Nabi: Summaries with Excerpts, Vol. 11

[sohan]

Nabi: Summaries with Excerpts, Vol. 11

Chapter 19: 이 손에 묻은 (血) / [Blood] On these hands

Chapter 20: 내 새장 속의 완벽한 세상 (世界) / The Perfect World Inside My Birdcage



In a flashback, Myo'un is running away from the Son house through a wooded, deserted area. It is nearly dusk. She notices by the leaves lining the ground that it has become autumn outside. Pausing to catch her breath next to a pond, she notices her reflection in the water (the panel also shows the reflection of an arm reaching for her).

In the next moment, the guards who have been chasing her grab Myo'un and get ready to head back, but almost unaware of what is going on around her, Myo'un only thinks that she had better do something about her hair, which had been tied up into a girl's hairdo by So'ryu earlier. Myo'un knows that her father hates that fact that she is a girl, even though her mother had told her that that does not mean he hates her. It just means, her mother had told her, that all Myo'un needs to do is become a good son, one who would not bring shame upon an illustrious house. Then her father would not have any reason to hate her.

Myo'un doesn't really understand–

Pages 18-20

그 둘은
뭐가
다른가.

여자 아이로 태어난 나와
남자 아이로
사는 나는

무엇이 다른가.

What is the difference.
Betweeen the me who was born a girl
and the me who lives as a boy;
what is the difference?


Pulling the sword of the guard who is carrying her out of its scabbard, Myo'un slices the guard's belly open, and while the other guards are still frozen in shock, she quickly slays the other two before they have a chance to reach their weapons.

Washing her hands in the pond, Myo'un thinks that it's all just a trick, something faked by adults for children to make things more complicated than they really are. Her mother's words mean exactly the same thing as the truth, that her father hates her, that he cannot love her because she was born a girl, and cannot love her mother because she bore him a girl.

Page 27

흔안 이야기다.
애들도 다 아는.

It's a common story
that even children know.


Back in the present day, chaos continues unabated on the main airship, as the panicked announcements ring out over the intercom. The ship pitches wildly, throwing people to the walls and floor. In one part of the airship, Chŏk'yŏng is trying to protect Aru (actually the other way around), and in the main audience hall, several soldiers are trying without success to revive the king, sliding into unconsciousness.

The captain of the guard tries to get Son Sŏkmyŏng to get out of the disintegrating hall, but dumbstruck, Son Sŏkmyŏng can only stare at Myo'un and recall the child who had once been locked up in a cell at his home. He realizes that the child – the son of his enemy, Hong Jinwŏn – had actually been a girl. While a voice over the intercom yells for everyone to brace themselves as the ship rolls, Myo'un throws one of her hairpins straight into Son Sŏkmyŏng's left eye. As everything pitches sharply to one side, Ryu Sang tackles Myo'un over a ripped-up edge of the floor to the exposed level below.

The guards try again to get Son Sŏkmyŏng to safety and deal with his eye, but he demands that they bring the girl to him at once – missing a limb or two is fine, as long as she is still alive. Harim looks coolly at So'ryu, trying to tend to her father, a worried expression on her face. The guards leap down to the level below to chase after Myo'un and Ryu Sang; Harim follows them, apparently in no hurry. At the lower level he sees the dead body of a female courtier, and picks out a hairpin from her coiffure. He pauses, then throws the pin into the air with a little laugh.

Page 48

Harim: Amazing. You're amazing, Miss Myo'un.

(멋져.)
(묘운 아가씨, 멋져.)


In the control room, the ship's captain learns that the emperor has died of his wounds, and orders the pilots to take the ship up. Another officer (possibly the second-in-command?) demands if he means to bury everyone at sea, because the ship won't stay up for much longer on just the back-up engines. The captain yells back that since the emperor has obviously been assassinated, he's not going to allow anyone responsible for it from leaving the ship.

An officer on one of the accompanying smaller airships sees a flag signal from the main ship that says: "Treason" (모반•謨反).

On the passenger decks, members of the crew are trying to get people back into their cabins without much success. Carrying Aru on his back, Chŏk'yŏng recalls a conversation he had earlier with Ryu Sang, who had told him to jump into the sea if anything happened. Chŏk'yŏng incredulously wonders if Ryu Sang had actually meant "die" instead, since all he can see outside the portholes are clouds, not water, and with growing anger at Ryu Sang's always doing things like this without ever telling him anything.

