sohan

Nabi: Summaries with Translations, Vol. 9

Chapter 16: Like a Sharp Blue-green Blade
날푸른 검(劍)과 같이

Chapter 17: A Trembling Night
흔들리는 밤(夜)



So'ryu recalls that she has died three times on the night of a full moon beneath the shadow of a bamboo forest: the first time at the hands of her second eldest brother; a few years later, in the same dream, a Myo'un who seemed to hesitate before striking; followed by Ryu Sang's blade, glittering from the light. So'ryu thinks that the distance between herself and her killer is slowly growing–from sibling to friend to an outsider who could almost be considered an executioner. She thinks that if there is no way to escape that kind of death. So'ryu wants to do that she can to avoid the fate of being killed by someone she knows. At nineteen years of age, this is her hope…

At the Son house, Sŏng is sitting outside the walls in the shade of the trees. He sees Ryu Sang sneak out of one of the gates, wearing a hat. Following Ryu Sang, Sŏng sees that he is following Myo'un in secret.

In the city, Myo'un sees Yisana looking through books at a bookseller's pavilion accompanied by Hong. Myo'un tells Yisana that she's out on an errand for So'ryu as Ryu Sang wonders who she is talking to.

p. 26

Yisana: It looks like you're not looking for me…
(보아하니 최종 목적지는 내가 아닌 듯하고…)

Myo'un: No…
(…네…)

Yisana: Has Lady So'ryu found a new man already?
(아씨께 벌써 다른 남자가 생긴 거니?)

Myo'un: No… it's nothing like that…
(…아니… 그런 것은 아닙니다….)


Sŏng recognizes Yisana as someone he once saw at the Su imperial palace (dressed in official robes and yawning), the cousin of the emperor. In Sŏng's recollection, Yisana, notices a woman (in whose entourage Sŏng is in) and bows his head to her (Sŏng seems to be one of her guards).

Yisana says that he'll let Hong escort her while he is looking at books. Myo'un declines, feeling awkward, when Yisana tells her that she has three 'tails' (that is, three people on her tail): 1) Ryu Sang; 2) Sŏng; and 3) Hong (Hong takes this to mean that Yisana implying that he is interested in Myo'un, and becomes quite embarrassed and shocked). When Ryu Sang hears Yisana saying this, he runs up to grab Myo'un by the hand and gets away, pulling her along behind.

pp. 33

Yisana: One of those tails must be the one Chŏk'yŏng was talking about.
(꼬리 하나는 적영이가 말하던 그 녀석인가 보다.)

It's not that I noticed because of some great ability, but because my attention wasn't elsewhere unlike all of you.
(내가 딱히 무공이 높아 눈치챈 것이 아니라, 너희처럼 다른 데 눈이 팔리지 않아 알아챈 것이다.)

Hong: [speechless]

Yisana: It's not that I have very keen senses, but because you've been looking forward to me getting married even though you don't like Lady So'ryu. Even the author didn't know you're anticipating the day Lady So'ryu will bring Myo'un along. {RT}
(내가 딱히 감이 좋아 안 게 아니라, 소류 아씨를 싫어하던 네가 요즘은 내 혼인날만을 기다리니 안 것이다.)
(소류 아씨가 묘운이를 데리고 올 날만을 학수고대하고 있으니 작가도 모르던 걸 나만 안거지.)

Hong: Stop making things up! When did I…!!
(거짓부령 마십쇼! 제가 언제요!!)

Frowning (and still embarrassed), Hong says that anyway, it's completely inappropriate for Yisana to be matching them up like that since his and Myo'un's statuses are so different. No matter who she is now, she was born into the Hong family, which was the greatest martial clan in all of Su. Leafing through a book, Yisana wonders out loud what use any of that is at this point.

As they are running, Myo'un tells Ryu Sang to head toward a gate in the distance. There seems to be no one inside the walls. Once inside, Myo'un asks Ryu Sang why they are running, and why he appeared so suddenly out of the blue. She gets mad at him when he doesn't deny that he was secretly following her (his excuse is that she never tells him where she's going, to which Myo'un says, 'but that's exactly what you're always doing'), and accidentally knocks his hat into the decorative pond next to the wall.

