Suddenly appearing and startling the life out of him, nearly burning down the house, and now this bizarre situation in the middle of drinking. Hyedam, also hazily drunk from sharing drinks, moved more sluggishly than usual.
His large eyes blinked slowly, and for a moment they seemed about to close gently, but then they snapped open wide again, filled with shock.
“Hey!”
Belatedly struggling, Hyedam pushed hard against the shoulders of the massive figure in front of him and reflexively shouted, “What!” at the following “thud” sound.
What he faced then was Ondal lying on the floor. For someone who had been going on about bread and then boldly planted a kiss on his lips, this was a truly strange conclusion.
Until he felt the lips on his neck, Hyedam had even thought that maybe Ondal was just leaning on him because he was drunk. But it was also true that his heart had raced at the warm, soft sensation of the lips and the feeling of his favorite coffee scent enveloping his entire body.
But to fall asleep before doing anything? …Is he really asleep? …I hope he didn’t hit his head again and something strange is happening?
In this absurd situation, Hyedam roughly wiped his lips with the back of his hand and lightly nudged Ondal with his toe. Though Ondal didn’t move much, there was still no significant response after poking him several times, so Hyedam had to crawl over to his side.
Just like yesterday, today too his thick chest rose and fell steadily, and just to be sure, Hyedam placed his hand near Ondal’s nose to check his breathing, then sighed.
“Surely he’s not underage?”
They had mixed beer with soju, but it didn’t seem like they had drunk enough to get completely drunk—was he originally weak with alcohol? It would be a crime if he had given alcohol to a minor. As usual, Hyedam’s busy mind was endlessly creating useless delusions.
“Ondal.”
As warmth returned to the house that had been filled with cold air from ventilation, and feeling languid from the alcohol, Hyedam softly called out to him as he lay on the floor of the small living room that doubled as a kitchen, not in the bedroom.
It would be nice if he got up on his own and went to the bedroom to sleep, but Ondal didn’t rise. Hyedam, lacking the enthusiasm to roll and drag him through the house to the bedroom again, stood up from that spot.
Hyedam’s gaze changed moment by moment as he looked at Ondal, who had suddenly created a strange atmosphere and even oddly stirred his feelings.
The coffee scent that had seemed to completely consume him had completely disappeared. The bizarre sensation that had enveloped his entire body and the churning in his stomach had somehow settled calmly.
Standing there as if his feet were stuck to the spot, Hyedam’s lips moved slightly after staring down at Ondal for a long time.
“You reap what you sow.”
Not sure if this was the appropriate phrase to use at this moment, Hyedam nevertheless muttered it while bringing a blanket and pillow from the bedroom.
Whether he had fallen asleep, passed out from drinking, or fainted from another impact to his head was unclear, but anyway, after taking care of Ondal according to his own standards, Hyedam sluggishly cleaned up what they had eaten.
“Hey, Ondal. May you meet Princess Pyeonggang and find happiness. Though finding your memory would come first.”
After turning off the lights, Hyedam burrowed into the soft bed. He wanted to organize in his mind the things he needed to do tomorrow, but Hyedam’s delusions didn’t last long, and the house was filled with only the quiet sounds of two people breathing and the scents of coffee and bread.
* * *
“Ugh. This is why I don’t mix drinks, ha… really…”
Waking up and wildly ruffling his hair with both hands, Hyedam left the bedroom barely able to open his eyes, roughly waving his arms in front of him. After entering the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth with lukewarm water, and then drinking bottled water from the refrigerator, Hyedam was finally able to open his eyes properly.
“I didn’t think I drank that much.”
Turning his gaze from the table full of empty ready-to-eat food containers to the sink, he saw drinking glasses and spoons inside. Next, as he was counting the empty bottles neatly placed on the countertop, his gaze returned to the table.
Where the massive figure should have been, there was only a neatly folded blanket and pillow. If it weren’t for the blanket and pillow, he could have thought he’d just drunk alone in depression and fallen asleep, but at that thought, goosebumps rose all over his body.
Ondal is gone? Without even time to feel the throbbing headache and nauseating hangover, Hyedam’s eyes were scanning the small house.
He was definitely alone in the bedroom, and he had just used and come out of the bathroom. What remained was his grandmother’s room, but that room hadn’t been opened from the beginning, and even now, unlike the other rooms, the door was tightly closed.
“Did he leave?”
Ungrateful bastard. Could it be that all his memories returned last night and he left without saying anything?
