheer chaos on what would have otherwise been a quiet night.

“Goodness gracious!”

“I’ll say! What’s with the gun?”

“What’s going on here?”

The crowd of middle-aged and elderly women who had carefully made their way down to the cliffs came to a stop at the sight of the man holding the gun and immediately started buzzing with chatter. But they seemed to have no intention of turning back.

Chakyung made her way to the front of the crowd. “Give it up, Chanmin!” she shouted. “What are you doing?”

Chanmin turned to her, his face going pale. But he couldn’t move. Because right then, Black Suit fired into the air again. At the sound of the gunshot, everyone ducked. Chakyung slowly got back up from where she had crouched, mustering all her strength to shout again.

“Chanmin, get back! Help Romi first, then talk!”

“You get back!” he shouted. “This guy is dangerous—you’re going to get hurt!”

If he knew the guy was dangerous, why had he come here with him? Chakyung felt pathetic, almost dumbstruck. She hadn’t known he was that much of a blockhead. Perhaps he hadn’t known that himself. But she knew it was impossible to back down in a no-win situation like this. For now, she had to try to keep everyone calm.

“Chanmin, it’s not too late to turn this around. It’s all right.”

Black Suit aimed his gun at Chakyung and shouted something at her. Chakyung raised her hands, speaking calmly.

“It’s all right,” she said. Then, in English, “You don’t have to do this. Please. Put the gun down.”

Those in the crowd of haenyeo crouched behind her whispered among themselves in the Jeju language.

“Goodness, that bride-to-be from Seoul really has no fear, huh?”

“You can say that again! Where’d she even learn a whole other language? Small but powerful, that one is.”

“What should we do? Can’t we help her?”

“There are more of us—if we work together, we could lift him up and toss him.”

“Oi, don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Black Suit was clearly hesitating. This wasn’t a situation he could resolve by shooting any one person, and it was written on his face plain as day that he was growing more and more disoriented in the midst of all this chatter he couldn’t understand.

Chakyung knew she needed to buy herself just a little more time. She took another step forward. Black Suit’s hand was shaking. Behind her, someone shouted over the heads of the haenyeo. “Chakyung, wait!”

Even at the sound of Soo-eon’s voice, she didn’t look back. She knew that if she did, she would be giving Black Suit the space to act rashly. She had to be calm. But Black Suit’s focus was wavering. He shifted his aim, pointing the gun in the direction the shout had come from. Once again, the haenyeo cried out in protest.

Chanmin also shouted at Black Suit behind him. “Leave her and the rest of them out of this! Go and search that bag!”

While this tense moment was playing out in front of him, Pilhyun saw an opening. He approached Romi and grabbed her by the arm, trying to drag her toward him. He figured while the others fought among themselves, he could get her to toss him the bag and run. He could withstand a few stings from the bees.

“Throw the bag! Let it go!”

Romi had the feeling all this trouble was because of this bag. What in the world could be inside it? Still, seeing as Sumi had risked everything to save her, Romi couldn’t turn the bag over that easily.

“No! Get lost!”

She snatched the bag from Pilhyun, losing her balance. She had been standing on a rock that was more like a low cliff when she began tipping backward. Pilhyun tried to grab her, but she slipped from his grasp. Without a moment to process what was happening, Romi fell past the rocks and into the ocean with a splash. A huge spray of water went up. The bees that had been hovering in the sky above Romi’s head now rushed out over the sea.

The scream everyone let out in unison rang out over the ocean at night.

One Hour Earlier

The road leading to the outdoor exhibition area had begun to feel incredibly long. Not only was it her first time here, but the dusk settling over everything made the place feel even more desolate. She hadn’t been running for long, but Hadam was already out of breath. She had lost sight of Kyungwoon as he rushed ahead. Behind her, Jaewoong was struggling to keep up, hauling the huge bag with the drone inside.

“What’s going on? Did something happen to Romi?”

Gasping, Hadam gripped her knee with one hand and pointed to the shade beneath a tree with her other. “Isn’t that the car Pilhyun drove here?”

Jaewoong squinted. There was a black SUV parked where Hadam was pointing. “I think so. I don’t know if that one’s his, but it’s the same model.”

“Then we’d better hurry.”

Having caught her breath, Hadam made to start running again when Jaewoong grabbed her arm.

“Why are you in such a hurry? You need to know what you’re looking for to find it.”

She was annoyed at his timing, but she figured it was best to answer him, fast. “Romi ... was kidnapped ... by Pilhyun.”

“What?”

“She might be in danger.”

“What are you talking about? Why would Pilhyun do that?” Jaewoong’s narrowed eyes went wide. He seemed to be in genuine shock. Hadam didn’t have time to concern herself with his feelings.

