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EBS History of Culture Series - Part 1 THE COUNT OF MYEONGDONG
Episode 7
Just stay there.
I've tried to get your attention for over an hour,
but you still don't realize I'm here?!
You're quite an interesting fella, Kim Hyung?!
Looks like you had to keep this open past the usual, because of me.
Ahhh... it's just fine.
You need to close up shop early, if you want time for a little drink.
What were you reading?
Just... this and that.
This place is filled with books I like, so I just lost it.
Just sit down.
Kim Hyung.
Sometimes, you look like a girl.
Ahh... right. Stage actor, you said?!
Could be that, but I was just saying your gestures and movements were pretty.
Look at the way you hold that cup of coffee.
As if you were holding and protecting it with both hands.
Kind of feels like a young lady.
Did I put it the wrong way?
I'm really no stage actor, but I want to try it out once.
My dream was to become a film director.
Do you like Jean Cocteau?
Can't say I don't, but I really have no idea.
Ohhh... this!
Kim Hyung, looks like your English is quite good.
If you can read the original version of a Shakespeare work,
you really must be something.
Last winter, I made a living out of that.
I set up this English Hagwon* with Lee Jong Gu, a friend of mine.
*Academy; cram school
There was always this huge crowd. We made decent money.
Thanks to that, I bought a new hat, shoes, and even got a new suit.
But then school started, and most people stopped coming.
And so here we were, back on the unemployment list.
I knew something was up, when I looked at your new shoes.
So, don't have any interest in literature?
Yes, you have. Or yes, you don't?
I don't.
Why are you so shy?
I don't know how you ended up on the stage, with that personality.
I want to write poetry, something like that.
Something like that?
Novels are too long, so I'm not too confident.
Why "something like" poetry, then?
It's either poetry or it's not.
Will you give this a read?
It's not really a poem. I just wrote it out.
- Let's see. - What I'm saying...
is read it when you're home, not here.
"Coach, may your joyous chortle kindle my path."
"My whimsical and shaming, sapless and galling thoroughfare,"
"like the ensign up high, bellowing all its might upon me."
Difficult, isn't it?
"A rainbow of gentlewomen adorns the way."
"O gentlewoman, your joyous chortle kindles my heart."
"So let us devour the days together, until death does us part."
"Over the hill will our abode shine, so beautiful a sight."
"O my light, every night the heavens give us,"
"like loving nobles will I hold your hand tight."
- Pa... Park In Hwan! - "O! My sorrowful path."
It's nice.
It's really nice, but you should fix this.
Fix what?
"Coach, may your joyous chortle kindle my path"?!
Isn't "joyous chortle" a bit awkward, Kim Hyung?
"A joyous... ray of laughter"?
Does that sound strange?
You know, poetry, Kim Hyung?
Then again, well, that's not too bad either.
"Coach, may your joyous chortle kindle my path"?
This "Librairie Marie" was quite a peculiar bookstore.
It was not only one of Park In Hwan's dwelling,
Jung Bo Seok
but also a hideout for modernist poets.
Yet, it was surrealist painter Park Il Young, born Park Jun Gyeong, who built it.
What brought this place its fame were its bookshelves,
filled to the brim with books.
At a time when books were precious goods,
the Libraire Marie was like a treasure trove of literature.
You could find Andre Breton's anthologies and Paul Eluard's "L'Immacule Conception,"
Marie Laurencin and Jean Cocteau's anthologies.
Also, famous poems and novels from top Japanese writers,
along with collections and critiques.
Kim Su Young completely fell for this place, and after meeting Park In Hwan,
this place became the first building block of a collection of postwar modernist works...
they later released, entitled "The People's New City Collective."
A look at "New Poetry" or "The People's New City Collective,"
Kim Young Cheol, "Park In Hwan" writer, Geonguk Univ. literature professor
and you'd see the avantgarde, the new generation in poetry of that era.
Both the style and views of this New Poetry and the Collective showed why...
they would become the first post-liberation movement to truly shine.
