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What is this place?
‘Here, why don’t you massage the other arm?’ the girl said.
Without another word Miss Ma closed the door and left.
I didn’t even know what massage was for, let alone how to give one. The
man was very fat and shining with sweat, as if he’d just come out of a
sauna. In the dim light he looked like some sea mammal that had washed
ashore and begun to rot. I touched him with extreme reluctance. I couldn’t
see his face. After a few seconds, he said: ‘Who’s this? She’s hopeless.’
‘She’s new,’ my co-worker said. ‘We’re training her.’
The girl gave me an imploring look, as if I was getting her into trouble.
She was about my own age, small and pretty, but with a damaged look in
her eyes.
After a while the man heaved himself up, took a good look at me, and
invited both of us to join him in a karaoke bar a short drive away.
‘I don’t think we’re allowed to do that,’ I said.
‘Don’t be silly,’ my co-worker laughed. ‘Of course we are.’
Upstairs, the man with the blue serpent tattoo stood to open the glass
doors for us, and flagged down a taxi.
I hadn’t eaten anything and my stomach was churning with nerves. I was
worried that events were going to take an even weirder turn in the karaoke
bar, but the fat man lost interest in me after I twice declined an alcoholic
drink. It seemed to deflate whatever plans he had for a night with two girls.
My co-worker, however, joined him in several shots of soju. I sang a few
Chinese songs. He sang some himself. By the time we took a taxi back it
was dark.
My co-worker took me to a building at the back of the hair salon. We
climbed several flights of narrow stairs to a door with multiple locks. She
opened it, turned on the light, and I saw the filthiest room I had seen in my
life. In the corner something scuttled and vanished. Five bunk beds were
crammed into a tiny space. Ten girls were living here. It stank of body
odour and drains. A line of drying panties was strung between bunks;
clothes were strewn across the beds. I peered into the bathroom, and
pressed my hand to my nose and mouth.
This is what I’ve escaped to?
I was very tired by now, and weak from having eaten nothing but a few
bar snacks. I said: ‘If it’s all right with you, I’ll stay tonight because it’s
late. But I’ll leave in the morning. I don’t think I’m going to take this job.’
I’ll never forget the look that came into the girl’s eyes. I’d seen it many
times in North Korea. She was afraid.
‘This is not the kind of place you can just leave,’ she said.
‘What do you mean?’
Her voice fell to a whisper. ‘They won’t let you.’
I lay awake all night on a stained mattress. I was too scared to sleep. It was
very humid and the room had no ventilation. Was this my fate as an illegal?
To live in places like this? How could they make me stay against my will?
They couldn’t chain me. I was trying to make sense of the fear in my co-
worker’s eyes, and the answer presented itself. They’ll harm me if I try to
leave.
I had been a complete fool. Miss Ma had guessed I was an illegal the
moment she saw me.
The woman had tricked me to get me here. I would need to employ the
same tactic to leave. I would have to trick her back.
The next morning, the other beds were still empty. Whoever they
belonged to had slept elsewhere. My co-worker and I went to the salon. I
was relieved to see that the brute with the blue serpent tattoo was not there.
Miss Ma was sitting behind the cash register, looking gaudily dolled up.
I walked towards her. I needed to put on an act, and a good one.
‘We had such a time at the karaoke,’ I said. I held my hand to my head as
if I had a hangover, and gave a look of comic mock-despair.
‘Good.’ She gave a small, sour smile. ‘That’s what you’re here for. How
much did the gentleman tip you?’
He hadn’t given me anything. ‘The money’s in my jeans in the dorm,’ I
said. ‘I was in no state to count it last night.’
‘Never leave money there. Always bring it straight here.’
‘Sure. Sorry. When do I meet the other girls?’
‘They’ll be here when they’re ready.’
I crossed my fingers for luck. ‘Before it gets busy, I’m going to pop back
to Xita and get my things.’
Her eyes hardened. All of yesterday’s friendliness had gone. ‘What do
you need? I will provide it.’
‘Oh, no,’ I laughed, ‘I wouldn’t ask you to provide a guitar. That’s all I
want to fetch, and some personal photos. The guitar won’t get in the way. In
fact, everything will fit underneath the bunk.’
I pretended to worry that she thought my stuff would take up too much
space.
‘You’ll be late for your first booking if you go anywhere.’
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