The Melancholy of Untold History by Minsoo Kang

Author:Minsoo Kang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-07-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Life IV

On Ghosts and Hauntings

On the first date with his future wife, as they got to know each other over wine and appetizers at a high-class French restaurant, the historian was a little taken aback when she asked about the loss of his parents.

“I’m sorry if it’s a painful subject,” she said. “It’s just that . . . well, I read up about you, and that was mentioned in some articles.”

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “But I don’t understand why it was brought up in the media in the first place. I mean, it has nothing to do with my work.”

“The journalists probably thought that it made an engaging story—the eminent historian with a tragic past. They figured it would make you more human and sympathetic.”

“I don’t see why. After my father died, I lived with my uncle’s family for a few years, and then I went to college. I was hardly Oliver Twist.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they were right to publicize something so private. And I’m not trying to pry. We can change the topic if you want.”

“It’s all right,” the historian said. “Really. It was a long time ago.”

She flashed him a smile of such sympathy that it made his cheeks feel heated.

“Are your parents living?” he quickly asked, a little embarrassed at feeling like a young man receiving the attention of a girl he had a crush on.

“My father is.”

“Are you close to him?”

“Mmm . . . we are okay. He left our family when I was a teenager, after going through what he called a ‘personal crisis.’ My younger brother and I didn’t hear much from him until about fifteen years ago when Mother died, and he decided to reach out to us then. He said he felt deeply remorseful about having abandoned us and wanted to make up for it. But I was never that close to him before he left. He worked a lot and was gone for extended periods on business trips. So there was not much to repair in our relationship, which was minimal in the first place. Now we are, let’s say, cordial.”

She looked away in deep thought. He worried that he may have made her dwell on unpleasant memories, so he was about to apologize when she spoke again.

“Are you religious or spiritual in any way?” she asked him out of nowhere.

“No. I didn’t grow up among religious people, and I never developed an interest in that.”

“Me neither. I don’t believe, or rather I don’t think much about what’s beyond this world. I’m also pretty skeptical when it comes to claims about the supernatural. But . . . I did have this experience once. It was the single strangest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“What was it?”

“Uhm . . . so after Father left us,” she started, but then paused for a moment to think before she began again.

“My mother was an extremely controlling person, which was one of the reasons Father left. He just

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