Giving Ryu Sang her colorful decorated hat to wear while his dries, Myo'un tells him that there might be a secret to her identity. She tells him that the question of where she came from didn't matter–or at least, it didn’t, before–because she used to think that there was no meaning in recovering your memories when you were only seven or eight years old, and because she liked living at the home that their master gave her so much. Myo'un doesn't tell Ryu Sang, though, about how much she had wanted Sŏng Howŏl to be her mother, and herself to be her daughter.

Framed by the water of the pond, the blowing wind, and a sky where Su airships are flying by, Myo'un reveals to Ryu Sang that they are in the house where she was born and grew up in for eight years, that the name her parents gave her was 'Hong Hayŏng,' and that she was born in the country of Su.

Ryu Sang remembers what Harim had told him about the heir to a great martial clan who was kidnapped, and how Son Sŏkmyŏng had had everyone in that family killed.

Myo'un tells Ryu Sang that So'ryu bought the house to give to her, and that she has been coming to the house to clean it up bit by bit whenever she has the time. To this, Ryu Sang says: That woman has ruined you twice. (그 여자는) (널 두 번 망첬어.)

pp.52-55

Myo'un: Huh?
(응?)

Ryu Sang: It's her family that made this clan this way! Your clan, and our school.
(이 가문을 이렇게 만든 게 바로 그 집안이야!)
(너히 가문도)
(그리고 우리 서원도)

That's twice she's ruined your life now!!
(두번이나 네 인생에 끼어들어서!)
(두 번이나 널 망친 거야!!)

Myo'un: I…thought that…too…
(…그렇지…)
(…않을까…)
(…생각했었어…)

That maybe all of this comes from a sense of guilt… It doesn't seem like we were ever close… **RT**
(일련의 행동은 죄책감에서 비롯된 게 아닐까….)
(특별히 친분이 두터웠던 것 같지도 않고…)

Ryu Sang: Is that all?
(그게 다야?)

Myo'un: But, it's because of her father, not So'ryu…
(하지만, 그런 건 소류 아씨가 아니라 그 아버지가…)

Ryu Sang: That little tongue of hers is what moves her father.
(그 아비를)
(움직이는 게 바로,)
(그 여자의 세치 혀야.)

Don't ever side with her in front of me again. I won't forgive even you for it.
(두 번 다시 내 앞에서 그 여자를 두둔하는 말은 하지 마.)
(아무리 너라도 봐주지 않아.)


Ryu Sang goes on to tell her to make Chŏk'yŏng do the cleaning ('since he hasn't made an on-screen appareance lately') and as they are walking around, comments on how filthy rich her family must have been, certainly enough to be on par with So'ryu's family. He asks Myo'un why she didn't learn to fight with a sword. Before Myo'un can answer, he asks her if he's the reason. Myo'un emphatically tells him that that's not it at all, though he doesn't seem convinced.

When they leave the house, Ryu Sang takes her to a swordmaker and buys here a sword when he learns that she's not carrying around the dando (knife) that he gave her earlier. He says that she should take lessons from Miok or whomever if she can instead of spending her time with cleaning of all things.

As they are leaving the store, the swordmaker asks Ryu Sang about his sword, saying that he hasn't seen a blade made in Winok (위녹 {為錄}) ever since that country was defeated by Su, many years ago. Swords made in Winok were known for their beautiful craftsmanship. Ryu Sang doesn't reply.

As they're leaving, Ryu Sang says that he's made a mistake and that "he's probably waiting outside the house." (Referring, unbeknownst to Myo'un, to Sŏng.)

Myo'un recalls that the sword Ryu Sang is carrying is one that he was said to have had with him from before he entered the school. Winok was a small country beyond the Hamatŭ plains. Myo'un wonders what kind of hardships Ryu Sang must have experienced to have come from Winok, then over the Hamatŭ plains, and then the huge country of Su and finally to Mun.

