A Hidden Piece (4)
As Mo Yeon slowly raised his head, Tae Young-won’s hand brushed away the hair that slightly covered his eyes.
“Your hair has grown a lot. It’s like when I first saw you.”
Mo Yeon blinked for a moment as his vision brightened. Come to think of it, his hair had grown quite long. Tae Young-won smiled faintly and sat down heavily on the stone steps.
“I just saw a photo of you when you were young. One with another monk.”
“…”
“Your head was completely shaved, and you were so small and round like a fist. Your cheeks were really red, as if you’d been playing a lot.”
Mo Yeon, startled inside, bit his lip.
He knew which photo it was. It was in a frame inside the chief monk’s room, and if he had known Tae Young-won would see it, he would have brought the photo earlier. In that picture, Mo Yeon looked exactly like a young temple boy from the countryside.
Tae Young-won continued talking for a while, making a fist to show how small Mo Yeon had been.
“Anyway, you were really cute.”
“…”
Mo Yeon pressed his lips together more firmly. Tae Young-won looked at him intently.
“Mo Yeon.”
“…”
“Can I ask you just one thing?”
After teasing him until just a moment ago, he now had quite a serious expression.
After hesitating for a long time as if choosing his words, he carefully asked.
“You’re not… planning to become a monk, are you?”
“…”
As Mo Yeon stared at him with an expressionless face, he could see Tae Young-won’s complexion changing in real time.
“What are you talking about?”
It was the first time Mo Yeon had spoken since Tae Young-won arrived at the temple. He couldn’t help but respond because it was so absurd, and Tae Young-won seemed genuinely relieved at his words.
“You seem to be doing so well here, which is nice to see, but it makes me anxious.”
“…”
“Forget it then.”
What is he saying, becoming a monk? As Mo Yeon turned his head again, he saw the dog going to Tae Young-won. It was the same dog that had been in his arms just moments ago. Mo Yeon was a bit shocked.
“As expected, animals like me.”
Tae Young-won whispered annoyingly to Mo Yeon as he scratched the dog’s belly with his finger. Mo Yeon couldn’t help but glare at the sight. I knew it. He just likes everyone.
“…Why are you doing this?”
He finally had to ask.
“Why are you here doing all this?”
Mo Yeon truly couldn’t figure out the reason no matter how much he thought about it.
“Your family has gone to church for generations. Why are you doing this?”
This was his second visit since the last one, and even before that, Tae Young-won had been indirectly helping Mo Yeon. He could have easily confronted him using the phone tucked away in his bag.
So Mo Yeon’s question might have been quite late.
“I gave up on going to heaven early on, didn’t you know?”
Tae Young-won rolled his eyes briefly at Mo Yeon’s question and raised an eyebrow.
“…You think money can do everything, don’t you?”
Mo Yeon felt spiteful for no reason. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find any other plausible reason why this person would go to such lengths.
“That’s also true. My family expresses their love for the Lord with money too, so this is all I’ve learned.”
“…”
“So please tell me. What should I do?”
The way he boasted so nonchalantly showed that his shamelessness remained unchanged. Mo Yeon knew this aspect of Tae Young-won was charming. But it was also the cause of the confusion in his mind.
“I’ve wanted to ask this all along, but I held back.”
He reached out his hand again. Like before, the hand that cradled his cheek was warm. The palm, not applying pressure, carefully caressed his jaw and cheek. The touch felt as if he was handling something truly precious, making Mo Yeon’s eyelashes tremble.
“Even after thinking about it while waiting, my feelings remain the same. I don’t think they’ll change in the future.”
“…”
“Should I still keep waiting?”
Why is this person going to such lengths?
“Have you really been listening to what I’ve said?”
Perhaps, though he didn’t want to believe it, could all of this just be a joke to him?
Could his talk about seeing ghosts have been dismissed as a mere joke?
Mo Yeon finally straightened his knees and stood up.
“You should be creeped out, you should treat me like I’m crazy for saying such things. Why are you still here? Why are you doing all this!”
