#best interviews

“저는 베트남에서 경제학 공부를 했어요. 베트남에 있는 한국회사에서 통번역 일을 하며 다른 친구들보다 높은 연봉을 받고 다녔죠. 일 그만 두고 한국으로 석사 공부하러 가겠다고 했을 때 부모님은 반대는커녕, 돈 부족하면 얘기하라고 하시더라고요. 마지막 학기만 부모님 도움 받고 나머지는 제가 모아둔 돈으로 공부했어요. 근데 어디 가서 제가 베트남 사람이라고 하면 다들 결혼하러 왔냐고 물어봐요. 베트남 사람이니까 다른 건 못하고 결혼이나 하러 왔냐는 뉘앙스와 함께 안좋은 시선이 느껴져요. 그럼 저는 ‘대학원 공부하러 왔어요’라고 말해요. 지금은 한국의 큰 은행에서 일하며 금융 자격증도 공부하고 있어요. 조금 민망하긴 하지만 일부러 자랑스럽게 말하는 이유는 베트남 여성 중 이런 사람도 있다는 걸 알려주고 싶어서예요.”

 “I studied economics in Vietnam. I worked as an interpreter at a Korean company located in Vietnam and made a higher salary than my other friends. When I decided to quit my job and go to South Korea to earn my master’s degree, instead of opposing my decision, my parents told me to ask them for help if I needed more money. Only in my last semester did I get financial support from them, and I paid for the rest of my time in grad school. But wherever I am in Korea, when I tell someone I’m from Vietnam, they ask if I came here to marry. What I feel is implied there is that a Vietnamese person has no other skill set but to get married. So I tell them I came here to attend grad school. Now I work at a large Korean bank while studying for financial certification. This might sound embarrassing, but I intentionally tell them this so they can finally know of a Vietnamese woman who’s like me.” 

Sean Bean laugh compilation + being awkward and sweet too

“인천이 허허벌판일 때 아내를 처음 만났어. 당시의 나는 삽자루 들고 노가다 일해서 하루에 5,000원 받는 일용직이었거든. 인천 현장에 있을 때 지나가는 지금의 아내를 보고 무작정 약속을 잡았지. 요즘 말로 헌팅이라고 하나? 당시에는 휴대폰도 없었으니까. 지나가는 순간에 마음에 든다고 말하며 약속을 잡았지. ‘몇월 며칠 어디 다방에서 봅시다!’ 말하고, 그날에 버스 타고 나갔어. 그때는 번화가를 가려면 마음먹고 나가야 해서 큰맘 먹고 나갔지. 속으로 뭐 상대가 안 오면, 나간 김에 시내 구경이나 해야지 싶었어. 당일에 그 다방에 가니 아내가 나와 있더라고. 나중에 들어보니까 내가 작업복에 삽자루 들고 성큼성큼 자기에게 다가오는 모습이 남자다워 보였다고 말하더라고. 당시에 난 학벌도 없고, 돈도 없고, 몸뚱이밖에 없어서 늘 자신감 하나로만 살았거든. 그 자신감으로 지금의 아내를 만났지.”

“I met my wife back when Incheon was just an empty piece of land. Back then, I would go out with my shovel and do day jobs, earning 5,000 won a day. One day, when I was on site working, I happened to notice my now-wife walking by and I impulsively asked her out. Would kids these days say that I ‘picked her up’? Back then we didn’t have cell phones, so the moment I saw her walk by was when I told her that I liked her and asked her out. I said ‘Let’s meet at so-and-so coffee shop on so-and-so date,’ and on that day, I took the bus to go meet her. In those days, if you wanted to go downtown, you really needed to be committed, because it wasn't easy to get there, but committed I was. Though, I did think that if she didn’t come for some reason, I should take the opportunity to walk around downtown. But my wife did end up coming to the cafe. She told me this later, but she said that I had looked so manly when I was waltzing up to her in my work uniform with my shovel. Back then, I had no degree, no money, nothing but the clothes on my back, so I had no choice but to depend on my confidence. It’s thanks to that confidence that I was able to meet my wife.”

