“…Ugh!”
He fell forward ungracefully while gripping the leash. When he opened his eyes wide and felt around his leg, he could see his ankle was swollen. When he gently pressed it with his fingertip, a stinging pain crept up. The fortunate thing was that the opposite ankle was fine.
“Ugh… I think I need to wrap this leg….”
Yoonjo, who carefully got up, lightly stroked the head of Dongtae, who was whimpering beside him as if worried. Yoonjo, who muttered as if it wasn’t his fault, looked at the path he’d rolled down. It was quite a high hill.
“This is really screwed.”
It seemed he’d come deep into the mountain. It was a relief that it wasn’t a completely unfamiliar path, but the situation was that he couldn’t climb the hill and get back to the main road.
Yoonjo, who had tried stepping on his injured ankle a few times, firmly grabbed a nearby tree with the thought of giving it a try.
It was just as he was about to take that one step.
The wind blew bleakly and something fell onto the leaves with a tap, tap. At the irregular sound, Yoonjo raised his head. At the cold thing falling on his cheek, the corners of his eyes trembled on their own. When he touched his face with his hand, moisture formed on his fingertips.
Yoonjo, who rubbed his fingertips as if pushing hard against the end of his eyebrow, laughed helplessly.
“What’s going on with my luck stat today….”
Rain began to pour between the gloomy skies.
***
An hour had passed since the rain started pouring. Even then, Yoonjo hadn’t returned. Even when he texted or called, only the dial tone went through.
Seonwoo, who came out of the gate holding an umbrella just in case, looked at the end of the road where Yoonjo seemed to have disappeared. Not a single person could be seen. On days like this, everyone would quit farm work and return as if they’d been waiting, so the alleyway was quieter than other days.
Seonwoo, who was wandering around with his umbrella, heard the sound of Yoonjo’s house door opening. Wondering if it was Yoonjo, he raised his head, but the person who came out was Yoonjo’s grandmother. As soon as she discovered Seonwoo, she flinched as if startled.
“My goodness, you scared me…. Why are you doing that there?”
“Just… because it’s raining. I remembered that Yoonjo went out to walk the dog but didn’t take an umbrella.”
“Yoonjo? That, Yoonjo has work.”
“I guess the walk is taking long.”
“He’s been at it all day. That, Yoonjo cleared the whole sesame field to play with that dog called Dongtae or whatever. Sweat too, he squeezed it all out like sesame oil.”
He couldn’t understand everything exactly, but roughly put together, it seemed to mean that Yoonjo had cleared the entire sesame field to play with Dongtae. Seonwoo remembered that Yoonjo’s face he saw in the afternoon was as smooth as usual, and made a puzzled expression.
“Really?”
“So, since that Seoul person came, Yoonjo’s been doing a day’s work quickly. Even though I tell him it’s too much, he doesn’t listen to grandma’s words even if it kills him.”
The grandmother, who patted her knees, narrowed her eyes, fiddled with the door handle a few times, then straightened her bent waist a little as if she was done. Still, it was a waist bent heavily. When Seonwoo approached to help, Yoonjo’s grandmother stepped back inside the gate again.
“When Yoonjo comes, tell him to come in quickly. I’ll make him something to eat. You too, Seoul person.”
“…Thank you. I’ll go with Yoonjo.”
Yoonjo’s grandmother, who waved her hand dismissively as if to say do so, soon closed the gate and went in. Seonwoo stood there blankly until the slow footsteps completely disappeared.
He had thought it was strange anyway. Farm work wasn’t something you could easily take a break from, so he knew you had to tend to it every day, but Yoonjo, who left early in the morning, spent time with him every afternoon.
Yoonjo’s grandmother said Yoonjo had rushed to finish his work. Although he said it was to walk Dongtae, in fact, the fundamental reason was Seonwoo. Making time to see his face somehow was quite a laborious task. But Yoonjo always managed it. It seemed right to say he was persistently good at one thing.
“…Ah, Ji Yoonjo.”
The name he called was full of laughter. Seonwoo entered the walking path they had walked together before while listening to the pitter-patter of the falling rain.
He went looking for Yoonjo thinking it would be easy, but in reality, there was no harvest at all. He looked all around that old walking path, but Yoonjo and Dongtae still couldn’t be found.
As the rain gradually became heavier, Seonwoo began to abandon the leisure he’d had until just before. He went around the village once to see where on earth they were, and scanned the walking path again, but they weren’t anywhere. Even when he looked again thinking they might have returned home, the two were still not visible.
That said, he couldn’t ask for help from Yoonjo’s grandmother or grandfather either. Thinking that the two elderly people would be shocked hearing Seonwoo’s uncertain story, he couldn’t carelessly tell them.
Seonwoo, who climbed the hill again, stood there and recalled what Yoonjo had said again.
‘If you go down this way, it’s the tidal flat, and if you go this way, it’s the mountain. It’s a low mountain, but it’s better not to go when it rains.’
He looked alternately at the downhill slope leading to the tidal flat and the path leading to the mountain. If it hadn’t been raining, there would be some traces, but the ground had already turned muddy long ago.
