* * *
Surim used his annual leave instead of bereavement leave. Three days including the weekend. It was enough time to say goodbye to his hyung.
He didn’t place the urn in a columbarium. His hyung had always wanted to be discharged and go home, so it seemed right to stay together at home for the time being.
As soon as Surim opened the front door and stepped inside, he felt a chilling sense of alienation. It wasn’t a sensation from something in the house changing, but from Surim himself changing. The fact that this place, which had been a home waiting for his hyung until now, was no longer that—struck him with nauseating clarity.
Surim staggered into the house. After placing the urn on the living room coffee table, fatigue rushed over him suddenly. His eyes kept closing, but Surim forced himself to go to his room and pull out a file folder.
The summer when he was fifteen, when his parents and hyung were in a car accident and his hyung was hospitalized, Surim made a certain contract. It was a contract that changed many parts of Surim’s life.
Thanks to that contract, Surim gained many benefits. First, he was able to save his hyung’s life; second, he didn’t have to sell his parents’ house; and third, he became proactive about taking care of his health. And fourth…
“……”
* * *
Surim, who had fallen asleep on the floor, blinked dazedly and checked the clock hands.
“6 o’clock…”
As soon as he saw the time, his body moved on its own. Surim got up, put on his tracksuit, and crammed his feet into his running shoes.
The dawn he went out into after several days was dyed the same deep blue color as always. That hue rushed in with his breath, dyeing his chest uncomfortably—like being submerged in water in summer, like being frozen in winter.
Surim gazed into the familiar yet strange dawn for a moment, then threw himself into it. Enduring the suffocatingly tight sensation in his chest, he ran through the damp and dim alleys, making a large circle around the neighborhood, and by the time he reached the fence on the hill, the sun had risen.
That brilliant light had the power to instantly push away the coolness of the dawn air and drive out the negative emotions filling his lungs. That’s why Surim would always stop for a moment in front of the fence, close his eyes, and warm his body in the sunlight for a while before returning home.
“……”
But this time was different.
No light, no warmth could bring peace to Surim now. He gripped the fence tightly and waited for a long time, but his chest remained only cold.
In the end, Surim turned around without gaining anything. The alley where the sun had begun to enter was no different from when darkness had settled—only chilly, bleak wind swirled around.
When he shuffled along and arrived in front of his small house, Surim encountered a welcome visitor he hadn’t seen in a while.
“Kkamang-ah.”
It was a jet-black cat with glossy fur. With its bright yellow eyes wide open, Kkamang blinked affectionately. Surim stroked Kkamang’s head firmly. While he petted the crown twice, scratched under the chin, then smoothly stroked from head to neck, back, haunches, and tail, Kkamang just sat still with an aloof expression.
They say cats express affection by bumping their heads when they’re close, but Kkamang was always incredibly aloof. Still, just seeing Kkamang’s pretty face brought a small warmth to his cold chest.
As soon as Surim opened the front door, Kkamang walked inside as if it were natural. With a light jump landing on the dining table, Kkamang meowed urgently as if prompting him.
“Okay, okay.”
Surim moved his dirty running shoes to the bathroom and prepared a meal. He heated the chicken breast that had been cooked once and frozen in the freezer in the microwave and took out a wilted pack of salad from the refrigerator.除去 the cherry tomatoes and grilled tofu, it was a salad full of nothing but vegetables.
Meanwhile, Kkamang rummaged around the living room. Sniffing the clothes on the sofa, checking inside the trash can for no reason, and looking around at the urn placed on the coffee table from various angles.
“Kkamang-ah, you can’t touch that.”
Meong. Kkamang made a strange cry and returned to the dining table. Sometimes it really seemed to understand words. This time it seemed interested in the pile of documents stacked on the dining table from last night, so Surim nodded to let it do as it pleased.
When Surim brought the heated chicken breast torn up with a fork, Kkamang was dropping the documents onto the floor with serious expression, tapping them with its jelly bean paws. He roughly gathered the fallen documents and stacked them back up, then set the plate down on top of them. Kkamang, who meowed in dissatisfaction, elegantly lowered its head to the plate.
Surim also sat across and started eating the salad. After swallowing a few bites of leafy scraps, Surim propped his chin and whispered to the black cat.
