‘You? Brought me? Someone who was heavier and more limp than usual because they were unconscious? From somewhere in front of your house to inside this house?’
Though no words were spoken, Hyedam, who had been wearing an awkward smile feeling like he could understand everything the man was trying to say, subtly erased the expression from his face.
It was nearly impossible for someone like him, weighing in the mid-60kg range, to safely and successfully lead a man who easily weighed 100kg and was 20-30cm taller than him inside. So he had grabbed just his arm and dragged him when it got difficult, and inside the house, he had rolled him to move him, but he had still tried his best to move him—and now the man was suspicious?
You’re suspicious of the person who saved your life? Wow. What I thought before falling asleep was right.
He wants compensation.
“Are you being suspicious right now?”
“I can’t help it.”
“Come to think of it, it’s strange. You’re a foreigner, right? So why do you speak Korean so well? And since when did you start speaking casually to me? You said you don’t even know my age!”
“I think anyone would assume I’m older than you, wouldn’t they?”
Without raising his voice or showing irritation, the man calmly gave undeniable answers to everything Hyedam said, making it difficult for him to continue.
Being a foreigner made it even harder to gauge his age. He looked young, but considering his physique and other factors, he seemed older, and in any case, it was true that they appeared to be similar in age.
“W-well then, I’ll speak casually… too.”
Just say it out loud. At his own outburst, the man put a piece of apple in his mouth and made a gesture with his chin that suggested he could do as he pleased, which deflated Hyedam’s rising anger and embarrassment.
How can he be so nonchalant when he woke up with no memory, doesn’t know who he is, and even has a head injury? Plus, he said his ankle hurts. That statement clearly indicated amnesia. Despite the situation, his calm demeanor left Hyedam speechless.
The low table in this small, dilapidated house in a remote village didn’t suit him at all. It seemed strange that someone who looked like he should be drinking tea with finger foods in a three-piece suit on the terrace of a castle with a beautifully maintained lake where swans glide gracefully was sitting in front of him.
“Later, let’s go to the police station to… Well, you understand… right?”
After speaking casually, the awkwardness overwhelmed Hyedam, and he added a tiny honorific “yo” at the end.
“Not going.”
“What?”
“If we go to the police station, they’ll do identity checks and such, right? They might even check fingerprints. But I don’t think we need to do that. I’m sure I’ll remember something eventually. So I’ll be imposing on you until then, just so you know.”
Excuse me? Wait? You clearly used the word ‘imposing’ in what you just said, but why do you sound so confident? You’re the one staying at my house, but it sounds like I should be serving you—did I mishear that?
Besides, I need to clean up this house and go back.
No matter how you looked at it, these weren’t words someone who was imposing should say.
As the man, who had been sitting cross-legged, slowly stood up, perhaps finding the position uncomfortable, Hyedam looked up at him and quickly straightened his body as he felt his upper body tilting backward. He’s really tall, not like some kind of totem pole. If he were any taller, his head would touch the ceiling.
“So then…”
Am I possessed? Having risen along with him instinctively, Hyedam was about to ask what they should do next but closed his mouth at the look in the man’s eyes.
“I guess you don’t have… any other clothes.”
Is this what they mean when they say someone can control people with just a look? I’m not a rabbit in front of a tiger, but when Hyedam felt the arrogant gaze looking down at him scan his body again, he frowned.
Why would I have clothes that would fit you?
Because you and I are basically 2-3 sizes different? Besides, I’m the standard size. You’re the one who’s abnormally enormous. Though he didn’t say it all, it seemed the man was clearly going to ask for clothes to change into but withdrew after looking at Hyedam’s body.
“I do. I do have some. What will you do if I have them? What will you do if I don’t? You’re the one who has to wear whatever I give you, not me.”
Since he had clothes left behind by his friend Junseok, a former wrestler, Hyedam quickly opened the wardrobe and took out some large clothes.
“These should do, right?”
Though shorter than this man, Junseok had substantial shoulders and torso, so they should fit well. Besides, wasn’t the shorts the man was wearing now Junseok’s? Hyedam held out the clothes, but the man’s narrowed gaze on him remained uncomfortable.
“They’re my friend’s!”
Am I a mind reader? Hyedam snapped at the man who was just looking at the clothes and then at him without saying anything. Only then did the man slightly nod and take the clothes, leaving Hyedam confused. As soon as the man disappeared into the bathroom, Hyedam slumped down on the spot.
