Chapter 5 - Mount Kailash

Mount Kailash

Mount Kailash (Noun). a part of the Himalayas Mountain range believed to be the Stairway to Heaven.

(Adjective). Pure white like molten silver. (Dictionary)

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” I loudly exclaimed. Shocked to the point where my legs go weak, I still try to push the button to exit the elevator. After I get off that elevator, I call another one to go down to the ground floor, looking around left and right trying to call for help, however, there is no one in sight. I force myself to lean my head outside with trepidation, and the sight that greets me surprises me even more.

The large square outside is empty… with no ‘body’ within sight, there is only bright sunlight that reflects the floor glaring into my eyes. I tried to look around again, but could not find anything strange.

“Damit.”

I collapse onto the floor, heart still beating a mile a minute, so fast that I’m afraid it might explode out of my chest. My legs are shaking uncontrollably while I lift my cold hands to rub at my face trying to calm down.

I gulped, staring at the empty space for a long time, before walking back to the elevator absent-mindedly… The image of the pair of red eyes with red veins bulging out still stuck in my mind.

In the midst of my confusion, I find myself sitting in the Skytrain and realized that this is the first time I see my department building from the outside. I curl my shoulder from the cold, the bogie that I am taking is empty except for myself even though the sky outside is still bright. I feel strangely suffocating, and decide to look out to the view outside instead.

… What the hell was that thing? I’m still shaken by what I saw.

“The train is now entering the inner ring of buildings surrounding Anodard pond [1] . The train will start traveling clockwise, passing the station ‘Mount Sutusanakut,’ ‘Mount Chitrakoot,’ ‘Mount Kallakut,’ ‘Mount Kailash,’ and ‘Mount KhanMarthanakut.’ [1] Passengers, please prepare for your exit.” The announcement on the train brings me back to consciousness. The train slowly took a turn passing a tunnel, my surroundings engulfed in the darkness for a moment, before lighting up so bright that I needed to squint my eyes slightly.

When I can see the image in front of me clearly, I can’t help but drop my jaw in astonishment, the horror sight from before completely forgotten.

The rail of the Skytrain leads to a group of .. one, two, three… five buildings with strange design. The tops of these five buildings seem to lean into each other in the center. Once the Skytrain starts to enter the circular path, what appears in the middle is a lush garden with a massive pond resembling the one in my department building in the middle, however, this pond has an intricate pattern of water canal surrounding it. There are also four animal stone statues [2] on each side of the pond. I press my face on the glass window, trying to take a clearer view outside.

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The water in the pond is crystal clear, reflecting the mirror image of the five buildings. I kept gazing at the view, could not take my eyes off it for a second.

“Am I in a wonderland…?”

The train passed by each building, I looked at each of them with amazement. The design of shape and colors are all very peculiar, a glowing gold building, a glittering glass building, a building decorated with brightly colored mineral-like gems, and lastly, a pure, clean white building.

“Next station, Mount Kailash…” The announcement startles me out of my stupor. Um, I remember the security guard uncle told me to get off at this station.

I exit the train and walk out from the station into the G building, before stopping by to read the sign at the front of the elevator trying to find the floor for the Public Relations Department. After I find the floor I am looking for, I step into the elevator that resembles the one in the ‘Human’ building, the only difference is the pond outside which is much more spectacular here. Above the elevator panel, there is a poem on the wall.

“…” Another poem? The owner of this company must really like poems. I thought that this is the same verse as the one in my department building, but from a closer look, it is actually a different one this time.

I will lead you to mount Kailash, the place where the angels and beauties all gather.

Where the dances are elegant, and beautiful voices sing resonating

And I will hold you into the Anodard pond, with the clear pure water which gods bath

prepared with five kinds of flower and lotuses, creating a magnificent scent and taste, and glowing complexion

– Thai octameter poem “Khaki” by Hon Bunlong (One of the most well-known poet in Thai’s history) [3]

I stand there looking at the beautiful scenery of the pond through the glass elevator for quite a while before hearing the Ding! sound, which indicates that I have reached my destination. Once I stepped out of the elevator, I found a long hallway. I try to find the sign of the Public Relations Department, then follow the direction which it points to… This company is really like a huge maze, I’m afraid of getting lost somewhere.

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Along the path, I cross paths with several groups of people who all turn to look at me, some of them even give me a smile, making me feel as if I am some strange creature. I can’t help but look down on what I am wearing to make sure that I really am not dressing too much like an old man.

