Seoul, with over ten million people, is South Korea's largest city and one of the most populous cities in the world.
Keum was on this slick black Porsche Carrera and the pro was driving it. The two hadn't spoke a word through the whole journey since they left the temple.
They were in the area called Gangnam, the booming part of South of Han River with many newly built high-rises, hundreds of boutique shops and fancy restaurants, clubs and bars. The pro maneuvered Porche through heavy traffic and thousands of pedestrians into a small alley and parked in front of a large house. The house was an authentic Korean architect and was indeed an strange edition to the surroundings.
The pro rang the intercom by the side of enormous size gate. The gate opened with hydraulics hissing sound and the pro took Keum into the house. Keum noticed two German Shepherds sitting and behind each of two there were two man wearing black suits. The pro ignored them and led Keum into the door. Inside of the house was dark but well maintained and filled with antique furniture. After the long corridor, the pro and Keum went into a huge room. The room was dark also and it was lit only by a small Tiffany lamp in the center of a large wooden desk. Behind the desk, there was an old man sitting. He was extremely thin and looked frail at first but Keum noticed his eyes were burning like the fire he used to build at the temple. Without saying a word, the old man motioned Keum to sit down at the chair across the room. Keum walked to the chair and sat down. In front of him he faced an old antique Badukpan with beautifully carved legs of intertwined dragons. The old man said, 'So this is the boy you have been talking about?' The pro replied, 'Yes sir.' The old man stood up and walked to the chair in front of Keum and sat down and looked at Keum and studied his face for few minutes. The old man pushed a bowl of black stones toward Keum and said, 'OK, let's see how good you are.'
The first stone was played at Somok (3.4). The old man placed his at Samsam (3.3). Keum followed with Hwajum (4.4), then old man Hwajum (4.4).
The old man's style was similar to Japanese master Sakata Eio. He played precisely, poignantly. His moves were sharp and calculated. Keum played without any emotions showing through his face as usual. His play was direct and without finesse but well prepared. His play was fight inducing. The old man's pace was slow at first then became faster toward the mid-game. Keum played at steady pace but each move had no hesitation. When the game was over, the old man's large dragon of 68 stones had only one eye. The old man smiled for the first time.
'He IS good.' 'I think he is ready. What do you think?' asked the old man. 'Without a doubt, sir.' the pro replied.
For next few days, the pro took Keum to places where Keum never imagined they existed.
Keum was dressed in black pinstriped Armany with matching shoes by Fratelli Rosetti.
Keum was taken to expensive yojung, traditional Korean restaurants where gisaeng serve food and drinks. Keum turned from a tall handsome farm boy to a tall handsome flamboyant man.
Two weeks later, on one evening, the pro drove Keum to a place in Insa-Dong, which has been the heart of the nation’s capital for 600 years, with many small alleys filled with antique stores. The pro took out a small briefcase from the trunk and led Keum to a small but clean antique store and into a back room. Three men stood up and greeted the pro and Keum when they entered the room. They were courteous and careful. After shaking hands with one of them, the pro said, 'Master Yi sends his sincere regards to Master Kim.' 'Shall we start then?' the other man replied and led the two into another room.
The room was small but had a large window, and through the window Keum could see a large backyard with Japanese Maple trees. There was no furniture except an antique badukpan and two chairs. On one chair, there was a man with long hair. The man was thin. He was wearing hanbok, traditional Korean costume and smoking a cigarette. He was there, but seemed not there at the same time. The pro motioned Keum to sit.
Keum didn't have any ideas what he was doing there except playing baduk.
Later he found out that the place was famous for underground gambling, which was highly illegal in Korea. It was his first of many baduk games he would play for the old man, who is now Keum's master. Masters were people who were at very high position in the government or owners of Chaebul* or boss of organized crime family. The stake was high, but more important than money, there was the honor.
Keum sat down. Neither of the players spoke. The late Sun entered through the window and casted a large shadow of maple trees. Keum thought about his hometown, the sea, and his mother.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
A Boy: Part III
Keum wakes up at four in the morning.
Keum folds a blanket and a mattress four times into neat square shapes and put them in a closet.
Keum goes to the outhouse.
Keum runs four kilometer along the small path of the mountain.
Keum sweeps the backyard of the house.
Keum washes himself with cold water of the stream running by the house.
Keum fires the woods for agungi, a fire-entrance for heating and cooking facility in traditional Korean houses.
Keum has his breakfast at six: a bowl of rice with barley, a clear soup with fresh bean sprout, and kimchi, traditional Korean pickled cabbage and gosari namul,** Fernbrake salad.
Keum washes the rice bowl, spoon and chopsticks and small dishes after the meal.
Keum sits down at an old beaten badukpan and replays the games of old masters from a book for next 4 hours.
Keum goes into the forest nearby, gathers dried tree branches for agungi.
Keum runs four kilometers.
Keum eats the lunch at twelve: a bowl of cold noodle soup made of buckwheat and kimchi.
Keum washes the bowl, chopsticks and the dish.
Keum takes the cow named munsan (distant mountain) to the hill to feed.
Keum sits down at the badukpan again and studies games of old masters for four hours.
Keum goes out and joins Tae-Kwon-Do (traditional Korean martial art) and Gum-Do (traditional Korean swordsmanship) training at the front yard.
Keum eats dinner at six thirty: same menu as breakfast with gosari namul replaced with steamed tofu.
Keum washes the bowl, spoon and chopsticks, and dishes.
Keum joins the classes of meditation, Korean and Chinese language, mathematics, calligraphy, science and Danso lesson of Korean traditional flute.
Keum washes himself with cold water of the stream running by the house.
Keum takes out the blanket and mattress from the closet, unfolds them.
Keum goes to sleep at eleven at night.
And Kuem dreams his mother in his dream.
For six years, at this remote Buddhist temple, deep inside of So-Baek-San in Choong-Chung Province,
Keum changed from a quiet small boy to a quiet, tall and handsome young man.
