Yom Sang-seop - Three Generations

Pil-sun sat quietly as she stitched the hem of a pair of cotton-padded Korean socks to wear to work the next day. Phrase after phrase of the letter kept dancing around in her head. She couldn’t gather her thoughts to decide what to do. Her chest swelled, though, as if an empty corner, one she’d never noticed, had been filled up. She realized that it had been empty only after something came along to fill it. How astounding, how mortifying and thrilling it was to imagine that someone faraway was wishing for her happiness!

The dream of youth.

The phrase hummed in Pil-sun’s head. But what was that dream? she wondered, blissfully unaware that at that very moment she was dreaming the dream of youth.

“Give me your report.”

“What report?”

“This is too much,” said Gyeong-ae, pretending to pout. “You’re not taking the favor I asked you seriously.”

“Ah, I forgot,” Byeong-hwa said with a grin. “If you’re so impatient, why don’t you go to ____ Kindergarten?” He laughed.

“So she’s someone in a place like that.”

“Yeah, she’s someone in a place like that,” Byeong-hwa responded mimicking her, finding Gyeong-ae’s contemptuous tone amusing.

“Her name?”

“I won’t give it to you for free! I obtained it after spending quite a bit of secret funds and walking all over the city for half a day.”

“Did you see her? Was she pretty?”

“Oh, yes — her beauty surpasses that of Lady Yang, the emperor’s beautiful concubine of T’ang China.”

Such exaggeration dampened Gyeong-ae’s enthusiasm. On the other hand, that the woman was employed at _____ Kindergarten was believable. Gyeong-ae’s guess — that she could be one of those who frequented Maedang House — proved wrong. An unexpected pang of jealousy surged through Gyeong-ae. If indeed it were true, the woman could be her competitor in a sense, unlike an easy woman with no family background to speak of. And if she were really stunning, Sang-hun’s renewed interest in Gyeong-ae could be a trick. What did he have in mind? Since the woman was pestering him about getting a divorce, he probably lied about his lawful wife. Did he intend to snatch Gyeong-ae’s child and offer her up as evidence? Would he say, “See how I split with my wife and took on the responsibility of raising this child?” Gyeong-ae recalled how impatient he had been to take the child. It looked as if he were using this opportunity to put his affair with Gyeong-ae behind him and settle the matter of the child, she thought.

If that is what he has in mind, I’ll make sure he loses not only his crabs but his fishnet, too, and winds up empty-handed! Gyeong-ae bit her lip.

“So the manservant told you that? I’d like to see her.”

“If you just go to ____ Kindergarten and look for Kim Ui-gyeong, you can see for yourself.”

After Byeong-hwa said good-bye to Gyeong-ae the night before, he felt like drinking some more but didn’t want to go home and drag Pil-sun’s father out to a bar, nor could he seek out his comrades, considering their situation these days. He wandered around Jongno and then went to Hwagae-dong to look for the manservant, remembering Gyeong-ae’s request. His intention was to take the servant to a cheap bar as a gesture of good will, but before he made it to Jo Sang-hun’s mansion, he ran into the manservant on the street in front of the grocery store at the far end of the district. Byeong-hwa accosted him right away.

“Hey, comrade! It’s so cold today. Let’s have a drink together.”

The manservant was employed by Jo Sang-hun’s family, but Byeong-hwa considered him a friend and actually preferred to spend time with someone of his ilk. The servant, however, was flabbergasted and gazed at Byeong-hwa, speechless. The affair of the previous day aside, by the way Byeong-hwa addressed him, the servant figured the young man was not right in the head.

“I don’t want a drink or nothing. Just give me that letter, please. Today I ran all over town to get it, and my legs hurt a lot. I’m gonna lose my job. I’m in a jam here!” He didn’t want to talk about anything else. He stretched out his hand.

“What letter?”

“That coat — my overcoat with a letter in it — don’t tell me you threw it away.”

“What overcoat and letter? Don’t get upset. I’ll find it for you later — let’s go drink.”

“You don’t understand. Just hand over the coat or the letter. Why did you show up now — to make fun of me?” If the manservant were to really speak his mind and tell Byeong-hwa how he had been feeling since the day before, he’d be openly rude. Or he’d respond, “That’s right, you buy the drinks.” He’d make Byeong-hwa take off his overcoat, by force if necessary. But he had to suppress his temper, for he was dealing with a friend of his master’s.

“I told you I’d find it for you, overcoat or letter. Why are you so impatient? If you’re cold, wear the coat yourself.” Byeong-hwa was about to take off his overcoat for the servant, momentarily forgetting that he’d freeze if he gave it away.

“I ain’t gonna refuse it if you give it to me,” the manservant responded roughly. “But if you’re drunk, why don’t you go home and sleep it off like a gentleman?” He looked around at his friends working in the shops, who gazed at the scene incredulously and muttered, “Now I’ve seen everything.”

“Take it,” a bystander goaded him on. “It’s much newer than the one you had on yesterday.”

Another said, “Just take it. Pretend you can’t say no. You’ll get free drinks, too. Someone’s a lucky dog, ain’t he?”

A third said, “How about I wear it instead? He’s gonna buy you drinks just for accepting the overcoat. Is that so hard? Master, can I try it on?”

They all laughed raucously as if they were mocking a lunatic. Byeong-hwa ignored the uproar around him, tore off his overcoat, rolled it up, and held it out to the unwilling servant. “Wear it for now. The letter’s in there, too. You’ll go now, right? Why put up a fight when a friend asks you to share a drink?” He was pretending to be a little drunk already.

The manservant was stunned. His quarrelsome tone disappeared, and his voice turned apologetic. “I’ll come, so please put it on. And it seems wrong to put my hand in your pockets. Would you take out the letter, please?”

“The letter can’t jump out of the pocket. Let’s go.” Byeong-hwa strode off, still holding the rolled-up coat, while the servant cleared his throat and followed him.

The servant’s friends, who worked in the shops lining the street, looked with envy at the backs of the two men as they slowly descended the slope. Arms folded, they called out after them, “Why don’t you wear the overcoat now, Won-sam?”

“I never seen a guy who picks a fight because he wants to buy you drinks!”

“He’s like the middle part of Buddha! He can’t be more generous!”

“Hey, he didn’t want to go to a bar with someone like us, looking like a day laborer. That’s why he wanted to dress him up.”

“Is he going to a marriage interview? What’s the use of cleaning up?”

“What about his own appearance?”

“Anyway, the guy’s incredibly lucky. How about I stand here all night? Who knows if such luck ain’t gonna come my way?”

“You’re right. Don’t move, stand still. After you become a frozen fish, Keijo Mayoralty will come out early in the morning to take you out on a carrier. I promise I’ll go out to the Gotaegol Cemetery and pour you a bowl of rice wine.”

When they arrived at a bar, the manservant declined Byeong-hwa’s offer to drink from the first cup. “I can’t drink much. I can’t drink much.” For five or six rounds, he didn’t say much else and tossed back what was offered to him.