Chapter 87

#87 <Misunderstanding Leads to Understanding (2)>

Choi Jang-hwan watched Cheon Gil-ryong eat with the vigor of a young man, his eyes filled with satisfaction. Jin-hyuk, who knew Cheon’s personality, could guess what was going on inside Choi’s mind. Then, Choi spoke in a slow, deliberate tone.

“Old man, living alone must be lonely, and there’s so much you have to deal with. Why don’t you come live with us?”

“Hahaha. That’s a good idea. I do have guests at my house, though… As long as the lady of the house doesn’t kick me out, I’ll come visit often.”

“Of course, it’s fine. Just say the word if there’s anything you want to eat.”

Jin-hyuk knew Kim Soon-bok’s words were sincere.

Such warm-hearted people must have treated Jin-hyuk like their own child in his past life too.

Kim Soon-bok didn’t forget to give Jin-hyuk some advice.

“Come eat at our house until your mom gets back. Don’t overwork yourself taking care of your siblings.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Though he enjoyed spending time with his siblings, Jin-hyuk secretly missed having someone to talk to. When he was younger, confiding in Jang Gun-i (the dog) was his joy, but after going to school and making friends, he learned the pleasure of talking with people.

In fact, even while interrogating Moon Seok-il, he realized how enjoyable it was to converse with someone of a similar mental age. Though he didn’t have many peers to talk to, his parents and neighbors still saw him as a child, making it hard to have an equal conversation. It felt like there were restrictions in communication due to social relationships. Why did that happen? There were things he could say freely to coworkers but not to his family…

It felt like he was finally being reborn as a social creature, as if he had to be reborn to truly understand the meaning of human words.

After finishing the meal, they headed to Gubongsan Mountain using Choi Jang-hwan’s double-cab truck. Jin-hyuk asked Choi Mi-kyung to help Yoo-jin fasten her seatbelt, while he and Jang Gun-i rode in the truck bed. The cool breeze refreshed not only his breathing but also his mind. If Choi Tae-yang had been there, he would’ve joined them, but he had a match on Chuseok day and couldn’t come from Seoul.

When they arrived at Seonnyeo Rock, they spread out a mat and paid their respects together. It felt like just yesterday that Jin-hyuk’s grandmother had passed away. Her words to protect the family and take care of his siblings, along with her playful smile, were still vivid in his mind.

Though he had followed along during ancestral rites before, this time, having Cheon Gil-ryong with them gave him a different feeling.

Cheon placed his hand on the rock and muttered something, but no matter how hard Jin-hyuk strained his ears, he couldn’t understand a word. The words were so fast and the accent so peculiar that it felt like a different language. Did he learn some kind of dialect after visiting a church?

After visiting the gravesite and paying their respects, they returned to the village hall near Choi Mi-kyung’s house, where a loud, bustling noise could be heard. It was the sound of neighbors sharing laughter and bonding during the holiday.

“Yoo-jin, let’s go see what’s happening at the village hall. Want to go with me?”

“Yeah, hehe. Let’s go. It’ll be fun, right?”

At the village hall, a Yut game was underway, with the latest model TV as the prize.

“Isn’t Yut a game for New Year’s…?”

“Well, it’s easier for neighbors to gather and play Yut than to play Go-Stop with so many people.”

Jo Il-hun, who had approached unnoticed, patted Jin-hyuk on the back.

He raised his voice to grab everyone’s attention.

“Hey, Jin-hyuk’s here! Since Jin-hyuk’s family is traveling, let’s have him play instead!”

It was a tournament funded by the neighborhood association, and thanks to Jo Il-hun’s interference, Jin-hyuk got to participate on behalf of his dad. However, he was eliminated in the first round without even putting up a fight against Kim Eun-jung’s father.

Kim Eun-jung’s father had a routine of drinking a glass of makgeolli before throwing the Yut sticks, and even though he staggered, he never missed a throw. He was truly a Yut pro.

Anyway, Jin-hyuk’s dad often won prizes, but Jin-hyuk himself was completely hopeless.

‘Hehe, but it’s still fun.’

Jin-hyuk left with a participation prize—a gift set of cooking oil—and smiled awkwardly as he exited.

“Hahaha! You lost, right? Did you get a prize?”

