Nabi: Summaries with Excerpts, Vol. 7

[sohan]

Nabi: Summaries with Excerpts, Vol. 7

Chapter 13: Relationships / 관계 (間)
Chapter 14: Hamatŭ [Hamateu] Plains / 하마트 평원 (野)


We move to the house of Jin Yisana. Myo'un is sitting outside Yisana's rooms, where So'ryu is being treated. Doctor Pak, Yisana's personal physician, tells Myo'un not to worry about her mistress, who's going to fine. Myo'un reflects on how easily she's being taken as So'ryu's maidservant, and recalls how Yisana and his servant took them to their home. At the time, Myo'un thinks that she doesn't really care what happens to So'ryu–but also thinks that Song Howŏl would be disappointed in her, if she knew. Myo'un wonders what has happened to her master, if she is really dead, or, if as "Mu'myŏng" hinted, she might still be alive somehow. She then reminds herself that she can't trust anyone right now. She wonders if she has taken her antidote or not.

Inside the richly-appointed room, a young girl with a mischievous look on her face, holding a fan in her sleeves, is gazing down at So'ryu's sleeping form. Hong tells Yisana's younger sister to stop tickling So'ryu with her fan. Rojin goes over to Yisana, who is reading a book near the open windows.

Pages 20-21

Rojin: How were you planning on sleeping tonight after putting a young maiden to bed here, now that it's been perfumed by her fragrance?
(고운 아씨의 재취가 밴 이부자리에서 오늘밤 어찌 잠드시려고 예다 뉘이셨나요?)

Yisana (blandly): I thought I might dream of rolling around in a field of flowers tonight.
(오늘밤엔 꽃밭에서 뒹구는 꿈 좀 꿔볼까 하고.)

Don't tell Mother about this. Here you are, the newest edition of those stories you like so much about foxes that turn into humans and back again, day and night.¹
(어머님껜 비밀이다. 자, 네가 좋아하는 아침저녁으로 여우가 돼다 사람이 됐다하는 녀석이 나오는 이야기 신간이다.)

Rojin: Oh! I thought it would be hard to get ahold of this since the borders are sealed, but it managed to sneak in somehow.
(어머~! 국경이 막혀서 우리나라에 들어오기 힘든 줄 알았는데 용케 들어왔군요.)

Yisana: Now that the fee has been paid... ²
(그럼, 복채도 받았으니....)

Rojin: ?

Yisana (gestures to Myo'un, waiting outside): Would you take a look at that girl for me?
(저 아이를 좀 봐다오.)

Rojin (scandalized): Brother! You're fooling around with a concubine already?! No matter how much you dislike your intended, if you try something like this, Lord Son won't just stand idly by!
(오라버니! 벌써부터 축첩을?! 아무리 맘에 없는 상대라도 그런 짓을 했다간 손대감님이 가만 있지 않으실 거예요! )

Yisana: Sister dear, your brother is not as hot-blooded as you think he is.
(누이야, 네 오라비는 그렇게 혈기완성하지 않단다.)

Stop being silly and go on, see what you can find out. ³
(쓸데없는 소리 말고 자, 어서 네 부채도사께 물어봐주려무나.)

Rojin: Then at least go ask her for the time and date of her birth for me, how can I tell anything by just looking at her face?
(그럼, 사주라도 받아오세요. 얼굴만 보고 제가 어찌 압니까.)

He actually went to ask! You're the best!
(정말 받으러 가다니! 오라버니 최고!)


¹
The book is probably something along the lines of popular "tales of wonder" or "tales of marvels" (C: chuanqi {傳奇}) composed in literary Chinese by writers throughout East Asia. Many of these tales feature fox spirits who can transform into humans and cause mischief, and draw upon a rich earlier tradition of "stories/records of the strange" (C: zhiguai {志怪}) written in China, such as Soushen ji (In Search of Spirits, Records of the Spirits) compiled by Gan Bao (fl. 320), and Xuanzhong ji (Records from Within the Obscure) by Guo Pu (276-324). It should be noted that these works weren't necessarily written for just entertainment, but also for didactic purposes, recording local customs, commenting on contemporary mores, etc. The writers of these stories were very learned (Gan Bao also wrote a history of the Jin {晉} dynasty), but not always titled or well off (Ji Yun, who wrote Yuewei caotang biji, was one of the most learned men of his time and one of the chief editors of the massive Qing dynasty compendium of Chinese literature and culture, the Siku quanshu, but Pu Songling, the author of Liaozhai zhiyi, who is more well known in the Anglophone world, lived out most of his life in relative obscurity).