If you look at Kim Su Young's works from the period,
Yoon Seok San (wrote Park In Hwan's biography)
you'll see how his memories about Marie and Park In Hwan transpired.
But, Kim never really acknowledged Park's work as being poems,
while at the same time being shocked by the fact that, in Park's prose, you'd find...
nuances of other cultural spheres that Kim could never imagine.
He was surprised, wondering how and when...
he ever amassed such a varied vocabulary,
while at the same time asking Park if it was really him who wrote them.
Park In Hwan would just laugh it off, saying he just didn't know him.
They just seemed to have this peculiar difference in tastes and style,
when it came to writing poetry.
We now go back to Myeongdong.
Just as Myeongdong was flourishing as Seoul's most popular street,
gangsters started fighting each other to control it.
Let him go.
They entered the tiger's den of their own will.
A little gift from Lee Sajang*.
*Boss/Director
Let's go.
I'm not the kind of man who'll take orders from anyone.
And I'm not the kind of man who would give such orders.
We're even, then.
Look, Aunim*.
*In this case, deferential address to a younger "colleague"
You can't ignore my good faith. It's just a sign of gratitude.
Then, I'll accept your gift with pleasure.
Ahhh... Boss Shin is not to be trusted, Aunim!
If the boys from Central Theater go down,
then the Dongdaemun gang will start pushing their luck all the way here.
Then, it would mean war!
Calm down! She came home, that's enough!
Get out of the way! I'll get this over with for good!
I apologize, my dear! Forgive me just this once!
Is this the first time?!
Is this the first time you got the dance bug and ran away?!
I really apologize this time, my dear!
Shut your mouth!
Give it a rest, will you?
If she does that again, then she's not even human!
Ahhh... I really ought to...
Just beg him, get on your knees and beg him!
I said get down and beg him!
- What I did was wrong, my dear! - Out!
I don't want to see you anymore, so get out of my face!
I apologize, forgive me! I really mean it!
Let go! I said let go!
Why don't you forgive her just this once?!
- Do you have any new magazines? - I was just waiting for you, Seonsaengnim.
I brought these from the US Base.
By the way, Seonsaengnim.
Why do you buy so many magazines?
- Have any old newspapers? - What? Ah, right! You wanted those.
You'll have to shine your shoes, it looks like.
Ohh... later.
Ajeosshi, you should shine your shoes often, if you want them to last.
If you let them get dirty, you'll get holes in no time.
He told you, later. Get out of here!
Ohh... shine them.
Please take a seat here.
- Why should I forgive her?! - All right, I'm a dirty slut!
If I'm as dirty as you say, let's just forget it and break up!
Listen to how she speaks to me!
Didn't I beg enough? What else am I supposed to do?!
Fine... get yourself a quiet missus, and let's see how well you live!
Hey! Hey!! Where are you going?!
I'm going to die, why?!
Die? Why should you? Don't die!
Where are you going?! This damned brat!
Ehhh... doesn't have any guts.
And he was bragging about teaching her a lesson.
Still, it's better than being alone, don't you think?
Bring home someone like that, and she'll go out again.
If you had to break up over that, then there would be no couples left.
Ahhh... then, Mr. Hwang. Would you forgive your wife, if she did the same?
And why wouldn't I? Why, isn't the Han River for boats to cross*?
*Old slang for "even if your wife cheats on you, she's still your wife"
Seonsaengnim, isn't that right?
After all we went through in the war, would a little affair be the problem?
Don't you agree, Seonsaengnim?
By the way, I see you have quite a nice watch.
Yes, I got it from the US army.
Ahh... I see.
Do you work at the US army base?
Then, you'll probably make plenty of dollars?!
If you get paid in dollars, don't exchange them at the bank.
If you bring them to me, I'll pay you double.
Always dollars, all the time!
But, Seonsaengnim, looks like your watch is broken.
It's been half past three for quite a while, it seems.
Yes, you're right. It's broken.
Just... just give it to me. I'll fix it right away.
You even fix watches?
I can fix anything you need.
Save for my wife, I can fix anything, that is!
Fix these to start with, then.