On their way back, Ryu Sang abruptly stops in the middle of the path, where Sŏng has been waiting for them. Ryu Sang gets ready to draw his sword, but Sŏng tells him that there might be no need to fight, since they might be on the same side.

Ryu Sang asks Myo'un to go ahead without him, and when she tries to give him his hat back now that it has dried, he only asks her to hurry up and go.

As she is walking away, Myo'un, looking down at the sword Ryu Sang bought her, remembers a particular day when they were both children. In a practice fight with wooden swords, Myo'un, her face blank, drives Ryu Sang backwards. She is about to land a final blow, to the shock and fear of the other children, when Ryu Sang stops her in her tracks by crying out for his mother, tears streaming down his face.

Myo'un thinks to herself, remembering that time, that she doesn't like the heaviness of real swords nor the sound they make as they move through the air.

At the Son compound, in the guards' quarters, the men are in the middle of a heated discussion. Some of the guards want to teach Ryu Sang a lesson, and conclude that the way to get to him is through Myo'un. Observing the discussion from the far side of the room, Harim sarcastically comments (to the guard who stopped him from attacking Ryu Sang on the plains) on how everyone seems to know that Ryu Sang told outsiders about So'ryu. No one has told the captain about it yet, however, and Harim makes some flat jokes, which gets the older guards even more angry.

The one-handed guard tells Harim that if he's not going to join in, he can very well sit it out. He says that he knew Harim was interested in Myo'un from the moment he had the wanted poster made of her. Harim looks down on him coldly, wondering out loud if losing a hand made him lose his senses, too, which makes the guard furious.

Knocking over a vase and shattering it, he yells that Harim can't possibly know what it feels like to be a swordsman who can never wield a sword again. The guard can't just return home, either, because the rest of his family would be killed. This, he says, is something a mere slave like Harim, with no family, could never understand.

pp. 84-85

Harim: Who gives a shit.
(알 게 뭐야.)

One-handed guard: What?
(뭐-?!)

Harim: Oh yeah, I wonder if my Mom and Dad's lives got a little easier when they sold their fifth son? Maybe they managed to extend their lives last year by selling my third sister.
(아, 우리 아버지 어머니는 다섯쨰 아들 팔아서 살림살이 좀 나아지셨나?)
(작년 보깃고개 때는 셌째 누이를 팔아 겨우 연명했을지도 모르지만.)

So, you guys who care so much about your kith and kin, you're sitting around planning to do something about some girl?
(그래서, 그렇게 제 식솔사랑 지극하신 분들이 지금,)
(여자 하나 어찌 해볼까 모여서 작당중이신가?)

If you want to mess with Ryu Sang, mess with him! Then I'd go along!
(조지려면 류상 녀석을 직접 조져!!)
(그럼 나도 적극 가담할 테니!!)

One-handed guard: Ju Harim. That girl. She's a virgin, right?
(주하림.)
(개,)
(처녀는 맞지?)

At this, Harim knocks the guard onto his back and starts to beat his face in. The other guards try to stop Harim to no avail. Harim pulls out one of their swords and raises it high, the blade pointing straight down. He stabs the floor just a hair's breadth from the guard's neck, saying that it might have been the man's tongue that should have been cut off, not his hand.

pp. 90-

Harim: I'll kill you.
(죽는다.)

If you touch Miss Myo'un, I'll kill you.
(묘운 아가씨 건드리면 죽는다.)

One-handed guard: Do it then.
(지금 죽여.)

Harim: What?
(뭐?)

One-handed guard: Why wait for a next time! Go ahead and kill me!!
(뭘 다음 기회를 기다려! 그냥 지금 죽이라고!!)


His life is barely worth living, the guard yells, now that it has become impossible for him to work as a swordsman. The only way he and his family can survive is if he remains a part of the Son household–if he tried to go back to his home on his own (i.e. without being a retainer of the Son), then sooner or later he would be killed, probably by one of the very people around them, to ensure he stays silent. It's not that he feels any loyalty to the house, the guard tells Harim, but that his basic situation–serving the house out of fear–is different from Harim, who has to obey because he is a slave.

pp. 91-92

One-handed guard: And Ryu Sang runs his mouth off? The secret that we've all been protecting like it's some treasure? Does he think we're keeping this massive secret 'cause we don't have mouths?! Even if it's shit, this life is all we've got, that's why!!

