Without realizing it, Yugeon stopped walking.
If the problem wasn’t resolved, he might have to keep staying on the island, but that was separate from becoming the family head. There was no way he, who had grown up like an outsider for 17 years, could become the family head. Hadn’t the attitude of the islanders he’d seen briefly been rejecting him too?
Besides, it was his younger brother who had stayed by their father’s side all this time and grown up on the island. He didn’t want to suddenly roll in and steal that position, and if possible, he wanted to go back.
“Migeon, I…”
“But I didn’t call Hyung to force that on you… I called you because I thought you should come since Father passed away. You were the only person I had to lean on…”
“……”
“Because now you’re the only family I have too, Hyung.”
Yugeon’s mouth opened slightly without realizing it. This was his younger brother with a five-year age gap. Since he was 27, Migeon was now only 22. He was so young. It made sense that he’d want to lean on someone. Yugeon raised his head to look at his younger brother. He wanted to pat his head, but he was too tall. Both looking up at a younger brother he used to only look down at, and his too-unfamiliar face…
Yugeon swallowed his desire to pat him and lowered his gaze.
He couldn’t give an answer about staying on the island, nor could he give an answer about going back. Migeon stared down at Yugeon like that, then started walking again, and Yugeon silently followed behind him.
After walking silently for a while, a large willow tree appeared ahead. And under the stems hanging down like hair, a small house could be seen. A house so small it was inappropriate to call it a house.
“Huh?” Yugeon exclaimed without realizing it and reached out his hand.
“That’s still there?”
At Yugeon’s action pointing at something, Migeon looked at Yugeon, then soon moved his gaze following his fingertips.
“Ah, the mourning house?”
“Yeah.”
Migeon, who had been looking at the mourning house, burst into small laughter as if something came to mind.
“Remember when you were little and told me that was a house where they put corpses?”
At the memory told by the voice full of laughter, Yugeon looked at his younger brother in surprise.
“Huh? I said that?”
“Yeah. That when people die, they put them in there.”
“……”
Yugeon looked back and forth between his younger brother and the mourning house as if flustered, then burst into hearty laughter.
“But I really thought that’s what it was when I was little too… Uncle told me that. I didn’t know I was spreading wrong information.”
“Ahaha.”
Migeon laughed like a child. He seemed very pleased to share memories between brothers that he couldn’t share with anyone else. His laughing face seemed to retain a bit of youthfulness. At that sight, Yugeon laughed along too. After laughing for a while, Yugeon wiped the tears that trickled out and asked.
“By the way, how’s Uncle? Is he doing well?”
Migeon’s laughter, who had been bent over at the waist laughing, gradually subsided. He slowly straightened his back and looked at Yugeon.
“…He passed away.”
That alien and matter-of-fact face returned.
After walking about ten more minutes from where the willow tree was, a hill road appeared on the left. Yugeon raised his head to look up the hill.
“It’s the same…”
An old house that looked like it was built in the 80s-90s, a modified hanok. The home from his memories, not a single bit different from what sat in his memory, was looking down at him from the top of the hill.
Upon entering the house, there was a faint moldy smell mixed with the cool air and the scent of apples. It was somehow a familiar scent. Yugeon looked around the interior as if tracing memories. The indoor space separated from the outside with windbreaks set up on the foundation and doors attached, the wooden floor that appeared after going up one step, wooden walls, latticed ceiling, lights with strings. There were many parts that were fragmentarily familiar. Moreover, unlike the sweltering outside, the inside of the house was quite cool.
Leaving Yugeon behind, Migeon climbed onto the wooden floor and opened the room on the left side of the floor to put down the luggage. Yugeon, who had been watching from behind, also climbed onto the floor and asked.
“Is that my room?”
“Hm? No. It’s my room.”
“?”
“Hyung’s room has been used as a storage room for a long time… I called you so suddenly that I couldn’t clean it up. I’ll clear it out soon, so use my room together in the meantime.”
Yugeon silently looked at his younger brother, then looked at the other two tightly closed room doors. He had faint memories remaining. The room right next to his younger brother’s. That was his room that was being used as storage, and the room across from his was the master bedroom.
The master bedroom would be empty, but Yugeon nodded saying he understood. It was the deceased’s room. Even if offered, it would feel wrong.
As Yugeon started unpacking his simple luggage in the room, Migeon checked the time and spoke.
“Hyung, I need to go out again.”
“Huh?”
“You can stay alone, right?”
Yugeon looked at his younger brother as if absurd.
“Am I a child?”
Migeon laughed for a moment.
“I’m so happy and glad that you came back, Hyung, but there are adults who don’t think favorably of it. Will you stay home and not go out today? Let’s go around together tomorrow and greet people.”
“Huh? Oh… Okay. You must be busy. Go ahead.”
Yugeon got up from his seat as if to see him off and approached Migeon.
“If you’re hungry, eat.”
“I asked if I’m a child.”
When Yugeon let out a hollow laugh, a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed Yugeon’s forearm. As another person’s hand suddenly touched his bare skin exposed below his sleeve, Yugeon stiffened in surprise, and Migeon stared at Yugeon before saying.
“Eat. Hyung, you’re too thin.”
“…Okay.”
Though he hesitated for a moment, Yugeon eventually nodded, and only then did Migeon seem satisfied as he let go of Yugeon’s arm and muttered.
