오랜만이다
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 7:04 am
"Yun-hee, Myung-hee, come downstairs please."
Yun-hee removed her one hanging earbud with an irritated sigh and rolled off her bed. It wasn't yet dinner time, and when she'd gotten home from school her father had been sequestered away in his bedroom, speaking in a low, urgent voice to someone on the phone. It didn't take much to figure out that whatever she and her sister were being called for, it wasn't normal and it wasn't good.
Even knowing this, the sight of her parents' drawn faces set an unpleasant twinge of nerves in her chest. Myung-hee gave her a confused glance, as if Yun-hee would know what was going on. Yun-hee just took a seat without acknowledging her, fighting the urge to tuck her legs up underneath herself and curl in like she'd used to when being scolded.
Her father, Eun-jae, was normally a jovial man. He told bad jokes that he laughed harder at than anybody else and had an easy, reassuring smile and warm manner. He always dressed and groomed himself neatly before leaving for work in the mornings, though he didn't shave as often as his wife half-jokingly nagged him to. Now, he was pale and serious, and his hair was sticking up from where he kept distractedly running a hand through it. His stubbly beard, unkempt hair, and tense expression reminded Yun-hee of strange men in movies, drunken bums in the subway who had seen a cold side of life, whom you passed quickly and didn't look at for some irrational fear that their bad luck would spread to you. She clasped her hands in her lap and tried not to squirm in the uncomfortable presence of her father's new face.
Eun-jae opened his mouth to address his daughters and then closed it again, swallowing thickly. Su-mi laid a comforting hand on his arm and he covered it with his own, which shook slightly. Yun-hee saw her younger sister give her another confused and worried look from the corner of her eye.
"Girls," their father said finally, "I was just speaking with your Aunt Hye. I have some bad news."
Yun-hee's heart jumped into her throat. Bad news from her aunt overseas, her parents' shaken countenances... Her mind flew to medical dramas and families gathered around some ailing person as a bespectacled doctor told them how much time they had left. She hadn't heard from Jae in a while, hadn't spared much thought to what he was doing when she sent him snapchats of her making weird faces except to send more with mock offense when they all went unopened and ignored. If his mother's health had taken a sudden turn for the worse, it made sense that he wouldn't be keeping up with his duties in the grand tradition of cousin harassment.
Her father's halting voice broke Yun-hee from her thoughts before she could really start to feel guilty about antagonizing Jae while he was having a family crisis."There was a disappearance in Arizona. A class of students on a trip." She hadn't fully processed the statement before Eun-jae continued.
"Your cousin Min-jae is among those missing."
"What..." Yun-hee was dimly aware that she'd voiced her disbelief out loud. Missing. Missing? What did that mean? That couldn't mean-
"They were kidnapped?" Myung-hee blurted out, leaning forward with her hands clenched into fists on her knees.
Yun-hee shot her a dirty look. "Of course they weren't, why would you-"
Their father raised his hand before an argument could ensue. "No one knows what happened to them yet. Nothing has been found. Hye just told me this today. It has been... it has been several days." His face was pained. Su-mi's face mirrored it. Yun-hee thought her own might too.
"No one knows anything?" She asked.
"There's nothing but speculation for now. Hye said she will call again when they have news. Your mother and I thought it would be best to tell you now."
Best to tell you now. Best to give you time to come to terms with it. Terminal diagnosis.
Yun-hee shot up out of her seat and stormed up the stairs to her room, slamming the door shut. Eun-jae began to rise as if to follow her, but Su-mi held him back.
"Let her be," she said softly. She held her free arm out to Myung-hee, who moved out of her own chair and huddled in close, clinging to her parents and biting her lips against questions that everyone knew the answer to but couldn't bear to voice.
The next phone call came weeks later, in the early hours of the morning for Seoul. Yun-hee sat cross-legged on her bed in the dark, clutching a pillow to her chest and trying to pretend that she couldn't hear her father weeping in the downstairs bedroom. He and Aunt Hye had always been closest out of everyone in the family.
In the morning, he would call them down again and try to explain. He didn't need to. Yun-hee already knew. She'd known deep down for weeks now, and she'd finally gotten her confirmation hours ago.
The video feeds were of surprisingly good quality. Whoever was recording wanted to make sure the audience could make out everything that went on.
Jae was his expected self, cursing and raging and radiating disdain. It was almost enough to bring a smile to her face until that smaller boy attacked him, ruining his leg and tearing a gash in his face. Yun-hee didn't think that she made any noise in response to the visceral scene, but she kept the lower half of her face buried in the pillow anyway, almost peeking out over the edge of it to watch.
The video links continued for some time. She could just skip to the end to see, get her answer and spare both Jae and herself any more of his suffering.
She didn't.
Jae was still alive. In this little slice of time, he was still alive, clawing his way back up even after he'd been brought low. At one point, as he sat on the rooftop and smoked (and wasn't there some delicious blackmail she'd otherwise be holding over his head) he glanced into the camera and their eyes met across time and space.
Yun-hee pointed two fingers at her laptop screen as though she were pointing a gun. Their own private salute, since they were kids.
