Yom Sang-seop - Three Generations

“Please don’t make a scene. Sit with me in here for a minute,” Gyeong-ae said.

“How can I go anywhere dressed like this?” Sang-hun sounded uncertain but stepped into the car.

“Who said anything about going anywhere?” Gyeong-ae said as she winked at the driver.

The driver jumped in, turned on the headlights, and was about to turn the ignition.

“Wait! I don’t even have my hat!” Confused, Sang-hun was trying to get out.

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring you back safely.”

The car started right away.

“A car for prisoners is equipped with face covers that go all the way down to their chins, but here I am without even a hat!” Sang-hun was not very drunk, but he grew more and more outraged that he was being forcibly dragged off when he had momentarily stepped away from a table laden with food and alcohol.

“What a fabulous life! You have fun late into the night with oceans of wine and meat, surrounded by girls so lovely they could bring down an empire. And when you’re a little bored, a modern girl like me comes around in the nick of time with a car for some fresh air.”

“How did you know where I was?”

“I’m good at sniffing things out.”

“I didn’t know you were a hound dog.” Sang-hun grinned sheepishly. “You’re still seeing Kim Byeong-hwa, aren’t you?” He remembered the letter in the overcoat. No one knew that he frequented Maedang House, except a few people in his clique and his manservant. Byeong-hwa may have followed him there, he considered. Or perhaps Gyeong-ae had some connection with Maedang House. She could have easily fallen in with such a group. In any event, he was not displeased that Gyeong-ae had come after him. She seemed eager to hold on to him, having learned that another woman was after him, though before she had shunned him. Now he felt inclined to keep her at arm’s length.

“Your father is very ill, but even the Suwon woman doesn’t seem to have the time to take care of him. She’s far too busy staying up all night and having fun. He seems to be in such a sorry state that I came over personally to take you home. Shall I tell the driver to drop you at your father’s house?” Gyeong-ae spoke in a teasing tone.

The car passed Changdeok Palace and was heading toward the residential area. Sang-hun was stunned by the mention of the Suwon woman and wondered if it had really been her who had flitted by in the yard of Maedang House. He scowled.

The driver was about to ask where he should take him when Sang-hun bellowed, “Hey, turn this car around!”

“Since it’s on the way, why don’t we go up to Namsan?” asked Gyeong-ae. Sang-hun figured she wanted to go to the hotel that had the ondol room with the wall screen. Sang-hun was silent. He snorted to himself, convinced that she was now taking the initiative out of jealousy, but he voiced no objection to her proposal.

When the car reached Yeongnakjeong, Gyeong-ae abruptly ordered the driver to turn toward Namdaemun.

“Why are you so impulsive? I should have at least taken my hat and overcoat,” Sang-hun said sharply, even though he wasn’t the least bit irritated. He didn’t care about Kim Ui-gyeong, whom he had left behind at Maedang House. It wasn’t so bad being spirited away like this, considering that Kim Ui-gyeong had lately been pressuring him with countless demands.

“What’s wrong with wearing just your Korean coat? Your little concubine will take care of your hat and overcoat. At your father’s house, the Suwon woman will have just arrived, so you needn’t worry about him either. Can’t you afford to give me one night out of your strict schedule?”

Sang-hun didn’t appreciate her jeer but did nothing.

“Why do you keep talking about the Suwon woman?” Sang-hun asked, as if he had heard Gyeong-ae mention her for the first time.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know!” Gyeong-ae laughed and turned to take a good look at him. “You saw her a while ago when you went to the outhouse. I saw her from the car, but she was running off, looking over her shoulders, all bundled up in her cape.”

“You’ve lost your mind! You’ve mistaken someone else for her. Anyway, how do you know the Suwon woman, and why would she go to a place like that?”

“Why wouldn’t I know the Suwon woman? I’m a Suwon woman, too. I was born in Suwon, don’t forget. Anyway, what could prevent her from going to such a place? Whether you go there or the Suwon woman does — Now, isn’t that a nice arrangement?”

Sang-hun turned red and said in a tight voice, “Such nonsense — I don’t believe it!”

“Don’t vent your anger on me. If you want to scold someone, scold the Suwon woman.”

Sang-hun thought this must all be some kind of trick. True, he had encountered the Suwon woman, but how did Gyeong-ae know that he had run into her in the yard as if she’d seen it with her own eyes? He couldn’t understand it for the life of him.

When the car arrived at the entrance of Jingogae, Gyeong-ae told the driver to stop at Cheongmokdang and urged Sang-hun to get out. He didn’t want to go anywhere without a hat and an overcoat, so he told her he’d wait in the car if she needed to buy something. He thought he’d take Gyeong-ae to her house before returning to Anguk-dong by the same car. But Gyeong-ae wouldn’t listen. She asked him to buy her supper because she hadn’t eaten yet.

“Forget about the hotel and please come with me for a minute. I won’t keep you long.”

Sang-hun couldn’t insist on leaving when she said she hadn’t eaten yet.

“If you miss Maedang House so much, I’ll bring the girls over. So don’t worry,” Gyeong-ae said and got out of the car. Sang-hun had no choice but to follow her and dash into Cheongmokdang, as if he were guided by the old rule that men and women shouldn’t be seen together in public. Gyeong-ae smiled, watching him sprint to the second floor. She didn’t pay the driver but whispered something to him before sending him off. She then followed Sang-hun up the stairs.

Gyeong-ae observed Sang-hun’s uneasiness with contempt. How on earth, she wondered, could she have once thought that “Mr. Jo” was admirable and remarkable?

She said, “Why are you behaving like this? Did you leave some taffy stuck to your brazier? There’s a saying that a gentle scholar of Namjatgol can go all the way to Dongdaemun as long as he has some toilet paper and a smoking pipe, even if he’s wearing clumsy wooden clogs. Do you honestly think anyone will care that you’re not wearing a hat?” Then she shifted gears. “How about showing me the woman to whom you’ve lost your heart?”

“Who says I’ve lost my heart? At my age? I’m not young any more.” He shook his head.

“When you get older, you may need a second Kim Ui-gyeong, or better yet, a third Hong Gyeong-ae,” Gyeong-ae shot back.

Sang-hun made no reply.

“Let’s have supper here and then go back to Maedang House.”

“As you please,” Sang-hun said. He didn’t want to take issue with her cynical remarks. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to take her there. In fact, he could even show her off. Kim Ui-gyeong might get angry, but he wouldn’t mind if she turned her back on him. It looked as if Gyeong-ae had fallen into his hands, so he was relaxed. If he wanted to set up house with Gyeong-ae, he shouldn’t lead her astray by taking her to a place like that, but by the way she had talked about the Suwon woman, he had a feeling she might know Maedang House even better than he did. In any event, he could take her there to see how the two women would react to each other.

Gyeong-ae had said she wanted supper, but now she claimed that she didn’t want any food. She ordered a bottle of curaçao and sat drinking it.