The temple was run by this old monk who was the head of crime organization when Korea was under the government of Rhee Syng-Man.*** After the military coup d’état by Park Chung-Hee**** he was sentenced to death and then later got a reduced term of twelve years in prison. He converted himself into a Buddhist while in prison. After he got out, he came to the mountain, built a small temple all by himself and stayed there ever since. He was master of martial art. Keum heard that the monk had wife and a daughter but he never saw them. The temple had no visitors except the pro that Keum met at the tournament.
The pro visited the temple four times a year for those six years, each time he brought books for students and bottles of wine for the monk. He spent few days playing Baduk with students and it was the only time students could play real games since students were not allowed to play Baduk against each other. Each time he took a few students with him when he left, the few the pro believed didn't have enough talent in Baduk. There were twenty six boys when Keum was brought in, but at the end of sixth year, only two survived including Keum.
It was in the middle of January, and for last few days it snowed so much all main roads were closed down. That was when the pro showed up at the temple. His face was bright red from walking so long through the heavy snow, and his whole body produced steam like a chimney of the public bathhouse where mother used to take Keum to when he was small. This time the pro didn't have any books with him. As soon as he had few words with the monk, the pro summoned the two to play Baduk immediately. Baram played first at the request of the pro with two handi. The game was played somewhat in fast mode, and at the end of middle game, Baram made a huge mistake so the game ended by resign from Baram. Baram was angry and disappointed. He ran out without saying 'Gomapsumnida': Thank you in Korean, crying out loud. The pro said nothing. He showed no emotion.
Now it was Keum's turn.
He sat down in front of the Badukpan, closed his eyes and breathe deeply.
He thought about last six years of his life here at the temple.
He thought about his mother.
He thought about the strange man at the graduation.
He thought about Mrs. Paik and the library and the Baduk book.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the pro's right hand was holding handful of white Badukdols (Go stones).
Keum, who played with 9 stones handi at the first game with the pro, and lost by more than 80 points, has reduced the handis on each of the pro's visit. The pro, now, was asking for even game by doing Nigiri.†
Keum reached the bowl of black stones and slowly put two on top of the Badukpan.
The pro opened his hand and counted. He was holding 18 stones.
Keum was to play with black.
Keum opened the game with So-mok (3.4) on upper right corner answered by pro's upper right's Hwa-jum (4.4). Keum played at cross board So-mok, the pro followed with his own So-mok. Opening was smooth and flawless and steady. When the Po-suk (Fuseki) was done, the board looked well balanced at first sight. Except, if you know what Baduk is, you would also see it resembled the quietness before the storm on the open sea.
At move 118, the pro tried to build a large territory on the bottom, and Keum immediately invaded the territory. The move resembled a lone parachutter jumped deep into the enemy's land. At move 138, the pro was sweating. At move 159, Keum smiled a ever so faint smile.
At 172nd move, the pro said, 'Jutumnida.' 'I lost' in Korean.
----------------------------------------------------------------
** http://www.cookbookwiki.com/Gosari_namul_(Fernbrake_salad)
*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngman_Rhee [Syngman Rhee or Yi Seungman (March 26, 1875 – July 19, 1965) was the first president of South Korea. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. Rhee was regarded as an anti-Communist and a strongman, and led South Korea through the Korean War. His presidency ended in resignation following popular protests against a disputed election. He died in exile in Hawaii.]
**** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chung-hee [Park Chung-hee (November 14, 1917 – October 26, 1979) was a former ROK Army general and the leader of the Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth, but is also heavily criticized for his authoritarian way of ruling the country (especially after 1971), sending troops to support the United States in the Vietnam War, and alleged pro-Japanese activities as a Chinilpa. He was named one of the top 100 Asians of the Century by Time Magazine (1999).]
† http://senseis.xmp.net/?Nigiri [Nigiri is a Japanese go term (from the Japanese, lit. "grab", "grasp", "squeeze") adopted into English, referring to the procedure common in Japan at the beginning of an even game to decide who will play the black stones; the equivalent of flipping a coin to determine who kicks off a game of football. The steps are:
1. The first player grabs (hence the name) a handful of white stones without showing them to the other player.
2. The second player states his guess as to whether the number of stones is "odd" or "even" by placing one or two black stones on the go board. (In Japanese, 奇数先 or kisuu-sen for odd, or 偶数先, guusuu-sen for even).
3. The first player then places the white stones in his hand on the go board, arranging them in pairs to make it easy to see whether the number is odd or even.
If the second player has guessed correctly, he takes Black.]
Keum folds a blanket and a mattress four times into neat square shapes and put them in a closet.
Keum goes to the outhouse.
Keum runs four kilometer along the small path of the mountain.
Keum sweeps the backyard of the house.
Keum washes himself with cold water of the stream running by the house.
Keum fires the woods for agungi, a fire-entrance for heating and cooking facility in traditional Korean houses.
Keum has his breakfast at six: a bowl of rice with barley, a clear soup with fresh bean sprout, and kimchi, traditional Korean pickled cabbage and gosari namul,** Fernbrake salad.
Keum washes the rice bowl, spoon and chopsticks and small dishes after the meal.
Keum sits down at an old beaten badukpan and replays the games of old masters from a book for next 4 hours.
Keum goes into the forest nearby, gathers dried tree branches for agungi.
Keum runs four kilometers.
Keum eats the lunch at twelve: a bowl of cold noodle soup made of buckwheat and kimchi.
Keum washes the bowl, chopsticks and the dish.
Keum takes the cow named munsan (distant mountain) to the hill to feed.
Keum sits down at the badukpan again and studies games of old masters for four hours.
Keum goes out and joins Tae-Kwon-Do (traditional Korean martial art) and Gum-Do (traditional Korean swordsmanship) training at the front yard.
