Lies took the elevator.
Truth took the stairs.
Both arrived and met Revelation.
Jane killed a family in a car accident. Depressive and accustomed to self-harm, she decides to go back to where her life toppled upside down. Jane doesn't know what to e...
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I never thought I would set foot here again, but mom said not to run away.
After visiting the crematorium where the remains of Kim Tae Won's parents and brother are, here I am in front of Tae Won's grandmother's restaurant.
Travis has gone back to the US with his 30-year-old mistress.
I've decided to stay here; I can't live mom alone. So I'm in Korea to visit and keep her company. Since I'm not good at anything, I've found a job as a translator; it isn't tricky. I mean, all I do is talk.
Days pass, I meet and interact with people as though I'm just like anyone else. I spend a lot of time in cafés reading or writing down what's going through my head. Oh, I go to the cinema a lot, and I hike. I think Seoul has no more secrets for me.
As you can imagine, I do all these activities alone. Brad doesn't hang around with me anymore. Apparently, being with him annoys his fiancée, but I see something else. I don't know why, but I get this impression that Brad runs from me as if I'm Kryptonite or something.
Mona hasn't shown up since I woke up, and Brad avoids the subject.
I've sent her tons of emails, but she hasn't replied. Mona has enrolled in the Beaux-Arts school of Paris, and she's swamped, from what I've been told.
I ignored Mona for so many years when I left Korea this silent treatment on her behalf seems legit.
There are so many people I need to apologize to, and Mona is one of them, but there are priorities on my list. Coming to Pusan is the last step, the part I should have started with when I arrived here.
"Omo," says the older woman.
Without a word, I get down on my knees to apologize. There are customers, some smiles at the weird scene, and others snigger. It confuses me since I mentally prepared myself to be insulted. Instead, the older woman ignores me and forbids her employees to do anything to me.
The service carries on, and it's almost closing time. The last customer leaves and the old lady stands in front of me, "나 한테 원하는게 뭐야?" [na hante wonhaneunge mwoya? What do you want from me?].
"I want to apologize."
When I say those words, she leaves. I remain there as she closes the lights, my legs are numb, and my stomach grumbles. I kneel on the same spot. Tae Won's gran goes to sleep.
In the stillness and darkness of the restaurant, I recall why I came back to Korea in the first place.
I came to pay my respects, but I didn't do that. Instead, I threw myself in a shameless love story with the victim's son, preferring to pursue living a lie. Not once did I say sorry, and so I came to receive whatever punishment Tae Won's grandmother wants to inflict me.
Tired, I'm exhausted; I rest my head on the floor in front of me as I remain in this position. Before I know it, morning dawns and Tae Won's grandmother appears once more.
