쿵쿵
kung-kung
The ceiling and your heartbeat share one Korean word
The picture Something heavy striking the floor, and the boom coming back up through your body. 쿵쿵 is heavy things hitting the floor; 통통 is light things bouncing.
Where the picture shows up in 쿵쿵
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a sound coming down through the ceiling
위층에서 쿵쿵 소리가 나요.
wi-cheung-e-seo kung-kung so-ri-ga na-yo
There's thudding coming from upstairs.
A dull boom comes down from the ceiling and the air in the room shudders once
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a fist on the door
누가 문을 쿵쿵 두드려요.
nu-ga mu-neul kung-kung du-deu-ryeo-yo
Someone is banging on the door.
A shut door takes a fist and flexes slightly inward with each blow
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a drum inside the chest
심장이 쿵쿵 뛰어요.
sim-jang-i kung-kung ttwi-eo-yo
My heart is pounding.
A drum sounding inside the chest until the pulse can be felt in the throat
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feet pounding the floor
아이가 쿵쿵 뛰어다녀요.
a-i-ga kung-kung ttwi-eo-da-nyeo-yo
The kid is running around, thumping the floor.
A child's whole sole pressing down the floorboards as it passes
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the ground booming far off
공사장에서 쿵쿵 울려요.
gong-sa-jang-e-seo kung-kung ul-lyeo-yo
You can hear the booming from the construction site.
A machine at the site outside drops onto the ground and the window glass trembles
All of it in one picture
쿵쿵 is one sound: something heavy hitting the floor. Coming through the ceiling it is the neighbour's feet; on a door it is an urgent fist; in the chest it is a pounding heart. On floorboards it is a child running, and far away it is the ground booming at a building site.