A year had passed since we planted the magnolias in the courtyard of the hillside temple on Mt Samgak. That had been the prelude to our love. I had often wondered how much they would have grown. On Arbor Day, the fifth of April, I thought we would take a picnic lunch and go and see them, but an emergency cropped up like a whirlwind, blowing away all my plans. Instead, Kwŏn was installed as a boarder in the study of the inner quarters of the house where I and Sŏnhi lived.

A few days before Arbor Day, Mr Lee, the proprietor of Kyŏng-woo Hotel turned up at the Academy. It was quite unexpected. As soon as he saw me he said, ‘I am right, am I not, in thinking that Mr Kwŏn teaches at S University?’ ‘What do you mean?’ I replied, as if I doubted his sanity. My heart was beating fast.

‘Please, don't tell him this but I was there on some business and I happened to see the register of lecturers and his name wasn't on it. I just wondered.’ He put on a casual air but it was obvious that he had been suspicious and had gone there on purpose to check. And now that his suspicions were confirmed he wanted to terminate his dealings with him.

‘I’m not surprised,’ I said also putting on an air of casualness. ‘What you saw must’ve been the register of the full-time staff. People like Mr Kwŏn working on hourly basis wouldn't be on that.’ The old man, who had never been near a university, would not know enough to raise questions about that.

‘If you say so, that must be it,’ he said. He then went on to tell me an astonishing story. Apparently Mr Kwŏn owed him two hundred and fifty thousand Hwan for his lodgings, which was about the equivalent of four months’ salary for me. Apparently he had not paid a penny for a long time now. I wondered how he had got himself into such a mess.