45th Translation Awards Commendation Awards: 'Monsoon'
Written by Pyeon Hye-young
The following is an excerpt from the translation by Fred Bottley and Jeong Mi-gyeong.
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The electricity was to be cut off for two hours, from 8 to 10 p.m.
The previous summer there had been a problem with the supply.
A typhoon had caused an unexpected power outage. Although power was quickly restored to normal the same problem arose with the next typhoon.
Translator Fred Bottley
Translator Jeong Mi-gyeong
Author Pyeon Hye-young
Pyeon Hye-young’ s “Monsoon” was among the winners of this year’s Yi Sang Literary Award.
With the equipment they had it was feared it would be the same this year. It had been seen to over the past few weeks, and all that remained to be done was one final close inspection.
The power supply and the circuit breakers would be gone over one more time.
This would be after dark.
Meanwhile the apartment management asked several times for their understanding.
Before the work a residents' meeting was held.
At the meeting another problem was brought up.
It concerned the breaking of windows one after the other in several apartments during the blackout.
Someone had thrown a stone at the veranda windows under cover of the dark.
It wasn't the work of a child.
A big stone was found near the broken windows of all three units and it was reasonable to think a strong person had thrown it.
The management was pressed hard to explain why the culprit hadn't been caught. No one asked about the electrical equipment or the power cut.
It took a while to get things going even after the meeting. Each household had to pay a contribution toward the cost of the utilities.
To make the residents more amenable the time for starting the work had been delayed.
The power cut would start soon.
Yu Jin seemed angry.
It was because Tae Oh now confided to her that he had changed his job.
He had thought that under cover of darkness he might find the courage.
Yu Jin would leave before questioning him too closely or getting too upset.
He might have discussed the matter before changing his job but Yu Jin had robbed him of his chance.
When Tae Oh came home Yu Jin was laid up in her room.
It wasn't that she locked it, but the tightly closed door clearly indicating he wasn't to enter, was extremely off putting.
It didn't mean that she wanted to be alone, but no one went in.
Tae Oh never opened the door before Yu Jin came out by herself.
Yu Jin sneaked out of the room when Tae Oh was asleep, slipped quickly into bed like a shadow and went to sleep.
"What do you do at the storage warehouse?"
She asked, suppressing her anger.
"We hold auctions.
There are times when leases expire and there are a lot of unclaimed items.
I sell them off.”
Yu Jin looked at Tae Oh as if to ask him had he nothing more to say. Her expression clearly meant he was still in the wrong.
"The work's not so difficult. I don't need to use quick fire jargon or to wave my hands while I'm haggling over prices.
I just sell things off at a proper price.
It's not like a pawn broker's more like a personal loan facilitator.
The interest is very high. A few days ago when the monthly cost of storage hadn't been paid, a storage space was taken over.
There's no mercy.
Do you know what was in it?
A sofa worth ten million Won."
He thought she wouldn't make any comment, but Yu Jin asked:
"How do you know the sofa was worth ten million Won?"