Paik Gahuim at the Beach
Oh Han Ki. Novelist. Analrealist.
Jeong Jidon. Born in Daegu in 1983. Writer. Analrealist.
Translated by Bryan Stubbles
Prologue 1: BEACH NOODLE SHOP – DAY
A noodle shop with a beach view.
A man with sunglasses on in his 30s is eating noodles.
Subtitle: Paik Gahuim* (42)
While eating noodles, Paik Gahuim puts his finger in his mouth as if his teeth hurt; he touches his teeth.
With a look, he takes out a vodka flask and downs it.
Paik Gahuim eating noodles again.
His eyes turn to the beach.
Prologue 2: BEACH – AFTERNOON
The sound of waves on the quiet beach.
Paik Gahuim digging a hole with a shovel.
Sand piles up.
A title in front of the hole.
Paik Gahuim AT THE BEACH
Part 1: The Hole
Scene 1: MOTEL ROOM – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim arranging the luggage in his room.
Naked.
Paik Gahuim putting a gun next to his head and lying down while reading a book.
Scene 2: BATHROOM – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim brushing his teeth.
He frowns as if his tooth hurts.
Then a tooth falls out.
A tooth falling in the sink.
Paik Gahuim blankly looks at the tooth in his hand.
He puts the tooth in a glass.
Scene 3: MOTEL ROOM – MORNING
A sunlit motel room.
Paik Gahuim waking up.
He rubs his eyes and looks out the window.
He sees a man and woman walking along the beach; the camera zooms in on the woman’s happy face.
Paik Gahuim exhales and looks at the tooth in the glass.
He takes a fishing line out of his bag and makes a necklace with it. He wraps it around his neck.
Scene 4: BEACH – DAY
The couple plays in the water.
Paik Gahuim sits far away and watches them.
He casts meaningful looks.
A turtle passes him by.
Paik Gahuim blankly stares at it.
Scene 5: NOODLE SHOP – AFTERNOON
The couple eating noodles.
Paik Gahuim surreptitiously watches them.
He chugs the vodka.
Scene 6: MOTEL, COUPLE’S ROOM – NIGHT
The couple sleeping.
The motel phone rings.
The woman answers the phone as she turns over in her bed.
WOMAN
Hello?
PAIK GAHUIM
It’s me.
WOMAN
Excuse me?
PAIK GAHUIM
I said it’s me, Paik Gahuim.
WOMAN
What?
(whispers)
Are you crazy?
PAIK GAHUIM
Come out.
WOMAN
What are you talking about?
PAIK GAHUIM
I said come out.
WOMAN
Are you crazy?
The woman hangs up the phone.
She puts the phone back. Her boyfriend tosses and turns next to her.
The woman, surprised, rushes to answer the phone.
PAIK GAHUIM
Come out or I come in.
Scene 7: THE BEACH – NIGHT
The raggedly-dressed woman comes to the beach.
Paik Gahuim standing.
WOMAN
Have you gone nuts? How dare you come here.
You’re really out of your mind, seriously.
The woman talking like she’s arguing.
Paik Gahuim quietly takes out a gun.
Shoots.
The woman falling.
Paik Gahuim burying the woman.
Scene 8: NOODLE SHOP – MORNING
Paik Gahuim eating noodles.
He looks happy.
In the distance, the man rushes around, looking for the woman.
Scene 9: INT. CAR – DAY
Paik Gahuim driving to the beach.
He quaffs vodka.
In the car, a turtle is crawling.
Scene 10: BEACH – NIGHT
A quiet night at the beach.
Only the sound of crashing waves is heard.
Suddenly.
A woman’s hand comes out of the sand!
The title appears in front of a noodle shop in Seoul.
END (with a roar)
Part 2: Paik Gahuim’s Death.
Scene 11: RESTAURANT – DAY
Paik Gahuim eating noodles in a restaurant.
He wears a necklace with a tooth.
Paik Gahuim suddenly vomits up his noodles.
He falls to the floor, spouting blood.
Paik Gahuim convulses. People gather around.
Scene 12: RESTAURANT KITCHEN – DAY
Soup stock simmers.
The back of a woman dressed as a cook.
(sirens sound in the background)
The camera pans up to
reveal the face of the woman from the hole in the sand!
She’s wearing a satisfied grin.
An empty bottle of poison next to the woman.
END (with a roar)
Scene 13: HOSPITAL – ICU – DAY
Intensive Care Unit.
Paik Gahuim lying with an IV and respirator.
A doctor and a nurse look down.
DOCTOR
Paik Gahuim, it’s hopeless.
NURSE
This man has no family.
Scene 14: ICU – NIGHT
Quiet hospital room.
Suddenly Paik Gahuim moves his hand.
Paik Gahuim’s hand pulls out the IV!
Part 3: Paik Gahuim Returns
Scene 15: BEACH, NOODLE SHOP – DAY
The couple eats noodles at the beach.
The woman who was buried in the hole and the man who appears for the first time.
The woman wears Paik Gahuim’s necklace.