[1/2] “고등학생 때 집에 가는 버스에서 막 내리려고 했는데 갑자기 어떤 아주머니께서 '어머, 학생 괜찮아?’ 라고 하시는 소리가 들려서 뒤를 돌아봤어요. 그랬더니, 버스에 같이 타고 있던 제 또래의 다른 여학생이 코피를 엄청 흘리고 있는 거예요. 마침 제 책가방 안주머니에 손수건이 있어서, 얼른 꺼내서 내밀었어요. 그러고 바로 내리려고 하니까 그 학생이 ‘어, 이 손수건 어떡해요!’ 하셔서 제가 ‘그냥 가지세요! 비싼 거 아니에요!’ 하고 내렸어요. 모르는 사람에게 선뜻 손수건을 내민 것도, 제 손수건을 그냥 가지시라고 소리쳐 말한 것도, 왠지 그날은 모든 게 자연스러웠어요. 원래도 손수건을 자주 챙겨 다니는 편이었는데, 그 날 이후로는 꼭 손수건을 들고 다니게 됐어요. 제 가방 안에 있는 손수건은 꼭 제 것만이 아닌 거예요.”

[1/2] “Once when I was in high school, I was about to get off the bus on my way home when I heard an older lady say, ‘Oh, are you alright?’ I turned around to see what happened, and saw that a female student around my age was having a really bad nosebleed. I conveniently had a handkerchief in the inside pocket of my schoolbag, so I pulled it out and handed it over to her. I quickly started to get off the bus, but the student said, ‘Oh no, your handkerchief!’ I responded, ‘Just take it! It’s not expensive or anything!’ and got off the bus. Willingly giving my handkerchief to a stranger, and shouting that she should just take it; for some reason all of those things came so naturally to me that day. I had already been the type to often carry around a handkerchief, but since that day I started always carrying one with me. The handkerchief in my bag didn’t belong to just me anymore.”

[2/2] “이서를 뱃 속에 품고 있었을 때 남들 앞에서 운 적은 한 번도 없어요. 그저 쌍커풀이 있는 아이가 있고 없는 아이가 있듯 슬퍼할 일이 아니라고 스스로를 다독였죠. 그런데 출산 2주 전에 가만히 앉아있는데 뱃속에서 ‘뽀각’ 소리가 나는 거예요. 그리곤 며칠동안 태동이 없었어요. 그때는 저도 무너졌어요. 이런 생각까지 했어요. ‘이서가 만약 태어나자마자 죽을 거라면, 평생 불편하게 살아야 하는 거라면 차라리 뱃속에서 죽는게 낫지 않을까'. 하지만 세상에 나온 이서는 너무 예뻤어요. 허벅지 뼈랑 갈비뼈가 부러지고 금간 채로 태어나서 깁스를 하고 있었는데도 울음소리가 타의 추종을 불허할만큼 컸죠. 집으로 오고 나서도 이서는 어른들의 예상을 보기좋게 깼어요. 배고프다고 보챌 때도 기저귀를 갈아달라고 할 때도 정말 크게 울었어요. 웃을때는 미친듯이 소리내면서 웃고요. 가장 살고자하는 의욕과 욕구가 큰 사람은 이서였어요. 약한 생각을 한 제가 얼마나 창피하고 미안했는지 몰라요. 이서의 병명을 영어로 인스타그램에 쳐보면 4만 개가 나와요. 팔 다리가 없어도 비키니를 입고 해변가에서 찍은 사진이나 선글라스를 쓰고 여행을 다니는 사람들을 볼 수 있어요. 그런데 한글로 검색하면 마흔 개밖에 안 나와요. 사진도 다 병과 사투하고 있는 모습이죠. 이런 인식을 바꾸고 싶어요. 이서가 보통 사람들과 다름없는 일상을 살았으면 좋겠어요. 조금 다를 뿐 똑같은 사람이라는 걸 증명해냈으면 해요. 이서는 평생에 걸쳐 치료와 수술을 받아야 해요. 그 생각을 하면 마음이 아프지만 약해질 때마다 이서는 누구보다 크게 울어요. 걱정하지 말라는 듯이.” “이서와 꼭 해보고 싶은 일이 있다면요?” “으스러지도록 꽉 껴안아 보고 싶어요. 사랑하는 마음을 가득 담아.”

