Level 8 · Unit 7

A short story

The husband's silence, at a second-hand bookshop's reading table

This unit is part of the Level 8 Pass.

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What you’ll learn

V-는 듯이 · V-(으)ㄴ 듯이 · -다는 듯이 · V-(으)ㄹ 듯 말 듯 · V-는 듯 V-는 듯듯 in a story's narration: -(으)ㄴ/는 듯이, -(으)ㄹ 듯 말 듯
V-는 셈이다 · V-(으)ㄴ 셈이다 · A-(으)ㄴ 셈이다 · N인 셈이다What a gesture amounts to: -는 셈이다 in an interpretation
N에 비추어 (보면) · N에 비춰 보면 · N에 비추어 볼 때Reading one passage against another: N에 비추어 보면

S

Sujin

호야 씨, 이 헌책방은 2층 독서 탁자가 늘 비어 있어서 좋아요. 아까 읽던 「빈처」는 다 읽었어요?

Hoya, what I like about this second-hand bookshop is that the reading table upstairs is always empty. Did you finish 'A Poor Man's Wife', the one you were reading?
네, 방금요. 그런데 한 군데에서 자꾸 멈추게 돼요. 아내가 ‘당신도 살 도리를 좀 하셔요’ 하는 대화문 다음에 말줄임표만 있잖아요.

Yes, just now. But I keep stopping at one place. After the line where the wife says 'You should find some way for us to live, too', there's nothing but an ellipsis.
S

Sujin

저는 거기가 거절로 읽혀요. 바로 뒤에 ‘시작하는구나’ 하는 생각이 번개같이 지나가고, 불쾌한 생각이 벌컥 일어난다고 하잖아요. 남편은 기다렸다는 듯이 불쾌한 기색이에요.

To me that reads as a refusal. Right after it, the thought 'Here it starts again' flashes by like lightning, and displeasure flares up. The husband looks displeased, as if he had been waiting for it.

1
SceneA short scene with Sori, Hoya and the people around them, every line with its English
2
Grammar3 patterns: why you need it now, the rule, a table and examples
3
Sori’s tipsExceptions, reasons and easily confused pairs
4
Hoya’s notebookLife in Korea, in Hoya’s own words
5
Words42 words, which go into your spaced review
6
PracticeFill the gap, build the sentence, pick the reply — and fix Hoya’s mistakes
7
Review roomQuestions from this unit and earlier ones, each marked with where it comes from
8
Read & writeA short reading with questions, and a writing task with a model answer
9
Cheat sheetThe whole unit on one printable card