Chapter 263

I Am Son Yoo-jin (7)

‘What a funny guy.’

【I am a serious being.】

Ah, right.

He hasn’t left yet.

I thought he was just frustrating because he couldn’t communicate, but maybe it was because he was so unpredictable that I couldn’t tell where the conversation was going.

Like talking to someone with a completely different mindset, intellectual level, and personality.

Bearing through a headache that felt like it might split my skull, I asked.

‘Is there a difference in my desperation?’

Before, he would appear, gauge the situation, and then disappear. It seemed like he didn’t need help.

But after the coal gas incident, he stopped appearing altogether.

And now, he pops out so easily, which is just bizarre.

Jin-hyuk, who had called out to Dugu Elil multiple times when alone, was sure he hadn’t appeared. If he had, Jin-hyuk would have felt his presence, even if he wasn’t fully charged.

Even after calling out and falling asleep, no dream-like conversation occurred.

It must mean the conditions weren’t met.

【You were not desperate. Not even for a moment. Not in a situation driven by your intellectual curiosity.】

Is this what it’s like in English-speaking cultures?

The shadow’s syntax, which was already strange before, has gotten even weirder.

Still, the prediction that he wouldn’t appear because the conditions weren’t met was spot on.

As the time spent enduring bare-handed grew longer, my heart felt like it might burst, but I silently waited, hoping he’d say more.

【You are not curious about the future. You do not want to know your lifespan. You are not curious about records. You do not believe in fate. What you are curious about is tomorrow’s weather, side dishes, preparations, a lost umbrella, and the life or death of a bird the size of a walnut.】

Enduring the pain, I closed my eyes and listened intently to the sound tickling my heart.

【You are curious but not desperate. As a human, you fear the unknown of tomorrow, yet you live with expectations for it. You are satisfied with that. Because today is happy. You are.】

Meanwhile, something hot touched my philtrum.

Just as I was about to wipe it away with the back of my hand and ask what it was.

【You have refused my help, and you continue to refuse it.】

Jin-hyuk nodded slightly.

‘My heart, driven by curiosity or selfish desires, is not desperate, but my concern for my sibling is genuine.’

【Brilliant. You are indeed the chosen one.】

‘Chosen one… When are you going to tell me about that? What exactly did I do?’

【Dulabni nanna⬛ neui ⬛ettlwizheu ne⬛ mos edbweleboe ⬛nah-.】

What the hell is this guy babbling about?

Jin-hyuk’s brow furrowed deeply.

【Behold. You understand nothing.】

‘Yeah. When will I be able to hear it?’

【When the old man is released, the bond between you and me will be severed.】

‘Got it.’

【That is also your strength. You do not obsess over things you cannot solve immediately. Yet, you are always calculating how to unravel them in your mind.】

Jin-hyuk didn’t press further.

Partly because the headache was unbearable, but also because the shadow wasn’t wrong.

【As promised, I will watch over the baby. The nanny is for a month. A nanny feeds, puts to sleep, protects from danger-.】

‘Thank you.’

Cutting him off like stamping a seal, since he was a chatterbox in the weirdest moments.

【You should check your nosebleed.】

‘What?’

【I’ll see if it’s amusing.】

With words that felt almost like a threat, the headache and the pressure crushing my body vanished.

At the same time, the hand on Yoo-jin’s forehead grew warm.

‘He’s gone. Good. I can rest easy now.’

Ugh-.

The pain returned.

【I’m not gone. I just touched the baby. I have no physical form there. Defining the absence of physical form as movement is-.】

‘I get it!’

I understand without you explaining!

That guy is such a chatterbox.

Drip-.

As the pain subsided, warm liquid touched my philtrum again.

It seemed like a side effect of the pressure.

Quickly covering my nose with the back of my hand, I gently spoke to Yoo-jin, who was looking at me worriedly.

“You need to close your eyes to fall asleep.”

***

Son Yoo-jin’s first flight, experiencing one landing and a second takeoff.

How many hours have passed since we left, and yet home is on my mind.

‘Mom, Dad, Jeong-won, Jang Gun-i…, Cheon Gil-ryong’s habitat…,’

Her tiny fingers folded and unfolded as a family tree spread out in Son Yoo-jin’s mind.

‘I want to see Haengun-i too.’

