The Last Summer

Kim Soon-young’s last summer in Chungmu.
Seventy years old, nearing the end of her life.
She, too, had a love so painful that she could never forget it.
Yoojin, who bore a resemblance to her daughter but had a completely different expression on her face, got out of the car.

“Yoojin!”

I ran out, startled.
The Yoojin who had once been a little girl was now a grown woman, standing tall and looking back at me.

“Grandma!”

Taller than Ji-yoon by a hand’s breadth and with longer strides, Yoojin quickly walked over and took me in her arms.
The scent of a vibrant, seductive perfume lingered, along with the firm, youthful beauty of her smooth body.
I felt as if I were holding a bouquet of flowers, as if I had gathered wild summer flowers, full of life and beauty, at the foot of a midsummer mountain.
Ah, this child…
How could she be so young, so full of life?
The youth that once burned in all of us like a raging fire, tormenting and consuming us, had somehow left me and now seemed to dwell in her.

“Have you been well?”

Yoojin, who had just held my frail, withered body in his arms, looked up at me.
Her smooth, radiant face glowed with youthful energy and she looked at me like a goddess of youth herself.
I reached out and brushed my hand across her face.
My granddaughter’s face.
The face that carried the essence of my daughter.
It was as if the face of my own child, born from my own flesh and blood, was reflected in hers.

” Grandma, I missed you so much!”

“Yes… yes, I missed you too.”

Every day, every moment, I thought of you.
You and your mother.

“And… that person?”

I glanced over Yoojin’s shoulder at the black car coming to a stop in the car park.
Could her fiancé be in that car?

“Grandma, I’m so nervous.”

“I can’t believe this day has finally come for me.”

“I never imagined it either, but seeing you so happy fills me with joy.”

And I meant every word.
If this child could be happy – if she could find true happiness – I wouldn’t ask for anything more.
The car parked at the harbour, the engine shut off with a soft click and the driver’s door slowly opened.
A tall man stepped out into the sunlight.
And at that moment, time seemed to stop.
No – was it my breathing that had stopped?
He was…
This man was…