Keum eats dinner at six thirty: same menu as breakfast with gosari namul replaced with steamed tofu.
Keum washes the bowl, spoon and chopsticks, and dishes.
Keum joins the classes of meditation, Korean and Chinese language, mathematics, calligraphy, science and Danso lesson of Korean traditional flute.
Keum washes himself with cold water of the stream running by the house.
Keum takes out the blanket and mattress from the closet, unfolds them.
Keum goes to sleep at eleven at night.
And Kuem dreams his mother in his dream.
For six years, at this remote Buddhist temple, deep inside of So-Baek-San in Choong-Chung Province,
Keum changed from a quiet small boy to a quiet, tall and handsome young man.
The temple was run by this old monk who was the head of crime organization when Korea was under the government of Rhee Syng-Man.*** After the military coup d’état by Park Chung-Hee**** he was sentenced to death and then later got a reduced term of twelve years in prison. He converted himself into a Buddhist while in prison. After he got out, he came to the mountain, built a small temple all by himself and stayed there ever since. He was master of martial art. Keum heard that the monk had wife and a daughter but he never saw them. The temple had no visitors except the pro that Keum met at the tournament.
The pro visited the temple four times a year for those six years, each time he brought books for students and bottles of wine for the monk. He spent few days playing Baduk with students and it was the only time students could play real games since students were not allowed to play Baduk against each other. Each time he took a few students with him when he left, the few the pro believed didn't have enough talent in Baduk. There were twenty six boys when Keum was brought in, but at the end of sixth year, only two survived including Keum.
It was in the middle of January, and for last few days it snowed so much all main roads were closed down. That was when the pro showed up at the temple. His face was bright red from walking so long through the heavy snow, and his whole body produced steam like a chimney of the public bathhouse where mother used to take Keum to when he was small. This time the pro didn't have any books with him. As soon as he had few words with the monk, the pro summoned the two to play Baduk immediately. Baram played first at the request of the pro with two handi. The game was played somewhat in fast mode, and at the end of middle game, Baram made a huge mistake so the game ended by resign from Baram. Baram was angry and disappointed. He ran out without saying 'Gomapsumnida': Thank you in Korean, crying out loud. The pro said nothing. He showed no emotion.
Now it was Keum's turn.
He sat down in front of the Badukpan, closed his eyes and breathe deeply.
He thought about last six years of his life here at the temple.
He thought about his mother.
He thought about the strange man at the graduation.
He thought about Mrs. Paik and the library and the Baduk book.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the pro's right hand was holding handful of white Badukdols (Go stones).
Keum, who played with 9 stones handi at the first game with the pro, and lost by more than 80 points, has reduced the handis on each of the pro's visit. The pro, now, was asking for even game by doing Nigiri.†
Keum reached the bowl of black stones and slowly put two on top of the Badukpan.
The pro opened his hand and counted. He was holding 18 stones.
Keum was to play with black.
Keum opened the game with So-mok (3.4) on upper right corner answered by pro's upper right's Hwa-jum (4.4). Keum played at cross board So-mok, the pro followed with his own So-mok. Opening was smooth and flawless and steady. When the Po-suk (Fuseki) was done, the board looked well balanced at first sight. Except, if you know what Baduk is, you would also see it resembled the quietness before the storm on the open sea.
At move 118, the pro tried to build a large territory on the bottom, and Keum immediately invaded the territory. The move resembled a lone parachutter jumped deep into the enemy's land. At move 138, the pro was sweating. At move 159, Keum smiled a ever so faint smile.
At 172nd move, the pro said, 'Jutumnida.' 'I lost' in Korean.
----------------------------------------------------------------
** http://www.cookbookwiki.com/Gosari_namul_(Fernbrake_salad)
*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngman_Rhee [Syngman Rhee or Yi Seungman (March 26, 1875 – July 19, 1965) was the first president of South Korea. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. Rhee was regarded as an anti-Communist and a strongman, and led South Korea through the Korean War. His presidency ended in resignation following popular protests against a disputed election. He died in exile in Hawaii.]
**** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chung-hee [Park Chung-hee (November 14, 1917 – October 26, 1979) was a former ROK Army general and the leader of the Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth, but is also heavily criticized for his authoritarian way of ruling the country (especially after 1971), sending troops to support the United States in the Vietnam War, and alleged pro-Japanese activities as a Chinilpa. He was named one of the top 100 Asians of the Century by Time Magazine (1999).]
† http://senseis.xmp.net/?Nigiri [Nigiri is a Japanese go term (from the Japanese, lit. "grab", "grasp", "squeeze") adopted into English, referring to the procedure common in Japan at the beginning of an even game to decide who will play the black stones; the equivalent of flipping a coin to determine who kicks off a game of football. The steps are:
1. The first player grabs (hence the name) a handful of white stones without showing them to the other player.
2. The second player states his guess as to whether the number of stones is "odd" or "even" by placing one or two black stones on the go board. (In Japanese, 奇数先 or kisuu-sen for odd, or 偶数先, guusuu-sen for even).
3. The first player then places the white stones in his hand on the go board, arranging them in pairs to make it easy to see whether the number is odd or even.
If the second player has guessed correctly, he takes Black.]
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
A Boy: Part II
For those two years, Keum read the book so many times, he could remember the whole book page by page, problem by problem and he could solve almost all of them with his eyes closed.
For those two years, he hardly talked to anyone except the occasional yes and no's to his teachers and his mother. In the classes at school, he completely shut down himself, so naturally his classmates treated him like a weirdo; he became a biggest 'wang-dda' in school's history. Wang-dda, in Korean, means a 'lone weirdo'. Once you are labeled as 'wang-dda', you become a target of all kinds of abuse from class bullies. You might know children at that age could be real cruel. But any kind cruel abuses didn't make him to talk. The more abused, the less he responded.
After a while, the bullies gave up on him and moved to find another target, left him alone.