Everyone was fast asleep, but Son Yoo-jin couldn’t sleep.

Then, a shadow fell over her face, and a giant hand rested on her forehead.

It was rough from calluses but warm.

Her brother, who had been frowning as if deep in thought, relaxed his expression and spoke.

“You need to close your eyes to fall asleep.”

“I can’t sleep…”

【Sleep.】

Kaaa-.

Feeling her forehead grow warm and heavy, Son Yoo-jin lost consciousness.

*

Ding-.

When this sound rings, the cabin lights turn on, and the captain speaks or the flight attendant gives something. Son Yoo-jin, being a smart kid, had already figured out the rules of the plane.

Ding-.

Sleep, then eat.

Ding-.

Eat, then sleep.

Ding-.

Sleep again.

The plane is so boring.

No wind, no bird sounds, just dull.

‘Where is Haengun-i?’

My little Haengun-i is struggling to feed the chicks alone.

Like a mother-in-law worrying about her son suffering because of a runaway daughter-in-law.

They say a woman’s enemy is another woman, but is this the right saying for this situation?

Whatever, Uncle Jjolong says anything, and the police don’t take him away.

‘My sister said I have to sleep on the plane…’

Worries like these kept her from sleeping.

【Sleep.】

Kaaa-.

In a delusion of someone commanding her, Son Yoo-jin lost consciousness again.

The command felt like her mother’s soothing touch when she was a baby throwing a tantrum.

Lullaby- lullaby- our baby-.

Hehe-. Mom appeared in my dream.

Son Yoo-jin smiled like a baby in her sleep.

***

Cheon Gil-ryong and Yoo Myung-sun, the two elderly brothers, wandered over to Son’s house after receiving a call from Han Yu-young.

– “Chairman, don’t stay in such a stifling place without employee training. Come over and have a cup of tea.”

In the old days, at this age, they would have been nagging the youngsters with farming knowledge, but Cheon Gil-ryong only had a bit of experience tending a small garden.

Even that turned into a weed-filled wasteland after Yoo Myung-sun moved in, spending their days drinking and lounging. Now, Yook Seong-chan or Son Jin-hyuk occasionally tend to it.

“Old folks like us should stay out of the young ones’ sight. That’s how we help.”

“Haha, what are you saying? If the senior came by, wouldn’t everyone be too busy greeting him to work?”

“From what I see, Chairman Yoo is also highly respected. Ahem-!”

Exchanging compliments, the two elders sat on the bench.

On the bench, Han Yu-young had prepared a Go board, a fan, and some snacks.

“Instead of wandering around and being a nuisance, let’s play with the Go stones here.”

Going to the village hall meant dealing with other elders fawning over them, which was uncomfortable. Staying at Son’s house kept a comfortable distance, and Han Yu-young and Jang Jin-nam served delicious food, making it the perfect spot for the two old men.

Tok-.

Yoo Myung-sun, sitting upright, carefully placed a Go stone.

“Senior, aren’t you disappointed about not going to America?”

This guy’s at it again with his nonsense. If Jin-hyuk weren’t here, I’d have to hold the fort-. Cheon Gil-ryong swallowed his reprimand with a sip of cool ogapi tea.

Oh geez. Ahem-!

“Planes are nothing. Going high doesn’t mean you see more, and going far doesn’t mean you’re at an age to learn a new world, right? Isn’t that how Chairman Yoo feels too?”

“Well…”

I’ve been abroad a lot. Yoo Myung-sun trailed off.

Cheon Gil-ryong placing him at a similar level left him flustered.

Thwak-!

But the bold snap of placing the Go stone showed Cheon Gil-ryong clearly saw himself as superior.

“Chairman Son is quite something. I thought he’d just leave everything behind.”

“That’s right. Chairman Hong seems to have advised him. But the eldest is no longer a child and refused parental care. The second also said it’s time to grow out of the parents’ shadow, or something like that…”

“Hmm-. That makes sense.”

Cheon Gil-ryong nodded.

Jin-hyuk was also turning the neighborhood upside down at Son Yoo-jin’s age. He changed his fate with his own hands and influenced his family and neighbors. The light he emitted was nothing but good. Even the stinky intruder ended up being embraced as one of their own.

‘That’s what yang energy is.’