Jae looked away from the camera, and Yun-hee mimed pulling the trigger.
Yun-hee removed her one hanging earbud with an irritated sigh and rolled off her bed. It wasn't yet dinner time, and when she'd gotten home from school her father had been sequestered away in his bedroom, speaking in a low, urgent voice to someone on the phone. It didn't take much to figure out that whatever she and her sister were being called for, it wasn't normal and it wasn't good.
Even knowing this, the sight of her parents' drawn faces set an unpleasant twinge of nerves in her chest. Myung-hee gave her a confused glance, as if Yun-hee would know what was going on. Yun-hee just took a seat without acknowledging her, fighting the urge to tuck her legs up underneath herself and curl in like she'd used to when being scolded.
Her father, Eun-jae, was normally a jovial man. He told bad jokes that he laughed harder at than anybody else and had an easy, reassuring smile and warm manner. He always dressed and groomed himself neatly before leaving for work in the mornings, though he didn't shave as often as his wife half-jokingly nagged him to. Now, he was pale and serious, and his hair was sticking up from where he kept distractedly running a hand through it. His stubbly beard, unkempt hair, and tense expression reminded Yun-hee of strange men in movies, drunken bums in the subway who had seen a cold side of life, whom you passed quickly and didn't look at for some irrational fear that their bad luck would spread to you. She clasped her hands in her lap and tried not to squirm in the uncomfortable presence of her father's new face.
Eun-jae opened his mouth to address his daughters and then closed it again, swallowing thickly. Su-mi laid a comforting hand on his arm and he covered it with his own, which shook slightly. Yun-hee saw her younger sister give her another confused and worried look from the corner of her eye.
"Girls," their father said finally, "I was just speaking with your Aunt Hye. I have some bad news."
Yun-hee's heart jumped into her throat. Bad news from her aunt overseas, her parents' shaken countenances... Her mind flew to medical dramas and families gathered around some ailing person as a bespectacled doctor told them how much time they had left. She hadn't heard from Jae in a while, hadn't spared much thought to what he was doing when she sent him snapchats of her making weird faces except to send more with mock offense when they all went unopened and ignored. If his mother's health had taken a sudden turn for the worse, it made sense that he wouldn't be keeping up with his duties in the grand tradition of cousin harassment.
Her father's halting voice broke Yun-hee from her thoughts before she could really start to feel guilty about antagonizing Jae while he was having a family crisis."There was a disappearance in Arizona. A class of students on a trip." She hadn't fully processed the statement before Eun-jae continued.
"Your cousin Min-jae is among those missing."
"What..." Yun-hee was dimly aware that she'd voiced her disbelief out loud. Missing. Missing? What did that mean? That couldn't mean-
"They were kidnapped?" Myung-hee blurted out, leaning forward with her hands clenched into fists on her knees.
Yun-hee shot her a dirty look. "Of course they weren't, why would you-"
Their father raised his hand before an argument could ensue. "No one knows what happened to them yet. Nothing has been found. Hye just told me this today. It has been... it has been several days." His face was pained. Su-mi's face mirrored it. Yun-hee thought her own might too.
"No one knows anything?" She asked.
"There's nothing but speculation for now. Hye said she will call again when they have news. Your mother and I thought it would be best to tell you now."
Best to tell you now. Best to give you time to come to terms with it. Terminal diagnosis.
Yun-hee shot up out of her seat and stormed up the stairs to her room, slamming the door shut. Eun-jae began to rise as if to follow her, but Su-mi held him back.
"Let her be," she said softly. She held her free arm out to Myung-hee, who moved out of her own chair and huddled in close, clinging to her parents and biting her lips against questions that everyone knew the answer to but couldn't bear to voice.
The next phone call came weeks later, in the early hours of the morning for Seoul. Yun-hee sat cross-legged on her bed in the dark, clutching a pillow to her chest and trying to pretend that she couldn't hear her father weeping in the downstairs bedroom. He and Aunt Hye had always been closest out of everyone in the family.
In the morning, he would call them down again and try to explain. He didn't need to. Yun-hee already knew. She'd known deep down for weeks now, and she'd finally gotten her confirmation hours ago.
The video feeds were of surprisingly good quality. Whoever was recording wanted to make sure the audience could make out everything that went on.
Jae was his expected self, cursing and raging and radiating disdain. It was almost enough to bring a smile to her face until that smaller boy attacked him, ruining his leg and tearing a gash in his face. Yun-hee didn't think that she made any noise in response to the visceral scene, but she kept the lower half of her face buried in the pillow anyway, almost peeking out over the edge of it to watch.
The video links continued for some time. She could just skip to the end to see, get her answer and spare both Jae and herself any more of his suffering.
She didn't.
Jae was still alive. In this little slice of time, he was still alive, clawing his way back up even after he'd been brought low. At one point, as he sat on the rooftop and smoked (and wasn't there some delicious blackmail she'd otherwise be holding over his head) he glanced into the camera and their eyes met across time and space.
Yun-hee pointed two fingers at her laptop screen as though she were pointing a gun. Their own private salute, since they were kids.
Jae looked away from the camera, and Yun-hee mimed pulling the trigger.