The Girl with Seven Names: Chapter 42 Summary & Analysis

Hyeonseo feels her stomach flutter with nerves as she rings the bell to Aunt Sang-hee and Uncle Jung-gil’s door. Aunt Sang-hee answers and is genuinely happy to see Hyeonseo. Hyeonseo repaid her debt to them years before, and she learned that Geun-soo had since married. It is clear to Hyeonseo that Aunt Sang-hee has forgiven her for leaving so abruptly years earlier, which is good, because Hyeonseo needs another favor. She will need Aunt Sang-hee’s ID card if she is to get Mother out of China safely. 

Aunt Sang-hee agrees to let Hyeonseo borrow her ID card. It is Semptember 2009, and by the time Hyeonseo arrives in Changbai, it is almost three o’clock in the morning. She checks into an expensive hotel—one she hopes no Bowibu will ever look for North Korean defectors at—and calls Min-ho to confirm their plans. He will guide Mother across the Yalu River tomorrow evening between seven and eight o’clock. Mother has already bribed a hospital doctor to file a fake death certificate. As far as the government is concerned, mother died on her way to Hamhung.

At 6:15 the next evening, Hyeonseo arrives on the riverbank and waits. By 8:15, there is still no sign of Mother or Min-ho. Another hour passes, and Hyeonseo’s phone rings. It is Min-ho. We have a problem, he says.