(그런데, 류상 녀석이 천금 같은 아씨의 비밀을 까발려?)
(우리 모두 목숨이 하나라 철통같이 지키고 있던 그 비밀을?)
(누군 입이 없어서 그 대단한 비밀을 지켜주소 있었는지 알아?!)
(버러지 같은 인생이라도 목숨이 하나라 지켜줄 수밖에 없었던 거야!!)

Our situation is completely different from yours.

(너랑은 입장부터가 다르다고.)

Harim, saying nothing to this, slams the door as he leaves.

The guards breathe a sigh of relief and talk among themselves.

pp. 93

Guard with a headband: I thought he was gonna do it. Is he actually sweet on that girl or what?
(뭔일 치르는지 알았네. 정말로 그 계집한테 마음 있었나?)

Long-haired guard: That kid is really scary whenever he gets like that.
(저자식, 가끔 저렇게 빡돌면 진짜 무섭더라.)

Guard with a headband: That's how he cut down the Second Young Master [So'ryu's second eldest brother]. Slave's got guts.
(그러니까 지가 모시던 작은 서방님도 냅다 찔러버렸지. 종놈이 간도 커.)

Long-haired guard: And it was thanks to Han'a that he managed to live. Apparently there were a lot of weird people in Mion?
(그러고도 살아남은 건 다 한아 덕분이고. 미온 국(國) 에 별난 사람들이 많았다며?)

Guard with a headband: He survived because Han'a's ghost was hanging around. Otherwise there's no way the Master would have let him live, no matter what Miss So'ryu said.
(저녀석은 한아의 유령을 업고 살아남은 거야.)
(그게 아니면 소류 아씨가 뭐라든 대감마님이 살려두셨을 리가 없어.)

The guard who had been in the group that fought at the plains, who has been listening to the conversation, says that the secret getting out might not be a bad thing, after all, as the others look at him in surprise.

The guard continues: if a secret is no longer a secret, then they wouldn't have to keep it. Instead of being spread around in whispers, it would be better if the secret was to be spread far and wide until it reached the emperor's ears. The one-handed guard objects by saying that that would mean some of them would end up with their heads on the block. The guard replies that that rap can fall on the person who told in the first place. But–

pp. 96-101

Guard who was at the plains: I can guarantee you, our Master can't kill Ryu Sang. Never. If he could, why would he be putting up with this farce?
(장담하는데,)
(우리 대감마님은 류상 못 죽인다.)
(절대 못 죽이제.)
(안 그럼 뭐하러 이런 부조리를 견디노.)

If he was someone he could kill, he would have already. He's someone who'd try to off the Master the first chance he got…
(죽일 수 있으면 벌써 죽였제. 기회만 된다면 바로 대감마님의 목을 노리고 달려들 놈인데….)

Long-haired guard: So according to you, two birds with one stone?
(니 말대로면 일석일조가 되는 거냐?)

Guard with headband: If it goes well maybe a fight will break out over who gets her.
(잘하면 아씨를 서로 가지겠다고 싸움이 날지도 모르겠어.)

Guard who was at the plains: At that time… if she were to be taken care of, that would be the best outcome.
(…그 와중에…)
(아씨가 처리되면 제일 좋고.)

That's what I think. That it'd be better if something like that didn't exist. That it'd be better if future-telling witches didn't exist.
(내는 그래 생각한다.)
(저런 건 없는 게 낫다고.)
(앞날을 보는 요녀 같은 건)
(없는 게 낫다고.)

If I can't have it, then it'd be better off not existing… I'm probably not the only person who's thinking something along these lines.
(내가 가질 수 없다면 아예 없는 게 낫다.)
(…그래 생각하는 사람이)
(세상에 내 뿐인 건 아닐 거다.)