He didn't know that the immense feelings of dislike toward his father caused all that but he was too young to know then.
On a normal day, he would wake up at 6 in the morning. He would find breakfast on the wooden table, left by his mother before she went out to open her restaurant. While eating, he would put the imaginary baduk stones on one corner of the table and play out the problems from the book (there were no baduk stones). If anyone saw what he did, the person surely would think that the boy was crazy.
On the year when he became twelve years old, there was a big change in the city he lived; the government approved the plan of making new international airport in the harbor of Incheon, not just an airport, but the largest one in Asia. Even though the Incheon International Airport(ICN) wasn't completed until fifteen years later, the idea was popular among Incheonians because the new-largest-in-Asia-airport meant more jobs and once in life time opportunity of making big money to many of them. The city's mayor was extremely satisfied. He held series of events to celebrate the approval of the airport. Many soccer, baseball, basketball games were played to celebrate. Ssi-rum competitions (Korean traditional wrestling) were held and champions went home with 3-year-old-prize-bulls. There were karaoke contests. And some people even held private poker games.
Schools held similar events like mathematics and English competition. There were track and field games at every school. There was a Quiz show called 'Incheon Junior High Schools' Who, What, How, Where and Why Quiz Show Celebrating Coming Incheon International Airport.' The manager of the show later was fired because of the too long title of the show, people said.
One of such events was this tiny tournament at each and every libraries at elementary schools on weekends of Summer. It was called Incheon Childrens Guksu-jun; Baduk King Tournament.
Baduk had been the national game since Guksu Cho Nam Chul* (The King of Baduk, master Cho Namchul) distributed and popularized the game.
Keum was visiting Mrs. Paik at the time of the tournament and for the first time he watched the real games played between players. Most games were between low grade players and he found they all looked boring. Except at one table where many people watching. Two players were strongest 12 year olds from his school.
The game was well into mid-game stage and a big fight was going on. It was black's turn to make a move and he hadn't made a move for good twenty minutes. On the far end of the library, tournament officers set up a large magnetic badk-pan and replayed the on-going game. One of the pros who was born in Incheon was showing possible best moves for the situation. Keum looked at the situation on the magnetic board, and right away noticed the sequence which black could kill white dragon. The pro asked the audience if anyone could come up with the correct answer. No one could. The pro repeated the same question few times until, to everyone's surprize, the school's well known'wang-dda raised his hand.
The pro smiled and asked the boy to come up to the board and play the sequence.
Keum walked up and put large magnetic stones on the board. He was shy but not nervous. When he did it, it was so fast and with such force each move made loud clinking noise.
-----------------------------------------------------------
[*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho_Namchul: Cho was born in a farming village in Buan, North Jeolla Province. In 1934, Japanese professional Kitani Minoru visited Korea and played with ten-year-old Cho, who deeply impressed the great master. He went to Japan in 1937 to study go as Kitani's first insei, or live-in student. In 1943, he returned to South Korea and played a key role in the founding of the Hanguk Kiwon. It wasn't until 1983, that he would be awarded 9 dan, but for most of the 1950's and 1960's, he won the vast majority of national tournaments.
He is known as the founder of Korean modern Go.
After his death, he was honored by the president of Korea with a medal and floral tribute.]
For those two years, he hardly talked to anyone except the occasional yes and no's to his teachers and his mother. In the classes at school, he completely shut down himself, so naturally his classmates treated him like a weirdo; he became a biggest 'wang-dda' in school's history. Wang-dda, in Korean, means a 'lone weirdo'. Once you are labeled as 'wang-dda', you become a target of all kinds of abuse from class bullies. You might know children at that age could be real cruel. But any kind cruel abuses didn't make him to talk. The more abused, the less he responded.
After a while, the bullies gave up on him and moved to find another target, left him alone.
He didn't know that the immense feelings of dislike toward his father caused all that but he was too young to know then.
On a normal day, he would wake up at 6 in the morning. He would find breakfast on the wooden table, left by his mother before she went out to open her restaurant. While eating, he would put the imaginary baduk stones on one corner of the table and play out the problems from the book (there were no baduk stones). If anyone saw what he did, the person surely would think that the boy was crazy.
On the year when he became twelve years old, there was a big change in the city he lived; the government approved the plan of making new international airport in the harbor of Incheon, not just an airport, but the largest one in Asia. Even though the Incheon International Airport(ICN) wasn't completed until fifteen years later, the idea was popular among Incheonians because the new-largest-in-Asia-airport meant more jobs and once in life time opportunity of making big money to many of them. The city's mayor was extremely satisfied. He held series of events to celebrate the approval of the airport. Many soccer, baseball, basketball games were played to celebrate. Ssi-rum competitions (Korean traditional wrestling) were held and champions went home with 3-year-old-prize-bulls. There were karaoke contests. And some people even held private poker games.
Schools held similar events like mathematics and English competition. There were track and field games at every school. There was a Quiz show called 'Incheon Junior High Schools' Who, What, How, Where and Why Quiz Show Celebrating Coming Incheon International Airport.' The manager of the show later was fired because of the too long title of the show, people said.
One of such events was this tiny tournament at each and every libraries at elementary schools on weekends of Summer. It was called Incheon Childrens Guksu-jun; Baduk King Tournament.
Baduk had been the national game since Guksu Cho Nam Chul* (The King of Baduk, master Cho Namchul) distributed and popularized the game.
Keum was visiting Mrs. Paik at the time of the tournament and for the first time he watched the real games played between players. Most games were between low grade players and he found they all looked boring. Except at one table where many people watching. Two players were strongest 12 year olds from his school.
The game was well into mid-game stage and a big fight was going on. It was black's turn to make a move and he hadn't made a move for good twenty minutes. On the far end of the library, tournament officers set up a large magnetic badk-pan and replayed the on-going game. One of the pros who was born in Incheon was showing possible best moves for the situation. Keum looked at the situation on the magnetic board, and right away noticed the sequence which black could kill white dragon. The pro asked the audience if anyone could come up with the correct answer. No one could. The pro repeated the same question few times until, to everyone's surprize, the school's well known'wang-dda raised his hand.
