By Zephyria “Mount Agung. You must go to the most sacred mountain.”
“Where on Mount Agung?”
“Not too high, not too low. That’s all I know.”
Mount Agung was the highest mountain in Bali. It was also the mountain visible in the distance between the two towers of the Gate of Heaven at Lempuyang Temple.
Lee Hae-sung felt a moment of emptiness at the abstract answer. The escort, who had been watching, could not help but criticize the man.
“Hey, what kind of vague answer is that? How are we supposed to find someone with just that information?”
Lee Hae-sung, lost in thought for a moment, stopped the escort. With an aggrieved expression, he had no choice but to step back.
Lee Hae-sung wrapped an arm around Choi Hong-seo’s shoulder, who stood half a step behind him. He pulled him close, holding him by his side. Hae-sung gripped the end of Hong-seo’s shoulder so tightly that his knuckles and fingertips turned pale.
“My child, my own flesh and blood. My child is also in great pain.”
As if the blotchy, red face covered in spots were some kind of spectacle, the man repeatedly glanced at Choi Hong-seo’s face.
Lee Hae-sung knew intellectually that these symptoms could appear grotesque to others. But to him, this was a child as precious as his life, and a matter as grave as his life. He felt a surge of anger at the gaze that treated it with mere curiosity.
Lee Hae-sung pulled Choi Hong-seo’s body closer to him. Now, Choi Hong-seo was almost half-embraced by Lee Hae-sung.
“He is in so much pain that we came all the way from Korea to cure it. Your daughter is also sick, so please, I hope you understand my feelings. I hope you are truly not lying to us.”
After hearing the interpreter’s words, the man pointed a finger towards the ceiling with great confidence and vehemently asserted his innocence in a rapid tone. It seemed he had no intention of retracting what he had said.
“If you can just meet ‘Taripa,’ I will bring more, whether it be dollars or rupiah, in whatever currency you desire. But.”
“……”
“If there is no result, you will have to be prepared as well.”
Everyone, the local interpreter, Choi Hong-seo, knew that they doubted and did not believe the man. Even Lee Hae-sung himself did. However, he couldn’t just not investigate, even after hearing where ‘Taripa’ might be.
As he took Choi Hong-seo’s hand and stepped into the yard, the weather had completely changed from moments before.
The sky, which had been a clear blue as if painted on purpose, was now covered with ash-colored clouds. December was the rainy season in Bali. Because of this, the weather often changed its mood several times a day. Although they had only stayed indoors for about ten minutes, it felt as if hours, or even years, had passed.
The old woman who had been sitting on the porch next to the gate was nowhere to be seen, and the surroundings were deathly quiet.
“Hong-seo, do you want to wait in the car? I have a few instructions for the team.”
“Can I… wait and ride with you, Uncle?”
Had he sensed something?
With a crestfallen expression, glancing around nervously, Choi Hong-seo tried not to get into the car. Lee Hae-sung deliberately smiled as if nothing was wrong.
“We’re just going to talk for a bit, so there’s no need to wait. You look a little unwell, so let’s rest in the car. Okay?”
He opened the rear door of the large RV with a high chassis. Choi Hong-seo, repeatedly glancing at Lee Hae-sung’s usual face, got into the car with a reluctant expression.
After sending Choi Hong-seo and the escorts who had traveled with them from the villa back, he planned to go to Mount Agung with the team members who were already waiting there. A specialist from Seoul who had accompanied them was waiting at the villa. If necessary, they could take measures to ensure Choi Hong-seo rested, even by force.
The local interpreter, upon hearing Lee Hae-sung’s plan, tilted his head and objected.
“It’s already late in the afternoon, and the sun will set soon. It’s the rainy season, and there’s a forecast for rain this afternoon, so going to the mountain now is dangerous.”
But Lee Hae-sung had already made up his mind.
“Find a local who knows the mountain terrain well. They said it’s not too high or too low, so let’s go to the temple on the middle slope of Mount Agung first.”
As the instructions became clear, the escorts dispersed in an orderly fashion. Lee Hae-sung looked up at the sky where ash-colored clouds were rapidly expanding.
He clenched and unclenched his empty fists a couple of times to suppress the urge to smoke. He ran his hand through his hair several times, messing it up. Only then did he open the rear door of the RV where Choi Hong-seo was waiting.
Choi Hong-seo, who had been sitting without leaning back against the seat, brightened up.
“Hong-seo, go back to the villa and rest first. You should eat something too. You haven’t eaten much today.”
“Ah, what about you? Don’t tell me… you’re going to that mountain now?”
His brightened face instantly turned ashen, like the sky above.
“I’m just going to take a quick look around.”
“Then I’ll go with you. I want to go too.”
