A New Family
A few days later, Jang Ma-ryang and Yang Soon-young knelt before Ki-jo and his wife with their heads bowed. Inwardly Ki-jo was grinning, but Sunrye, seated beside him, heaved sigh after sigh and turned her face away.
"Dear, bring in a table for drinks. I'd like a word with Mr. Jang."
Sunrye rose against her will and swept off to the kitchen, leaving a chill behind her. Ki-jo tipped his chin at Soon-young, still kneeling there, for her to follow her sister. Soon-young scrunched one eye in a smile and went after her.
Through the earthen wall their voices came back, squabbling in the kitchen.
"Don't you come out here. Go back to the room and listen to your brother-in-law."
"Let the men talk among themselves. I'll help you set the table, Sister."
"I don't need your help. The sight of your face is enough to turn my stomach. Get in there and sit beside Mr. Jang."
"Why? Why does my face turn your stomach?"
"You don't know, and you ask? Must I say it with my own mouth?"
Ki-jo cleared his throat, loud and deliberate, so they would hear. The kitchen went quiet.
"Pay the women's talk no mind, Mr. Jang."
"Yes, Chief."
Ma-ryang answered without once lifting his head.
"But Mr. Jang—didn't you tell me once that if the country were ever reunified, you'd go north to find the family you left behind?"
He had slipped the question in to put the man on the spot.
"That... well, that is..."
Color climbed Ma-ryang's face, and no proper answer came. Off in a corner of the room, Ki-jo's eye caught on Yeongsu, sprawled on his belly, copying out his characters.
"Yeongsu."
"Yes, Father."
The boy stopped his writing and sat up.
"Go stay at Yeongbae's for a while."
"Yes, Father."
He got to his feet as he was told and started out, then paused to bow to Jang Ma-ryang.
"Please talk with Father, mister."
Ki-jo gave his well-mannered son a light scolding.
"Mister? You rascal. That's your uncle—your youngest uncle—"
At that, Ma-ryang, who had not been able to raise his head all this while, looked up at Ki-jo. Ki-jo paid the look no mind.
"Greet your uncle properly."
"Yes, Father. Uncle, I'm going over to Yeongbae's to play."
The words seemed to undo Ma-ryang. With a face that said the boy was too dear to bear, he beckoned Yeongsu over, drew a ten-hwan note from his pocket, and pressed it into the child's hand.
"Buy some hard candy with Yeongbae and eat it up."
Yeongsu had never once been given money, and he only blinked, bewildered. Watching him, Ki-jo and Ma-ryang both broke into bright smiles.
"What are you waiting for? Thank your uncle, and go buy that candy."
"Thank you, Uncle. I'll buy candy and share it with Yeongbae."
"Aye. Off you go, then."
Ma-ryang smiled so wide his mouth nearly reached his ears.
After Yeongsu had left the room, Ki-jo spoke.
"Now, Mr. Jang, I think you and I had better settle what we call one another."
"From this day, I'll call you Elder Brother."
"Well, that's only right, seeing as I'm the senior brother-in-law. It's what I call you that sits awkward. You're a good deal older than I am."
"Just call me Ma-ryang, plain as you like. Elder Brother."
"Would that do? It may sit easy with you. My own heart's another matter."
"A hundred years between us wouldn't change it. Once a man's set down as elder in the family register, you honor him as elder. From now on I'll honor you as Elder Brother."
"Hah. All right, then. I'll call you plainly from here on."
"Yes, Elder Brother."
They met each other's eyes and grinned, wide and soundless.
Before Sunrye could bring the drinks, Ki-jo turned to the work.
"Ma-ryang, you set out tomorrow to gather men."
"Aye. Understood. A fortnight or so, I'd say."
"Good. Don't pinch the money while you're at it—spend freely. And no rosy talk, no sweet promises. Tell them the truth, just as it stands, and bring them back."
"That's the only way it ought to be done."
"Your sister-in-law's still sour over all this. When she comes in with the drinks, brace yourself."
"Goes without saying, Elder Brother."
Ki-jo leaned in, caught Ma-ryang's hand, and gripped it.
"Thank you, Ma-ryang. Knowing we'll be one family steadies me."
"And me, thinking I can stay at your side my whole life—it feels like I've found a new home."
"Yes. I'm grateful you see it so."
He let go, and had barely settled back into his place when the door opened and Sunrye came in with the drink table. She poured a cup without a word. Ma-ryang turned his face aside and drank, and the instant he set the cup down, she spoke.