“Kkamang-ah, do you want to live with me?”
Myaow. Kkamang snapped back with a sharp cry as if reproaching him.
“If you don’t want to, just say no—why do you have to be so harsh?”
Kkamang let out a deep sigh as if it knew he was talking nonsense. This was why he couldn’t stop saying strange things in front of Kkamang. It would be so nice to really live together. I’m really alone now…
Suddenly he couldn’t breathe. As he sat dazed, Kkamang approached and licked the back of his hand holding the fork. Surim flinched and came to his senses.
“It would be nice if a handsome black cat would live with me. Really can’t do it?”
It was the moment Surim impulsively reached out to Kkamang. Kkamang grabbed his hand with both front paws and bit down hard.
“Ah…!”
Blood flowed freely. Kkamang, whose eyes rolled around as if flustered by its own doing, met Surim’s gaze. Kkamang hesitantly began licking the wound. When he tried to slip his hand away, Kkamang grabbed his wrist with both paws and hung on. As it licked the wound thoroughly and pressed down with its claws every time Surim tried to shake it off, he had no choice but to offer his hand for a while.
“Are you sorry? That’s why you shouldn’t do things to be sorry for.”
Aeng. Only when the bleeding had mostly stopped did Kkamang finally step back. Surim shook his head and sighed, then headed to the living room cabinet where the medicine box was.
When he finished treating the wound and returned, Kkamang, who had cleaned its plate, was sitting in front of the door. As soon as their eyes met, it scratched at the front door as if it had been waiting—the gesture clearly meant to open the door since it was done with its business.
Surim grumbled in dissatisfaction as he opened the door.
“Do you have to be so cold? I can really treat you well. You’re getting old now too…”
Myaow! The irritated cry felt like it really understood everything and was getting angry.
“Fine, fine. Sorry for saying you’re old.”
Kkamang left through the front door without looking back. Surim shouted toward the cat crouching to jump over the wall.
“You have to come quickly next time. I worry, you know. Got it?”
The black cat that jumped up onto the wall looked back and meowed, then leaped down below. Then it began walking without hesitation as if it had a scheduled appointment. After walking along the wall and going straight down the hill, a car blocked its path.
The man who got out of the driver’s seat went around the car and opened the back door. The cat glanced at the man with an emotionless face, then climbed into the car with an elegant gait.
“Did you dine well?”
When the man got back into the driver’s seat and looked in the rearview mirror, the being there was no longer a cat. A young man with jet-black hair just like the cat’s stretched his shoulders as if yawning. A bright yellow light flashed in the young man’s pupils, then was soon dyed black again.
The beautiful young man with a languid face completely ignored the man’s words and began picking up and putting on the clothes prepared in the back seat. As the tailored suit was layered piece by piece over his sleek body, the young man became increasingly complete in a form resembling the middle-aged man Nasol knew. ‘That person’ also had such a youthful side when he was young. A persistent gaze stared at the young man.
At that moment, Song Hanyeong glanced at the man. Song Hanyeong frowned around his eyes as if he knew what Nasol was thinking, then tied his necktie firmly. Nasol seemed to lose interest as soon as a scene different from the picture he was drawing unfolded, and turned his gaze away. The ‘him’ that Nasol knew was someone who hated the feeling of his neck being choked and would never wear a tie.
Song Hanyeong, who had been adjusting his shirt collar, opened his mouth as if something had occurred to him.
“Jin Surim was looking at the contract.”
In the past, fifteen-year-old Jin Surim made a contract with them.
They provided the means, hospital fees, and nursing care costs so that Jin Surim’s hyung could receive the best treatment, and through guardian registration and living expense support, they helped the orphaned Jin Surim maintain an independent life.
In return, what Jin Surim had to give was nothing much. Just 400ml of blood generated through that body each month—that was all.
“Since the biggest reason he agreed to the contract has disappeared, he might be having other thoughts. He’s an adult now and has found employment too.”
Mockery flashed in Nasol’s jet-black eyes.
“There’s no need to worry. He won’t dare break the contract. I’ve already taken all the necessary measures.”
Is that so? Song Hanyeong inwardly thought Nasol was taking the situation too lightly, but didn’t bother pointing it out.
