He had dazzling brown eyes, and such an angelic face. I shook my head vigorously, breaking the momentary eye contact with him. He was also quick to get off of me and apologize.
“Miss, I am so sorry,” he got out of the bathtub, and looked away from me obviously embarrassed. “Please wash yourself in warm water too, your body is too cold.”
I sincerely hoped that he was faking his dialect to scare me. I wanted to ask him where I was or learn a little bit more about the situation I was in but I was afraid to talk. He would notice the dialectical variance… and that would not be good. Should I just scream again?
Instead I buried my face in my knees and wept.
“Miss,” he said again. “Miss, you’re shivering. Please shower with the warm water. Miss. Miss! … Aishhh,” he seemed frustrated. He then opened the hot water and poured it on top of me. “Please forgive my rudeness, but I just want to tell you that you are so stupid. Who would go swimming in the ocean at a time like this? Were you trying to suicide? If you were, then that is the stupidest method of suicide I have ever seen.”
Suicide. If I really was where I think I was, suicide is a good option.
He was so clueless. I mustered up the courage to speak at that moment, trying my best to fake his dialect. “Where am I?” I asked. My voice came out coarse and stuttering if it came out at all. It was only after hearing my own voice that I realized how seriously damaged my throat was and how much I was shivering.
“You are a little beyond Mugunghwa street…” he said, obviously assuming I know what country and city I was in.
I let him pour the water onto me for a while I just sat there pensively wondering what’s going to happen to me and how to commit suicide. He then left the bathroom, without saying a word. I still wanted so badly to confirm that I was where I thought I was. I grabbed a shampoo bottle and began to read. I noticed the grammatical variances, the spelling variances. But I also noticed the city of production. Seoul, South Korea.
If I were in North Korea, such a product would not exist. That confirmed it for me. It was time to commit suicide. It was either that, or being jailed in a South Korean prison (where the prison guards, I heard, rape you and torture you before they enforce the death penalty), or starving in the streets because I have nowhere to go. Suicide. I must commit suicide. I suddenly felt cold and I noticed the clothes he left for me. I quickly slipped them on. I know I’m going to die soon, but I might as well die comfortably.
What’s the easiest way to die? I heard that hanging usually works…
I looked around the bathroom and saw the shower curtain rod. The guy has also sensibly given me a belt as that pants he gave me were for men and much to big for my body. I could use that as rope…
I took the belt and I tied it to the rod. I stood up on the side of the tub and tightened the belt around my neck. I was ready to step down when the guy came in. I scowled and looked at the ground.
At first, he looked startled, but then he laughed. Why was he laughing? South Koreans are really terrible people, I thought. I frowned at him and gave him a deathly glare. He leaned casually against the wall as if he was waiting to watch me die. I couldn’t do it with him looking.
“So you are suicidal,” he laughed. “Miss, may I please ask you to not suicide in my home or else I might be suspected of murdering you.”
Was he mocking me? I loosened the belt from my neck, jumped off of the tub and charged at him and began to hit him. How can people be so cold? I hit him hard, but he seemed unaffected by anything I do. I was feeling frail and weak at that time anyways. Stupid South Korean.
YOU ARE READING
East Korean
RomanceA North Korean girl finds herself washed up on the coast of an island on the East coast of South Korea, Ulleungdo. She conceals her identity as a North Korean, and labels everyone in the South as her mortal enemies. When she meets Yae Jun, she finds...