It feels like I’ve picked up something extraordinary. What on earth did I do last night?
I’m already struggling, and I’m not in a position to offer anything to anyone. Both emotionally and financially, Hyedam was barely managing to take care of himself.
The surge of emotions, depression, and suffocation would come, but whenever he saw the man or talked with him, all negative emotions disappeared. Left alone in the small living room, Hyedam curled up and buried his face in his knees, feeling the sudden chill.
“It’s okay. Everything will be fine. You can do well. It’s a situation you’ve thought about a lot, and you’ve discussed it with grandmother many times.”
As Hyedam was mumbling, comforting himself, he slowly raised his head at the familiar yet unfamiliar smell.
This is strange. The old lady next door wouldn’t be roasting coffee, and the elderly in our village prefer instant coffee. The pleasant aroma that comes when coffee beans are being roasted permeated through his nostrils. It was a scent that could never be smelled here.
Hyedam took a deeper breath at the coffee scent he had also felt the previous night before falling asleep. I want to drink coffee. Listening to the sound of water pouring from the shower head and licking his lips, Hyedam resolved to drink an Americano with an extra shot as soon as they went to town.
“What should we do about your name? We can’t keep saying ‘you’ or ‘excuse me’ and such.”
“The weather is nice.”
“Excuse me?”
“Are you asking me to remember a name I don’t even recall now?”
Thinking it would be better to be outside than inside the cramped house with the man who had just finished washing, Hyedam sat on the wooden platform in the yard and brought up what he had been thinking about.
For now, the other person was in a situation where he needed help because he had no memory. The difference in their physiques was too great to force him out, and if he contacted the police station and called the police, it was clear that the matter would escalate, so it was time for a reasonable compromise.
Hyedam couldn’t handle the man who was sitting comfortably on the platform, casually looking at the field in front of the house, with his hair that he had roughly dried fluttering in the wind or not, speaking so nonchalantly.
He wasn’t angry or irritated, but the things the man said didn’t sound very nice, yet they were all true, so Hyedam couldn’t think of anything to say in rebuttal. In vulgar terms, he felt like he had been stripped to the bone.
In contrast to the other person consistently speaking casually, Hyedam was using strange speech that was neither casual, polite, nor semi-polite.
My only remaining family, my grandmother, passed away a few days ago, and I’m tired and exhausted. I need to take care of this house quickly and go back. So this is a situation where I could shout “Get out of my house right now!” but strangely, I couldn’t say it. It wasn’t that it was difficult to share his situation, but that he couldn’t tell the man to leave.
“Ondal.”
“Ondal?”
Hyedam had intended to call him Ondal, derived from the foolish Ondal, but when he saw the corners of the man’s eyes narrow again, he quickly shook his head.
Do you know the story of the foolish Ondal? He looks like a foreigner, so I thought he wouldn’t know it, but how can a person be so quick-witted? Initially, he was known as the foolish Ondal, but after meeting Princess Pyeonggang, he eventually became a general. So it’s not such a bad name.
“No, no. Don’t you know Ondal? On means whole, and dal means moon. A round moon. A full moon. That’s what we call Ondal. Yesterday was a full moon, and although the rain covered it, we still met on a night when the full moon rose, so…”
“On. Dal. Ondal… On… dal…”
After hastily offering an explanation that didn’t make much sense, Hyedam quietly observed the man mumbling the word ‘Ondal’ to himself. Though he pretended to be calm and unaffected, this man might be the most confused person right now.
Fortunately, the clothes fit, but how would it feel to wear someone else’s clothes with wrists and ankles showing, and to receive a new name with a strange word that you seem to be hearing for the first time?
On the wrist of the man, who was looking into the distance, was the watch he had been wearing. The golden watch, which seemed to exude luxury, had no markings on it. It seemed like a well-made counterfeit, as there was nothing on it when it should have had a sleek, famous watch brand attached.
Come to think of it, his clothes didn’t have labels either. The water-soaked leather jacket was hung in the shade because Hyedam didn’t know how to handle it, and he had checked the other clothes while washing them. Usually, you could gauge a person’s situation from the clothes they wear or their belongings.
How could there be absolutely nothing to go on?
Anyway, the man who had been given the name ‘Ondal’ that had sprung from Hyedam’s lips didn’t say anything more, and since he was alone in thought, just staring at the field filled with cabbages and radishes that were soon to be harvested, Hyedam quietly left his side.