The pro smiled and asked the boy to come up to the board and play the sequence.
Keum walked up and put large magnetic stones on the board. He was shy but not nervous. When he did it, it was so fast and with such force each move made loud clinking noise.
-----------------------------------------------------------
[*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho_Namchul: Cho was born in a farming village in Buan, North Jeolla Province. In 1934, Japanese professional Kitani Minoru visited Korea and played with ten-year-old Cho, who deeply impressed the great master. He went to Japan in 1937 to study go as Kitani's first insei, or live-in student. In 1943, he returned to South Korea and played a key role in the founding of the Hanguk Kiwon. It wasn't until 1983, that he would be awarded 9 dan, but for most of the 1950's and 1960's, he won the vast majority of national tournaments.
He is known as the founder of Korean modern Go.
After his death, he was honored by the president of Korea with a medal and floral tribute.]
Friday, March 14, 2008
A Boy: Part I
This is a story about my friend Keum.
When I met him, he lived in one of Chinatown's notorious basement apartments, where he shared a small room with 23 other illegal aliens, mostly from Mainland China. It was one of those time-share-places. There were three shifts; you could be in the room only for 8 hours. There were no beds but eight dirty mattresses. A small bathroom with a shower was shared.
Almost all of them worked in Chinatown's restaurants as waiters and bus boys.
They worked 15 - 16 hours a day, everyday with no weekends, hoping someday they could pay the money they owed to the human-transporters, and get a green card, bring their families, raise their children in America and become rich...
It was Saturday morning 5 o'clock, I was dead tired from working all night at my studio preparing one of my client's presentation. I took a cab to Chinatown's my favorite congee place on Bowery Street. When I got there, the place was empty except number of waiters playing cards on the round table at the corner. One of the waiters came after I sat down at a small table by the window and poured a cup of hot Woolong tea and a menu. Without looking the menu, I ordered two of my favorite dishes of the place; a bowl of congee with thousand-year-egg, and a sizzling plate of fried turnip cake with minced pork.
Maybe I ate too fast, or maybe I was too tired.
I was dreaming some strange dream when someone shook my shoulders.
First I didn't know where I was then I realized that person was the waiter who served me the food.
Out of embarrassment, and out of still-dreaming-state I apologized in Korean, loudly. And the waiter spoke back in Korean!
I was very surprised because in Chinatown, there's no way that you work in Chinese restaurant unless you are Chinese. So I thought he was a Chinese who speaks Korean. But when I asked how he could speak perfect Korean, he whispered that he was Korean. While he was cleaning the table, we talked and I found out he was single, never married, 32 years old, and had worked there for over two years. I felt sorry for him and left a large tip when I paid.
Since then whenever I want to have a bowl congee or authentic dim sum, I went there, sometimes with my wife and friends and talked with that young Korean man.
At least twice a week.
We became friends.
Five years went by. And this is what I could gather from what he had told me during those five years.
(We never had a chance to have 'formal' conversations; I was always a customer, and he was always a waiter and he had other tables to attend as you can imagine.)
He was born in Incheon, Kyung Gi Province, a seaport about 40 miles from Capital of Korea, Seoul.
His father was a fisherman, an alcoholic, a gambler and a womanizer. Keum saw his father only twice.
The first time was when Keum graduated elementary school; A strange man gave him an English dictionary as a gift after the graduation ceremony. He smelled alcohol. Keum's mother didn't say a word, grabbed Keum's hand and walked away. Keum looked back after a few steps, but he was gone already. Later mother told Keum that he was Keum's father.
The second time was when his father was found dead on the boat he had worked. The police asked Keum's mother to identify the body, Keum went with his mother. The man's face looked strangely peaceful and Keum thought he was a handsome man. Keum didn't cry. The police never found out the cause of the death of that unimportant, poor, fisherman.
Keum's mother was a very quiet woman. She never raised her voice or got angry over anything. She ran a small seafood restaurant by the Bay, and the restaurant was busy with local businessmen and tourists. Mother was too busy to attend Keum, her only son, Keum learned to be left alone from very early age. Keum didn't have many friends. After school, he stopped by the school library borrowed a book or two, went home, to his room where his mom left some food for him on a small wooden table, one of only two furniture in the room; the other only furniture was an old wardrobe his mom received as a wedding gift form her parents.
After finished eating, he washed dishes, and read books. He read any books he could get. By the time he was nine, at fourth grade, he had read almost all books in the library. The librarian, Mrs Paik, became very fond of this small book craze child and tried to talk to the boy, but the child never spoke a word to her until one day the library ran out of books.
In a very shy voice, the boy asked her if there were any more books he could borrow, and she answered no. And she said except her private collections but they were not for rent. She showed the boy the books of her own. They were rare old books she had collected since she was in high school, and they were indeed genuine old books from Yi dynasty, many of them were over hundred years old.
Most of them were written in Chinese, only few were in old Korean. She showed one very interesting looking book with lots of diagrams and patterns of round blacks and whites, where he found they looked familiar to him somehow. But he couldn't remember where he saw the shape before until that night at home sat down to eat the food his mother prepared for him. The small wooden table his mom used for dinner table had the exact shape and same lines in those diagrams.
Next day when he went to the library, Mrs Paik, the librarian handed him a handmade book which she copied and bind. That was the very first baduk book he had read. He didn't know it, but the book was actually a life and death problem books written by a baduk master during Yi dynasty. The author known as master Lee was an aide to Yeonsan Kun(1476 - 1506 AD), the most notorious King, and master Lee was sentenced to death by drinking poison when the coup d’état replaced Yeonsan kun with his step brother, and the new King Joong Jong.
