Yom Sang-seop - Three Generations

After Pil-sun left, the house was thrown into an uproar.

Still standing on the veranda, Deok-gi’s mother spewed words like daggers toward the main room. “Is that tramp married? What does she think she’s doing — coming here every day? Does she think she lives here?”

Deok-gi stroked his beardless chin, trying to contain his fury. He replied, “Please go to your room. It’s cold outside.”

“You should have more dignity. Or are you repeating your father’s history? Why do you invite a grocer’s daughter into the main room and chat away like that? You should bear in mind your status — you’re the head of the family now!”

Deok-gi sat silently; his mother was being hysterical again. Her mention of his father’s indiscretions stung him, and he felt a surge of rebelliousness. He was his father’s son all right, but he didn’t want to hear that he was like his father. He was nowhere near being the womanizer that his father was.

“Do you know how Gyeong-ae started coming to our house? Your father was sorry for her father after he was released from prison. The man didn’t have any money to buy medicine. Then that whole family latched onto your father, as if he were a money-bearing tree.”

Deok-gi’s blood ran cold.

“The father of the tramp who just left spent years in prison, and now he’s in the hospital, all beaten up, I hear. How long have you known them? Why did you call a doctor for them and take them a blanket? Now you’re inviting her into our home. You’re going to pay for his medicine, you’re going to pay for his hospital fees, you’re going to pay for everything, right? If she’s not just like that leach Hong Gyeong-ae — they’re all the same: the Suwon woman, Gyeong-ae, Ui-gyeong, and. What’s this grocery girl’s name again? Why is this happening to us? Why are you trying to follow in your father’s footsteps? Is it because your ancestors’ gravesites are inauspicious?”

Deok-gi wanted to stuff his fingers into his ears.

“Why are you paying attention to other women? Whose feelings are you going to hurt? Who are you going to abandon and starve?” Her daughter-in-law was attempting to lead her by the arm to her room. “Please go inside. You might catch a cold.”

The mother lashed out at her, too. “And what’s wrong with you? Why don’t you do anything? What are you made of? You treated her the other day to a table full of food, waited on her, and even ate with her. You have no guts!”

“What can I do? Let him take a concubine if he wants to. I don’t care.” The daughter-in-law smiled.

“This is ridiculous! Who said I was going to take a concubine?” Deok-gi yelled to his wife from the main room. “Just take Mother to her room.”

“You act as if this doesn’t bother you because you’re so young,” the mother-in-law said to her daughter-in-law. “It’s not a matter concerning you only. Both you and I came into the Jo clan with the responsibility of making it grow and prosper. It was my fate to end up like this, but think what would happen to the Jo family if the same thing happens to you!”

Since Pil-sun’s previous visit, the mother-in-law had been nagging her daughter-in-law, displeased that the young woman took things so calmly. The truth was she didn’t want to see her son and his wife on truly good terms. The old woman had recently developed the habit of aggravating everyone around her and making scenes; she seemed to have nothing better to do. She was in a phase of life in which women tend to grow cranky anyway, but her inclination toward hysteria had become second nature for her in recent years. It was a tendency she had acquired while quarreling with her husband over the years, and perhaps was somewhat understandable, as she had lived like a widow since the whole Gyeong-ae affair.

“Plenty of men take concubines. If my husband finds one for himself, I’m not at fault, am I? I’ll just take it easy,” Deok-gi’s wife said with a grin. Though easygoing by nature, she was now intentionally provoking her mother-in-law, sick and tired of her nagging.

“Don’t tell me you’re praying that your husband will take a concubine. This is beyond me. What kind of woman are you? You must have something else in mind.”

The daughter-in-law was speechless. Deok-hui came out and tugged her mother away by the arm. “Mother, please come in. What’s wrong with you? Why are you involving Sister in your tirade when she’s done nothing?”

Her mother refused to budge. “Your sister should know that we ended up like this because of generations of concubine tramps!”

“What are you talking about? Who’s talking about getting a concubine? I don’t know what you’re worrying about. You know that my brother isn’t like that!”

“How do you know he wouldn’t do it? I need to prevent it from happening.”

“Just worry about yourself, Mother. You’re upset over a concubine that doesn’t exist. And it’s none of your business!”

“Watch your mouth!” her mother exploded.

The daughter-in-law tried to shoo Deok-hui away.

“Do you think I act like this because I’m jealous of those tramps?” the mother continued. “Your father took a wrong turn when he seduced Gyeong-ae, and now he’s driven away his wife and children and has taken a second one. They’re kicking up a storm over there, turning the house into a free-for-all everyday, gambling. How long do you think his three hundred bags of rice will last? And that’s not all. I hear your father isn’t drinking much these days since he has another hobby.”

“What are you saying?” Deok-hui cried in distaste.

“You want to know what I mean? That one of these days, he’ll crawl back, right before my eyes, with only a thatched mat covering his body,” she hissed.

Deok-gi was determined to ignore his mother’s words, but, in spite of himself, a frowning furrow stretched between his eyes.

“Stop it right now and go inside! How can you say such things in front of us, no matter how you feel about him?” Deok-gi was unable to stand it any longer.

“Children are always on their father’s side, you won’t listen to me. But you wait and see if I’m wrong. The guys walking up and down Jongno — drooling, dozing, and keeping their bodies warm with thatched mats — do you think they got like that because they don’t have families or money or because they’re uneducated?”

A chill went down Deok-gi’s spine. When he received Byeong-hwa’s letter in Kyoto, he had brushed off his friend’s outrageous notion that he should make sure his father wasn’t smoking opium. Deok-gi was afraid that his mother’s insinuation could be true. Suppressing his desire to question her about it, he opened the door and said, “Won’t you please go inside now, Mother? You’ll catch a cold.”

“All right. Don’t come out. I’m going inside.” Though still unsatisfied, she turned around and went to her room, trailed by her daughter and daughter-in-law.

“Brother, why didn’t you come out sooner?” Deok-hui called out, smiling, as she followed her mother into the room.

Lying on his bed, Deok-gi felt overwhelmed by life. Until the age of twenty-three, he had grasped the meaning of hardship only through novels and from Byeong-hwa. This was possibly the first time that his own affairs seemed to press down on him. Suddenly, he was at the center of things and was held accountable for his family’s every move. Although he had accepted the responsibility, he was burdened with the understanding that nothing could be solved on its own.

The more he considered his mother’s near-pathological laments, the more he pitied her. His wife seemed indifferent to the idea of his having a concubine, and she found her mother-in-law’s rants amusing. Although Deok-gi was unhappy about the way his mother had disparaged Pil-sun and drove her away — shocked, really, that a gentlewoman of her station could behave the way she did — he tried to sympathize with her. There is a saying: once burned, doubly reticent. He knew it was impossible, however, to rectify her situation.