Why on earth did she come here again? Coming up here alone when it’s this dark. He thought there must be some significant reason.
“Why did you come at this hour?”
“W-well….”
When did she climb up here so eagerly? When he asked why she came, the woman hesitated. Rolling her large eyes that were slit sideways like a cat’s eyes here and there, she repeatedly opened and closed her lips.
“Just because I was bored.”
“…What?”
He wondered what she was trying to say. The answer that came back was so absurd it was astounding.
“There’s no phone signal here, and no TV either. I can’t check SNS, can’t watch YouTube.”
“……”
“I’m always just sleeping like crazy, and spacing out is so boring I feel like I’m dying. Yesterday I even played gonggi with Manager oppa.”
She said that at this rate, Woonghee would obviously be alone, so she wanted to come and have a conversation while peeling coconut shells together.
“You climbed this mountain alone at this hour for just that reason?”
Does that even make sense? She was really an exasperating woman. Wild boars actually appear when you’re bored, sniffing around with their dirty noses, and sharks actually come out here too. She came impulsively for just such a reason?
His vision felt dizzy.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Well, Woonghee-ssi is here alone too, so.”
The woman pushed coconut flesh into her mouth and continued speaking.
“But Woonghee-ssi, aren’t you scared?”
This time the same question came back to him. Woonghee bit his lower lip. Flustered, he hid the soft inner flesh in his mouth. It was a first. Someone not blood-related asking him if he was scared.
“When I tried to stay here overnight yesterday, it was really scary. Even though Manager oppa and I were together.”
A small ‘Mm.’ sound was heard, as if she liked the savory taste spreading on her tongue.
“I could hear animals crying from the mountain, and I was worried wild boars would appear. How on earth are you staying here alone, Woonghee-ssi?”
If you interpreted those words, it could also mean she came up because she was worried about Woonghee being alone in such overwhelming fear.
“……”
Woonghee lowered his eyes. No matter how much he’d experienced all kinds of hardships in life, including aerial battles, he was still an ordinary Seoul citizen.
This mountain was like being inside a huge whale’s belly. Damp like intestines, trees like bones all tangled up, and you never knew what might pop out.
But. What would change if he answered that he was scared?
“I’m just fine with it.”
Woonghee answered nonchalantly. As if she knew it would be like that, an ‘I see’ answer came back.
“Well, what would be scary—beasts or ghosts? What’s really scary are people. Filthy humans.”
Paeng Hana ground her teeth and pushed another coconut fruit into her mouth. Then didn’t she suddenly shout out ‘Ah, right!’ loudly?
“Ah, you scared me….”
The coconut fruit dropped from Woonghee’s hand. Ah, right, ah, right, ah, right…! A huge echo rang through the mountain. Crazy, she was famous for having good diction, but he didn’t know her voice was this loud too.
“Ah, it’s not something else.”
The woman rummaged inside her blanket. There was a rustling sound. What she pulled out was a bright red package.
“This.”
Ramyeon, it was ramyeon! In Korean soil, he’d eaten so much that just the smell would make his stomach churn. But here, longing washed over him as if seeing the face of family separated for 20 years.
That awesome broth, the savory flour smell that spread in your mouth when you slurped it up. Even the flakes that stuck to your tongue. Just imagining it made hot saliva pool in his mouth. If only he could have just one bite, just one bite of that spicy broth, he’d have no other wishes.
“Wh-why are you giving that to me….”
Could she be trying to give this to him? If it’s ramyeon, it would be a day’s meal for the woman. How could he just accept that?
“Hey, it’s fine, so hurry and take it.”
As he just hesitated, the woman placed a package of ramyeon right in front of Woonghee’s knees.
“I originally can’t live with debts. Ramyeon is something all Korean people like.”
Then didn’t she even apologize?
“I’m sorry about not being able to give you the Choco Pie yesterday. My manager oppa isn’t a bad person, but he’s sensitive about these things. Should I say the distinction between my people and not my people is quite clear?”
Then she grinned.
“Survival is important, survival.”
Woonghee muttered without even being able to reach out to the ramyeon.
“Th….”
“Th?”
Th, th, tha, than….
This idiot, he stuttered this much just because he couldn’t say thank you.
He felt hot heat rising to his earlobes, so he rubbed his reddened earlobes against his shoulder, pretending they were itchy. If he did this, they wouldn’t think it was strange even if they turned red, right….