"Mr. Jang. Didn't you say you'd left a wife and child in the North?"
"Yes..."
He wiped the liquor from his lips and answered small. Perhaps because her sister's whole life hung on this, Sunrye's eyes had gone sharper than anyone in that room was used to.
"We'll set the wife aside. How old is the child now?"
"Come now, why ask a thing like that? That isn't what matters."
Ki-jo had moved to shield him. Soon-young did not.
"He has one son. A year younger than me."
At her sister's words, fury lit in Sunrye's eyes.
"Mr. Jang... is—is what Soon-young just said true?"
Her voice shook. Ki-jo shot Soon-young a look: be still.
"It is true. And I promised him. When the country is reunified, I'll send Ma-ryang back north, and I'll send him properly."
The look was wasted. Soon-young, true to herself, had no stopper on her.
"What? What are you saying?"
"I just told you, Sister. That's what we decided. And I was honest with him. I said I can't bear a child, and that they turned me out for it."
"Mr. Jang, lift your head. Have you any conscience? How can a person do such a thing? Toy with a child to your heart's content, and then, when the country is one again, simply run off—is that it?"
"Sister! Aren't you being far too hard on our Ma-ryang? Didn't I say I was the one who asked him?"
"He was glad to agree, just because you asked? That man?"
"Why are you scolding him! And why am I a child? I'm nineteen this year! Nineteen!"
"A man of thirty-three and a girl of nineteen. Neither of you has a scrap of sense. The pair of you are wild to play with fire."
"Sister!"
Soon-young's shout made both men flinch. Ki-jo knew he could not sit quiet any longer, and cleared his throat, loud. Whatever else was true, he was the elder in that room.
"Mr. Jang. Lift your face a moment."
Ma-ryang raised it slowly. Under Sunrye's tongue-lashing his face had gone the red of burning coal. Ki-jo swallowed the laugh rising in him and put on the dignity of the senior brother-in-law.
"I've listened to all of this carefully. I think the two of you ought to step apart for a time and think it over."
"Brother..."
Soon-young made to press in again, but Ma-ryang, beside her, closed a hand hard around her wrist. At once the girl who feared nothing went meek as a lamb.
"Leave Eundae-ri for about a fortnight, and then come back."
Soon-young looked at Ki-jo, her face all but crumpling into tears.
"And you, sister, wait quietly here in Eundae-ri. We'll see whether out of sight puts you out of mind."
Ma-ryang gave her wrist another quiet press. She could not bring herself to argue.
"Ma-ryang, you ought to go by Goseong while you're about it. It's close to the home you came from."
Head bowed, he answered low.
"Yes, Elder Brother."
The answer pleased Ki-jo down to the bone. Sunrye, beside him, seemed to turn inside out at the sound of this man calling her husband Elder Brother. She rose and walked out. Soon-young, finding her sister's heart still shut, buried her face against her knees and began to weep, soft and wretched.
Ma-ryang stroked her back.
"Don't cry. Elder Brother has given his leave."
Her head came up at once, and she threw herself into Ki-jo's arms.
"Thank you, Brother. Please talk Sister around."
"I will. She'll be like this for now, but she'll come round soon enough."
When he had quieted her, he spoke to the pair of them as the elder of the house.
"I'll say this to you now, Ma-ryang, so there's no mistake later. Soon-young will never be able to bear a child."
"No matter. We don't need one."
"And you, sister. From now on Ma-ryang will be working day and night alongside me. You will not nag him for leaving you to a cold bed alone."
"I understand, Brother. I won't nag."
"Good. If the two of you live warm and peaceable together until your black hair turns white, my wife and I could ask for nothing more."
"I'll take it to heart."
"I understand, Brother. I'll live so well Sister has to see it."
Ki-jo nodded.
"I've nothing else to give the two of you, but I'll portion out some land. See if you can keep yourselves fed on that. Ma-ryang, come with me to the county office. The title has to be transferred."
"My thanks, Elder Brother."
"Thank you, Brother!"
Soon-young flung herself at him again.
Ki-jo and Ma-ryang left the house and talked as they walked toward the county office.
"Ma-ryang, a brick factory won't be an easy thing to raise. While you're gathering the men, I'll go up to Seoul and look into the work."
"Bring them back, and I'll help you with all I've got."
"Steel yourself, Ma-ryang."
"Yes, Elder Brother."
Step by step they went on over the frozen ground, bound for the county office.