Some examples in this vein of stories in Korean literature are Suichŏn (Tales of the Extraordinary), compiled sometime between the late Silla dynasty and early Koryŏ [Goryeo] dynasty by Ch'oe Ch'iwŏn (b. 857) and later revised by Pak Illyang (c. 1096), and New Stories from Gold Turtle Mountain by Kim Sisŭp, written in the 15th century during the Chosŏn [Joseon] dynasty and inspired by a collection by the Chinese writer Qu You (1341-1427).

References:
• The Discourse on Foxes and Ghosts: Ji Yun and Eighteenth Century Literati Storytelling (University of Hawai'i Press, 1998) by Leo Tak-chung Chan
• Love and Women in Early Chinese Fiction (Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2008) by Daniel Hsieh
• Chapter 13 "Chosŏn Fiction in Chinese" by Kim Hŭnggyu in A History of Korean Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2003) edited by Peter H. Lee


²
복채 (pokch'ae) [bokchae]: The fee given to a fortune-teller for a reading.

³
도사 (tosa) [dosa] means 'master.' 부채도사 (puch'aetosa) [buchaedosa], on the other hand, as far as I know, is a farcical figure from old comedy TV shows who tells fortunes while carrying a fan. So probably an anachronistic joke....



Just outside his rooms, Yisana asks Myo'un if she's the same person that Chŏk'yŏng and Aru always talk about with such affection. He tells a surprised Myo'un that he has been looking after the two of them at So'ryu's request. While they're talking, Yisana notices a trickle of blood falling from Myo'un's mouth and asks her if she has been hurt as well. Myo'un realizes that she has not had her antidote that day after all, and apologizes to him for dirtying the floor with her blood as she collapses. Yisana looks down at her with an unreadable expression; Chŏk'yŏng, passing by on an errand, sees Myo'un falling to the ground and rushes to her.

Harim and Ryu Sang have been looking for So'ryu in the meantime, and in a flashback we find out that Myo'un was fed a poison that requires a daily antidote in order to ensure Ryu Sang's cooperation. They hear from Wŏn that So'ryu has been found resting at Yisana's house.

In his darkened room, Yisana reflects on the scene earlier, and thinks, one day, I, too... as his nose starts to bleed again. He hears So'ryu wake and wipes the droplets away. Sitting up in a sweat and looking from side to side, So'ryu asks him how she came to be in his house.

Pages 46-47

Yisana: I was the one who brought you here. From the ruins of Hong Jinwŏn's former abode, along with the relative of his you were with.
(제가 모시고 왔습니다.)
(폐가가 되어버린 홍진원의 고택에서)
(같이 계시던 그의 여식도 함께.)

Please don't be angry. Unwittingly I became a bird and eavesdropped on your conversation.
(노여워 마세요.)
(본이 아니게 새가 되어)
(아씨의 낮말을 제가 엿들었습니다.)


Pages 50-53

Yisana: One could almost hear your breathing from here. It's not like you to get so nervous. Would I use this to make some unreasonable demand of you? Surely not–I have neither the understanding of nor any connection to that affair.
(숨소리가 예까지 들리겠습니다.)
(아씨 답지 않게 무얼 그리 긴장하십니까. 설마하니 제가 그걸 빌미로 과한 요구라도 하겠습니까.)
(그 일에 관해선 아무런 이해관계도 없는 입장인 것을요.)

To know that one holds a secret... is akin to the feeling of having been given the the upper hand.... But I'm sure that I am mistaken....

(...비밀을...)
(...쥐고 있다는 게, 우위를 점하고 있는 것처럼 느껴지지도 하지만....)
(...착각이겠지요....)