Yoo-jin, who had been watching while eating sikhye, rice cakes, and pancakes, cheered even though her brother had lost. She loved seeing her brother smile, regardless of the outcome.

“Oh my, Yoo-jin, what’s with your face? Hehe.”

She had been eating by herself, and her face was smeared with oil.

Jin-hyuk, Yoo-jin, and Jang Gun-i spent the rest of the holiday at Choi Mi-kyung’s house. It was hard to refuse since Kim Soon-bok and Choi Jang-hwan had insisted. They only went home to sleep, but Choi Tae-yang and Choi Mi-kyung, who liked Yoo-jin, welcomed them, and with so many people around, Yoo-jin and Jang Gun-i seemed to enjoy themselves too.

There weren’t many activities, so during the day, they went for walks around the neighborhood or read books. Since it didn’t feel right to leave his siblings and go exercise alone, Jin-hyuk took the opportunity to laze around and even take naps.

The adults went from house to house, eating and drinking, while the minors toasted with sikhye and played Yut.

They drew a Yut board on the back of a wall calendar with a pesticide company’s name and used chess pieces and buttons as markers for a match between the Choi siblings and the Son siblings. With the family’s honor at stake, an inexplicable tension filled Choi Mi-kyung’s house.

But the tension was unfounded.

“Hehe, you lost again, right? Big bro won, right?”

Like her brother, Son Yoo-jin was also hopeless.

Every time she threw, she got ‘Do,’ and Jin-hyuk seriously analyzed that it was because she liked pigs. By the same logic, Jin-hyuk must’ve been throwing ‘Gae’ every time because he liked Jang Gun-i.

“Hey, this isn’t working. Let’s switch teams.”

At Choi Tae-yang’s suggestion, they split into boys versus girls.

It was a close match, but the boys’ team mostly won.

After all, ‘Gae’ was more advantageous than ‘Do.’

“Hehe. Big bro and oppa won, right?”

Yoo-jin was happy no matter who won, as if she had won herself.

Thanks to Choi Mi-kyung’s family, Jin-hyuk and Yoo-jin had a more harmonious holiday, and Choi Mi-kyung’s family also benefited from having them around.

Even though there wasn’t much to do, the holiday was a welcome break for students who didn’t have to go to school the next day.

Late at night, while enjoying the holiday’s leisure at his childhood friend’s house, Yoo-jin started dozing off. As Jin-hyuk was soothing her, Choi Mi-kyung approached with a serious expression.

“Jin-hyuk, do you know Yu Gwan-sun’s secret?”

What kind of random question is this? Choi Mi-kyung had always been a bit eccentric, ever since she asked him to ghostwrite her diary.

“No? What secret?”

“All the friends in town know about it.”

Choi Mi-kyung, with a grave expression, patted Yoo-jin’s back as she leaned on Jin-hyuk. Her eyes flickered with fear, as if she was thinking something terrifying.

“Ugh, this is scary. I don’t know if I should tell you.”

Your eyes are scarier right now. Jin-hyuk held back his thoughts.

“If you open the window at midnight, sing Yu Gwan-sun’s song, and then say twelve of Yu Gwan-sun’s secrets, you’ll die. Ugh!”

Choi Mi-kyung shuddered as if it were truly terrifying.

Now, Jin-hyuk knew how to handle situations like this. If you just stay quiet and act like it’s no big deal, the person who brought it up ends up feeling awkward.

“Wow… I see.”

Really surprising. Jin-hyuk muttered like a robot.

His expression of empathy must’ve worked. For some reason, Choi Mi-kyung didn’t sigh. Instead, she looked at him with curious eyes.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“What’s there to be scared of? I don’t know any of Yu Gwan-sun’s secrets.”

How can I say secrets I don’t even know? Jin-hyuk shrugged.

“Mi-kyung, do you? I only know the song.”

“Oh, right?”

He almost said that sticking your head out the window at midnight and singing didn’t seem normal, but he held back. Jin-hyuk had heard plenty of scary stories from Hwang Ga-young and her sisters in his past life, meant to scare him. Thanks to that, there was a time when he was afraid of the dark, which had once been a comforting hiding place. Darkness itself evokes endless imagination and fear.

Anyway, the manly Son Jin-hyuk doesn’t fall for kids’ pranks.