“He’s Romi’s stalker,” she answered bluntly. “There’s also the matter of the sexual assault ... what you told me about Hwayoung ...”

Hadam started running again. Jaewoong, still seemingly at a loss for words, fell into step with her.

“What about Hwayoung?”

“Hwayoung made a post on Facebook. Saying the person who assaulted her nine years ago was Pilhyun. And that she was sorry for not clarifying sooner.”

She could sense Jaewoong’s astonishment even in the darkness. He stopped short, still lagging behind her. “No way. Sunbae would never ...”

Hadam shot him an icy look. “We were wrong to believe he wasn’t that kind of guy.”

She had no interest now in Jaewoong’s shock. He was an adult, and he had to sort out for himself the disillusionment brought about by his own misconceptions and false beliefs, just like Hadam had done when it came to her beliefs about him. Right now, the most important thing was rescuing her friend.

When they reached the outdoor exhibition area, Kyungwoon was kneeling with his back to some sort of container and the body of someone passed out on the ground in front of him. Hadam’s heart sank. Were they too late? Had something already happened?

“Romi! Romi!”

Up close, she could see that the container was a beehive. The person lying passed out in front of it had swollen eyes messily covered by hair. It wasn’t the familiar blond hair Hadam had been expecting. It was brown. A pale face. Split, bloodied lips moving slightly.

“Hadam.”

“Sumi, what happened? Who did this to you?”

Sumi pointed to the sky where the sun was setting. “Romi’s in danger ... the bees ... follow the bees.”

Hadam couldn’t grasp what she meant. Romi was in danger, but follow the bees?

“Romi? Sumi, did you see her? Did Pilhyun drag her off somewhere?”

They had to call the police. As soon as Hadam took out her phone, Kyungwoon told her, “I called an ambulance. And the police. But a fight broke out among the members of a huge gang at a resort in the area, so all the officers at the nearest police station were dispatched there. They said it might take a while before anyone could come.”

He looked up at Hadam, pale lips trembling.

“Could you stay here and look after Sumi until Jungmoon hyung gets here?” he asked. “I have to find Romi.”

Hadam nodded. “Your husband should be here soon, Sumi, so don’t worry. I’ll ...”

Sumi suddenly grabbed on to Kyungwoon’s arm again. “Follow the bees. The swarm.”

He also seemed confused about what she meant. Was she imagining things, still in shock from the violence?

Hwachul, who had been examining the beehive, turned to the rest of them and somberly announced, “There’s not a single bee in here. They all escaped.”

Kyungwoon rushed over and checked inside himself. When he turned back to the others, he wore a look of disbelief. “They can’t have ...”

Jaewoong, a silent spectator until then, commented, “It’s almost nighttime, though? Bees don’t fly at night, do they?”

Hadam had never thought about it, but she knew that bees relied on the sun to find their way. She had never actually seen any at night, but ...

“These bees do,” Sumi eked out with a groan, the words rising up into the cloudless sky so much like bees themselves. “These bees can fly at night. They follow their queen ... everywhere. I gave the queen bee to Romi. In that bag.”

She was going to say more, but at that moment, someone came running toward her, shoving the others aside. Hwachul grabbed on to Hadam to stop her from falling over.

“Sumi, darling! What happened?” Sumi’s husband shouted, taking her face in his hands. “What jerk did this to you?”

Before anyone could answer, Jungmoon looked up and shot a glare at everyone else there. “And what are you all doing? Standing around and not rushing her to the hospital when you can see she’s hurt!”

Jaewoong looked dumbfounded as he tried to piece together a response, but Sumi raised a hand and gestured to her husband to come closer. He leaned over, bringing his ear down toward her lips.

“What’s wrong, honey? What do you need?”

Sumi’s lips moved slightly. “You ...”

“Yes, I’m right here! Just tell me!” He grabbed his wife’s hand.

Drawing on a rush of strength that came to her out of nowhere, Sumi shook his hand off hers. “You talk too much,” she said. “Shut up.”

The wail of the ambulance siren was a signal to onlookers to congregate. Just a little while earlier, not a single person had been passing through the outdoor exhibition area, but now a crowd was forming. The EMTs loaded Sumi onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. Her husband followed after her, slouching petulantly. The police still hadn’t arrived on the scene. Hadam didn’t know what exactly the deal was with the other big incident that had taken place, but she hoped they would move as fast as possible to save someone who was in danger. She would be furious if they left her hanging in the wind like this. Jaewoong had left his bag with her and said he was going to look around. He seemed to be feeling guilty for ever having brought Pilhyun along. But his guilt was unnecessary. If Pilhyun truly had been Romi’s stalker all along, he would have found some excuse to approach her regardless. When she thought of it that way, Hadam realized she was the reason he’d had even easier access to Romi this time around. Once again, she tried to tamp down the guilt standing in her way. Now was the time to use that guilt not as an excuse but to solve this crime.

