Chapter 61
“Heuuu. Uuu.”
Neither the older child nor the younger one could stop crying. Their entire bodies had turned red from crying so much. I wanted to give them some water and was about to search inside the hole, but when I saw the older child’s body twitch as I moved toward their belongings, I stopped.
They seemed a bit more at ease than before, but they still appeared wary when I tried to go near their things. They must be afraid of having them taken away. With no other choice, I tore more tissues and carefully wiped the faces of the two children. Judging by the black dirt that came off on the tissues, they must have been alone for quite some time. While I was wiping their faces, the younger child rubbed his eyes, yawned, and fell asleep in my arms.
“How long have you two been alone?”
“Mmm… *sniff*. Ten nights have passed…”
“Have you eaten until now? Are you hungry?”
“No… Mom and Dad told us to eat, they piled up a lot here…”
The older child spoke while cautiously watching me. Though he tried hard with his small body to hide what was behind him, it was no use. I could see cans rolling around behind him.
“That’s amazing. How did they gather so much? Your parents must be incredible.”
“Right? My mom and dad, they really know a lot of things too…”
After I praised his parents, the child smiled brightly and shared various stories. Being a child, his wariness didn’t last very long. Maybe it was because I was holding and comforting his younger sibling. The child said his name was Shin Seungwoo. His brother’s name was Shin Junwoo. He was ten years old, and his brother was six. Seungwoo recited his parents’ names clearly and rattled off where they had lived, but his eyes began to fill with tears.
Seungwoo’s parents seemed to have made extraordinary efforts to save their children after the accident occurred. The third floor of the building had been both their store and home, which is why they were able to hold out longer than others.
“What about other people? Were there none?”
“There was an aunt from the first floor and an uncle from the second floor… They said they’d go look for people and left together.”
Seungwoo said he hadn’t seen the two of them since. His parents, seeing that the two people didn’t return and monsters crawling out every night, realized this was no ordinary situation and made various preparations. He explained that they discovered monsters fear fire when his startled mother threw a torch at one that appeared. Seungwoo said his father tried making traps and various attempts to chase away the monsters, but they weren’t very effective. The child meticulously described how, meanwhile, the food at home gradually ran out, and how his parents argued about whether to go outside or not.
“So they eventually went out? Looking at how much they stored up, they must have gone far.”
“Mmm, that’s not it… Some men came and told us.”
“Men?”
Seungwoo seemed to be contemplating whether he should tell me this or not. After rolling his reddened eyes back and forth for a while, he moved closer to me and whispered as if sharing a secret.
“There were two men I hadn’t seen before… They said they were looking for something. Me and my brother, and mom and dad… They asked if we were hurt anywhere, and when we said no, they said ‘okay’ and were about to leave. But then my brother was so hungry that he started crying loudly. So they told us about various things.”
“Like what?”
Seungwoo pondered again, pursing his lips, then crawled to one side of the hole and motioned for me to follow. Only one candle was lit in this place, so the light didn’t reach where Seungwoo had crawled to. Seemingly realizing this belatedly, he came back with the candle and urged me to follow him.
At the end, there was another small hole. A tunnel about as small as the path to the entrance, barely large enough for an adult to pass through. Seungwoo went into the tunnel first, and I hesitated briefly while holding Junwoo, then put him down in what looked like a sleeping area. He whimpered a bit, probably feeling cold from the absence of the person who had been holding him, but soon fell asleep quietly. After confirming he was sound asleep, I crawled into the tunnel after Seungwoo. He was already inside waiting and fluttered his hands, telling me to hurry up.
“Where is this?”
“The place the men told us about.”
Seungwoo occasionally paused while crawling. Seeing the candle wax shake, I tried to take it from him, afraid he might burn himself, but Seungwoo said it was fine and wouldn’t let go of the candle.
“The men told us that the building hadn’t completely disappeared.”
“Then?”
“They said that even though the trees growing outside had destroyed and eliminated most of the building, they hadn’t eliminated all of it. Look at this.”
I opened my eyes wide at what the dim candlelight illuminated at the end of the tunnel. There was a glass door. Though shattered and in a mess, it was indeed a door. Seungwoo pushed himself through and tapped his feet impatiently, telling me to hurry and enter.
“Wow…”
As I stood there with my mouth open, Seungwoo continued his explanation.
“The men said that because the trees had eaten up the buildings, if we needed something, we should dig tunnels. They showed us a few they had dug. There’s a convenience store to the north, and a hardware store to the south. But we can’t go all the way into the hardware store. The tree above it is so big that the building is crushed.”
