[55th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards] Fiction Commendation Award: To My Pet Rice Cooker, Cuckoo

Written by Park Ji-young

Translated by Julie Wi

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This previous July noticed the institution of the Good Senior with Alzheimer’s Award — albeit with Kang Manseok as the one nominee. Seondong caught one other grape sticker onto the fridge door.

“Now pay attention, Dad. Everytime you do one thing good, I’ll put a grape sticker on the fridge. So, you need to be good, okay? For instance, you’ve received to poop whilst you’re on the bathroom. All you need to do is poop into the bathroom, and the stickers preserve coming. How nice is that? I for one would adore it if somebody mentioned I did an excellent job or gave me a sticker only for pooping. When you acquire all twelve stickers and full the bunch, you’ll get the Good Senior with Alzheimer’s of the 12 months award. And if you happen to try this 4 instances, you’ll get the Good Senior with Alzheimer’s of the 12 months award. Then, we’ll go to eat the eel you like a lot.

2024-11-14 09:00  |  Books

We’ll eat tons and many wild eel, till our bellies burst. We are able to inform Jincheol or Jingyeong to pay for it.”

After all, Manseok by no means understood a factor Seondong would say. All he did was mumble the identical previous phrase: “dammit.”

When, the weekend prior, Kang Jingyeong paid Manseok’s house a go to for the ?rst time shortly, she appeared on the stickers on the fridge and turned to Seondong.

“You certain are having enjoyable with this.”

Seondong needed to admit that he was having fun with himself a bit. Taking care of a father with Alzheimer’s illness wasn’t precisely like caring for a Tamagotchi, but when he was going to do it, there was nothing mistaken with making it right into a enjoyable recreation, was there?

These days, Seondong began watching pet coaching exhibits like There Are No Unhealthy Canines. He all the time thought canines and cats have been cute, however couldn’t have been bothered to maintain one. However ever since he began dwelling along with his father, he began watching pet-related TV applications with extra curiosity. How might he clarify it? He simply thought these applications have been much more

helpful to him than documentaries about Alzheimer’s. He didn’t point out this to his siblings; if Jingyeong knew, she may need requested with a glance of exasperation whether or not he considered their dad as some kind of pet. After all he didn’t. Seondong would by no means liken his dad to a cat or a canine; his dad wasn’t in the slightest degree lovable and he didn’t even have the smarts to know whether or not he was peeing or pooping. He might examine his dad to a rice cooker, perhaps—however not a pet.

The typical lifespan of an electrical rice cooker is ?ve to seven years. The rice cooker in Kang Manseok’s home was a seven-year-old, ten-serving measurement mannequin, that means it was due for substitute. It simply so occurred that it had been seven years in the past that Kang Manseok obtained his Alzheimer’s prognosis, and so in a manner, it wasn’t simply the rice cooker that was due for disposal. The rice cooker remained as a result of regardless of how previous it was, it was comparatively practical and costly to interchange. Kang Manseok remained as a result of though he served no objective and had stopped working a very long time in the past, he was nonetheless Seondong’s father.

After Kang Manseok stopped working, he gained a brand new perform altogether. He could not have been in a position to communicate or eat or go to the lavatory by himself, however he had grow to be Seondong’s two-serving electrical rice cooker. On the day Seondong’s caregiving charges have been wired to his account, he ate spicy pig toes with a draft beer on the aspect and mumbled to Manseok in a mild voice:

“Repeat after me, Dad. When you can repeat what I say, I’ll offer you a sticker. I imply, you’re a rice cooker, and what rice cooker can’t speak nowadays? Now, say this: commencing Maintain Heat mode. Cuckoo.”