NOVEL NEXT Chapter 25
Chapter 25
“There is.”
“What kind of story?”
“I’ll tell you when we get closer.”
“…”
“Don’t you want to hear it? My story.”
Eun-hwi was curious.
About what kind of life he had lived until now.
For what reason he met Gabi and came to Wolhwa Island.
However, unable to answer carelessly, Eun-hwi hung his head low.
Was it okay to know his story when they weren’t even friends yet? He felt that if he knew, he wouldn’t be able to distance himself from him.
The issue he had completely forgotten due to Dr. Hong’s visit came rushing back like clouds, constricting his chest. He wanted to ask how humans usually resolve such strained relationships smoothly.
“I’d like to hear Manager Yeo’s story,” Dr. Hong said, quietly observing the situation.
“You’re not included,” Yeo Moon-beom flatly refused, applying a thick, wide band to Dr. Hong’s face instead of the bandage with the Moon Rabbit picture. He did it with a slap, as if venting his frustration.
“Ouch!”
“Stop whining at your age. Tsk.”
There were no major injuries other than his face, so the treatment was complete. Yeo Moon-beom, packing up the first aid kit, suddenly stood up and asked Eun-hwi:
“Were you still worried about it?”
“…Worried about what?”
“The words about staying away from humans.”
“…”
“You were worried.”
“How could I not be? It’s what Father said.”
Looking down at Eun-hwi, who was crouching with his knees up and about to cry again, Yeo Moon-beom casually said:
“You forgot that I’m not a person, but a son of a bitch.”
“But…”
He is human.
Eun-hwi swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud.
He was the most human-like of any human he had seen so far.
Both externally and internally.
Although he had never lived directly in the human world, Eun-hwi knew that not many people could compare to Gabi, who had lived for 1,500 years. Among the numerous humans he encountered on the way from Baekdu Mountain to Wolhwa Island, there was not a single one like Yeo Moon-beom.
“Mr. Hong-salgwi.”
“…Huh? What is it, Manager Yeo?”
“Have you ever seen a human as ill-mannered as me?”
Blinking in confusion at Yeo Moon-beom’s meaningful glance and nudge to his side, Dr. Hong quickly agreed and answered:
“Never seen one, never! That, that horrible monster even devils would cry over! He’s not even human!”
“See? I told you I’m not human.”
As if he had heard a compliment rather than what was essentially an insult, he smiled brightly, curling up the corners of his lips. It was a smile that instantly dispelled the worries that had been clouding Eun-hwi’s mind like dark clouds.
“I’m sorry, but I must become your friend. I have a reason why I need to.”
Yeo Moon-beom gazed at Eun-hwi with calm eyes and added, as if to confirm:
“From today, I’m not a guest, but a boarder at Hwichukdang. Please take care of me, Eun-hwi.”
Three. If You Give a Rice Cake, I Won’t Eat You
“Thank you for saving me, Dokkaebi-nim.”
Dr. Hong kept bowing deeply, holding onto one comically bent leg of his Western-style glasses.
“Why do you keep thanking me? I didn’t save you…”
Eun-hwi had just watched from the side as he was being treated, doing nothing. As Eun-hwi looked at him quizzically for treating him like a benefactor again, Dr. Hong glanced at Yeo Moon-beom’s face and spoke with a solemn expression:
“No, if you weren’t here, Dokkaebi-nim, I would have been dead long ago. How can I ever repay this kindness… Thank you. Thank you so much for showing me such a noble form, Dokkaebi-nim.”
Dr. Hong, staring with eyes that seemed about to cry with emotion, tried to take Eun-hwi’s hand as if to express his gratitude.
“May I dare to ask for a handshake?”
“Huh? Sure.”
Although contact with humans was still awkward, Eun-hwi was curious about how the warmth of a human other than Yeo Moon-beom would feel. With a mix of slight tension and anticipation, his heart pounding, he reached out his hand, but Yeo Moon-beom suddenly intervened and swatted away Dr. Hong’s arm.
“Please refrain from shaking hands with your dirty, mud-covered hands.”
“Oh my, you’re right. What was I thinking? I’m sorry, Dokkaebi-nim.”
Dr. Hong, awkwardly withdrawing his hand, quickly pushed up his Western glasses that had slid down to the bridge of his nose with his index finger. His already small eyes appeared even smaller behind the cracked lenses.
“I’m going to the village, so eat this while you wait.”
Yeo Moon-beom held out a square wooden box. It contained the sorghum and red bean rice cakes that Dr. Hong had brought as an offering.
Didn’t you say not to eat things given by others?
Eun-hwi’s round, almond-shaped eyes widened in surprise at the sweet smell of red bean powder wafting from the box.
