Chapter 238 – Special Episode 5. Pumasi (1)
Until the pre-modern era, of course, men did too, but the value of women’s labor power was quite great. Aside from being a person who can carry on the family line and a bridgehead connecting two different families, the labor power of an adult woman was so important that it required compensation in itself. It was the dowry that showed it most blatantly.
This phenomenon has not changed much even in modern times if it is limited to the countryside. Of course, this does not mean that there is such a thing as a dowry or contract marriage, but it is a story that everyone knows that the value of a woman’s labor power is very high. Therefore, in rural areas where labor is scarce, the difference between women was even greater, and in rural areas with a small population, women borrowed hands from other places. It was the same in the countryside where Hee-joo’s house was.
Although she was not one to farm or actively participate in the affairs of the village, she needed to follow the village unit as long as she belonged to the village anyway. She wasn’t strong enough to move and live in a new place, nor was she strong enough to turn her back on everyone in this village.
Since the village where Hee-ju’s family lived was small in population, it formed a community with nearby rural villages with low population. A community formed by a total of 4 villages. During the farming season, they had a small but closely connected collective system that carried out pumasi not only within the village but also within the remote community, forcing young women among their members to do pumasi as well.
The reason why it was limited to young women was because it was thought that labor power exchange could be made when the labor power of the elderly skilled in farming and the labor power of ordinary young women were placed on the same line. There is no way to repay the labor force in a village with a shortage of young men by attracting young men. It was reasonable in its own way to give reasons outside the group.
But that wasn’t the only reason. This community, like other rural communities, was closed and the movement of members was not flexible. There was almost no new inflow, and those who tried to leave the community were given disadvantages close to Japanese-style ijime to break their will. As the roles of those who occupied power and those who occupied positions became fixed, the communities that began to rot and festered from the inside began to show the loss of self-purification and coercion of vertical authority, which is characteristic of small societies.
The reason they insisted on only female labor was because there were few women in the village. Among them, there were few young women as sexually attractive as Hee-joo. Of the four villages, there were only two villages with women under the age of 40, and even there, only one village with women in their 20s was Heeju’s village.
However, there were more than 10 men with sexual desire in even the smallest village. Maybe it’s because they’re men who have worked hard in farming all their lives. Even men in their 50s at the young and over 80s at the most had sexual desires and set things up a couple of times a day. They were not interested in the fat village women they always saw. They wanted young women from other villages.
At first, it was really just a pumasi. Jun-hee and Chae-gyeong, who were still young, did not participate, and only Hee-joo followed the village elders to other villages once or twice a year to work. She was not accustomed to farming, but she paid well for her hard work and sweat. In addition to financial support for her, her village unit helped her if there was a problem with her house’s water or electricity. Many benefits that are hard to expect in her small country, such as the use of roads and vehicles, and free washing machines distributed at the village hall, gave Hee-joo a positive impression of her pumasi.
And in the third year after repeating such pumasi, on the day when everyone gathered at the village hall to drink makgeolli after finishing work in another village, all the men in that village reached out to Hee-joo. Of course, Hee-ju resisted fiercely, and unexpectedly, her refusal was accepted. She was able to return to her village, to her home, without suffering any harm.
But the real problem started after that. In the meantime, all the benefits she enjoyed at the village level disappeared. Periodically, the items that Hee-joo and her house acquired never returned, but rather demanded that she pay for the items she had received for free. Special fees such as village development funds and community membership fees have also been created. If they weren’t delivered on time or refused, or for no reason, her car’s tire was punctured or the roadway was damaged. Her friendly village neighbors bullied her family, and unknowingly, she and her close neighbors were also harmed. Of course, Chae-kyung’s family was also one of the victims.
Anyone belonging to the four village communities, both male and female, was aggressive towards her family. It was difficult to enjoy any social services. Whenever she passed by, she cursed for no reason, and her grandmother from another village came and said, “Young man can’t do that.” People who raise animals such as dogs deliberately provoke their animals when they encounter them on the road, and there are many days when there is feces in the front yard of the house. That year, Hee-joo was so tired that she almost fell into depression.
