Chapter 236

A few years ago, in the fall, Jo Il-hun, who was drinking at the village hall, said something like this:

– “Even those kids who used to run around in their underwear spouting nonsense straightened up after going to school. But when will Eun-jung come to her senses?”

At those words, Kim Chun-sik, furious, ignored the Three Bonds and Five Relationships and tried to beat Jo Il-hun.

The villagers tried to stop him, saying, “He’s your elder brother, you can’t do that!” But Kim Chun-sik shouted, “What kind of elder brother is he?!” and Jo Il-hun ended up crying bitterly.

Anyway.

Choi Mi-kyung is a lunatic.

Kim Eun-jung is a fake genius.

‘How on earth did Eun-jung get into Taeyang High?’

Taeyang High School has fewer female students, with girls making up about 70% of the male student population.

The competition rate and cutoff scores for the entrance exam are much higher for girls than for boys. This is because students aiming for humanities in the region flock there, and except for the year Jin-hyuk entered, the top scorer in the entrance exam has always been a girl, which shows the level of the female students.

‘Apparently, being good at studying and acing exams doesn’t necessarily mean you’re smart.’

Watching Kim Eun-jung, who was spouting nonsense in a state of selflessness, I gained another insight. They say life’s teachers are your friends, and it seems that’s not wrong. Kim Eun-jung is also a good teacher for Jin-hyuk.

Even a bad example can be a teacher.

Looking at Kim Eun-jung reminds me of Jo Seol-chan.

Their absurd antics, engaging in nonsensical banter and arguments with Yeom Byeong-taek, are oddly similar. Their way of speaking is different, but their level of thinking seems to be on the same wavelength.

Jin-hyuk’s eyes, which had been losing focus, began to shine.

‘We’re almost there!’

In the distance, a two-booth phone booth and the school bus stop came into view.

Finally, freedom!

Drrrrrrr-.

The pager beeped again.

‘Is it Choi Mi-kyung again?’

After greeting the bus driver, Jin-hyuk rummaged through his coat pocket and pulled out the pager.

“Hey! Get off quickly! If the UFO kidnaps the bus, I’ll get taken too!”

What on earth is this about?

Hey, we’ve arrived, so go back to your planet!

Getting scolded by Kim Eun-jung, Jin-hyuk stepped off the bus and tilted his head.

‘Who is this?’

It was a voice message.

No number, no contact information.

There were many who prank-called like this, but it was the first time the pager went off at this hour. Those guys usually left messages at night.

‘This feels strange.’

An instinctive warning told him not to ignore it.

He had often experienced how unexpected events, like discordant notes in a repetitive routine, could become crucial turning points.

Like his parents’ beachcombing, not knowing the sea, or Moon Seok-il and his group wandering the neighborhood in suits.

“Let me make a quick call-.”

“At this hour? It’s so dark!”

It’s dark, but it’s morning now.

He could have checked with the secure phone, but Kim Eun-jung’s watchful gaze made him uneasy.

Ignoring Kim Eun-jung, who was chasing after him, he pulled out a phone card. It was new, unused, with no scratches.

Thankfully, there were phone booths at every bus stop.

Beep beep beep-.

– You. Have. One. New. Voice. Message. Press 1 to listen-.

Beep-.

After glancing at Kim Eun-jung, who was standing outside the booth looking displeased, he pressed play.

– ······.

The voice message started, but there was no sound.

Silence.

Only a faint beep, like tinnitus, as if darkness itself had left a message, and an eerie silence lingered on the other end of the line.

Holding his breath, he closed his eyes and focused on his hearing.

– Ugh······.

Where have I heard this sound before?

No matter how much he tried to remember, he couldn’t recall hearing it.

‘This is weird. I feel uneasy.’

Yet, it felt familiar. At the same time, a chilling sensation surged through the back of his neck and cheeks. Goosebumps rose from his sides to his chest.

Bam-!

He flung open the phone booth door.

“Hey! Jin-hyuk! Where are you going!”

He tossed the annoying bag at Kim Eun-jung’s feet.

Without even hanging up the phone or taking the card, he ran.

‘It’s clear.’

It was the sound of someone dying.

***

Jo Seol-chan vaguely remembers his mother.

She left home when he was too young, so his grandmother and friends don’t remember her, but the touch of his mother, who secretly visited until he was about six, is still etched on his cheeks.

