Upside Down (업사이드 다운)

Family? You mean who live here?

I,

Seongbin's mom, Gaeul,

and Seongbin.

Goun is, first child. my eldest daughter.

My eldest son's birth weight was 3.2kg and younger one was 3.3kg.

I lost my parents at an early age.

And it is a custom that a woman visits her family to give birth to her child.

As my in-laws live in Changwon,

both of my sons were born in Samsung Changwon Hospital.

Dayeong was born on July 14, 1997.

She was born when summer reaches peak heat.

I have four brothers

and Dayeong has no aunt on the father's side.

And it was a girl!

I called my mother, who lived in Anyang,

from a pay phone and told her my daughter was born.

She just rushed over to the hospital to celebrate.

I like mountain climbing,

and I told you that my wife is 7 years younger than me.

Ah... My wife's gonna be mad at me if she knows I tell you this.

She'd had a crush on me. I mean really.

I know how I look now,

but I was a total chick magnet.

So, ah... this is top secret.

We went to Juwang Mountain and Seho was conceived there.

So his fetus nickname was "Juwang."

I had a very auspicious conception dream.

A scallop shell opened just

like the Birth of Venus.

I told people about my dream

and they said it's a conception dream.

A goddess was born from a giant scallop.

That's way Seongbin is pretty.

She was a baby with big appetite

and smiled and laughed a lot.

As a baby, she was very active.

When I got home late, Dayeong waited for me

and showed me kindergarten dances and songs.

As I was drunk, I just reclined

and paid little attention, saying, "yeah, you are very good."

But she did her best for the performance.

This guy was so generous that always treated friends.

Hamburgers or whatever.

Other guys chip in, but Seho liked to treat friends.

Whenever he got some money,

he treated as many as twenty to thirty hamburgers for friends.

Do you mean he was unstinting?

Not really. He just liked friends so much.

Seho had lots of friends.

He was popular among peers.

Others say their adolescent kids don't want to talk to dad.

But that wasn't the case with me and my girl.

Seongbin liked to sit close to me when studying.

Except for school hours, she was always with me.

She would always be with me

unless she had special schedule

like hanging out with friends.

What did Dayeong want to be when she grew up?

Her dream had changed occasionally.

Recently, she wanted to be a doctor.

However, as math class got more challenging from 11th grade,

she agonized over what to do.

I guess she lost confidence

due to the fierce competition

for entrance into premedical course.

"Dad, I'm gonna choose a visual major.

I think that's right for me."

So I said OK.

Once, she had won a silver prize,

with the User-Created Content video that

she shot with the classmates, in a contest.

When she was in elementary school, she wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.

In middle school, until 8th grade, she had not been a remarkable student.

However, from 8th grade, she ranked at the top of the school.

Then, she said she wanted to be a diplomat or a judge.

She stuck to her dreams.

I told you, I hold a cook license.

On Sundays, you know, it's impossible on week days,

but on Sunday, I cook breakfast for family.

I'm no kidding.

My boys complained about mom's food.

Cooking is a daily routine for mom,

but when I have to cook once in a while, I do it right.

"Ah... Mom is no match for dad."

I was sorry for my wife, so I added

"Hey, you know what? I am a cook license holder."

And my son said, "yeah, I know that."

Then we laughed out loud.

It wasn't a big deal,

but I loved cooking whatever my kids wanted.

I guess Seho developed his passion for cooking from dad.

I don't think so...

but I can't rule out that it was my influence, huh?

Seho liked to assist me when I was cooking.

Right, that makes sense.

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure but it could be.

It's heartbreaking to think about school excursion.

I run my own business and recently I had financial difficulties.

When talking about this and that,

my wife told Goun that

we can't afford to pay for you to go on a school excursion.

At work, I received her text message.

"Dad, I want to go on a school excursion

but mom says I can't.

Is it true?"

So I answered, "What are you talking about?

Daddy can pay for the school excursion, of course.

You will go on a school trip

and don't worry about it."

She spread clothes all over here.

If she had had a big sister, her sister could have checked out them.

So, Seongbin made video calls to her friends to talk about her outfits,

asking "What do you think? How do I look?"

She did it for three days, or even for a week.

Dayeong was born in 1997 and she lived for about 18 years.

The Korean society changed a lot in her lifetime.

In 1998, the Asian Financial Crisis took place

and since 2003, infectious diseases like SARS and bird flu have prevailed.

Due to the outbreak of these illnesses,

kids could not go on school trips when they were younger.

When Seho was in elementary school,

the school excursion planned to Gyeongju was cancelled,

because of swine flu.

How they wanted to go on a school excursion this time!

Nothing special.

I just said "Bon voyage!" in the morning of the previous day.

When school was over they went to Incheon to get on board.

On the day, I just said a pleasant journey.

If I had known that it would be the last time,

I would not have done so.

In the morning, no, in the evening of the day,

Seongbin sent a text message to her mom

that the ship was docked at the port because it was foggy.

My wife asked whether she took travel sickness pills.

After a long pause, my wife received Seongbin's reply that she took them.

Then, she sent messages that now she would go,

as the fog had dispersed and it was possible to sail.

That was all.

"Hey, your daddy is missing you.

I know that you are having fun with your friends now,

but I told you that you should text me on your departure.

Is it a pleasant voyage?

But I'm a bit sulking with you."

The message I sent became the last one.

His last words were...you know,

we had no idea it'd be the end...

he said "I'll be back soon."

Precisely, "I'll be back soon, dad. See you."

...any marine accident, marine criminal...

Thank you for calling, the coast guard situation room.

119 here,

did you pick up the phone call from the ferry to Jeju Island from Incheon?

Ah, you mean the Sewol ferry? I got the phone.

Where are you now?

119 situation room. -119, OK

We've got a report that the vessel is tilted

and now many passengers are drowning

Passengers are drowning?

Yes.

How many passengers are in the water? one?

As of now, many are in the water, according to the distress call.

It seems that many students are on board for school trip.

Right after morning meeting,

when I went back to my office to start the day,

the chief director who is responsible for the whole broadcasting schedule came to my desk

and said a ship that students were on board went aground and tilted.

I asked him about the kind of the vessel

and he answered, "it might be a big car ferry."

In the morning of the day,

when I turned on the computer in the office, I saw the new titles,

Ferry Began to Sink off Coast of Jindo..

I was struck by the thought that "Dayeong set off yesterday

and now the vessel would be around Jindo."

So I followed the breaking news reports.

Then, Danwon High School was mentioned in the articles.

I thought something went wrong.

Hello, it's 119 situation room here.

They are students from Danwon High School of Ansan city,

I mean the passengers.

My colleagues asked me if my son was a Danwon High student.

I said yes, and their reaction was "Oh, my god."

Why? I asked.

Now the vessel is sinking off the coast of Jindo, they said,

isn't it the vessel that your son is on board?

I shouted, "It makes no sense.

Such a huge vessel cannot capsize."

Even the weather was fine on the day.

Hello, 119.

Hello, Mokpo Coast Guard here.

We received a report that a ferry,

of which the name is Sewol,

is now sinking near Byeongpung Island of Jindo.

My wife received a phone call at 8:45 from Seho.

He said "The ship is a bit tilted, but..."

Then he told that all the students had to assemble,

and hung up.

Everybody says they were ordered to stay put. Stay in the cabin.

Teachers told so and students just followed.

Do you know what I mean?