humans-of-seoul:“I wish to see this one person before I die, but I have yet to find him. It
humans-of-seoul: “I wish to see this one person before I die, but I have yet to find him. It feels I have seen everyone except for him. I met him 50 years ago when I first came to Seoul and worked any manual labor job that I could find. He followed me around like a younger sibling calling me ‘brother brother’ so we became really close. One day, my parents from the countryside sold a patch of rice paddy and sent me the money so that I could find a place to live. The time was late when I picked up my money from the bank, so I got a room at a motel and my friend stayed with me. But, oh my, when I woke up in the morning, he had already taken off with the money. Do you know how much a patch of land is? It is worth about one hundred million won (ninety thousand US dollars) now. That day I didn’t even have a penny, so I walked from Segeomjeong to Miari hill (over 9km) to find him. I also slept on the street because I didn’t have any money.”“What are you going to do if you see him?”“Well, I can’t ask him for the money anymore. It’s been 50 years so what can be done? I can’t beat him up or kill him. I’ll just say ‘you are lovely’.“Lovely?”“Yes. You have done what you did to make me into a good and mature person.. You go and have a good life. Now I am tired of hating him, I just simply want to see his face.” “내가 죽기 전에 꼭 만났으면 쓰겄는데, 아직 못 만난 사람이 있어. 다른 사람들은 다 보이는데 그 놈은 안 보이네. 50년 전에, 내가 서울로 올라와서 노동일도 하고 별 거 다해먹었을 때 만난 애야. 나한테 ‘형님형님’하면서 따라다니길래 동생 같이 가깝게 지냈지. 어느날 시골에 계신 부모님이 서울에서 방 얻으라고 논 한 마지기 팔아서 돈을 부쳐줬거든. 돈 찾은 날, 시간이 늦었길래 여관에서 묵었지. 그 동생이랑. 근데, 아이고. 아침에 일어나 보니까 이놈아가 그 돈을 가져가 버렸어. 논 한 마지기면 얼만 줄 알아? 그게 지금 시세로 치면 1억은 가요, 지금. 그날 차비 한푼이 없어서 세검정에서 미아리 고개까지 걸어갔어. 그 놈 찾을라고. 땅바닥에서 잠까지 잤어요. 돈 한 푼이 없어서…”“만나면 어떻게 하실 거예요?”“이제 돈도 돌려달라고 못 그러잖어. 50년이 지났는데 어떻게 할거야. 때릴 수도 없고 죽일 수도 없고. 예쁘다고 내가 해줄라고.”“예쁘다구요?”“그래. 나를 참 사람 되게 하려고 니가 그랬구나… 너 잘 먹고 잘 살어. 이제 미워하는 것도 지쳐버렸고, 그 사람 얼굴이나 봤으면 좋겠어.” -- source link
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