Yisana opens the window screen and tells Wŏn, waiting outside, that now that So'ryu has woken up, she can take her home. So'ryu puts on her shoes and an outer robe with Wŏn's help and walks out into the inner courtyard. The way out takes them past the window where Yisana's sitting, since it looks out into the courtyard.


Pages 50-53

Yisana: By the way, you must be sure to return the clothes that you're wearing. She isn't able to wear them now that she's gained in years, but my mother used to enjoy wearing them. I took them out from her wardrobe without her knowing, so if you would to so kind, please return them to me without any fuss.
(참,)
(입고 계신 그 옷은 꼭 돌려주셔야 합니다.)
(지금은 나잇살이 불어 입지 못하지만, 제 어머님이 즐겨입던 옷입니다.)
(어머님 옷장에서 몰래 가져온 것이니 조용히 제게 돌려주십시오.)

So'ryu turns to go, but Yisana continues:

And in case you were wondering, the one who changed you out of your clothes certainly wasn't me, but rather that girl called Myo'un.
(그리고 혹시나 싶어 말씀드리는데, 아씨 옷을 갈아입힌 건,)
(결단코 제가 아닙니다. 곁에 있던 묘운이라는 아이입니다.)

So'ryu only takes a couple more steps before Yisana says:

Just to add, I had the clothes that you were wearing burned, so please don't bother asking for them. They had blood on them, anyway... I'm afraid I can't stand seeing someone saved from drowning demand that her rescuer produce her belongings as well.

(참고로, 입고 계시던 옷은 불쏘시개로 넣었으니 찾지 마십시오.) (피도 묻었고..)
(물에 빠진 사람 구해줬더니 보따리 내달라하는 꼴은 못 봅니다.)

Of course... I'm sure my lady would never do such a thing....
(...물론...)
(...아씨가 그러실 일은 없겠지만요....)

Yisana gives her a very mild smirk as he finally says goodbye; [in a comically rendered thought bubble] So'ryu imagines stabbing him in the forehead with a dagger.


Outside the house, a palanquin is waiting for So'ryu. Harim informs her that Ryu Sang took Myo'un and went ahead, and that she should probably avoid him for a while. They make their way back to the Son house as dusk falls. The sound of Wŏn and Harim conversing filters through the walls of the palanquin.

Page 57-61

Harim: You're still crying? She's fine.
(아직도 울상이냐? 아씨, 무사하시잖아.)

Wŏn: What do you mean, fine? She 's been wounded!
(무사하긴 뭐가 무사하셔? 처녀 몸에 칼집이 났는데!)

Harim: They said it was just a scratch.
(그냥 좀 스쳤대잖아.)

Wŏn: It's the same thing! They must already know about this back at the house, right?
(그게 그거잖아!)
(이미 댁에선 다들 아시겠지?)

Harim: It wasn't just one or two people who saw what happened in the market.
(그 시장바닥에 목격자가 어디 한둘이어야지.)

Wŏn: I'm as good as dead. The mistress won't let me off lightly.
(나 이제 죽었어. 안방마님이 날 가만두지 않으실 거야.)

Harim: If you're beaten to death I'll scout our your grave site at least.
(맞다 죽으며 묏자리 정도는 내가 봐줄게.)

Wŏn: Be my knight in shining armor instead!
(차라리 흑기사를 해줘!)

Harim: Are you saying I should be beaten to death in your place?
(나더러 너 대신 맞아 죽으라고?)

Wŏn: Oh pardon me, I accidentally blurted out exactly what I was thinking.
(미안합니다—)
(저도 모르게 진솔한 속마음이 튀어나왔어요~.)

It's not even my fault.... If you get right down to it, Myo'un was the one who was supposed to be looking after Miss So'ryu. But she only worries about Myo'un! She doesn't even care what happens to someone like me!
(...내 잘못도 아닌데....)
(따지고 보면, 그때 아가씨를 모시고 있던 건 묘운이잖아.)
(근데 아가씨는 묘운이 걱정부터 하시고!)
(나 같은 건 어찌돼도 관심도 없으시고!)

