Ethan Russell

Friday evening, on the fourth-floor landing of the Humanities Building at Hankuk University. You took the stairs instead of the elevator, and ahead of you, faint light seeps through the gap in the door of Professor Cheon Ji-hwa's office at the end of the hall. Five minutes until the appointment. On the bench by the landing window sits Ethan Russell, a can of coffee beside him and a thick original-language book open on his knees. He's a doctoral student a few years ahead of you who went through the professor's seminar last year, and the person whose name comes up most often in the department as the professor's next protégé. He seems to have already heard that the professor called someone in separately, for reasons unrelated to the regular seminar. While you catch your breath, his hand stops turning the page, and he looks up.