III

One evening Yongsun finds out that her parents have been sent to the frontier. Yongsun learns about this through her daily telephone conversation with Yonghee who says they were approached by the government: it is their duty as citizens and also as doctors to protect and fight for their country, they were told.

Yongsun places the phone slowly onto the coffee table without hanging up. She still hears Yonghee’s worried voice but ignores her as she sits down on the couch, grabs a pillow and holds it tightly to her chest. She cries alone in darkness and in silence as the light from her phone fades and Yonghee’s voice can no longer be heard. 

She knows what will happen to her parents and curses the government for unfairly deciding their fate. It is an injustice, an act of hate, to send her parents to the war and let their names become inscriptions on a memorial. However, Yongsun is headstrong and stubborn and goes to class the next day and the day after that, but her body finally gives out when two officials show up on her doorstep asking for Kim Yongsun and if she is her parents youngest daughter.

There is a practiced sadness in their eyes, a ‘godly’ image to be kept as they remove their caps revealing their perfectly combed hair and fresh eyes, most likely from a good night’s sleep, and their voices unbothered and stale as they tell Yongsun about her parents’ death. Yongsun crumples and has to lean against the doorframe to remain upright.