The house with the steel door was the island’s only general store. Though it was small and didn’t have many items, it seemed natural that it was used as the young people’s hangout.
One of them, who had been laying out a few snacks and chattering noisily, spotted Migeon and waved their hand in greeting, then saw the unfamiliar man next to him, stopped their hand and tilted their head before immediately jumping up from their seat.
“Yugeon, Yugeon hyung?”
At the man’s exclamation filled with shock, the others all stopped talking in unison and turned their heads. Just as their persistent gazes seemed to cling to Yugeon, they all got up from their seats at once and rushed over like a wave.
“Lee Yugeon?”
“Yugeon oppa?”
“What? What! What happened? When did you get here?”
“Awesome! This hyung looks exactly like when he was little! He grew up just the same!”
At the reaction quite different from how the adults had treated him, Yugeon hesitated as if flustered.
“What? Why this reaction? Don’t tell me you don’t remember us? I’m Byeongchan.”
“This guy said he doesn’t remember when he was little… Hey, I’m Junghyeok.”
“Oppa, I’m Seyeong.”
“Me, Dongha!”
The man who introduced himself as Dongha was the man who first recognized Yugeon.
“Me, Yerim.”
“Oppa, me, Jihui! I’m Yerim unnie and Dongha oppa’s younger sister, don’t you remember?”
Yugeon slowly looked at their faces. But a boy could be seen behind Lee Yerim. When Yugeon raised his gaze to look at Lee Yerim, Lee Yerim exclaimed “Ah” and explained.
“Ah, this is Lee Taeyoon, Seonhwa unnie’s son.”
“Seonhwa noona got married?”
“A long time ago. He’s already 13. She has one more below him called Sebin.”
Lee Yerim, who had been smiling and explaining at length, slowly withdrew her smile and opened her eyes wide as if surprised.
“You remember?”
At Lee Yerim’s dazed question, Yugeon smiled a bit sheepishly and nodded.
“Ah, what! The adults definitely said you lost almost all your memories from when you were little?”
“Right, plus they’d get angry whenever we just asked about your news, so we implicitly thought you had died.”
“‘Lee Yugeon’ those three syllables were a complete taboo word!”
Lee Yerim, Lee Junghyeok, Lee Byeongchan. The three who were the same age as Yugeon chattered nonstop. Meanwhile, Lee Taeyoon, who had been stuck right behind Lee Yerim, sneakily approached Lee Jihui’s side and asked.
“Noona, who is that person…?”
“It’s Lee Yugeon, Migeon oppa’s hyung. He stayed off the island because he was sick.”
While listening to Lee Jihui’s explanation, Lee Taeyoon’s eyes met Yugeon’s. Yugeon smiled and waved at him, and Lee Taeyoon was startled and bowed his head.
“Hey, why didn’t you tell us hyung was coming?”
On one side, Lee Dongha was pouring out complaints to Migeon. When Lee Dongha grumbled and tapped Migeon, Migeon twisted his body as if annoyed and said bluntly.
“Why should I.”
“Wow, this guy’s attitude, really.”
“Still, if you’d at least given us a heads up, we all could have gone out to meet him together.”
Lee Byeongchan also added.
Migeon frowned as if he really couldn’t understand.
“He’s my hyung.”
“…Who said anything?”
Lee Junghyeok approached Yugeon’s side, who was watching his younger brother engaging in a childish argument as if it were fascinating.
“By the way, are you back for good?”
“Huh? No…”
Yugeon trailed off and unconsciously glanced at his younger brother. His brother was still arguing with Lee Dongha and Lee Byeongchan.
“Did you come because ahjussi passed away?”
“……”
Yugeon was silent for a moment. But soon he nodded.
“For now.”
He couldn’t say ‘I drank snake liquor and started having snake dreams, and as if that wasn’t enough, I was ghost raped, but the shaman told me to return to the island. So I came.’ As they exchanged a few more words like that, Lee Junghyeok suddenly closed his mouth and stared intently somewhere. At the same time, the surroundings became quiet.
Puzzled, Yugeon looked around at everyone. They were all looking somewhere without exception. When he moved his gaze along with them, he saw a man standing not far away. He appeared to be around his age.
They glared at each other as if confronting each other. When he stared intently wondering who it was, the man who had been glaring at the group also spotted Yugeon and moved his gaze. The man first frowned as if puzzled while looking at Yugeon, then soon opened his eyes wide.
“Lee Yugeon?”
When the other party recited his name, Yugeon tapped his younger brother and asked.
“Who’s that?”
Migeon glanced at Yugeon and answered as if muttering.
“Lee Jaeyeong.”
“Lee Jaeyeong… Lee Jaeyeong… Lee Jaeyeong?”
After repeating the other party’s name several times, Yugeon looked at Lee Jaeyeong as if something came to mind. It was definitely a name in his memory. He seemed to vaguely remember the face too. But he wondered why their mutual reactions were like this. As he was about to greet him, wondering if they weren’t on good terms, Lee Junghyeok blocked Yugeon’s front.
“Don’t associate with him. He’s an unlucky bastard.”
“Huh?”
“Right, hyung should avoid him too. It’s best not to get close.”
“?”
“The rough waves these past few days are probably that bastard’s fault too, right? The adults are making such a fuss about not being able to launch boats.”
Following Lee Dongha, when even Lee Jihui came out and denounced Lee Jaeyeong with harsh words, Yugeon was bewildered.
“Hey, what are you looking at! Get lost! Ptui!”
When Lee Byeongchan raised his fist and even spat, Lee Jaeyeong, who had been looking at Yugeon as if in a daze, whipped around and fled the spot as if running away.
