This is a powerful, emotionally charged narrative about family conflict, religious obsession, and the struggle for personal boundaries. Here is the English translation of your story:
The Boundary of Faith
The phone rang in the middle of my sleep. A call at this hour could only be from Seoul. My heart raced—had something happened to Father? I bolted upright and answered.
"It’s me. Are you well?"
"What’s happening at this hour? Did something happen to Father?"
"Oh, you were sleeping. I’m sorry. I forgot about the time difference. I just... I felt so frustrated that I had to call."
It was my older sister, who lives near our father. No matter how many times I told her that when it is day in Seoul, it is night here, she still calls in the middle of the night and startles me.
"Is something wrong?"
"No... it's just that I sent both my children to New York, and I’m not at peace. I spoke with Lin a few days ago, and she said she fought with her brother and moved out. I think I need to get her married off."
"I happened to meet an old classmate in New York and got married, but would a man’s parents here like a student studying abroad away from her family? Why don't you come live in America, too? All our siblings and nieces and nephews are here. Don’t you want to come?"
"I’ll go after Father passes away."
"Father told me that you moving to America would actually be helping him."
"Did he really say 그that?"
"Really. Ask him yourself."
My sister, the eldest daughter, confirmed my words with Father and left Korea without a lingering regret.
Father's Relief
"I’ll treat Sister like a mother and take good care of her. Don't worry, Father."
"You’re going to have a hard time," Father replied. "Good luck. Your sister... she exhausts people. I sent someone to fix her broken sewer pipe, and she claimed God fixed it. She says she prayed for a stomachache and the Lord healed her—she’s not in her right mind. If she were uneducated, I might understand, but she graduated from a top-tier university. Seeing her speak so ignorantly makes me feel like all the money I invested in her education was wasted. But if you want to try treating her like a mother, go ahead. It won’t be easy. The neighbors click their tongues, saying, 'Poor old man, living all alone with his children in America,' but I love it. Don't worry about me. Since your sister left for America, I’ve been sleeping like a baby."
The Green Card and the New World
"Sister, bring your Green Card."
My sister, her husband, my husband, and I drove north. We wanted to head to Canada to test the validity of their brand-new Green Cards. While wandering near the border to see the Thousand Islands, we were stopped by the police. With a heart full of anxiety, we showed the cards.
"Have a great trip!" the officer said, waving us through. The years of desperate waiting for those cards flashed before my eyes like a kaleidoscope.
My sister received her permanent residency through her daughter. My niece, Lin, is tall for a woman—the opposite of me. My father used to say that since I was too short and she was too tall, it would be hard for us to get married in Korea, so it was better for us to leave. That was one of the minor reasons we both ended up abroad.
My mother, who had survived the horrors of the Korean War, always encouraged us to study abroad, fearing that daughters are the first to be ruined by soldiers when war breaks out. My father also believed that one becomes a true human only after seeing the wide world. He tried to "cure" his children's perceived flaws by sending them overseas.
The "Sack of Barley" and the QAnon Turn
Lin came to New York right after graduating college. Finding a husband in New York isn't easy. She was tall and beautiful, but lacked "aegyo" (charm). She sat in the room like a "sack of barley," never having dated. I searched everywhere to set her up. She was reluctant with the third man I introduced, but I persuaded her to keep meeting him. He was proactive. After a few more dates, she opened her heart.
While I was busy getting Lin married, my sister and her husband became undocumented. I persuaded Lin to get her citizenship quickly to sponsor them. Fortunately, her husband moved fast, and my sister's couple received their Green Cards. Looking back, everything moved so perfectly. If there had been even a tiny error, my sister would still be undocumented, and Lin would still be sitting in a corner like a discarded sack of barley.
Whenever our two couples went on a trip, I would say out of habit as my husband started the car: "Let’s not fight and just have a fun trip."
"You are becoming exactly like Father," my sister would say. "You talk just like him!"