MAN
Can you not wear that necklace? It’s creepy.
WOMAN
It means something. Don’t let it get to you.
Scene 16: INT. CAR – AFTERNOON
Paik Gahuim’s car driving along the beachfront road.
A turtle crawling inside the car.
Paik Gahuim driving while still donning a hospital gown.
Scene 17. MOTEL – NIGHT
A motel corridor softly lit by moonlight.
Paik Gahuim in front of the door with a gun.
A turtle crawls on the floor.
Paik Gahuim kicks in the door and goes in.
Scene 18: MOTEL ROOM – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim pointing the gun.
The couple is gone.
A baby asleep in a cradle.
A smoke-filled, surreal atmosphere.
BABY
(echo)
Who are you?
PAIK GAHUIM
I’m Paik Gahuim. Who’re you?
BABY
(echo)
I’m also Paik Gahuim.
Subtitle: Paik Gahuim (18 months)
Paik Gahuim turns his sight to the window and looks out.
The woman sitting alone at the beach.
Scene 19: BEACH – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim approaching the woman quietly.
He grabs the necklace from behind her.
The woman is suffocating.
Paik Gahuim strengthens his grip.
A twitching, slumped woman.
A turtle crawls by her side.
Scene 19. SEA – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim holds the dead woman and goes into the sea.
The image of Paik Gahuim and the woman slowly disappear beneath the waves.
Soundless beach.
Only the sound of waves is audible.
Ending title:
PAIK GAHUIM AT THE BEACH
Credits.
When it’s all over,
The silent sea is shown again.
Paik Gahuim’s corpse washed up by the waves.
A close-up of two eyes wide open!
* Paik Gahuim, a South Korean writer born in 1974 and debuted in 2001, is known for writing stories that make readers uncomfortable. – Editor
Oh Han Ki. Born in 1985. Novelist. He has written Prosopopoeia, A Man Who Became a Flamingo, I Live Off the Grid.*
*Oh Han Ki’s A Man Who Became a Flamingo will be featured in Issue 5.
Jeong Jidon. Born in 1983. He is the winner of the 2013 Munhakgwa Sahoe [Literature and Society] New Writer’s Award, the 2015 Munhakdongne Young Writers’ Award, and the 2016 Moonji Literature Award. He also represented the Korean Pavillion in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale as a writer. He has published numerous works, including Like I’m Fighting, A Little Coward’s New Cowardly Party, The Joy of Literature (co-published), and We Will Live In the Memory of Others.
Nabillera 
Paik Gahuim at the Beach
Oh Han Ki. Novelist. Analrealist.
Jeong Jidon. Born in Daegu in 1983. Writer. Analrealist.
Translated by Bryan Stubbles
Prologue 1: BEACH NOODLE SHOP – DAY
A noodle shop with a beach view.
A man with sunglasses on in his 30s is eating noodles.
Subtitle: Paik Gahuim* (42)
While eating noodles, Paik Gahuim puts his finger in his mouth as if his teeth hurt; he touches his teeth.
With a look, he takes out a vodka flask and downs it.
Paik Gahuim eating noodles again.
His eyes turn to the beach.
Prologue 2: BEACH – AFTERNOON
The sound of waves on the quiet beach.
Paik Gahuim digging a hole with a shovel.
Sand piles up.
A title in front of the hole.
Paik Gahuim AT THE BEACH
Part 1: The Hole
Scene 1: MOTEL ROOM – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim arranging the luggage in his room.
Naked.
Paik Gahuim putting a gun next to his head and lying down while reading a book.
Scene 2: BATHROOM – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim brushing his teeth.
He frowns as if his tooth hurts.
Then a tooth falls out.
A tooth falling in the sink.
Paik Gahuim blankly looks at the tooth in his hand.
He puts the tooth in a glass.
Scene 3: MOTEL ROOM – MORNING
A sunlit motel room.
Paik Gahuim waking up.
He rubs his eyes and looks out the window.
He sees a man and woman walking along the beach; the camera zooms in on the woman’s happy face.
Paik Gahuim exhales and looks at the tooth in the glass.
He takes a fishing line out of his bag and makes a necklace with it. He wraps it around his neck.
Scene 4: BEACH – DAY
The couple plays in the water.
Paik Gahuim sits far away and watches them.
He casts meaningful looks.
A turtle passes him by.
Paik Gahuim blankly stares at it.
Scene 5: NOODLE SHOP – AFTERNOON
The couple eating noodles.
Paik Gahuim surreptitiously watches them.
He chugs the vodka.
Scene 6: MOTEL, COUPLE’S ROOM – NIGHT
The couple sleeping.
The motel phone rings.
The woman answers the phone as she turns over in her bed.
WOMAN
Hello?
PAIK GAHUIM
It’s me.
WOMAN
Excuse me?
PAIK GAHUIM
I said it’s me, Paik Gahuim.
WOMAN
What?
(whispers)
Are you crazy?
PAIK GAHUIM
Come out.
WOMAN
What are you talking about?
