#56

If I hadn’t dreamed, I would have woken up with the man in the early dawn. As if to warn Tae-heun that he didn’t deserve such a small luxury, the nightmare inevitably came.

Tae-heun curled his body towards the man while lying down. He didn’t like his sweaty body, but he didn’t want to move at all. He waited for morning in that position.

At 4:30 AM, the alarm rang. The man reached to turn off the small alarm clock by his head and met Tae-heun’s gaze. The man’s face turned red.

“Did you sleep well?”

Tae-heun asked in a hoarse voice.

“Yes. Did you sleep well, Tae-heun?”

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

The man pointed to the dark circles under Tae-heun’s eyes.

“They’re so dark.”

“Oh. I guess it’s because I had a lot of dirty thoughts.”

He threw out a silly joke.

The man chuckled.

“Can I lie down a little longer?”

“Sure. I’ll call you when breakfast is ready.”

“Okay.”

Tae-heun watched the man tidy up the bedding. After neatly folding the blanket and the comforter, he leaned his large body against one wall. Then, he put on a T-shirt and left the bedroom.

The sounds of the man washing rice, the electric rice cooker cooking, the sliding door opening across the living room, and the floor creaking under the weight of the man as he stepped down. It was a quiet and peaceful daily life.

He prayed to enjoy this daily life for just a few more weeks. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to do so when the time came, he wanted to hold onto this moment for a little while longer.

At just thirty-one, Tae-heun felt like an eighty-year-old man.

The man and Tae-heun had breakfast together as if they had made a promise and then went to work. Everyone who saw the man commented on the scars on his face. At the same time, they glanced at Tae-heun. They all thought that Tae-heun had seduced the handsome man and made him look like that. Every time the man waved his hand, saying it wasn’t Tae-heun’s fault, Tae-heun would apologize, saying, “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.” The man felt grateful yet very sorry.

Tae-heun had no intention of taking advantage of the man’s weakness, and the man believed that Tae-heun wouldn’t do that. That trust felt good.

The culprit behind this mess, Kwon Yong-jun, was nowhere to be seen. It was so quiet that one might wonder if there was anyone in the neighborhood who knew he was hurt. It seemed he had taken Tae-heun’s warning to heart. He was somewhat perceptive, and Tae-heun was glad for his absence.

For his own sake, it was better that Kwon Yong-jun was not around. Tae-heun was convinced that he was a cool guy who didn’t hold grudges, but surprisingly, he wasn’t. He couldn’t guarantee what he would do if he saw Kwon Yong-jun’s face right now.

For some reason, the child was waiting for the man in the village hall playroom instead of playing with his sister, So-jin. Although he had opened a workbook, there were no pencil marks on it, as he had been distracted the whole time.

“Dad, let’s grill meat for dinner too! Uncle Gi-cheol said he’s having pork belly!”

The child ran up to the man as soon as he saw him and said this.

The man patted the child’s head and said, “Okay.”

“Ki-beom, I have some pork belly I bought. It’s in the freezer.”

“Oh.”

“If it weren’t for Ji-hye, I would have almost forgotten.”

The child was very happy to know that they didn’t have to go all the way to town to buy meat.

While the man was working and slightly cut his hand, Tae-heun drove the truck instead. The child sat in the middle, staring at Tae-heun intently.

“Why? Is it because the uncle’s face is so handsome that you can’t take your eyes off it?”

Tae-heun expected the child to stick out his tongue or protest at the silly joke, but instead, the child asked in a dazed voice.

“Uncle, can you drive a truck too?”

“Of course. I’m driving it right now.”

“Wow.”

The child was fascinated by Tae-heun driving the truck.

“Dad, the uncle can drive a truck.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not just ‘yeah,’ the uncle is driving a truck!”

“Uh.”

The man didn’t grasp the essence of what the child was saying. Tae-heun was no better. Instead of asking what the child meant, they just drove along the country road.

As they turned onto a bumpy road, the child jumped up and down in his seat, screaming. The man grabbed the handle and stretched out his arm to protect the child from getting hurt.

Every time the child screamed, Tae-heun shouted along. This made the child even more excited, raising his voice. The man pretended to cover his ears and laughed. Tae-heun and the child faced each other, competing to see who could scream louder. Thus, the three of them returned home. Home sweet home.

After a hearty dinner of pork belly, Tae-heun and the man lay side by side on the porch, unable to resist the child’s insistence. The child took cucumbers out of the refrigerator, cut them into shapes, and carefully stuck them one by one on the man’s face.

“You can’t eat them.”

The child urged.

As soon as the child’s words finished, Tae-heun took one cucumber off the man’s face and popped it into his mouth. The child slapped Tae-heun’s arm.