The guards in hot pursuit, Ryu Sang and Myo'un manage to evade them, thanks not just to the chaos on the ship but one of the guards pretending not to have noticed them hiding behind a deck. It doesn't matter anyway, the guard tells the others, since Myo'un is not going to last another day because of the poison in her system, and he wants to avoid crossing paths with the imperial soldiers.

When the guards have gone, Myo'un asks Ryu Sang if what he wanted to do was something like this. Surely not, he replies.

Pages 67-70

Ryu Sang: What your humble servant wanted to do was what your ladyship did, throwing a hairpin at Minister Son, that sort of thing.
(소인이 하고 싶었던 일은 아씨가 손 재상에게 뒤꽂이를 냅다 날린, 그런 종류의 일이었습죠.)

Myo'un: Don't make fun.
(놀리지 마.)

*Ryu Sang refers to himself using a humble 'I' (小人 so'in) while elevating his style of address for Myo'un (using 'assi,' the 'miss'/'madam' translated here as 'you'), changing the speech level of his entire sentence, for a sarcastic/humorous effect.


Ryu Sang: You're an idiot, right?
(너, 바보지?)

Myo'un: Huh?
(에?)

Ryu Sang: Who in the world goes around announcing, "I'm going to seek revenge from this moment on" before seeking revenge? Are you going to the Olympics** by yourself? You want to be righteous that much?
(세상에 '지금부터 복수합니다.' 예고부터 날리고 복수하는 사람도 있냐? 혼자 올림픽 해? 그렇게 정정당당하고 싶어?)

Myo'un: Olympics?
(올림픽?)

**Author making anachronistic joke.


Ryu Sang: What are you going to do? Getting revenge would have been easier staying at that house. Are you going to start plotting out war strategies?
(앞으로 어쩔 거야. 그 집에 붙어있는 게 복수하기도 더 쉬웠을 텐데, 이젠 니가 전술을 짤 거야?)

Myo'un: B-but...
(...하...하지만....)

I didn't like seeing you being a servant in that house.
(난 니가 그 집에서 사병 노릇 하는 거 싫었어.)

Ryu Sang: I don't like seeing you take revenge.
(나는 니가 복수하는 거 싫어.)



"넌 사람을 못 죽이잖아."
"네가 그럴 수 있길 바라지도 않다"

"You can't kill people."
"I don't want you to be able to, either.



Myo'un: I can't be who you want me to be.
(나는 니가 바라는 사람이 되어줄수 없어.)

I wasn't someone like that in the first place.
(원래부터 그런 사람이 아니었고.)

Ryu Sang: As if I asked.
(누가 뭐랬나).


To Myo'un, that violent, bloody night, when she was neither afraid or tormented, is only now haunting her; that is, the person she used to be, Hayŏng, is now haunting her. Kim Myo'un, at the same time, is holding Hayŏng back. Myo'un tries to tell Ryu Sang something, but he interrupts, unsettled by the realization he no longer can see the horizon line from out the airship's windows.

Armed soldiers land on the emperor's vessel using grappling hooks and ziplines. Their mission is to secure the safety of the emperor and to find the concubine from Shan (Kyŏm [Gyeom]), for the pilot of the ship that crashed into the emperor's airship has been found to be connected to the Shan.

The men overtake Kyŏm's group (Kyŏm, Sŏng and another Shan diplomat, a guardsman, and several other court ladies), and shout at her to submit to her punishment as a traitor. Calmly, Kyŏm takes the guardsman's sword and starts cutting the men down. Sŏng and the other diplomat follow her lead.

We then shift to a scene from an earlier period before the events on the ship. One of the Emperor's concubines, Kyŏm, is holding a meeting with Sŏng and another advisor from her homeland in her rooms. She is freeing a songbird from a cage, but it keeps flying back. She explains to the others that it was a gift from the Emperor, something he received in bulk from some merchant or another.

Pages 103-

Kyŏm: So... What did that soothsayer say? Is she going to get in my way?
(...그래서...)
(그 점쟁이는 뭐래?)
(나를 방해하겠대?)

Sŏng: It doesn't look like she knows anything yet...
(...아직은 모르는 눈치라는데....)

