IV

Yongsun does not go home, can not go home, she decides. Only for the funeral (because she feels it is her duty as their daughter to do so) but that is all. She continues onwards and completes her education at eighteen, wanting to attend a university to become a civil engineer. She wants to create buildings that do not crumble, she wants to create a fully effective transportation system in case the capital has to be evacuated, she wants to create safe roads for children who go to school, so they do not get blown up by mines. You see, she heard on the news that a child had misplaced his foot and vanished in an explosion of flesh, blood and fragments of molten metal.

She is accepted into a good university, and is a hardworking student, her classmates look up to her, her teachers praise her, she is a beacon, a light that challenges the sun because her’s does not fade, and it is believed that Yongsun’s light will carry on endlessly, even after death. However, Yongsun is not a godly entity, she only has a limited amount of control.

During her first autumn break, Yongsun ventures home again. Yonghee meets her at the old station that is slowly falling apart, Yongsun likes to believe she will be able to fix it when she has finished her education. They walk silently to their parents graves, Yonghee masterfully hiding her resentment at Yongsun, because Yongsun had left immediately after the funeral was over, skipping the memorial ceremony and not visiting since. 

Yongsun cries by her parents tombstones, begging for forgiveness. She feels guilty; it latches onto her heart pulling her down and drowning her in her own sorrow. When she wipes the tears away, Yonghee is nowhere in sight. Yongsun stands up on shaky legs, wobbling a bit as she makes her way back to the house.