Harim: Then just say that.
(그럼, 그렇게 이야기 해.)

Wŏn: Huh?
(응?)

Harim: Tell the mistress that that the one who was looking after Miss So'ryu was Miss Myo'un.
(그때, 소류 아가씨를 모시고 있던 건 묘운 아가씨였다고 마님께 말씀드려.)

Wŏn: ....

Harim: There's no rule that says you have to be only one who's punished. I thought you were both her maidservants.
(꼭, 원이 너만 혼나야 한다는 법도 없잖아. 둘다 아씨의 몸종이라며.)

Wŏn: ...That's true... but....
(...그야....)
(...그렇긴 하지만....)

Harim, I get that you care about Myo'un....
(난, 하림이 니가 묘운일 맘에 들어하는지 알았는데....)

Harim: Yup. I like her.
(응. 나 묘운 아가씨 좋아.)

Wŏn: What's that supposed to mean!
(뭐야, 그게!)

Harim: What do you mean, what. That's got nothing to do with your problem.
(뭐긴. 그건 니 문제와 아무 상관없잖아.)


They return to the house, and some time later, Wŏn limps back to the room that she shares with Myo'un, supported by Harim. Her calves have been whipped red. Ryu Sang is waiting outside the room. Hiding her face in her sleeves, Wŏn yells at him to get lost before someone gets the wrong idea.

Page 62

Ryu Sang: Looks like your legs have turned into carrots.
(알타리무가 홍당무가 됐구만.)

Wŏn: Shut up! Ryu Sang, why are you sprawled out in front of a young lady's room! Get out of here before you start any weird rumors!!
(닥쳐!)
(류상, 넌 왜 과년한 처자 방 앞에 떡하니 자리 깔고 앉아있는 거야!)
(이상한 소문 나기 전에 냉큼 꺼져!!)

Ryu Sang: I was just about to.
(가려고 했어.)

Wŏn: Get out!
(썩 꺼져!)


Harim tells Ryu Sang that the captain is looking for him, but Ryu Sang tells him to stop acting like they're friends (Wŏn: "How are you in any way 'acting like friends'?" Harim: "He probably means 'don't even talk to me.' ") Harim asks Wŏn if she wants him to bring her any cold compresses for her legs. Wŏn says that she's just going to go to sleep. Through the open door Harim sees the sleeping Myo'un, and tells Wŏn goodnight.

Just outside the outer walls of the Son house, Ryu Sang meets up with Chŏk'yŏng, who has been hiding out in a tree and waiting for him. Ryu Sang gets mad at him for not waiting outside like he was told, but Chŏk'yŏng declares that Ryu Sang wouldn't have waited outside, either, if he had seen a scene like the one earlier. He asks Ryu Sang if Myo'un has suddenly come down with a strange illness.


Page 65
Ryu Sang: You little punk, is that how you greet me after sitting nice and comfy just around the corner? I've been sneaking around thinking the two of you were locked up in some jail cell!
(너 이 자식, 지척에 짱 박혀 있었으면서 이 형님께 기별 한 번 안 넣어? 난 늬들이 어디 수용소에 갇힌 줄 알고 계속 기웃거리고 다녔잖아!)

Chŏk'yŏng (avoiding Ryu Sang's eyes): ...That's because... I didn't think it'd be a good idea to come by this place....
(...그게, 왠지 이 집 분이기상 그러면 안 될 것 같아서....)

Ryu Sang immediately asks after Aru and finds out from Chŏk'yŏng that the two of them have been staying at Yisana's house, thanks to So'ryu's intervention.


Pages 66-67

Ryu Sang: Who's Yisana?
(이사나가 누구길래?)

Harim (stepping out from behind an archway): Miss So'ryu's fiancé. Ryu Sang, the captain keeps looking for you.
(소류 아씨의 정혼자.)
(류상, 단장이 계속 찾는데.)

Ryu Sang (to Chŏk'yŏng): You brat, I told you to wait outside! Now we've been discovered!
(이 자식, 밖에서 기다리라니까!)
(들켰잖아!)

Harim: Don't fight.
(싸우지 마.)

