#001
I’d loved fishing since I was young. I liked sashimi too, and sushi as well, and despite being at a vigorous age, I preferred dishes with fish over meat.
“You’re going to board a deep-sea fishing vessel?”
“Yeah.”
“…You sometimes just go full throttle out of nowhere.”
Maybe that’s why—brushing off all my friends who tried to dissuade me, I obtained my certification right after graduating from marine science high school and immediately boarded a deep-sea fishing vessel.
Fish, fishing, sashimi! That was my dream! My aspiration!
“Hey! Move faster!”
…Fuck, come to think of it, Grandma used to say. Dreams aren’t something you should chase recklessly.
The scorching sun blazed down, and every time a wave crashed, I automatically got showered. My skin wasn’t the type that tanned black under sunlight—it was the type that peeled, so it was twice as hard on me compared to others.
On top of that, the work was so grueling that if it weren’t for the sashimi side dishes at every meal, I would have quit this shit long ago. No, now I was even sick of sashimi. I didn’t even want to look at it.
But I’d already boarded. Sigh… How many months until I could get off? I think it was about 3 months.
Just endure 3 more months in this hell and I’d be free.
It wasn’t like there were only hardships on the deep-sea fishing vessel. I met various people from different cultures and learned new knowledge too.
And among them, there was always that one weird person. The reason he boarded the deep-sea fishing vessel was just for YouTube vlogs.
“Just once, please? Yeonwoo, Lee Yeonwoo! I’m begging you, please. Just appear once, pleeeease. Hm?”
“Ah, I said no. There are plenty of other people besides me!”
“Your face is the best looking!”
He was a funny guy. What was even funnier was the news that this bastard had adapted so well to the deep-sea fishing vessel that he was going to sail more ships. Something about sailing for 3 years to get military exemption or whatever.
Well, it wasn’t my business.
The hellish life ended, and I enlisted in the military immediately after disembarking. It’s better to get all the hard work done in one go.
“We are!”
“Beep!”
“One!”
…Fuck, come to think of it, Grandma used to say. Life needs rest stops too.
There was a reason why sailing deep-sea fishing vessels for 3 years granted military exemption. In other words, deep-sea fishing vessels and the military were equivalent.
I’d escaped from hell, only for another hell to begin.
‘You do make plans, but they’re all shitty plans. If you’re going to be like that, just don’t make plans at all. You idiot.’
Those were words a friend had said to me with a laugh back in the day. At the time, I dismissed it as bullshit, but now I had no choice but to acknowledge it.
That friend was wise. Yeah, I only make shitty plans. I realized it now. And I made a resolution. Following my wise friend’s advice, I should give up on making plans altogether.
“Corporal Kim Byeonghun-ssi, what’s that?”
“Oh, my hyung is a beekeeper, and he sells honey online too. Want to take a look?”
“Hmm, there’s such a thing.”
“Yeah, when I went to check it out last time, it looked easy? You just collect what the bees brought back and put it in a honey extractor. I’m thinking of doing beekeeping with my hyung after I’m discharged.”
A beekeeper…
***
Lee Yeonwoo, enlisted in the military immediately after disembarking from the deep-sea fishing vessel, currently twenty-five years old and a beekeeper going on his third year.
…Fuck, come to think of it, Grandma used to say. Get a proper job.
Jobs have set working hours. In other words, work done at home doesn’t have specified business hours.
This damn beekeeping was endless. And so were the hornets.
Hornets don’t come visiting only at specific times. That meant I had to keep watch 365 days, 24 hours a day.
The corpses of his beloved honeybees were scattered in front of the beehive.
Lee Yeonwoo held a butterfly net in one hand and caught the hornets flying around him with extraordinary hand movements.
“How dare you target my babies?”
Something suddenly occurred to him—Uncle Cheolsu had been eyeing his beehives lately. Lee Yeonwoo began to harbor foolish suspicions.
Could these be highly trained hornets sent by Uncle Cheolsu?
Having such ridiculous thoughts, he burst into laughter by himself.
‘Forget it, let’s just drink.’
He headed straight to the village’s run-down corner store.
“Yeonwoo, you little rascal, stop drinking so much!”
It had been 3 years since he came to the countryside, and he’d already grown fond of the people in this village.
The residents were happy that a young man had come to a village with only elderly people, saying it brought vitality, and Lee Yeonwoo, who had lost his parents early and lived with his grandmother since childhood, felt comfortable with them too.
Now he might even consider them as substitutes for his late grandmother.