Kyungwoon and Hwachul returned, drenched in sweat. There were no witnesses nearby, and they couldn’t tell which direction Pilhyun and Romi might have taken off in.

“There are thousands of bees, so we should be able to find them, but it’ll be dark out soon. Things could get dangerous, so every minute counts,” Kyungwoon said.

His face seemed to have grown even more gaunt in the span of fifteen minutes. Nonetheless, Hadam admired the fact that he hadn’t lost his composure. But enough of that—every minute truly did count, and they had two people to find. This was Romi they were dealing with, though. They couldn’t even begin to guess where she would have headed—after all, she had no sense of direction.

“Let’s split up and look again,” Hwachul suggested. Could they find her if they searched in teams? They didn’t have much time.

Hadam phoned Jaewoong, who had gone back to the convention center.

“Yeah, she’s not here,” he reported. “I’m taking one last look around and heading back your way now.”

“No witnesses?”

“None—everyone here says they didn’t see anything. I confirmed from the CCTV footage that two people went toward the outdoor exhibition area on foot, but they told me the next-closest security camera is under the jurisdiction of the police.”

Hadam was so mad, she almost kicked Jaewoong’s bag where it sat at her feet. Luckily, she stopped herself, her foot and her gaze lingering over it. What had Jaewoong said earlier ...?

“This drone you brought—is it good for night shoots?”

Jaewoong seemed to catch on to what she was thinking.

“It should be able to function without crashing headfirst into anything if there’s a good amount of light. At least fifteen lux. But even in low light, it works fine. As it should, considering ... I had to splurge a bit to rent it.”

Even the camera lens on a specialty drone must have come at an exorbitant fee. It wouldn’t have been easy to rent something like this from anyone. To own one of these, you had to be intensely passionate about filmmaking.

“What’s the flight time on it?”

“Around twenty-five minutes, at the most.”

“Got it. Hurry back.”

Hadam ended the call and turned again to Hwachul and Kyungwoon. She had no choice but to step up as the director for the shoot they were about to do. The name of the project was Rescuing Romi . Until the police got here, she would have to be the one putting all the pieces into place to find Romi, Pilhyun, and the swarm of bees, fast.

She did not think this so-called drone, shaped like a tiny helicopter and meant for filming, resembled a bee at all. But once Hadam mounted a tablet to the master controller and plugged in the cable, she found herself hoping the drone would track down the swarm like a real bee. If Pilhyun really had gotten his hands on Romi, there was no time to waste. The drone’s limited flight time was twenty-five minutes, and even less time remained until the light of day vanished and plunged them into darkness. Beside her, Jaewoong finished adjusting the camera settings on the drone and took over the secondary controller. Once he got the app working, the drone hummed to life with a sound like an actual bee and began to rise, opening its wings. It soon disappeared above them, and the footage of its surroundings appeared on the tablet screen. Kyungwoon and Hwachul had already set off.

The video on the screen showed the ocean blanketed in the purple light of evening, the mountain forests, and the sea at a glance. The drone was too far out to discern exactly what things were, so Hadam slightly adjusted its location. Just then, she picked up a phone call ringing in her Bluetooth earphones.

“Hello?”

“Hadam? Did something happen? I just heard from Soo-eon that a woman from Seoul was injured. And I saw you running around earlier. Is Romi all right?”

Chakyung sounded anxious. Hadam could hear loud chatter from other people in the background. She must have still been at the conference hall.

Eyes still on the tablet, Hadam explained the situation in the simplest terms. Chakyung seemed shocked, but she quickly regained her composure.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.

“Maybe you can follow after Kyungwoon and Hwachul and keep up the search until the police get here. You could also be the point of contact for—oh!”

“What is it?”

“I just saw something on the monitor. There’s a swarm of bees flying over the beach!”

“Bees?”

“Yes! We’re supposed to follow the bees to find Romi!”

Chakyung couldn’t understand that logic. But she didn’t seem at all flustered. Rather, it was exactly her nature to grow calmer the wilder the situation at hand became.

“Where is it? That location, roughly?”

“It looks like it’s somewhere on the walking trail leading away from the hotel.”

Someone in the background was shouting. “These waters ... our hands ...” Hadam couldn’t make out the entirety of what was being said.

“Chakyung, let’s hang up for now—”

Then came another shout on the other line. “Hadam, there are some locals here, haenyeo divers who say they want to help with the search,” Chakyung said. “They say they know this area really well. We’ll probably have an easier time finding her with more people on board. We should stay on the line, and you can let me know what you see on the monitor, describe for me the landscape or the bees’ surroundings. Then the divers should be able to tell us where we need to go.”

