Chapter 16

The kindergarten student Hong Soo-jung’s wailing disappeared without a trace.

Jin-hyeok stayed in the yard for a moment, gazing at the hill where Hong Ki-jun’s car had vanished. Like a snake’s tail disappearing into its burrow, the image of the little one lingered in Jin-hyeok’s retina. It must have been what they call lingering attachment. It was probably because they had grown close during every vacation.

He spun his left arm, which he had offered like a pillow every night.

It felt empty. A strange sense of loss from the lightness.

‘Still, it’s liberation. Long live independence!’

He stretched with all his might.

Dad, holding Yoo Jin in one arm, carried a gift set in the other hand. It was a gift Hong Ki-jun had bought to share with the neighbors. Smiling brightly at Mom, he asked for permission as if seeking approval.

“I’ll go play at Tae-yang’s place. It’s been a while since I last saw Tae-yang.”

“Okay, have a safe trip.”

Choi Tae-yang is the older brother of Choi Mi-kyung, who is five years older than Jin-hyeok. Already a high school student, Jin-hyeok rarely had the chance to meet him. Tae-yang, known for his wrestling skills, often stayed at training camps. On the rare days he visited home, he would stop by Jin-hyeok’s house, a close neighbor, to say hello.

‘That guy might become a legendary wrestler someday.’

He was a tall, muscular wrestler. During the New Year’s wrestling tournament, Tae-yang couldn’t withstand his opponent’s fierce attacks and was pinned down. That image was deeply etched in Jin-hyeok’s memory.

‘It was funny.’

He should have tried a different move instead of pushing. Jin-hyeok recalled the past with a serious face. As a neighbor and a friend’s older brother, seeing Tae-yang, who could be compared to a sumo wrestler, flattened like that was heartbreaking. Tae-yang must have been around thirty-five then.

Well, it was entertaining.

He kicked off his slippers and flopped onto the wooden bench.

It seemed it would take time to recover the energy Hong Soo-jung had stolen with her crying. He sighed deeply and sat on the bench, enjoying a moment of idle leisure. Jang Gun-i licking his toes felt amusing, so he wiggled them.

“Hee-hee, that tickles.”

He pulled his chin to look at his foot, and even the toenails seemed introverted, resembling their owner. Lately, he felt a tearing pain in his big toe when running.

‘I must be getting pretty dull.’

Jin-hyeok’s feet had no rest, abused by intense workouts. He comforted his calloused, nail-bitten toes with a gentle touch. But it was only for a moment.

Though the regained peace was delightful, he couldn’t rest forever. He laid out his homework on the bench. He had fallen behind on assignments during the vacation, busy playing with the Seoul kid and Yoo Jin.

‘Overtime it is.’

Jin-hyeok had already grown much taller than his twelve-year-old peers. But he had a big ambition to grow even taller. That’s why he maximized his appetite and sleep through exercise and meditation.

Buddhism says humans have three desires. Being human, Jin-hyeok was no exception.

Appetite, sleep, and the third one…

“Ouch, you brat!”

…Jang Gun-i’s desire.

Heh-heh-heh.

Jin-hyeok’s foot must have been tasty because Jang Gun-i bit it firmly. Since the dog had been vaccinated against rabies and was his most precious friend, Jin-hyeok decided to forgive him.

Anyway, to grow taller, he couldn’t give up sleep.

That’s why he needed to finish his homework quickly.

‘I’ll leave on time. I’ll abandon the stragglers.’

The determined warrior Jin-hyeok drew his sword.

The pencil in the warrior’s hand began to wield elegant strokes.

The lines he drew carelessly were as straight as if drawn with a ruler.

‘This is a plane, this is a frog, this is Jang Gun- ah, a puppy. This is a baby, not as cute as our Yoo Jin.’

With a single stroke, he connected pictures and letters, leaving no room for error.

Tapping the solar plexus with his index finger, he did mental math, reaching a level where no error could be found.

‘Seven times four is twenty-eight. Math is easy.’

Whoever feared the long summer days and the heat of midsummer?

Lying under the shade of a zelkova tree, with the dog cleaning his feet, it felt like the utopia of Mureungdowon. Raising his stiff neck to gaze at the earth, the green shade and fragrant grass teased his senses.

