#052
As if writing in a guestbook, they carved it along with initials before leaving.
The first thing Kang Dojun did was look for CCTV. While looking around, he spotted the CCTV attached to Grandma Kyeong-i’s front door.
‘Was it caught on camera?’
Just then, he ran into Grandma Kyeong-i coming from across the street. The grandmother greeted Kang Dojun with half joy and half suspicion in her eyes.
“Hello.”
“What, did you come to steal eggs again? Ugh, these days people take so much that there aren’t even any eggs left. I should really lock it up.”
‘…People.’
Kang Dojun clenched his fist tightly. The village residents had suffered greatly since appearing on the broadcast. It felt like it was all his fault.
“Grandma, how long has this been here?”
Kang Dojun pointed to the red writing carved on the wall. It wasn’t big enough to cover the entire wall, but it wasn’t small either – about the width of a brick.
“Huh? What’s that? First time seeing it. It wasn’t there yesterday.”
“Is Yeonwoo still sleeping?”
“Don’t know. Looking at that scatterbrain calling from dawn when it wasn’t even light yet, he’s probably still sleeping.”
“Dawn? Around what time?”
“Was it 3 o’clock?”
3 o’clock. Why did Yeonwoo call Grandma Kyeong-i? Did he sense someone’s presence? If so, was this writing carved at 3 AM?
Kang Dojun swallowed and pointed to the CCTV attached to the front door.
“Could I check the CCTV later?”
“Sure, that’s fine. Our son installed it recently before leaving. But did something happen to our precious one?”
Grandma Kyeong-i asked worriedly with trembling hands. Kang Dojun held her hands to reassure her. Judging by the fact that she answered the phone in the morning, there was probably nothing wrong.
“No. I talked to Yeonwoo earlier and he was sleeping. Don’t worry too much and go inside.”
From now on, something big might happen, or they might need to call the police.
Concerned that it would be too much for the elderly grandmother to handle, Kang Dojun dismissed it as nothing serious and sent her home.
Then he turned the handle of Yeonwoo’s door. It was locked. Fortunately, it seemed he had secured the door thoroughly. When he knocked and waited, the door burst open.
Shin Gihyeon greeted him with puffy eyes.
“Sunbae-nim, hello!”
“Hello. Is Yeonwoo still sleeping?”
“Yes, I’ll wake him up now.”
“No, it’s fine. More than that, for a moment…”
Kang Dojun called Shin Gihyeon outside separately to show him the red writing on the wall. Shin Gihyeon was so shocked he couldn’t close his mouth.
“…What is this?”
“You said Yeonwoo called Grandma Kyeong-i at dawn. Did something happen?”
“There was some presence…”
Around dawn, they had looked around but no one was there, so they went back inside and stayed up all night playing games.
At that time, could the hissing sound have been spray being sprayed? Shin Gihyeon, who was now seeing the writing that was too dark to notice at night, felt goosebumps rising.
Kang Dojun said in a firm voice.
“Let’s call the police.”
They didn’t come directly to the house to threaten, nor did they steal anything. All they did was graffiti on the wall. They’d probably just get a fine.
But even that had to be done. They had to make them pay for their crimes somehow. As much as possible. If they let it slide once, such incidents would continuously increase.
“Then we need to wake Yeonwoo…”
At Shin Gihyeon’s words, Kang Dojun bit his lips hard. Yeonwoo’s symptoms were just getting better, and he didn’t want to worsen them by telling him about this.
As the homeowner, he would inevitably find out, but he wanted to hide the situation somehow.
After pondering various solutions, he realized there was no other way and sighed.
“I’ll tell Yeonwoo. Gihyeon-ssi, please report to the police.”
“Yes.”
Kang Dojun headed inside the house. He didn’t need to look for Yeonwoo. He was sleeping sprawled out on the living room floor.
He approached carefully. He was sleeping soundly like a baby, making soft breathing sounds. He gently brushed through his fine hair.
His round forehead and neatly arranged eyebrows were revealed. When he pressed and caressed his eyebrows, Yeonwoo’s peaceful brow twitched. Even such small reactions were lovable.
“Yeonwoo.”
