Please Look After Mom

So-nyo narrates this chapter in the first person. It’s implied that So-nyo is now a spirit.

So-nyo visits her youngest daughter’s house in Puam-dong. She’ll next visit someone she only refers to as “that man” (179). So-nyo delights in seeing pine trees laden with snow in front of her daughter’s house. Her daughter has three children who occupy the woman’s entire life; one of them comes outside, sees an injured gray bird, and shouts for So-nyo’s daughter. When So-nyo’s daughter stares silently at the injured bird, So-nyo guesses that her daughter equates So-nyo with the bird. So-nyo’s daughter fed these birds several days ago, remembering that So-nyo used to feed birds when the family lived in the country. So-nyo identifies the injured bird as a black-bellied plover and, while alluding to “that man” again, says she saw plovers flying near the water where he lives in Komso.

So-nyo’s daughter stares at the bird and her children ask if it’s dead. Chi-hon calls and informs her younger sister that she is going to Santiago for a month, suggesting that she’d like her sister’s permission to leave. The younger sister gets angry because everyone is going about their lives. Their mom has been missing since summer—it’s now winter.