RSL Ch 2

When the plane was at 30,000 feet, I switched to autopilot. I make eye contact with the Co-pilot and turn the seatbelt light off. Immediately, someone sticks their face into the camera outside the cockpit. It’s the cabin steward. I identified myself and he opened the door for me.

“What kind of meal would you like me to prepare?”

“Oh, I like Korean food… Co-pilot, what do you want?”

If the Co-pilot chooses Korean food, I must eat something else. Pilots are not allowed to eat the same meal by airline law.

“What do you have?”

“Oh, there’s curry. If you don’t like it, shall I serve the economy meal? We also have braised beef if you prefer it over white fleshed fish.”

“I’ll have fish, then.”

“Yes, sir. What can I get you for the drink?”

“Sparkling water, please.”

“Yes, what about the Co-pilot?”

“I’ll just drink water and coffee.”

She nodded and went outside. After apologizing for choosing the Korean menu, the Co-pilot asked me how long I had been out of Korea. He seemed relieved when I said 22 years. In truth, I wasn’t particularly attached to Korean cuisine.

When I was flying in Germany, I had the experience of sharing the controls with Koreans a few times due to the flight schedules of the same airline alliance.

At one point, there were three captains on the flight, and there was a bit of a nervous breakdown. The other captain and I, both relatively new to the airplane, took the white flag for a captain in his fifties who had been flying Airbus for 20 years. I remember him sitting in the left cockpit, sweating it out a bit because we had bad turbulence that day.

The cabin crew brought drinks first. It wasn’t the office manager. She was the crew member who had ridden the bus with me in the morning.

“I’ll bring the meal shortly.”

She, with a neat updo and not a single strand of hair out of place, went out again. I sipped the sparkling water she’d brought on a tray and checked the instrument panel. We’re flying steady.

“Captain, are you married?”

The Co-pilot smiled and asked.

“No, I’m single.”

“I thought so, you must be one of the youngest in the company as a captain in charge… When did you get your ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot License)?”

“Seven years ago.”

“Wow, it’s really different from Korea.”

Being able to surpass the timeline of military service might make it faster, but even without that, I heard that Korea has a complex promotion system. It involves distinguishing between large and small aircraft, and whether one comes from the Air Force or civilian aviation is also important. Above all, it seems that the environment for young co-pilots to freely accumulate flight hours is not conducive. The Co-pilot next to me is a year or two older than me.

“The friend who provided catering earlier seemed to be interested in you, Captain.”

He seemed to be a misunderstanding.

“No, it’s not like that. I took a morning bus together, and I pretended to know her first.”

Her face appeared again on the rear camera as she opened the door with a button located at the top.

“I’ll serve you first, Captain. And… here, the Co-pilot’s Korean food.”

She wore an apron and set the food on a tray for me. I say thank you and get a smile in return. As she walked away, the Co-pilot tore open the business class meal in front of me and said, “Look at that.”

“The look in her eyes, it was in the captain’s hand.”

I followed suit and looked down at my hand opening my meal. Ah, it seemed like he was checking for a wedding ring.

“I’m married within the company too. When I entered the cockpit, our eyes met, and I asked for her number right away.”

He showed me his finger with the wedding ring and then shared the story of how he dated and eventually got married.

In fact, it wasn’t entirely uncommon even in Germany. Just before coming here, I had gone on a date with a cabin crew member who had shown interest in me. At that time, I wasn’t clear about my sexual preferences, and I was curious about Han Jae-yi’s reaction as well.

‘Good job, get a relationship.’

That was about it.

Looking back, many people encouraged me to get into a relationship. It seemed like people were looking for a lover for unfulfilled emotions, but I wasn’t thirsty for a relationship because I had already drawn those kinds of emotions from Han Jae-yi.

Sure, he seemed to be seeing girls on a regular basis, but he never introduced them properly. Most of the time, he denied having a girlfriend and claimed that he wasn’t in a serious relationship with anyone he did mention. I have grown accustomed to such things over the past 15 years.

Damn, I’m thinking about Han Jae-yi again.