Chapter 232

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**Selection (6)**

Maybe I misheard.

Jin-hyeok, who had been tilting his head and listening intently, closed his eyes again and pressed his forehead against the back of his hand.

“Hide well~. I can see your hair~.”

How many times had he repeated the song? The sound of the wind died down, and all he could hear was the breathing of Jang Gun-i, who was tilting his head as if wondering what on earth was going on.

Hehehek~.

“Are you hiding?”

“Yeeees~.”

Hearing the answer again, it seemed like no matter how many times he repeated it, the result would be the same.

Hey, you.

Jin-hyeok bit his lip to hold back the laughter threatening to burst out.

No matter when you look at him, he’s such a good younger brother who always answers so well.

“I’m coming to find youuuu~.”

“Yeeeeees~.”

“……”

At this point, I should just let it go.

Even without Yoo Jin’s voice, it would’ve been easy to find her.

At first, I thought she might be hiding in the ditch by the riverside track, but I didn’t even need to go that far.

Beep~.

‘Haengun-i, shh. Be quiet.’

It’s funny how she answers loudly to her brother but whispers softly to Haengun-i.

Beep~.

‘Ah, please. You ruined it because of Haengun-iiii~.’

Beep~.

At this point, Haengun-i feels more like a snitch than a bird.

Hmm, if he’s not being sneaky but outright exposing her, maybe he’s just a snitch.

Anyway.

‘Should I find her or not?’

Why am I even stressing over this?

Is this what they call a choice?

It’s probably better to just play along.

“Aigooo~, I can’t find youuu~?”

“Hehehe~.”

Yoo Jin giggled for some reason.

Inside the doghouse.

“Why are Hong-shi, Cheon-ma, Gwang-ma, and Geon-ma outside when it’s so coldddd~?”

“Hehehe~.”

The loyal dog friends stood like statues in front of the doghouse, pretending to be clueless to cover for Yoo Jin. What a sight. If the dogs, who were ignoring Jin-hyeok, had even whistled, he might’ve been completely fooled.

Beep~.

Following Haengun-i’s cries, Jin-hyeok circled the doghouse about ten times before giving up and shouting, “I can’t find you!”

Finally, Yoo Jin crawled out, brushing off the dirt stuck to her knees, and pointed at her brother as if scolding him.

“I’m hiding again.”

“Isn’t it your turn to be ‘it’?”

“You didn’t find meee~.”

Yoo Jin crossed her arms, giving him a look that said, “How pathetic.”

Isn’t that the pose girls make when they’re about to fight?

“Ah~, fine. Hide.”

Maybe she doesn’t know the rules. It’s been 50 years since I last played hide-and-seek, and she’s already complaining. Jin-hyeok grumbled internally as he pressed his forehead against the zelkova tree and closed his eyes again.

“Hide well~. If I catch you, I’ll grab your hair~.”

Jin-hyeok and Yoo Jin played hide-and-seek with all their might.

Jin-hyeok busily ran around but deliberately didn’t find her, while Yoo Jin found her brother no matter where he hid.

‘When am I even going to exercise…’

Still, it’s a fun and precious time.

Because I know these moments won’t come back.

The siblings’ excitement, undampened by the late winter chill, continued until their family returned from the hospital at sunset.

*

Jin-hyeok lifted Jeong Won out of the car.

“Ehh-cha! Did our little brother do well at the hospital?”

“Ugh, don’t even ask. The doctors were running around like crazy, asking what was even wrong with him.”

Han Yu-young shook her head like she was shooing away flies.

“Mom must’ve been more worried than Jeong Won. I’m glad he’s okay.”

You don’t even need to say it.

Even now, Mom’s face is full of worry.

Probably because she feels guilty for not being able to take care of the baby.

“As long as Jeong Won’s okay, that’s all that matters. Ugh~. I feel like I’ve aged ten years.”

“You’ve worked hard. Let’s go inside. Yoo Jin, let’s go eat dinner.”

“Yeees~. Hehehe~.”

It must be because her heart is tired.

That’s why even Dad looks worn out.

I know exactly what’s needed at times like this.

I’ll skip exercising today.

***

“Ouch! It bit meee~.”

“Ugh~. Jin-hyeok, be careful~. The crab’s claws are ridiculously strong~.”

They call it *bak-haji*.

It’s a dialect for crab, similar to how some regions call a dragonfly ‘thunder’ or ‘lightning.’ In some places, they even call it ‘bear fish.’ There’s actually a real bear fish, but if that guy hears this, he’d be upset.

Anyway.

Yook Seong-chan was having so much fun with his friend while clamming that he couldn’t stop chatting.

“These guys are seriously feisty. Two weeks ago, one bit me so hard I almost lost a finger, you know?”

