Chapter Thirty-four: Hidden Bright Moon

Summary

• The chapter titled "Hidden Bright Moon" deals with a family who is commemorating the hundredth day since the father’s disappearance, coinciding with Chuseok, a Korean day of honoring ancestors.
• The narrator reflects on their father's heroism, as he saved their brother Eugene's life at the waterfall where he ultimately fell and disappeared.
• The narrator arrives early at the park to watch the moonset and sunrise and to perform a private ritual at the waterfall overlook, where their father was last seen.
• Feeling a strange significance at the overlook, the narrator reminisces about their father's final moments and his sacrifice to save Eugene.
• The narrator is haunted by the idea of their father’s thoughts and fears during his last moments, worries that were confirmed after talking to a kayaker who experienced a similar situation of near-death.
• The family plans a simple ceremony, with the narrator wanting to burn written pages in symbolic catharsis, while others suggest more conventional memorials like reading books and donating a bench.
• The narrator wrote their story after the father’s disappearance and decides to burn it where he fell, seeking a form of closure and hoping to communicate their family’s progress to their father’s spirit.
• While burning the pages, the narrator imagines seeing their father's serene face in the water below, a psychological trick but a comforting one for the future.
• The chapter concludes with the narrator preparing a surprise for Eugene—a large touch-screen tablet to aid his communication during the ceremony, symbolizing hope and continuation.
• The family will gather at the waterfall overlook, where Eugene will use the new tablet to give his speech, while the rest of the family stands by in support and anxious anticipation.