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 ----------  Hunchback  ------------[HUNCHBACK]

  "HEORIBARAM" -Yeungkwan Kim's fiction- ISBN 89-7954-002-7 ...
 
 I did not think that there would be such a place in seoul.
 
 
  It was not human zone. The houses were too small, too poor to live in.
 
 
  The  hunchback, one-handed  man, beggars,  poor  people... they  were 
 
 
 living there. 
 
 
  They earned for a day, they lived  for a day. I was just a working man, 
 
 
 and came here a few days ago, to search for a room to live. 
 
 
  I am over 30 years old, but could  not marry. I drank and gambled with 
 
 
 construction  crew  everyday  and  had  no money.  And  there  was  not   
 
 
 construction working place during rainy season, July.
 
 
  This town was so dirty, and  smelly. So, all I had to do was just to  go 
 
 
 out, for finding working, and come back, drunkenly. That was better than, 
 
 
 just staying at that town.
 
 
  Last spring  was good  for working men.  At that  time, I could  borrow 
 
 
 one good room, and bathe my body in hot water. But here, I cannot help 
 
 
 imagining that good time.
 
 
  I never knew that there would be such a town in seoul.
 
 
  The  hunchback,  one-handed man,  beggars,  such  poor  people were 
 
 
 there,  behind  the  lighting  brilliant  departments  and  shopping  center,
 
 
 
 apartments.
 
 
  Why did they live, at such a poor town, in poorness?
 
 
  Even though  the rich  people  boast themselves, the  world shouts out 
 
 
 battle-cry, their spirits are rotten, worse than the poor people.
 
 
  When I  went to work,  for the rich  people, I thought  their bodies and 
 
 
 spirits were deformed. The rich men could not step  lightly, healthily. they 
 
 
 did not  think wisely, and young  rich boys girls  were unsound, talked 
 
 
 garrulously.
 
 
  When  I  worked at  their  house.  carrying blocks,  repairing  the  roof, 
 
 
 painting the  wall, I watched the  rich people, enough, they  dare not told 
 
 
 me, anything.
 
 
  They drank  foreign water, beers, but  they did not  give me a glass  of 
 
 
 water.
 
 
  Sometimes  the  house  keeper  gave  me  a  cup  of  coffee,  It  smelt 
 
 
 fur-scorching smell, thirstier, so, I drank a glass of cold water.
 
 
  But it  was strange  to me that  this poor  town was more  peaceful on 
 
 
 mind, better than the rich, except noise, dirt.  
 
 
  Uneasiness and unrest was less, at this poor town than the rich town.
 
 
  Is  it my  superiority  feeling,  better than  the  hunchback, one-handed 
 
 
 man, beggars?
 
 
  I was  not healthy, out-look  was so, so, but  inside was bad.  My face 
 
 
 was changed white by a  cup of alcohol. Nothing to do, no work no  pay, 
 
 
 I drank and smoked everytime, so became thin. I lost the taste of meal.   
 
 
  During rainy season, this poor town was a hell to me. 
 
 
  Not paved lane was full of the mud and dirt. 
 
 
  But the children of this town were playing  in the muddy place, and the 
 
 
 hunchback and  one-handed man were  laughing and chatting  each other 
 
 
 below the eaves.
 
 
  Yes, there is happiness, I thought so more and more. Than the harden, 
 
 
 not telling  faces of  the rich people,  here the  poor people's faces  were 
 
 
 the faces of the children.
 
 
  One day, The hunchback and the one-handed  man were playing korean 
 
 
 chess on the outside korean flat wooden bed below the eaves.
 
 
  The rainy season gone, and hot summer has come. 
 
 
  I  watched them  playing the  chess each  other. And  the poor  houses 
 
 
 stuck to each other  too, so I thought that those were  the same with the 
 
 
 rich apartments, villas in complex seoul.
 
 
  In  korean  chess-board, the  hunchback  was  putting the  one-handed 
 
 
 man's all chessmen to one side. The one-handed  man without right hand 
 
 
 was  playing  with  his  left hand,  just  handling  the  hunchback's  dead 
 
 
 chessmen upside down.
 
 
  The  hunchback  was  smoking   a  cheap  cigarette,  25cent  Sol,  and 
 
 
 smiling, just like winner, and said,
 
 
  "Hey, you have to buy macgully(Korean wine)!, ha- ha- ha-."
 
 
  The one-handed man, looked  like over 40, drew one cigarette from the 
 
 
 hunchback's Sol, instead of chessman, and said,
 
 
  "Don't chat, just give me your lighter!"
 
 
  I  thought that  It  was better  to redraw  this  place,
 than  to  help the 
 
 
 one-handed man, because he  was angry at the chess, a little.  It seemed 
 
 
 that the hunchback would win the one-handed man.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Son of beach!
 