Lee Hae-sung pushed Choi Hong-seo’s shoulder as he awkwardly tried to stand up, pressing him gently onto the seat. His touch was not rough, but it was firm.
“Neither of you needs to go. I’ll go and scout it out first, and if there’s really something… then Hong-seo, you can come with me tomorrow. That would be best.”
Choi Hong-seo’s hand, which was trying to push away Lee Hae-sung’s hand pressing his shoulder, had no strength in it. It was trembling. His face was filled with anxiety.
“No… I want to go with you…”
His voice, barely audible, sounded like a frightened soliloquy.
His heart felt like it was being torn apart. But he couldn’t accompany Choi Hong-seo on the treacherous, rainy mountain path in his current condition. Standing outside the car, Lee Hae-sung leaned deeply into the interior to fasten Choi Hong-seo’s seatbelt.
“Hong-seo, your rest is the priority. It’s going to rain soon, and the mountain path is too dangerous for you. Especially when you’re not feeling well.”
“I don’t feel sick now… I can go.”
He firmly grasped Choi Hong-seo’s hand, which was trying to unbuckle the fastened seatbelt. Smiling to reassure him, he neatly tucked the stray hair from his face behind his ear.
“Hong-seo. It’s nothing to be scared of. It’s just a preliminary survey. I’m not going anywhere, am I? I’ll be back at the villa by evening. Okay? You can wait for me, right?”
Choi Hong-seo shook his head. He couldn’t wait.
His face, dotted with spots, sagged. With one hand held, Choi Hong-seo lowered his head, and tears flowed from his cheeks onto his thighs. The tears were instantaneous.
“Hong-seo, are you crying? Look at me. Our Hong-seo, you’re such a baby. Why are you crying over something like this? Huh?”
“I won’t go up the mountain. I’ll just wait in the car. That’s okay, right? I can do that, right?”
His face, which had been forcibly lifted to meet Hae-sung’s gaze, was tear-streaked. Deep wrinkles formed between Lee Hae-sung’s brows.
“I’ll just wait in the car. I promise! I swear!”
At Lee Jong-ik’s Gutdang in Gangwon Province.
He had almost carried ‘Yoon Hye-an,’ who suddenly developed a fever, down the mountain path. At that time, ‘Yoon Hye-an’ had struggled, not wanting to be separated from Lee Hae-sung, even for the brief moment he was put into the car.
It was ‘Yoon Hye-an.’ His heart felt like it was being torn apart.
It was ‘Yoon Hye-an.’ He had cradled and soothed him in his arms.
Because it wasn’t ‘Yoon Hye-an.’
He was already seeing him as Choi Hong-seo.
It felt like he was seeing the past again.
“Hong-seo, it’s okay. We’ll meet again in a few hours.”
He ignored the arms reaching out to be held, to be cradled, and continued to wipe away the tears that welled up anew.
“I’m fine. You don’t have to look for ‘Taripa.’ I don’t want to look. I don’t need it. So just…”
“……”
“Stay with me. I want to be with you.”
My child, my own flesh and blood.
What he had said was not an exaggeration at all.
Choi Hong-seo wasn’t the only one who felt anxious and pained by even a moment of separation.
He pulled the face, tears constantly seeping between his cheeks and palms, closer and rubbed his nose against it. He pressed his lips firmly onto various spots on the wet face.
He would do anything. He would try everything. To do that, he had to regain his senses instead of the sick child.
The cheeks he held began to slowly warm up. At Lee Hae-sung’s glance, a waiting escort got into the back seat on the opposite side. As the escort held Choi Hong-seo to prevent any impulsive actions, Lee Hae-sung’s hand moved away from Choi Hong-seo.
“Let’s go.”
Choi Hong-seo shook his head and cried even more mournfully. Just like in Gangwon Province, he wailed as if he had forgotten how to speak.
Until the rear door closed and the RV completely exited the alley, Lee Hae-sung had to brace himself, rubbing his jaw with his palm. He didn’t have the luxury of tending to the tattered remnants of his emotions. It was almost a relief.
He immediately departed for Mount Agung in another vehicle.
Just as Choi Hong-seo, who had been waiting for Lee Hae-sung, couldn’t lean back comfortably in his seat, Lee Hae-sung couldn’t either. He rested his elbows on his knees, leaned forward, and lit a cigarette he had been holding back.
Choi Hong-seo’s eyes, desperately clinging to him, wouldn’t leave his mind. It hurt as if his own flesh and blood were being sliced and cut away with a knife, as if he were bleeding profusely.
If all of this was a show. Then, the man from earlier, Lee Jong-ik, any god. And himself, who couldn’t save Choi Hong-seo. He felt he could never forgive them.