Whenever I visited Korea, Father would take us on trips. Before leaving, he’d say, "I’m paying for everything, so eat whatever you want. Just don't fight and have fun."
But petty arguments were inevitable. My father, who had an underwhelming only son, would often get discouraged when talking about him. "What can a failure of a parent like me say?" he’d start humbly. But if my sister—who insisted on a marriage he opposed—chimed in, he’d snap:
"And you? Fine, be happy your son is tall. What does he actually do? Being tall just makes my neck hurt looking up at him. I take you on trips and buy you food, but you earn money and give it all to God while giving me nothing. Do even a tenth for me of what you do for God!"
Even my patient sister would flare up at the mention of religion. "Father, why do you always...!"
The Persistence of Obsession
My sister is eight years older than me. Being the eldest, she is kind but completely inflexible. As children, when our parents called, she would answer with a scowl, "Why?" and get scolded. I watched her and learned. When Father called me, I’d answer "Yes!" and run to him. He would hug me and adore me.
Unable to communicate with our parents, my sister married the man Father opposed right after college and left home. Contrary to her hopes of being loved by her husband, her marriage was as rocky as Father predicted. She fought with her husband constantly, threatening divorce every other day. Her life, which started with a misbuttoned first hole, stayed crooked. She kept running back to our parents, breaking their hearts.
That’s why I wanted her to have a new, happy life in America. "Don't bring your husband when you come to the States. Please," I begged. But she bought his ticket and brought him anyway.
"I told you not to bring him! Do you still love him?"
"No. I’m sick of him. But how can a believer abandon a person who wants to follow? I felt sorry for him."
"Religion has ruined your life," I sighed.
In America, she asked me for help with everything, day and night. On my bad days, I’d lose my temper. "Sister, where is the God you pray to every morning? Why do you cling to me every single day? Ask God to do it!"
"You sound exactly like Father."
My sister, who fled Father's sharp tongue, was caught by mine. I felt sorry for her fate and tried to help, but my temperament—the spitting image of my father—was always there. She suffered from my sharp words, and I suffered from the exhaustion of settling her into immigrant life.
The Breaking Point
"Sister, look at that shooting star." We were looking up at the quiet Canadian sky, stars pouring down as if welcoming us.
"Isn't it great we're traveling in America thanks to Father?"
"I never think of this as being 'thanks to Father.' This is all God’s grace."
I lost my words and stared at her. Then I screamed, "I must be crazy! Why am I suffering like this when the God you trust so much is always with you?"
I missed our mother, who passed away early, and tried to find that maternal affection in my sister. But I realized my interference wasn't helping her; it was hurting her. If she was happy believing in the Lord, I should be thankful. I prayed: "Lord, thank you for taking her. I’m going to sleep with my legs stretched out now."
I stopped calling her. But she called me every other Saturday at 10:00 AM without fail. One day, I offered to book her COVID-19 vaccine appointment. She was dismissive.
"Getting vaccinated quickly is how you 'love your neighbor,' which is what your God says!" I lectured her like a 'kkondae' (a moralizing elder).
Two weeks later, she called. "Did you get it?" I asked.
"What?"
"The vaccine, obviously."
"No."
"Why not? Is there a reason?"
"I'm waiting for the 'Sealing' (In-chim)."
"What is that?"
"A shot given by God."
She started rambling about the Book of Revelation, the relationship between the vaccine and the '666' mark of the beast, and QAnon theories she found on YouTube while stuck at home during the pandemic. She was talking about Trump and politics with a fluency I’d never seen, like she was speaking in tongues. I realized there was no room for logic.
A House Divided
Then my niece Lin called. "Auntie, Mom won't get the vaccine no matter what I say. What do I do?"
"I’ve given up," I said. "She’s gone too far. Religion should enrich our lives, not cause conflict. If she’s only happy listening to 'the Lord,' why break her happiness?"
"She got accepted into a senior apartment near me in Chicago, but I don't want them living here. I’m embarrassed in front of my in-laws. Please talk to her."
