Sangook

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking home from work, and as I was punching in the code for the front door of my building, I felt eyes on me. I turned to my left, and sure enough, there was a guy trying to catch my attention from his car. I took my ear buds out and walked over to see what he wanted.

The guy spoke English and introduced himself as Sangook. He owns the shop right next to my building. How it took ten months for me to meet this guy, I have no idea. We quickly exchanged numbers and promised we'd hang out some time.

Sure enough, a couple days later, he invited me out to dinner with him and his buddy at a Korean restaurant in old downtown. It was a delicious and surprisingly filling soup. During dinner, Sangook told me about his dream of moving to the Philippines. See, his wife lives over there, but unfortunately, he feels weighed down in Korea by the responsibility of having to take care of his mother and by his three businesses. Plus, he's concerned that it'd be hard for a foreigner to start a business in the Philippines. In short, he doesn't see a way how he could possibly move over there, and instead, he has to take solace in splitting his time between both countries. The way he talked, I could tell Sangook was miserable. He wanted to be with his wife so badly; it was written all over his face. I even got to talk to his wife on the phone for a bit, and she sounded like a beautiful person.

It broke my heart to see the guy so sad, so I told him about my own dream of traveling the world and my dream of becoming a writer and how I've chosen to actively pursue my dream because I realized that if I don't take responsibility for my own happiness, nobody else will. I reminded him that he only has one life to live, and he owes it to himself to make sure it's a happy one. I think my words struck a chord with him, because the soju and beer started flowing from there, and Sangook kept telling me I was a great guy the whole night.

The following week, I followed through on my promise to take Sangook out for traditional Margherita pizza at Bella de Notte. Once again, the conversation moved to the Philippines; and once again, I insisted, he pursued his dreams.

To my surprise, after our delicious pizzas, Sangook said he was still hungry, so he took me to a Korean restaurant across the street from Bella. Once seated, he ordered a platter of something or other. Our food came shortly after, but no amount of soju could have prepared me for what I saw. Our food was still moving! Sangook had ordered us a platter of raw beef and "fresh" (his word) octopus. The damn thing had just been cut up! I felt like I was trapped in a corner. What was I going to do? I couldn't say no. And yet, this was one thing I had promised myself I would never eat in Korea.

Eventually, I figured I just needed a couple shots of soju to calm my nerves.

The protocol for eating this ungodly concoction is to wrap some beef and octopus in a seaweed leaf, down a shot of soju, and dig in. The reason for the soju, Sangook explained, is that soju represents the strength, the beauty, and the struggle of life; it's meant to give you strength to take on tomorrow.

Ironically (or rather, not ironically at all, I suppose), the soju did not at all give me the strength to take on tomorrow, on account of tomorrow was Wednesday and I had to work. If anything, it sapped all of my strength. Five bottles of soju will do that to you. It was certainly a memorable night, though.

Then last week, I was on my way to work, and I saw Sangook outside of his shop. He stopped me and smiled at me with a huge look of excitement. "I want to talk to you," he said. Unfortunately, I was running late, but I could tell it was important, so I listened to what he had to say.

It turns out, he's taking my advice and jumping ship to the Philippines. No wonder he looked so happy. He'll be jumping back and forth between here and there for a while as he settles matters with his family, his properties, and his businesses, which he sold to his brother, but eventually, he'll be able to call the Philippines home.

I love Sangook dearly, and I really hope everything works out for him. I can tell by some of the things he told me about his past that he's the kind of guy that wears his emotions on his sleeves, which can be pretty nerve wracking and exhausting in this world; but anybody who has the courage to take that sort of plunge in mad pursuit of their own happiness deserves nothing but good things as far as I'm concerned. He has all of respect for doing what he's doing.