“You seem to have gotten shorter too…”
Yugeon’s mouth dropped open as if absurd.
“I, I didn’t get shorter—you got taller…!”
Yugeon protested desperately. His pride was hurt even more because his younger brother, who was as big as a door, was saying it. It was already a complex of his…
Migeon matter-of-factly asked back if that was so. Looking at his innocent face, it really seemed there was no malice. When Yugeon couldn’t hide his absurd feelings and looked up at Migeon with an incredulous face, Migeon apologized saying he was sorry. It became awkward to even be angry.
Yugeon stroked his forearm that had been grabbed for no reason and followed his younger brother who was about to leave. Migeon glanced back a few times as if wondering why he was following, then realized he was seeing him off and said “I’ll be back” with an awkward face.
At his younger brother’s behavior, who seemed unaccustomed to being seen off, Yugeon waved his hand with an equally awkward face, then as if something came to mind, he hurriedly grabbed his younger brother who was about to leave.
“Um, Migeon!”
“Yeah?”
“If you’re busy, should I clean my room myself?”
At Yugeon’s question, Migeon’s gaze briefly left Yugeon and touched the door behind him.
“…No. It’s too messy, so I locked it. I’ll clean it, leave it.”
Migeon, who answered a beat slow, immediately turned his head and left the house. It was almost as if he’d averted his gaze. Yugeon stared blankly at his younger brother’s retreating back, then turned around to look at his room. Then he approached the door and tried the doorknob.
As his younger brother said, the door was locked.
After unpacking his meager luggage and looking around all the parts of the house he could, Yugeon sat blankly on the wooden floor. This house didn’t even have the common TV. Thinking about whether there was no TV when he was young too, Yugeon hurriedly went into the room and came out with his phone.
He thought he should contact Choi Jacheol to say he arrived safely. But an unexpected message greeted him.
『You are outside the service area.』
“…What’s this?”
Looking at the screen as if absurd, Yugeon walked around here and there inside the house as if looking for a place where signal would catch, and even tried holding the phone up high. Still no signal caught, and thinking it might be because he was inside the house, he went out to the yard and walked around, but the result didn’t change.
“……”
Yugeon, who was wondering what to do, recalled the slope path in the backyard. The only path that could climb to the top of the hill where this house was located. The signal might catch because of the high elevation, and above all, there was no path leading outside, so there was no chance of encountering other people.
Yugeon moved his steps to the backyard as if possessed. He tried to find where the slope path was by tracing his faint memories. He thought the path might have disappeared, but the slope path was still there.
A faint anticipation filled Yugeon’s face as he raised his gaze along the narrow slope path. It was also a path leading to his favorite place when he was young.
Yugeon started climbing the slope path as if there was nothing more to think about. The path was steep at first, but after climbing a little, the slope became gentle, and soon a lush bamboo forest was revealed.
Yugeon took a deep breath. It felt like fresh air was filling his lungs. If he crossed the bamboo forest, the place he liked would appear. Yugeon walked slowly through the bamboo forest, looking straight ahead with expectant eyes.
After walking for about five minutes like that, the sound of waves began to be heard. Cool wind also rushed in. Yugeon’s leisurely steps gradually quickened, and soon through the bamboo forest, a cliff from which the wide sea could be seen at a glance began to appear.
Yugeon almost ran out of the bamboo forest.
A single pine tree elegantly curved to decorate the end of the cliff, and under the pine tree, a stone slab as if carved was placed like a chair. Yugeon looked around once, then approached the stone slab and sat down.
The vast sea surrounding the island unfolded at a glance. The waves sparkled reflected by the sunlight, and in the distance, seagulls cried.
Yugeon wiped the sweat he’d shed climbing up here and looked at the sea while cooling his body in the sea breeze.
“Wow…”
An exclamation burst out naturally. The water surface sparkled so much it was dazzling.
“This place is the same.”
Yugeon, who had been spacing out for a moment, quickly took out his phone from his pocket and checked the screen.
『You are outside the service area.』
“Damn…”
He tried holding the phone up high, and got up to stand on the stone slab, but still the signal didn’t catch. Yugeon let out a deep sigh, then sat back down on the stone slab as if resigned.
“At this level, it’s the boonies, total boonies… Not a remote mountain village but a remote island village.”
The place he’d lived was quite rural in its own way, but here was even more so. How on earth did Father call him and receive his calls…
Grumbling while looking at the sea, Yugeon soon took a bunch of photos. Even if it was a remote island village, the scenery was really nice. He planned to show them to the mart people when he went back later.
After sitting and killing time for a while, Yugeon slowly got up from his seat, thinking his younger brother might return and look for him. Urging his steps that wouldn’t readily leave with the desire to stay longer, Yugeon barely turned around and walked back into the bamboo forest.
After walking like that for some time, he faintly heard a rumbling sound of the sky crying. Yugeon stopped walking and raised his head to look at the sky.
“?”
He thought it was thunder, but the sky hidden by bamboo leaves was just blue without a single cloud.
“What is it?”
Yugeon, who was tilting his head as if puzzled, turned his head at the sound of footsteps nearby. And he saw it. Between the bamboo stems, eyes looking at him and a beast with a body as big as a house.