“Can I really eat this?”
Unsure if it was really okay to eat, he asked again hesitantly. Yeo Moon-beom’s intense eyes curved gently.
“It’s fine because I, your friend, am giving it to you. You trust me, right?”
“Yes, I trust you, Yeo Moon-beom! I’ll eat while waiting for you!”
Eun-hwi nodded, tightly holding the box he had handed over. He had been disappointed at not being able to eat his favorite rice cakes even when they were right in front of him, but now he was very happy that Yeo Moon-beom had thoughtfully considered this.
“Oh, you Manager Yeo, you old coot! I thought you were going to throw away what I bought at such an expense!”
“Why would I waste it? The sin was committed by a person, not by the object.”
“Thank you, Manager Yeo!”
Eun-hwi couldn’t keep up with Dr. Hong’s emotions, who had been trembling in fear, then suddenly got angry, and was now joyfully trying to hug Yeo Moon-beom. Eun-hwi looked at Dr. Hong with puzzled eyes and asked:
“Who is Kim Chum-ji?”
“Ah. Kim Chum-ji, Dokkaebi-nim, is a character who appears as the protagonist in the realistic short story ‘A Lucky Day,’ published in the 48th issue of the magazine Gaebyeok, which was founded in June 1924 based on the New Culture Movement…”
“Eun-hwi. Say goodbye. Tell him to go well.”
Yeo Moon-beom interrupted Dr. Hong’s words with a calm face, as if there was no need to listen at all.
“Goodbye, Dr. Hong-salgwi.”
“Farewell, Dokkaebi-nim.”
Eun-hwi mimicked Dr. Hong, who was waving his palm wide open from side to side, and Dr. Hong grinned broadly and waved his hand more vigorously.
“Goodbye, Dr. Hong-salgwi.”
“Farewell, Dokkaebi-nim.”
The farewells continued as if they were competing to see who could say goodbye longer. Yeo Moon-beom, watching this with a crumpled expression, gave a light knock on the head covered by the turned-over hat, telling them to stop.
“Come with me.”
The sight of Yeo Moon-beom grabbing Dr. Hong’s shoulder and dragging him away looked like a constable escorting a criminal to the police bureau. Except for not tying his wrists, it was exactly like a scene from “Mungchi and Ppokki.”
So Yeo Moon-beom really was a constable after all.
Eun-hwi imagined, holding the box of sorghum and red bean rice cakes and the box with the cross pattern: Yeo Moon-beom’s imposing figure wearing a constable uniform and holding a pistol.
* * *
“One, two, three, four, five…”
Inside the box were four rows of sorghum and red bean rice cakes, with five in each row.
“Six, seven, eight, nine, ten… Ten! There are ten!”
If they divided ten for each person, they could eat the rice cakes fairly without anyone feeling left out.
Sitting on the wooden platform and calculating each person’s share, Eun-hwi picked up one round sorghum and red bean rice cake with a satisfied expression.
Although the surface had dried slightly from leaving the lid open during the commotion, it was still soft and emitted a delicious smell. His yellow eyes, full of anticipation, sparkled in the moonlight.
“…No. I shouldn’t eat.”
Shaking his head, he put the rice cake back down. Having learned that eating with someone else is much more delicious than eating alone, he intended to wait until Yeo Moon-beom returned.
The great joy of eating food with someone.
It was something he hadn’t known when Gabi was always by his side.
Having made up his mind, Eun-hwi jumped up and headed to the main hall. There was nothing better than gonggi (a Korean traditional game similar to jacks) to pass the time.
He took out five acorn-sized gonggi stones from the drawer of a three-tiered sideboard cabinet that stored blue and white porcelain jars and buncheong ware vases. These were gonggi stones that Gabi had personally made for Eun-hwi, who was upset about being ostracized by the spirits every day.
The pebbles, rounded to fit a child’s hand size, collided with each other in hands that had grown slightly larger.
Pododoktodok, the sound filled with a father’s love for his son, rang out.
“Nngh…”
Five small, round stones were precariously balanced on his four outstretched fingers. Eun-hwi slightly moved his index and little fingers to gather the gonggi stones that seemed about to fall.
Although he wasn’t particularly good at studying, he was confident in gonggi. The half-dokkaebi, who had succeeded in 14 rounds without a single failure and was about to face the final challenge of the 15th round, stubbornly bit his lip and threw the gonggi stones into the air.
“…Caught it!”
He quickly reached out and grabbed them all without missing a single one. The weight of the stones filling his hand was so welcome that Eun-hwi raised both arms and shouted “Hurray!” excitedly.
“Why aren’t you eating again? I even gave you permission to eat first.”