[2/2] “When Yiseo was in my belly, I never cried in front of others, not even once. Just as some babies have double eyelids and some don’t, I comforted myself by saying it’s not something to be sad about. But one time about two weeks before I gave birth, I was just sitting still and I heard a cracking sound from inside my stomach. Then for a few days I didn’t feel any movements. At that time I did break down. I even had thoughts like, ‘If Yiseo is going to die right after being born, if she is always going to live an uncomfortable life, it might be better for her to die inside my stomach.’ But after Yiseo came into the world, even objectively she was beautiful. She was born with her thigh bone and rib bone fractured so she had to get a cast, but even then her crying was so loud that it was incomparable to any other baby. Even after she came home, she kept exceeding adults’ expectations for her, as if she wanted to prove us wrong. Whenever she was hungry or wanted a diaper change, she cried really loudly. And when she laughed, she laughed out loud like crazy. Yiseo had the most motivation and desire to live. I was so embarrassed with myself and sorry to her for having weak thoughts. If you search for Yiseo’s disease on Instagram in English, there are 40,000 results. You can see pictures of people without arms or legs wearing bikinis on the beach, or people wearing sunglasses while traveling. But if you search in Korean, there are only 40 results. And all of them show people battling the disease. I want to change this kind of perception. I hope that Yiseo gets to live life the same as any normal person. That she shows others she’s just a little bit different, but she’s a person just like anyone else. Yiseo will have to keep getting treatment and surgery throughout her life. It hurts my heart to think about, but every time I start to feel weak, Yiseo cries louder than anyone. Like she’s telling me not to worry.” “What’s something you really want to try doing with Yiseo?” “I want to give her a bone-crushing hug. A hug filled with all of the love in my heart.”

[1/4] “5년 전 고등학교 2학년 때, 수학학원에 다녔어요. 그때 학원에서 아르바이트하던 대학생 선생님을 짝사랑 했어요. 조금씩 친해지고 있다고 생각했는데 어느 날 갑자기 선생님이 학원을 그만두신 거예요. 아직 이름도 물어보지 못 했는데요. 알고 있는 거라곤 선생님이 다니는 서울에 있는 4년제 대학이름, 학과 뿐이었어요. 선생님을 다시 만나려면 내가 그 대학교에 입학하는 방법 뿐이라고 생각했죠. 그때 저는 주변에서 ‘넌 인서울만 해도 기적이야.’ 이런 말을 들을 정도의 성적이었거든요? 근데 학교에서 성적우수장학금을 받을 정도로, 정말 미치도록 공부했어요. 그러다가 대학탐방 프로그램으로 그 학교에 갈 기회가 생긴 거예요. 제 이야기를 아는 친구들과 신청해서 그 학교에 가게 됐어요. 학교에 들어가자마자 지나가는 대학생들을 붙잡고 이과대학 건물이 어디냐고 다짜고짜 물어보기도 하고 행정처에 찾아가 수학과가 어디냐고 물어보기도 했어요. 정신 차리고 보니까 이미 제가 수학과 문 앞에 있더라고요. 그런데 막상 도착하니까 그냥 돌아가고 싶어지는 거예요.  ‘저 건너편에 선생님이 있으면 뭐라고 말하지?’, ‘날 기억하기는 할까?’, ‘저기 안에 없을 수도 있는데 내가 지금 여길 왜 왔지?’ 이런 생각들이 막 들었어요. 이러지도 저러지도 못하고 있는데 친구 한 명이 무작정 문을 두드리는 거예요. 바로 문이 열리고 누군가가 나왔어요.“ “그 분이셨나요?” “아뇨. 아니었어요. 근데 갑자기 여기까지 찾아온 거, 물어라도 봐야겠단 생각이 들더라고요. 그런데 이름을 모르니까 생김새로 설명할 수밖에 없는 거예요. ‘눈이 웃을때 마시마로처럼 아래로 쳐지고 키가 이정도 되는 사람을 혹시 아시나요?’ 하고 물었죠. 근데 그 분이 단번에 ‘아, 그 형인가?’ 하시고 휴대폰을 꺼내서 제 사진을 찍어 누구에게 보내더라고요. 그리고 잠시 통화를 하더니 전화기를 건네주면서 받아보라는 거예요. 잠시 머뭇거리다 제가 ‘여보세요?’라고 말하니 반대편에서 ‘여보세요.’ 이러는 거예요. 그 순간만큼은 입 밖으로 심장이 튀어나올 거 같았어요. 정말 오랜시간 좋아했으니까 목소리만 들어도 알잖아요. 그 사람이라는 걸요. 원래는 어떤 말을 할지 다 정해뒀었는데 대뜸 그냥 보고 싶었다고 말해 버렸어요.” “그랬더니 뭐라고 하시던가요?” “잠깐 정적이 흐르더니, 이러더라고요. ‘나도 보고 싶었어.’라고요.”

