Aug 20, 2008

The Oriental Melon

Fiction by Satovic
Translated by flowerbossa

(Originally posted on JOB & BSJ in Aug. 2, 2008)

The fresh scent of oriental melon filled the hospital room.
The yellow melon ... my sweet husband peeled for me ...
But ... I could not get myself to eat it ....
Tears kept coming and would not stop ....
To think he had died....
My husband quietly left the room and let me be by myself.

I burst into tears, crying loudly.
Again ... I had made him die ....

In the state of a long long coma, she was ruminating on the images she glimpsed in the moment of the accident. They were several after images that appeared and disappeared like flashes.

I could not tell what age it was, but I saw myself wearing a heavy comb in my hair, and he, dressed in armor, appeared as the son of a prime minister. He looked far more handsome and gallant than the junior high school teacher I knew, but I could feel in my soul that inside that figure was the man who I knew so well from my college days.

That man who at one time held me tight when I was delirious with fever,
That man who at one time yelled at me furiously inside the tent in the red light,
That man who at one time watched my hands as I calmly poured tea,
I also recalled how happy he seemed to hear the words, “jujak (red phoenix) and her mate”....

I had made up my mind to fall with him to the very bottom. I was determined to become cold-blooded as the devil himself, but he was always gentle towards me.

Even when he knew that I would ditch him, he let himself be manipulated.
Making our bond in the afterlife our collateral, I used him, and fulfilled my wish.
I was supposed to be making up for what I had done to him.

I was supposed to be fulfill his wish of torturing the king, and making me entirely his ....

But again, I made him die ...
Because of my careless driving ...
Leaving only me to survive ....

Insu, you may not believe me, but this was our fate.
I owed it to him to make up for what he did for me.

And when you were Damdeok, you hurt me so much, not believing in me – that must have led me to hurt you in return.

In this life, I was supposed to fulfill my wish from my days as Kajin to stay by your side all my life ....I realized that you will never be mine no matter how many times we are reincarnated.

It must have been some kind of fate for my sister Seo -Young to become his wife ...
She is probably the only one that can comfort you.

The two of you drank together, didn't you? At that seafood restaurant where they serve blowfish.

It must have come back to you. Your past life where you two shared drinks with your arm around her shoulder.

So, you needn't feel guilty if you feel drawn to her.
It is your fate, you know.
The fate you had been waiting for for 2000 years ....



15 comments:

bbmag said...

hey flowerbossa!

hope you're keeping well! hope that our dear satovic is doing fine too... (btw i've visited her site... saw her pics too, nice!!)

and thanks for this piece. i really really really do love it :)

satovic is really one special woman huh? i've always she's somone whose mind works so quickly... and i really do see the twinkle in her eyes :)

much thanks for allowing me to get to know our dear friend even better through your 'pen' :)

gosijo said...

Congratulations and thanks to Satovic for writing and you, dear Flowerbossa, for translating this lovely piece intertwining two stories dear to our hearts!

Pearl said...

I am enjoying your website very much!

Pearl

flowerbossa said...

Hi bb,

I'm doing fine thanks, and satovic is active as usual^^

I'm sure satovic will be happy to hear that you liked this piece - she wasn't sure how fans would react to this kind of fiction.

Enjoy your trip!

love,
flowerbossa

flowerbossa said...

Hi gosijo,

Being SLOW, I needed to read this story a few times to actually GET IT...

It's amazing how she could come up with such an idea ^^

Hope you are enjoying your summer!

love,
flowerbossa

flowerbossa said...

Hi Pearl,

Welcome to my blog!

I'm glad to hear that you enjoy it.

I see that you enjoy blogging too!

Have fun!

love,
flowerbossa

Anonymous said...

Hi Flowerbossa,

This is the first time I'm leaving a comment in your blog although I sometime come for a visit.
I just want to air my appreciation and admiration for satovic's fiction.
I'm a little slow, hehe cos I have to read this again to understand what she mean, I can't help but admire her way of thinking and connecting scene & word to fit into one very good story.
lastly thanks to you for the translation and sharing this with us.
God bless...

Jelen

gosijo said...

Me too, dear Flowerbossa, I needed to read a few times before all the pieces fell into place - a tribute to Satovic's great wit!

Anonymous said...

Hi flowerbossa and everyone,

What an incredibly beautiful piece of writing!

I too needed to read it a couple of times before I understood, and then it just seemed to be an amazing connection....

It would be interesting to tie all of our YJ-nim's characters (and their loves) together in this kind of way -- but maybe that would be too much. Just using Insoo and Damdeok makes it so gentle and subtle.

I love satovic's writing, and I'm so glad you shared it with us!

Please be happy and healthy!

love,
coco

flowerbossa said...

Hello jelen,

I'm so happy to hear that you drop by my blog from time to time.

Yes, I was impressed by satovic's imagination too, when I finally realized how it all fit in^^

I hope you had a nice weekend♪

love,
flowerbossa

flowerbossa said...

Dear gosijo,

An attentive fan on the Japanese board pointed out that the mountain Insu and Seo-Young saw together in the end of "April Snow" was 'Taebaeksan' -the same mountain Hwan-Woong descended on from heaven.

Satovic was pleased by the coincidence too!

love,
flowerbossa

flowerbossa said...

Hi coco,

There actually WAS a piece by satovic where she tied in many characters from different dramas - it was like a puzzle, and we had fun identifying the characters^^

But you are right, I think the subtlety in this present piece is much more beautiful as a story.

It was nice to hear from you!

Take care!

love,
flowerbossa

Lynn said...

Hi Flowerbossa,

I just saw this posting and I fell in love with it immediately! Satovic is really talented and she is really a genius by combining these characters of YJ's Dramas. And your trans perfectly matches the keynote of this story: desolate but beautiful!

It is fabulous!!

Insu - Damdeok
Insu's wife - Jujak (Kiha)
Seo Yong - Sujini
Seo Yong's husband - Hogae

Thanks a lot for sharing with us!

BTW, is it ok for me to trans it to Chinese?

Lynn :)

flowerbossa said...

Hi Lynn!

So glad to hear that you enjoyed this piece!

I'd be honored to have you translate it into Chinese - I'm sure Satovic will be pleased too!

Take care!

love,
flowerbossa

Lynn said...

Thank you, dear flowerbossa!

you are always sweet and helpful.

Please express my gratitute to dear Satovic for me. thx.

Lynn