“You answer obediently too. If it were me, I’d at least ignore you, but you even read my mood…”
The sigh mixed into the end of his words seemed sincere, so I felt a bit choked up.
“It’s better not to be too complacent.”
Another incomprehensible remark. This was the first time I’d had a proper conversation with Kim Jaeui since that day, but he had a talent for making me feel tired even though we’d only exchanged a few words. I suddenly wondered if perhaps I was the one who couldn’t understand words properly.
“I’m saying this because I’m worried about you. Think about it. You have no backing.”
“…”
“Living in a world that seems like it’ll flip over with one breath, and you’re not even worried.”
But at least I could understand these words now. What Kim Jaeui was talking about.
“Someone like you shouldn’t firmly plant roots, you should prepare to drift. Struggling desperately is what suits you.”
Giving kind advice unlike myself. Kim Jaeui smiled smoothly.
“If you’re happy hugging onto shallow roots thinking this is enough, you’ll be left with nothing later. Do your best.”
Kim Jaeui tapped my shoulder lightly.
“Listening is up to you, but if you don’t take my words to heart, you’ll regret it.”
Kim Jaeui walked away giggling. Left alone in the hallway, I just watched Kim Jaeui’s retreating figure. The sound of cicadas that had been pushed back for a moment came back to life. Standing still, I turned around. There was a sloshing sound from the thermos.
What these words truly meant, I didn’t know that day.
The travel plans I’d made with Eorin were from Monday to Wednesday of the week after supplementary classes ended. The orphanage said we couldn’t go any longer than that. Eorin was disappointed but quickly perked up and got excited thinking about what we’d do and play.
The place we were going was a pension Eorin’s father had arranged. From Eorin’s explanation, it felt like just a friend of his father, but from what I could see, it wasn’t at all. Because as soon as the pension owner saw Eorin’s face, he smiled and said, “Oh my, our young master.”
“Have you been well, ahjussi?”
“Of course. There’s no place that puts one’s mind at ease like here. Are the people behind you the friends you said you’d be coming with?”
“Yes.”
“Your luggage must be heavy, so please come in quickly.”
The man took a few boxes from us and disappeared inside the pension. It was a pension with cute little windows on wooden exterior walls.
“The pension is cute.”
“I know.”
The ones who came today were me, Eorin, Woojin, Junsu, and Hyeonho. Like we’d talked about when studying for exams, the other kids couldn’t come because they had prior engagements or family trips.
The person who brought us here was the one I’d seen on the day I went to eat ramen with Eorin before. A security guard was also sitting in the passenger seat like last time, so Woojin blinked his eyes with a curious expression. We conveyed our thanks and saw the two off, then stepped inside the wide-open door. The spacious, sparkling interior of the pension came into view. There was a large TV and sofa, and in front of the large window facing the yard was even a rocking chair. Outside the window, I could see a barbecue grill and a hammock. The pension had a very high ceiling, and it seemed like they’d completely removed the second-floor living room floor, leaving only the stairs to the second floor and the hallway in front of the door.
“The two doors you see there are the first-floor rooms. If you go up to the second floor, there are two more rooms. Please unpack in whichever room you want.”
There were five people but four rooms.
“Can we use all four rooms? Are there any rooms two people can share?”
“Yes. The room on the left on the second floor has two beds. Extra beds are also prepared, so if you want one I’ll bring it to you.”
“Um… should we play rock-paper-scissors?”
“The two who lose share a room?”
“We came all the way here to play and we’re sleeping separately?”
“Ah, is that so too?”
“It’s lonely sleeping alone. And the ahjussi will have to clean all four rooms after we leave, so let’s group into twos and threes. It’ll probably be cramped if we all sleep together.”
In the end, we decided to use only the two rooms on the second floor, and we played rock-paper-scissors. Junsu and Eorin ended up in the same room, and I ended up sleeping with Hyeonho and Woojin.
“Ahjussi, we’ll move the bed.”
“No, stay put! I should do this.”
“You can work us hard, ahjussi!”
Seeing the man moving the extra bed, we all rushed over, took the bed, and moved it to the second floor. The first time we entered the room was carrying the bed.
“Wow, the room is pretty too.”
There were two beds and a nightstand with a small lamp on it, and a large window in the middle. Through the large window, you could see all the way to the nearby valley at a glance. There was also a closet, but since we wouldn’t be staying long, it didn’t seem necessary to organize clothes. After putting down the extra bed, we played rock-paper-scissors again, to decide which bed to use.
The first to win was Hyeonho, and automatically the extra bed became mine. Because if Woojin lay on the extra bed, his feet would stick out. I unpacked my luggage by the bed with a slightly resentful heart.
“I want to grow tall too.”
“If you eat well and sleep well, you grow tall until your early twenties.”
Hyeonho patted me while consoling me. Woojin carefully watched my mood beside me and soothed me.