Just you wait and see, the guard says, trouble is on its way. People have gone to war over women who were merely beautiful, so it's not a stretch of the imagination to think that people would fight over a girl who can tell the future. It'll be too late, then, he says–when all the evil things that has been done come around, then no matter how much you struggle or regret, you'll finally realize that even your life isn't worth much, after all….

Harim, who has wandered over to So'ryu's quarters, sees Myo'un being instructed on swordsmanship by Miok while So'ryu watches from a pavilion. In a short flashback, a young Myo'un is returning from someplace carrying a sword across her back (from her hair and clothes it looks like sometime after So'ryu helps her escape). She thinks that instead of insects coming out of people when they are dead, it might be that dead people turn into insects. If that's the case, she thinks that it would be nice to turn into something pretty, like a yellow butterfly or a red ladybug, even though it's not the season for them.

The young Myo'un beds down for the night in a room that has been turned inside out, strewn with books (in a previous panel, parts of maggot-infested limbs can be seen, and in another panel, the silhouettes of dead bodies). As she pulls the quilt over her head, she thinks:

pp. 110-113

…그럼…
녹음이 땅을 적시던 계절데 떠난 우리 집안 사람들은
노란 나비나 빨간 무당벌레가 될 수 있었을까?

Then… the people of our household who left when the earth was starting to melt, were they able to turn into a yellow butterfly or a red ladybug?

어머니가 수 놓으신 금침위 하얀 나비처럼
훨훨 날았다가
지금은 겨울이라 돌아오지 않는 걸까?

Maybe they were flying, like the white butterflies that Mother embroiders with her gold needle, but they haven't returned because it's still winter?

...그럼 나도…
아름다운 봄날에 죽어야겠다.
아름다운 봄날에 죽어 아름다운 벌레가 되어야겠다.

Then…I'll die in the spring.

I'll die on a beautiful spring day and turn into a beautiful insect.


Here the narrative shifts back to Myo'un in the present day.

아름다운 벌레가 되어 눈부시게 날아가야
…아버님이…
나를 사랑해주실 테니까.

Only when I become a beautiful insect and fly away
Father…
will love me.





Chapter 17:

It's late at night, and Wŏn is standing outside a window, knocking softly on the frame. After a couple of tries, she looks around, then gets ready to pound her fist on the window. Just before she can, the window opens. Wŏn and the sleepy-looking guard look at one another for a moment.

p. 118

Guard who was at the plains: Harim's room is the one next door…
(하림이 방은 요 옆인데….)

Wŏn: Oh no, I'm here to talk to Ryu Sang…
(아니, 류상에게 볼 일이…)

Guard: Master Ryu Sang is asleep.
(류상 님은 주무시제.)

Wŏn: Oh…
(…아….)

Guard: Wŏn, even if you're feeling all fired up, a lass shouldn't be askin' for a lad in the middle of the night.
(원아, 아무리 몸이 달아도 그렇제, 오밤중에 계집아가 머슴아 방에 찾아오고 그라믄 안 된다.)

Wŏn: It's nothing like that!
(그런 게 아니고요!)


Wŏn explains that she's out looking for Myo'un. When the guard asks her why, Wŏn answers that sometimes, when So'ryu can't sleep, she calls them to play guessing games ¹ with her. Harim, having been woken up by the sound, immediately rushes towards the one-handed guardsman's room. The guard who was at the plains rushes after him also fearing the worst, with the excuse that he suddenly has to relieve himself. It's almost the hour of the Rat ² so they probably wouldn't be wandering around, he adds on his way out. Saying that that Myo'un is probably somewhere nearby, Wŏn apologizes to Ryu Sang for waking him up and leaves, thinking that Myo'un is lucky to have someone like him.

Harim, the guard from the plains, and Ryu Sang find the one-handed guard still in his bed. He sits up groggily, clutching his pillow to his chest, and asks them why they've woken him up. After an awkward pause, Harim mutters that he thought this was the toilet, while the other guard mutters that he was just on his way back from the toilet. Complaining, the one-handed guard lies back down to sleep, and Ryu Sang slams the door shut.



