Chapter 23
The men, who keenly noticed my wariness, smiled and held up their hunting rifles. I tensed up, but they didn’t threaten me and instead smiled while stroking the rifle barrels.
“It’s become a dangerous world to walk around unarmed.”
“But where did that one person go that he hasn’t returned even as the weather’s turned like this?”
I shook my head while wiping away my cold sweat, which had doubled. I couldn’t tell them where Kim Doyun had disappeared to because I didn’t know myself. The men readjusted their rifles and clicked their tongues.
“If he hasn’t come back by this time, well…”
“No chance, no chance at all.”
My heart pounded. They had dragged out the anxiety I had been trying to avoid, and after examining my sweating face, they tilted their heads.
“But you don’t look well?”
“Yeah. Your face is so red…”
Han Jong-wook reached his hand toward my face. I instinctively tried to avoid it, but my body, which had started to heat up again, was as heavy as a water-soaked cotton ball, and I didn’t have the strength to move my head. I had no choice but to let his hand touch my forehead. After checking my forehead, Han Jong-wook pulled his hand back with an expression that said “Ah, it’s hot.”
“Oh, you have a fever too? Hey, mister. This person’s condition is really not good?”
Son Byung-chul stared at me intently, then patted my back. As if he understood everything, he comforted me with words of “you’ve been through a lot,” then picked up the tablecloth and pushed it into the bag. Then he tied up the bag, picked it up, and nodded to Han Jong-wook. Confused by the sudden situation, I grabbed Han Jong-wook, who looked like he was about to take the bag and fruit basket down.
“What are you doing!”
“Now, now. Calm down. We’re not trying to steal. It’s a shame to leave useful luggage here, isn’t it?”
“These are my things and I use them! What do you mean by leaving them?”
“Ah, that’s not what I meant… We’re saying come with us to our village.”
Han Jong-wook held me back as I was about to get angry and soothed me with gentle eyes.
“…Village?”
“It might be a stretch to call it a village, but people have gathered and set up quite a decent place. We even have some medicine, though not much.”
A village exists. It was something I should have been happy about, but I couldn’t enjoy that happiness. I didn’t let go of Son Byung-chul’s arm and shook my head. They seemed a bit surprised by my reaction, perhaps believing I would readily follow them. The men tempted me, saying there was food, fire, and even bedding to rest on. But I kept my mouth shut and stubbornly shook my head.
“Doyun-ssi hasn’t returned.”
“…That person you were with?”
“Yes.”
Son Byung-chul clicked his tongue. But my resolve to wait became even stronger. If there was medicine in the village, it was an opportunity to treat Kim Doyun. I was going to ask for the village’s location and part ways, or ask them to wait just one day. If they refused, there was nothing I could do, but seeing their goodwill toward me, they might lend me some medicine.
Seeing my hopeful eyes, Son Byung-chul put down the bag. He rubbed his earlobe for a long time before asking a question.
“That person, does he have a weapon?”
“…? No, he doesn’t.”
“Is that so?”
Son Byung-chul, as if he had finished contemplating, let go of his earlobe and picked up the bag again.
“Knock him out.”
“Wha—”
Before I could finish speaking, my head spun. Han Jong-wook caught my body as I was about to fall forward, and I could see him wearing an apologetic expression.
“Well, I’m sorry. It seems you’re being stubborn because of the fever.”
I tried to exert strength to avoid fainting, but my eyes kept losing power. Son Byung-chul looked at my face and shook his head.
“If he’s been wandering around without a weapon in this weather, he’s already as good as dead. Waiting would just be a waste of time.”
I blinked my eyes. I wanted to argue that Kim Doyun would be fine, but only a low moan escaped my lips instead of forming proper words. Son Byung-chul looked down at me curiously as I struggled not to faint. Han Jong-wook, who had been scanning outside, urged Son Byung-chul, saying they needed to leave quickly. They argued again while pulling my body, and I closed my eyes in despair.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, I saw a half-crushed roof. The cloudy sky rippled above the partially destroyed roof. When the white clouds passed by the roof frame, the sunlight stretched and illuminated every corner of the house. One beam brushed my face and stabbed my eyes, forcing me to frown.
