Yom Sang-seop - Three Generations

I will use with gratitude what you have so considerately sent me, for I have been in urgent need. But why haven’t I been able to see you for over ten days? Please stop by later today. If you hesitate and dawdle, I’m no better than dead. There’s a commotion in my family every day. What is urgent is the matter of your officially divorcing your wife. My father is making a fuss every day, saying that he’s going to go to Keijo City Hall and have a look at your civil registry. I will fill you in on the details when I see you, but I wouldn’t lose face in the eyes of my relatives and friends if only you’d give me definite word. I am fretting every day. But that’s not the only problem. Please think of the situation I can’t talk about with others. I don’t know if I’m making sense because I’m writing this in a hurry while your messenger waits. I will wait for you at six o’clock this evening at the place. The day before yesterday, I waited for you until eleven and came home only to get a scolding.

“You’re surprised, right?” Byeong-hwa said before she finished reading, as if to provoke her.

“Why would I be surprised? You think I don’t know that he’s such a person? But where did you get it? In the overcoat?”

Instead of giving an affirmative answer, he snorted.

“That’s why they were running around madly, trying to get it back, but who could it be?”

Byeong-hwa laughed aloud. “If you knew who she is, would you rush over and make a scene?” Then he made fun of her again. “Careful, now. Don’t be regretful after your child’s father is stolen.”

Gyeong-ae remained unmoved.

“So the manservant ran an errand and brought the letter back but lost it after putting it in his pocket. How about taking it to the manservant and finding out who she is? I’ll seal the envelope for you.” She took out a glue dish from under the wardrobe, sealed it neatly, and gave it back to him.

Byeong-hwa said, “You’re worried, aren’t you? How about telling him that he should divorce his wife and kick this woman out, whoever she is? Tell him that only then would you let him play father.”

“What’s the use? Let him play with as many women as he wants. But we’d better teach him a lesson before he keeps on seducing the daughters of any number of families. If he does get a divorce, I won’t sit back and suffer quietly. I admit I’d hoped that he’d do it at one point, but when I think of Deok-gi, I feel sorry for his mother.”

Byeong-hwa thought Gyeong-ae’s point of view was generous and farsighted.

Gyeong-ae’s mother, who had been busy preparing the meal, rattling pots and pans, called out, “Will you eat now or will you wait?”

From the way Gyeong-ae answered that they’d eat later, it seemed as if she were expecting someone.

“Is someone else coming? The child’s father, maybe?” Byeong-hwa joked again.

Gyeong-ae glared at him and gently put down the sleeping child. She smoothed out the front of her wrinkled skirt and sat hunched over the brazier, pensive.

Finally she said, “How are the affairs of the alliance going?”

“Alliance?” Byeong-hwa’s eyes widened at the unexpected question.

“Aren’t you an executive member of the ____ Alliance?”

“What about it?” Byeong-hwa thought she could have easily heard about it from Deok-gi, but he didn’t know why she mentioned it out of the blue. Besides, it was odd that she seemed tense as she said it.

“Why are you so surprised? I want to know how the alliance is doing.”

Byeong-hwa’s suspicions swelled. When she had talked about getting him a job or introducing him to someone at the Government-General, he had shrugged it off as a joke. Now he felt apprehensive. Is she a spy?

“Why do you ask?”

“No particular reason. Why weren’t you involved in the latest incident?”

“What incident are you talking about?”

“The second _____ incident. Your alliance did not play a central role.”

Gyeong-ae wasn’t in the dark when it came to the activities of leftist groups, whatever her own political views. He stared at her in astonishment.

“Why? Were you frightened? I bet you were afraid that you’d be implicated, right?” She taunted him, then added seriously, “You should be careful. Before you leave this house, a group of detectives from police headquarters will arrive. You’re like a mouse caught in a jar. What can you do? Don’t humiliate yourself. Brace yourself and accept what is coming. In return, I’ll treat you to anything you’d like to eat, so enjoy your last drink.”

Byeong-hwa hadn’t been involved in the latest incident but had lain low for several days to make sure that he wouldn’t be implicated. Only when things had calmed down did he sneak into Pil-sun’s house; he and several of his comrades could take care of the alliance later. Since he hadn’t run away, the authorities wouldn’t have had to resort to Gyeong-ae’s help to arrest him. But if she were a spy, she might try to talk him into disclosing some of the alliance’s internal workings.

“How much do you get paid when you snitch on a person?” he said with a laugh.

“What payment? Do you think they put up tens of thousands of won per head as they do in China?”

“Without any profit, why would you help catch someone, spending your own money to buy him drinks?”

“For fun. But you wouldn’t think that it was unfair even if you were caught, right?”

“What does it matter?” he snorted. “I’m not guilty, and they’ll release me.”

“Not guilty? They clearly know that you have organized the third _____Party, carrying on the work of those in jail.” Her eyes glinted.

“Does that mean there was a report that Kim Byeong-hwa is the alliance’s chief secretary?”

“How could you be qualified to be a chief secretary? Whenever you see anything unusual, you turn your tail and run.”

“If they know so much, what would they want to do with me after they arrest me?”

“When such a person is caught and interrogated, if he doesn’t have a lot of backbone, he will spill the beans and tell even more than they want to know. He knows he’ll be released as soon as he confesses, so he tries to save his own skin, even though dozens of his colleagues may be implicated and arrested.”

“How do you know so much?”

She tried to goad him. “Why wouldn’t I? I can’t read minds, but common sense tells me that it was wrong for a person like you to get involved in such nonsense as social activism.”

“Is that why you say I should become a county employee or a township clerk?”

“Why not?”

“Who told you about organizing the third ____ Party?”

“Forget it — do you think I’d tell you? For a week now, every police precinct in the city has been turned upside down. You had no idea what was going on, so you trailed behind Jo Sang-hun and wasted your time at Bacchus. What kind of activist are you? One kiss and you go limp. Looks like my spit is stronger than vinegar!”

Byeong-hwa couldn’t tolerate such disdainful words. Whether or not she was telling the truth, he couldn’t help feeling that the joke had gone too far. His face burning with fury and shame, he found his hat.

“Enough! Do you think I’m a child? Either play the spy or have me arrested!” He flung open the door and stepped out on the veranda.

All Byeong-hwa heard behind him was Gyeong-ae’s snort of disgust. She didn’t try to hold him back. To fan his anger, she spat out, “Let’s see if you can leave my house. Just don’t return before you reach the gate!”

“It was wrong of me to come all this way with you. No matter how debased you are, you should have at least some integrity.”

Byeong-hwa wanted to pour out his resentment until he’d emptied himself of it, but he was too ashamed, for it was his own fault that he had been misled. At the same time, he was puzzled. Was she tricking him at this very moment? He couldn’t say anything sharper.