The Secret Festival of a Rural Village (1)
My fingertips itched with anticipation. I was going to tell them. That the author known as MilfLover had been lurking at the very bottom of the abyss. That the man who had flailed desperately all day just to keep from sinking had finally risen to the surface!
“Alright. What should I write for my new project?”
Excitement. Expectation. A pleasant thrum urged me on. I rubbed my hands together and sank into thought.
The lifetimes I had experienced were far too numerous. Even if I wrote novels for the rest of my life, I could never capture them all. That was why committing to a long series felt like a waste. There were simply too many lives I wanted to show.
Maybe I should focus on short stories. Or perhaps novellas would work too.
…Yes. This was better.
“Writing long-form is definitely a waste of my talent.”
Countless fascinating lifetimes were perfectly preserved in my mind. It felt wrong to spend so much time trapped inside just one of them. Since I could never show them all in a single lifetime anyway, I wanted to reveal as many as possible. I wanted to share the joy I had felt with my readers.
Even the most ordinary memories to me would probably be shocking to people in this era.
Everyone else longed for the brilliant old world and wrote about it through imagination. But I had actually lived those things. I was incredibly curious what kind of reaction they would get.
“The first short story should definitely be this one.”
One particular life had come to mind. A life that had seemed ordinary. But something special had existed around its edges. Many people probably lived that way—unaware of the extraordinary events happening right beside them, mistaking their everyday routines for simple normalcy.
Tap. Tap-tap.
The Secret Festival of a Rural Village.
After typing the title, I smiled faintly as memories of that time surfaced. Then I searched through the lives stored in my neural vault and replayed one of them.
At the same time, the fingers resting on the keyboard began to dance.
Tap-tap. Tap.
“Son, Mom’s heading out to the festival.”
“When will you be back?”
“Probably around the time you’re fast asleep? You’re ten years old now. You’re not scared to sleep alone, are you?”
“Umm… I want to go with you though.”
The son, finished with his bedtime preparations, and the mother, ready to leave. The pair chatted cozily together. The mother pulled the loosely draped blanket up to his chin, then gently stroked his small, adorable head as she answered.
“How about you come with me once you’re all grown up? That place is only for adults… you understand, right?”
“Yeah…. Have a good time, Mom….”
She gazed down at her son with loving eyes, then turned off the light and left the room. The boy closed his eyes, using the sound of his mother putting on her shoes in the entryway as a lullaby.
Once a month.
A festival was held in our village. A mysterious festival that only adults could attend.
The village where Kim Suho lived was an extremely remote rural hamlet with almost no visitors.
Gwichuok-ri.
A village nestled at the foot of Gwichuok Mountain. An endlessly dull and boring place where the same tedious days repeated over and over. It was so isolated that even searching for the village name on a map wouldn’t bring up any results.
There was nothing to do. There wasn’t even a PC bang, and absolutely nothing for people in their twenties or thirties to enjoy. As a result, all the young adults who came of age dreamed of city life and left for Seoul, leaving only the older generation behind.
Suho himself had only graduated high school and become an adult a week ago.
“Deokgu, you bastard. You’re heading to Seoul soon too, right?”
“That’s right. Sigh… I’m worried sick. What can a country bumpkin who ain’t learned nothin’ do in Seoul?”
“Do you have to be learned to go? You can learn once you get there.”
“Nah. If I’m bein’ honest, I think my ma wants to kick me outta the house. I told her I didn’t wanna go, but she already called my aunt who lives in Seoul, so looks like I’m headin’ up whether I like it or not.”
This was the house of his closest friend, Deokgu. Deokgu’s family ran a minbak, but since almost no outsiders ever visited, it was really just a regular home with a fancy name.
The few friends their age had all left for other regions right after graduation. What had been so urgent? Were they afraid that if they stayed in this dead-end hometown with nothing to do, they’d just grow old without achieving anything? Their peers had left with expressions that said they were finally escaping the village they were sick of.
The only one who remained was Deokgu. Suho had received a message yesterday saying the guy was leaving for Seoul and had come to see him.
A sigh escaped him.
“Haa… If even you leave, who am I supposed to hang out with?”
“You worried about havin’ no one to play with? If you stay here you won’t even get married! There’s only one girl our age in the whole village.”
“Hyejeong noona?”
“That’s right! Ain’t nobody else. She kinda scares me. She’s so cold… Hey, country boy. When she calls your name and you make eye contact, it feels like all your energy just drains away. You feel the same, right?”
“……Well. Yeah.”
He didn’t bother saying they were actually pretty close. He didn’t want to hurt Deokgu’s feelings.
She’s actually pretty nice once you get to know her. She just acts cool.
Apparently Deokgu called him “country boy.” But since he really was a country boy, there was no point in taking offense… right?
“Man… What a shame. Suho, you were real popular back in school. All that popularity’s gonna go to waste now.”
“What do you mean, waste? It’s good to be popular.”