The book didn't make no sense to the boy first, unlike other books he had read, it took a long time to understand even the very first few pages. But since he had no other books to borrow or read, he kept reading it. The book had 428 pages in total and had two diagrams of life and death problems on each page.
There was supposed to be a separate book of answers, but never found, Mrs Paik said when the boy asked for it. He kept reading and reading. The book became only friend of his for next two years.
When I met him, he lived in one of Chinatown's notorious basement apartments, where he shared a small room with 23 other illegal aliens, mostly from Mainland China. It was one of those time-share-places. There were three shifts; you could be in the room only for 8 hours. There were no beds but eight dirty mattresses. A small bathroom with a shower was shared.
Almost all of them worked in Chinatown's restaurants as waiters and bus boys.
They worked 15 - 16 hours a day, everyday with no weekends, hoping someday they could pay the money they owed to the human-transporters, and get a green card, bring their families, raise their children in America and become rich...
It was Saturday morning 5 o'clock, I was dead tired from working all night at my studio preparing one of my client's presentation. I took a cab to Chinatown's my favorite congee place on Bowery Street. When I got there, the place was empty except number of waiters playing cards on the round table at the corner. One of the waiters came after I sat down at a small table by the window and poured a cup of hot Woolong tea and a menu. Without looking the menu, I ordered two of my favorite dishes of the place; a bowl of congee with thousand-year-egg, and a sizzling plate of fried turnip cake with minced pork.
Maybe I ate too fast, or maybe I was too tired.
I was dreaming some strange dream when someone shook my shoulders.
First I didn't know where I was then I realized that person was the waiter who served me the food.
Out of embarrassment, and out of still-dreaming-state I apologized in Korean, loudly. And the waiter spoke back in Korean!
I was very surprised because in Chinatown, there's no way that you work in Chinese restaurant unless you are Chinese. So I thought he was a Chinese who speaks Korean. But when I asked how he could speak perfect Korean, he whispered that he was Korean. While he was cleaning the table, we talked and I found out he was single, never married, 32 years old, and had worked there for over two years. I felt sorry for him and left a large tip when I paid.
Since then whenever I want to have a bowl congee or authentic dim sum, I went there, sometimes with my wife and friends and talked with that young Korean man.
At least twice a week.
We became friends.
Five years went by. And this is what I could gather from what he had told me during those five years.
(We never had a chance to have 'formal' conversations; I was always a customer, and he was always a waiter and he had other tables to attend as you can imagine.)
He was born in Incheon, Kyung Gi Province, a seaport about 40 miles from Capital of Korea, Seoul.
His father was a fisherman, an alcoholic, a gambler and a womanizer. Keum saw his father only twice.
The first time was when Keum graduated elementary school; A strange man gave him an English dictionary as a gift after the graduation ceremony. He smelled alcohol. Keum's mother didn't say a word, grabbed Keum's hand and walked away. Keum looked back after a few steps, but he was gone already. Later mother told Keum that he was Keum's father.
The second time was when his father was found dead on the boat he had worked. The police asked Keum's mother to identify the body, Keum went with his mother. The man's face looked strangely peaceful and Keum thought he was a handsome man. Keum didn't cry. The police never found out the cause of the death of that unimportant, poor, fisherman.
Keum's mother was a very quiet woman. She never raised her voice or got angry over anything. She ran a small seafood restaurant by the Bay, and the restaurant was busy with local businessmen and tourists. Mother was too busy to attend Keum, her only son, Keum learned to be left alone from very early age. Keum didn't have many friends. After school, he stopped by the school library borrowed a book or two, went home, to his room where his mom left some food for him on a small wooden table, one of only two furniture in the room; the other only furniture was an old wardrobe his mom received as a wedding gift form her parents.
After finished eating, he washed dishes, and read books. He read any books he could get. By the time he was nine, at fourth grade, he had read almost all books in the library. The librarian, Mrs Paik, became very fond of this small book craze child and tried to talk to the boy, but the child never spoke a word to her until one day the library ran out of books.
In a very shy voice, the boy asked her if there were any more books he could borrow, and she answered no. And she said except her private collections but they were not for rent. She showed the boy the books of her own. They were rare old books she had collected since she was in high school, and they were indeed genuine old books from Yi dynasty, many of them were over hundred years old.
Most of them were written in Chinese, only few were in old Korean. She showed one very interesting looking book with lots of diagrams and patterns of round blacks and whites, where he found they looked familiar to him somehow. But he couldn't remember where he saw the shape before until that night at home sat down to eat the food his mother prepared for him. The small wooden table his mom used for dinner table had the exact shape and same lines in those diagrams.
Next day when he went to the library, Mrs Paik, the librarian handed him a handmade book which she copied and bind. That was the very first baduk book he had read. He didn't know it, but the book was actually a life and death problem books written by a baduk master during Yi dynasty. The author known as master Lee was an aide to Yeonsan Kun(1476 - 1506 AD), the most notorious King, and master Lee was sentenced to death by drinking poison when the coup d’état replaced Yeonsan kun with his step brother, and the new King Joong Jong.
The book didn't make no sense to the boy first, unlike other books he had read, it took a long time to understand even the very first few pages. But since he had no other books to borrow or read, he kept reading it. The book had 428 pages in total and had two diagrams of life and death problems on each page.
There was supposed to be a separate book of answers, but never found, Mrs Paik said when the boy asked for it. He kept reading and reading. The book became only friend of his for next two years.
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Old Man
I met this old gentleman at the go club when I was 14. He was about 70 years old.
He was always very kind to me and others. He was generous too, buying lunches to other players, never played gambling baduk although he was one of the strongest players at the club. He never played so-called 'ggomsu'; trick moves. He was always busy teaching weaker players and beginners.
He often brought his wife which was rare thing to do at the time. Baduk clubs were almost exclusively for men. And whenever his wife came, she always brought large quantity of snacks for everyone at the club. She was an excellent cook.