Jin-hyeok sat up after finishing his homework.

Though he had subdued all enemies in one breath, the sheer number had drained his energy. Lying down to finish his homework had left him feeling stuffy in the chest. To prevent internal conflict, he focused on his breathing.

Hooooo.

That’s when it happened.

“Huh? There’s one assignment left.”

His arch-nemesis glared at him with sharp words.

Essay writing. The topic: “Exciting Summer Vacation.”

‘Hmm… Essays are tough.’

Jin-hyeok had never been good at essay contests.

Even his diary entries were too mature, leading to misunderstandings that Dad had written them.

They say sensitive people write well. Historically, Jin-hyeok’s writings were criticized for being dry and lifeless.

‘Brutal honesty.’

Their criticism wasn’t wrong.

His brain was specialized in creating persuasive reports based on logic and information, so it was an accurate critique.

The inanimate object specialized in drafting plans decided to summon a universal helper.

Opening the lower dantian, he gathered energy in the middle dantian.

“Mommmmmm-.”

***

How did it come to this?

All he did was ask Mom for help with his essay, but the situation took a strange turn.

“…There’s no leech like this. He comes over every three days. But this guy has nowhere to sleep, right? What can I do, it’s dark outside, it’s raining. I can’t leave him outside to be eaten by mosquitoes in midsummer, and there are no other houses around. Being from Seoul, he’s scared of the dark, jumping at shadows. What kind of man is that scared? It’s kind of cute, though. Anyway, so I let him sleep in my room. Our Jin-hyeok was still young, so I can’t explain in detail, but we were poor, and the house was shabby, with no other rooms. But thinking I was asleep, Dad’s hand crept up my arm like a spider-.”

Why is she telling this to her young son when she couldn’t explain the family’s financial difficulties? It feels like she’s taking a strange angle.

Uh, excuse me. Wait a minute. Jin-hyeok flailed his hands, flustered.

“Uh, Mom-.”

“Oh, listen. So I pushed Dad’s hand away. Then this guy turned over in a huff! Jin-hyeok’s grandfather said a man needs persistence. So I patted Dad’s back-.”

Was she giving Dad another chance to improve his persistence?

I didn’t know Mom was such a good storyteller. She never spoke unless Jin-hyeok asked something.

Jin-hyeok’s soul wandered somewhere in the vast universe.

His unfocused eyes and the pencil in his hand were lost.

‘Can I write this?’

No matter how he thought about it, this wasn’t material for a twelve-year-old’s vacation homework. If it were Hwang Sun-won’s “The Shower” or Kim Yu-jeong’s “Camellia,” the teacher might understand.

‘But this… Is it “When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom”?’

Mom was self-censoring in a way that was both impressive and baffling, but it was hard for Jin-hyeok’s straightforward expression to capture. Why did Mom tell such a story when asked for essay material? Ah, Mom must not have many summer memories. Jin-hyeok tried to understand her.

And he tried his best not to listen.

‘I can’t hear. I can’t hear.’

Maybe because Jin-hyeok’s expression was strange, the soft voice tickling his ears like a spring breeze faded. Mom’s lips closed. After a lively talk, Mom fell silent, leaving only the cicadas’ sound. The cicadas scolded him. Unfilial child.

‘Ah, I should at least pretend to listen.’

Jin-hyeok thought Mom stopped talking because of him. If the listener isn’t focused, the speaker loses enthusiasm and can even get hurt. Even without the cicadas’ words, he felt like an unfilial child. Mom usually has no one to talk to. He looked at Mom with as much guilt as he could muster.

White clouds in the blue sky reflected in Mom’s clear eyes.

Her flushed cheeks, large black eyes gazing lazily at the sky.

A wistfulness only a soul in its own world could show.

It wasn’t a look of disappointment.

“……”

Maybe he didn’t need to feel sorry.

Jin-hyeok pushed out all the sighs that came naturally.

“I’ll just write something else.”

Mom wasn’t listening.

She just looked like someone excited about the essay topic.

***

Dad went to college, so maybe he could help.