Choi Mi-kyung seemed excited to be with her friend during the holiday. While the adults were loudly playing Go-Stop late into the night, the kids had nothing to do but watch Chuseok special movies.

“My grandma told me this story. You know the old military outpost at the end of the village, right?”

“Yeah.”

There were many outposts built by the army after the Korean War to monitor spy ships. The outposts were connected by narrow communication trenches, and their structures remain intact to this day.

“She said she saw a giant serpent while picking herbs near there.”

What, a dragon? Where would a giant serpent even be? Not wanting to ruin his friend’s excitement, Jin-hyuk just blinked like a calf.

“There was this huge, huge jar, bigger than an ox. When she got closer, it wasn’t a jar but a serpent coiled up. And then the serpent slithered and stared right at her. And it had ears!”

Choi Mi-kyung spread her arms wide to emphasize the size of the jar.

Jin-hyuk imagined a giant serpent with ears for a moment. But his lack of creativity led him to imagine a serpent with human ears.

Heh!

“Hey, Son Jin-hyuk. Are you laughing? My grandma doesn’t make stuff up, you know?”

“Oh, I believe her. Grandma.”

No one believes in grandma as much as Jin-hyuk does. After all, he’s seen her spirit.

He should’ve imagined more believable ears, but he ended up getting scolded for snickering.

“So, grandma ran to the outpost and told the soldier, ‘There’s a huge serpent over there!’ And the soldier shot at the serpent, bang bang bang!”

As Choi Mi-kyung mimicked running and shooting, Jin-hyuk unconsciously gulped. The added actions made the story even more immersive.

“So? What happened to the serpent?”

“It died. Of course it died after being shot.”

Oh, right. The story ended a bit blandly. A giant serpent with ears got shot and died. The end. Choi Mi-kyung really has a problem with endings.

But it seemed the story didn’t end there.

“But after that, the soldier kept hearing strange noises at night and couldn’t sleep. He started talking nonsense and then disappeared into the sea.”

Oh, was it the serpent’s curse?

The bland story suddenly got more interesting. That’s the charm of a good narrative.

“After that, grandma also had nightmares for days and suffered from sleep paralysis. Whenever she went to the field, she felt like someone was watching her, and her neck would tingle.”

As she told the story, Choi Mi-kyung glanced behind her.

Jin-hyuk also tightened his grip on his sister and turned away from the window. It felt like the serpent was watching them from somewhere in the darkness outside. The story was starting to feel real. This is how fantasy and reality blur without warning.

“Jin-hyuk, Yoo-jin’s asleep.”

“Yeah. I think we’ll sleep here tonight.”

“You’re not going home? You said you sleep at home.”

“Yeah. Yoo-jin’s already asleep, and it’s been a while since I slept in your room.”

“A while? You’ve never slept at our house before.”

…Was that so? In his past life, he had stayed in Mi-kyung’s room until he was taken to town. It must’ve been their way of making sure he wasn’t lonely.

“Anyway, can you lay out a blanket for me?”

Before Jin-hyuk could finish, Choi Mi-kyung eagerly spread out a blanket. Even though they were friends, it was rare for them to stay in the same space so late. Their houses were far apart, and there were gender norms to consider.

Anyway, the manly Jin-hyuk wasn’t scared of the dark.

Listening to Choi Mi-kyung’s story made the back of his neck tingle and his spine shiver, but he wasn’t scared. He hugged his sister and pulled the blanket over his head.

‘I’m not scared. I just don’t like scary stories.’

Since returning to the past, stories didn’t feel like mere fabrications to Jin-hyuk. He had heard from friends that cousins gathered to tell scary stories during holidays. This Chuseok, having spent it only with family, gave him many new experiences. By the way, I hope I don’t wet the bed tonight.

Choi Mi-kyung sat on the bed, looking down at Jin-hyuk. Her childhood friend, trembling under the blanket, not living up to his size. Maybe he’s so scared because he’s not sturdy enough.

She clicked her tongue silently and turned off the light.

The sudden darkness made the blanket twitch.

Doesn’t he know the basics of fire control? The blanket muttered.

‘Mi-kyung, you should warn before turning off the lights.’

He had been worried he wouldn’t fall asleep after napping, but as Yoo-jin mumbled in her sleep, his eyes slowly closed.

I’m not scared, but thank goodness.