I respected him a lot.
Until I saw his dark side. (No, he wasn't my father. And I wasn't Luke.)
He invited me and my friends who were going same junior high school to his home one day.
We were all very excited thinking he would give us private baduk lessons and more over about the 'food' his wife would serve us.
Once we arrived his home he showed us around his house which was rather large in size with many rooms. We played few games with each other and also with him. After few hours, his wife served us very delicious dinner. And after the dinner, we had homemade ice cream and we played more games.
About an hour after the dessert, I had to go to bathroom and his wife told me it was at the end of hall. On the way coming back, I saw a door was ajar on one of the rooms. It was his study and I was curious what kind of baduk books he read, so I went in.
There was a huge mound of baduk stones in two groups (white and black) on his desk... Mountains of them... My jaw dropped and wondered why he had so many of them.
Later I found out that he'd been stealing those stones from all clubs he went to, just a few each time, every day, like a bad habit of scratching a scab knowing that you really shouldn't scratch...
I stopped going to the club. Him being a thief was an unbearable fact to 14 year old boy.
About three years later, I heard that he passed away. I also heard that his wife donated all his baduk equipment and books to the baduk club he frequented.
Epilogue:
A short while after he passed away, I went to the near-by mountain from where you could see old man's house.
I buried a fistful of stones I stole from his desk on that day.
He was always very kind to me and others. He was generous too, buying lunches to other players, never played gambling baduk although he was one of the strongest players at the club. He never played so-called 'ggomsu'; trick moves. He was always busy teaching weaker players and beginners.
He often brought his wife which was rare thing to do at the time. Baduk clubs were almost exclusively for men. And whenever his wife came, she always brought large quantity of snacks for everyone at the club. She was an excellent cook.
I respected him a lot.
Until I saw his dark side. (No, he wasn't my father. And I wasn't Luke.)
He invited me and my friends who were going same junior high school to his home one day.
We were all very excited thinking he would give us private baduk lessons and more over about the 'food' his wife would serve us.
Once we arrived his home he showed us around his house which was rather large in size with many rooms. We played few games with each other and also with him. After few hours, his wife served us very delicious dinner. And after the dinner, we had homemade ice cream and we played more games.
About an hour after the dessert, I had to go to bathroom and his wife told me it was at the end of hall. On the way coming back, I saw a door was ajar on one of the rooms. It was his study and I was curious what kind of baduk books he read, so I went in.
There was a huge mound of baduk stones in two groups (white and black) on his desk... Mountains of them... My jaw dropped and wondered why he had so many of them.
Later I found out that he'd been stealing those stones from all clubs he went to, just a few each time, every day, like a bad habit of scratching a scab knowing that you really shouldn't scratch...
I stopped going to the club. Him being a thief was an unbearable fact to 14 year old boy.
About three years later, I heard that he passed away. I also heard that his wife donated all his baduk equipment and books to the baduk club he frequented.
Epilogue:
A short while after he passed away, I went to the near-by mountain from where you could see old man's house.
I buried a fistful of stones I stole from his desk on that day.
The Peach Farmer
This is a story about two friends who lived in the city called Sosa in Korea about 40 km from Seoul, the capital city. Sosa was famous for its fine quality peaches and 9/10th of residents were peach farmers.
Their fathers lived right next to each other, owned about same size of peach farms. they were good friends for many years, they got married on the same year, both got one boy a year later. Only boy for each family.
Two boys played together all the time.
Their fathers both believed good friendships require certain amount of competition, and competition would enhance productivity, so each year at the harvest, they had a party, and at the party, they ran monster peach contest; whoever produced the biggest peach would win a calf as a prize.
Everything went alright (or you can say everything was peachy) between the two families until their sons became old enough to go to school.
The competition between two families became competition between their sons.
Any events at school such as sports events, math competitions, once a year speech competition, painting exhibitions and even daily quiz at their classes brought utmost attention to the boys fathers.
By the time the boys reached 6th grade, the relationships between the two families weren't that friendly any more. And the boy from Kim's family was doing far better than the one from Lee's.
Kim was all A+ student, excelled in all sports, and passed the exam for the best high school in Korea. Lee seemed dazed and confused all the time, he was at last 20% of the class most of time, spent many hours reading comic books and spent more time playing baduk at local giwon.
Kim's family sold the peach farm to send the boy to Seoul, first a little, but by the time he graduated the university with doctoral degree, there was no farm left. His father died poor but proud of his son's success.
Lee dropped out of high school, worked at the peach farm, spent his spare time with comic books and baduk, never made his father happy before his father died. He was told thousands times that he was the loser.
Kim, with his doctoral degree, worked for a big company, was successful in many ways, always had many pretty women around him, but never got married. When he was 32, he was made a youngest CEO in the company's history, made millions. At age 45, he was involved in the worst Stock scam in Korea's history, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was penniless when he was released after 8 years.
Lee kept working at the farm for all those years. Got married had three daughters.
Time changed everything in Korea, and there was a big real estate boom and the city Sosa was not an exception. Being so close to Seoul, the price of land in Sosa skyrocketed. An electronic manufacturing company wanted to buy Lee's farm to build their main office buildings. Lee sold the farm, made millions, retired, helped poors and supported local hospitals for elders.
And he plays baduk on every weekend.
Their fathers lived right next to each other, owned about same size of peach farms. they were good friends for many years, they got married on the same year, both got one boy a year later. Only boy for each family.
Two boys played together all the time.
Their fathers both believed good friendships require certain amount of competition, and competition would enhance productivity, so each year at the harvest, they had a party, and at the party, they ran monster peach contest; whoever produced the biggest peach would win a calf as a prize.
Everything went alright (or you can say everything was peachy) between the two families until their sons became old enough to go to school.
The competition between two families became competition between their sons.
