A Fractured Mind | 민윤기

Twenty-three

20 July 2018

Jimin knocked on the familiar door with reluctance. Yeoseo was a miserable tiny island between Yeosu and Jeju Island. The boat ride took an hour—roughly, but he found himself getting seasick on the ride. That normally happened when he took a boat right after a plane. His mother knew this, but it was apparent that she didn't care.

Sookja's house was all the way at the top of the hill. Since Yeoseo was so small, there was no civilization. Just a handful of old residents who spent their days fishing and watching old Korean soap operas as they waited for old age to end their miserable lives.

The door swung open to reveal a small woman that looked up at him with disgust, a smoking cigarette hanging from her fingers. "Hi, grandma," he mumbled and stepped inside, immediately shivering once he did so. "Jesus, it's freezing in here. Don't you turn the heat on?" It was colder inside the house than the night air outside.

"I'm not paying those pirates," she responded harshly, her voice full of thick satoori from the North.

Jimin rolled his eyes while she sat on the couch. "Of course not," he muttered before joining her. "Well, in the spirit of the season, let's begin this pathetic charade."

"I never know what you're talking about. You talk like a jackass."

He pressed his lips together to keep from yelling and instead pulled a card out of his bag and handed it to her. The intention behind it was that he faked a flu last December so he wouldn't have to see her—now he was giving her a card to make up for it.

Sookja took it skeptically and upon hearing the song it played when opened, she closed it immediately and looked at him in horror. "You do this...to torture me? To hurt me?"

"You don't like Christmas music?"

She tossed the card on the table. "It sounds like the song they sang when they ran through the villages and threw the babies into the fire!"

"They sang Jingle Bells?" he asked quietly with wide eyes. There was a reason he never pressed her about her past in the North.

She shrugged. "They sang something."

"Well, look at that! Eight pm—way past my bedtime," he said to change the subject, clasping his hands together. "Where do I sleep?"

Sookja took in a drag before nodding at him. "You're sitting on it."

"Does it turn into a bed?" Jimin bounced on the worn cushion a few times.

"Yes, it turns into a bed," she began sarcastically. "It's a special magic sofa. It opens up for magic, lazy boy. And angels come out to feed you grapes and sing to you while you sleep, and it flies around the room granting wishes to boys who are stupid!"

"Alright! It doesn't fold out!" he shouted to get her to shut up.

She stood and gave him one last look of disdain before flicking her cigarette onto the floor and stepping on it. The smell of smoke lingered even when she retreated into her room. Jimin curled up on the couch sadly. He missed Yoongi and Victoria. He would have given anything to be at home with them at that moment, but his mother continued to threaten him with the apartment.

Maybe they were right. It was time Jimin got a job.

-

21 July 2018

Jimin sat on his "bed" with the bitter old woman who was focused on the TV show before them. It was in black and white depicting some sappy scene set during the Korean War. He was bored. The Christmas card from yesterday was still on the table and almost called to him. Carefully, he picked it up and opened it. "Jingle Bells" sang through the air, earning him a harsh look from Sookja.