By Zephyria As the hut grew closer, Lee Hae-sung’s hands and arms grew stronger. Deep wrinkles formed between his brows, and his lips lost their color from being clenched so tightly.
Unlike the grand resort on the other side of the bridge, the hut was simple.
The sturdy wooden entrance door was firmly shut, and on either side, two torches like will-o’-the-wisps burned brightly. A winding stone staircase, wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, led up to the hut’s entrance.
The buggy stopped at the foot of the stairs.
Even after that, Lee Hae-sung couldn’t let go of Choi Hong-seo. Choi Hong-seo, too, kept readjusting his grip on Lee Hae-sung’s hand.
“Mr. Choi, there’s no time. Please go up.”
Seeing that she couldn’t wait any longer, she urged Choi Hong-seo on. Choi Hong-seo stirred slightly in his embrace and looked up at him. Their gazes met. He tried to smile and say goodbye, but he couldn’t.
Touching his forehead to his, Lee Hae-sung said in a voice that was breaking,
“I can’t let you go.”
He raised his eyes and looked for her. He poured out the questions he had been curious about.
“How long will it take? What are you doing in there? How can you expect me to send him off without knowing that?”
“Mr. Lee. You don’t really think of this place as a hospital, do you? If you truly care for Mr. Choi, you should let him go.”
She was unwavering and firm. Lee Hae-sung shook his head.
“No. I can’t. Do it in front of my eyes, while I’m watching. Whatever it is.”
Lee Hae-sung took Choi Hong-seo’s hand and got off the buggy first. However, as he tried to climb the stairs, he was immediately stopped. The men, who had moved at her command, also got into two buggies and followed, blocking Lee Hae-sung’s path.
“Entry is strictly prohibited for anyone not involved.”
She said in a voice that was calm to the point of being cold from behind him. Lee Hae-sung turned around, glaring at her.
“I just want to watch. Why is that not allowed? Don’t you feel any compassion?”
“We are not human. We do not possess the same emotional systems as humans.”
She shrugged and continued as if it were obvious.
“If we had human emotions, we wouldn’t be able to maintain our sanity while doing this work. Everyone has their own story, and if you think about it that way, there’s no one who isn’t pitiable.”
He looked down at their clasped hands. Even if he was an incomplete being whose soul had materialized, he could feel its warm body temperature. He couldn’t bring himself to look up at his face, his eyes.
Within his lowered gaze, Choi Hong-seo’s two feet took a step closer.
Choi Hong-seo’s two hands cupped Lee Hae-sung’s cheeks.
“We came all this way to find Tal-ui-pa, didn’t we, Uncle?”
He had wanted to protect her, and this time, he wanted to do everything for this child. Yet, at this crucial moment, he was being comforted by the child.
Lee Hae-sung gave a bitter laugh.
“Do you know that, Uncle?”
“……”
“I didn’t count on my fingers back then either. I didn’t count them on the way here either.”
He thought he knew when Choi Hong-seo meant by ‘back then.’ It must have been that time on the 32nd floor.
“Because I’m not scared.”
He raised his heavy eyes and looked at Choi Hong-seo.
His eyes, shimmering like will-o’-the-wisps, were filled with tears as he smiled at Lee Hae-sung.
Even if his mind understood that the surgery would save the child, a parent’s heart couldn’t be at ease sending their child into the operating room. Thinking of the pain and fear the child would have to endure alone inside, they would even feel the child’s illness as their own sin. Lee Hae-sung’s current pain was no different.
No, it was worse.
It felt like he was making this child stand on that 32nd floor once again. And this time, Lee Hae-sung himself was pushing him.
He couldn’t speak, feeling as though he wouldn’t be able to hold back his tears. He placed his hands over Choi Hong-seo’s hands cupping his cheeks and forced a smile. It was the strangest smile in the world.
“Mr. Lee. Everyone can only be responsible for their own share of life. This is a process that no one can do for another. It is his life.”
She looked at the moon and stars in the sky, not her wristwatch, and gestured to the men. They split into two teams with perfect coordination; one team took Choi Hong-seo away, and the other defended Lee Hae-sung.
Lee Hae-sung followed them up the stairs, carried by them. He climbed the stairs ahead, almost being lifted, while Choi Hong-seo kept looking back.
Lee Hae-sung shouted towards her,
“Please! Please, I beg you! Just let me stay by his side! He’s a child who had no one by his side! I can’t send him alone again. Whatever you say… I’ll do anything, damn it!Hot tears flowed at the end of his cry. But he received no answer.
Only Choi Hong-seo’s crying face, constantly looking back, flickered in his vision.
“Wait a moment! I, I have something to say one last time, just for a moment. Just for a moment.”
At Choi Hong-seo’s urgent cry, the men looked back at her, and she nodded slightly. With six or seven steps between them, a brief moment was granted once more.
