AUTUMN, 2015
Kim Jiyoung is thirty-three years old, or thirty-four in Korean age. She got married three years ago and had a daughter last year. She rents a small apartment on the outskirts of Seoul with her husband Jung Daehyun, thirty-six, and daughter Jung Jiwon. Daehyun works at a mid-size IT company, and Jiyoung used to work at a small marketing agency, which she left a few weeks before her due date. Daehyun usually comes home from work around midnight and goes into the office at least once on weekends. Daehyun’s parents live in Busan, and Jiyoung’s parents run a restaurant, making Jiyoung her daughter’s sole caretaker. Just after Jiwon turned one in the summer, she started daycare as a half-day infant. She spends her mornings at a converted ground-floor apartment daycare center in the same apartment complex where she lives.
Jiyoung’s abnormal behavior was first detected on September 8. Daehyun remembers the exact date because it was the morning of baengno (“white dew”), the first night of autumn when the temperature drops below dew point. Daehyun was having toast and milk for breakfast when Jiyoung suddenly went to the veranda and opened the window. It was quite sunny out, but the cold air rushed in as soon as the window was opened and reached the kitchen table where Daehyun was sitting. Jiyoung returned to the table with her shoulders hunched and, as she sat down, said, “I knew there was a little nip in the air these past few mornings, and today’s baengno! White morning dew on fields of gooold, on baengno when the nights grow cooold.”
Daehyun laughed at his wife, who was talking like a much older woman.
“What’s up with you? You sound like your mom.”
“Take a light jacket with you, Jung seoba-ahng. There’s a chill in the mornings and evenings.”
Even then, he thought she was just joking around. Her imitation of her mother was flawless, down to her signature right-eye wink when she was asking for a favor, and the elongated last syllable of “Jung seobang.” He had found her staring off into space or crying over sad songs, but Daehyun figured she was just exhausted from taking care of the baby. She was basically a cheerful person, full of laughter, who often made Daehyun laugh by doing impressions of celebrities. So Daehyun shrugged off Jiyoung’s imitation of her mother, gave her a hug and went to work.