I look at my reflection in the mirror in the hallway, Nopparat’s shirt is slightly too big on me, but overall I don’t look too bad. “… I don’t look like a weird old man at all. Why is everyone looking at me?” I complain quietly to myself, before finally arriving at my destination.

From the first second I stepped into the room, I noticed that this department is filled with beautiful, slim-figure women with big breasts. Every one of them simultaneously turns to look at me like some rare specimen popping out in their territory, sending a chill down my spine. A big sister with oversize breasts lifts her hand to wave at me. “You are from the IT department, right? Over here.”

I walked over to the person who called me. Once I reached her table, I was pushed into the seat in front of the computer which is left open on the email login page. Then, a hand with red nail paint handed me a piece of paper. “Please hack this email for me.”

I made a face of puzzlement at the very short skirt – big breast big sister. “Pardon?”

“Please help me! My husband hid the secret bank account for his mistress in this email, you got to help me hack this!”

I scratch my head, trying patiently to think of an explanation. “Big sister [4] , emails are not that easy to hack. If anyone can hack it, the email company would have gone bankrupt by now.”

“But you graduated from Computer Science, right?” The big sister gives me a dirty look. “If you have the degree, then you must know how to hack. Isn’t hacking just simply typing in something like in the movie?”

I feel like pulling my own hair. I graduated with a Computer Science degree, not an undercover agent degree! You watched too many Hollywood movies!!

This symptom is very much like that of the old granny and grandpa who live in my apartment building. Once they heard that I graduated with a Computer Science degree, they all brought their broken computer for me to fix, and if something related to the computer went wrong, they would call me to fix it too. I just want to tell all of them that I major in software engineering… I learned how to write programs, but how to assemble a computer, alright!

After spending time trying to explain the dilemma to the sister just like trying to play a harp to a buffalo [5] until I almost yelled out ‘I don’t fucking know how to do that!’, the big sister finally allow me to go back to my habitat… Thank you for your mercy for this Thai elephant *trumpeting sound.* But at the moment that this handsome guy is about to step out of the room, another voice sounds (from hell).

“Little brother [4] , I want to unfriend a person, is there a way to do it without them knowing? I don’t want them to know.” That said, she turns her screen which shows a website with a white and blue color theme at me, and with that, all hell broke loose.

“Little brother, why can’t I open this file?” You are trying to double-click on an image file, you could probably open it by your next life at this rate.

“Little brother, the website shows ‘error 404, what does it mean?” The websites’ server is down, there is nothing I can do about that.

“Little brother, I can’t connect to the internet!” Your Ethernet cable is unplugged.

“Little brother!” “Little Brother!” “LITTLE BROTHER!”

……….

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Ahhhhh! Some please save me!!!

Yu is howling with laughter after I told him my experience.

Right now, I am in a completely different state from the me in the morning. My shirt is untucked, with the top 3 buttons unbuttoned, showing a necklace that I wear. I also have my sleeves fold up, displaying the flowers tattooed on my arm. These pink bunch of flowers has many girls double-take at my face. Even on the day when I get my tattoo, my friend also asked me what I was thinking, choosing such a girly design. Well, I looked at other designs in the shop and they either look too much like a truck driver or simply take too much space.

Yu also stop laughing temporarily to look at my tattoo. “Wow. When did you get a tattoo? I didn’t know you are this type.”

“On the second semester of my fourth year.” I let Yu rub and grope the flowers on my arm to his heart content before he finally recalled.

“Eh, Fourth year? Didn’t we already know each other then? Why have I never seen this before?”

I let out a chuckle. “I just didn’t flaunt it to everyone’s face back then.”

Yu makes a thinking gesture, then lets out an ‘A-hah.’ “Yeah, back then you always wore a long sleeve shirt and never folded it up. I was joking off if you don’t feel the heat.”

I continued to chuckle as the redhead continued to trace on my tattoo. “Does it hurt?”

“A little bit.” At least it’s not too bad to the point that I am scared of going back to get more. The tattoo of a moon at the back of my nape and a small group of butterflies on my left ankle, which can be seen when my pants lift up slightly every time I sit down can be the proof of that statement.

In conclusion, with the rumpled style, tattoos, and hot-temper look on my face, I have successfully turned from a middle-age office worker into a bad-boy type… “Can we go back to the main topic first? Is it always like this?”

