By Zephyria 
The neatly arranged corpses looked so peaceful that they could have been mistaken for people who had simply fallen asleep.
“It seems they haven’t been dead long.”
Ha-jin nodded at Eden’s words. He felt strange facing corpses that were fully human, after only dealing with Aberrants whose flesh was rotting or whose forms were difficult to recognize. Suddenly, the image of Chun-beom lying quietly on the cold dirt floor came to mind.
Eden, who had entered the room first, narrowed his eyes as he discovered plastic pill bottles and a ceramic cup scattered around the corpses. Judging from the traces of vomit around the corpses’ mouths, it was presumed to be a suicide pact using a drug overdose. They searched the surroundings thoroughly, but couldn’t even find a common will.
“…They must have been a family.”
Ha-jin let out a sigh of pity.
“Let’s bury them, considering it the price for staying the night.”
The two men took turns dragging the middle-aged couple, presumed to be husband and wife, and the two young brothers with youthful faces outside. They went out into the forest through a side door connected to the back door and disposed of the four corpses.
He imagined the family’s past, filled with pessimism and depression after losing their will to live. He couldn’t even imagine how many tears they had shed before deciding to die together.
In fact, there were dried tear stains pressed onto the cheek of the child presumed to be the younger brother. Ha-jin desperately tried not to think of Jun-seok.
After disposing of the corpses, they returned to the Hanok and carefully examined the building. The bookstore was on the right side of the entrance, with a small sign that read ‘Rest’ hanging above the paper door with glass panes.
Ha-jin stepped onto the narrow wooden porch with round cushions and quickly scanned the inside. Except for the cafe counter where the dessert cases were displayed, the four walls were entirely lined with wooden bookshelves.
From independent publications to humanities and liberal arts books, the books seemed to be arranged randomly, but there was a sense of stability to it. Ha-jin, who was captivated by the scent of paper that he hadn’t smelled in a long time, looked around inside before stepping back outside.
The remaining space other than the bookstore seemed to be used entirely as a book stay, as neat blankets were folded in a row in the rooms.
After checking the detached building with the bathroom and communal kitchen, the group tightly closed the entrance. Fortunately, it seemed they wouldn’t need a night watch tonight.
Ha-jin, who had finished showering first, chugged a bottle of bottled water piled up in the communal kitchen. The accumulated thirst and unpleasantness of the past few days melted away like snow. He quite liked the grapefruit-scented shampoo smell emanating from his body, and buried his face in his skin for a long time, sniffing.
After finishing a hearty meal with canned tuna and instant rice in the kitchen, it was already approaching 9 PM. Ha-jin sat on the narrow wooden porch with Pie, looking at the sky with a troubled expression.
Byeol, who had diligently finished his share of the laundry by himself, ran over and squeezed between Pie and Ha-jin, curling up his small body.
“Uncle, what are you doing?”
Ha-jin lowered his head towards the child who was looking at him with his round eyes.
“Byeol, say ‘ah’.”
“Huh?”
“Say ‘ah,’ and open your mouth like this.”
Byeol obediently opened his mouth as he was told, and he carefully examined the child’s mouth.
“It’s grown a lot in the meantime.”
One of the empty lower teeth was half-protruding. No wonder the pronunciation that used to sound cute was gradually becoming more clear. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the child’s arms and legs seemed to have grown a little more than before.
Feeling the fleeting passage of time, Ha-jin quickly became depressed. Then, a bold voice suddenly flew in.
“Uncle, is living hard?”
“…What?”
Ha-jin asked back with a bewildered expression at the unchildlike question, and Byeol crossed his arms, pretending to be serious.
“Is it hard running around in Korea?”
It was like asking if it was hard to keep running away. Ha-jin shrugged his shoulders at the child who was asking something obvious.
“It’s hard. But Byeol is also having a hard time, and Jeong Tae-geon is, and Eden and Jeffrey are all having a hard time. It can’t be helped.”
As soon as he gave an answer close to the textbook answer, the child pouted his lips and asked.
“Maintenance Depot means the place where they fix airplanes, right? I saw it on TV.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“I heard Jeffrey and Eden talking. We’re going there, right?”
“Yeah.”
Byeol paused for a moment before continuing to ask.
“Then can we take a plane and go to where Mom and Dad are now?”
Ha-jin was quite surprised that he had inferred so much from the adults’ conversation alone. As a smart child, he had excellent situational awareness.
“Yes, the Maintenance Depot isn’t far away, so Byeol just needs to hang in there a little longer.”