Chŏk'yŏng: Why does this captain keep looking for you?! Ryu Sang!
(이 집 단장은 왜 아까부터 계속 형을 찾는 건데?!!)
(형!)

Ryu Sang: Dammit, that guy calls me out every chance he gets! Does he think I'm a shaman?!
(젠장, 그 양반은 허구헌날 날 불러대! 내가 무당인지 아나!)

Harim: That's because unlike what you'd think, that guy trusts people easily.
(그 앙반이 생긴 거랑 달리 귀가 얇아서 그래.)

Ryu Sang: I told you not to talk to me!
(말 걸지 말랬지!)

Harim: Oh? I really can't? Even though we're comrades?
(어? 정말 안 돼? 동료끼린데?)

Ryu Sang slams Harim against the wall, his hand around Harim's neck, and tells him that he's going to cut his throat someday.

Pages 68-72

Harim: Then I'd feel kinda majorly wronged.... If I kill you, then I'll be killed by the master, then Miss Myo'un dies, too, and then for whatever reason, things won't look good for Miss So'ryu, either. Then that means I can't lay a finger on you, no matter what. No, that's actually... really rather unfair.
(그럼 내가 좀 많이 억울할 텐데....)
(내가 널 죽이면 난 대감마님께 죽을 테고, 그럼 묘운 아가씨도 죽을 테고, 뭔지 몰라도 소류 아가씨께도 안 좋을 텐데.)
(그건 결국, 나는 너한테 손가락 하나 맘대로 못 건드린다는 소린데,)
(...아니지. 그건 좀 많이 불공평하지.)

Ryu Sang: Think of it as karma.
(업보려니 해.)

Harim: Why do I have to be the one who bears that fate?
(...그 업보를...)
(왜 내가 져야 하냐?)

Ryu Sang: Shut your mouth, you little–
(이게. 뜷린 게 입이라고....)

Harim: But that's the way it is. Why should I pay in place of my master? I'm just a loyal slave.
(그렇잖아.)
(주인님의 업보를 왜 내가 져? 난 충실한 종놈일 뿐인데.)

Ryu Sang: What, you're a slave down to the bone? You haven't got a will of your own?
(뭐야, 뼛속까지 노비냐? 니 의지 따윈 없어?)

Harim: That's right. I haven't got anything like that.
(응. 난 그런 거 없어.)

Harim draws his knife, and says: I don't think. I don't make judgments. So I'm not responsible.
(생각도 안 해. 판단도 안 해.)
(그러니까 책임도 없어.)

Once or twice in my life I've acted according to my own will... but every time the result was just shit.
(...살면서...)
(한두번정도 생각하고 의지대로 행동한 적이 있는데)
(그때마다 결과가 다 거지 같았어.)

Just like now.
(지금처럼.)

Ryu Sang releases his grip on Harim's neck and Harim smiles, saying, maybe you ought to have cut off my arm back then, after all.


In a flashback, we see Harim and So'ryu at the woods at the edge of the Son house. It is night, and the wind is blowing.

Pages 73-79

Harim: You told me before. That I would destroy you.
(제게 그런 말을 하신 적이 있으시죠.)
(제가)
(아씨를 파멸시킬 거라고.)

You knew that and yet you allowed me to follow you that day. And even after hearing that, I lived, groveling, in your house. I've been living to serve only you, obeying your commands, so that I could disavow what you said to me, disavowing and disavowing your words. To prove that, when everything is all said and done, I am someone who will have been nothing to you.

(아씨는 그걸 알면서도 어린 날, 제가 따라오는 걸 묵인했고,)
(저는 그걸 듣고도 아씨 댁에서 빌어먹고 살았지요.)
(아씨의 말에)
(복종하며)
(당신 한 말을 부정하기 위해)
(부정하고 부정하기 위해서)
(당신만을 따르며 살아왔어요.)
(내가, 결코 당신께 누가 되는 존재가 아님을 증명하기 위해.)