“Thank y….”
As he barely squeezed out his throat to speak those words. Even that was buried by a voice that came rushing up from below.
“Hey, Hana-ya! How can you just leave without saying anything? Oppa was so surprised.”
It was her manager with a pale face. He came rushing up, and he must have been too surprised to wipe his drool because there were still white drool marks by the corner of his mouth.
“Sorry, sorry! I just came up because I was bored.”
Now even Paeng Hana’s manager appeared. He doesn’t need to be here anymore, right? He can finally escape. Woonghee, who was allergic to humans, secretly packed his things.
“Excuse me.”
Woonghee, who was about to slip away like a loach, called out to her at the last moment.
“Yes?”
Paeng Hana turned to look at Woonghee. Her face showed she found it quite unexpected. It was the first time Woonghee had called out to her first like this.
“This.”
Woonghee wriggled and pushed something forward.
“What’s this?”
What was held out in front of Paeng Hana was a newly made machete.
“A weapon.”
Then the woman’s eyes turned toward him. It seemed like a look asking why he was giving this to her.
“When stabbing something, it’s better to have a sharp, pointed end like this rather than a square end.”
Square ends were only useful when hammering into wood and cutting, but otherwise they had no real meaning. A sharp end was good for cleaning fish. And above all, if the time came to stab something, you could handle it properly.
“When it gets dull, sharpen it on a stone again. Until it becomes as sharp as a pencil.”
The woman pursed her lips tightly. She was such a talkative woman, but for a moment she looked like she didn’t know what to say. Soon she carefully accepted the machete.
“Thank you.”
That was the end of it. Woonghee readjusted the sports bag on his shoulder and tried to go down the mountain without looking back.
Step by step, damp grass crushed under his feet. As he took a few steps like that, he still felt her gaze stuck to him from behind.
“Excuse me, Woonghee-ssi.”
Then didn’t she call out to him again? The woman was hesitating with her mouth, whether to say something or if she should say it.
“…Actually, I have something to say.”
What on earth could it be that she was delaying this much? After babbling so much earlier. Since she’s hesitating this much, it seems like there really is something else she wants to say.
“You said you’re not scared even being alone in a place like this, so that’s fortunate.”
Woonghee gulped down dry saliva in tension.
“But just in case, be careful.”
It was an incomprehensible statement. Be careful of what exactly? For it to be a tone saying to be careful in case he trips on a stone while going down the mountain, wasn’t it too excessively cautious?
With such a serious face. As if the reason she came up this mountain was precisely to tell him this.
“Of what?”
“Well…, Woonghee-ssi is an Omega.”
Paeng Hana lowered her voice sharply. If you didn’t listen carefully, it was the kind of voice you would have dismissed as just the sound of valley water flowing somewhere.
“You never know.”
She approached closer, stepping on the sticky, clinging grass. Then she calmly delivered each word, one by one, to Woonghee in a composed tone.
“My manager oppa isn’t like that for no reason.”
It was a calm voice, but befitting an actress, it was a vocalization that struck right at the ear.
“Director Hwang, that bastard really doesn’t seem normal right now. …Because of the raft incident.”
Woonghee closed his jaw. So he was right that he still held a grudge because of the raft incident.
“Whenever he gets a chance, he says he’s going to fuck Lee Woonghee, or that he’ll make sure you can’t get out of here and rot into bones forever.”
Woonghee’s chest swelled up sharply then slowly deflated.
“He babbles about how no one would know even if he killed someone on this shitty island and left.”
Now he seemed to understand. Why this woman climbed this mountain through the dawn. This woman was also a slave to guilt. So she wanted to let him know somehow.
“This is really fucking annoying to talk about, but when I sleep, I always lean against the door, you know?”
Woonghee silently listened to her story. From her breath felt up close, anxiety emanated.
“If I hear even the wind, I get scared. When I hear animals crying, I get scared for no reason, fuck.”
What this woman’s true feelings were, which she poured out compulsively next to Woonghee—this was exactly it.
The woman gripped the machete tightly. It felt like some kind of resolve to protect her own body by herself.
“But Woonghee-ssi’s cave doesn’t even have a door.”
Woonghee slowly nodded at her words. The afterimage of pitch-black footprints floated up before his eyes.
“…Thank you.”
This time he spoke quietly but clearly. Turning his back, he took a deep breath. He stepped firmly on sand and stones. He felt a weight as if he had decided something.
