Sniff sniff.
It was full of Bihyeon’s scent, so I felt strange.
As I raised my sleeve and smelled it, the Mountain God smiled warmly, approached close, arranged my clothes, and muttered quietly.
“…I hope that child heals his wounds and recalls the feelings from that time.”
That child… is he talking about Bihyeon?
I blinked and was led by the Mountain God’s hand to sit in the pavilion. The warmly blowing wind felt good, so I smiled slightly.
Bang!
Then the door burst open and the bear came out, making my body tremble small again.
“Hyeonwoong, be a little gentler.”
“What! Why are you wearing Bihyeon-nim’s clothes? Ti-tiny bit… it seems to suit you though!”
The bear who shouted roar wrinkled his brow as if thinking about something, then leaned his head close to me.
Really… I feel like crying. It’s scary…
“Why do I feel that human from you? It’s strange. That can’t be…”
“Wha, what human?”
“That can’t be. There’s no way you’re that child whose soul disappeared hundreds of years ago. Right?”
How would I know that…
I stared blankly at the bear and smiled awkwardly. Since I don’t believe in reincarnation or anything, it’s probably not, right? When I nodded, the bear snorted and held out steaming abalone porridge to me and the Mountain God.
“Eat up! Spirit-nim, please enjoy!”
“Oh my…”
The Mountain God who received the bowl laughed “Hehe.” I stared at the porridge, then smiled at the bear.
“I’ll eat well, Bear-nim.”
“Call me Hyeonwoong-nim! What’s with ‘bear’? Bear!”
“Yes, Hyeonwoong-nim.”
What… he’s prickly but his words seem warm. When I smiled slightly and answered, the Mountain God smoothly placed the durumagi I had on my shoulders over my head.
Creeak—
“Welcome, Bihyeon-nim!”
At that moment, the door opened and Bihyeon came in.
Looking around, his eyes that met mine grew slightly larger.
Drip, drop,
At that moment, water droplets fell on my hand. It was cold rain. I lifted my head and looked at the sky. The sky was clear, but rain fell drop by drop, then soon whoooosh, it poured down.
Bihyeon approached me as I held the durumagi on my head and looked at the sky.
“I’m sorry. Um… I’ll give you the clothes back.”
Bihyeon who stopped in front of me flinched his hand, then soon smiled as usual.
“Keep it on. It’s raining too.”
“…I’m sorry.”
The rain was colder than I thought, so I was cold.
Bihyeon smiled and raised his hand, slowly patting my shoulder pat pat. His eyes said it wasn’t just courtesy, that he didn’t mind me continuing to wear his clothes.
“I know it’s not your fault, so just keep wearing it.”
“…Yes.”
“Let’s go inside, you’ll get cold.”
I went under the eaves and held out my hand to the drip, drip drop pouring rain. The hot energy dissipated and a cool wind blew. I really hate it when it rains at home, but being here is incredibly refreshing. Is it because the air itself is different? Though it is cold.
At that time, the fox approached and spoke to Bihyeon.
“Bihyeon-nim, have you eaten?”
“I haven’t. Prepare it together.”
“Yes, then I’ll set the table in the dining room.”
The fox took the porridge the bear had brought and guided us to the dining room. The Mountain God reduced his size and entered the building first with the fox.
Phew, I exhaled small breaths and grabbed the durumagi. It’s such fine clothes, I don’t want to let them get rained on. When I set the durumagi aside, Bihyeon who had been standing quietly next to me reached out his hand and put the durumagi back on my head.
“Let’s go.”
“…Mm…”
I looked at Bihyeon and lifted the durumagi to put it on his head. He was about to go like that but hesitated and looked at me.
Eyes shaking slightly… It was a different look from usual.
Longing? Confusion? It looked so complicated that it was difficult to precisely define the emotion dwelling in his eyes.
Soon, without saying anything, I looked at the back of Bihyeon who grabbed my collar and headed to the dining room, then followed along.
Jingle—
“…?”
A clear sound was heard, so I turned around. Giggle, the sound of a young child laughing echoed.
“Hm?”
Bihyeon who turned to look at me stopped, lifted the durumagi with his hand and held it over my head. His intently staring eyes seemed to ask what’s wrong, so I smiled and shook my head.
Something… the feeling is really strange. My chest was ticklish yet stuffy.
Hearing that sound just now gives me a stifling feeling as if I’m forgetting something precious. I let out a small sigh and followed him into the dining room.
Clearly from the outside, the building looked small, but once inside, it was a very spacious dining room. The Mountain God sitting in the middle of a wooden table smiled and gestured as if saying come here.
I sat next to the Mountain God and arranged the durumagi to hang it on the chair. Then the Mountain God quietly put it back on my shoulder.
I looked at the abalone porridge that came out in front of us and smiled slightly. It smelled savory.
I confirmed that the Mountain God and Bihyeon picked up their spoons first, then belatedly grabbed my spoon.
“I’ll eat well.”
The bear frowned and looked at me intently.
I put a big bite in my mouth and mm, nodded my head greatly. It’s really delicious. When I sparkled my eyes and showed a thumbs up, the bear turned his head sharply and hmm hmm, cleared his throat.
