Though Yugeon was feeling ill, he handled his duties with practiced ease. Yugeon’s work involved organizing the mart’s products or managing inventory. Since poor condition was a fairly frequent occurrence for Yugeon, he had long since learned the knack of working with an ailing body. Because he didn’t slack off or dump his work on others even when sick, the others would do their own work while occasionally helping with Yugeon’s tasks.
Having exhausted himself to the point where he only had enough energy left to get home, Yugeon headed home almost crawling, seen off by everyone. On the way, he stopped by a pharmacy. His eyes had been burning since the afternoon, and it seemed like he was going to develop a fever.
After buying fever reducers and body ache medicine and arriving home, Yugeon collapsed by the shoe cabinet without even taking off his shoes. The bedding he hadn’t been able to finish putting away in the morning remained as it was.
Lying vacantly while staring at the dark ceiling, Yugeon touched his forehead. It was hot. It seemed he should wash up and eat dinner before taking medicine before his fever rose any higher. Yugeon lifted his heavy body.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of his room.
Snapping back to his senses with a start, Yugeon looked around the room with a flustered face. He remembered eating dinner and taking medicine, but he couldn’t remember what he did after that. The room was filled with darkness without a single point of light, and thick fog had settled in.
Swish, swish.
Just like in last night’s dream, he heard a sound like something crawling. The moment he realized it was a dream, Yugeon turned his head to look where the sound was coming from. Within the black fog that scattered and gathered, something repeatedly appeared and disappeared.
Black scales and a thick, long body.
“…A snake?”
Yugeon muttered unconsciously, and at that moment the crawling sound stopped. Bright yellow eyes looked at him from within the fog. Yugeon staggered back a couple of steps. The snake looked at Yugeon and slowly moved its body to coil itself. The line of sight became endlessly high.
Yugeon swallowed his dry saliva as he met the gaze that seemed to reach the ceiling. It was far too large to be called a snake. Within the crushing sense of intimidation, he felt a majesty that was hard to look up at and an awe that was terrifyingly great and fearful.
‘An imugi…?’
The yellow eyes that had been staring through Yugeon moved for a moment. Simultaneously, Yugeon’s gaze also moved. It felt like being controlled rather than moving because he wanted to.
Where his gaze landed, a small flame rose up. It burned for quite a while before gradually dying down, and Yugeon was able to wake from his sleep.
When he sat up gasping, his whole body was soaked in cold sweat. The dining table he hadn’t been able to clear away was visible before his eyes. Seeing that the dishes were empty, it seemed he had fallen asleep as if passing out after finishing his meal. He had never been like this before…. He wondered if this too was because of the snake liquor. While wiping his wet face and catching his breath, Yugeon remembered what happened in his dream and turned his head.
The place where the flame had risen. There was his wallet.
Why had there been a fire where his wallet was in the dream?
Yugeon picked up his wallet and looked inside. There was nothing particularly noticeable. Still, just in case, as he rummaged around here and there, Yugeon discovered something and stopped his hand.
“Ah.”
It was because he found the paper that had been stuck together behind his resident registration card. A yellowed talisman paper burned black.
It was an item he had almost forgotten about living with.
Yugeon had grown up as a child on a small island called ‘Imokdo.’ It was a small clan village where people with the surname Lee gathered to live. Yugeon, who had been weak from birth and lived with all kinds of minor illnesses, became seriously ill with pneumonia at age 10 and hovered on the brink of death, and since there were no proper medical facilities on the island and no way to treat him, Yugeon’s father decided to send Yugeon off the island. From that time on, for the purpose of treatment, he lived outside the island without returning.
When he first came outside the island, his grandmother had been with him, but from his teenage years on, he lived alone. Until he became an adult, the island’s adults would periodically come by to check on him.
Anyway, the paper was a talisman that his grandmother, when returning to the island, had told him to always carry with him. That talisman had burned pitch black. How did the snake in the dream know about this talisman and burn it? No, was it really true that the talisman had burned because of that dream?
An unidentifiable anxiety flowed down his spine.
After staring at the scorched talisman for a while, Yugeon checked the time. It was a little past 10 PM. After hesitating briefly, Yugeon picked up his phone and called somewhere. The recipient was ‘Father.’ But after a long ringtone, a message flowed out: ‘The connection cannot be made, so after the beep you will be connected to voicemail.’ Perhaps because it was an island, there were often times when calls wouldn’t go through.
In the end, with anxiety doubled due to the burned talisman and the phone that wouldn’t connect, Yugeon couldn’t sleep all night. With the lights and TV turned on, wrapped tightly in his blanket in a room that was eerily cold enough to make his hands freezing even though it was midsummer, he waited only for morning to come.
While staring meaninglessly at the TV screen chattering away by itself with vacant eyes, Yugeon habitually checked outside the window. He didn’t know how many times he’d checked already, but the outside that had kept being pitch black was turning bluish.
“Morning….”