At Lee Jaeyeong’s retreating back, Yugeon didn’t know what to do. Without paying any attention to Yugeon, they were busy harshly cursing Lee Jaeyeong. And Yugeon realized. The gazes of the adults looking at him. Those gazes he thought were looking at him with disapproval and displeasure.
Seeing Lee Jaeyeong, he understood. The truly disapproving and displeased gazes were the ones looking at Lee Jaeyeong like that now. The gazes looking at him were rather similar to fear. They were gazes with underlying fear and wariness that leaked out even when hidden.
And… Yugeon turned his gaze to look at his younger brother standing next to him. His younger brother, Lee Migeon, who just watched like a bystander even while harsh words about Lee Jaeyeong were being exchanged.
Lee Jaeyeong resembled Migeon. Not that their appearances were similar, but they were similar in that they didn’t resemble anyone on this island. Like both were outsiders, they didn’t resemble anyone on the island.
The young people who had been harshly cursing Lee Jaeyeong began checking the time one by one and leaving. Yugeon and Migeon also decided to greet Grandmother Jin Gageum, the owner of the general store, and leave. Jin Gageum was an outsider who didn’t have the Lee surname, so she welcomed Yugeon warmly.
“Now that I think about it, they’re Seonhwa noona’s children but they’re all Lees? Don’t people usually follow the husband’s surname? Or is the husband also a Lee?”
On the way home, Yugeon suddenly asked.
“No, that person is a Song. Usually they follow the paternal surname, but we make everyone follow the Lee surname without distinction between mother or father.”
“Really? That’s unusual.”
Yugeon nodded perfunctorily. Though he was the one who asked first, he didn’t seem very interested. And his interest soon moved elsewhere. In the distance, the mourning house under the willow tree could be seen.
Looking at the mourning house creating an eerie atmosphere hidden in the willow tree’s shadow, Yugeon was thinking a ghost might appear when he suddenly remembered the talisman.
“Ah, Geon. Is there anyone on the island who can write talismans… why are you laughing?”
“No, I just thought hyung still calls me Geon.”
“Huh?”
“Father, Uncle, Grandmother, the villagers—they all called you Geon. Because you were the eldest. But hyung called me Geon.”
“Did I?”
“Yeah, I really liked that. That hyung called me Geon. Now everyone calls me Geon but…”
“You remember all that?”
“I told you. I remember everything about hyung. When I first called you… I was worried about what if you didn’t remember me. Because I heard you forgot almost everything from when you were little.”
“…Of course I remember. What I don’t remember is just the few days when I was sick in bed with pneumonia.”
Migeon stared at Yugeon, then smiled a bit bitterly.
“Then that’s a relief…”
“By the way, is there anyone else besides the deceased grandmother who can write talismans?”
“No.”
An immediate answer came back as if there was nothing to consider. Yugeon seemed quite flustered as he just opened and closed his mouth. Because his back was to the blazing sun, he couldn’t see his brother’s face properly. Yugeon squinted and made a hand visor above his head. At the same time, a hand even bigger than his was placed over his head as if blocking the sunlight.
“It’s hot. Let’s go.”
The voice was tinged with laughter.
* * *
“Geon.”
An affectionate call called for him.
Yugeon was sitting on Grandmother’s lap, rocking his body back and forth. Around sunset, Grandmother would sit him on her lap and tell him this and that.
“You know what? Long ago, a country called Joseon had many spiritual creatures called imugi.”
“Imugi?”
“Yes, spiritual creatures preparing to become dragons. But as the country became modernized everywhere, the imugi who lost their places to live all left for the sea.”
“The sea?”
When Yugeon tilted his head, Grandmother smiled and patted his head.
“Yes, to the sea.”
“Then are there imugi in that sea?”
“There’s an imugi on this island too.”
Yugeon opened his eyes wide and looked up at Grandmother.
“Really?”
Grandmother nodded with a kind face.
“This island was originally the imugi-nim’s island. We’re just borrowing that land to live on. We must always live serving and worshipping that imugi-nim like a god who willingly gave up his land for people.”
Yugeon opened his eyes. It seemed like he had a dream, but he couldn’t remember the content. It seemed like someone very dear had appeared. As he looked at the pitch-black ceiling for a moment with eyes immersed in reverie, thanks to dark adaptation, the surroundings began to be visible little by little.
Seeing that it was dark, it still seemed to be the middle of the night. Yugeon, who was turning his head to check the time, was startled without realizing it. His younger brother was sleeping on his side, stuck right to his arm. His face was so close it almost touched his shoulder.
Yugeon quickly looked around the room and outside the window. Though it was unlikely, he wondered if someone might be watching them. If someone was watching, it would be quite an embarrassing situation. Two grown brothers sleeping stuck together under one blanket.
After confirming no one was there, Yugeon swallowed a breath of relief and began staring intently at his younger brother’s face. Even in the darkness, his features were distinct. He remembered it was quite a cute face when he was little, but the time of 17 years had made the person called Migeon into a stranger. If they had met outside without knowing each other, he probably wouldn’t have recognized his younger brother.
After looking at his younger brother’s face for a while, his eyes began to close again. Blinking his gradually closing eyes, just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard what sounded like faint wailing in the distance.
“?”
Yugeon opened his eyes and listened. Though distant and faint, it was definitely wailing. Thinking something might have happened in the village, Yugeon carefully got up from his spot, looked once at his soundly sleeping younger brother, then came out to the wooden floor.
Coming out to the wooden floor, the wailing became a bit clearer. Yugeon looked outside through the windbreak, but nothing was visible. Meanwhile, the wailing was getting closer and closer. After pondering for a moment, Yugeon opened the door and went out to the yard.