- We're back. - Ohh... well done.
Got a bit of shoeshine there, I see.
That's so nice to see. You outside working, and with shiny shoes.
I hear you've been dating.
Did they like what I translated last time?
If I like it, that's enough. The higher-ups...
Thank you.
This should be fun.
For a behind story on the British royal family,
it could be quite intriguing.
Give me another thirty pages of this, will you?
Thirty?!
Then, I can pay you more.
It's not even my original story. How can I make a translation longer?
Ahhh... always honest to a fault.
You make up words here and there, write sparsely to fill the pages.
Only then I'll get some free drinks, thanks to you.
I'll write you ten pages for this, and instead...
translate something else from the New York Times.
You said you're dating. Don't you need money?
I...
I was paid for my translations today.
Want to come to the movies with me?
I told you, didn't I?
I got married, and my husband is bedridden because of an accident.
It could take a year, two, or a lifetime. Nobody knows.
He was hurt that bad.
I, too... certainly don't dislike you, Seonsaengnim.
But whenever I think of my husband at home,
talking and going out with you feels like committing a crime.
I understand you well.
My wife likes someone else.
Marcel Carne's "Les Enfants du paradis" (1945)
- It was a nice film, wasn't it? - Yes.
It makes you think about life... Looks like you didn't enjoy it much?!
No... it was nice.
"I went to the movies with her today."
"It was a French film, Les Enfants du paradis."
"I didn't like this film at all."
"The title itself* had a hoary and gloomy feel."
*The Korean title roughly meant "Life goes on"
"It was overly melodramatic, and the protagonist, Baptiste, was just overbearing."
"You could call it another one of those French impostures,
pretentiously using an artistic mask to cover its emptiness."
"But it still felt like she enjoyed it."
"She asked me if the movie was nice, and I just nodded that it was."
Kim Su Young wrote in his diary that this was what love meant.
Childish, capricious, sometimes deceitful.
Love was made of all those things and more, lighting up our lives.
That was love, as Kim Su Young wrote.
Where are you going at this hour?
- I found a job, Mother. - You really?
- Where? - At a newspaper.
That's wonderful! I'm so glad to hear that.
- I'll get going. - Ohhh... all right. Have a nice day.
Just because we're the culture sector, it doesn't mean we'll have more to do.
You can just do your translations and bring them in.
Also, no need to come in at any time in particular,
and if you're behind, you can bring some work home.
How about it? Fits you just right, doesn't it?
You like it?
Looking for work outside was difficult,
but the hardest thing for me was going around to collect my fees.
Ohh... that. They'll pay you on time, no worries.
Seonsaengnim, I found a job.
- Where? - The Pyeonghwa* Shinmun's culture sector.
*Peace
Good to hear.
So I wanted to buy you lunch, if you allow me.
And when will you write?
Yes?
From what I hear, you go around looking for anything from abroad,
and make a living translating this and that?!
And now you've found a job.
I'm sorry.
If you have any money, go out and have a drink.
Will you get anything on paper staying trapped at home?
I was going through a difficult period.
What's difficult? Making a living?
Just living?
All... It was all difficult.
He didn't say anything nice, I bet?
Do you think someone like him, who never made a penny in his life,
would just be touched by your offer?
Be strong, Kim Hyung. Uh?
From now on, come have lunch with me every day.
Let's drink together, and live like everyone else.
It's not like trapping yourself at home will fill those pages by itself.
Ahh... Kim Hyung. Go to the Applause right now.
There'll be a few dozen scribes waiting to get essay offers.
After the government returned to Seoul, the number of writers in Myeongdong...
was between 150 and 200 people.
If we add to that figure all the musicians, dancers, stage and screen actors,
hundreds of people made Myeongdong their own playground, a second home.
Those were times when a phone call could be precious,
so they all gathered at the various coffee shops.
The coffee shop was their only contact, and their writing room by day,
their playground and shelter whenever they had free time to spare.
That was only until night came, as they would all move to the bars.
What was truly interesting were the characteristics of these bars.