PAIK GAHUIM
I said come out.
WOMAN
Are you crazy?
The woman hangs up the phone.
She puts the phone back. Her boyfriend tosses and turns next to her.
The woman, surprised, rushes to answer the phone.
PAIK GAHUIM
Come out or I come in.
Scene 7: THE BEACH – NIGHT
The raggedly-dressed woman comes to the beach.
Paik Gahuim standing.
WOMAN
Have you gone nuts? How dare you come here.
You’re really out of your mind, seriously.
The woman talking like she’s arguing.
Paik Gahuim quietly takes out a gun.
Shoots.
The woman falling.
Paik Gahuim burying the woman.
Scene 8: NOODLE SHOP – MORNING
Paik Gahuim eating noodles.
He looks happy.
In the distance, the man rushes around, looking for the woman.
Scene 9: INT. CAR – DAY
Paik Gahuim driving to the beach.
He quaffs vodka.
In the car, a turtle is crawling.
Scene 10: BEACH – NIGHT
A quiet night at the beach.
Only the sound of crashing waves is heard.
Suddenly.
A woman’s hand comes out of the sand!
The title appears in front of a noodle shop in Seoul.
END (with a roar)
Part 2: Paik Gahuim’s Death.
Scene 11: RESTAURANT – DAY
Paik Gahuim eating noodles in a restaurant.
He wears a necklace with a tooth.
Paik Gahuim suddenly vomits up his noodles.
He falls to the floor, spouting blood.
Paik Gahuim convulses. People gather around.
Scene 12: RESTAURANT KITCHEN – DAY
Soup stock simmers.
The back of a woman dressed as a cook.
(sirens sound in the background)
The camera pans up to
reveal the face of the woman from the hole in the sand!
She’s wearing a satisfied grin.
An empty bottle of poison next to the woman.
END (with a roar)
Scene 13: HOSPITAL – ICU – DAY
Intensive Care Unit.
Paik Gahuim lying with an IV and respirator.
A doctor and a nurse look down.
DOCTOR
Paik Gahuim, it’s hopeless.
NURSE
This man has no family.
Scene 14: ICU – NIGHT
Quiet hospital room.
Suddenly Paik Gahuim moves his hand.
Paik Gahuim’s hand pulls out the IV!
Part 3: Paik Gahuim Returns
Scene 15: BEACH, NOODLE SHOP – DAY
The couple eats noodles at the beach.
The woman who was buried in the hole and the man who appears for the first time.
The woman wears Paik Gahuim’s necklace.
MAN
Can you not wear that necklace? It’s creepy.
WOMAN
It means something. Don’t let it get to you.
Scene 16: INT. CAR – AFTERNOON
Paik Gahuim’s car driving along the beachfront road.
A turtle crawling inside the car.
Paik Gahuim driving while still donning a hospital gown.
Scene 17. MOTEL – NIGHT
A motel corridor softly lit by moonlight.
Paik Gahuim in front of the door with a gun.
A turtle crawls on the floor.
Paik Gahuim kicks in the door and goes in.
Scene 18: MOTEL ROOM – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim pointing the gun.
The couple is gone.
A baby asleep in a cradle.
A smoke-filled, surreal atmosphere.
BABY
(echo)
Who are you?
PAIK GAHUIM
I’m Paik Gahuim. Who’re you?
BABY
(echo)
I’m also Paik Gahuim.
Subtitle: Paik Gahuim (18 months)
Paik Gahuim turns his sight to the window and looks out.
The woman sitting alone at the beach.
Scene 19: BEACH – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim approaching the woman quietly.
He grabs the necklace from behind her.
The woman is suffocating.
Paik Gahuim strengthens his grip.
A twitching, slumped woman.
A turtle crawls by her side.
Scene 19. SEA – NIGHT
Paik Gahuim holds the dead woman and goes into the sea.
The image of Paik Gahuim and the woman slowly disappear beneath the waves.
Soundless beach.
Only the sound of waves is audible.
Ending title:
PAIK GAHUIM AT THE BEACH
Credits.
When it’s all over,
The silent sea is shown again.
Paik Gahuim’s corpse washed up by the waves.
A close-up of two eyes wide open!
* Paik Gahuim, a South Korean writer born in 1974 and debuted in 2001, is known for writing stories that make readers uncomfortable. – Editor
Oh Han Ki. Born in 1985. Novelist. He has written Prosopopoeia, A Man Who Became a Flamingo, I Live Off the Grid.*
*Oh Han Ki’s A Man Who Became a Flamingo will be featured in Issue 5.
Jeong Jidon. Born in 1983. He is the winner of the 2013 Munhakgwa Sahoe [Literature and Society] New Writer’s Award, the 2015 Munhakdongne Young Writers’ Award, and the 2016 Moonji Literature Award. He also represented the Korean Pavillion in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale as a writer. He has published numerous works, including Like I’m Fighting, A Little Coward’s New Cowardly Party, The Joy of Literature (co-published), and We Will Live In the Memory of Others.
Share this: