He’d heard something in his half-sleep — a small sound, like a pebble flicking off something. A mountain animal? He listened for a moment, but there was no further sign of anything. I’m just being jumpy. He had the distinct feeling of being watched, and Nunbi glared into the darkness of the temple grounds for a bit before giving a small shudder. Then he tried to settle back into sleep. He hated being jumpy for no reason. He preferred everything loose and easy. So he needed to stop thinking about Woonjeong. That was the only way he’d be able to sleep properly. But at that exact moment, the sound came again — that same small tok.
“…What?”
Nunbi scowled and opened his eyes. He could place it now. It was the sound of a small stone bouncing off something. The strange part was that it didn’t sound like something hit by a raindrop or kicked by a foot — it sounded deliberate, like someone throwing it. The moment he pushed himself upright, his exposed knee stung. He winced and felt around with his hand — and sure enough, there was a small pebble, the kind you’d find scattered around the courtyard. In that instant, a disbelieving thought flashed through him, and Nunbi snapped his head up.
“Hey.”
And there it was — a long shadow at the corner of the eaves, waving at him. He didn’t need to look twice. Woonjeong. Nunbi sucked in a sharp breath. Had he let his guard down because a day or two had passed without incident? Speak of the devil — there was no telling how long Woonjeong had been standing there.
“What….”
He was thrown off. He hadn’t expected to run into him now, of all times. Well, Woonjeong had always had a habit of appearing out of nowhere — but this was different. Just the other day he’d been completely blanking Nunbi, and now he’d gone out of his way to come find him at this hour. Why?
“Done pretending to be asleep?”
He asked it with that languid ease. Nunbi swallowed for no real reason. A brief silence settled between them, filled only with the sound of rain.
“….”
“….”
Having come all this way, he clearly had something in mind. But Nunbi still didn’t know how to read Woonjeong. They’d shared meals on Saturday and Sunday, but on Monday there hadn’t been so much as a glance. Maybe Woonjeong had agreed to be friends before, but now he was in a bad mood and had decided he wanted to give Nunbi a hard time. It was night. A dim side room. And Nunbi was a little scared. He rubbed the knee that had been hit by the stone and slowly drew his upper body back.
Wouldn’t surprise me if he’d done something seriously wrong somewhere. Like messing with the wrong person….
He’d overheard a devotee saying that.
Well, I don’t know what else would make the eldest young master so furious.
What on earth did he do to end up being treated like a nuisance?
The head monk hasn’t said a word about it….
Will Assemblyman Go even come back for him?
The voices that had been floating around him all day like jellyfish now seemed to drift in on the rain, close enough to touch.
“….”
The boy swallowed silently. You weren’t supposed to let idle gossip make you prejudge a person. And yet the gaze Woonjeong fixed on him from the dark held no warmth. That same face — and then, without warning, a sudden bright smile. Or sudden anger. That was always how it had been with Woonjeong, as far as Nunbi knew. Warm or cold. Cutting or bright.
He’d been dozing, so his body had grown loose and sluggish. Only his left ankle was stiff and cold, sensation gone from it. Cramps or numbness creeping through his badly twisted ankle wasn’t unusual. Nunbi pulled it back into the shadow and asked,
“Why are you here…? This late. Without sleeping.”
Should I have just gone inside? But ignoring someone back just because they’d ignored you first felt too petty, and that wasn’t what he wanted to do. The silence stretched. The night was full of rain and nothing else.
“What about you. What are you doing out here at this hour, without sleeping.”
“I… couldn’t sleep.”
“Me neither. Couldn’t sleep.”
Woonjeong echoed Nunbi’s answer word for word and smiled. It didn’t look like a proper smile. He’d gone to the trouble of coming all the way here, and yet Woonjeong looked genuinely indifferent to all of it. Like a prettily crafted doll. The thought sent a faint chill up the back of Nunbi’s neck.
“So — I’m asking what you’re doing out here if you can’t sleep.”
He pressed him on it, but Woonjeong just answered with the same detachment as ever.
“What do you think. Waking you up.”
“No, I mean—”
Leaving the bewildered boy behind, Woonjeong turned and knocked his hand against the stepping stone. Something came spilling out. Nunbi looked — and there was a heap of small pebbles all around it. He’d apparently collected them to keep throwing until Nunbi woke up. Honestly, what a menace…. Woonjeong then settled himself down on the veranda where Nunbi was sitting, legs crossed.
“Want to go out?”
The question came out of nowhere. Nunbi, who’d had nowhere to look and had been staring at the pebbles, blinked and said, huh?
“Let’s go out.”
“Where?”
“Outside.”
“What?”
Single syllables bounced back and forth between them a few times — barely a conversation.
“Thought we could go somewhere. I’m restless.”
Nunbi looked at him with an expression he himself couldn’t have named. Woonjeong seemed perfectly at ease.
“You’re not bothered being cooped up here?”
“What are you talking about, it’s the middle of the night—”
“You haven’t never been outside before, have you?”
Still growing more baffled by the second, Nunbi turned the question over. Whatever this well-groomed young master thought of him, it was obvious Woonjeong genuinely believed the boy had never set foot outside the temple grounds. What a thing to assume. During the school term, Nunbi would be up at four in the morning — before the sun had even thought about rising, before anyone else at the temple had stirred — and he’d pass through those great front gates and push through layer after layer of mountain to get to school in town. Four o’clock departure, seven o’clock arrival. That was Nunbi’s routine. But even knowing Woonjeong was poking fun at him, Nunbi—
“I have too been — outside, I mean? I have?”
—stammered like an idiot anyway. Oh no. Great job. Now he’s going to think I’m a complete fool. He realized it too late, but there was no time to worry about that.
“Perfect then. Come with me and show me the way. You know where the highway exit is.”
Because Woonjeong broke into a grin like he’d been waiting for exactly that. So this wasn’t just teasing — he was serious. If Nunbi said yes, this man was genuinely going to walk down the mountain and into town.
“It’s night. It’s almost midnight.”
“So what, the real fun starts now. You said you know where town is.”
“I mean, I do know, but — wait. Why town? How would we even get there in the middle of the night.”
And then Woonjeong pulled something out from somewhere and waved it in front of Nunbi.
“Taxi.”
A small silver mobile phone with an antenna. Nunbi stared blankly at the thing in Woonjeong’s hand.
“What exactly are you doing…?”
This was completely unexpected. Past the main hall and over toward where the young novice monks stayed, there was exactly one boxy old television set. Any kind of signal — phone or otherwise — that could reach the outside world probably only existed somewhere near there, for this whole stretch of mountain. How he’d managed it was a mystery.
“Hold on….”
Right at that moment, an uneasy feeling came rushing in.
“You’re not running away, are you?”
And before he could stop himself, that was what came out. He regretted it immediately and clamped his mouth shut. Damn it. Should have kept that to myself.
“….”
He’d made a mistake. You don’t just come right out and say that kind of thing…. Woonjeong said nothing and looked at Nunbi steadily. No — looked straight through him.
“Why?”
That was what Woonjeong said, and before Nunbi could answer, he added,
“Did someone ask you to keep me from leaving?”
“It’s not like that—”
Nunbi shook his head slowly, caught off guard. His heart gave a heavy thud. I thought things were fine and now this — that sharp look again.
“Then why are you asking?”