It wasn't like today, when you just call someone and meet there.
Once the sun set, people from all places would gather at the bars.
Without even knowing who was paying for it, they just drank all night together.
If anyone was paid for their work, they'd become the benefactors for the night.
If all their pockets were empty, they'd just get credit,
without actually knowing who owed the bar money.
Everyone was poor, so they were all equal.
Their overbearing poverty moved them to drink,
and drinking to their heart's content once again confirmed their poverty to them.
But, no matter how poor those people were,
they never threw away their artistic integrity.
"From where does the wind blow..."
"And where is it headed?"
"The wind is blowing..."
"What is the cause of my heart's anguish?"
"Etranger*... Etranger... Etranger."
*Stranger in French
"The blue sky might befall our path."
Based on Edith Piaf's "Hymne a L'Amour
"And the ground might well collapse."
"But if only you could love me,"
"What could it ever matter to us?"
Everyone!
My good friend Kim Su Young is back!
The pioneer of modernism, the man who wallowed in surrealism, Kim Su Young.
After living a long time in the valleys made of molehills,
he finally has come back to Myeongdong!
- Here! Cheers! - Cheers!
You look like a movie star, Park Hyung.
"If one day we had to say goodbye..."
Su Young.
Remember the Librairie Marie?
That face, sitting near the bookshelf, immersed in your reading.
It's still vivid in my memories.
You looked so pure that day.
But, why did things turn out this way?
All the fear burning inside your eyes. Who on earth made you this way?
I...
In Hwan... I...
You didn't endure this war alone.
It wasn't just you who had to go through this ideological war.
We're all wandering among the ruins, looking for our lost love,
us etrangers.
"If one day we had to say goodbye,"
"And our love should fade away and die."
"In my heart you will remain here."
"And I'll sing a hymn to love."
- Cheers! - Cheers!
I'm sorry about this. He's quite drunk.
Dear... I'm sorry.
No matter how often I filled that glass, I couldn't get drunk.
So I kept drinking... I'm sorry.
Park Hyung, enough. We must go home now, uh?
How much did you drink?
He hasn't been home for four straight days.
What?
How could you drink so much? Park Hyung... here. Wake up.
- Park Hyung. - What's wrong with you?
Do you want to kill yourself like this?
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Sorry...
I'm sorry.
How is Jun doing?
I'm sorry. I don't even deserve to say that.
He's fine.
How about you?
Not bad, I guess.
Will you keep living in Busan?
Yes.
I came for the seal.
What seal?
You want to officially separate?
I just thought I should.
Only then you'll be able to go on with your life.
I'm so thankful.
I'm sorry.
Take this and go make another of my seals.
Make another seal, and use it yourself.
See? I'm not drunk at all!
I'm not drunk, I said.
Is that anything to brag about?
Kim Su Young, that fool doesn't know why I keep drinking.
Kim Su Young, that fool... Leave him on the desert and he won't die.
But, I can't take this.
Dear!
I... You know?
Whenever the slightest breeze caresses my face,
I feel lonely.
The wind is blowing!
But there's no reason for my heart's loneliness.
Etranger! Etranger... Etranger!
Careful.
Do you think she would just come for the seal?
She came all the way here from Busan,
so you can just tell her to come here, and keep asking her.
It's not like you're strangers.
Get out.
Why did she do it? Did you try to ask her that?
Get out of here!!
Why did you do it? I asked why!
And what would possibly change, if I tell you now?
It's because I don't understand why.
You won't understand anyway, since I don't understand why, either.
Does that make any sense?
I don't know myself, why things turned out this way.
- Jong Gu Oppa... - Don't even mention his name!
- Jong Gu Oppa did nothing wrong. - I don't want to hear his name!
So that's what happens between men and women?!
There's no particular reason why two people would like each other, is that it?
It was the same when you first met me.
You just liked someone like me, and when it didn't work anymore,
you just turned your back on me without any other reason, right?
"I just liked him, and things turned out this way?!"
Give me a break.
While you were doing that in Busan, I was confined on Geoje Island.