Yugeon hurriedly checked the time on his phone. It was just past 5 AM. It seemed too early a time to call. Unable to do this or that, just holding his phone while worrying, the TV screen suddenly went dark with a click. Startled, Yugeon raised his head to look at the TV.
In the screen that had gone dark, he could see himself sitting wrapped in the blanket, but behind him he could see an emaciated lower body. Legs dried up completely like a mummy without a drop of moisture.
Yugeon gasped and quickly turned around.
“……”
But there was nothing behind him. After blinking a couple of times, Yugeon looked at the TV screen again. The emaciated legs had disappeared without a trace. With goosebumps breaking out all over his body, Yugeon quickly picked up the remote to turn the TV back on, and without any deliberation called his father. He worried about what to do if he didn’t answer this time either, but after a couple of connection tones, a familiar voice was heard.
[Hello.]
“Ah, Father. It’s me, Yugeon.”
[……What’s the matter at such an early hour?]
Though his tone was stiff, warmth he couldn’t quite hide was embedded in his voice.
“Um… Father, I’m sorry, but you know that talisman Grandmother gave me.”
[Talisman?]
“Yes….”
Yugeon trailed off his words as he worried. Should he explain the series of events?
While he was worrying, the other party asked first.
[What about the talisman?]
“Ah, it got damaged a bit…. I’m anxious without the talisman, so could you send me another one?”
[……]
There was no answer from beyond the phone.
“Father?”
[I’ll try to get one. Take care of yourself.]
With that answer, the call ended without small talk. The island people were always like that. When talking with his father, the call would end as if rushed after a brief main point, and the island people who periodically came to see him would also leave as if fleeing without staying even five minutes.
Yugeon looked at the call ended screen displayed on his phone.
Since it had been 17 years, memories of growing up on the island were hazy, and he had no memories at all of when he was sick with pneumonia at age 10. Though he had no longing for his hometown, it wasn’t that he had no longing for people, but the island people’s attitude was always disappointing.
However, thinking that he could get another talisman, his heavy heart became much lighter. Whether his tension had released, his eyelids also closed. Though it seemed like he would have strange dreams again if he slept, he couldn’t resist the drowsiness that came rushing in like a tide. The neatly laid out bedding tempted him.
After biting his lower lip and worrying briefly, Yugeon lay down on the bedding as if unable to resist. When he lay down, his body became even more drowsy. With eyes flickering in and out of consciousness, Yugeon checked the lights and TV as if to confirm, then closed his eyes as if passing out.
Soon, around Yugeon who had fallen asleep while breathing evenly, emaciated and pale legs slowly wandered.
When Yugeon woke from sleep, he looked around with vacant eyes.
“?”
He felt refreshed. He hadn’t even had a strange dream. He wondered if it was a dream or reality. When he checked the time, it was almost 4 PM.
“What, I slept for almost twelve hours?”
Muttering as if absurd, Yugeon felt hungry and tried to get up from his spot while rubbing his stomach, when his phone vibrated and a call came in. The caller was Choi Jacheol.
“Hello?”
[You finally answered! Hey, man! What kind of person doesn’t show up without notice and doesn’t answer their phone!]
“What? …Didn’t show up without notice?”
[That’s right, man!]
“What are you talking about… Today is my day off.”
[That was yesterday, man!]
“What?”
[You went home whining about being sick, then didn’t show up without contact after your day off passed, and when we called you didn’t answer—do you know how worried we were?]
“Wait, wait a minute…! Isn’t today Thursday?”
[It’s Friday!]
“That’s impossible….”
[What were you doing that you weren’t answering your phone?]
“I was sleeping though…?”
[What? Sleeping? Don’t tell me… you went home the day before yesterday and slept until now?]
“It seems like it….”
[Were you… really not feeling well?]
“What? No, no. I’m fine! I’ll come out right now! I’m sorry.”
Yugeon hurriedly got up and headed to the bathroom.
[What? Come out for what…. Go to the hospital and just come in properly tomorrow.]
“I don’t need to go to the hospital. I’ll come out and at least help with the evening shift and closing.”
Despite Choi Jacheol’s dissuasion, Yugeon stubbornly headed to the mart. Everyone clicked their tongues at the sight of Yugeon rushing into the mart entrance.
“That stubborn one, who can really stop him.”
Someone muttered with lamentation, and everyone nodded in agreement. The fortunate thing at least was that Yugeon looked fine without any signs of illness.
Park Seongjoo approached Yugeon who had hurriedly changed clothes and come out.
“You stubbornly came out after all?”
At the voice that seemed somewhat exasperated, Yugeon smiled awkwardly.
“Maybe because I slept well, I’m bursting with energy.”
“How proud.”
“Was yesterday busy?”
“It wasn’t busy.”
Park Seongjoo even waved her hands as she exaggeratedly denied it, and knowing that this was consideration directed at him, Yugeon could do nothing but deliberately smile and joke around. After exchanging a few words of small talk, the two scattered to find their respective tasks.
