Setting Foot on the Island
Once the ceremony was over, we changed into hanbok and rushed through the pyebaek, the formal bows to both sets of parents.
My parents were uncomfortable with the whole affair, and Noona's were no different. Dad in particular seemed allergic to any occasion that demanded this much ceremony. Red to the ears, he was forced to pour every blessing he could think of over Noona.
"Hey. Don't you go getting married twice. I can't survive another one of these."
"There are things a man can say, and things he absolutely cannot!"
"Aaaagh!"
I put a healthy distance between myself and Dad, who was receiving Mom's beating—no, her loving attentions—and set off with Noona to make the rounds of the buffet, greeting everyone who had come: distant relatives, acquaintances, and friends alike.
"Oh, there you two are."
We had been circling and bowing our way through the hall when we reached the corner where my friends had huddled together. They were already demolishing the buffet in grand style, and beside them the plates were stacked in heaps. Aside from the sauce, not a crumb was left.
"Yeah, eat up. Gotta get your money's worth."
"Mm—mmph mmph—mmmmph!"
"...Swallow, then talk. You can carry on like a beast all you want. My Superpower still doesn't work on you."
"Ghk—!"
The friend who had tried to speak with his mouth packed full looked as if my words had stuck in his throat. Unbelievable, the things this guy did. I handed him a glass of water, and he forced down everything he had crammed in, swallowing with one hard gulp.
"Whoa, I thought I was gonna die!"
"If you're gonna die, die after I get back from the trip, all right? Otherwise I can't go eat yukgaejang at your wake."
"Lunatic."
"So. What were you trying to say just now?"
"Oh, right. We got you a wedding car, so you can ride it to the airport. Take it."
"A wedding car?"
At those words, Noona beside me perked up.
"Yes, ma'am! We know that guy, and we know you pretty well too, don't we? How were we supposed to just sit still? We pooled our money, rented an import, and decorated it real sharp!"
"Really? Thank you."
"Ngh... I've got a bad feeling about this."
A flicker of unease ran through me, but Noona looked so pleased that I couldn't very well refuse the car. That unease soon became reality. Once the greetings were finished and we'd eaten, we collected So-eun from Dad and went with my friends to see the wedding car, and I understood at once why I'd felt uneasy.
"...You want us to ride in that?"
"What, isn't it pretty? Ma'am! What do you think?"
"Hmm... I don't think it's bad, actually..."
I was at a loss, and so was Noona. The problem was the thing those idiots had prepared and called a wedding car. They had hauled in the largest Cadillac Escalade you could find in the country—so overloaded that Escalator would have been the better name—and had the nerve to present it as one. The thing was plastered with every ribbon and floral arrangement imaginable, and not small ones either. Enormous ones. As if that weren't enough, our faces—mine, Noona's, and So-eun's—were pasted huge across the hood.
"You seriously expect us to ride something you turned into this?"
"Then you're not gonna ride it? Your friends scraped together the money for one order of fried chicken and one round of drinks and decorated this with everything we had! Our classmate! Huh? Goes and gets married! Huh? So we—I swear!—we pooled every last bit!"
"I mean..."
He wasn't merely confident. He was bellowing. I was too dumbfounded to get a word out.
"Oh, right. By the way, your dad already took your car and left."
"..."
The news of Dad's betrayal followed, and I stood there with my mouth hanging open, unable to speak.
"W-we might have to take this one, then...?"
"Haa..."
Noona was flustered too, but she had pulled herself together better than I had. At her words I let out a small sigh. There was no time to find another way to travel if we wanted to keep the schedule. If it had been only the three of us—me, Noona, and So-eun—maybe. To haul more than ten animals along with us, we had no choice but to climb into the monstrosity in front of us.
"Ta-da! So-eun's car seat's already been moved over, I'll have you know! And in the back, folding seats and plush cushions, for the animals' comfortable ride!"
He flung the doors wide like a salesman and bragged, and I wanted to punch him in the mouth.
"If I keep needling you I'm gonna get hit, so I'm out! A few of us are following you to the airport, so just leave the car with them! Later! Congrats on the wedding!"
As if he had read my mind, he flicked the keys at me and fled. I started after him, then gave it up. It was about time we got moving. I sighed and began peeling the decorations off the car. This is too much. Way too much.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing, taking those off!"
"You cra— no. You lunatics. How am I supposed to drive this if I don't take them off!"
They had wrapped the car twice around in red ribbon and expected me to drive it. I glared at them with every ounce of my disbelief packed into the look, and the friends who remained quietly averted their eyes. I used the opening to strip the decorations stuck all over the car.
"Leave that one on!"
"Nope. This is illegal."
"How is that illegal!"
"What happens if it falls off while I'm driving? That's dumping a hazardous object on the road. So—illegal, or not?"
"Wow. Look at him wriggle out of it."
They looked appalled as I stripped every last decoration, but I didn't care in the slightest. Wedding car or not, I had no intention of driving something this embarrassing all the way to the airport. Once I had peeled off what I reasonably could, the only thing left was a family-photo sticker that looked too stubborn to tear off by hand. It was a little embarrassing, but our faces were already plastered all over MeTube, so I decided to live with it.