Lee Yeonwoo retorted to Grandpa Beom who was nagging him.
“I told you to put the beer in the refrigerator! How am I supposed to drink it when it’s lukewarm?”
“I did that on purpose so you wouldn’t drink it! What’s a young man doing drinking in broad daylight!”
Ignoring him lightly, he opened the beer can and gulped it down.
“Ahh.”
It wasn’t refreshing, but as alcohol entered his system, his hatred for the hornets that had killed his honeybees seemed to fade a little.
‘Yeah, the hornets probably had their reasons too.’
Making excuses for the hornets’ nonexistent circumstances, he paid for the beer and walked leisurely with a butterfly net in his left hand and beer in his right. It was beer he’d drunk almost daily when he was on the deep-sea fishing vessel. There was no way he’d get drunk from just one can.
He’d sip the beer, but whenever he spotted a hornet, he’d swing the butterfly net, and then pet a neighborhood dog he encountered—a complete idler.
“Oh my, Yeonwoo, where are you going?”
It was Uncle Cheolsu’s wife.
“Hello, ma’am. I’m doing a patrol round and then heading home.”
“What? You’re not a police officer, so why patrol?”
‘Police officers don’t catch hornets for us.’
Too lazy to explain, Lee Yeonwoo just said “Yeah, well…” and let it slide.
“I feel at ease with Yeonwoo doing patrols every day. Oh right, did you know they’re filming our village from Seoul?”
“Filming?”
“Yeah, from what I heard, it’s a famous actor… but it’s not a drama, it’s variety show filming!”
“Variety show?”
“Living in the countryside for ten days? Something like that. Hoho, now that a celebrity has come and gone, our village will become famous too.”
At the expectant woman’s words, Lee Yeonwoo became curious. Though he was usually clueless about TV and the internet, the word “celebrity” was enough to pique his curiosity.
“Which way?”
“Hm?”
“The filming location. I want to go see.”
The woman pointed toward the right fork in the road.
“If you go that way, it should be there.”
‘Same direction as my house.’
He thought he’d take a peek on his way home and started walking.
“Yeonwoo! I made rolled omelet and your favorite stir-fried anchovies, so come to our house for dinner later!”
“Yes, thank you.”
He greeted the woman who was walking away.
‘Ah, a hornet.’
He discovered a flying hornet and caught it, then took a commemorative sip of beer, and before he knew it, he could see the bottom of the can.
He resolved to savor the last remaining sip.
As he approached near his house, people were gathered. Before he could even think ‘The filming location is close to my house,’ Grandma with the red roof grabbed Lee Yeonwoo with her strong hands and pulled him.
“Inseok, why are you just coming now! Hurry up and get in there!”
“…What?”
Pushed by the hands of all the villagers, he ended up at none other than his own house.
And… in his house’s yard stood countless unfamiliar people. One of them spotted Lee Yeonwoo and approached.
“Ah, Yeonwoo-ssi. We were surprised because we couldn’t reach you. Everyone! The homeowner is here, so let’s start filming again.”
What the hell… Blinding lights and cameras including various filming equipment—what are these people doing, entering someone else’s house without permission?
I came to see the filming, but that house is my house.
Lee Yeonwoo frowned deeply and said.
“What are you doing in someone else’s yard?”
“Huh? …Don’t you remember me by any chance?”
The man asked Lee Yeonwoo with a somewhat flustered expression. Lee Yeonwoo stared intently at the man’s face.
He definitely looked familiar…
‘Hello. I came from Seoul for a preliminary survey—what kind of place is this? Ah, I’m this kind of person.’
‘Would it be possible to stay at Yeonwoo-ssi’s place when we come to film? It won’t be long, just ten days.’
‘Thank you! Then here’s the contract and…’
Memories from a few months ago suddenly flashed through his mind.
“I’m PD Han Taegu!”
At that time, he remembered being tipsy from drinking and kindly answering the questions of a city person who had visited after a long time, caught up in the excitement.
He looked at PD Han Taegu’s face once more carefully.
“…You really don’t remember?”
The last sip of beer seemed to have been saved for this moment. After downing the beer in one gulp, he gritted his teeth and answered.
“Yes…, I remember now.”
At Lee Yeonwoo’s answer, PD Han Taegu smiled brightly and bowed his head.
“Then please take care of us for the time being!”
After saying what he needed to say and disappearing into his group, Lee Yeonwoo stared at PD Han Taegu’s back of the head. He crushed the empty beer can with force.
Fuck, come to think of it, Grandma used to say. Don’t talk carelessly with strangers.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