Seonwoo, who checked the fork in the road several times, moved his feet toward the mountain. As if representing his anxious heart, his steps were almost running.
“Yoonjo-ya.”
His voice was buried in the sound of rain. Seonwoo, who entered the forest recklessly while holding an umbrella, walked while looking around. After turning on his phone’s flashlight, he looked here and there at the dampened forest.
“Ji Yoonjo!”
He called the name once and waited quietly, but there was no response. Seonwoo turned on his screen to call Yoonjo again, but only a message saying he couldn’t get a signal appeared.
Thinking maybe this was why Yoonjo hadn’t responded all this time, Seonwoo called Yoonjo’s name even louder.
A rustling sound could be heard from somewhere. At the artificial noise heard along with the bleak wind, Seonwoo’s body stiffened.
He’d brushed off talk about raccoons, tigers, and sea monsters as jokes, but when he was left alone in the dark forest, goosebumps rose.
A sobbing sound could also be heard from somewhere. Heu-heuk, heu, heu-heu, heu…. It was a situation he’d seen in horror movies. A man alone in a rainy forest, and strange sounds. It felt like a ghost would jump out and tap his back at any moment.
Seonwoo’s Adam’s apple moved greatly. Naturally, strength went into the hand holding the umbrella. After hesitating as if contemplating, he soon entered the bushes.
“…Ha.”
There was nothing inside. Just a pile of grass. Nevertheless, his body hair stood on end and wouldn’t lie down. Should he go back—that thought briefly occurred, but it was very momentary. Yoonjo kept coming to mind, so he absolutely couldn’t turn his steps back.
Seonwoo clenched and unclenched his fist. He’d rather hope that Yoonjo had crossed paths with him. Hoping that Yoonjo wasn’t in this cold forest, he opened his mouth.
“Ji Yoonjo!”
No answer came back, but Seonwoo continued to call Yoonjo’s name. The feelings of hoping he wouldn’t answer, or hoping he would answer, constantly crossed inside him.
***
As the rain gradually became heavier, Yoonjo couldn’t escape the forest. He’d at least been able to get to the secret base, but with his leg swollen, even that was difficult to consider fortunate.
The secret base woven from wood had water filling up in places here and there, so the condition wasn’t very good. However, it was enough to avoid the rain for a while. Yoonjo had been stopping by once in a while to do repair work, but recently he hadn’t touched it at all, so now it was in terrible shape.
Yoonjo let out deep sighs and hugged Dongtae tightly. The scent of earth wafted from the dampened fur. Yoonjo buried his face in Dongtae’s body and muttered.
“Let’s go out when the rain stops, Dongtae-ya.”
Woof! At the brief answer that came back, Yoonjo smiled faintly. While hugging Dongtae, he slowly closed and opened his eyes. His body temperature seemed oddly high. He tapped his forehead several times with the back of his hand, but he couldn’t gauge the temperature. Meanwhile, heat radiated from his injured ankle.
Yoonjo, who sat squirming in a position that wouldn’t strain him as much as possible, touched his ankle from time to time. The ankle, which was more swollen than at first, looked pitiful even to see. At this rate, it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to go out for farm work for a while. He had to harvest and thresh all the sesame, and he had to go to the blueberry field too. And most importantly, there was the matter of going around playing with Seonwoo.
“I won’t be able to do anything….”
With his leg like this, even hovering around subtly wouldn’t be possible. Still, thinking maybe moving a little would be okay, when he bent his ankle, he writhed at the stinging pain that shot up. The pain was so tremendous that cold sweat came out on its own.
Yoonjo, who was breathing out, carefully wrapped his ankle with his cold hands and suddenly remembered.
“Ah, my phone.”
He turned on his phone with a little hope, but as expected. At the message saying it was a service unavailable area, Yoonjo clicked his tongue and put it away neatly again.
“Dongtae-ya. Will Seonwoo hyung know we’re too late?”
Dongtae’s ears flapped, but that was all. Yoonjo stroked Dongtae’s back widely and continued his monologue.
“If hyung suddenly appeared here like ta-da, it would really be amazing. But that won’t happen, right? I’ve never told him the way to the forest… Oh, I told him before not to come when it gets dark. He won’t think I came all the way here. Even I wouldn’t know.”
He said that, but being human, expectation was blooming in one corner of his heart. Realistically speaking, there was no reason for Seonwoo to come all the way here. When he kept saying he liked him and got firm rejections saying it wasn’t okay, what reason….
He could just look around the village entrance and if that didn’t work, inform the elders… Or if not that, he could wait longer and report it if necessary.
“Let’s go out with hyung when the rain stops. By then, I’ll be able to move my leg. Right, Dongtae-ya.”
Dongtae, who glanced up, leaned against Yoonjo’s body again and curled up. Whether he knew Yoonjo was hurt, the way he yielded his side was quite admirable. Somehow his eyes felt hot. It seemed right that he had a fever. Whether it was from getting caught in a lot of rain or because of his ankle was hard to be certain.
Yoonjo, who kept touching his cheeks and forehead with his hands to cool the fever, suddenly raised his head at the intensifying rain.