 
  It was very hot. 
 
 
  And there was no work.
 
 
  And, in  seoul,  there were  so many cars  around this poor  town. The 
 
 
 evening sky looked yellow with  dust and smog. It was not such sky that 
 
 
 I had seen in child time. 
 
 
  I could not  find the sun because of the  buildings, and no clouds, just 
 
 
 the yellow and red smog and dust was covering the city.
 
 
  I  coughed,  and when  I  smoked,  I  coughed out  black  phlegm,  felt 
 
 
 nausea much.
 
 
  In the hot summer city with dust and smog, nobody could breathe well, 
 
 
 and I  thought that somewhere, somebody  was going to  be dead in this 
 
 
 city. Because  the small electric fan  like hand was blowing  the hot wind 
 
 
 in my small room, I could not sleep, lf there were not the  outside korean 
 
 
 flat, wooden bed, at the lane, in front of one-handed man's house.
 
 
  I could  not meet  the hunchback  and one-handed  man well  at night, 
 
 
 around the  outside korean flat, wooden  bed, because they slept  at their 
 
 
 house with their families.    
 
 
  While I  was sleeping  on that  outside bed, I  just saw  the small  dirty 
 
 
 grey sky, which I did not want to.
 
 
  Across the  narrow lane, there  was a very small  out-door and outside 
 
 
 toilet, just  to fit the hunchback,  going into and  coming out. But a  man 
 
 
 people who  had his outside  toilet belonged to the  rich, because all  the 
 
 
 people should go to the common toilet. 
 
 
  I never went to that common toilet, It was dungy toilet with a  mountain 
 
 
 of dung.
 
 
  So I  had to walk 10  minutes, to go  to a modern wash-room  of large 
 
 
 building.
 
 
  'I have to leave this town'
 
 
  I thought that. But there was no place where I could  go, and could not 
 
 
 find  the cheap  room,   because  I had  no  money, except  paying 100$ 
 
 
 monthly, to this rent room.
 
 
  But even though  I should sleep in  the subway or the  street, I wanted 
 
 
 to leave.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  The hunchback and one-handed man earned  their living, receiving 100$ 
 
 
 a month  from the  government, their  wives were pedlars,  doing chores, 
 
 
 odd jobs.      
 
 
  Their children were dirty, but always bright and healthy.
 
 
  But  I  knew  that these  children  would  be  changed,  at the  age  of 
 
 
 puberty, so they  would be treasonous, because of the  poverty, contempt 
 
 
 from society, and their parents's invalid.
 
 
  The  most dangerous  time was  the age  of  puberty, to  these healthy 
 
 
 children.  They   easily  become   vagrants,  criminals,   because  of   the 
 
 
 hypocrisy and dirty money of the rich and authority.
 
 
  Money,  money, money...  It was  said that  the people  to have  money 
 
 
 became not guilty, the people to have no money became guilty.   
 
 
  It  got cool  everyday, cold  in the  morning and  at night.  So I've  not 
 
 
 frequently seen the hunchback and one-handed man. But the day, when I 
 
 
 was drunken  much, I  walked along  the lane,  and slept on  the outside 
 
 
 flat, wooden bed.  While sleeping, I heard  the sound of autumn  rain and 
 
 
 raindrop, from the eaves, thought 'I have to leave this town quickly'.
 
 
 ...... 'How many times run?'........
 
 
  .......I heard something.
 
 
  "Oh, why this man is sleeping here? It's raining!"
 
 
  It was like the voice of the hunchback.....
 
 
  "Yes, we have to move him, to his room.".....
 
 
  It seemed like, the one-handed man......
 
 
  "No, No,.."
 
 
  I was grumbling, drunken.
 
 
  At the time, somebody carried me on his back.
 
 
  Even  though  I  was  drunken, I  knew  that  he  was  the  hunchback, 
 
 
 because my cheek was pushed by the peak, like camelback.
 
 
  And  then,  somebody  was supporting  me,  with  one  hand,  not  two 
 
 
 hands, I thought he was the one-handed man.
 
 
  It  seemed that  my room  was lit  up, the  hunchback laid  me  on the 
 
 
 ground of room. I grumbled, drunken,
 
 
  "No.. no, get away, go away!"
 
 
  "Yes, young man, be careful, yourself...... Let's go."
 
 
  "Ok. This man will be all right tomorrow morning, let's go....."
 
 
  They were the hunchback and the one-handed man.
 
 
  I shouted, again,
 
 
  "Go away! Get away! This, ...sick... invalid...., son of beach!"
 
 
  "........Hey....we... let's go out......."
 
 
  They  said quietly,  went  out, but  I was  drunken  so much,  so  slept 
 
 
 again, until next morning.

  In the next morning, I just remembered their last saying....

  '.......Hey.....we....let's go out....'
 
      -----the end---