[1/4] “Five years ago when I was in my second year of high school, I used to take math classes after school. And there was a university student working there part time as a teacher who I had a crush on. I felt like we were getting closer and closer to each other when one day he ended up quitting. I didn’t even get to ask his name. The only thing I knew about him was the four-year university he went to in Seoul and his major. I thought the only way I would be able to meet him again was to get accepted into his university. But my grades were so bad that people around me used to say that it would be a miracle if I got into a school in Seoul. But I studied like crazy and even got an academic scholarship. And then I had this opportunity to visit that school on a college tour program that I applied to with friends of mine who knew the whole story. As soon as we got to the school, we grabbed some college students passing by and asked them out of nowhere where the College of Sciences building was. We also went and asked the administration where the Department of Mathematics was. After I pulled myself together, I realized that I was standing right in front of the math department. But now that I was actually there, I just wanted to go back. I started thinking: ‘What should I say if he’s on the other side of the door?’, ‘Would he actually remember me?’, ‘He might not even be in there, so what am I doing here right now?’ I was standing there unable to do anything when one of my friends just started knocking on the door. Then the door opened, and someone came out.” “Was it him?” “No, it wasn’t. But I thought that I should at least ask since we went all the way there. But since I didn’t know his name, I had to describe the way he looked. I asked him if he knew a guy whose eyes slant down like the character Mashimaro when he smiles and was about this tall. Then he immediately said, ‘Oh, I wonder if it’s him,’ and then pulled out his phone, took a picture of me, and sent it to someone. After talking on the phone for a bit, he passed it to me and told me to answer it. I hesitated for a second, but after I said ‘Hello?’, the person on the other side said ‘hello’ too. In that moment, it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I had liked him for so long that I knew it was him just by the sound of his voice. I had originally planned out everything that I was going to say, but in the heat of the moment, I just blurted out that I missed him.” “So, what did he say?” “After a moment of silence, he said, ‘I missed you too.’”

