Lucky Number 7
Written by Joe Wabe.
Last July 7, I decided I wanted a nice picture in my computer room. I usually spend many hours sitting in front of my computer, and the empty wall behind my monitor and in front of me grew a bit dull, so I decided it was time to fill that emptiness with something colorful and happy. I headed down to Daiso, where I remembered seeing a few things that caught my eye. While browsing for pictures, I was particularly attracted by this design that contained only a circle and the number seven. One of the reasons I loved it was because it was simple and had only three colors: a purple background, an orange circle, and a big yellow number seven. This symmetry was pleasing to the eye, and the choice of font was also something that stood out. With a nice 5,000-won price tag, I had no doubt I had found a winner and, without hesitation, picked it up and got ready to head down to the checkout line. As I turned around, ready to go out, I bumped into this man who apparently had been standing behind me all that time, most likely looking at the same frame that I had chosen. With a soft and crisp voice, he told me it was a very good choice, and that it was too bad that this picture was possibly the only one left in all stores. “I came too late,” he said.
My first thought was to let him have it, but there was a voice inside me saying, “Don’t! Move on and take it home.” The man spoke perfect English, and I kind of gave him a smile and replied back with small talk very politely, hoping to make my way to the cashier as soon as possible. I was afraid that Mr. Kim – later he told me his name – could be a churchgoer who would try to convince me that I must repent and give my soul to God. So, I quickly tried to move the opposite way, but then heard him say, “You know what? Seven is my favorite number, I was born July 7, 1977, have seven cats, and have been looking for that picture specifically. This is the seventh store I’ve visited!”
Wow! Now he had caught my attention! I came back to the conversation. We kind of moved away to a corner of the store to avoid being in the way of other shoppers. He told me how he believes seven is his lucky number and how that is why his entire life has always revolved around the number seven. Many amazing things had happened to him, and therefore he wanted to buy the same picture that he had seen before, but he wanted to wait until July 7 to purchase it. Today was the day.
“Do you want to know one of my amazing stories?” he said. I was not in a hurry, and he seemed like a very interesting person, so I said, “Go ahead!” He said he was driving one day on the highway, and suddenly a red MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat flew inside the car and landed on his head! Not a perfect fit, but close! What? What are the odds not only of finding one of those here in Korea, but for it to have it flown inside the car and landed on his head? He was a short man, so the story sort of made sense. He told me a couple more lucky stories, but this hat deal was something that I could not get out of my head. I kind of became deaf to the rest of the stories he was telling me about, and then I suddenly realized that 20 minutes had passed and I needed to get moving. Mr. Kim’s stories made me change my mind about not giving him the frame. I gave in and let him have it – after all it was his birthday! We said our goodbyes and I walked out.
After I left Daiso, I got in the car with one mission: to find out what the odds are of something like this happening. I thought my first step would be to Google it and see if I could find similar stories, but while driving I remembered I used to teach a class in the office of Highway Control and Maintenance, and I knew a couple of people who worked there. When I arrived home, I dug up one of my ex-students’ numbers and contacted him to ask a couple of questions. One of the questions was if he knew some of the statistics about highway maintenance, such as cleaning, accidents, repairs, etc. To my surprise, I was very lucky, and Mr. Lee had access to a lot of these data. I felt this number seven was doing its magic. I asked him if there were records of the most popular debris cleaned every year from Korean highways. He actually had this information, explaining that it is important to keep data of everything happening on the highways, including the most popular animals killed on the road. I was shocked to find out that the number one item found on highways is hats, followed by tire debris and rope. I could not believe it. Mr. Kim’s story started to make more and more sense. Mr. Lee also told me they had records of the colors of the hats as well. According to him, these details are important in order to understand the causes of accidents on highways, so they document every single detail.
White was the number one color of hats found on the roads, followed by green. Other colors documented were brown and yellow, but there were no records of red hats. I asked why it was important to document the colors, to which he replied that knowing the colors can help create more detailed statistics of accidents on highways. Many accidents are caused when motorists try to avoid unknown objects on the road, and having a better understanding of these objects could help them develop new prevention protocols for the future. I asked him if he believed that a hat could land on someone’s head while driving, but he said it did not seem possible. He mentioned there were a couple of cases where hats flew inside cars that had their windows opened and blocked the driver’s view, thereby causing an accident; but usually hats on the highway are flattened by cars running over them, and the chances of a hat being in good enough shape to fly through a window and land on someone’s head are very unlikely. He wanted to give me more data regarding other types of accidents, but at this point, the information I was looking for had been provided, so I quickly say “Thank you,” and we closed the chat with a nice goodbye and a polite “Let’s have a drink sometime.”
I continue to wonder about Mr. Kim’s story and the MAGA hat flying out of nowhere right onto his head – all while driving! I thought about all the statistics the government collects and how amazing it is to know that even the colors of hats on the highway are relevant. I was also impressed with how I made up this story while I was driving, and I am sorry to disappoint you by revealing that neither Mr. Kim, the statistics, nor the lucky number seven are real – but it would be pretty cool if, one day, a hat flew into my car and landed on my head.
The Author
Joe Wabe is an established photographer and Gwangju local business entrepreneur. He has been contributing to the GIC and the Gwangju News for more than eight years.