Chapter Text
나를 버리고 가시는 님은
십리도 못가서 발병난다
My love, you are leaving me
Your feet will be sore before you go ten ri.
- From the Korean folk song, “Arirang”
Congdol Beach, Baengnyong Island
March 2001
The setting sun casts a golden glow over the crystal clear waters of Congdol Beach, lending an ethereal glow over the beautiful, rocky, landscape. The beach is almost deserted, save for the two figures standing on the pebbly shore, wrapped in thick coats to protect themselves against the brisk March winds.
Young Hak-Joo stared at the calm waters lapping against the shore, while his three year-old daughter, Jin-heo, ran delightedly away from the waves, her loud giggles echoing throughout the empty beach. Hak-Joo likes Congdol Beach, cherishing the privacy and isolation of the location. The frigid March temperature would have been enough to drive away any tourists at that time of year; but Congdol Beach, despite its magnificent views and virgin beaches, has other reasons to deter visitors from its many charms.
Baengnyong Island, where the beach is located, is the westernmost point of the Republic of Korea, and located near the Northern Limit Line; the maritime demarcation point that separates the Republic in the south, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north. The island’s proximity to the North, at just over 17 kilometers, and the fact that the island is not the easiest to travel to, has discouraged any kind of development and expansion that other seaside, resort towns in the South have all fallen into. Hak-Joo thought that he prefers it that way, and he has taken his yearly pilgrimage to the beach; first as a young man when he was stationed at the island’s military outpost for his mandatory military service as part of the 6th Marine Brigade, and then with his wife after, until her death almost three years ago.
He felt a sudden stab of sadness at the thought of his wife, who died at childbirth at the young age of 26. He looked at his daughter, whose birth had given him unbearable sorrow, but also overwhelming joy, and thanked the heavens that she had taken after her mother in looks. Jin-heo called out to him from the shoreline, delightedly showing him yet another bean-shaped rock that litters the beach, chattering in her garbled and incomprehensible three year-old speak. He smiled at her, showing his appreciation, and then closed his eyes in distress as she turned away.
What’s going to happen to her? Hak-Joo thought in misery as he remembered the phone call he received from his doctor in Seoul several days ago. He had been a wreck ever since; switching from anger, depression, and now panic at the thought of his young daughter. He was so lost in his melancholy that he failed to notice that darkness had fallen on the beach, and opened his eyes only when he heard the startled yelp of his daughter. He looked at the spot where he had last seen her, and then around him, but found her nowhere. He called out her name, running to the rocks and boulders that surrounded the beach, thinking that she may have gone there and hurt herself.
He heard a slight noise behind him. And as he turned, he saw a blur of black, followed by complete and utter darkness.