Though it was a mess of soil and branches, with the floor strangely tilted, the place had a very familiar appearance. Collapsed and chaotic shelves with products rolling around here and there. It was a convenience store. While I couldn’t speak, Seungwoo dug out a can buried in the soil and shook it vigorously.
“Um, mister… Uncle? Oppa?”
“What would you like to call me?”
“Then, Oppa?”
“…I think uncle would be better.”
“How old are you? My mom said everyone over twenty should be called Oppa. She said men twenty-five and over are called mister. She said that’s how you should address men.”
“…I’m twenty-four, how old is your mother?”
“Thirty-seven!”
I was startled at first, then sighed in relief. I had thought Seungwoo’s mother was much younger. I placated Seungwoo, saying it would be better to call me uncle, and told him that because he was young, he shouldn’t call someone much older ‘Oppa.’ When I explained that only his mom could call twenty-year-olds ‘Oppa,’ he clapped his hands and said, “Oh, I see.”
“Anyway, uncle, if you need anything, try digging tunnels under the trees. I tried to dig in various places, but I couldn’t. They said there would be duds too, and the ground and trees were so hard I couldn’t dig for long. But be careful, uncle. If you make a mistake, you end up like this.”
Seungwoo held out one hand to me. His hand was covered in blisters, blackened, with tattered fingernails. I carefully took his hand and stroked his head. Judging by the depth of the tunnel and the not-so-spacious entrance, it seemed like Seungwoo’s parents had done their best, digging it over a long period. Something difficult even for adults would have been impossible for a child to do alone.
“That must hurt.”
“But I have to do it. Mom and Dad asked me to do it all the time. They said if Mom and Dad don’t come back, Seungwoo and Junwoo need to be strong together.”
Seungwoo sniffled, then pressed his eyes with one hand and grinned.
“Mom and Dad said if I cry too much, my luck will run away, so I shouldn’t cry. Anyway, uncle. If you’re hungry, eat something from here.”
This must have been the reason he worked so hard to explain and bring me here. In case I was hungry. Somehow, I felt a lump in my throat too. I gathered some food for Junwoo and picked up a half-crumpled water bottle from the wrecked refrigerator. The children who had been crying so much needed to eat something first.
“Daddy!”
As soon as we crawled out of the tunnel, Junwoo ran to me, flapping his hands. Seungwoo scolded him, saying I wasn’t his dad, but Junwoo didn’t listen. He hung on my neck, sobbing for a while, then pouted with his reddened eyes. He must not have liked being left behind. I soothed Junwoo and brought the water bottle to his small mouth. Though he whined that he didn’t want it at first, he must have been thirsty, as he gripped the water bottle firmly and gulped down the water.
He seemed to be in a better mood after drinking the water. Junwoo told me to sit and wait because he had something he made for his dad, then ran to a corner and began rummaging around. In the meantime, I asked Seungwoo:
“Why does Junwoo call me dad?”
“…Dad was beaten in front of Junwoo. He cried so much then… That must be why.”
“Beaten?”
“The men who took our building hit Dad and Mom. We were hiding in this hole, just watching from outside, but they went to Mom and Dad who were digging and got angry, saying ‘hand over your belongings’ and ‘you’re not hiding something after digging, are you?’…”
Ah, my throat tightened with a sigh. Seungwoo put the candle back in its original place and pressed his eyes hard with both hands. His effort not to cry made me feel even more sorry for him. The mouth that peeked out gently from between his hands remained tightly shut before quietly spilling words.
“They called us grave robbers, thieves. We didn’t hide anything and we didn’t steal anything. They’re bad people.”
I sat in front of Seungwoo and opened my arms slightly. Seungwoo got angry, pouting and saying he wasn’t Junwoo. With his reddened eyes, he only looked more pitiful, so I couldn’t even laugh and just gently waved my hands. After contemplating my gesture, Seungwoo approached slowly and embraced me. I adjusted my hold on him and patted his back diligently. His body in my arms was gaunt, as if showing all the hardship he had endured.
Seeing me comforting Seungwoo belatedly, Junwoo stomped his feet and complained. He stretched out his arms, asking why I was only hugging his sister and demanding to be hugged too. I laughed and hugged him to comfort him, then sighed. What should I do now? I couldn’t abandon these tiny children. I was thinking of taking responsibility… but when I thought about explaining to Jang Jae-gyeong and Kim Doyun, I felt daunted.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
