Sublimation(92)

“Mm?” Soyoung says. She rubs her eyes. “What?”



* * *



Between 1910 and 1945, Korea was annexed by Japan and formally colonized under the Japan-Korea treaty of 1910, though the process of colonization and the reach of the Japanese influence across the Korean peninsula had begun decades before, since the 1800s. The cultural assimilation of Korea into Japan was carried out in a series of sweeping reforms.

In 1937, as part of the Naisen-Ittai program, the Korean language was banned in schools, and Japanese history was taught in place of Korean history. In 1939 and 1940, two ordinances were passed—Sōshi-kaimei, creating a policy that attempted to persuade ethnic Koreans to give up the Korean-style name in favor of Japanese names.



* * *



“I was thinking about the house. I told you I was thinking about it.”

“This isn’t about the house.”

“It is about the house. It’s about about the house. So your grandfather talked it over with some of his close friends. And he talked it over with me, because this is before we moved to the States, and he still thought I was responsible.”

Her mom takes a breath. Soyoung sits up.

“Mom, I thought you meant—”

“Let me finish, Soyoung-ah. So your grandfather decided he wouldn’t go back, because he had heard of people being blackmailed before, after they returned to the South, and being asked for money by their families in the North, but the money didn’t go to their families, it went to the North Korean state. And it wasn’t like, you kids, who don’t care. This would have been his siblings, his parents. He has a brother, at least. Your great-uncle. I don’t know, I don’t know about his family, too much. You probably have cousins there. And your grandfather had also heard of times where it had been a setup, to forcibly reintegrate the person, if they were someone with technical or political knowledge. They did that, because they didn’t have any education in the North. And your grandfather was very smart, you remember. They would have wanted him.”



* * *



At its closest point, the distance between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese main island is 193 kilometers. The capital cities of the Republic of Korea and Japan are two hours away by plane. It is possible to eat breakfast in Tokyo and be in Seoul for dinner.



* * *



“So he didn’t go back,” Soyoung says.

“Mm,” her mom says. “And, you know. He had me and your uncle and your aunts. And he had the business, and the house, and he owned some other property back then, that he sold later. He had always said that he had made the right decision about not going back, to me. But I talked with your mom, the other day.”

Soyoung doesn’t know who she means for a moment. Her mom? She’s talking to her mom right now. She realizes, then. Rose’s mom means Soyoung’s mom.

“You guys talk?”

“No. Just about you. This once. I called her.”

“Why’d you talk about me?”

“Because there’s just one of you, and you’re here.”



* * *



The earliest recorded instance was one and a half years old. A toddler, Jillian Last-Name-Redacted, who instanced when her parents moved from England to France. It’s theorized that due to the clear boundary and Jillian’s early intelligence, she was able to understand what was happening and had conceptualized the idea successfully in her mind.

It’s likely that younger children have instanced, but there is no official historical or medical record. Lots of rumors, though. There is great debate in parent forums for international moves, whether it is better to tell your kid that you’re moving permanently or temporarily—if your kid instances without you, leaving a copy of them alone in their country of origin, at the airport alone. People try not to fly with young children, as parents are often worried about how much they understand.

This is the sort of thing you worry about in a first world country. A luxury concern. When your country is being cracked in half and controlled by foreign powers, when your country is being mismanaged by a corrupt government, when you are escaping gang violence, when your minority group is part of a targeted genocide, then you worry about other things. You worry about any version of yourself getting out. You hope any versions of your children survive.



* * *



“So you guys talked about me,” Soyoung says.

“Just letting her know you’re okay. You should call her more.”

“I forget to,” Soyoung lies. “Why are you being so sympathetic to her?”

Rose’s mom sighs, again, loud enough that her breath crackles over the phone. Soyoung remembers her mom in Korea sighing like that, when Soyoung would tell her that she broke a glass or got a bad grade.

“Was it different, if you instanced when you’re grown up?” Soyoung says, and winces at the juvenile question. “I just mean—you know?”

“It was hard,” Rose’s mom says, in the same tone of voice that Soyoung uses when she doesn’t want to talk anymore.

“Would you go back? If I go back?”

“You didn’t instance, Soyoung.”

“I could change my mind. I could stay here instead, still. It’s intent at the time, Mom. Not—”