“If you keep doing that, I won’t stick them on you.”

“Sorry. It just looked too delicious.”

The child pouted and moved to sit next to Tae-heun.

The child, just as he had done with the man, carefully stuck cucumbers on Tae-heun’s face. Then, this time, the man secretly took one cucumber off Tae-heun’s face and ate it.

“Dad!”

“Sorry.”

The man giggled, acting playfully.

The child sighed, “Ugh,” but his lips twitched with a smile.

“But thinking about it, if you wash completely naked in the stream, there’s no one to see, right? So why did we only wash our backs? It’s such a hassle.”

Tae-heun suddenly recalled what had happened the last time during the day.

“True.”

“Next time, let’s just wash outside. I’m thinking of doing that.”

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

“Did you two wash each other’s backs?”

The child asked so loudly that the man flinched.

“Hey, Dad is surprised.”

“Oops. Sorry. Did you really wash each other’s backs? When? Today?”

“Yeah. We did. Not today, but last week.”

“Oh, I see.”

The child kept rolling his eyes while trying to keep his lips from spreading into a grin.

“You washed each other’s backs.”

He muttered to himself and finally broke into a big smile. Then, as if he had a good idea, he slapped his thigh and asked.

“Hey, Dad. Let’s go catch crayfish in the stream! Jun-young said he caught crayfish yesterday and today.”

“There’s a stream here?”

“Of course. Is there a town without a stream?”

The child spoke as if he would hear any nonsense.

“Where is it?”

“Near the chairman’s villa.”

“That guy has a villa too?”

While I was inwardly mocking the fact that his house looked like a villa, wondering why he needed another villa,

“It’s a small farm shed. The chairman sometimes goes there alone to rest.”

The man explained.

“Oh. A farm shed.”

As soon as I heard the word farm shed, I remembered the old man I met in the mountains. The drunkard from Namchon-ri.

“By the way, Ki-beom, how far is Namchon-ri from here?”

“No, it’s a bit of a detour, but it’s not that far. Why?”

“I forgot that I owe someone a favor.”

The man looked puzzled at Tae-heun’s words.

“I heard it’s your first time here.”

“It is. It’s my first time, but there was a reason for that.”

“Let’s go catch crayfish!”

The child seemed to think his words were ignored and shouted, turning the attention back to himself.

“We’re going, right, Dad? What about you, uncle?”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s do that. Ki-beom, you’re going too, right?”

“Yes.”

“Yay! I’m so excited. We’re going tomorrow. Right away!”

The child’s excitement caused the bowl of sliced cucumbers to topple over, scattering them across the floor.

It would have been reasonable to say to be careful, but the man felt around the floor and popped a cucumber into his mouth, chewing it. Tae-heun followed the man’s lead and felt around as well. The man’s hand touched his. He grabbed the man’s wrist and brought it to his mouth. The man was momentarily startled, but he placed the cucumber he was holding into Tae-heun’s mouth.

“It’s delicious.”

Tae-heun chewed just like the man. The child joyfully picked up the cucumbers and managed to secure a promise to go right after church.

The child left Tae-heun and the man lying on the porch and went down to the yard alone. He hummed a tune that was completely incomprehensible and played a catching game with the puppies.

“It’s hot.”

The man said, but the child didn’t respond.

Tae-heun turned to look at the man, not caring about the cucumbers falling. The man had his eyes closed.

“Are you sleeping?”

Tae-heun asked softly.

“No.”

“Can I watch TV in Ki-beom’s room later?”

“Of course.”

“Was the pork belly delicious?”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad. I thought it was delicious too.”

The man opened his eyes. Then he carefully turned his head towards Tae-heun. Two cucumbers that had been stuck to his face fell to the floor.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For the pork belly and everything else.”

The man’s face turned red as he turned his head back to its original position.

Tae-heun’s body stiffened at the man’s heartfelt gratitude. He had heard countless words of thanks, gratitude, and that someone was a lifesaver throughout his life, but none of those words felt as good as this one. Just as he was about to say thank you too, the child jumped onto the porch and urged the man.

“Dad!”

“Uh?”

“Should we pack the supplies now? You might forget, so should we pack the net and the scoop, and what else? Anyway, should we pack everything in advance and load it onto your truck?”

“I’ll do it.”

The man sat up, peeling the cucumbers off his face. Tae-heun also stood up, peeling off the lukewarm cucumbers, following the man. As the man moved, the child and the puppies followed closely behind. Tae-heun almost followed as well. There was no one like the piper. He chuckled.

He looked up at the sky. The stars were twinkling brightly. He felt really good. He was happy. To be alive felt so good; it felt like being reborn. No, he thought it was good that he had been reborn.