“Kids, let’s eat lunch first.”
Eorin, leaning against the open doorway, knocked on the doorframe. I wanted to try lying on the bed once, but I could do that to my heart’s content at night, so I turned around and left the room.
After the man taught us how to use the intercom hanging on the wall, telling us to call if anything happened, and left the pension, we prepared to eat lunch. We decided to simply make fried rice for lunch, but I was the only one who knew how to use an electric rice cooker. After cooking rice with the rice we brought, we had to decide who would make the fried rice. But I was the only one who’d ever made fried rice before. I quietly picked up a knife.
“Chiwon-ah, do you cook at home?”
“Yeah. Sometimes.”
Sometimes when I was hungry or when the younger siblings wanted a late-night snack, I’d go to the kitchen and make something with whatever ingredients were there. And on special days like Teacher’s Day, I’d cooked for about 20 people. Though they weren’t elaborate dishes that required a lot of work.
“I can make ramyeon and fried eggs.”
“That’s similar to me. At home when I’m hungry I just eat ramyeon…”
In the end, I was in charge of cooking, and instead the dishwashing would be done by everyone except me in turns.
After quickly making fried rice and having lunch with kimchi bought from the mart, Hyeonho, who lost at rock-paper-scissors, did the dishes, then we immediately changed clothes and went to the valley.
Mid-August. The day was blazingly hot. It was weather where sweat flowed just from standing. Cicadas cried from all directions, and with the sound of water flowing in the valley added to that, everywhere was filled with summer.
This was the first time I’d come to play like this. Dipping my feet in the valley too. So this is what summer vacation is like. The pebbles rolling underfoot and the breathtakingly cold water brushing past my feet felt pleasant.
“Uwaaaah!”
Junsu, who came to the water’s edge, made a strange sound and immediately jumped into the valley, submerged up to his waist, and laughed saying he was freezing to death. Woojin stood at the water’s edge and dipped his toes in the water a few times, then grabbed his pants that came up to his knees and slowly walked in, and Hyeonho quietly went behind Junsu and just knocked him down. As I giggled with my feet submerged up to my ankles, cold water suddenly splashed from behind me.
“Eek!”
I finally understood why Junsu had made such a sound. The water was really, really cold. When I turned around with my body hunched, Eorin was grinning and looking at me.
“Not going in further?”
“Slo… slowly, I will…”
Eorin’s expression was ominous. I was slowly backing away when something behind me firmly grabbed my arm.
“Slowly doing what?”
It was Hyeonho, who was now soaking wet. I tried to get away from the grinning Hyeonho, but this time something came and grabbed my leg.
“I didn’t hear that. Chiwon said he’d slowly do what?”
It was Eorin.
“No! Don’t! I’ll go in! Sorry. I was wrong!”
Even though I begged and pleaded, the kids didn’t let me go. The two who went to the deeper side just like that threw me into the valley.
Cold water that made my ears feel numb soaked me from tiptoe to the top of my head. A few seconds passed as I could hear the kids’ laughter in a muffled way, and I raised my head out of the water.
“Puha!”
“Uhahaha.”
The kids burst out laughing seeing me soaking wet. Holding his stomach and laughing, Eorin came over and peeled off my hair that was sticking because it was wet.
“Refreshing, right?”
“…”
I quietly glared at Eorin. Then Eorin stuck his head out this way and that in front of me, acting cute.
“Are you mad? Hm? Is our Chiwon mad?”
I looked at Eorin with a sulky face, then grinned. Then I quickly hung onto Eorin’s neck and leaned my body. Eorin, who had let his guard down, fell into the water just like that. I immediately turned and escaped the spot, hiding behind Woojin. After Eorin came out of the water, it was pandemonium. We knocked each other down, splashed water, and laughed excitedly. The hardest thing was knocking Woojin down—Woojin could run through the water without batting an eye even with just me hanging on. In the end, the four of us rushed at once and succeeded in knocking Woojin down, but since it was no different from a joint submersion, we all giggled with completely soaked appearances together.
When I came to my senses while playing in the water, it was already evening. While playing to our hearts’ content, Eorin suddenly looked at me and came over to cup my face with his hands.
“Chiwon-ah, your lips are purple. Are you cold?”
“N-no, I’m not cold.”
I said that, but my chin trembled and my teeth chattered. Eorin’s hands, which seemed to want to warm me up, were also ice-cold, so I knew it was time to get out of the water.
“Should we get going now?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Let’s grill meat.”
When we got out of the water, my wet clothes touched me in the cold breeze and my body trembled. With our arms around each other’s shoulders, we ran noisily and immediately rushed into the pension’s shower room. But the pension had four rooms, and four shower rooms attached to the rooms. That meant one person had to wait their turn. I lost at rock-paper-scissors again and had to wait my turn. I didn’t know because I always let my younger siblings go first in everything, but maybe I’m actually bad at rock-paper-scissors?
