TITANIC ~ A Yoonmin Story

Min Jimin

゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

"That was the last time I ever saw him. He left my mother but go remarried, of course, and inherited his millions. The crash of twenty eight hit his interests hard, and he put a pistol in his mouth that year. His step children fought over the scraps of his estate like hyenas, or so I read."

゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

Jimin stood at the rail of the Carpathia, at nine pm on April eighteenth. He gazes up at the Statue of Liberty, looking just as it does today, welcoming him home with her glowing torch. It is just as Hoseok saw it, so clearly, in his mind.

Later Carpathia disgorges the survivors at the Cunard pier. Over thirty thousand people line the dock and fill the surrounding streets. The magnesium flashes of the photographers go off like small bombs, lighting an amazing tableau. 

Several hundred police keep the mob back. The dock is packed with friends and relatives, officials, ambulances, and the press-

Reporters and photographers swarm everywhere, deep at the foot of the gangways, lining the tops of cars and trucks. It is the ninteen-twelve equivalent of a media circus. They jostle to get close to the survivors, tugging on them as they pass and shouting over each other to ask them questions.

Jimin is covered with a woolen shawl and walking with a group of steerage passengers. Immigration officers are asking them questions as they come off the gangway.

"Name?"

"Min. Min Jimin."

The officer steers him toward a holding area for processing. Jimin walks forward with the dazed immigrants. The boom of photographer's magnesium flashes cause them to flinch, and the glare is blinding. There is a sudden disturbance near him as two men burst through the cordon, running to embrace an older woman along the survivors, who cries out with joy. The reporters converge on this emotional scene, and flashes explode.

Jimin uses this moment to slip away into the crowd. He pushes through the jostling people, moving with purpose, and none challenges him in the confusion.

   ゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

"Can you exchange one life for another? A caterpillar turns into a butterfly. If a mindless insect can do it, why couldn't I? Was it any more unimaginable than the sinking of the Titanic?"

゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

Jimin walks away, further and further until the flashes and the roar are far behind him, and he is still walking, determined.

゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

Jimin sits with the group in the Imaging Shack, lit by the blue glow of the screens. He holds the hair-comb with the jade butterfly on the handle in his gnarled hands.