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Story 1 · Season 1 · Read after Level 1 · Unit 1

302호

Room 302

13 scenes · about 4 min of listening. Tap EN on a line for its English. Underlined words have a meaning card.

Night, inside a Seoul subway car, blue-white light. Five passengers on the long bench — three office workers asleep in suits, one student with earphones, and Hoya at the end.

  1. Night. A train in Seoul.

  2. 회사원이에요.회사원이에요.회사원이에요.

  3. 학생이에요.

  4. …호랑이예요.

  5. 한국 호랑이예요.한국 사람이 아니에요.

  6. 호야예요.호야는 학생이에요.

  7. He has practised one speech for eleven days.

  8. Hoya

    안녕하세요.저는 호야이에요.

  9. Hoya

    저는 학생이에요.회사원이 아니에요.

  10. Hoya

    어느 나라 사람이에요?

  11. Hoya

    저는 한국 사람이 아니에요.호랑이예요.

  12. Hoya

    반갑습니다.

  13. He is fairly sure of all of it.

Late afternoon, a narrow Mangwon-dong alley. Three-storey red-brick villa; ground floor is a small coin laundromat, glass front, round dryer doors, blank sign board.

  1. 진돗개예요.

  2. 진돗개는 한국 동물이에요.

  3. 호랑이는 한국 동물이에요.

  4. In old Korean paintings the tiger is the king of the animals. This one is behind a suitcase.

  5. Hoya

    …안녕하세요.저는 호야이에요.반갑습니다.

  6. 진돗개는 학생이 아니에요.

  7. 호야는 호랑이예요.

  8. 네.호랑이예요.

Same alley, closer. Soon-ja steps out of the laundromat door, light-blue plastic laundry basket on her hip — grey permed hair, floral blouse, brown quilted vest, slippers, adult proportions.

  1. 할머니예요.김순자 할머니예요.

  2. 할머니는 한국 사람이에요.선생님이 아니에요.

  3. Soon-ja

    ?

  4. Hoya

    네.안녕하세요.저는 호야이에요.

  5. Soon-ja

    호야이?

  6. Hoya

    …네.

  7. He heard his name. She heard a slightly different one. Both of them were satisfied.

Inside the laundromat. A folding table used as a counter — a jar of coins, a stack of folded towels.

  1. Soon-ja

    학생?

  2. Hoya

    네, 학생이에요.

  3. Soon-ja

    회사원?

  4. Hoya

    아니요.회사원이 아니에요.

  5. Soon-ja

    의사?

  6. Hoya

    아니요.의사가 아니에요.

  7. Soon-ja

    가수?

  8. Hoya

    아니요.가수가 아니에요.

  9. Singers, in her experience, are late with the rent.

  10. Soon-ja

    외국 사람?

  11. Hoya

    네.…아니요.…네.

  12. Soon-ja

    어느 나라 사람?

  13. Hoya

    저는…호랑이예요.

  14. 할머니는 알아요.

  15. 호야이

Tight two-shot across the folding table. Soon-ja holds up one hand, fingers spread, toward Hoya; her other hand rests flat on the closed ledger, red rubber band back on.

  1. Soon-ja

    .

  2. Hoya

    …네.감사합니다.

  3. She said a number, and a date. He understood the number. He had hoped not to.

A narrow concrete stairwell, green anti-slip strips, a small frosted window.

  1. 진돗개예요.보리예요.

  2. 보리는 경찰이 아니에요.

  3. 호야는 알아요.

  4. Hoya

    …안녕하세요.

  5. Hoya

    …안녕히 계세요.

  6. The dog does not move. Somehow that is worse.

Room 302: small single room, warm-yellow vinyl floor, bare walls, one window over green rooftops and blue water tanks.

  1. One window. One mattress. In the middle of the floor, a box.

  2. She looks at the box the way people look at a bill they have already paid. She does not explain it.

  3. Hoya

    감사합니다.

  4. Hoya

    안녕히 가세요.

Same room, twenty minutes later. Door open again.

  1. Twenty minutes later: rice, soup, three side dishes. No explanation either.

  2. Hoya

    할머니, 감사합니다.

  3. 할머니는 선생님이 아니에요.

  4. 요리사가 아니에요.

  5. 그냥 할머니예요.

  6. Hoya

    안녕히 가세요.

Evening. Hoya sits on the floor beside the suitcase, now lying flat and open like a clamshell — a few folded clothes, a pencil case, a small pink eraser that has rolled onto the vinyl.

  1. There is also an envelope. He does not open it. He puts it on the windowsill, then inside a book, then back on the windowsill.

  2. 호야는 학생이에요.

  3. 네.학생이에요.호랑이예요.

Night, the building entrance under a buzzing fluorescent tube. The mailboxes — one row, 301, 302, 303; one 302.

  1. Downstairs, the mailbox for 302 has his name on it. More or less.

  2. 호야이

  3. 호야이예요.호야가 아니에요.

  4. Hoya

    호야이에요…호야…이에요…

  5. Hoya

    호야…예요.

  6. Hoya

    …호야예요.

  7. Bori

    호야이?

  8. Hoya

    아니요.호야예요.

  9. Bori

    보리.

  10. Hoya

    보리 씨?

  11. Bori

    보리.

  12. Hoya

    반갑습니다.저는 호야예요.

  13. Bori nods once and goes to work.

The villa rooftop at night: green-painted floor, a clothesline with two towels, a blue water tank.

  1. On the roof, he gives the speech once more. Correctly, this time.

  2. Hoya

    안녕하세요.저는 호야예요.

  3. Hoya

    호야이가 아니에요.호야예요.

  4. Hoya

    저는 학생이에요.한국 사람이 아니에요.호랑이예요.

  5. Hoya

    반갑습니다.

  6. Soon-ja

    호야이.

  7. Hoya

    …네.

  8. He answers. It seems rude not to.

Two in the morning, the entrance, lit only by the street lamp through the door glass.

  1. Two in the morning. A ballpoint pen. One small line.

  2. 호야이

  3. 호야예요.호야이가 아니에요.

Morning light in the entrance. The 302 label has been replaced with a fresh, wider strip of tape; layout text in bigger, firmer marker: 호야이.

  1. 호야이

  2. By morning the label has been replaced. Neater. Larger. The same name.

  3. Bori

    호야이.

  4. Hoya

    …네.

  5. Hoya

    할머니, 안녕하세요.

  6. Soon-ja

    호야이.

  7. Hoya

    네.호야이예요.

  8. Technically, he is now right.

  9. 호야는 호랑이예요.학생이에요.

  10. 한국 사람이 아니에요.

  11. …호야이예요.

Words from outside the course so far

302호
Room 302 (read 삼백이 호)
월세
monthly rent

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