It’s not just the vibrant energy radiating from sunny places or young men’s bodies.

It’s the lively energy that keeps all things alive and moving.

Thus, it drives away the dead and melts all hostility. Cheon Gil-ryong felt such yang energy from Jin-hyuk when he straightened the twisted bamboo forest.

‘That is both establishing oneself立身 and entering the divine入神.’

Not even at the age of弱冠, barely past志學, he was ready for anything. Cheon Gil-ryong got caned by his older brother Cheon Ki-ryung at that age for causing trouble.

By that logic, Son Yoo-jin is way ahead. She’s already on a plane heading to a foreign country.

As Cheon Gil-ryong’s lips twisted like a pouting child, Yoo Myung-sun added.

“If he only takes care of his own children, who will take responsibility for unexpected company matters, and who will look after the employees? I would have done the same in his place.”

“That’s right. Chairman Son is quite something-.”

“His wife was the one who suggested it first.”

“Right, right. The eldest was always there.”

Cheon Gil-ryong took a big sip of ogapi tea and sucked in his cheeks.

Ugh-, geez.

Can’t spit out the water浆 offered by the eldest, so he quickly popped a snack into his mouth. The sweet and chewy yakgwa quickly balanced the taste in his mouth.

“Ahem! How far will he go? That’s what Jin-hyuk said.”

“Hahaha, hasn’t it already bloomed fully?”

“This young man is so naive.”

“Does the senior think so?”

Yoo Myung-sun hasn’t spent much time with Jin-hyuk.

The only time they had a proper conversation was when Jin-hyuk visited Seoul as a middle school student.

‘That makes sense. It has bloomed.’

He’s a busy guy with all sorts of things.

It’s not that he avoids Yoo Myung-sun like other kids do.

“Is that why Chairman Hong is in a hurry?”

“What…”

“Whether you’re pretending to be naive or genuinely don’t know, it’s hard to tell this time.”

Cheon Gil-ryong, who had momentarily looked away from the Go board, met Yoo Myung-sun’s eyes and straightened his back.

“Chairman Hong is planning something in the land of the Westerners. Last night, I saw a cluster of stars flying that way. Not just stars, but a pale cluster-.”

As he spoke, Cheon Gil-ryong twisted his wrist unnaturally. Twinkling little stars.

Yoo Myung-sun nodded indifferently without a reply.

‘He’s not just reading stars but also clouds, so it’s not a lie.’

Not long ago, he looked at the evening clouds and said, ‘The Earth God is staying in the south, so in two days, there will be an earthquake in the land of the Japanese. Dozens will die,’ and it turned out to be accurate.

Exactly two days later, news of a magnitude 6 earthquake in Miyagi Prefecture heated up the newspaper pages.

“It was so strange, I thought it was someone flying for the Olympics, but the color was different. It was murky and big. As far as I know, the only one with such a cluster in this world is Chairman Hong. Not even the President comes close-. No comparison.”

Hmm-.

Yoo Myung-sun frowned at the Go board.

He had heard that his sons Yoo Mun-sik and Yoo Jun-sik were taking their families to America next month. But his son-in-law Hong Ki-jun hadn’t said anything.

“So, Chairman Hong is in America now?”

“Oh-, I taught you better than that. Tsk tsk-. Only the cluster has gone. The star hasn’t gone yet. It will soon.”

“Ah, yes.”

Tok-.

Yoo Myung-sun placed a Go stone with an awkward expression.

All this talk about fate and constellations, but how can I understand it?

Teaching such difficult concepts to an old man with a stiff mind, what’s the point?

Neither eloquence nor worldly insight seems to match Cheon Gil-ryong.

“Sigh-, this Go game is truly profound.”

“I won again-. Hehe-.”

But when it comes to Go, Yoo Myung-sun is better.

“Hehe-, shall we play another round?”

“Tsk-, of course.”

“Why is he like that?”

Yoo Myung-sun, with an uncharacteristically victorious smile, showed curiosity.

Grrr-. Woof! Woof woof!

Yoo Myung-sun’s gaze stopped where Jang Gun-i was barking upwards.

“Let it be. He’s a smart dog. If he needed our help, he would have come and made a fuss.”

Well.

It’s not that Jang Gun-i is smart, but more like he’s still hung up on losing five straight Go games.