He called his name quietly. The conflicting feelings of needing to wake him but not wanting to made his voice infinitely small.
Yeonwoo’s eyes snapped open. His black pupils confirmed Kang Dojun above his head.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah.”
“When did you come?”
“Just now.”
He rubbed his eyes and sat up. Then he hugged Kang Dojun tightly.
“Thank you for coming all this way.”
It was a sign of joy and gratitude. Even though this wasn’t the first or second time, his body always stiffened as if tense.
Unable to raise his hands to hug back or bury himself in that small embrace, he quietly hoped this moment would end, or rather, stop forever.
Yeonwoo observed his stiff expression.
“Hyung? Is something wrong?”
“…Was there anything strange last night?”
“Last night?”
He rolled his eyes at the question. He wondered whether to mention how he got scared on a summer night and made a fuss about sensing someone’s presence.
Soon the thought ‘he’s hyung, so what does it matter’ suddenly occurred to him.
He lay back down, buried his face in the pillow, and said in a whining voice.
“Yesterday, I kept hearing strange sounds. I thought I was better so I didn’t take my medicine last night… maybe that’s why I became sensitive.”
Kang Dojun looked pitifully at Yeonwoo blaming himself. Just when he was trying to get better, the illness would act up. The world wouldn’t leave him alone.
If he took his eyes off him for even a moment, incidents would occur. Then I should… His sinister inner thoughts kept asserting their existence.
Then a white hand stretched straight toward his forehead. His body stiffened once again.
“Are you hurt somewhere? Are you tired? Hyung, you’ve been dazed since earlier.”
“No. That… on the wall.”
“The wall? Why?”
“Someone wrote something…”
He felt pathetic for not being able to explain properly because he was afraid the child would be shocked.
“Writing?”
“They carved a guestbook entry and left.”
Yeonwoo’s pupils dilated. He immediately jumped up, crammed on his tricolor slippers, and ran out to the wall.
“Oh, oh… he’s awake?”
“Come out.”
At his blazing eyes, Shin Gihyeon finally moved his body away from blocking the wall.
[Came and went – S.Y]
Seeing the letters clearly carved in red spray paint that he couldn’t see last night, Yeonwoo’s expression became even more vicious.
He read the writing quietly. His body trembled.
“Came and went… S.Y?”
Worried that Yeonwoo might show symptoms of his illness after seeing the writing, Kang Dojun hurriedly came out with water, candy, and medicine packets.
“We reported it to the police, and there’s CCTV at Grandma Kyeong-i’s house, so they’ll be caught soon. If it’s hard, rest. I’ll handle it.”
Yeonwoo brushed off his words and glared fiercely with eyes that normally drooped gently downward.
“Fuck, when are the police coming? Whether it’s Seungyoon, Seyoon, or Siyeon, the moment any of them comes into my sight, they’re dead. How dare this bastard at someone’s house…!”
With Yeonwoo raging wildly between them, Kang Dojun and Shin Gihyeon simultaneously made eye contact.
‘…Should we give him medicine?’
“Where’s the hammer? This won’t do. I’ll go to the apiary for a moment.”
He seemed fine after seeing the writing, but also seemed not fine.
* * *
“What happened to our precious one?”
“Isn’t it another BJ or something that came?”
Two police officers came running. After frowning to make their expressions fierce, they put their hands in their pockets and swaggered with a bow-legged walk. As if trying to intimidate, they looked just like gangsters.
Then they spotted Kang Dojun and Shin Gihyeon in the yard and, perhaps embarrassed, coughed and straightened up.
“Oh my, ahem. Isn’t this the actor! You’re still glowing as always.”
“Two stars came to our rural village. But where is our precious one doing what when guests have come?”
“…If precious one is Yeonwoo, he’s inside looking for documents.”
At Kang Dojun’s words, the police officers’ eyes narrowed.
“Documents?”
“Yes.”
Despite being dissuaded by the two, Yeonwoo had given up looking for a hammer and was currently rummaging through the house looking for house documents, resident registration card, seal, and other items.
It was because he said documents needed for reporting should be submitted if available.