"Suhwan, shouldn't we get going?"
"Yeah, okay. Hey! We're off. Thaaanks for the car."
"You'd better be thankful! See you when you get back!"
I snorted a laugh at the way they snickered, loaded So-eun and the animals, and climbed into the driver's seat.
"It's really high up."
I admired the view—higher than my own car—for only a moment before I put the vehicle in motion and headed for the airport.
I tossed the keys to one of the friends who had followed us and led the animals toward a corner of the airport. Because the invitation had come straight from Ecuador, a chartered plane was standing by. There would be none of the usual ticketing, baggage check, and waiting around.
With Hanmu, the slowest of the bunch, loaded onto a cart, we moved quickly and reached the meeting point to find several people already waiting: a few foreigners, and one man who looked Korean, clustered together.
"Are we late?"
"No. Your timing is perfect."
The man who looked Korean answered with a gentle smile and offered his hand.
"A pleasure. I'm Gwak Idu. I'll be your guide for this trip to the Galapagos Islands, start to finish. These gentlemen are officials from the Galapagos provincial government."
I exchanged light greetings with the foreigners as he introduced them. We didn't share a word of language between us, but their eyes were full of goodwill, and I could smile back.
"Shall we head out? We'll carry the luggage."
"Ah—then could you just pull the cart?"
I foisted off the cart that held Hanmu, who had grown to a proud weight approaching two hundred kilograms. Wheels or not, the mass was enormous, and honestly it was more than I could manage. There was a little more luggage besides, but nothing Cheongho couldn't handle, so it wasn't a problem.
"Holy...!"
The foreigners gaped as Cheongho set his front paws on a suitcase and strode off with it, neat as you please. I let out a light laugh, gathered up more than ten leashes, and headed for departures. We cleared the exit inspection quickly and were aboard the plane in no time.
"Whoa... I've never flown first class."
"Me neither!"
Ecuador had clearly gone out of their way. As if sending a chartered plane weren't enough, they had put us in first class, and there wasn't another soul in it—only our family and the animals. Ordinarily most of the animals would have gone in carriers as cargo, but thanks to Ecuador's consideration, we could all travel together. We were still gawking around the cabin, advertising loud and clear that we had never flown first class, when a flight attendant came over and asked us to sit. We would be departing soon.
"Waaaaaah!"
The moment the plane raced down the runway and lifted into the sky, So-eun burst into tears.
"Aigoo, did your little ears hurt?"
Still such a small baby, she had taken the feeling of the changing air pressure as pain. We held the sobbing child and soothed her for a long while. But there was still one more to go.
"Ecuador's so far there's no direct flight... We have to connect..."
"What are we going to do about So-eun?"
In the end, we had to soothe her through another round of tears. Ah, damn it. It was going to be the same on the way home, wasn't it?
Reaching the Galapagos Islands meant nearly two full days of flying, entry into Ecuador, and then yet another set of procedures before we could set foot on the islands themselves. Damage to the ecosystem by outside organisms was a grave concern there, so no one got in without passing an enormous inspection. Thanks to the governor of Galapagos Province, though, we sailed through it. They weren't inviting us purely for publicity. They had a favor to ask, and so they were willing to extend us this much convenience.
There was still a commotion—vaccinations against diseases the animals might carry, disinfection down to every last hair—but in the end we were cleared to enter the Galapagos without any real trouble. After all of that, we boarded a small boat, and at last we arrived at Isabela Island, the largest of the Galapagos Islands.
"Oaaaah!"
The moment So-eun set foot on Isabela Island, a cry of wonder burst out of her.
"Waaah!"
And of course the same cry burst from Noona Ha-eun, who was essentially a full-sized So-eun.
"Suhwan, look over there!"
"Papa! Whoa!"
Ha-eun and So-eun kept pointing this way and that, calling me over and over. I understood them completely. Spread around us was a landscape you couldn't even imagine back in Korea. Around the harbor, sea lions lay sprawled in the warm sun, and pelicans with enormous beaks wheeled through the sky. Atop a great rock along the shore, a huge iguana sunned itself in magnificent repose.
"Amazing, isn't it? I was stunned the first time I came, too. Just so you know, if you get too close they may try to attack, so please be careful. Babies in particular can be in real danger, so take special care."
At the guide's words, Noona pulled So-eun a little tighter against her.
"How would you like to handle today's schedule? If you're tired, we can go straight to the lodging. Or we can take a quick look around."
"Let's head to the lodging for now. We rested plenty on the way, but this is their first long trip, and they look worn out."
I glanced at the animals, limp and drooping, and let out a snort of a laugh.
"Then let's go right away."
At my word the guide took the lead and started showing us to the lodging. Those steps soon came to a halt. A pod of sea lions had sealed the road off completely, so thoroughly that there was no slipping around them.
"What are you looking at?"
And one of the creatures blocking the way stared straight at me and let out a gruff bark, as if to demand exactly the same thing.