Right at that moment, Woonjeong asked, a beat too late:
“What did you say your name was? I’m suddenly curious.”
Nunbi had been about to take a step, and stopped again, turning back to look at him.
“….”
Asking my name now, of all times — he seemed completely uninterested before, and now suddenly he’s curious. That was what Nunbi thought, but —
“Nunbi…. Lee Nunbi.”
Telling him his name wasn’t such a difficult thing, so the boy answered readily enough. He didn’t know yet that it had been a mistake.
—
Nothing of note happened on the way back. Not wanting to stumble into another one of those conversations with Woonjeong that he couldn’t see the end of, Nunbi kept his mouth shut and focused on walking, even through the awkward silences. Around the time the roof of the mountain temple began to show through the trees, the sky darkened just as he’d anticipated. The early rainy season had come. It seemed determined to make itself a nuisance all summer long.
“We’re here.”
Toward the end of the steps leading down to the temple, Nunbi quickened his pace and pulled ahead of Woonjeong. From this point they’d be going different directions — Nunbi toward the kitchen, Woonjeong toward the annex.
“The annex is that way. You know how to get there?”
Nunbi pointed vaguely in the direction of the annex and turned away. If he dropped the water parsley off at the kitchen and slipped into his room, the whole business of sneaking out would end as a perfect crime. The Bosal devotees would probably wonder at first where on earth the water parsley had come from — but since Nunbi was the only one who would do a thing like that, they’d eventually shake their heads and pretend not to know. Better to hurry if he wanted to make it back in time.
“Nunbi.”
He was just rounding the corner when Woonjeong’s voice caught him from behind. He’d been calling him hey up until now, but perhaps because Nunbi had given him his name, he called out Nunbi this time. The voice was clear and distinct. Nunbi turned with a puzzled sound.
“Will you be in your room tonight?”
“Most likely, at least for today…. Why?”
It was an unexpected question, and Nunbi answered with a slight delay. But Woonjeong only took the part of the answer he liked and gave nothing back in response to the why. He just curved his lips into that elusive smile and turned in the direction of the annex Nunbi had pointed to.
“See you again.”
Woonjeong said that and walked away. Left on his own, Nunbi tilted his head for a moment. Well, of course we’ll see each other again — we’re bound to run into each other from here on out anyway. Thinking of it that way, it was nothing of a thing to say — and yet,
“…He really is strange.”
Something about it lingered, and he found that strange — so Nunbi, for no clear reason, kept murmuring it to himself, over and over: see you again. See you again…. Truly strange, honestly.
—
Going all the way to the waterfall at that pace had been too much after all — Nunbi was drained to the bone and spent a long while just lying there. He’d thought that since he’d wasted a whole day yesterday with his injury as an excuse, he could at least work through the remaining math problems — but for some reason nothing would settle in his hands. The numbers and operations refused to register no matter how he looked at them, and deciding his head simply wasn’t in it, he gave up and lay back down.
“Strange.”
He felt like he’d had that word on his lips all day, and yet it was all so vague. He went through it carefully — could it really be because of the guest? — but nothing particularly significant had happened, so there was nothing specific to snag on. And yet it was too vague to chalk up to some other reason entirely, because if he simply removed Woonjeong from the picture, it was undeniably the same Nunbi living the same ordinary day as yesterday and the day before. Nothing should have been off.
“Maybe I’m just too hot.”
Being cooped up inside all day was miserable enough, and now that the heat of the evening was settling in, heatstroke was the most likely culprit. Nunbi dragged himself upright. He drank a full ladle of water and stared aimlessly out the window, and by the time the evening meal hour had rolled around without him noticing. For two days running now, the Bosal devotees had been taking turns making the trip down to his little room and back with a meal tray, all for the sake of one person’s dinner. So once mealtime drew close, Nunbi sat crouched right by the door after hearing the meal bell ring. The moment he heard footsteps on the wooden veranda, he would open the door quickly and take the tray from whoever had brought it — to spare them at least that small trouble. And just then, footsteps sounded nearby right on cue. Nunbi was so glad to hear them that he broke into a wide grin and slid the veranda door open with a creak.
“Hello, wel—”
The boy had flung the door open expecting the warm, familiar face of a Bosal devotee with a cloth tied around her head — and then, mid-greeting, just like that, the words died in his throat.
“Wha — what?”
Nunbi stammered.
“Can’t you tell? It’s dinner.”
The one who answered matter-of-factly, meal tray in hand, standing at the entrance to Nunbi’s room — was Woonjeong.
Nunbi was thrown. He’d heard see you again, yes — but not this soon. He should have caught on when Woonjeong asked whether he’d be in his room tonight. Had Woonjeong planned this whole entrance with the meal tray from the start? But whether Nunbi was flustered or not, Woonjeong stepped past the wooden veranda and walked straight into Nunbi’s tiny three-pyeong room without hesitation. There was no time to stop him.
“Hold on. What is this — what’s happening, all of a sudden?”
“What? Are you particular about who brings your food too?”
“No, that’s not it —”
“Then there’s no need to explain. Here. Enjoy your meal.”
And with that, Woonjeong casually set the tray down in the middle of the floor and sat himself in front of it. And come to think of it — there were two sets of bowls and chopsticks laid out.
“Are we… eating together?”
Nunbi looked at Woonjeong with uncertain eyes. The two of them sharing a table in this tiny room — it was going to be suffocating. The neatly arranged tray had the in-season water parsley Nunbi had picked himself, and fragrant barley rice — not that it mattered. It was genuinely going to be suffocating.
“You don’t want to?”
The look on his face when he asked that was so chillingly casual…. Nunbi stood there, unable to sit or stand properly, staring at Woonjeong in helpless confusion before giving in and answering.
“No, it’s not that I don’t want to — it’s just that you’re suddenly in my room eating dinner with me.”
“I just came. They said someone was bringing food to you, so.”
“But…. Why?”
“Temple food is already questionable enough without having to stare at a bald view while eating it.”
“Hey!”
Nunbi choked. He really hoped no passing Bosal devotees had heard that kind of irreverence. Without a second thought the boy lunged for the room door and slammed it shut with a bang.
“How can you say things like that —!”
This was a disaster. Eating every meal at this temple’s expense and then saying something like that! His heart was pounding.
“Monks shave their heads when they take vows for a reason, you know?”
Nunbi sputtered furiously, and Woonjeong smiled.
“Right. What reason?”
“It’s…. to shed the attachments of the secular world…. and to be reborn as a disciple of the Buddha…. or something like that, I think?”
He’d heard it said before, but he wasn’t entirely sure. It must have been obvious he was fumbling, because Woonjeong let out a small derisive sound.
“If it’s so great, you could shave yours too.”
“That’s…. basically just telling me to shut up.”
“Hard to eat with your mouth shut.”
Nunbi was beyond words — but Woonjeong, entirely unbothered, had settled himself in front of the tray with remarkable poise and begun picking delicately at the carefully prepared side dishes. Nunbi stared at the scene, then let out a hollow laugh.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
He hadn’t known Woonjeong long — but he knew enough to know that his nature wouldn’t turn warm and easygoing just like that. Even now, for all Nunbi knew, Woonjeong was perfectly aware of how uncomfortable this made him and was simply enjoying the brazenness of it — and could flip back at any moment, eyes going sharp, edges coming out, as if none of this had ever happened. Was this just his way of being unpredictable?
“Hey. What’s this? Was it water parsley?”
Just then Woonjeong picked up a piece of bracken and asked, and before Nunbi could even get an answer to why are you doing this, he found himself having to answer the new question first.
“No, the green one on the right — that’s the water parsley.”