"Why bother? Her Lord will take care of it. Just live your life well."
My husband called my brother-in-law. "Brother, did you get the vaccine?"
"I did," he replied, "but your sister-in-law won't listen. She spends all day watching YouTube or praying in tongues. I have to shake her to wake her up. If I can't stand the noise, I just go outside. We have to give up."
Through their conversation, I confirmed she had become a QAnon follower. Her brand of Christianity and QAnon politics had merged into a severe symptom. When she called, I kept my mouth shut and gave half-hearted answers.
The Final Conflict
"Let's meet. Let's go to the beach," she called one day. My suppressed frustration finally exploded like a lanced abscess.
"Go where? You aren't vaccinated. No!"
"I won't catch the virus."
"What, did you get a revelation from God? Or that 'sealing' shot?"
"I saw it in a dream. It was vivid. When Lin couldn't get married, I prayed and got an answer, and she got married."
"Sister! Lin got married because I played matchmaker! Why bring God into this? Ugh, I shouldn't even start."
"I got a letter saying I had to pay more taxes," she continued. "I prayed, and God showed me in a dream—money was floating down a stream and got caught on a rock. Then I got a letter saying I didn't have to pay. The Almighty told me not to worry."
"That was just a dream! Is God that bored? You were just worried about the money you left around the house. Did you even graduate college?"
"In God's eyes, everyone is an elementary student. The world is ending exactly as the Bible says. You need to be saved, too. You have everything, but you aren't saved. I feel so bad. It’s because I’m not good with words that you don't believe. I pray for your salvation every day. My mother-in-law followed me to church and had such a peaceful face when she died. But our mother... she refused to believe, and you should have seen the look of terror on her face, like she was falling into hell."
"Stop it! How can you say that? Are you crazy? Please, don't pray for me. I don't want to go to a heaven where you are. I’ll go to my mother. If you lived a harmonious, exemplary life, I might believe. But seeing you obsessed with church, falling out with your husband, children, and siblings... it makes me lose any faith I had."
"Aren't you afraid of God?"
"Why should I be? You’re brainwashed with anxiety at church. God is in the nature I walk in every day. If I do my best to live a joyful, honest life within a harmonious family, isn't that heaven?
"I've made many wrong choices and haven't been happy," she confessed. "At my age, things won't get better, so all I can do is follow the fearsome word of God."
"Don't you think not getting the vaccine is another wrong choice?"
"No. This 'sealing' is the one choice I know is right."
"You said that when you ran away to marry the man Father hated! Your wrong choices made you who you are today. You still don't realize it. You ignore reality, waiting for a heaven after you die, ignoring your father and your children. Has your home ever been happy? You just fight with your husband every single day!"
"I don't listen to people. I only listen to God. My tongue is so fluent lately; I am happiest when praying in tongues. Evil spirits try to stop me, and it takes all my energy to fight them, but when I focus, I feel light as air. Sometimes I start praying out loud on the street and have to catch myself."
"If people think you're crazy and report you, you'll end up in a mental hospital! Then again, maybe you'd like that—praying all day without interruption. If you're so happy, why do you keep calling and torturing me? Let's just mind our own business. Don't call me."
"Is it that hard for you when I call?"
"You don't know? My life is peaceful until you call. After I talk to you, I feel haunted for days. I finally understand why Father felt so relieved after he sent you to America."
"Can't we just talk and promise not to mention religion?"
"No. We start talking and it’s 'God this' and 'God that,' and now it's QAnon politics? This pandemic and YouTube are ruining people. Just be happy on your own. Don't call me. It's over."
Even after that, she called again.
"Did you call me?" she asked.
"Why would I? I told you it's over. Leave me alone. It’s over! Finished!"
Goodness! She can't even keep her own home harmonious, yet she wants to save others? To make things worse, she's obsessed with QAnon, throwing rocks into my peaceful lake. I’d rather clean toilets than listen to that nonsense.
Lord, I have to survive, too. Please, You take care of her. Amen.
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