Yu spends sometimes thinking before realizing that the ‘it’ I mentioned means the big sisters in the Public Relations Department. “Yeah, it has always been like this, bro. The Kinnree [6] department likes to ask us to solve all kinds of small matters like this. A couple of days ago, the whole department just got a virus ran through, turnout, one of them caught in on a gay-porn website. I spent half a day trying to fix all of it… I really don’t understand why women this day like to watch gays…”

I was going to reply that most junior at my university are all fujoshi and fangirls, a word in his sentence caught my attention, making me frown. “What department?”

“The Kinnree department- Oh” Yu pauses, I see him making eye contact with Nopparat for a few seconds. “I mean, the Public Relations Department. Sorry, bro. It’s just a nickname that I’m used to saying. By the way, how did you escape from there?”

“It’s coffee break time, so I take my chance and run back here.”

The phone rings.

Everyone pauses. The screen on the office phone shows the initials ‘PR,’ Public Relations… The three of us glance at each other’s faces before I hint out with the 5 most impactful words. “I have the highest seniority. [7] ”

Yu crosses his arms over his chest, pouting. “I was called out most often, someone else should do it.”

We both simultaneously turn to look at Nopparat, who calmingly pushes up his glass with an expressionless face. “If we talk about the work experience, I have the highest seniority here.”

Damn! Everyone here is stubborn!

In the end, we settle with the method most qualifying for people who graduated from computer science, Rock-paper-scissors. The hot potato finally falls into the hand on Nopparat, who even with an expressionless face, still radiates clear unwillingness, which gains pity from no one in the room.

After finally finding the victim, Yu and I went back to our respective working station. I went back to installing some necessary programs that I am still missing when suddenly, someone knocks on the door. It’s the face of my handsome boss that peeks into the room with apologies falling out from his mouth. “Sorry to interrupt, but I am here to introduce our new intern.”

Yu who is biting the end of a pen in his mouth turns to look at the calendar on the wall before muttering. “Oh. right, it’s the intern season now.”

I who is clicking on the ‘next’ button on the program installation interface looks up at the new figure. A tall young man in a university uniform follows the boss into the room. As soon as I see his face, I feel as if someone has hit my head with a hammer.

The young man lifts his head to give everyone a wai, which Yu returns, while I’m still gaping.

“Hello everyone, I am Geerana.”

Gee-ra-na . The three syllables echo in my ears.

“Please call me ‘Ge.’”

The sound of the boss introducing us to the intern sound as if coming from underwater. My ears have gone deft, all my senses focusing on the sun-tanned face with little dimples on his cheeks when he smiles.

“Mr. Yu, can I have some time to discuss Mr. Rong’s project with you, please? He just contacted me.” Boss’s voice finally brought me out of the trance I was in. Yu slide his office chair over into the small meeting room beside the small break room with maximum laziness and disappear in there with the boss.

Leaving me and the young man alone in the room.

“…” I watched the young man named Geerana.

“…” The young man in university uniform watched me back… then gave me a very sweet smile. Seeing those dimples on his cheeks… Ah, he really has such a beautiful smile. However, no matter how pretty his smile is, it could not help curb the strange silence that falls between us.

I need to… say something…

“You have a really strange name, hahaha. What does it mean?”

It’s over! Why did you say something like that, Phat!

“My name comes from the word ‘Geeranaa’ which means ‘brilliant ray of light’ … or so my mom told me.” He answers me unhurriedly, face still full of smiles.

“Good… That’s a nice name.” I compliment him half-heartedly, but the response makes me feel like I had just been punched in the gut.

“Rattiphat is also a very beautiful name… I really like. .. ” My face heats up from his strange emphasis on the word ‘like’ … Is the A/C broken? Additionally, after finishing the compliment, his face breaks into a toothy smile like that of a dentist commercial, eyes curving into a crescent shape.

Before I can say anything else, the door of the meeting room opens out along with the figure of Yu sliding out lazily on his office chair the exact same way he went in. I couldn’t help but say, “Yu, are you practicing for the paralympic?”

“Tsk, so rude, bro.” Yu gives me stinky eyes while the boss chuckles.

“Alright, Ge, please follow me. I’ll take you to the human resource department to complete your documents.”