Kyŏm: Or maybe it's not something that interests her?
(아님, 관심 밖의 일이라거나?)

Sŏng: Perhaps...
(...그럴지도....)

Kyŏm: What does Grandfather say?
(할아버지는 뮈래?)

Flashback

Grandfather: Haa... If our Kyŏm... was only a little bit pretty, none of this would have happened...
...하아....
...우리 겸이가...
좀만 예뻤어도 이런 시련 따윈 없었을 텐데....

End flashback


Sŏng hides a laugh, and Kyŏm grasps his chin in mock annoyance, asking him is he finds that funny. Sŏng removes her hand and looks at her seriously.

Pages 108-111

Sŏng: Aren't you afraid of the things you'll lose?
(읽게 될 것들이 두렵지 않아?)

Kyŏm: Things I'll lose? What things?
(읽게 될 것?)
(어떤 것?)

A meaningless title, 'Se'pin' [Sebin]? Our people's shrinking way of life as we move to the interior of Kailas, the holy mountain? An unequal alliance with an empire?

('세빈' 이라는 내명부의 품계?)
(성산() 카일라스 안쪽으로 옮겨야 하는 우리 부족의 삶의 터전?)
(제국과의 불평등한 동맹?)

Don't think that a bird in a cage will always be only pining for the sky.
It's common to choose safety in imprisonment rather than danger in freedom.
There's a right to dream of freedom. Our people have that right.
And I, too, have it.
(새장에 갇힌 새가 항상 하늘을 동경할 거라고 생각하지 마.)
(험한 자유보다 안락한 구속을 택하는 건 흔한 일이야.)
(자유를 꿈꾸는 데도 일종의 자격이 있어. 우리 부족은 그럴 자격이 있고.)
(나 역시 그럴 자격이 있어.)

And you will be glad to learn that I am someone like that.
(그리고 너는)
(내가 그런 종류의 인간이라는 사실을)
(기뻐하게 될 거야.)



The story returns to the events on the ship. Sŏng looks at Kyŏm while thinking of her words. One of the other concubines looks at Kyŏm, tears in her eyes.

Pages 115-119

Hyo'pin [Hyobin]: Se'pin [Sebin]. Is that true? This incident... did you plan it?
(세빈.)
(정말이야?)
(...이 일...정말 세빈이 꾸몄어?)

Kyŏm: It's true that I was going to cause a minor disturbance, pretend to be dead, and run away.
(약간의 소동을 일으켜서, 난 죽은 걸로 하고 도망갈 궁리를 했던 건 사실이야.)

Hyo'pin: This isn't minor! You've done something terrible! What are you going to do!
(약간이 아니야! 어마어마한 일을 저질렀어! 어쩔 거야!!)

Kyŏm: Well, I suppose there were some twists along the way.
(뮈, 이런저런 굴곡은 있었지.)

Hyo'pin: And you've harmed the Emperor! You're not going to be all right!
게다가 폐하에게 상해까지 입혔잖아! 무사하기 힘들거야!

Kyŏm: That part was... beginner's luck?
(...그 부분은....)
(초심자의 행운?)

Hyo'pin: Luck...? What in the...
(...행운이라니, 그 무슨....)

Kyŏm: Hyo'pin. Thanks for being kind to me all this time. You were one of the few people at the Su court who treated me like a person. So be well. I'm going to be fine.
(효빈.)
(그동안 내게 잘해줘서 고마워. 수 황실에서 날 사람 취급해준 몇 안 되는 이 중 하나야, 자기는.)
(그러니,)
(잘 살아. 나도 잘 살 테니까.)





나는 지금 너무나 기뻐.
그러니 너도 내가 이런 종류의 인간이란 걸
기뻐해야 할 거야.

I'm so happy right now.

So you'll have to be glad that I am this sort of person, too.



In another part of the airship, the guards of Son Sŏkmyŏng are forcing their way toward an escape vessel. Members of the crew protest that the captain has ordered everyone to stay aboard, but the group secures a ship for themselves, while on the bridge of the ship, the captain has lost his senses, ordering the crew to release the ballast and take the ship up, for no one must be allowed to leave the ship.