It’s not like Jin-hyeok came out to the sea just for today.

He goes out to the night sea once a month for clamming, but it’s such a routine thing that there’s nothing particularly memorable about it.

“Whoaaa~, look at this octopus~. It’s freaking huge~.”

He picked up some abalone for his mom because it’s good for women, and he grabbed whatever he could find because it’s said to be good for men. Of course, following his dad’s rule, he releases the young ones without question. The size standard is Jin-hyeok’s hand, and for crabs, if their claws spread out are smaller than his hand, he ignores them. In the end, Jin-hyeok doesn’t catch much compared to the effort he puts in.

“Whew~, this is exhausting. Seong-chan, aren’t you thirsty? Let’s drink some water and go.”

Crossing the tidal flat, wading through the water, and flipping over rocks bigger than an adult’s head.

The rocks are covered in sharp oyster shells, making it easy to cut your hands if you’re not careful. You can’t just rush in relying on brute strength.

“Jin-hyeok, you’re something else~. Complaining about being tired~.”

Even with physical strength, it’s inevitable that stamina gradually wears down. Knowing how terrifying it is to run out of energy on the tidal flat, Jin-hyeok had no choice but to pace himself.

Watching Yook Seong-chan, who’s more agile than him on the tidal flat, Jin-hyeok once again understood why the mighty Choi Tae-yang struggles on the flats or in the mountains.

‘Labor and exercise are different.’

The posture and breathing are different, so the timing of using strength is different, and the rate at which stamina depletes varies too.

Living in a house where you only need to take five steps from the gate to reach the tidal flat, Yook Seong-chan has been doing this since he was a kid, so he’s more skilled at sea work than exercise.

“Ahhh~, look at this mess.”

Yook Seong-chan panicked as he opened the icebox.

“Jin-hyeok, why did you call me out for clamming so suddenly? I didn’t even bring enough water~.”

This clamming trip was chosen to cheer up Mom, who’s been down since Jeong Won almost choked. There’s nothing better for lifting spirits than sharing a delicious meal together. Of course, Mom’s cooking is great, and Jang Jin-nam’s dishes are no slouch either, but can anything beat freshly caught seafood?

“I brought plenty. Drink up.”

Even though it’s winter and the sea isn’t making me sweat, I’m strangely thirstier.

It’s probably because of the salty sea breeze, Yook Seong-chan laughed.

“How’s it going with Hae-won?”

“Cough~! Uhuhuhu~. Ah, don’t ask~.”

Suddenly hit with a girlfriend question, Yook Seong-chan choked on his water and smirked.

Yook Seong-chan goes to an industrial high school in another region, while Lee Hae-won attends a commercial high school in town.

Growing up in the same village, they’ve seen each other at their best and worst, leaving them with two options: either become close or become rivals. Luckily or unluckily, Jin-hyeok’s friends ended up being the former.

“Every morning, I ride my scooter to pick her up, and Hae-won waits at school until I come to get her~.”

“That’s nice.”

Hearing about their innocent romance makes my heart flutter and brings a smile to my face.

Even though it’s too dark to see his face clearly, Yook Seong-chan seems to be in a good mood, giggling nonstop.

“It’s all thanks to Il-hun’s advice~.”

“That guy? Why?”

“Il-hun told me everything~. What do I know?”

A guy who got married in his fifties giving dating advice.

The human world really isn’t what it seems.

“Uh, uh, what did he say?”

“Huh? What’s with you? Did you fall for someone, Jin-hyeok? You’re stumbling over your words~.”

Hey, shut up and explain before I stick you in the tidal flat.

“Well~.”

Slurp~.

Yook Seong-chan started his story, matching the rhythm of his steps.

“Just treat her like a princess. Not like blindly obeying, but like, be sweet and attentive, you know? And then, uh, let her make the choices. If the guy acts all macho just because he’s a man, it won’t work~.”

But if you’re too nice, won’t the guy seem too easy?

This was way different from what Jin-hyeok had heard.

“Once, Hae-won felt so bad that she said we should break up~.”

Ah, so that’s what happened.

It must’ve hurt Yook Seong-chan, who’s been devoted since elementary school.

“Turns out, there’s a church in Jaedong Village, you know? The one I used to go to~.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“That church guy tried to lure her away~.”

What the hell, stealing someone’s girlfriend…

“But after, like, a week? She felt bad and slowly came back~.”

“Wow… So?”

Impressive.

Making a girl who left come back in less than two weeks? That’s some skill.

“Well, I mean~, what’s there to lose? I was curious, so I asked her~.”

“Why did you come back?”

“Uh~, duh. What else would I ask?”

So?

What did she say?

Spit it out before I flip you into the tidal flat.