“Yes, boss.” His mouth replies to his boss, but his eyes are still staring at me… Why are you giving me the puppy eyes? I pretend to pay attention to my computer screen. But as I thought that he had left, a box of strawberry-flavor milk was placed in front of me. I turn back to meet with the owner of the smile who is looking at me with a pair of shining, dazzling eyes. “This is for you.”

“Ah, um, thanks,” I reply dazedly while he follows the boss out of the room. I secretly glance at Yu, fortunately, he is busy answering a call, probably from the same customer boss and he just had a meeting to discuss about..

I stare at the box of strawberry-flavor milk in my hand again, putting in the straw and start drinking… until the box is empty. I put it down, and then start at it some more.

Thud!!

“Wow, Hey, What wrongs, bro?” Yu who just hacked up the call from the customer dash to my desk.

… It’s a small world.

Somebody, please put me in the cement block and let me drown in the Gulf of Thailand!!

Not only the same man which I had a one night stand with while drunk is my next-door neighbor, but we also work in the same company!

After taking some time to consider and analyze the matter, I become aware of the fact that I received the name card of ES Company from this young man next door, so it makes sense that we will both meet here. With that in mind, I start packing my stuff to go back home in order to avoid the potentially awkward situation such as him asking me ‘Do you want to go home together?’

“Then, I’ll be leaving first,” I said goodbye to Yu who gave me a wave. While leaving, I also met with an exhausted-looking Nopparat who gave me a small nod, which I nod back and walk straight to the elevator.

However, when I am about to take the underground train inside the company along with everyone else, I realized that forgot my wallet in the drawer under my table while I was trying to trick Yu into paying my lunch for me… It must be karma, “Goddammit.”

I search for some changes in my pocket and find that I only have a total of 1 baht [8] on me. I could only begrudgingly go back to the Human building. The lights on the floor of my office are turned off, leaving only some light along the hallway. At the moment that I push the door open, I hear some noises from the inside…

“Ha…A- Ah ~”

“…” I frown, my feet stopping… These definitely are moaning sounds!

With the dim light from the outside, I can faintly see the figure of two bodies wrapping around each other, almost becoming one with one another…

It’s not that strange to walk in on someone making out in the workplace.

Okay, I’ll admit that maybe it is strange, but not something impossible to happen or beyond my expectation.

But what is strange about this scene are the actors of this real live-action.

Which is both of my colleagues!!

Footnotes:

[1] Anodard pond, one of the 7 large ponds in the Himmapan forest. The pond is surrounded by 5 peaks which are considered to be the great peaks of Himmapan: Mount Sutusanakut, Mount Chitrakoot, Mount Kallakut, Mount Kailash, and Mount KhanMarthanakut. (I couldn’t find some of these names in English and went with the rough Transliteration.)

[2] Anodard pond has 4 statuses of animal heads on each side, which is the mouth of 4 rivers flowing to the ocean. >picture< The four heads are of elephant, cow, horse, and lion.

[3] The poem of ‘Khaki’ is a story of an empress, who is not only a beauty but also have soft, fragrance skin which can enchant any men who touch her skin. One day, she got kidnapped by the King of Garuda (creature mix of eagle and human). This verse of the poem narrates the scene of the Garuda’s king flirting with Khaki in the Himmaphan forest. (If anyone wonders how the story ends, Khaki continues to get kidnapped and married to many men, leading to a war of kingdoms fighting over her, in the end, she is finally won back by her first husband and happily ever after. Basically a story of calamity beauty…)

[4] Thais usually call strangers by (assumed) seniority. eg. Big/little sister, big/little brother, aunty, uncle, etc. It’s all pretty casual.

[5] “Playing a harp to a buffalo.” is a Thai idiom, which means trying to teach someone who is not capable of understanding/ teaching a dumb is useless.

[6] Kinnree (Kin-n-ree) is a beautiful half-woman, half swan creature, one of the loveliest of the Himmapan beings. >picture< >More picture<

[7] Similar to many Asian countries, Thailand also greatly values seniority. This applies to both working and daily situations. It is very important that people with lower seniority show respect to the elder/superior.

[8] Baht is the Thai currency. 1 US dollars is equivalent to around 30 Baht.

Translator Notes:

When I was reading this novel 5 years ago, I simply skimmed through the poems and did not realize until now what a hardship I have gotten myself into *wipe sweat* I try to study each poem in-depth, but half of the time I’m still unsure what I am translating it into. It’s so hard la, and there are more yet to come…

Guessed who’s that two-person?