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Father was a farmhand for the deputy village chief’s household. To my knowledge, no man in Wolgok-ri village was taller or stronger than my father. No one in the village could carry the firewood like he used to. I wished that, when I grow up, I would become strong enough to carry the biggest load of firewood in the village, just like my father. 

아버지는 부면장네 머슴이었다.

내 생각에 월곡리 안통에서 아버지만큼 키가 크고

힘이 센 남자는 없을 것 같았다.

마을 사람들은 아무도 아버지의 나뭇짐을 따를 수 없었다고들 했었다. 

나도 커서 어른이 되면, 

아버지처럼 마을에서 가장 큰 나뭇짐을 지게 되기를 빌었다. 

When the narrator was little, he used to live in a small room just off the main living quarter with his father. He wanted to become a strong hired hand like his father, but his father insisted that the boy should go live in the city no matter what, even if he was to become a beggar.

The narrator feared turning ten because of his father’s threat. But he turned ten years old way faster than he had wanted to. 

That year, countless tanks roared past the new road built in front of the village. 

That night, the deputy village chief and his father were taken out of the hole they had dug out in the bamboo forest and were dragged to an oak forest in Kkachisan Mountain and killed with bamboo spears. 

In the middle of the night, villagers heard the screams that pierced the night sky coming from the oak forest.

Father returned home exhausted early in the morning without his bamboo spear and plopped down on the cockscomb flower patch. Then he wailed while kicking the ground with his two feet. 

I asked him who had killed the deputy village chief and his father, but instead of answering, he grimaced and vigorously shook his head. 

그 날 밤에 대밭에 굴을 파고 숨어 있었던 부면장 부자와 월곡리 이장이

까치산 참나무 숲에 끌려가 대창에 죽음을 당했다.

마을 사람들은 한밤중에 참나무숲에서 들려오는 하늘을 찢어발기는 듯한 비명소리를 들었다.

새벽녘에야 대창을 들지 않고 

휘주근하게 기운이 빠져 돌아온 아버지는

두엄자리 옆 닭의 벼슬 모양으로 빨간 맨드라미 꽃밭 위에

털썩 주저앉더니 두 발로 땅을 찍어 차며 통곡을 했다.

나는 아버지에게 부면장 어른과 그의 늙은 아버지를 누가 죽였느냐고 물어봤지만

아버지는 대답 대신 괴로운 얼굴로 격렬하게 고개를 가로저을 뿐이었다.

Interview by literary critic Jeon So-yeong

The death of his father was seen from the perspective of ordinary folks. Ideological conflict was at its peak during the Korean War. Those who were victimized the most in this situation were innocent, common people. People used to report or frame their neighbors to save their lives or their families’. That was the only way they could survive in that terrible time. Would they act differently if they went back in time? I don’t think so, because, although they were not totally blameless for acting so extremely, the world that forced them to act that way was the real problem. 

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Moon Soon-tae (Born on Mar. 15, 1941, in Damyang-gun County, Jeollanam-do Prov.)

Debuted in 1974 by winning the New Writer’s Award with “The Smile of Baekje” 

Won the 7th Chae Man-sik Literary Award in 2010, etc.