Atonement, About it's Cruelty - Chapter 7
Could she had been scammed during the currency exchange? Or perhaps she overpaid….for the carriage, the train, or the boat fare?
The problem was that she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what she had done wrong.
At least she made it safely to her first destination, Felpe Bank, which was somewhat a consolation.
Then, she sensed someone approaching.
Seo-ah quickly buttoned up her coat and straightened up. As she was fastening the buttons, the door opened and the employee entered. Her heart, which had just settled, began to race again, and her gaze involuntarily dropped like it was pulled in.
“Thank you for waiting.”
The employee said with a smile in his voice as he sat down across from her. She could see his lips curving into a smile from the corner of her eye.
“We have verified that the key is authentic. I apologize for any lack of proper service earlier. I ask for your understanding.”
She replied, relieved.
“Yes, I understand.”
“…”
“…?”
The employee’s response was lukewarm, but without knowing exactly what was odd, she had no choice but to remain silent. And often, silence is a safe answer.
Sure enough, the employee got straight to the point.
“We’ll need to go through a few verification steps. Are you the person who initially set up this safe?”
Seo-ah tried to maintain a calm expression as she looked at the edge of the document in front of the employee.
“No.”
The corners of the employee’s mouth briefly dipped before lifting again.
“I see. Normally, only the person who set up the safe has the right to open it. However, this safe hasn’t had its owner appear for 20 years, and as of 210 days ago, the ownership of the key also became valid for the possessor. Please understand that the process can be complicated and time-consuming if you are not the original party.”
“I understand.”
The employee shrugged his shoulders and replied,
“Um… yes, thank you.”
“Oh, then… can I receive the key acquisition certificate today?”
The employee paused, giving her a probing look before asking,
“You seem to know quite specifically about the procedure for accessing the safe?”
“…Is it confidential?”
“Not at all.”
The employee then pushed the black tray towards Seo-ah.
“We need a certified document to prove your identity. Did you bring it?”
Seo-ah, as if expecting the request, rummaged through her coat. The longer she searched, the more the employee’s professional smile began to fade.
Her face was dotted with sweat as she diligently searched through the many pockets visible in brief glimpses, making it seem as though she was using her worn coat as a giant wallet.
Then, Seo-ah’s expression brightened slightly as she pulled something out of her coat.
At first glance, it looked like a handkerchief, but surprisingly, it was a very sophisticated item. It was hard to believe something so sleek and shiny could come out of her old coat.
She placed it on the tray, and the employee collected it. The object, heavier than a handkerchief, radiated a warm afterglow.
It was peculiar. Why would she wear such a thing?
From head to toe, she was an enigma, and it made one curious about her true identity.
The employee, with a pounding heart, unfolded her identification document. At that moment, the professional smile that had been fixed on his face evaporated.
He blinked blankly, looking from the woman to the document, and back to the woman again, like a cornered rabbit. Seo-ah, noticing his hesitation, asked,
“Is there a problem?”
“Uh… well…”
The employee’s words trailed off.
There was indeed a problem, but it was difficult to articulate.
Living as an intellectual on the Norfolk continent, he had never encountered such a situation before.
The employee shut his mouth tightly and looked at the document again, but that did not solve the problem.
Because, within the document Seo-ah had handed over, there wasn’t a single character he could recognize.
* * *
Seo-ah thought to herself.
When she was pushed into the carriage, that was her chance.
Instead of asking to go to the bank, she should have asked to go to an inn. She should have rested well overnight and then headed to the bank first thing in the morning.
To put it simply, the identification document she had treasured was now put on hold.
After scrutinizing the certificate for a long while, the employee hurriedly brought over a few colleagues, and like sparrows gathering seeds, they huddled together, intensely examining the document and even held it up to the light.
As Seo-ah watched their bewildered examination, one of them suddenly asked,
“Which country issued this certificate?”
If boarding the carriage was her first opportunity, her second and last chance undoubtedly came with that question.
Despite the clearly written name at the top, they had asked her that.
“Dan Country.”
“…Man Country?”
“Dan. Country.”
“Mean Country?”
“Dan. Country.”
“Dancountry?”
“…Yes, that sounds right.”
Instead of engaging in meaningless exchanges, she should have directly asked if they couldn’t read the script.
She could have allowed them to copy the document to find someone who could interpret it, promising to return once they had verified it and only asking for the key acquisition certificate.
While she hesitated, unable to express what she really wanted to say, night had completely fallen. To her defense, the VIP reception room had no windows, so she was unaware of the day fading.
After a lengthy debate that felt endless and concluding that the document was untranslatable, the employees finally copied the identification document.
Only then did one of them draft the paperwork certifying her as the keyholder.
What came after the crowd of employees dispersed like sparrows, and she received the completed certificate from the employee was a chilling feeling.
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