She couldn’t remember how she managed to finish the call. Tae-eun blankly looked up at the man approaching her with a worried expression.
“What’s wrong?”
Her gaze drifted to his right earlobe. The ring-shaped piercing, supposedly made of platinum, was blackened in spots, as if it had been scorched.
Tearing her eyes away from the piercing, she looked into Hyun-ho’s bright eyes and spoke.
“Ha Sung-joo is dead.”
“The guy who bullied you at work?”
“Yeah.”
Tae-eun hesitated before adding more.
“…He committed suicide.”
Hyun-ho’s eyes widened briefly before curving into a gentle smile.
“Good.”
His calm voice felt oddly out of place. She stared intently at the corners of his mouth that had turned upward before shifting her gaze to the cold outside. His gentle eyes remained fixed on her cheek.
“Did you have a good talk with your friend?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Then I’ll call a taxi now. Let’s have lunch at the airport.”
“Okay.”
Hyun-ho’s long fingers lightly tapped the screen to call a taxi. Tae-eun glanced at him from the corner of her eye before opening the rattling glass door and stepping outside. She wanted to clear her head in the cold wind.
The wind that touched her cheeks was sharp enough to feel like it was cutting her skin. Her neatly arranged hair fluttered wildly. She took in the swirling snowflakes, the empty parking lot, and the bare branches one by one.
As she took several deep breaths, filling her lungs with the cold air, a sense of reality gradually returned. The news she had just heard lined up in her mind one by one.
Ha Sung-joo was dead. Team Leader Kim Kyung-tae, Deputy Park Min-seo, and Deputy Oh Won-jae all started acting strange. Unbelievably, these events coincided with her arrival in Seoul.
It felt as if a sudden stain had appeared on the sole of her shoe. The fierce wind shook her eyes.
How should I take this? Should I pretend I don’t know anything? Should I see it as them getting what they deserved?
…Should I think it’s good, like Hyun-ho does?
Just then, a warm scarf softly wrapped around her neck and chin. When she looked up, she saw Hyun-ho frowning slightly, displeased.
“It’s cold, why did you come out? You’re just starting to get better.”
After carefully wrapping the scarf around her, Hyun-ho grabbed her hand and led her back inside the building. But Tae-eun planted her feet firmly and resisted.
“Hyun-ho.”
“Yeah? Aren’t you cold? Your ears are all red.”
He rubbed his hands together to warm them up and then covered her frostbitten ears. The harsh wind couldn’t reach her eardrums, bouncing off his hands instead.
“Just… it’s okay not to worry about it, right?”
It seemed he understood her incomplete question immediately. He smiled gently, just as he had earlier.
“Of course. It’s not your problem anymore.”
His calm voice pressed down on her rising anxiety.
“It’s just trash taking itself out. Now that it’s clean, you should feel relieved.”
While he spoke, Tae-eun mechanically nodded, convincing herself. She blocked any thoughts of delving deeper into the series of events, focusing instead on the man in front of her.
“You look tired.”
Hyun-ho’s usually smooth cheeks had become rough. When she raised her hand to touch them, he nuzzled into her palm like a playful cat.
“I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“You haven’t been sleeping?”
“I never sleep well in a new place.”
Tae-eun’s eyebrows drooped. She felt guilty for sleeping soundly under the plush goose-down comforter, unaware of his discomfort. After all, this trip to Seoul was entirely because of her…
“Do you feel bad for sleeping well alone?”
She nodded silently in response to his playful question, remembering how he had quietly stayed by her side even when she was tormented by nightmares.
“If you feel bad, give me a kiss.”
Taking advantage of the moment when no one was around, Tae-eun stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. She tried to pull away quickly, but Hyun-ho cupped her face and tilted his head, deepening the kiss.
Their lips pressed together more fully, and instead of the cold, a warm heat spread through them. Though it wasn’t a deep, passionate kiss, their breaths mingled intimately.
As always, the cold air that swirled inside her was soon replaced by warmth, making her feel as if she were floating like a hot air balloon. But today felt a bit different.
It was as if something heavy that had been weighing her down was slowly lifting. She had to grab onto his arm urgently, fearing she might lose her balance.
Whenever the emptiness inside her made her shiver, his warm breath filled her up completely. Even if this sensation was just her own perception and not an actual phenomenon, it didn’t matter. She was content.