In the end, Hee-ju, who volunteered for her next poomsae recruitment, accepted the men who approached her again at her after-party in another village. She really hated her, but since she thought of the pain she, her family, and her neighbors were going through, she didn’t have the courage to refuse their hand. The rape, which started late at night, did not end even when the sun reached midnight the next day, and only after she dealt with 12 men alone in the village, Hee-joo was finally released. However, her pampering did not end. Upon arriving at her next village, she must have already been contacted, and the men immediately took her Hui-joo to her village hall and treated her like a prostitute in her dock. No one else had her do her labor. Because that wasn’t her role.
To Hee-joo, who endured her three-weekend pampering, her village community benefited her far more than before. All kinds of support was given to her, including her cash as well as support in terms of her social services. The villagers became friendly again, and her family and neighbors benefited in no small way. Most of them found the sudden change in attitude strange, but quickly fell for their false explanation that there was a misunderstanding. Hee-joo was able to enjoy a lot.
After that, Hee-joo took part in Pumasi every year because of the fear that she would repeat herself and the sweet temptation of a small society she had already tasted. With each passing year, her two reasons for slutring in her other towns were increasingly forgotten, and she became accustomed to the pleasures of her orgies. But her babysitting this year wasn’t something she could empty her brain and participate in like that. Her village community demanded more from her.
“Did you pack everything?”
“Huh.”
Hee-joo looked at her daughter, Jun-hee, with her worried eyes. As soon as she reached adulthood, she barely resisted the orders of her community that demanded her. She finally gives in and agrees to take Jun-hee into her arms, but she accepts a promise that she will only do her labor instead and that she will not make Jun-hee do the same work as her mother. The price would bring irreversible consequences to her body forever, but it was enough to protect her daughter.
She also carries her luggage and goes to the front door, where her son, Jun-hyung, is waiting. His son asks Hee-joo, who looks at her with worried eyes, just as he sees Jun-hee.
“Can’t I go instead?”
“You talked about it. The male labor force cannot participate in this kind of work because there is no way to repay it in other villages. It’s not that we’re good, but we have to think about other villages as well.”
Junhyung just sighed without answering. Heejoo hugged him weakly and patted him on the back.
“I’m only going this weekend and next weekend. Now that Mom has to think about after you guys become independent, I’m going to serve the village a little harder.”
Yes, you just need to be independent. As long as you send Junhee out of town, you don’t have to worry about it now. Until then, until then, Hee-joo made a firm determination inwardly that she would endure no matter what.
“I’m going to do volunteer work for a few days, so why fix it?”
Junhee mumbles as she passes by her hat and puts on her shoes on the porch. Maybe she felt jealous at how close her mom and brother were, and the way she pouted her lips was so cute. That made Hee-joo even more heartbroken. No matter how safe she was promised, she couldn’t feel comfortable having to take her daughter to a dangerous place.
“Okay, then I’ll come back, so I’ll tell you when Grandpa comes back. I prepared plenty of side dishes, so I take care of myself and eat well, and if I have to, I can order something with my mother’s card.”
“Huh. Go carefully so as not to get hurt. Work moderately.”
As Hee-joo leaves, following her daughter who opens the front door and leaves, the door slams shut. As she leaves the house and waits for a car to pick them up with her daughter, an SUV approaches from the other side of her. When the door of the car in front of them opens, a familiar face is seen inside.
“Hello.”
“Has Chae-gyeong been well?”
“Yes.”
Yes. This time, three women from the village have to participate in the pumasi. As an adult and already her second participation, Chaekyung’s expression was calm. It is also because her community took care of her last year, considering the position of her parents who did not belong to her village community. Of course, it was possible at a different cost to Hee-joo, who didn’t want to see her son’s childhood friend humiliated.
“Belts mashup.”
The driver groans quietly. Jun-hee felt a bit uneasy about his voice, which did not show emotion in his words, but the others climbed into the car and put on their belts, as if they were used to it. The car rolled gently down the country road and set off for another town.