– “Mom, stop coming. Seol-chan doesn’t look for you anymore.”

His mother would quietly visit at night, meet his grandmother, and stroke his cheeks.

He was too scared to open his eyes.

So, Jo Seol-chan never saw his mother’s face. He only knew her from a photo of a young woman holding a baby, which his grandmother told him was his mother.

– “Money isn’t everything. Raising a child alone is hard. His father left me alone.”

He wished he could hear her voice, but she always stayed outside with his grandmother, afraid of waking the sleeping child. That’s why they only talked outside.

After a few visits, his mother stopped coming.

As a child, he once hated his grandmother.

– “When I was young, I told your mother to find her own life. I said I’d raise the child. What good would it do to stay here?”

He thought his mother stopped coming because his grandmother made it easier for her to leave, so he hated her.

As he grew older, he began to understand his grandmother’s heart. She wasn’t telling his mother to abandon him, but making a choice to save her young daughter-in-law. She didn’t want her to grow old alone like her, sacrificing herself.

And she lived for her grandson.

He couldn’t let her down.

Even when bullied at school, he lied, saying he got hurt while playing, always with a bright smile. He didn’t want to upset his grandmother.

He never blamed his mother for how they lived.

The mother who left her young son crying was a figure of longing, not hatred.

He graduated elementary school, made good friends in middle school, and was now in his second year of high school.

Jo Seol-chan had a dream.

To learn a skill, get a job early, and make his grandmother’s life comfortable.

“Oh my-, what’s our Seol-chan doing outside in this cold?”

“Just stacking coal! Don’t come out, Grandma!”

Coal is the cheapest and least labor-intensive fuel.

When ordered, it’s delivered by truck, but Jo Seol-chan’s house is surrounded by fields, so the truck can’t come close. Still, the coal shop owner, a kind man, carries the coal to the storage for his grandmother.

“Oh my-, why is March so cold?”

They converted an old outhouse into a coal storage, and seeing the piled coal, Jo Seol-chan felt grateful to his grandmother, the coal shop owner, and Son Jin-hyuk’s mother.

His grandmother raised him, the coal shop owner went out of his way to help, and Son Jin-hyuk’s mother… it was almost too much to put into words.

“Oh, right! School starts tomorrow, so I should call Mom.”

Son Jin-hyuk’s mother, seeing how hard his grandmother worked, sent a contractor to remodel their old kitchen into a modern one. She knew the struggles of homemaking and had the affection to improve their lives. They even tore down an unused room to build a bathroom.

She helped without burdening them, telling them to live well and work hard.

Ring-.

“Oh, yes. Hello, Mom? Yes-. Seol-chan is starting his second year tomorrow-. Oh-, really? Thank you for the bus fare-. He never misses school and does well at the academy-. A girlfriend? Oh-, he’s not thinking about that-. He needs to study-. Yes, yes-. Goodbye, Mom?”

With so many people helping, he knew he couldn’t afford to wander.

Maybe it was because his once shy personality had become more outgoing, or maybe it was a sign that life was going well. He made many friends at the industrial high school, known for its rough crowd. Being friends with Son Jin-hyuk earned him goodwill, and teachers recommended him for scholarships.

So.

Even if he couldn’t remember his mother’s face or voice, it was okay.

‘But why is it so clear today?’

After stacking coal, massaging his grandmother’s limbs, and preparing for his first day of second year, he fell asleep and dreamed of his mother.

In the past, his mother in the photo appeared blurry, but today she was clear.

After the initial joy and gratitude, her silent crying felt strange.

‘What? Why are you crying out of nowhere?’

The awkwardness turned into pressure, weighing on his heart, and an unpleasant chill clawed at his cheeks. His eyes opened on their own.

But something was wrong with his eyes.

No, it was his head.

The ceiling was spinning, and his eyes felt dry and heavy.

His body felt glued to the floor, unmoving.

Carbon monoxide poisoning.

He had experienced it before.

‘This is strange. I changed to dry coal.’

In most households, carbon monoxide poisoning happens when wet coal is used. Sometimes the chimney leaks, but Jo Seol-chan, who did his own repairs every winter, knew that wasn’t the case.

He was always careful about heating and coal, especially for his aging grandmother.

Where was his grandmother?

He barely moved his eyes to look for her.

She lay still, not moving.