Even when I saw people's limbs torn to pieces under my eyes,
I always endured it, because I thought someone was waiting for me.
When the People's Army forced me up north, when they called me a commie!
I only thought about you, and the baby inside your womb.
But... you just fell for someone other than your husband, that's it?!
That's disgusting.
Not you, but me!
For writing such shabby prose, "love gets better with age,"
I'm disgusting!
What can I trust?
What should I trust in this damned world?!
It's disgusting, this damned world. And I'm no different!
Stop now.
Forgive me, Su Young!
I was just scared.
The war scared me.
The thought you could be dead scared me.
I was scared... I was scared...
Just scared.
I'm disgusting!
- Can you do me a favor? - What?
Give this to Noh Seonsaeng. It's a new magazine.
And who's Noh Seonsaeng?!
Noh Bong Shik, from the Midopa Dept. Store.
What's with her name*?
*Bong Shik is more commonly used by males
If you tell her it's from me, she'll take it.
Why don't you bring it to her, then?
So you can see for yourself.
See what?
How she looks like.
You told me you wanted to see... how she looks like.
I'll just give it to her.
Su Myeong.
Actually, it's not Noh Bong Shik.
Her real name is Noh Bong Shil.
Here you go. Thank you, and have a nice day.
Kim Su Young's story is getting long-winded once again.
But there's certainly a reason why we keep focusing on him.
Actually, Kim Su Young might not be one of the representative poets of the 50s.
We had Seo Jeong Ju for poetry,
Hwang Sun Won and Kim Dong Ri for novels.
Theater focused on Yoo Chi Jin, and producer Lee Hae Rang was trying...
to bring new life to this medium with his group Shinhyeop.
After liberation, countless artists and scribes defected to the North.
Lee Tae Joon did it, and Choi Seung Hee followed her husband there.
They were extraordinary artists.
Yet, some were filling their void with excellence of their own.
For instance, Kim Baek Bong filled Choi Seung Hee's absence.
More than his poetry itself, the reason why we focus on Kim Su Young...
is because of the fierce life he experienced.
What Kim Su Young experienced in the 50s...
was exactly what we, as a nation, went through.
Seo Jeong Ju (poet)
Thank you, Seonsaengnim.
What is this?
I brought you something to drink.
It's a bribe.
Don't insult my work, Seonsaengnim.
Does recommending my work just mean favoritism to you?
Kim Gwan Shik (poet)
You'll excuse me, Midang Seonsaengnim,
but I want to know the reason why you recommended my work.
I'd like to know my strengths, and what I should fix.
I had enough, so I recommended you.
Yes?!
You have no reason to come here and bother me anymore, now.
Don't say that.
Until you give me your consent, I'll keep coming.
I've already recommended your work, what else?
Allow me to marry your sister-in-law.
Marry whom?!
Whatever it takes, I must make Bang Ok Rye my wife.
Ahhh... if it's that, you need to ask her first.
She said she'll only marry me with your consent, Seonsaengnim.
I won't!
- Give me your consent! - You can't marry her!
Bang Ok Rye (Seo Jeong Ju's sister-in-law)
You were still waiting outside.
What's going on, Ok Rye? I waited for over two hours.
Is anything wrong? You don't even let me in.
My sister told me not to meet you.
- Why? - I don't know.
She said not to allow you in.
What on earth did I do...
Is it true you went around cursing at my brother-in-law?
And how would I possibly...
I've heard you even called him "fool" once.
Ahh... that... Whenever I drink, I just...
Now matter how drunk you were, how could you?
If you tell me to, I'll never touch a bottle again.
So don't tell me to break up.
My sister is like a mother to me, and her husband is like a father.
But they're against this, what can I do?
Don't worry. I'll stop drinking right now.
It's a promise.
Seo Jeong Ju!
The hell are you, fool?! What's so great about you, you fool?!
Did writing one good poem make you so great?
All right!
Fine, let's say you write better poems. But!
It's still rubbish.
Wait until I reach your age, and all you've written will become rubbish!
Why don't you give Bang Ok Rye to me?