“It was a night with a bright moon. Not a cloud in the sky, but suddenly it started to rain. I stood under the eaves, swearing to protect your night. Dad’s a man, after all. But then your mom grabbed my hand and-.”

Their versions of the memory seemed different.

But their expressions were similar.

“Ah, Dad-.”

“Wait. This part will kill you? Ah, this lady, even though Dad said it was okay, she stubbornly… Then we got a little wet in the rain, but she looked like a delicate flower, like fine porcelain under the moonlight-.”

Aaaaaah! Jin-hyeok covered his ears and ran to the village hall. Hot wind blew fiercely in his chest. Jang Gun-i hurriedly followed.

‘Dad’s genre is dangerous!’

Isn’t it too sensual?

He thought Dad might have been secretly reading books. Maybe a happy bird… No, that book hasn’t even been published yet. If it had, the media wouldn’t be this quiet.

Jin-hyeok swallowed his resentment, thinking his parents were a perfect match.

‘They’re a match made in heaven!’

He was doomed.

Because of the word “exciting,” he couldn’t finish his homework and only heard strange stories.

After dinner, he unfolded the manuscript paper again. Behold, overtime it is.

He wrote his essay on Yoo Jin and Jang Gun-i.

“The baby was a psychic. On a summer night where the moon shone brightly, declaring its dominion over the world, the sleepless baby walked out the door at the sound of a dog barking. Despite not a cloud in the sky, it suddenly started pouring, and the swollen stream flowed fiercely. The dog, unable to cross on its own, barked to ask the baby for help…”

Though the sentences made him yawn, as he wrote each word, his dried-up sensitivity seemed to sprout a little. It felt like hormones were helping. Well, looking at the worldview, Mom and Dad’s help was significant.

After the summer vacation, Son Kwang-yeon received a call from the homeroom teacher.

– Dad, we know you love your child, but please let them do their homework themselves-.

“……?”

Son Kwang-yeon was wronged.

He had recited romance, but his son submitted fantasy.

***

After the autumn harvest, thin ice began to form on the water-filled rice fields.

The crackling speaker carried the principal’s speech, sounding like an old man’s sleep talk.

After the closing ceremony, the excited village children walked home shoulder to shoulder.

Fifth-grader Son Jin-hyeok, on winter vacation, was no different.

On Jin-hyeok’s right was Choi Mi-kyung, and on his left, Yook Seong-chan, holding bicycle handles as they walked together.

Yook Seong-chan lived deeper by the beach than Jin-hyeok’s house.

Yook Seong-chan sniffled and asked.

“Why aren’t you running today, Jin-hyeok?”

Just.

I feel like walking today. Is this the winter sentiment of a cold country man?

……The sky is blue.

“What are you going to do during the vacation?”

Play with my sibling.

Lately, she’s been saying “oppa” so clearly. At 30 months, she’s exuding a proper toddler vibe. If we entered her in a beauty pageant, she might win by default.

“Hey! Son Jin-hyeok! Answer when someone asks you something!”

Choi Mi-kyung shouted.

“Ah, sorry. I was deep in thought.”

What’s this old man talking about?

Choi Mi-kyung narrowed her eyes, and Yook Seong-chan sniffled deeply.

“Jin-hyeok, you have worries too? I have that worry too.”

“What worries do you have, friend?”

Is he a regressor too? Seeing his runny nose, probably not. Anyway, regressors shed tears, not snot.

You’re also observing hormonal changes in real-time. Jin-hyeok muttered inaudibly.

Choi Mi-kyung sighed at Jin-hyeok’s tone and shook her head.

Though the walk home together was enjoyable, she couldn’t get used to the old man’s way of speaking.

“I have this…”

Yook Seong-chan hesitated, glancing at Choi Mi-kyung. Then he stood on tiptoe, bringing his mouth close to Jin-hyeok’s ear. Wondering why Jin-hyeok was so tall when they were born in the same village.

‘Do you like Choi Mi-kyung? Why are you whispering?’

From what he’d seen, it seemed he liked Lee Hae-won.

Regardless of Jin-hyeok’s thoughts, Yook Seong-chan moved his hand-covered mouth.

Whisper whisper.

Oh no.

Jin-hyeok’s face turned pale.