He couldn’t even tell if she was breathing.

‘Did Mom come to take me…? Then did Mom go to heaven too…?’

Or maybe it was heaven’s way of letting him see his mother’s face one last time.

It’s a pain only those who’ve experienced it know.

His head felt like it was splitting, and he couldn’t balance his body, his muscles unresponsive.

It felt like dying.

Breathing was hard. Of course, the heart is a muscle too. Like when he drank soju out of curiosity, his heart raced, but no fresh air came in. It was like an engine running on empty.

His pulse quickened, but his mind grew darker.

The faster pulse circulated carbon monoxide-laden blood throughout his body.

His brain, desperate for oxygen, urged his heart to pump faster, spreading the poisoned blood even quicker.

‘This time feels different…’

Even though Jo Seol-chan was usually slow, he would wake his grandmother if something felt off and solve the problem. In a house of two, no one could afford to get sick. He always opened windows and doors for ventilation and relit the coal fire.

But today, he couldn’t move a finger.

‘This time, I must have inhaled a lot…’

He knew he’d regret it.

If he died young.

He wanted to find his mother, make money, get married.

He wanted to have many children, so they wouldn’t be lonely, playing and fighting together.

But he didn’t feel regret.

The carbon monoxide only brought the pain of wanting to rest, not the desire to live.

The ultimate pain that makes you want to give up on yourself.

He looked at his grandmother again.

She wasn’t moving, as if she wasn’t breathing.

His pulse quickened, and the dizziness grew worse.

Closing his eyes helped the dizziness, but his eyeballs felt like they were burning.

He couldn’t close or open them.

It seemed like this was the end.

The endless poverty and loneliness, his grandmother’s suffering.

But he didn’t want to give up helplessly, so he pressed the speakerphone button.

‘119.’

Beep- beep- beep-.

Ring ring ring-.

He waited for the call to connect but seemed to lose consciousness for a moment.

Beep beep beep-.

Only the signal indicating the call had ended pierced his tired eardrums.

‘Ah…’

Redial.

– This is 119…

“Ugh…”

He tried to speak, but nausea hit, and he gagged.

– Don’t make prank calls.

Click.

Ah, it must have disconnected like this before.

Being ignored was familiar.

By people, by the world.

He didn’t know how to hate, but he didn’t blame them. They must be busy and stressed.

‘Guess it’s over…’

He wanted to say goodbye.

To the friends who didn’t ignore him and gave him his greatest memories.

He didn’t know the time, so he couldn’t call.

Yeom Byeong-taek didn’t have a pager, so there was only one person.

“Ugh…”

As if forcing someone else’s body, he stretched his unresponsive arm to pick up the receiver. It felt like squeezing the last bit of life.

It was too heavy to hold, so he put it to his ear and fumbled to press the buttons.

“Ugh…”

He barely suppressed the nausea, but only groans came out, no voice.

His vocal cords wouldn’t cooperate.

‘Damn it.’

This call was worse than not calling.

Better to cancel.

Fumbling-, beep.

– Saved to voicemail.

Ah, damn it…

– Please enter the number…

Even the automated voice annoyed him.

He wanted to try again, but he had no strength left.

Click-.

He accidentally hung up.

The thin thread of consciousness he was holding onto.

Gasp-. Haaa…

***

What completes a human?

It was a question Jin-hyuk had endlessly pondered.

Humanism, love for humanity—he had never uttered or even thought about such grandiose words.

Bam bam bam-.

‘Hold on!’

Connections.

Everything is bound by that name.

Connections aren’t just between people.

Like the Little Prince and the fox.

Jin-hyuk and Jang Gun-i, Yoo Jin and Haengun-i, all connected and gave each other existence.

Thus, all things in the world are bound by the chain of connections, repeating life and death.

Jin-hyuk finally realized that what gave him existence, what kept him alive, wasn’t an obsession with life.

No one was more precious or less than anyone else.

It was the nature of the relationship and the meaning he gave it that mattered.

Whoosh-.

As the sound of breaking air hit his ears, the streetlights and shop lights stretched back like light beams sucked into a black hole. Only Jin-hyuk escaped the black hole at full speed.

Without time to wonder what was happening, he ran towards the owner of the voice.

The recorded voice was speaking. The situation was urgent.

‘Wait for me!’

The Joker Captain is coming.