Taewon-Honorifics Matter

We climbed out of the tunnel with Mona on tow. The kid scurried through the window and I followed suit. The last time I was in the house, it was completely empty. Jan, Joonjae and I used to bring in our instruments and jammed for hours.

I scanned the place. The window we climbed through led to the kid's room. It was small, consisting of one bed with a desk and chair in the corner. One side of the wall had a small closet.

'You and your mother live in this small room?' I asked.

'Mee sleeps on the couch out there,' the kid pointed outside.

I stepped outside the room. The dining room, kitchen and living room were meshed into one. The kitchen was at the end corner with a small dining table in the middle. A sofa set was arranged against one wall. There were few storage drawers lined up uniformly next to the kitchen wall. There was no TV but a shelf full of books, neatly organized. Other than these few furniture and carpets on the floor, there wasn't much. Completely different than the luxuries we lived in.

'That's all you guys have?' I asked. 'No TV, no games. And your mother sleeps on this couch?'

'Yeah,' the kid said simply. 'We are still new to the country, ya know. Mee only bought what she could find for cheap. Once she gets a raise next year, we'll move to a better place.'

'"Ya know"?' I pulled his ear. 'Don't use informal tone with me kid.'

'Ow!' he cried. 'Ow!'

'Stop pretending to be hurt, I'm not pulling it that hard!'

'Sorry,' he said.

'Sorry what?'

'Sorry, ahjusshi,' he replied.

'That's better.'

I let go of his ear.

'Child abuse,' the kid muttered, rubbing his ear.

'Say that again, I'll twist both your ears,' I warned.