The water mill

Page 10

She tries to jerk her arm away, but he burns with anger and does not easily let go. “Are you serious?” “You think I would try expensive food and then lie about it? Of course I’m serious!” “You’re out of your mind!” “Who are you calling crazy? Of course this seems unbelievable to you. Let me go! Let me go! Why are you being so stubborn? Let me go!” As she struggles to shake him off, her hand comes loose. The woman rubs her wrist and turns away bitterly. Shin Chi-kyu, who had been watching this spectacle from a distance until now, takes a couple of steps forward and says with an awkward cough, “Hey! What is the meaning of this? If you’re drunk, you should have the sense to turn in early. Do you have no manners? If the two of you are going to fight, do it somewhere else. Don’t you even see whose presence you’re in?” He raises his voice and glares at Bang-won. “You disgraceful fool, you should be ashamed of yourself!” Bang-won stands still, staring wordlessly. What he wants to do is to punch Shin Chi-kyu and knock him out for good, but in his head there still remains some notion that Shin is his master. And this thought, like a flash of lightning, paralyzes his mouth and arms. Having served people his entire life from an early age, in Bang-won’s heart is a deep-rooted fear of his master. However starting from today, Shin Chi-kyu was no longer his master, and he—Bang-won—was no longer Shin’s servant. They faced each other, equally, as men. No, from now on, Shin Chi-kyu was Bang-won’s enemy. And it would remain that way forever, even if he were to rip out Shin’s liver and eat it. Shin Chi-kyu stares back at Bang-won, who continues to glare at him, and says, “What do you think you’re doing, staring at me like that? I tell you, the world is coming to an end. Just look at all the strange things that are happening. What is it, you fool?” “You fool?” Bang-won takes a step forward. When his strong, tree-like legs approach Shin, the hair on Shin’s head stands on end. His heart sinks, as he sees Bang-won raise his fists that are like iron clubs. “How dare you call me a fool? Even if I ripped off your limbs, it wouldn’t be enough! You told me to leave today so that you could steal my wife, didn’t you?” “Hey, you sure have a twisted way of seeing things. Hey girl, I’m heading in first. You come later with your husband!” As Shin Chi-kyu tries to slip away from the dangerous situation, Bang-won grabs him by the collar and lifts him off the ground. “Where do you think you’re going? I guess you’ve never gotten a taste of what was coming!” He throws Shin to the ground and beats him. He then sits on top of him and starts to strangle him. Unable to say a word, Shin screeches. Shin looks like a frog that is being swallowed up by a snake. “You fool, why don’t you and I both die?”

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