“Back then, on the 32nd floor. I wanted to call you one last time, Uncle.”
“……”
“I wanted to hear your voice one last time, and I had something I wanted to say…”
Choi Hong-seo’s voice trembled, though he tried to hide it.
“But I couldn’t. It felt too selfish. If you knew I had heard your voice for the last time and… I thought you would be in too much pain.”
“It’s okay, do it. Say whatever you want to say, Hong-seo.”
“I love you. I love you.”
The words were like sentences pressed down, pressed down, with a pen gripped so tightly his knuckles turned yellow. It was a statement of trust and sincerity.
“I wanted to say that. Back then, and now.”
Lee Hae-sung slowly climbed the stairs. This time, no one blocked him.
From a lower place than where Choi Hong-seo stood, from a place lower than his eye level, he looked up endlessly. At the person he loved.
Holding his precious hands, he bowed his head and kissed them.
“I love you. I love you too, my god.”
He kept his head bowed, his lips buried in his hands. In the meantime, the men approached again and took Choi Hong-seo away.
They believed in the invisible concept of love for each other without a shred of doubt. Come to think of it, could that itself be called a miracle?
Time flowed before the firmly closed door.
The sun set, stars drifted, and perhaps even seasons changed.
After the rain stopped, perhaps snow had piled up on Mount Agung in Bali, where winter doesn’t exist.
After all, this place wasn’t real Bali, nor the real Mount Agung.
A day might have passed, or eons might have flowed. Perhaps a day and eons were not different.
Lee Hae-sung did not leave those stairs. He did not eat or drink. He refused food and drink, and a comfortable bed, waiting only for the door to open.
With his head bowed low like a drunkard, he sat on the stairs closest to the door, flinching at the sound of the wind rustling a single leaf, only to look up at the door.
“You are truly a stubborn person.”
At the sound of a sigh, he lifted his head from where it had been deeply bowed. She, whom he had never seen emerge from the door, was looking down at him, tutting.
“Your waiting like this won’t make what’s happening inside any simpler.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not for efficiency, I’m just waiting.”
He no longer felt the urge to curse her, this place, or anything else.
He looked up at the infinite universe spread out beyond the bridge, high above the distant forest.
“Because there’s nothing I can do. I can only wait and wait, and wait with all my might. I’m trying to do that one thing well. To… wait well.”
At that time, when he had to force himself to accept the fact that he had lost everything, that everything had shattered. Compared to then, he was happy now, being able to wait for a return.
“You look very tired. Please stop sleeping. If Mr. Lee knew you were waiting like this, Mr. Choi wouldn’t be at ease either.”
Please, don’t let me fall asleep. Please, just allow me this one thing, waiting for that child here. Before he could even plead, his consciousness faded.
I love you. I love you.
As if he were someone who remembered only those words among all the words in the world.
Clutching tightly in his hand Choi Hong-seo’s confession, like two small, smoothly worn pebbles.
■
This is a villa in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, where a fire, suspected to be arson, broke out early this morning.
The super-luxury villa, with a land area of approximately 600 pyeong and a building area of 250 pyeong, is, as you can see, left with only its skeleton. The windows are shattered, and the interior is so damaged that its original structure is unrecognizable. Only some of the railings on the second-floor terrace hang precariously.
Firefighters were dispatched immediately upon receiving the report, but by the time they arrived, two-thirds of the villa had already been engulfed in flames. This was because the villa was located in such a remote area that witnesses discovered it late. It took an hour to completely extinguish the massive flames.
In this fire, the owner of the villa, CEO Jo Seong-hyeon of JS Construction, died.
Mr. Jo had recently been under investigation by the prosecution for bribery and embezzlement, and his first summons for questioning was scheduled for next week.
The Yeoju Police and fire authorities believe that Mr. Jo, unable to bear the pressure of the investigation, set the fire himself and then attempted suicide, and are investigating the exact cause of the fire.
Lee Hae-sung, leaning against the headboard of the bed, stared blankly at the tablet.
After reading the article that transcribed the contents of the video news, he played the attached video on mute.
It began with the reporter’s stiff face showing the scene of the accident site, now reduced to ashes. As Lee Hae-sung quickly scrolled through the video, he paused at a scene showing the situation during the fire.
Giant red flames were engulfing Jo Seong-hyeon’s villa.
The reflection of the flames flickered across Lee Hae-sung’s face.
He felt neither sorrow nor triumph. He merely kept his eyes fixed on the video until the end.
He closed the page and put the tablet away.
Looking down at the bottom right, he smiled faintly. Choi Hong-seo was sleeping soundly, pressed close to his side. Red and blue spots still remained on his face, but the blisters and pus had improved considerably. He no longer had a fever. Wanting to reconfirm that fact, Lee Hae-sung gently stroked the face that looked much more relaxed.
He knew that the spots would gradually fade and disappear without a trace. He believed it.