Byeong-hwa thought he made sense. The man was no fool. “Where’s your hometown? What do you do?” he asked him.
“Me? I live in the countryside in Hwanghae Province. There, I can feed myself, thanks to my ancestors.” A self-deprecating chuckle came out.
Byeong-hwa wanted more details but bit his tongue since Pi-hyeok’s answer was so perfunctory.
After the tray was taken away, Gyeong-ae went over to the main room and soon returned wearing a new outfit.
“I have to go earn money. Byeong-hwa, why don’t you stay and talk some more?” she said, looking into the room where the men were sitting. Byeong-hwa stood up.
“Yes, please stay,” Pi-hyeok said in a show of good manners, but he wasn’t overly enthusiastic about convincing Byeong-hwa to stay. Pi-hyeok went out to the edge of the veranda and said good-bye to both Gyeong-ae and Byeong-hwa.
Gyeong-ae watched Pi-hyeok’s expression from where she stood in the yard. She asked Byeong-hwa to wait outside the gate, took off her shoes, and went back inside to Pi-hyeok.
“What do you think? Is he all right?” she whispered impatiently.
“Yes. Make him visit often,” Pi-hyeok whispered back.
Gyeong-ae left, smiling.
“Who is he?” Byeong-hwa asked as they walked in the dark. “Is he really a relative of yours?”
“Of course he’s a real relative of mine. Is there such a thing as a fake relative?”
“But why did you two keep making fun of me?”
“What did we do?”
“Well. ”
Gyeong-ae laughed aloud, saying, “You’ve been interviewed. That’s why.”
“What do you mean interviewed?” Byeong-hwa’s eyes grew large.
“Oh, he’s looking for a son-in-law. That’s why I played go-between for you. He thinks everything about you is fine, except the fact that you’re an activist and you drink too much. That’s why he kept saying you should get a county job or become a township clerk.”
“If the candidate is pretty, why wouldn’t I play his son-in-law?”
“You’d have to abandon your ideology and stop drinking.”
“Let me think about it,” Byeong-hwa answered halfheartedly.
“What’s there to think about? It’s a done deal if you make money and stop drinking. She’s the only daughter, there’s no son in the family, and her dowry will be at least five hundred bags of rice.”
“What a windfall! I thought I had a lucky dream last night.”
“You’re not listening to me.”
“But does a man become impotent when he has an ideology?”
“What’s the difference? He’ll be in prison all the time.”
“If I go to prison, I’ll send a proxy to her,” said Byeong-hwa, the humor leaving his voice. Abruptly, he changed the subject and asked, “But listen, when did he arrive?”
“What?”
“I mean, when did he get here?”
“You saw him when he got here, didn’t you?”
“You’ve harassed me enough. You just wait. Soon the tables will be turned.”
“What are you talking about? How about making a good impression so that I can eat your wedding noodles?”
“Look.” Byeong-hwa softened.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry to say this, but how about we let him eat our wedding noodles? That’s the way to go, don’t you think?” Byeong-hwa drew his mouth, reeking of alcohol, close to Gyeong-ae’s cheek.
“You should watch what you say!” Gyeong-ae recoiled, but she didn’t look angry.
“I was wondering why you were so kind to me, and in effect. ” Byeong-hwa stopped abruptly. He regretted being so frank.
“In effect what?”
“Well, in effect, the whole point of this evening was to introduce me to him, right?”
“What do you mean?” Gyeong-ae pretended she had no idea what he was talking about.
When they reached the avenue where the streetcar ran, they both stopped talking.
Who is Pi-hyeok, really? That he came to find a son-in-law is surely an excuse Gyeong-ae invented. Does he really have some other agenda? What group does he belong to?
Impatient by nature, Byeong-hwa wanted to rush back to the house and ask him point-blank. If he really has snuck into Korea with a certain plan, what is it? Should I say yes or no? No matter what, it would take strong determination and resolve, but it would be good to catch a break when I’m twiddling my thumbs, and our movement is at a dead end. But what do I do with this woman? The more I get to know her, the more extraordinary she is. Could I really give her up at this point? Who cares whether she had a relationship with Sang-hun or that she’s like a stepmother to Deok-gi?
As long as he had already taken the first step, Byeong-hwa thought he’d go all the way. He didn’t want to let this opportunity slip away. Even if Byeong-hwa ended up working with that man, it would be no fun if Gyeong-ae withdrew after arranging tonight’s meeting.
One can’t buy love in the name of work. Work is work and love is love, and Byeong-hwa wanted love as well.
“What made you think he’s from abroad?” Gyeong-ae asked when they reached a dark street, where there weren’t many passersby. She had been curious about it all along.
“I saw him during my Vladivostok days.”
“Nonsense!” Her voice, though unruffled, was tinged with surprise. “When did you go to Vladivostok?”
“When I was in my mother’s womb. But isn’t it true that he’s from somewhere over there?”
“What makes you think so?”
“Isn’t it obvious from his shoes and the cut of his Western suit? If I noticed these telltale signs, tell him to be careful because there are sharper eyes out there.”
Gyeong-ae was astonished. It was impressive that Byeong-hwa had been so observant; she’d better tell Pi-hyeok to change into something else.
“I’ll have to say good-bye here,” Gyeong-ae said in front of the Bank of Korea. She took off her gloves and extended her white hand for a handshake. She squeezed his hand firmly and said, “Please find out about that letter. Why don’t you come by around the same time tomorrow?”
She walked away, taking brisk steps. Byeong-hwa smiled to himself — she hadn’t forgotten about the letter. Rooted to the spot, he watched her back disappear into the night.
The Dream of Youth
“Don’t worry about heating the rooms, Pil-sun. Just straighten them up a bit. Looks like he’s drinking in town again.”
Pil-sun’s mother shooed her away from the kitchen when she tried to wash the dishes and told her to go inside and rest. Her mother was concerned about her, as she had returned home in the cold after a long day’s work. In turn, Pil-sun was worried about her mother washing dishes with ice-cold water.
“I’m all right today because I took the streetcar,” said Pil-sun as she started to feed some kindling into the furnace to heat the room across from the main one.
She put in a bunch of twigs and was about to add some paper from a heap nearby when her hand stopped in midair. There was a Western-style envelope, torn into three or four pieces with a letter still inside, in the pile of scrap paper. Pil-sun broke a twig with one hand while with the other she picked up the pieces of the envelope and held them near the fire. The address, a certain chome of Kami-gyou-ku, seemed to be Deok-gi’s. Continuing to break twigs with one hand, she pulled out four folded sheets of paper.
She wanted to see what his handwriting was like.