The calligrapher's daughter_ a novel - Eugenia Kim [38]
“Yee Sunsaeng-nim said they have new Japanese maps and teaching guides, and I must return all of my books, even the old ones from first term.”
Though the news interested him, he wondered why she bothered him with it. “Show me the new lessons.” What further lies would they teach now? Those heathens with their mere hundreds of years of existence knew nothing of history and culture.
“There aren’t any books yet. We copy from the blackboard.”
He frowned impatiently.
“Abbuh-nim, it’s the books they want us to return. Must I?”
“Bring them.”
She dipped and rushed to her room.
“Yeh-yah!”
Her footsteps slowed to a more ladylike pace. She returned and presented three booklets: a Korean children’s primer, an annotated chart of world history and a pocket volume titled in Chinese, A Complete Guide to English Conversation with Tone Symbols.
“Who gave this to you?” He thumbed through the phrase guide for tourists.
“Sunsaeng-nim. One day after school.” Her voice lowered. “She said I needn’t sign for that one.”
“They account for all your books?”
She nodded, her eyes down, her kneecaps bobbing.
“Sit.” He examined the mass-produced phrasebook, its brittle pages already yellowed, the blue rubbery cover cracked and curled. “A gift?”
“Yes, I believe so. May I please keep it?”
“Do others have the same?”
“No, Abbuh-nim.”
Her tone made him glance at her. It was good she was afraid of him, he thought. He’d talk to her mother about those unsightly scratches on her ankles. She was more rambunctious than Chungduk! He examined the other books. The historical timeline, printed in Japanese and wretchedly falsified, elicited a childhood memory: the exact timbre of his recitation of the ancient periods at age three before his surprised father, his proud tutor crouched outside the doorway. He asked Najin, “Have you memorized this?”
She recited the true dynastic chronology rather than the one printed in the book: “Gojoseon, Gija Joseon, Wiman—”
His chest knocked with sudden patriotism and a sliver of pleasure at her education, but he said, “Quiet! Do you want to get us all arrested?”
She crossed her hands and folded into herself.
“How is it you refuse to control your tongue! Best to be at school all day or your brother would learn your habits.” There, at last she was still!
He considered the Chinese-English phrasebook. One day, they’d be a free nation again. The Shanghai provisional government worked to gain international support, particularly from America, but what did other countries care about Korea? He put the books before her. “Well then. You must return the two you’ve signed for and ask Yee Sunsaeng if she requires the third. In the meantime, keep it out of sight, as if it never existed. Should anyone come close to finding that book, it must first find the fire in the stove. Understand?”
Keeping his face stern as their eyes met, he was surprised by the pleasure he felt at her obvious gratitude. Her high regard of books satisfied him. Times were changing him despite himself! He dismissed her and fingered through his library, selecting anything that might be considered nationalistic or subversive. Mindful of Pahk’s misfortune, he dusted his collection of sijo and other poetry, classical essays and history books. He wrapped them in expensive writing paper, thinking it a shame since it was precisely such days as these that demanded a basic Confucian convention: religious study of the mores of the past for insight into matters of the present.
He called his manservant and devised a plan to create a deeper hiding place for his books. He’d have Joong dig a pit below the wooden floor of the secret pantry, line it with camphor wood, then bury a chest of books. Joong was to do this work without speaking of it and without the aid of the gardener. Han considered the importance of Joong’s silence in this task and counted five won into Joong’s hand, the first time he’d ever given him money. Joong bowed deeply as the money disappeared, then he helped pack books.
HAN RARELY TOOK his meals outside the house unless an occasion required a supper,