Even though today, I'm defying your family for the first time and leaving this house like this— I'd like you to remember that that's the way I've lived my life till now.
(비록 오늘, 처음으로 당신 가문에 거역하여)
(지금 이렀게 이 집을 떠나지만,)
(제가 그렇게 살아왔다는 걸)
(당신은 기억해주셔와 합니다.)


The flashback ends, and Harim and Ryu Sang are in a standoff. With growing uncertainty, Chŏk'yŏng asks Ryu Sang what he is doing in the Son house. As a reply, Ryu Sang sincerely apologizes to him, mentioning Myo'un but not revealing anything. Confused, Chŏk'yŏng can only watch as Ryu Sang and Harim start to walk away. Chŏk'yŏng wonders what in the world Ryu Sang could possibly be so sorry about.

난 저 인간이 저런 말 할 때가 제일 무서워.
정말로 미안할 일을 저질렀을까봐.

I'm most afraid when that guy talks like that. Because I'm afraid that he really might have done something to be sorry about.

Disheartened, Chŏk'yŏng returns to the house of Jin Yisana. Yisana and Hong are waiting for him, and ask him where Aru is. Chŏk'yŏng realizes that Aru has gone missing, and turns around to go search for her. Before he can take off, Yisana tosses him something, a badge that proves that he is a part of the Jin household, since the city guards will apprehend anyone moving about after curfew without documentation.

Pages: 95-96

Yisana: Even though it's just for a little while, you'll get a taste of power. As long as you find that kid, you can do whatever you want with that.
(잠시나마 권세의 맛을 보게 될 거다.)
(꼬마만 찾아오면 그걸로 무슨 짓을 해도 좋다.)


[Aru has been wandering the streets, having run out of the Jin house after catching a glimpse of Ryu Sang carrying an unconscious Myo'un, with Chŏk'yŏng running alongside them.] Chŏk'yŏng runs into a pair of guards who go out of their way to help him, mistaking him for a relative of Yisana. Chŏk'yŏng is worried to the point of panic over where Aru may have gone, and angry at Ryu Sang.

뭐가 미안해서 그 잘난 류상님이 원수의 집에 빌붙어 있는 건데!
...꼴좋다.
늘상 잘난 척하더니, 꼴좋다, 류상!

What could that arrogant Ryu Sang possibly be sorry about, that he'd be a servant in the house of our enemy?!
...Serves him right.
Serves you right for always acting like you're better than eveybody else, Ryu Sang!


Chŏk'yŏng's search takes him back to the Son house, and he sees Ryu Sang, dressed in traveler's clothes, board an airship with several other people, including Harim, dressed in the same way. As he watches them go up from the shadows, Chŏk'yŏng recalls what people had said about his mother when she stepped into a hail of enemy arrows--that it was better that she had died, rather than suffer the fate of becoming the wife of the enemy leader. At the time, Chŏk'yŏng had cried and asked why is something like that so important, since nothing's of any use when you're dead. Now, however, he can't bring himself to say a thing as Ryu Sang boards the airship, because he realizes his own life, at that moment, might have been bought at some great cost, by someone else.

The guards had noticed Chŏk'yŏng's presence, but had elected not to do anything about it. Harim remarks that the captain must know that Chŏk'yŏng is staying at Yisana's home, but the captain replies that it doesn't matter, since there's nothing he can do about it while Chŏk'yŏng is under the protection of the heir of the Jin clan (Yŏnsu Jin clan). The airship is headed to the Hamatŭ Plains, the territory of the Shan people. The guards gossip about one of the emperor's concubines being from the Hamatŭ Plains, about just how many wives the emperor has, and how this will probably make for a complicated succession.

According to one of the guards, who claims he's read about it somewhere, the Hamatŭ Plains are known as a place where grass dances greenly all year-round, where land and sky meet, and where the ground itself dances together with the wind.

On the ground, Chŏk'yŏng sights the roof of the temple where they were to have waited for Ryu Sang and Aru before they were separated. He runs to the temple, just in case, and finds Aru sleeping on the steps.

At the Son house, Myo'un wakes up in the middle of the night to see So'ryu silently putting cold compresses on the sleeping Wŏn's legs.