[3/3] “전주에서 엄마를 만나기로 해서 터미널에 내렸어요. 저 멀리 낯선 아주머니가 서있었죠. 우리 가족하고 닮은 것 같기도 하고 아닌 것 같기도 한데 시선에 사연이 많아 보였어요. 다가가서 ‘혹시 엄마세요?’라고 물었어요. 꽉 안아주시더라고요. 엄마가 아빠랑 헤어지게 된 건 아빠에게 다른 여자가 생겨서였대요. 판소리를 하던 아빠가 가야금을 연주하던 여자랑 눈이 맞아 헤어지자는 말까지 꺼낸 거죠. 그런데 엄마는 아빠를 너무 사랑했었대요. 엄마는 공대를 나온 사람이었는데 혹시나 자기도 소리를 잘하게 되면 아빠가 다시 돌아올까봐 헤어지고나서 4년 동안 소리를 배우러 다녔대요. 그럼에도 아빠는 돌아오지 않았고, 시간이 지나 엄마는 마음을 정리하고 가게를 열었대요. 그런데 아빠가 찾아와서 저와 동생 사진을 보여주면서 ‘애들 보고 싶지 않냐?’라고 한 거예요. 아빠는 형편이 어려운데 엄마가 일이 잘되고 있는 것 같으니까 애들을 빌미로 돈을 빌리려고 한 거죠. 그때 엄마가 더이상 아빠와 엮이기 싫어서 재혼을 했고 애까지 생겼다고 거짓말을 했나봐요. 그렇게 말하고 나니 먼저 저를 찾아올 용기가 도무지 나지 않았고, 그렇게 20년이 흐른 거죠. 알고보니 저랑 동생이 너무 보고 싶어서 몰래 절에 찾아온 적도 있다고 하더라고요. 저한테 ‘학생, 여기 화장실이 어디예요?’라고 물어봤었대요. 저는 기억이 안나지만… 그 세월동안 엄마는 정말 열심히 살았대요. 나중에 딸들 보게될 때 힘없고 부끄러운 엄마가 되기 싫어서요. 들어보니 정말 악착같이 살아오셨고 지금은 어엿한 커리어를 이어오고 있더라고요. 강원도에서 처음 가족을 만났을 때 이모가 ‘너 엄마랑 엄청 닮았다'라고 했거든요. 그 말이 저에게 얼마나 큰 위로가 됐는지 몰라요. 제 성격이 정말 악바리거든요. 어려서부터 가장 역할을 해오면서도 반듯하게 살아올 수 있었던 이유죠. 그런데 악바리라서 이쁨을 받지는 못했어요. ‘너네 엄마는 화냥년이었다’라던 친할머니가 회초리를 들었을 때 내가 뭘 잘못했냐며 대들었던 기억도 있어요. 내 성격이 어디서 나왔나 싶었는데, 그 뿌리가 여기 있었구나...”

“I got off at Jeonju Station to go meet my mother. There was an unfamiliar middle-aged woman standing far away from me. To me she really looked like someone who might or might not have been from my family. I went up to her and asked, ‘Are you possibly my mother?’ She hugged me right away. My mom said she had left my father because he was seeing another woman. My dad made money through pansori performances, and he ended up falling for another woman who played the gayageum. But my mom really loved my dad. My mom had gone to engineering school but she thought that if she could improve her voice, maybe my dad would come back. She practiced for four years but he still didn’t come back. With time, my mother was able to sort her feelings out and opened up a store. Things were difficult for my dad, though. He’d go find her and, while showing her a picture of us, he’d say, ‘Don’t you miss your children?’ Since my mom seemed to be doing well, of course he’d use that as a pretext for trying to borrow money. At that time my mom became fed up with being entangled with my dad so she lied about getting remarried and having a kid. After saying that she didn’t have the courage to come seek me out first and we went on for 20 years like that. But at one point, she missed me and my younger sister so much that she found us at a temple and asked me, ‘Excuse me, where’s the bathroom?’ I don’t remember that happening… My mother said she worked really hard in those days. She wanted to look like she had something to offer, and she didn't want to be an embarrassment to her daughters when she saw us again. Listening to her story made me realize she must’ve had a lot of tenacity to create a full-fledged career for herself. When I first met her family in Gangwondo, my aunt said, ‘You look just like your mom.’ I don’t think she realized just how comforting those words were to me. I have a very tough personality, you see. Ever since I was young, because that’s how I had to be in order to make it this far. But I wasn’t loved by others because I had such a tough personality. I remember talking back to my grandma—she used to say my mother was a ‘slut’—and demanding to know what I’d done wrong whenever she’d hit me with her cane. I wanted to know where my personality came from, it must’ve been rooted in that….”