of mother leaves her child alone in a busy market?”
“Don’t you dare speak to her that way,” said Yul. “Let’s get the police here, see what they say.” He started looking around for an officer, and Soo-Ja could see Dae-Jung panic a little.
“Call them! Who do you think they’re going to side with? Me, who serves them drinks every night, or you, from God knows where, who’s disturbing the peace? Everyone knows I have a kindly disposition. I was taken in by this abandoned girl’s smile and decided to give her a home. If there’s a victim in all this, it’s me, who tried to help a child and instead of thanks, I get a crazy woman yelling at me.”
Yul advanced toward him and grabbed him by the top of his shirt. “You’re not allowed to talk to her like that, you understand?”
Soo-Ja couldn’t stop him, and Dae-Jung struggled to break free.
“And who are you?” asked Dae-Jung. “Because you’re definitely not the child’s father. I could tell that from a mile away. But I guess you can explain to the police when they come here. I’m sure everybody in town will want to know what you two were doing running around at night like this.” Dae-Jung turned his head to his son. “Bae, go call the police.”
The boy hesitated, and it was a studied hesitation, as deliberate as a gesture by an actor in a bad play. But at least it gave Soo-Ja the chance to step in.
“I have Hana, Yul. And I want to take her home now. I don’t want to spend hours in a police station explaining what happened. Let’s just go home.”
Yul weighed her words and she could see his reluctance as he gradually let go of Dae-Jung, finally tossing him back like a dirty towel.
Hana’s crying had subsided a little now, and she buried her head on her mother’s shoulder. Soo-Ja felt disappointed in herself for not taking revenge. How could she not put this man behind bars for what he’d done? How could she simply walk away? But this was Pusan. This was how things were done. If a man took your daughter and then gave her back, you said thank you and bowed your head as you left. If she took him to court, the judge would say, Isn’t it enough you have your daughter back? What more do you want? They might even ask her to give him some money, for the food and lodging he had provided.
“Let’s go, Yul,” Soo-Ja repeated, and turned toward the street. But as they started to make their way out, she heard Dae-Jung’s voice behind them.
“And where do you think you’re going with her?” he asked, his voice tinged with an odd sense of conviction. “You didn’t prove that you’re the girl’s mother. You think I’m going to let a stranger just take this little girl?”
Soo-Ja looked at him in utter disbelief. She had never felt more anger toward another human being. As she drew near, her fist about to punch him, one of his boys—the one who looked to be about ten—stepped forward, standing between them. He had a shaved head, to prevent lice, and a jacket that was a couple of sizes too big for him.
“Appa, I will go with her. I will go see where they take Hyo-Joo.”
It took Soo-Ja a second to realize “Hyo-Joo” meant her daughter. So they had already given her a new name! What else had they taught her, Soo-Ja wondered, in those twenty-four hours? Maybe to stay away from windows and not long for your mother, who will never come…
“All right,” said Dae-Jung, too quickly, glad for the “compromise,” glad to let his version of events come to a logical end.
How amazing that even in matters of child kidnapping, one still had to let the other person find a way to save face.
“Your father, is he good to you?” asked Yul.
The ten-year-old looked thoughtfully at him and nodded. They were walking, the four of them, back to Soo-Ja’s uncle’s house. As they moved through the night, Soo-Ja could feel a familial closeness—the boy, at least for now, was clearly on their side.
“Yes, he treats me well. But not my brother,” Bae replied. In his tattered clothes, he resembled a street urchin.
“Is your brother naughty?” asked Yul.
He would be a good father one day, thought Soo-Ja. He had a natural ability to talk to children.
“He’s not. He’s the same as me,” said Bae.
“So he’s a father who takes the