Death of a Girl

Death of a Girl By Kim Wönju Translated by Yung-Hee Kim [1] The clock on the circular tower perched on the second floor of the Chongno Police Station was pointing to ten o'clock in the evening. A streetcar bound for the military drill-ground rushed in from the direction of the East Gate and stopped at the corner ofthe Chongno belfry. For a few frenzied minutes, people got on and off the streetcar. Then, at the second ring of the conductor's bell, the electricity-lit streetcar started moving. It was jam-packed, with no empty seats left. In one corner, a teenage girl, who looked like a student, sat with her face turned sideways, as if trying to avoid the attention of other passengers. In no time, the streetcar arrived in front of the Hansöng Bank. "I am checking the tickets of passengers who got on before," announced the conductor, carrying a ticket-puncher in his hand as he wove through the spaces between the passengers. After punching the tickets of three or four people, the conductor came over to the girl and took the fare money from her outstretched hand. Then, in the middle of detaching the ticket and punching it for the girl, the conductor abruptly stopped. He noticed a drunken man on the seat behind her, hugging a dog and dozing off. "Hey! How did you get on the train with a dog? Get off!" The conductor rang the bell to stop the streetcar. The drunken man looked up at the conductor and said, "What's wrong with getting aboard with a dog? What fuss has my dog made anyway?" Then he hugged the dog even tighter. The streetcar came to a halt. "Hey! Get off right now! You can't ride a streetcar with animals." "Then I'll pay for his fare. What has the dog done anyway?" Korean Studies, Volume 23. ©1999 by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved. 35KOREAN STUDIES, VOL. 23 The man didn't even bother to stand up. The conductor suddenly lost his temper and grabbed him, trying to make him stand up. "Hey! I said animals are not allowed on the train. Get off quickly! We've got no time." As the conductorjerked the unwilling man from his seat, the dog fell from the man's arms onto the girl's back and rolled down with a yelp. Startled, the girl cried out "Oh, my goodness!" and sprang to her feet, turning her head around, and then sat down again. Several passengers burst into laughter all at once. The drunken man, staring at the conductor, picked up the dog and, clutching it in his arms, stood up to argue with the conductor. The operator, who had stopped the streetcar and stood watching the scene, stepped in. Grabbing the man by the arm, he pushed him out of the train. "Hey! Get off quickly! Listen! We don't have time to waste." After he forced the man to step down from the streetcar, the operator rang the bell and started the engine. The man, now standing on the street, shot a nasty look at the innocent operator and said, "Humph! How long do you think you can last in yourjob?" Then he went off. The passengers broke into another round oflaughter. Ringing the bell, the conductor murmured, "My! Because of that fellow, we lost ten minutes." Immediately the streetcar started to move forward. Suddenly, a passenger yelled, "Hey, conductor! Something has fallen here." Surprised, the conductor bent down and saw two envelopes that had been dropped and stepped on. Just as he was about to pick them up, the student-like girl also noticed them and quickly picked them up herself, her face turning pale. Then she accidentally dropped one of them. The envelope was addressed to "So-and-so Daily Newspaper." While holding onto the other envelope, she hastily picked up the one she had dropped. On the envelope she held, two lines of addressee were written: "To my father and mother." Several passengers darted suspicious glances at her at once. She appeared about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a delicate face...