When his lips finally parted from hers and she opened her eyes, feeling light and excited, the first thing she saw was his wide, smiling mouth.
“All better now.”
Since she’d known him, she’d never seen him smile so brightly. His smile was so dazzling that it made the gloomy sky seem like it would clear up any moment.
Lost in his sunshine-like smile, she missed the chance to ask what he meant by “all better now.”
* * *
Returning to Hajung-ri after a week, the place was abuzz with the current union president’s critical banners and blatant smear texts sent to union members. As the union president election reached its climax, Han Ju-sam launched daily attacks on Ji Yong-jae.
Among the accusations was a claim that there was some sort of commission involved in the collusion between former president Song Ki-seok and Ji Yong-jae.
“Ji Yong-jae is just Song Ki-seok’s puppet! We can’t repeat the lost 12 years!”
While walking with Dodam, Tae-eun stared at the banner. She took a photo with her phone and reported it as an illegal banner through the Safe Newspaper app.
Now that Tae-eun had regained her health, her parents frequently went out to help with the union president election, often returning well past their usual bedtime. So, for the second night in a row, she was having dinner alone when her mom came home looking serious.
“Is something wrong?”
“Hyun-ho is really sick.”
“Hyun-ho?”
She urgently checked her phone, but there were no messages from Hyun-ho. The last thing he had said was that he was cleaning up the café that had been closed for a week. She had offered to help, but he had gently declined.
“His mom is already busy with the election and can’t even check on him. I need to make some porridge and take it to him.”
Watching her mom bustle around, Tae-eun called Hyun-ho. But all she got was the meaningless ring before the call disconnected.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Seems like he’s got a bad case of the flu or something. He’s completely bedridden.”
She remembered how tired he looked yesterday at the memorial park. Tae-eun wasn’t the only one who had a hard time while she was struggling with nightmares and indigestion. Her parents and Hyun-ho also couldn’t rest easy.
Hyun-ho, who had taken her straight to Seoul after visiting the shaman, must have been even more exhausted. He hadn’t slept properly during that time, and even for a healthy man, it was a grueling schedule.
“Should we pack some side dishes too?”
“Yes. Get the abalone sauce and water kimchi from the fridge. And there should be some eel somewhere; we should grill that as well.”
“I’ll take it to him.”
“Alright. If he looks really bad, take him to the hospital for an IV drip, okay?”
With her hands full of the food her mother had prepared, Tae-eun left the house. As she walked through the chilly night with the sharp wind blowing, she didn’t feel the cold because her body was stiff with worry. The guilt and anxiety were so overwhelming that it felt like a heavy weight pressing down on her chest.
If only she had gone to help Hyun-ho at the café earlier, she would have known he was sick. Instead, she had foolishly and complacently rested at home because he had declined her offer.
“Huh?”
As she crossed the intersection, she noticed a yellow sports car that stood out even from a distance. She had seen that flashy foreign car, worth as much as a house, in the area once before.
Tae-eun glanced at the sports car parked in front of the darkened café and then turned her head. A new notice on the glass door said the café would be closed for another week.
That meant Hyun-ho was really sick. She tightened her grip on the heavy paper bags. Looking up at the second floor, she saw that the lights in the house were off, making it look gloomy.
She hurried around the building and approached the stairs. Just as she placed her foot on the first step, the front door on the second floor opened. A man was trying to sneak out as quietly as possible.
The man, who was about to descend the stairs, froze when he saw Tae-eun. His eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. She narrowed her eyes at his reaction.
The person emerging from the dark second floor was the shaman she had met before.
“Uh, um, well…”
He stammered, looking just like a thief caught red-handed. Tae-eun clenched her teeth and climbed the stairs. Whether Hyun-ho was inside or not, it was a problem.
If the house was empty, the shaman had broken in, which was a crime. If the house owner was there, it might mean Hyun-ho was as sick as she had been.
“What are you doing here?”
She stood one step below the shaman, blocking his way, and asked bluntly. In the dim light, the man’s face looked pale and bluish. He kept opening and closing his mouth, glancing between the closed front door and her.
“Why are you here?”
As if to answer her question, the front door opened. Through the slightly ajar door, Hyun-ho’s gaunt face appeared.
🍉🍉🍉
