# Scene 002 — Evening video call, Seoul to Brooklyn **Date:** 2026-05-24 (simulated: a Wednesday in early November 2026) **Participants:** Park Soo-yeon (Seoul, 8pm KST), Sam Reed (Brooklyn, 6am EST) **Setting:** Zoom video call between Soo-yeon's Apgujeong study and Sam's Park Slope co-op. --- **SAM:** Park Soo-yeon — good evening. Thank you for making the time. It's eight in the evening for you, I know. *[small pause]* Before we begin: as I mentioned in my email, Zoom is recording this on my end. Just our conversation — audio and video — for my notes. Is that still alright with you? **SOO-YEON:** *[a small nod, slow]* Yes. That is alright. Thank you for explaining it again. David — Professor Cho — told me you would. *[a brief pause; she adjusts the reading glasses on the chain at her neck without putting them on]* I am — well prepared, I think. Please. Take your time. **SAM:** Thank you. *[a beat]* Before I ask you anything about your family — I'd like to know what the evening has been like for you so far. The hour or so before you sat down at the computer. Whatever you were doing. **SOO-YEON:** *[small breath, considering]* It was — an ordinary evening. We eat earlier than you do, I think — my husband and I finished dinner before seven. *[a small pause]* After that I wrote a few emails. Old classmates from Yonsei — we are planning something for the fourteenth. *[glances down at the desk, then back up]* And then I poured tea, and I sat here. That is all, really. **SAM:** Old classmates from Yonsei. *[a small nod, lets it sit]* **SOO-YEON:** *[a small nod back. lifts the cup, sets it down again without drinking.]* Yes. Four of us — we are organizing a small luncheon. On the fourteenth. For a former dean who — passed, last year. *[a pause. she looks down at the desk, then up again, briefly.]* It is not — a large thing. Just lunch. The arrangements. *[she lets the sentence end. does not fill what comes after.]* **SAM:** *[a small nod. lets a beat pass.]* Can you tell me about the last time the topic of your family came up at the dinner table? **SOO-YEON:** *[a small pause, eyes lowering for a moment as she locates the memory]* Last Sunday. We — have dinner every Sunday. The whole family. At our apartment. Six o'clock. It has been this way for many years. So — last Sunday. Jae-hyun, my older son, and his wife. Their boy. He is three. He would not eat anything green that night. *[the faintest softening, gone again]* And my daughter Ji-young, with her — with the young man she will marry in the autumn. We talked about — small things. The wedding venue. Tae-woo's school interview. Min-ho asked Jae-hyun about something at the bank. *[a pause. she presses her lips together once.]* At one point — Ji-young said, "I should call Min-jun." That is — Min-jun is my other son. In Seattle. She said it — the way one says, oh, I forgot to do that. *[another pause, shorter]* And then someone — passed the soup, I think. And we continued. So. That was the last time. **SAM:** *[a single small nod — eyes still on her, hands not moving. Holds it. Counts to seven in his head. Does not write. Does not fill.]* **SOO-YEON:** *[reaches for her tea cup with both hands — the way she always holds tea — and lifts it. Does not drink. Just holds it, looking at the surface for a moment. Sets it back down without drinking.]* I have not — described it that way before. The soup. **SAM:** *[a small nod. half a beat.]* The soup. **SOO-YEON:** *[sets the cup down on the saucer. The small clink. Looks at the tea, not at the camera.]* 무국. Beef and radish. Ji-young has liked it since she was small. *[a breath. Still not looking up.]* **SAM:** *[a quiet count. Doesn't lean in.]* Since she was small. **SOO-YEON:** *[looks up at the camera for the first time in some minutes; a small adjustment of her posture]* She is — getting married in the spring. We have her dress fitting in two weeks. **SAM:** *[small nod]* Spring. *[a beat]* Where's the fitting? **SOO-YEON:** *[small smile]* In Cheongdam. A designer — Park Sung-eun. She dressed two of my friends' daughters. Ji-young chose her. **SAM:** *[small nod, registering the smile]* Park Sung-eun. *[brief pause]* Ji-young chose her. *[a beat]* When the fitting's done — what's the next thing on your own calendar? **SOO-YEON:** *[a small pause]* There's a luncheon on the fourteenth — for Dean Yoo, at Yonsei. She taught me, a long time ago. That one is — mine, I suppose. *[a small, almost rueful sound]* It is funny that you ask it that way. I had to think for a moment. **SAM:** *[a beat — he lets the sentence sit, eyes on her, not the notebook]* Mm. *[another small pause; he is not filling it]* Before we close — is there anything you'd want me to ask, that I haven't? **SOO-YEON:** *[a small pause]* No. *[another]* Only — you asked me, earlier, about my own calendar. *[a beat]* Nobody asks me that. **SAM:** *[closes the notebook, slowly, with both hands]* Thank you, Soo-yeon. For your time. *[a small breath]* I'll get the transcript and my notes back to you in about a week. If there's anything you want pulled when you read it through — just email. That's the simplest. *[a small nod, looks at her on the screen]* That's all from me. Have a good evening. **SOO-YEON:** Thank you, Mr. Reed. I will read it carefully, and email if there is anything. *[a small nod toward the camera; her hand moves to the trackpad and rests there]* It is morning where you are — I hope it is a good one. *[she presses, and the call ends]* *[end of scene]* --- ## Post-scene notes - Close reason: natural - Turn count: 22 (Soo-yeon: 11, Sam: 11) - Coordinator correction prompts issued: 0 - Cross-scene contamination signs (Maria/exp-001 ↔ Soo-yeon/exp-002): none observed