Going to the entrance, Hyedam confirmed that the slippers were gone. As tall and big as his build was, so were his feet, and the only footwear in this house that Ondal could wear were the slippers. Of course, even those were worn by forcefully cramming his toes in, with his heels sticking out, but still.
Without time to put on his outerwear, Hyedam flung open the door, and a cold wind along with people’s voices rushed in.
“The sun sets early in this village, so let’s hurry. Are those rails all set? The aunties, shake off the cabbage and tie them with string, and over there, pull them out one by one…”
It made sense to harvest the cabbage and radish before they suffered more cold damage, since it had rained two days ago. Hyedam stared blankly at the scene he had always seen and heard since childhood. The only time the quiet mountain village became noisy was when people gathering to manage the fields came like this.
Without properly checking, Hyedam slipped his feet into what felt like shoes and took a few more steps to fully come outside.
“All of Hyedam’s friends are so tall and handsome. What’s your name again?”
“I just told you it’s Ondal, student. I understand. This old lady’s hearing isn’t so good. But do you have a girlfriend?”
“Why ask such inappropriate things? Whether it’s a man or a woman, someone who looks this good definitely has a lover, don’t you think?”
“Why? Our Hyedam is good-looking too, but he doesn’t have a lover.”
“That boy is just pretty in a neat way. This friend here is, what do you call it, breathtakingly handsome.”
The figure protruding slightly above the not-so-high wall and the familiar voices of the grandmothers, though not visible, penetrated Hyedam’s ears.
“Still, it’s a relief. I was worried Hyedam would have a hard time, but he has a friend looking after him like this.”
“He’s a good kid. Where can you find kids like that these days? Old lady Park lived long enough. It’s a blessed death. Did she suffer from a serious illness or struggle painfully? That’s how one should go, passing in their sleep… aish.”
“From what I heard, he’s busy. When are you going back?”
The grandmothers’ voices continued without the deep, heavy voice. Well, even when they seemed to be asking questions to someone’s face, they were all so busy talking that Hyedam himself often didn’t have time to answer.
And Ondal was surrounded by the small grandmothers, who didn’t even reach his chest, caught up in their chatter without time to respond.
“You there. Stop playing around and come work.”
“When is he going? When else? Probably on the weekend.”
“Stop fooling around and come here!”
Walking a bit further and standing in the middle of the yard, watching outside, Hyedam silently pressed his forehead. What a complete mess. Ondal, seemingly unadapted to the situation, stood with an expression full of bewilderment.
Without wearing an outer layer, the tips of his hair had frozen droplets. Seeing that he was wearing different clothes from yesterday, it seemed he had washed and found clothes to wear. Probably after washing, he came outside and got caught up in all this.
Workers would have gathered from dawn, and the grandmothers, who don’t sleep in, would have come out for a morning walk and to take a look. Then they saw Ondal and out of curiosity started asking him various questions.
The problem was the side that thought of Ondal, with his robust physique, as a worker. Wearing shabby clothes and standing on a path by the field, talking with the grandmothers, anyone would think he was just hanging around.
“Could you please be quiet? This friend isn’t here to work; he’s my grandson’s friend.”
Responding to the continuous calls for Ondal, Grandmother Eunbangul shouted loudly. The nickname of the smallest and cutest-looking grandmother in the village was Eunbangul (Silver Bell). However, her voice was the loudest.
“Student. Want to try working? I’ll pay you a good daily wage. We’re short-handed because two people didn’t show up, and with your good build, you look like you’d work well.”
“Oh my. If we don’t have enough, we make do with what we have. Why try to make the kid work…”
“How much is the daily wage?”
The voice of the grandmother who was sharply rejecting the work crew leader’s suggestion to Ondal was drowned out by Ondal’s voice.
“Oh my. He has a nice voice too.”
“30. If you do well, I might add a bit more when we finish.”
“…I’ll do it.”
“Change your clothes and come back. You’ll freeze to death working dressed like that.”
With no chance for him to step in or intervene, as everything had already been settled, Hyedam stood there in a daze.
“How much is 30?”
To Ondal’s question as he came back inside after standing outside the wall until just now, Hyedam muttered, “Transportation to Seoul and…” unconsciously thinking about what could be done with 300,000 won.
“Can we eat meat?”
“Maybe not enough for beef, but definitely enough for pork, don’t you think?”
“Alcohol too?”
“Probably.”
Hyedam remained standing alone in the middle of the yard even as Ondal, who had somehow managed to find and wear Junseok’s clothes, passed by him.