In a desperate move, one of the bridge officers (possibly the second-in-command), knocks the captain out and orders the ship to descend. She orders the high-ranking passengers to be evacuated and orders all the fighter planes inside the airship to leave carrying as much armaments as possible, and as the engines start to fail, for everyone remaining to brace for impact.



Safe inside an escape vessel, Yisana and So'ryu are sitting side by side unharmed, staring into space. Yisana breaks the silence first.

Pages 135-136

Yisana: I suppose... a year from now... I shall have clung on to life and be married to you.
(...아마도 저는....)
(1년 후에도 목숨을 부지하여)
(아씨와 혼례를 올리겠군요.)

And then I'll die an early death, and widowed, you'll return to your father's house. My mother would allow you.
(그리곤, 자손도 남기지 못하고 단명하여, 과부과 된 아씨는 아버님께로 돌아가시겠군요.)
(제 어머님이 그런 아씨를 댁으로 돌려보내주실 테니까요.)

See. Marrying someone rich and short-lived is the best.
(그거 보십시오.)
(혼인 상대로는 명 짧고 돈 많은 이가 최고 아닙니까.)

I'm nineteen this year, so I'll at least enter into my majority.* I'll get married to a beauty no less, and since my father and grandfather are men of distinction, I'll be able to serve in government, and though only briefly, I'll be able to do everything anyone is able to do before dying.
(제 나이 올해로 19이니 약관은 넘기겠군요.)
(미인을 얻어 장가도 들고,)
(아비도 장인도 세도가이니 원한다면 관직에 나갈 수도 있을 테고,)
(짧아도, 남들 하는 건 다 해보고 가겠군요.)

*20 years of age.

Has my lady ever thought that you might die before growing old?
(아가씨는)
(자신이 늙어 죽는 게 아닐 수도 있다는 생각을 해 보신 적이 있습니까?)



Yisana explains to So'ryu that he had this realization as a very small child, when he saw his mother crying for him.

Pages 139-141

Yisana: [I realized then] People can be in pain even if they're not in pain. That's what grown-ups meant when they said "one's heart aches." The sadness of those whom I care for and those who care for me is a pain as profound as this.
(사람은 아픈 곳이 없어도 아플 수가 있구나.)
(이것이 어른들이 말하는 '마음이 아프다'는 것이구나.)
(나를 아끼고 내가 아끼는 이의 슬픔은 내게도 이리 큰 아픔이구나.)

Lady So'ryu, because I've grown up seeing and hearing this sort of thing, I very much dislike the playing with of people's lives.
(소류 아씨, 저는 어려서부터 그 같은 말을 듣고 그 같은 것들을 보고 자라, 사람 목숨을 가지고 장난치는 걸 아주 싫어한답니다.)

If what remains of my life is thus, I would like to die living with those I care for.
I do not think I can marry you.
(저의 남은 인생 또한 그러다하면, 저는 제가 아끼는 이와 살다 가고 싶습니다.)
(저는 아씨와 혼인할 수 없을 것 같습니다.)



The volume ends with So'ryu's thoughts. We follow her as she walks through the capital on a snowy night in one of her dreams. On her way home, she sees Harim standing on a rooftop, and thinks he must have been sent out on some mission by her father. Back at her home, she stands over her own sleeping form with hatred and contempt for the girl who did nothing when she knew that the country of Winok would perish, that the country of Mun would cut all ties with Su, and that the Shan would betray the empire, the girl who did nothing even though she knew that her second-eldest brother would go mad, that the Lady Howŏl would die, and that Harim would return.

So'ryu thinks that after having done nothing, she will eventually turn into air, to wander the world until she dissolves into nothing. The night, with snow falling, is cold, but the cold does not reach her, nor warmth. On a night like this one, she went out to meet an old friend [note: probably referring to Myo'un], who did not see her, and So'ryu ended up not doing anything then, either. So'ryu's thoughts turn to Ryu Sang.

But that night...

You said you saw me.

...But you...hate me.

Even sometimes when you see me you look away.

And then will you kill me one day?

Aren't you generous.

Generous one, don't die.


The scene cuts to Ryu Sang at the edge of a beach, surrounded by bodies and wreckage.


Even though I know you'll kill me, I won't do anything.

So return to me with sword in hand

and repay that generosity.



Go to: Volume 12 Summary with Excerpts