Human Acts

Five years after the Gwangju Uprising, Eun-sook now works as an editor for a publisher. The chapter opens on a Wednesday afternoon when she receives seven slaps across her face during an interrogation with the Seodaemun police, leaving her with a swollen face. She resolves to try and forget the slaps, one per day over a week.

That same day, Eun-sook tries to forget the first slap. She returns to her rented room and lies down on the floor. She thinks back to the moment when the man struck her for the first time. Her interrogator demanded to know where the translator was, a man whose manuscript she recently edited. Eun-sook remembers meeting up with the translator, who was meticulous as they went over his manuscript together. When she asked him how they could get in touch with him about future royalties, he replied, “I’ll be in touch, later on” (76), revealing nothing to her.

The next day, the publisher’s niece drops by the publisher’s office and looks at Eun-sook with horror. She asks what happened to her face, but neither Eun-sook nor the publisher answers her. The publisher is a timid man who had been high school classmates with the translator.