“Endure it even if it’s not enough! There’s a next dish!”
“Yes.”
Bihyeon spoke to the bear with a relaxed face.
“Yeonho?”
“He went hunting. I think he’ll probably come in the evening.”
“I see.”
Bihyeon who sat across from me, ate the porridge moderately and put down his spoon, looked at me.
“Wow, it’s really delicious…”
It should all be the same abalone porridge, so what makes it so delicious?
As I muttered and stirred the porridge to look inside, the bear cleared his throat ahem ahem ahem and slipped next to me.
“I poured perilla oil into soy sauce. And mixed it to sprinkle on top of the porridge.”
“Ah! I see.”
“Porridge is sincerity!”
“Indeed, that’s why it’s so delicious.”
When I nodded and empathized, the bear’s mouth twitched. At his look of almost smiling or not, I laughed haha and drank water. The porridge was so delicious that I looked forward to the next dish.
The bear brought out dishes one after another with a confident face. They were all Korean food. Every time I ate, I sparkled my eyes, savored the taste, and ate carefully. Each time, the bear would come and give me a little more food.
Bihyeon who had eaten to some extent propped his chin and watched me eat. I felt the gaze but deliberately pretended not to notice. The Mountain God who had been eating quietly raised his eyes to look at Bihyeon and chuckled.
How long has it been since I ate with several people like this?
Really, it was a happy and delicious meal.
***
“…?”
Huh?
Why am I in the blankets? When on earth did I fall asleep…? I remember being chased into the room after eating, told to stay inside since they’d bring snacks. Did I fall asleep while listening to Bihyeon and the Mountain God talking from the side?
There’s no way I spread out the blanket and lay down myself. When I looked down, I was covered with a fine blanket.
Wow… what kind of inconvenience is this?
I jumped up and looked around, but the two who had been talking in gentle voices were gone somewhere and the room was empty.
“Oh my, did you wake up?”
“Fox-nim.”
The fox who entered the room holding a large shopping bag clapped her hands weakly, saying this worked out well.
“It’s evening, what will you do? Bihyeon-nim said it’s fine so you can rest more and then go.”
“No, I need to go home.”
“Oh my, why? It’s raining and dark, so it’s scary to be home alone late at night.”
That’s true though. I couldn’t stay shamelessly stuck here after being treated to a meal at his house when we’re not even close. I already feel embarrassed and sorry to death for having been sleeping until now.
The fox smiled brightly and placed a shopping bag next to my belongings. Just as I was about to ask what that was, the fox smiled and said,
“And dinner is beef.”
Beef…? But I don’t want to cause more inconvenience.
A delicious smell already seemed to be wafting to the courtyard, so I agonized and trembled my hands.
“Eat and go.”
Bihyeon, who was leaning against the door at some point, said in a low voice. His face smiling drowsily didn’t look displeased.
Beef…
It’s not like I’m really being swayed by beef. Should I just eat dinner and go?
“Then I’ll help with the dishes. I’m good at washing dishes.”
“That’s fine too.”
As if noticing I was being sorry, this time he didn’t particularly stop me and nodded.
“What about Mountain God-nim?”
“He left. He said to tell you he’s looking forward to the walnut pie.”
“Ah, I need to go to the cafe and make it. But how big should it be…?”
“Just think about feeding a telephone pole and make it.”
I thought it was as big as a telephone pole, but I didn’t know he’d really use that as an example.
I blinked and imagined feeding a telephone pole walnut pie, which was also quite funny, so I laughed.
Then Bihyeon who had been quietly looking at my face laughed haha, turned around and left the room. Perhaps having changed clothes, he was wearing fine hanbok instead of a suit.
I arranged the blanket and followed him out, sticking close behind and following along.
The bear who was grilling beef and moving busily discovered me and his eyes grew large. His eyes said how are you still not gone.
“Oh, hello Bear… Hyeonwoong-nim. Good evening.”
“You’re not going home…? At this rate, you’ll get scolded by Bihyeon-nim, man.”
Seeing him slip close to me and tell me quietly while reading the mood, it seemed he was worried about me.
“I invited him to eat dinner together.”
“Huh? I need to prepare a lot!”
At Bihyeon’s low voice, the bear who seemed to be in a good mood showed his teeth and laughed heartily, then hurried back to the kitchen and moved diligently. He seemed incredibly excited, even humming.
I laughed along as I watched the bear, then approached Bihyeon at the pavilion and sat next to him.
“But Bihyeon-nim. Aren’t you going to work? It seems like you work day and night.”
Seeing how you were in a suit every time you stopped by the cafe…
“Ah, it’s fine since I’m resting after a long time.”
“But gods work too…?”
And in the human world at that. When I spoke carefully, Bihyeon laughed haha.
“Yes. I have to earn money for the currency of this world to circulate. I also like working frantically.”
Aha, so the currency here runs on human money?
And he likes working frantically… It seemed like looking at myself, so I felt bitter.
Does he have some circumstances?
“It must be hard.”
I muttered quietly, remembering how other customers were afraid of Bihyeon.
I don’t know well, but it seems like he’s struggling alone… And it seems like no one knows it, so I felt sorry for no reason.