“More than that, here…”
Kang Dojun showed the police officers the wall.
“Came and went S.Y?”
“What’s this? Graffiti?”
Their reaction was lukewarm. They seemed unaware of the seriousness this small writing could cause. If not properly handled early on, this wall would surely become a guestbook later.
When Kang Dojun explained quietly, the police officers nodded saying he was right.
Later, when he pointed to the CCTV at Grandma Kyeong-i’s door and said it might have been filmed around 3 AM today, they couldn’t help but be impressed.
“No, someone who should be a police officer is being an actor?”
“Sunbae-nim’s new movie role is a police officer.”
Shin Gihyeon smiled proudly at the unexpected promotion. Meanwhile, Yeonwoo came out carrying various documents bundled in his arms.
“Are the officers here? Hello.”
“You little guy. Why aren’t you bowing 90 degrees!”
With rough hands full of affection pressing down on his head, Yeonwoo cried out with an aggrieved expression.
“No, you’re stricter than the elders. If I bend my back, the papers will fall.”
“So why did you bring all this stuff? Are you moving somewhere?”
“I didn’t know what documents would be needed, so I tried to bring everything first.”
It was a deadly determination not to let anything slide no matter what happened.
Kang Dojun snatched the documents from Yeonwoo’s arms.
With his hands suddenly lightened, he clenched and unclenched his fists while looking up at Kang Dojun. Kang Dojun asked worriedly.
“Are you okay? Don’t you need to take medicine?”
“Yes. I’m a bit annoyed. But my mind is clear.”
“Tell me if it’s hard. I might be able to solve it.”
Yeonwoo stared at Kang Dojun intently. The advice acquaintances had given him kept coming to mind.
‘Meeting someone like Ber is like the probability of getting hit by bird poop while walking down the street.’
‘People are surprisingly uninterested in others.’
And the reasonable people he met at the rest stop. Right. This time too, he had been hit by bird poop. It seemed like he got hit by poop more often than ordinary people, but he decided to chalk it up to bad luck and move on. Of course, he would severely punish that bird.
Fuck, how dare you shit on my head? Who? Who shit on my head? I have to catch and kill them. That was exactly how he felt.
“I’m really okay. Just… just. I want to see the face of the person who graffitied the wall.”
Kang Dojun observed Yeonwoo thoroughly. He seemed okay for now. He had medicine ready in his pocket, so he was prepared to respond if he showed even the slightest symptoms.
He showed the documents in his arms and asked the police.
“Should I put these in the car?”
“Yeah, we’re going in our car anyway, so load them there for now. The door’s open.”
He strode to the police car, loaded the luggage, and got in. Sitting at the innermost spot, Yeonwoo and Shin Gihyeon got in that order.
After that, the police officers took their seats in the driver’s and passenger seats respectively.
“What, all three are going together?”
“A superstar got in, so it’s a super car~”
“Officer, that’s not funny.”
“Yeonseok-i, laughing even when it’s not funny is social life!”
The police officer in the passenger seat knocked Yeonwoo’s head.
“Are you okay?”
“It hurts.”
Kang Dojun quickly raised his hand to caress his head. Even though he wasn’t the one who got hit, he frowned at the pain that rushed over him.
‘When is it okay to hit a kid?’
“…Who is that person?”
Then one of the police officers starting the engine looked suspiciously at a woman who appeared on the front windshield. It was an unfamiliar face. Another outsider?
Instead of departing, they watched quietly as the woman looked around and then leaned against Yeonwoo’s house wall to take a selfie. It was the wall with the red writing.
Sensing something off, the police officer got out of the passenger seat and approached her.
“Excuse me. What brings you here?”
“Oh, I… came for tourism.”
“Your name?”
“Why do you need that?”
To minimize the woman’s suspicion, the police officer casually adjusted his hat as if it was hot and glanced at her.
“Well, eggs keep disappearing from the chicken coop at the house over there, so we came to check who’s taking them. You don’t seem like the type, so I’ll just get your name and let you go.”
“Ah…”
“So, what’s your name?”
The woman, seemingly reassured by the mention of eggs, obediently gave her name.
“Jung Siyoon.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