“It’s a waste, I tell ya~ You’re gonna end up a lifelong bachelor here!”
“Lifelong bachelor? I’m only twenty! Isn’t that jumping the gun a bit?”
“Heh. I can see it now. You, a widower, guarding the orchard all by yourself.”
“This little…”
Suho glared at him. He pretended to be angry for a moment before letting out a bitter smile. It stung. Deep down, he was afraid Deokgu might be right—that he really would grow old here as a bachelor.
Deokgu had an innocent face full of mischief. With his buzz cut and dark tanned skin, the word “country bumpkin” fit him perfectly. He was the perfect example of someone who belonged in this village.
Yet all the real country boys had left, and the one who remained was Suho—the person least suited to Gwichuok-ri.
Life really is…
But he couldn’t leave. He had to inherit his father’s legacy and continue the family business.
Suho had lost his mother at a young age and lived in Seoul with his father. Back then, his father had grown tired of cold city life. He often spoke of his dream of a healing rural lifestyle.
Maybe it was fate that the trend of returning to the countryside happened to be popular at that time. Or perhaps his father had simply gotten swept up in it. After remarrying a woman he had been seeing, his father somehow learned about an orchard in Gwichuok-ri—a village that didn’t even appear on maps—and bought it. The whole family moved down together. And so, the long-awaited return to rural life became reality.
Perhaps because he had been born in Seoul, Suho often heard from the villagers that he had an air of refinement about him. Even though they lived in the same village, the sense of distance he sometimes felt was probably due to that difference.
Suho gave Deokgu advice about things to be careful of once he got to Seoul.
“But… how do you even meet girls in Seoul? I heard from this hyung that if you go to church, you naturally end up meeting them. Is that true?”
Freshly twenty. The age when interest in girls was at its peak. Deokgu was no exception. Although Suho took some pride in having been born in Seoul, he had no real knowledge about this subject.
You idiot. I only lived in Seoul until I was five. How would I know where to meet girls?
He grumbled internally. Country boys always assumed that anyone from Seoul knew everything. Not wanting to bruise his pride by admitting ignorance, Suho forced an awkward smile.
“Church… yeah, that’s good. In Seoul, there’s even a saying about ‘church oppa.’ It means you look like a reliable guy. But then you’d have to actually believe in Jesus. You okay with that? You can’t just force something like faith.”
“Of course I’m okay! If it means I can meet girls, I’ll believe in anything. I could even become a devout believer.”
Deokgu proudly spouted words that would have earned him a smack from a pastor’s Bible. He hadn’t always been like this. Ever since last year, he had been obsessed with talking about girls. His male hormones were in full bloom. Since Suho was the same age and full of vigor, he understood exactly how the guy felt.
That was when it happened.
Creak.
“What are you boys talking about that’s so interesting?”
Deokgu’s mother entered the room.
“Ah. Let me take that for you.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
She was carrying a tray, so he had tried to take it from her, but she shook her head with a smile and set the tray down between Deokgu and Suho. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she sat down right beside Suho.
Choi Myeongsook.
Aunt Myeongsook glared at Deokgu across from her.
“Look at this boy. If he’d just said ‘here you go’ like our Suho, wouldn’t that be so much cuter? His mom carries this all the way here and he doesn’t even budge. Not even a little.”
“Aigoo… Mom. Your arms are about the same size as mine. What are you talking about, carrying just a few melons? If it was that hard you wouldn’t have brought it at all.”
“That mouth of yours!”
…Suho-ya. Try some of these melons. They’re really sweet and delicious.”
Choi Myeongsook made a show of twisting Deokgu’s mouth in the air, then stabbed a piece of melon with a fork and held it out to Suho.
“Ah, thank you.”
“Yes, yes. Eat a lot, our Suho. Eat plenty.”
When Aunt Myeongsook ignored her own son and only took care of Suho, Deokgu pouted and grabbed a piece of melon for himself.
The reason Suho and Deokgu had become such close friends was probably because they both shared the experience of growing up with single mothers. Maybe it was because the village was so boring. Whenever Suho came over, Aunt Myeongsook would often sit with them and chat. It was a common occurrence between them.
When he visited, she would bring snacks and join in. She had doted on Suho ever since he was little.
And that was one of the reasons.
One of the reasons Suho didn’t visit his best friend Deokgu’s house too often.
—Slide.
Choi Myeongsook’s hand naturally came to rest on top of Suho’s thigh. While her other hand casually picked at the melon, her fingers gently stroked and caressed his thigh.
Hmm… I know. I know this isn’t because she has any ulterior motives. She just treats me like a son. There’s no way she’d see a boy who’s literally her son’s age—her son’s friend—as a man.
But.
Suho was a young man in his prime. So even at a touch like this, his body couldn’t help but react. That was what made it so embarrassing.
Because he kept getting hard from a meaningless caress, reacting so sensitively. Every time his lower half responded, it became awkward to look at Deokgu, and he felt guilty toward Deokgu’s mother.