“She said that after talking to that guy, she realized how well I treated her. That guy just acted all high and mighty and didn’t even listen to her~. Like, who does he think he is? Is he better at studying than Son Jin-hyeok? Better at sports?”

What? Why are you bringing up random people?

Jin-hyeok was slightly flustered but thought he understood what Yook Seong-chan was getting at.

“Did he listen to her like I did? Did he make her laugh like I did? Even if my way of speaking is a bit country, I’m not that bad, right? You get what I mean? I even bought her an expensive jacket, like, a protective one, you know?”

“Hmm~.”

I think I get it.

“She said it felt like a betrayal of trust, so she called me and came over, and I had to chase that guy away with a shovel~.”

“So Hae-won doesn’t go to church anymore?”

“Uh~, well? Hae-won’s a thoughtful girl. Now she’s scared to even go near the church. She says the pastor might chase her out, calling her a devil’s spawn~.”

Jin-hyeok had heard a similar story from his friend Kim Eun-jung.

Her Christian aunt came to visit from the city and took her to a rural church. On the way back, the aunt suddenly pointed at some farmers working in the fields and called them devil’s spawn.

Though Jin-hyeok secretly calls her a know-it-all, Kim Eun-jung was so shocked that she stopped going to church. She only went because she liked the snacks and playing with her friends on the wide, cool church floor. But after hearing such scary words from an adult, her reaction was understandable.

But then some pastor or deacon kept coming to her house, asking why she wasn’t coming to church, until Kim Chun-sik grabbed him by the collar and chased him away.

‘The world is such a noisy, incomprehensible place.’

As Jin-hyeok clicked his tongue, Yook Seong-chan’s rant continued.

“God the Father, right? Aren’t all His children the same? Whether they go to church or not, He’ll take care of them, right? He wouldn’t discriminate, would He?”

Saying something similar to Kim Eun-jung, Yook Seong-chan took off his hat and scratched his head vigorously.

The sound of his scalp scratching was louder than the droplets of water splashing on the tidal flat.

“Hey, Jin-hyeok. Let’s stop here and head back if we’ve caught enough.”

“Already?”

The flashlight revealed that Yook Seong-chan’s icebox only had four crabs and three fist-sized abalones.

“I miss Hae-won, and also…”

“Also?”

Yook Seong-chan sighed deeply.

“I’m scared of the dark. Jesus might come out…”

Ah, right.

This guy, Seong-chan, once stopped going to church because they didn’t give him snacks.

Guess that’s why the Bible says humans are sinful beings.

Kim Eun-jung, Yook Seong-chan, and who else? Anyway, Jin-hyeok’s surrounded by ex-cons.

*

Even though he said that, Yook Seong-chan seemed uneasy about returning with such a light icebox.

“Should we catch a bit more? Since we’re already out, Hae-won would like it if we brought her some, right?”

“Don’t even start~.”

“Ahahahaha~.”

Yook Seong-chan laughed like a seal at Jin-hyeok’s awkward dialect.

The two friends continued gathering their haul until they came across a large rock.

“Seong-chan, step aside. I’ll flip it.”

“Whoa~, the oysters are really stuck on this one~. Be careful, don’t hurt your hands~.”

This is the kind of thing you leave to the pros. If you force it, you could hurt your back or, worse, seriously injure your knee on the rock.

“Uncle Chun-sik’s statue was around our age when he passed away here~.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

Now there are three brothers, but Kim Chun-sik was originally the eldest of four.

Below him was Kim Chun-o.

Then Kim Chun-sam and Kim Chun-seop.

Kim Chun-o went out to the winter sea one night and never returned.

The next morning, as soon as dawn broke, the villagers went out to search and found him lying under a large rock, his legs crushed, with his eyes open and lifeless.

“Don’t underestimate the mud~. Take only what’s given, and use only as much strength as you have~. Whoa~, look at this ledge? If you push it lightly, it moves like this~. Even though it’s such a big ledge, the bottom is full of stuff to grab~. Don’t even start~. Greed brings disaster~.”

“Grrr! Got it!”

Thud~! Splash~.

Flipping the massive rock revealed a bustling world of life underneath.

Clack-clack~.

Whew~. Jin-hyeok didn’t even have time to catch his breath.

“Heehee~! This is amazing! Quick, quick~!”

At Yook Seong-chan’s urging, Jin-hyeok bent down again and frantically gathered the catch.

From the quick-moving crabs to the slow octopuses and the immobile abalones.

It was as if the icebox was sucking them all in.

“Ahhh~, Jin-hyeok’s strength is really something~.”

Yook Seong-chan put his hands on his hips and sighed.

Jin-hyeok bit his lip.

Hey, you pick some up too.

You’re so annoying.