Hadam gripped the controller tighter. She had done film shoots countless times before, but never had her work felt as important as it did now. This was her first time filming something to save a person’s life.

Back to the Present

The water shot about three feet into the air where Romi fell into the sea, and the bees immediately rushed toward that spot and gathered overhead. The swarm blacked out the sky. The shore was equally buzzing with noise.

Chanmin shouted to Black Suit, “What are you doing? Hurry up and grab that bag!”

Seeing that Black Suit didn’t seem to have understood, Chanmin pointed and took off running toward the spot where Romi had fallen in, staring down at the rocks below. It was somewhat high up, and he could see even Black Suit hesitating. A man with a gun was afraid of the water. Chanmin nudged the other man forward, urging him, “Hurry and jump in. Do you want the boss to kill you? Get that bag!”

As Black Suit turned to Chanmin in irritation, Pilhyun sneaked up beside them and shoved Black Suit, hard. He fell into the water and flailed around in place, unable to swim. While Chanmin knelt down to peer over the edge of the cliff, Pilhyun tried to make a run for it. But at some point, Hwachul had appeared behind him and now stood blocking his way.

“Move!”

Pilhyun tried shoving past him, ramming his shoulder into the other man’s chest, but Hwachul stood his ground and sprayed Pilhyun in the face with bee repellent. Just as Pilhyun screamed and reached up to cover his face, Hwachul grabbed one of his arms and twisted it behind his back. Pilhyun cried out again in pain, but no one paid any attention to him.

Kyungwoon was already in the water. He tried to swim toward where the bees had gathered, but the tide swept him back. He wouldn’t be able to locate Romi without diving. “Romi!” he shouted, but the drone of the bees’ wings and the roar of the waves drowned him out.

Chakyung and her group had at some point congregated on the black rocks and were standing in a circle. Kyungwoon’s head kept dipping under the water and resurfacing like a duck’s. As he watched him struggle, Soo-eon’s expression hardened.

“The flow of the currents is tricky here because of the landscape,” he told Chakyung. “It doesn’t look like Kyungwoon hyung will be able to dive in and stay under. We can’t afford to wait for the coast guard either. I’m going to have to go in.”

Chakyung grabbed hold of his arms, her eyes full of concern. This was their only option if they wanted to save Romi. But now that night had fallen, the sea was like another place entirely. The waves were rough and unpredictable, the depths impossible to fathom. Chakyung was afraid, but now wasn’t the time for fear.

Soo-eon smiled at her with his eyes, a look that told her not to worry. Nodding, she let him go.

He had started to pull off his shirt, when someone next to him tapped him sharply on the shoulder. He turned in surprise to find one of the elderly women from the crowd sternly shaking her head. Another granny laughed so hard, she snorted. Another still was in the middle of dramatically removing her dark blue, sequin-studded outer garments. Three or four others were also peeling off their clothes or tying T-shirts around their waists.

The one who had tapped Soo-eon on the shoulder chided him.

“Don’t you dare, kid. You trying to go out there and drown yourself?”

All forty or so of the grannies from the event booth earlier collectively tutted at him.

“The water here’s dangerous—only our most expert divers should even consider going out there. If we sent out one of the average divers or the rookies all willy-nilly, it could be a disaster.”

The most expert haenyeo were in their late sixties and early seventies. They were the ones who had giggled like little girls when they spun the wheel for cosmetics earlier. Now Chakyung saw on their faces the kind of confidence they could wear only if they were fully certain of their abilities. Chakyung bowed to them, then took Soo-eon’s hand and pulled him aside.

Once they were all set, the haenyeo let out a spirited cry. “All right! Let’s move!”

As Chakyung had already recognized and as it became increasingly apparent, the crowd headed toward the sea was not the same group of suntanned grannies she had first encountered earlier that day. These women were professionals whose bodies had been trained and cultivated in the ocean over the course of decades; they had memorized the depths and shallows of these waters, their dangers and reprieves.

They swam out to where the bees had amassed, heads disappearing beneath the water one by one. After an impossibly long three minutes passed and they resurfaced, there was one more head among them.

The collective breath everyone on the cliff had been holding was released all at once. Someone let out a sigh of relief, and those in the crowd began to applaud as if that were their cue. Just then came a voice from behind them.

“Um, if it’s possible, could I have some help here too?”

Everyone turned.

Hwachul was red in the face from struggling to contain Pilhyun and barely managed to eke out the words, “Someone ... please ...”

Still holding hands, Soo-eon and Chakyung exchanged a look. Right away, they sprang into action.