This place had the shape of a house, but nothing was intact. Green branches clumsily overlapped to cover the holes, and most places weren’t even properly repaired. There was a branch barely resting on the roof, but it was unclear whether it was for repairs or a branch blown by the wind. I briefly pondered which it might be, but realizing it was a tedious matter, I abandoned the thought.
A woman moved busily. Her neatly pinned-up hair was pleasing to see, and her skin was very beautiful. The wrinkles on her round figure and face gently supplemented the faintly remaining beauty.
She appeared warm, but the more I looked, the sadder I became. That’s because I could see my mother’s image in her busy back view. Her hairstyle, height, everything was different, but the more I looked, the more I seemed to feel my mother’s presence.
So, without realizing it, I reached out and called to the woman. Even knowing it was a dream, I couldn’t help but call her. The woman looked at me, smiled brightly, and firmly held my hand.
“Are you awake?”
It’s not a dream. My eyes flew open. I tried to get up hurriedly, but intense pain gripped my mind. The woman soothed me with a pitying face as I gazed helplessly while taking labored breaths.
“Your shoulder wound is festering, so it’ll hurt a lot. If you hadn’t received treatment quickly, it could have been disastrous.”
“…Wh-where is this?”
My voice wouldn’t come out properly, and I coughed dryly. With each tear and cough I shed, memories flashed like sparks and jumped up. I remembered the men who had climbed up the tree, and I could tell that this was the village they had mentioned.
The woman, who had waited until my coughing subsided, handed me a bowl carved from wood. Not knowing why she was doing this, I stared blankly, and she held it closer to my face once more. It was water. The bowl was filled with water.
I hurriedly brought my mouth to it. I gulped it down, and although coughing surged again to the point of nausea because I drank too quickly, I didn’t mind. As soon as the coughing subsided, I immediately drank the remaining water. It wasn’t cool, it was lukewarm, and it even smelled fishy, but to me now, it was sweeter than honey.
“You’ll get indigestion. Drink slowly.”
“Th-thank you… Huk.”
She patted my back. The vibration of my back skin infected my shoulder, making me cringe and suffer. She pulled back her hand with an apologetic expression.
“I’m sorry. Does it hurt a lot?”
“…It’s oka… Cough.”
Although I said it was okay, I wanted to tear off my shoulder, which was burning up and gnawing at my nerves. My hand flailed in the air. She helped me lie down comfortably so that my hunched body could straighten out. When the wound touched the floor, I even had a convulsion. But it was better than when I was bending over. She wiped my sweat-soaked forehead with a cloth.
“Get a little more rest.”
“…Where is this…?”
Even though she urged me to rest, I couldn’t close my eyes. The headache that had been poking my brain since earlier absolutely prevented me from falling asleep.
“I’ll tell you after you sleep and wake up.”
“Those men… said it was a village…”
She smiled.
“It’s a bit of a stretch to call it a village, but several people live together here. It’s all thanks to him.”
Then she put her hands together and offered a prayer. She didn’t care about my gaze looking at her. Only after a long time did she finish her prayer and smile at me. But I couldn’t smile back at her. Instead, I brought up what I had been wanting to say all along.
“By any chance… have you seen another tall man besides me…?”
“A tall man?”
“Someone… I’m looking for, we got separated… Those men…”
I wanted to talk at length, but my throat burned, and I couldn’t speak properly. Though the pain clearly started from my shoulder, my whole body was numb and hurting, to the point where I couldn’t tell which part of me was injured. I stumbled as I opened my mouth.
“Those men… forcibly…, I had to wait… He hadn’t returned…”
“Oh my.”
“I need to find him…, alone in the forest… He needs treatment…”
The woman held my hand firmly again.
“Was he injured? That’s unfortunate. It would have been good if they had brought him along.”
“That person…”
“I heard from the two men. They said he didn’t return even though it was dark? And to think he was injured…”
She clicked her tongue with a regretful face.
“There’s no use looking for him. Give up.”
Her plump, warm hand pressed against my eyes. It probably meant for me to rest well, but I felt a chill from her hand.
The men and she—everyone gave up easily. Was it because he was a stranger, or because of this cursed world that they could easily let go of a person’s life?
I thought with my eyes closed. Should I really give up like they say, believing you’re already too late? I remembered the last image of Kim Doyun I had seen. He had told me.
‘I’ll stay by your side.’
I believed his words. I could never give up on Kim Doyun.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