Pages 113-115

So'ryu: This incident... is a secret between you and me. Don't tell Wŏn or anyone else about what transpired tonight.
(...이 일은....)
(너와 나의 비밀이다.)
(원이에게도 다른 누구에게도 이 밤의 일을 말하지 마라.)

Myo'un: There are too many secrets between the two of us.
(당신과 나 사이엔)
(비밀이 너무 많아요.)

So'ryu: I guess that's the only way... that I can make a connection with others.
(...나는...)
(그런 식으로밖에 관계를 맺지 못하나보지.)

Looking at So'ryu's face, Myo'un thinks that she should say something, but sleepy and irritated by So'ryu, decides not to.


Day has broken over the Hamatŭ Plains, where a mysterious woman named Ch'oe Sŏl (최 설 {崔雪}) has apparently taken over an airship (?) with the help of the Son guards. One of the crew informs her that about 10 people on horseback are headed toward them. The airship lands briefly* to let the Son guards disembark, and Ch'oe Sŏl offers to welcome the riders honing in on their position with a hail of bullets, and the captain of the guards tells her that their [the guards'] orders were to bring the ringleader of the group in alive. Ch'oe Sŏl simply says that a wounded rabbit is easier to catch than a healthy one, and orders the gunner to fire.

* The airship lands without a landing crew on the ground or tethers, so is different from the kinds of airship/dirigible we have in the real world I guess....


The horsemen scatter, and some take to the ground and are met by the Son guards. A fight breaks out. A horse goes down, and its rider, a boy named Sŏng, fights Harim. The Son guards are somewhat caught off guard, because in their instructions, there was no mention of having to fight the Shan, who are renowned fighters. Instead of joining the fight, Ryu Sang calmly walks away, much to the ire of the other guardsmen. One of the mounted fighters seems to recognize Ryu Sang; Ryu Sang knocks him out of the saddle.

Passing low over the fight, pausing to kick a body [presumably someone from the Shan] out of the open door of the airship, Ch'oe Sŏl taunts the leader of the group of Shan riders on their attempt to rob/swindle her, an arms dealer. She tells him that their plan failed due to a reason that they could never even begin to fathom, and says, as she slides the door shut, "Even if we survive...let's not meet again." (...살아남아도) (다시는 엮이지 말자구.)

As her airship leaves, an armed reconnaissance craft from the Dal people, the enemy of the Shan, appears on the horizon, and the Shan retreat. One of the guards yells that So'ryu did not warn them about this, and the captain orders everyone to take cover to avoid getting hit.

Ryu Sang stands under the shadow of a tree and watches the Dal plane fire and pass by. He knows that the plains doesn't hide anything, shows you the things you don't want to see as well as the things you want to see, as though it wants you to confront everything without running away. Ryu Sang watches a woman walking away, until she is a speck on the horizon. She does not look back, even once. Ryu Sang remembers that she did not turn to look back at her son, not once.

Pages 153-156:

...사시사철...
초록색 바다가 춤추던 하마트 평원.

한차례 붉은 비가 지나간 그곳에
나는 10년 만에 서서
또다시 괴물을 보았다.

Hamatŭ Plains, where a green sea dances all year-round.

Ten years later, I stood where a red rain had passed by, and saw a monster, once again.


On a plain dotted with swords, the body of a downed guardsman, and smoke, a young So'ryu is standing and gazing out into the distance.

Ryu Sang: Son So'ryu.
(손소류.)

It's been a real long time since I've met someone as frightful** as you. **RT**
(너처럼 지독한 계집애도 참 오랜만이다.)








**지독하다
I find this a really difficult word to translate. It expresses feelings/perceptions along two general lines, a) (tiresomely) intense, persistent, hard, severe, (self-)punishing, embittered; and b) (repulsively) dreadful, terrible, fearful, awful. To say that a person is 지독하다 has more of feeling A (especially "intense," but with a negative connotation), but from the context, I'm sure B is intended as well. But calling someone "awful" sounds kind of twee/not sober enough to my ears and "terrible," "dreadful" and the like don't seem to fit either.... I might try to re-do this part.




Go to: Volume 8 Summary with Excerpts