Even if it was a small village community nearby, it was a small village that had to go quite far into the mountains, so I had to spend more than an hour in the car. Seeing the two young girls in their twenties using their cell phones without much thought, Hee-joo felt bitter inside. It would be good for them not to know where they are going now. Even though she made a promise not to touch them, she doesn’t know what will happen there. The kids don’t know how terrifying it is to have to defend themselves in a remote country with no one to know, let alone anyone to stand by them, and no way to escape.
“Get off and go to the town hall to unpack.”
The driver who stopped the car spoke in a voice that was still emotionless. As the three women got out, the car drove back down the road alone and out of sight. With her luggage on her back, Junhee looked around this new village she had never been to. A place where she arrived a little further out of her little world. It’s a real ride with nothing to know. If it was a city with a lot of people, it wouldn’t have been this unfamiliar, but the only living things on the desolate dirt road were her mother and her close sister, so Junhee was confused that this place was even Korean for a moment.
“You have to walk that way some more.”
Joon-hee, who came back to reality at her mother’s words, glanced at Chae-kyung. Her visit to this place was her second day of work, and she was also a little bewildered in her unfamiliar place. She had only been there once last year, and had no time to find out what the village looked like because she was working hard, so it was just an impression of an unfamiliar rural landscape. Anyway, the two of them started walking along the dirt road with Hee-joo.
How few people are in the village, so there is no one even in the village hall. In fact, the village hall in the countryside is a place where people secretly gather when they have work or when they are alone at home rather than resident. Hee-joo opened the unlocked door of the village hall as if she was used to it, took off her shoes, and went up to the spacious hall. The feel of her soft rug is felt on the soles of her feet. A few tables, a large TV and some unknown audio equipment catch my eye first, and in the corner there is a refrigerator and other kitchen facilities. In addition, as seen from the outside, the town hall was a three-story building, so there was a staircase leading to the second floor next to it.
“Let’s put our luggage down here for now, and let’s go say hello to the chief first.”
“Do you just leave it here?”
“Huh. No one will touch you anyway.”
Hee-joo set a table for her, put her luggage down around it, and gathered Chae-kyung and Jun-hee’s luggage nearby. Once again, she sees the faces of Chae-kyung and Jun-hee and makes up her mind. I won’t let them be insulted. This year, it will pass safely. Hee-joo left her village hall with her firm resolve. The steps on the way to the chief’s house were heavier than usual.
“Oh! Came? Oh, I came here to suffer from afar~”
The chief greeted Hee-joo with her smiling face. She couldn’t help but laugh. It’s been a long time since he has a young and beautiful body that can play with him again.
“Yes. That chief… That, the children’s work…”
“Ah, don’t worry about that. Because I decided not to do ‘hard work’. Everyone knows, so don’t worry. But I have no work today.”
At those words, Junhee sang joy in her heart. Because she didn’t like this custom either, and she hated doing hard work even more. Her mother told her that she could not help it because it was a group job, and if she did not go, she would have to work hard alone this year, so she came even though she hated it.
“Then, the kids go to the hall to unpack, and Junhee’s mom talks about starting work tomorrow.”
“…Already?”
“Then you have to do it today. Shouldn’t we talk about dinner later?”
The chief smiles smirkingly. Hee-joo quietly bit her lower lip, then she let go of her expression again and she looked back at Jun-hee and Chae-kyung.
“Did you hear what the chief said? Go back to that hall and rest. If you carry your luggage and go up to the second floor, there will be several rooms.”
Junhee and Chaekyung nodded and turned around and went out on the road. It was one of the few, or virtually the only three-story buildings in the area, so there was no difficulty in finding the location even though the town hall was farther away than expected. Hee-joo, who is watching the young girls’ backs slowly get smaller, approaches and places his arm around her waist.
“It’s been a while? Let’s finish before my wife comes.”
Contrary to Hee-ju, who was frowning, he was smiling brightly.