Is she yours?
Why don't you give her to me? Seo Jeong Ju, you fool!
Answer me, you fool!
Right then, someone even lonelier than Kim Su Young appeared in Myeongdong.
It was Lee Jung Seop.
What's that?!
Lee Jung Seop (painter)
Ohhh... you smell of alcohol!
Sir... This... is a coffee shop, not a bar.
Go somewhere else, will you?
Ahh... look at this man, really.
Sir. It's not a Yeogwan, it's a coffee shop!
How can you just sleep here?
I knew this would happen.
Nine people out of ten just drink a coarse tea and leave.
Of those who drink coffee, nine out of ten ask for credit.
And then, nine out of ten are out of their minds.
How can this keep up?
Tae Yeon! Tae Seong...
Tae Yeon... Tae Seong!
You're not open? You have a customer, and not a look.
Would you be in the mood, looking at all this?
Why?
My lovely little toes...
Tae Yeon... Tae Seong!
You know this man?
He's Lee Jung Seop, a painter.
Painter?!
He's a genius.
Where are you? Tae Yeon... Tae Seong!
Until the day he died, he kept painting every single day,
Lee Young Jin (Lee Jung Seop's nephew)
ever since his childhood.
I heard this from my grandmother. He was painting in elementary school already.
And mind you, he wasn't just copying other people's works.
Everything was very personal and original.
He just had that innate passion for painting.
When you look at his overall body of work and the world he painted,
Choi Seok Tae (wrote Lee Jung Seop's biography)
happiness, paradise... Those were his themes.
But, on the contrary, he also...
found obstacles in the way, every time he tried to achieve that.
Are you telling me his wife is Japanese?
Her name was... Masako, I think?
Although she changed it to Lee Nam Deok now.
How did they get married?
Couldn't have been easy for a Korean man and a Japanese woman.
That's why they must have gone through many ordeals.
This was Lee Jung Seop's love story.
Because, if you didn't understand what he longed for,
you wouldn't understand what he painted.
Tokyo, 1940
W...Wait, Masako.
You can sing quite well.
What should I do to become that good?
It was at the Deigoku Art School that Lee Jung Seop first met his wife-to-be,
Yamamoto Masako. She was two years younger.
I'll have to call the doctor. The fever is too high.
Wait a moment.
I'm... s...sorry. For holding your hand.
There's no need to call the doctor.
The fever will go down in a while.
Sorry I held your hands.
I wasn't surprised because of that.
How did you know I was ill?
I haven't seen you at school for days, so I was so curious I came here.
How did you learn I lived here?
You seem to be the curious one, now.
Masako.
I come from Joseon.
You know that, right?
So, what?
And you're a Japanese woman. You know that as well.
Yes. I know.
Then, that's enough.
You don't know?
I know.
You know?
I'm hurting because of you, Masako.
You believe that?
Love at first sight?
You don't?
I do.
Were you dreaming, Lee Hyung?
If you're sober now, have a cup of tea with me.
What now? Looks like he had a nightmare.
Nightmare?
You've seen him. He was screaming.
Life itself for him is a nightmare, so what?
In the next episode, we will follow Lee Jung Seop's story.
Brought to you by WITH S2 Written In The Heavens Subbing Squad
Please do NOT hardsub and/or stream this episode using our English subtitles
Main Translator & Timer: MisterX
Timing QC: Victory
Editor/QC: thunderbolt
Coordinators: mily2, ay_link
Lee Jung Seop was playing with kids in an alley.
People say Lee Jung Seop is crazy, but that's just nonsense.
He just wants to meet his family in Japan, and turned out this way.
I would have found you wherever you went.
No matter how far.
I will do that as well, Masako.
If it's for your sake, I'll go to the end of this world to find you.
Get back together, you silly.
If anything, do it for Lee Jung Seop's sake, who can't do that even if he wants to.
So if gas is in the air, the birds are the first to die, right?
Aren't poets just like those birds?
Paint, you fool! What are you waiting for?
Paint! Paint and sell those damned paintings!
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