¹ 파자(破字)놀이 [p'aja nori] {paja nori} is a Chosŏn-era guessing game where you try to figure out what a character might be using clues derived from how the character is composed. (破 is the character to break/split apart/shatter, hence 破字 'breaking up characters'; in Japanese, the type of wordplay referred to as 漢字破字法.)

For example, the character 朝 (조 cho/jo) would be broken down and given as "十月十日". There are several different ways of breaking characters down, drawing inferences between shapes, and phrasing/setting up the puzzles/clues. Some dictionaries give p'aja nori as a game as well as a method of folk divination.

Just as another example, the first one from this page: blog.daum.net/hyofirst/7093342

Once upon a time a scholar asked a child playing by the roadside how old he was. The child replied, "I'm as old as a field whose walls have collapsed." How old is the child?

Answer: The child is 10 years old.

Explanation: The Chinese character for field is 田 (C: tian1). If you envision the character without the 囗 (wei2 is not what 田 is made of as 田 is a radical in of its self, but just using it here to illustrate), you'd get just 十 , the character for the number 10 (C: shi2).

Some p'aja nori give you the clue as wordplay, others by describing what the character should look like, and so on and so on. (Here are a couple of good ones that I might try translating and adding to this note at some point after I've finished the other volumes): news.goe.go.kr/main/php/search_view.php?idx=10903§ion=52§ion_sub=9

² The hour of the Rat (자시 • 子時): around 11pm to 1am. If time in Nabi is mostly based on Chosŏn standards of reckoning, officially the day would be divided into 12 double-hours si (시 • 時), each named for one of the 12 zodiac animals (십이지 • 十二支). Each si would be further divided into ch'o [cho] (초) and chŏng [jeong] (정).

People might also use less specific measures of time in their everyday lives, dividing daylight into 5 kyŏng [gyeong] (更) and each kyŏng into 5 chŏm [jeom] (點) in a system known as kyŏngchŏmpŏb (경점법 • 更點法). I think nighttime (from first star until sunrise) under the official 12 double-hour system could also be divided into 5 watches and each watch in to 5 points.





Ryu Sang gets dressed and takes his sword to sneak out of the Son compound to search for Myo'un. He goes to the Jin house and checks in on Chŏk'yŏng (sleeping sprawled out all over the floor) and Aru, but there is no sign of Myo'un there (when he leaves Ryu Sang takes the time to bundle/tie Chŏk'yŏng up in his bedcovers so that he's not all over the place).

He makes his way to the house where he and Myo'un were before, and discovers her lying unconscious on one of the porches, blood trailing from her face and body. In one hand she holds a small cloth pouch. Ryu Sang sits beside her; tears fall from his eyes. He thinks, once, this is okay, just once.

After some time has passed, Myo'un wakes up.

141-145

Myo'un: Ryu Sang… I … lost too much blood and… can't move…
(…류상….)
(…나…)
(…피를 너무 흘려서….)
(…못 움직이겠어….)

Ryu Sang: That's what happens when you don't take the antidote. That's the medicine, isn't it? What… you're shunning my good intentions?
(…헤독제를 안 먹으니까 그렇지. 손에 들고 있는 거, 그거 약낭이지?)
(…뭐야, 지금… 사람 성의 무시하는 거야?)

Myo'un: I thought that… even if I didn't take it… I might not… die…
(…이걸 먹지… 않아도…)
(…죽지… 않을 것… 같았거든….)

Ryu Sang: What do mean, not die… did you take some kind of immortality pill when I wasn't looking?
(죽지 않을 것 같았다니… 나 몰래 불사약이라도 먹은 거야?)

Myo'un: I thought… it might be… one of the poisons... I used to take… as a child…
(…어릴 때…)
(…먹던… …독 중… 하나가 아닐까…생각했어.......)

Maybe that was why… So'ryu… picked this one…
(…그래서 소류가…)
(…이 독을… …골랏던… 건지도….)

