How to Avoid the Monday Blues Chapter 9

Noise slipped in through the gaps in the window and reached Sewon’s ears as he lay blankly on the bed. Though it was late at night, the alleys of Istanbul were still lively and bustling. The city’s abundant lights only made his heart feel emptier.

Sewon got up and shut the window tightly. Then he deliberately turned away from the thoughts rising up like fragments.

Thud. As he lay back down on the bed, this time what seemed to reach his ears was not the honking of cars but a low, quiet voice.

[How about traveling together while you’re here?]

What had he answered to the man’s question? He thought he had rambled on, neither refusing nor fully accepting…

[I know better than anyone that I’m not fun to travel with, so I’d have no right to complain if you refused… Still, I’d rather you didn’t refuse.]

Just what kind of answer had Sewon given that made the man—who had seemed so unbothered—look a little desperate? Posing a question he couldn’t answer, Sewon fell into a deep sleep.

Tuesday

Sunlight poured in through the window he hadn’t drawn the curtains over. Sewon, who had been frowning and enduring it, eventually had no choice but to open his eyes and get up. Turning on his phone, Sewon searched for a stationery store. It was to make copies of his travel itinerary. He could have asked the hotel to copy it, but everyone had been so burdensomely interested in his travel plans that it felt like a burden. Though it was early, quite a few stationery stores were already open.

The time he had agreed to meet the man today was 10 o’clock.

There was plenty of time until then. Sewon got up without hesitation. Unfolding the itinerary he had printed in Korea beforehand, he drew a line through the “Topkapı Palace” portion from yesterday’s schedule and moved it to today’s date. He had written it fairly neatly, but perhaps because he’d used the blunt hotel pen, it looked shabby.

Sewon, having brought the itinerary with him, headed to the stationery store he had looked up in advance. The LED sign reading “COPY CENTER” was shining brilliantly even in the morning. The stationery store he entered after opening the door was so cramped that it was hard for even two people to fit inside.

“China? Japan?”

A middle-aged man who appeared to be the store owner immediately asked Sewon his nationality. Perhaps because he had practiced immigration questions too many times, the answer popped right out of Sewon’s mouth.

“South Korea…”

“Oh, hello.”

At Sewon’s answer, the man greeted him in awkward Korean. Sewon had thought his impression was brusque, but when he smiled, he looked like a completely different person.

The store owner, whose wife and daughter were fans of Korean dramas, asked what brought him in. Sewon answered that he was traveling and held out the slightly crumpled itinerary, asking for a copy.

“Color? Black?”

“Color, please.”

When Sewon held up one finger to indicate one copy, the man nodded and put the paper into the copier.

Soon after, Sewon walked out of the store with two neatly organized copies of his travel itinerary in his hands.

Topkapı Palace, whose name combines “Top,” meaning cannon, and “Kapı,” meaning gate, was the palace where the sultans of the Ottoman Empire had lived.

Walking through the gardens of Topkapı Palace, the first stop of the day, was not just the man and Sewon but three people.

“The place we’re about to enter is the Sultan’s audience chamber. After seeing this, you’re free to look around on your own.”

The guide, who had introduced herself as Jasmine, said to Sewon and the man with a smile. Having a travel guide accompany them at Topkapı Palace was the man’s idea, not Sewon’s.

It wasn’t as bad as Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque, but a long line stretched in front of Topkapı Palace as well. Entry was estimated to take about an hour, but the two of them were able to pass through the Second Courtyard in less than ten minutes.

The reason they could enter so quickly was that the man had signed up for a tour with a guide who was soliciting customers. If accompanied by a state-certified guide, they could enter immediately without waiting in line, but since it was a private tour, the price was quite high. But before Sewon could stop him, the man had already paid for the tour.

“Over a thousand kilograms of gold was used for that throne. The gems embedded throughout are all emeralds.”

The narrow passage leading to the emperor’s audience chamber was packed with tourists. Jasmine introduced the noteworthy spots to Sewon in a hushed, quiet voice.

“Did you see the faucet in the Sultan’s reception room earlier? The Sultan would turn on the water while conversing, to prevent secret discussions from leaking out.”

Jasmine, who had said she studied in England when she was young, had almost no Turkish accent in her English. Because of that, Sewon had no trouble understanding her at all.

“Good idea.”

The man nodded as if intrigued and answered. At Topkapı Palace, Sewon learned another fact about the man.

That his English was excellent. There was a naturalness that stood in clear contrast to Sewon’s own English, which he had hurriedly improved for job preparation.

“Have you already seen Dolmabahçe Palace?”

“No. Not yet.”

At Jasmine’s question, the man looked at Sewon and yielded the answer to him.

“I’m planning to go tomorrow.”

Jasmine, wearing a gentle smile, left a few tips for the rest of their trip.

“When you visit Dolmabahçe Palace, try viewing it while recalling Topkapı Palace. Pay attention to power, decline, and outward appearances. That will make your impressions far more varied and rich.”

“Yes. Thank you. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Today’s explanations were interesting. Thank you, guide.”

After exchanging farewells with Jasmine, the two decided to see the places they hadn’t yet toured, including the Baghdad Pavilion. In the palace gardens, as at any tourist site, there were many group tourists. Though he was only briefly away, the chatter of Korean tourists sounded welcome.

In the treasury they entered after standing in line, an 84-carat diamond and a dagger studded with enormous emeralds were on display. The overwhelming size of the diamond made Sewon’s eyes go wide.

Standing in the courtyard after leaving the treasury and looking at Topkapı Palace, its appearance was far from ornate. It merely looked crude and solid. Sewon recalled the inscription written on the “Gate of the Emperor,” the main gate of Topkapı Palace. It was a hymn of praise for Mehmed II, who had built this palace.

<Sultan of two continents and ruler of two seas, shadow of God in this world and the next, hero on land and water…>

Mehmed II, the conquering monarch, had captured Constantinople at the age of twenty-one. At an age similar to Sewon’s, he had already built achievements and left his name in history.

What would it mean to live bearing the most glorious epithets that can be attached to a human before one’s name?

No matter how much he thought about it, it wasn’t something an ordinary person like him could empathize with.

After finishing their tour of Topkapı Palace, Sewon and the man returned to the main gate through the path behind the palace kitchens.

Recalling that during its heyday, over a thousand cooks had prepared meals for more than twenty thousand people, the thought in Sewon’s heart slipped out of his mouth on its own.

“Ah, I’m hungry…”

“Shall we go eat lunch?”

The man looked at Sewon and asked. Though it was polite speech, it sounded somewhat like coaxing a small child.

“Yes. Is there anything you’d like to eat?”

“I’m not particularly picky.”

At the man’s words, Sewon showed him his phone screen. On the map, several restaurants Sewon had looked up in advance were marked with red dots.

“How about here…? The rating is over 4, and there are over 2,000 reviews. I wrote it down in the itinerary too.”

“Then let’s go here. I’ll buy the meal.”

“You don’t have to…”

“Thanks to you, I’m traveling comfortably, so let me buy you at least this much. Hm?”

Truthfully, the one traveling comfortably was Sewon, not the man. He earnestly explained this to the man, but he couldn’t win the argument over “who buys the meal.”

Whenever they visited a restaurant in Istanbul, the surprising thing was how quick the servers were. The moment Sewon and the man finished ordering, side dishes including bread before the meal were set out.