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He was too hungry to plod up the hill at Haebangchon. Shacks clung haphazardly to the mountain side, which had been carved out. Cheol-ho entered the alleyway. 

Way over there at the end of the blind alleyway, Cheol-ho could see the door to his house, where yellowish cement sack papers were held loosely to the door frame with white thread.

해방촌 고개를 추어오르기에는 뱃속이 너무 허전했다.

산비탈을 도려내고 무질서하게 주워 붙인 판잣집들이다.

철호는 골목으로 접어들었다.

저만치 골목 막다른 곳에,

누런 시멘트 부대 종이를 흰실로 얼기설기 문살에 얽어맨

철호네 집 방문이 보였다.

Interview by Seoul Nat’l Univ. Korean Literature Professor Bang Min-ho

Haebangchon started off as a community of Koreans who had returned home from Japan following Korea’s liberation and later became a settlement for North Koreans who had fled south during the Korean War. The whole neighborhood was very densely populated. This community was a good example of how people lived back in the days not long after the Korean War. 

 

It must have been difficult for Cheol-ho’s mother, who had lived quite a comfortable life in North Korea as a land owner’s, to accept her life in the shantytown. This place could not have been a liberation village just because the neighborhood was named so. In fact, Haebangchon located on the carved mountain side and tightly packed with barnacle-like shacks was nothing but liberating to her. 

“Where to, mister?” (Driver)

“Anywhere. Just go.” (Cheol-ho)

“What a strange guy. I got a customer like a stray bullet, someone who doesn’t know where he’s headed to.” 

The cab driver muttered as he changed the gear. Cheol-ho was listening to the driver’s grumbling as he dozed off. 

 ‘A son, a husband, a father, an older brother, and then a clerk at an accountant’s office. I have so many roles to play. Yeah, right. I may be the Creator’s stray bullet as you said. I really don’t know where I’m headed. But I have to be heading somewhere.‘ (Cheol-ho)

“어디로 갑니까?” 

“글쎄, 가” (철호)

“하 참, 딱한 아저씨네. 어쩌다 오발탄같은 손님이 걸렸어. 자기 갈곳도 모르게“ 

운전수는 기어를 넣으며 중얼거렸다.

철호는 까무룩이 잠이 들어가는 것 같은 속에서 운전수가 중얼거리는 소리를 멀리 듣고 있었다.

 아들 구실, 남편 구실, 애비 구실, 형 구실, 오빠 구실, 또 계리사 사무실 서기 구실.

 해야 할 구실이 너무 많구나.

 그래 난 네 말대로 아마도 조물주의 오발탄인지도 모른다.

 정말 갈곳을 알 수가 없다.

 그런데 지금 나는 어디건 가긴 가야 한다...

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Lee Beom-seon (Born in Sinuiju, Pyeongannam-do Prov., 1920~1982)

: 1955 Debuted with “Danpyo” in literary journal Modern Literature 

1961 Won the 5th Dongin Literature Award

Works include “People of Crane Village (1957),” “Tojeongbigyeol (1958),” etc.