Any events at school such as sports events, math competitions, once a year speech competition, painting exhibitions and even daily quiz at their classes brought utmost attention to the boys fathers.
By the time the boys reached 6th grade, the relationships between the two families weren't that friendly any more. And the boy from Kim's family was doing far better than the one from Lee's.
Kim was all A+ student, excelled in all sports, and passed the exam for the best high school in Korea. Lee seemed dazed and confused all the time, he was at last 20% of the class most of time, spent many hours reading comic books and spent more time playing baduk at local giwon.
Kim's family sold the peach farm to send the boy to Seoul, first a little, but by the time he graduated the university with doctoral degree, there was no farm left. His father died poor but proud of his son's success.
Lee dropped out of high school, worked at the peach farm, spent his spare time with comic books and baduk, never made his father happy before his father died. He was told thousands times that he was the loser.
Kim, with his doctoral degree, worked for a big company, was successful in many ways, always had many pretty women around him, but never got married. When he was 32, he was made a youngest CEO in the company's history, made millions. At age 45, he was involved in the worst Stock scam in Korea's history, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was penniless when he was released after 8 years.
Lee kept working at the farm for all those years. Got married had three daughters.
Time changed everything in Korea, and there was a big real estate boom and the city Sosa was not an exception. Being so close to Seoul, the price of land in Sosa skyrocketed. An electronic manufacturing company wanted to buy Lee's farm to build their main office buildings. Lee sold the farm, made millions, retired, helped poors and supported local hospitals for elders.
And he plays baduk on every weekend.
Murder Case One
This is about a murder case which was reported to Seoul's Joong-gu (middle section) police station. It was Monday afternoon around 3 PM, and the caller was a 16 year old Baduk yungusaeng (insei).
When the detective Kwan arrived at the murder scene with his assistant Myung, there were quite few people in the room already.
The building where the murder happened was belonged to Hangook Giwon (Korean National Baduk organization), and had 3 stories with no elevator. And the entire floors of the first and second were used for public and the third floor for administrators' offices with one small room for private guests.
The small room was named 'Flying Dragon' and the room was often used for private teaching lessons given by pro baduk players. The murder happened in that room.
The victim was a famous pro, age 45, who won many titles in his early 20's, and before he was killed, he spent most of his time writing baduk books and teaching high profiled amateurs including company CEO's, politicians and lawyers.
Detective Kwan himself was a baduk player and familiar with the victim's baduk books especially the most famous one titled 'Invade and Kill'.
When he kneeled down to examine the victim's body, Kwan immediately noticed the victim's head was smashed, smashed so hard a portion of brain was spilt out on the floor in a pool of blood.
Kwan looked around and saw a young policeman yelling at the spectators to be quiet. Kwan waved at him and when the young policeman came to him close enough, Kwan asked if he found any murder weapon. And he said 'no' with some degree of apology. But he also said he was just outside of the building at the moment the boy called the police station, he was radioed immediately and within the matter of minutes he could seal the two doors (only doors of the building) and he didn't let anybody leave the building. When he said that his face lit up with a pride.
Kwan asked the policeman to bring the boy to him.
The boy looked a bit older than his age, didn't look like a typical baduk yungusaeng. He was over 180cm, well built. Only his eyes were sparkling like a pair of bright stars like most of those brilliant young baduk players.
The detective waved at his assistant Myung (a young female detective) and asked her to record the conversation between him and the boy. But the questions went on not more than 10 minutes. Becuase Myung suddenly whispered something into Kwan's ear.
Kwan arrested the boy as a murderer.
While the interview went on, Myung noticed the boy is missing a sock.
Blood soaked sock was found in a trash can in the room.
The boy filled his sock with baduk-dols (Go stones) and used it as a weapon.
The motive of the murder?
When Kwan heard it from the boy, he couldn't believe his ears.
The boy was denied an 'undo'.
When the detective Kwan arrived at the murder scene with his assistant Myung, there were quite few people in the room already.
The building where the murder happened was belonged to Hangook Giwon (Korean National Baduk organization), and had 3 stories with no elevator. And the entire floors of the first and second were used for public and the third floor for administrators' offices with one small room for private guests.
The small room was named 'Flying Dragon' and the room was often used for private teaching lessons given by pro baduk players. The murder happened in that room.
The victim was a famous pro, age 45, who won many titles in his early 20's, and before he was killed, he spent most of his time writing baduk books and teaching high profiled amateurs including company CEO's, politicians and lawyers.
Detective Kwan himself was a baduk player and familiar with the victim's baduk books especially the most famous one titled 'Invade and Kill'.
When he kneeled down to examine the victim's body, Kwan immediately noticed the victim's head was smashed, smashed so hard a portion of brain was spilt out on the floor in a pool of blood.
Kwan looked around and saw a young policeman yelling at the spectators to be quiet. Kwan waved at him and when the young policeman came to him close enough, Kwan asked if he found any murder weapon. And he said 'no' with some degree of apology. But he also said he was just outside of the building at the moment the boy called the police station, he was radioed immediately and within the matter of minutes he could seal the two doors (only doors of the building) and he didn't let anybody leave the building. When he said that his face lit up with a pride.
Kwan asked the policeman to bring the boy to him.
The boy looked a bit older than his age, didn't look like a typical baduk yungusaeng. He was over 180cm, well built. Only his eyes were sparkling like a pair of bright stars like most of those brilliant young baduk players.
The detective waved at his assistant Myung (a young female detective) and asked her to record the conversation between him and the boy. But the questions went on not more than 10 minutes. Becuase Myung suddenly whispered something into Kwan's ear.
Kwan arrested the boy as a murderer.
While the interview went on, Myung noticed the boy is missing a sock.
Blood soaked sock was found in a trash can in the room.
The boy filled his sock with baduk-dols (Go stones) and used it as a weapon.
The motive of the murder?
When Kwan heard it from the boy, he couldn't believe his ears.
The boy was denied an 'undo'.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