…So'ryu is… strange…
(…소류는…)
(…이상해….)

She's… always… right…
(…그 애는… 늘… 옳아…)

Even back then… told me to… go and wait… for someone… but…
(…그 때도…)
(…나더러… 곧장… 나가서… …누굴… …기다리라고…)
(…그랬는데….)

I didn't… I… didn't…
(…난… 그러지… 않았어….)
(…그러지…)
(…않았어… …….)


Myo'un passes out again, and Ryu Sang carried her inside. He covers her with his jacket, then wets a cloth from the water in a nearby cistern and cleans the blood from Myo'un's face. Sitting against one of the walls, he crosses his arms over knees drawn-up knees and lays his head down.

Ryung dreams about (? or remembers) his mother from when he was a little boy. They are sitting in a bower/drawing room with their backs to each other, Ryu Sang on a cushioned stool with his eyes bandaged up, and his mother in front of a zither (a kayagŭm/gayageum). He asks her why she gave birth to him, to which she replies, because it happened, and says that it's a silly question.

pp. 152-162

Ryu Sang: Why did you give birth to me if you weren't even going to look at me? I heard giving birth was really hard, so all your effort was just wasted.
(날 보지도 않을 거면서 뭐하려 낳았어요?)
(아이 낳는 거 굉장히 힘들다고 들었는데, 헛수고만 했잖아요.)

Ryu Sang's Mother: It was time I had a child. I got tired of waiting for a mother-in-law—who blamed the field when the seed was bad—to die. **RT**
(슬슬 자식이 필요했어.)
(씨가 나쁜 걸 밭 탓만 하는 시어미가 죽기를 기다리는 것에도 이젠 지쳤거든.)

Well, these are adults' problems.
(뭐, 어른들의 사정이지.)

Ryu Sang: How can I get revenge against you? **RT**
(어떻게 하면 당신에게 복수할 구 있어요?)

Ryu Sang's Mother: That's not the kind of question a child should ask.
(어린애가 할 만한 질문이 아닌데?)

Ryu Sang: A child can only be a child when he's loved. It's not that he doesn't know because he's young, he's young because it's still okay for him not to know.
(아이가 아이다울 수 있는 건,)
(사랑을 받으며 자라는 동안이에요.)
(어려서 모르는 게 아니라 몰라도 되니까 아직 어린 거예요.)

Are you going to not teach me, and keep me from seeing, and raise me as a fool?
(당신은)
(나를 가르치지도 않고 나를 보지도 못하게 하면서)
(나를 바보로 키울 셈인가요?)

Ryu Sang's Mother: It's not 'you,' it's 'Mom.'
('당신' 이 아니라 '엄마' 야.)

Ryu Sang: I won't call you that as long as I still have breath.
(내 목숨이 붙어있는 한, 당신을 그런 식으로 부르는 일은 없을 거예요.)

Ryu Sang's Mother: Then consider that your revenge, because it looks like I won't be a mother ever again.
(그럼, 그걸 복수로 삼으렴.)
(앞으로 내게 자식이 생길 일은 없을 듯하니.)

I'll play a love song for you today. Let's comfort each other, since neither of our poor selves will ever be loved again.
(오늘은 사랑가를 들려주마.)
(더 이상 사랑받을 일 없는 가련한 우리를 서로 위로해주자꾸나.)


She sings a song, accompanied by the kayagŭm, and says to Ryu Sang, "You hate me, but isn't my voice beautiful?" She says:

"…상아…"
"사랑받으렴."
"지독하게 사랑받고 치열하게 사랑하렴."
"그것이 바로 내겐 복수란다."

Sang…
Be loved.
Be desperately loved and give love back just as fiercely.
To me, that's revenge.


"…그렇다면…"
"당신이 해주면 안 되나요?"

Then…
Can't you do that?


"당신이"
"나를 사랑해주면 안 되나요?"

Can't you
be the one to love me?


"…당신은…"
"안 되나요?"

Can't it…
be you?






Go to: Volume 9 Summary with Excerpts