“…”
“I told you to endure until you were about to die. That wasn’t meant to be taken literally. It was just me telling you to go away, so why are you following me? Why are you doing exactly as I said? Why are you going to such lengths?”
Why are you making me want to believe?
Mo Yeon bit his lip, unable to speak the last thought.
After a moment of silence, Tae Young-won slowly opened his mouth.
“You told me to endure until I was about to die, so I did. Because I thought that’s what you would need to believe.”
“…”
“At first, I wasn’t even going to look for where you were, but I heard you took a leave of absence and quit your part-time job. After you left saying you’d find a second or third person right in front of me, I was so worried that I just found out where you were. Other than that, I’ve just been waiting like you told me to.”
Mo Yeon let out a bitter laugh.
“While secretly pouring money into the temple for ten years’ worth of construction?”
“Then what, should I have left you in a place where rainwater leaks in?”
As Mo Yeon stubbornly replied, Tae Young-won jumped to his feet. When the large man stood up, the dogs playing nearby got startled and ran away. But Mo Yeon stubbornly glared into his eyes.
“Look at this. You said you’d be quiet and just show you were here. How is this quiet? If you’re quiet twice more, both dogs and people will run away!”
“Ah!”
At Mo Yeon’s words, Tae Young-won ran his hands through his hair. He seemed unable to contain his frustration.
What does he mean by quiet? That doesn’t make any sense.
“You deliberately followed me, right? To shake me up.”
“Yes.”
That was indeed the case.
But paradoxically, this behavior seemed to prove that Tae Young-won hadn’t waited for him easily.
“I’ve been waiting for you all this time, but you’re living as if you’ve completely forgotten me. Pulling weeds like this, freely seeing those cute things, living much better than when you were with me.”
Tae Young-won admitted it more easily than expected.
“You’re doing too well. Unlike me.”
“…”
“Mo Yeon, you’re not really going to settle down here, are you? After I had all this construction done to make it livable, damn…”
A laugh escaped Mo Yeon. Tae Young-won opened his mouth again to the stunned Mo Yeon.
“You say I should be creeped out? What’s creepy about that? I was more creeped out when I saw you sharing a cigarette with another man. When I heard Kim Hyun-soo’s voice over the phone knowing you were at home, I couldn’t see anything for a moment. That was scarier to me than any ghost.”
“I doubt it.”
He still doesn’t understand.
“When you see me running away all the time, you won’t say that anymore. …At that point, even you might be afraid of me.”
Being startled or backing away while looking at empty space where others see nothing would appear quite eerie to others. Mo Yeon couldn’t understand what gave Tae Young-won the nerve to act this way. All the people Mo Yeon had encountered until now had coldly rejected him based on rumors alone.
“Why would I?”
But Tae Young-won was different.
“You said they don’t appear when you’re with me, and that you can’t see them now either.”
“…”
“So why should I be afraid?”
Huh.
How can such a person exist? Mo Yeon couldn’t help but laugh, looking into empty space.
It was a thought he had never had before. Why should someone be afraid?
Unlike him, Tae Young-won naturally had no reason to be afraid.
“It’s not like I didn’t know you were strange, and I’ve already seen you running away several times.”
Mo Yeon wasn’t sure when he had seen that.
“Always being chased by something, doing things I couldn’t understand—I thought you were foolish. But now, thinking about what I saw back then breaks my heart. I honestly can’t imagine how scared you must have been.”
“…”
“Since you told me, I’ve thought about this every single day without fail.”
“…”
“But you still say I’m not sincere. How is that possible?”
After saying the last words, he took a deep breath.
He rose and slowly approached. Standing in front of Mo Yeon, he carefully took his clenched fist. His hand, which had once held Mo Yeon’s so much it was worn, now carefully grasped Mo Yeon’s entire fist.
“We’ve been apart for quite a while. What if you get entangled again after being buried in this mountain?”
“…”
“So just stay like this, even for a moment.”
The warmest warmth Mo Yeon had ever known was transmitted directly through the back of his hand.
Ah. Mo Yeon sighed.
Even though he tried not to believe, his heart kept wanting to move on its own.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
