Korean traditional music is slow to change. It sometimes takes years for a new gugak(구각) piece to be known and praised by the public. On the flip side, once a gugak(구각) piece is recognized as fine music, it is remembered for a long time without going out of style. One example is “Nangamhane(난감하네)” or “Unbearable” by Project Rock, which is often featured in variety shows. The song was released in 2007, but it took some time for it to grow popular among the general audience. It is now more widely used as a sound effect because of its amusing lyrics and merry rhythm. “Unbearable” is a reinterpretation of the turtle’s plight from the pansori(판소리) Sugungga(수궁가). When we think about it carefully, the turtle was treated very unfairly in that story. The creature lived its whole life in the sea, yet the god of the South Sea ordered him to go out of the water and bring back a rabbit, an animal the turtle had never seen before in its life, to treat his illness. But, as in most hierarchal organizations, when your boss says jump, you ask how high. Let’s listen to the turtle’s unbearable situation in “Unbearable” played by Project Rock. 

Music 1: Unbearable/ Performed by Project Rock

The story of Sugungga(수궁가) is very well-known among Koreans. The turtle deceives a rabbit into accompanying him to the underwater realm, because the sea god believed that he needed to eat the liver of a rabbit to cure his illness. Once the rabbit realized that the turtle had lied and that it was about to be killed, the land creature used its wit and fooled the sea god to release him on land. 

That’s how the story ends, but we come to wonder what happened to the sea god once the rabbit escaped to land. In an agricultural society, the sea god also controlled rain, so it would be disastrous for farmers if the god of rain died because he could not get rabbit liver. It is assumed that the sea god recovered on his own in good time. Then, what happened to the rabbit? Since he escaped near death, would he have lived out his life in peace and happiness? Definitely not. The rabbit is one of the weakest animals in the mountain, near the bottom of the food chain. Even in Sugungga(수궁가), the rabbit is seen living precariously, overcoming one crisis after another by using his cleverness. When he made his escape from the underwater palace, he cursed at the turtle and ran into the mountain only to be caught in a trap set by a hunter. But it was not within the rabbit to give up so easily. He asked flies to lay eggs on him so that he could be covered in maggots when the hunter came back to check the trap. Upon seeing the maggot-infested rabbit, the hunter figured that the meat had gone bad and threw it away, which allowed the cunning rabbit to elude death once again. Here’s that passage from Sugungga(수궁가) sung by Park Cho-wol(박초월). 

Music 2: Passage from Sugungga/ Sung by Park Cho-wol

The rabbit always gets into trouble because of his arrogance and mischievousness. Once he escaped from the hunter’s trap, he cockily headed his home. But this time the animal was caught by an eagle. Just a few flaps of the eagle’s large wings would take the predator and the prey to the aerie, where the rabbit was certain to meet his death. So the rabbit lied to the eagle that he had obtained a magic pouch from the sea god, which produced whatever food one desired. The rabbit recited a long list of the eagle’s favorite foods, like the pig’s intestines and chicks, and told the bird that he had hidden the magic pouch in a cave at the foot of the mountain. Fooled by the rabbit, the eagle took the rabbit to the cave, expecting him to return with the magic pouch. But obviously, the eagle never saw the rabbit again. These anecdotes, of course, have nothing to do with the main plot of Sugungga(수궁가) but have been added to highlight the rabbit’s ingenuity and to make the story more comical. Let’s listen to the passage in which the rabbit is caught by the eagle. It is sung by Nam Hae-seong(남해성), while Kim Cheong-man(김청만) plays the drum. 

Music 3: Passage from Sugungga/ Sung by Nam Hae-seong