“But isn’t Ha-jin going to America with us?”
“……”
“Can’t you just come with us? Uncle is…”
He was even more surprised by that. Ha-jin composed himself as if he were calm, but he couldn’t hide his stiff mouth.
“Uncle can’t because he has to meet his brother?”
Ha-jin hesitated for a moment, unable to find the right words to say. The image of the child crying so hard that he was exhausted the day Mi-so left automatically came to mind. Byeol, who was dangling his legs and watching Ha-jin’s expression, soon lowered his head.
“…Have to get married…, um… To do that, we have to go together.”
Ha-jin put his ear close to the small, plump lips at the small voice muttering like a monologue.
“Byeol. What did you say?”
“Umm, that’s… Uncle has to marry me…”
At that moment, a somewhat edgy conversation was heard from the room across the hall. The sound wasn’t loud, but it was clear that an argument had broken out between Jeffrey and Eden.
Ha-jin’s eyes widened in embarrassment, and Jeong Byeol clicked his tongue like an old man. The child, who had been imitating a weary adult, soon let out a faint sigh— pooh.
“The idiots are fighting again.”
The voices gradually grew louder. Jeffrey, in particular, seemed to be very excited. Like an angry rapper spitting out English raps quickly, he continued to speak non-stop.
“I can’t do this, Byeol. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“You don’t have to go! If you leave them alone, they’ll make up again.”
“When did you two… fight again?”
“Earlier, when Ha-jin went to wash up alone, and, um, and yesterday when Uncle fell asleep, the two of them secretly went out and fought.”
“What did they fight about?”
Byeol shrugged his shoulders again like an old man, as if he didn’t know that far.
The fight showed no signs of stopping. Ha-jin instinctively felt that Eden and Jeffrey’s argument was related to him. The complex and subtle gaze Jeffrey had been giving him these past few days and the long sighs that came out of his mouth were clues, if you could call them that.
Considering the various situations, Eden must have told Jeffrey that he would stay in Korea with him. It was inevitable that his close friend Jeffrey would get angry.
Eventually, Ha-jin quietly got up from his seat and walked towards the room where the argument was taking place.
Creak! Not long after arriving at the door, he made eye contact with Jeffrey, who was opening the paper door and coming out. He scanned Ha-jin’s face once with a look mixed with annoyance and apology, then quickly turned his head away.
Eden followed after Jeffrey. He cast a puzzled look at Ha-jin, who was standing blankly.
“What are you doing here?”
“I just suddenly heard you fighting…”
Eden gently stroked Ha-jin’s bangs, which were not yet completely dry, as if it were nothing to worry about.
“We’ve finished talking.”
“Did you fight because of me?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
He answered immediately, but he couldn’t hide the troubled look on his brow. It was the moment when Ha-jin, who had opened his eyes drowsily, was about to move his lips.
Jeffrey, who had disappeared into the detached building, came out into the yard again, stomping his feet. He notified Ha-jin and Eden, who were standing side by side, that he was “going to sleep first,” and called Pie into the room.
Byeol, who had been fidgeting alone in the distance, rubbed his sleepy eyes and trudged towards the room where Jeffrey had disappeared.
“I want to sleep too! Are Uncles coming soon?”
“Come here, Jeong Byeol. I have to give you a kiss before you go to sleep.”
The child made a sulky face and reluctantly pressed his lips to Eden’s cheek. Then, just as he was about to enter the room, he suddenly lit up his eyes and clung to Ha-jin’s thigh.
“Should I give Ha-jin a kiss too?”
“No. Go in and sleep quickly.”
Eden lifted Byeol’s body, who had been pouting his lips towards Ha-jin. Ha-jin grumbled as he watched him personally escort the child to the front of the room.
“What is it? I want to get a kiss from Byeol too?”
“Do Ha-jin needs to make his attitude clear.”
“Excuse me?”
Ha-jin’s face turned puzzled at the sudden criticism of his attitude.
“Marrying or not marrying may all seem like a joke, but Jeong Byeol is saying it sincerely. You might be in big trouble if you underestimate him because he’s young.”
“No, what… What attitude do I need to make clear to a baby…”
Ha-jin frowned, aghast. While he was grumbling with a bewildered face, his wrist was naturally grabbed by a large hand.
Eden led Ha-jin straight to the bookstore. The inside of the bookstore, which had no light, was pitch black. He found a lighter at the counter, as if he had seen it in advance, and lit the candles in the glass bottles placed here and there.