Hwang Sok-Yong - The Shadow of Arms

“What do you have today?” Thach asked.

“Canned pork and potatoes.”

“Boring, yet again,” Thach said. Then he turned to Toi and said, “Bring me some raisins and spices.”

“They haven’t done the inventory yet, that’s why. We’ll go back on Friday, so why don’t you let them know directly what you need?”

“Ah, all right, then.”

“I guess the money for last week’s been collected?”

“Yeah, about eight hundred dollars so far.”

“We need to rent one of your cars. Mr. Nguyen Thach, let us use one of your box vans. How much do you charge for a day?”

“I’ll let you have it for twenty-five dollars, gas not included. Others will charge you thirty, but since we’re a family here I’ll give you a discount.”

“We only need it after siesta, not the whole day.”

“Fifteen, then. But you people have vehicles, don’t you?”

“They’re all marked with company names. My friend, a sergeant, and I are going to use it. Ten dollars, what do you say?”

“All right. But have it back before dark. There’ll be another five dollars charged if you use it until late tonight.” Thach was an excellent haggler.

“Ask him about the A-rations,” Yong Kyu said to Toi.

“What about them?”

“Well, prices, what’s in demand, that sort of thing.”

“Mr. Nguyen Thach, what kinds of A-rations are selling well these days?” Toi inquired.

“Can you get some?” Thach countered with a sparkle in his eyes.

“Well, we can try. .”

“Onions are good and so is beef. . apples and oranges are doing especially well.”

“Which command the best price now?”

“Hard to tell. I’ve never handled them. Go over to the new market and find out for yourself. There’s also one dealer here, a very large operation called Puohung Company, right over on the next alley. The owner is an even bigger trader than my brother.”

“Sergeant, I could smell it,” Toi said to Yong Kyu. “We were right, it’s Puohung Company after all. They handle A-rations, he says.”

“No more questions for him now.”

Thach went back over to his desk and sat down. He punched his calculator for a while and then, out of the blue, asked Yong Kyu, “My understanding is that only American soldiers can lay hands on A-rations, and there are none at Turen, is that right?”

“They store them across the river.”

“As I said, Puohung is the only one around here handling A-rations. As for me, I’m more interested in medical supplies. My brother says antibiotics are in great demand, and mosquito repellant and disinfectants for purifying water are going for high prices.”

Yong Kyu gazed at the man in silence, then said, “I can see why antibiotics are needed, but the other items are only required in the jungle, eh?”

“I see you obviously don’t know the unwritten law of Le Loi market. A merchant with a firm political stance is disqualified as a business partner.”

“Of course, we can take an unlimited amount of medical supplies out of Turen.”

After a period of silence, Yong Kyu opened his mouth again, carefully gauging Thach’s reaction. “If we’re talking about something like Terramycin, there is little bulk, since a box holds a dozen bottles containing a hundred pills each. What do they charge for a pill?”

“I’m not sure, one hundred piasters, perhaps.”

“Outrageous.”

“You certainly can’t compare the margin with B-rations,” Thach said, taking from his drawer a package of razor blades. “Something like this, for example. Do they manufacture razor blades of this quality in your country?”

“Well, not yet, not razor blades,” Yong Kyu said, shaking his head.

“See what I mean? Same is true with fingernail clippers or fruit knives. They can be copied, but the problem is tempering the blade. If we work on it hard enough I’m sure we’ll also be able to make them in time. But you can’t make guns when you’re being driven by a war. And as the war has come from outside, so have the guns. In the jungle they make do with bows, bamboo spears, and drums, but they need guns, too.”

Tired of Thach’s stiff speech, Yong Kyu yawned and asked, “What exactly are you trying to say?”

Once more Thach picked up the package of razor blades and showed it to him.

“This. This represents the lifestyle of a country that has the technology and matériel to reduce the entire territory of Vietnam to ashes. That lifestyle is woven into a single razor blade, like the knots in a net. Take a box of these with you when you go back home, and it’ll bring you a nice pile of cash. That’ll be the case in Korea, I imagine. But here this is no commodity for earning profits.”

“Why is that? Because the NLF doesn’t use razor blades as weapons?”

As soon as he spat out these words, Yong Kyu realized he had gone too far. He had been too direct. However, Thach’s expression did not change. He was still smiling.

“Ah, that slipped out. Because of your clothes. . if you were in uniform I’d have been more careful. You see, I was not speaking with any political or military allegiance in mind. After all, I’m a businessman. To know what items are selling best is all that’s important to me. There’s a limit on the goods that are in demand only in US-occupied areas. There’s a downside to A-rations selling well. It’s true that you can dispose of them quickly, the customers are steady, and the profit margin is good and stable. It’s a business dealing with a special class of customers.

“For medical supplies, on the other hand, especially antibiotics and mosquito repellant, those are commodities whose customers are spread far and wide. Whether they end up being used by farmers or by jungle-dwellers is of no concern to a businessman. You see, in Vietnam, nobody dies from not having his face cleanly shaven. All the small merchants in this market live off the trade generated by the US military warehouses and PXs. But with the big merchants it’s different. Take my brother, for instance. He knows what items have the broadest range of consumers. Remedies for indigestion may not be popular, but antibiotics or first aid treatments for external wounds are definitely in great demand here and now. If I may be more blunt, carbines make more realistic merchandise than fruit knives. But then, of course, I have no intention of dealing in merchandise of that kind.”

Yong Kyu decided to step out of his role as an army man. “You seem to be taking the words out of our mouths. What nationality are you, anyway? As for me, I’ll be back home as a civilian in a few months.”

“Isn’t war the most merciless form of business? You people, not to mention the Americans. . when you all leave. . when the war is over… the style of life you brought here with you will vanish, too. In any case, in a pandemonium where people are bleeding and their wounds must be dressed, the desperate demand for medical supplies not only makes me money, it gives me a sense of personal gratification to supply those needs. After all, these are my fellow countrymen.”

Toi said something to Thach in Vietnamese. A gentle smile wrinkled the corners of his eyes as Thach replied.

“Oh, how thoughtless of me. You said you’re hungry and lunch is on me today. I’ve been talking at you so much for only on reason: I want to buy medical supplies.”

“Let’s go have lunch,” Yong Kyu said, looking at Thach, then at Toi.

“There’s a place I know down by the pier. Famous for fried fish. And…” Thach said, counting the military notes he had removed from his pocket, “here is the eight hundred dollars for last week.”

“Four hundred is left, then. Here’s the ten for the van.”

They finished settling the accounts. Toi got behind the wheel of the van and Yong Kyu and Thach sat side by side in the back. Yong Kyu asked Thach, “Do you plan to sell the medical supplies only here in Da Nang?”