Repaying the Favor
A short boat ride brought us to a quiet beach—quiet in the plainest sense of the word, with hardly a sea lion to be seen, nor any other animal. The waves were so gentle it felt less like surf than the water simply rocking in place.
"Where are we?"
"You might call it a swimming beach. There isn't much around worth eating, so the animals rarely come close, and the waves are mild enough to make it perfect for playing in the water."
Noona and I nodded at the guide's words, perfectly content. I liked the water well enough myself, and Noona was quietly fond of it too. Every summer we used to seek out the sea or a valley stream, but we hadn't managed either since So-eun was born, so this was all the more welcome.
We set about getting ready to play at once, and—as if we meant to advertise that we were a family—we matched our clothes. Shorts cut just above the knee, and rash guards: all three of us dressed exactly the same. Me, Noona, and even little So-eun, identical down to the last detail.
"So-eun, want to play in the water?"
"Play!"
Held in Noona's arms, So-eun flailed her arms and legs for all she was worth. Smiling, thoroughly pleased, I snapped a photo, then pulled out the tube that belonged to her alone—large, sturdy, and in no danger of flipping. I set it afloat first and settled her into it, and the cool touch of the seawater must have been a wonder, because her eyes went perfectly round.
Once Noona waded in and took hold of the tube, I dove straight under.
"Blub, blub!"
The moment I was underwater, I burst out laughing. So-eun's tiny legs and feet were paddling furiously, shoving the water aside. She was exactly like a swan—all serenity up on the surface, and frantic effort underneath.
I came up and told Noona, and when she ducked below as well, she laughed just as hard as I had. So-eun only laughed because we were laughing, and that alone seemed to delight her.
After a good long laugh, Noona and I drifted a little away from her and held out our hands.
"So-eun!"
"Bwah! Mama!"
The moment we moved off, So-eun kicked hard and started swimming toward us. A baby her age couldn't close the gap easily, of course, so we gave the line tethering her tube a gentle pull.
"Kyaaa!"
When we drew near again after that brief separation, she beamed and smacked the tube with both hands, overjoyed. We had no choice but to take another round of pictures.
"Good thing we bought the waterproof case."
"Mm. Good call."
Noona had scolded me for buying a waterproof case for a phone that was already waterproof, yet now she looked entirely satisfied that she could keep shooting no matter the seawater.
We went on playing with So-eun for a long while, soaking in the cool, when I felt something slide around my thigh and coil.
Startled, I looked down into the water. Something like a rope was a heartbeat away from wrapping my thigh.
"What is this."
"What's wrong?"
"This thing was wrapping around my leg. For a second I thought you were sending me a signal."
"What are you talking about."
Noona looked at me as if she couldn't believe her ears. Even so, she helped me unwind the rope-like thing from my leg.
"But this... it's more of a net than a rope, isn't it?"
"Hard to say. Either way, it's definitely trash."
However I looked at it, the thing hadn't been set there with any purpose. It was marine debris, adrift on the sea. Sure of that, I started winding the rope up—but partway through I felt a weight on the end, as if something heavy had caught.
"I'm going to haul this in for a second."
"Go on."
I let them know I'd step away, then wound the line slowly as I followed it toward its far end. By the time the water reached my chest and a few small rocky islets had appeared around me, I found it.
"Huh...?"
And once I saw what the rope was snagged on, I couldn't hide how absurd it was. A sea turtle hung tangled at the end of it, bobbing on the water.
"Please... save me."
"......"
I stared blankly for a moment at the sea turtle gazing up at me so pitifully, then came to my senses and gathered it gently into my arms. Rescuing the creature was one thing. Getting the footage was another.
I bundled the rope up roughly, cradled the turtle, and headed straight back to Noona and So-eun.
"......And what is that supposed to be?"
"Muuu!"
The moment I arrived with the sea turtle, their reactions split cleanly in two. Noona was dumbfounded. So-eun, mistaking it for Hanmu, reached out her hands.
"The thing tied up in the rope turned out to be this guy. So-eun, this isn't Hanmu. It's a sea turtle."
I answered Noona lightly and held the turtle out toward So-eun. Up close, she realized at last that it wasn't Hanmu, and she stared at the sea turtle in wonder—especially at its flipper-like limbs, made for swimming the sea, so unlike Hanmu's legs, which were built for creeping along the ground.
"All right if she touches you?"
At my question the sea turtle gazed blankly at So-eun and nodded. I let out a small laugh and offered her one of its front flippers.
"Wooow!"
So-eun gave the flipper a careful pat, then made a face of pure amazement. Sadly for the sea turtle, however, it was not chosen. There was none of the grabbing-on and refusing-to-let-go she reserved for the Tokkiz or Pe-eng.
"Kuuung..."
I chuckled at the turtle's disappointed look and turned to the guide, who was staring at us in a daze.
"Mind lending me a knife or some scissors?"
"Ah, yes. One moment!"
The guide dashed off and returned with a small knife. I took it and cut straight through the rope wound tight around the sea turtle. A few tangled spots remained, so I made several more cuts, and then there was no rope left on it at all.
"I thank you kindly!"
Sure the rope binding it was gone, I let the turtle go. It rubbed against my waist a few times, then shot away. As if to fly in the face of the notion that turtles are slow, the creature vanished in a blink.
"Whoa!"
So-eun, who until now had known only the glacially slow Hanmu, clapped in delighted surprise at a sea turtle that was nothing like him. Noona and I kept filming, of course. There was no missing a moment like that.
Then, in the middle of our playing and filming, something tapped my leg again.
"......?"
I lowered my head to see what was nudging me, and there they were—a sea lion, a sea turtle, and a marine iguana, every one of them wound tight in marine debris.
"Haha! We heard the rumor! They say if we come here, you'll untangle this for us!"
"......"
That sea turtle must have gone and spread the word. I sighed, took the knife from the guide once more, and freed the debris binding the creatures who had come looking for me.
"Much obliged!"
"Thanks!"
"Thank you!"
Set loose from the trash, they offered their thanks and disappeared at once. I still hadn't managed to hide my bafflement when applause rose around us. The place was known as a spot for swimming, so people had begun to trickle in, and it seemed they had seen the whole thing.
The bafflement faded, replaced by a pointless flush of embarrassment. Even so—perhaps because I had grown used to being looked at—it didn't last. I ignored the stares and managed to focus again on enjoying the water with Noona and So-eun.
That focus didn't last either. Something wrapped around my thigh once more.
"Ah, not again..."
At the feel of something coiling around my leg a second time, I glared down into the water, wondering what piece of trash had latched onto me now.
"AAAAH!"
A scream was all I could manage. An octopus had wound itself around my thigh—and not a small one. It was enormous, the sort of creature you would rarely see even at a fish market.
"Kyaa! An—an octopus!"
Noona, turning at my scream, looked just as startled. The thing gripping my thigh was so huge that its shape was plain to see even from above the water.
"Wh-why ever are you shouting so!"
At the sound of our screams, a sea turtle's head shot up from beneath the surface, looking thoroughly rattled.
So it was you, the culprit... no. The crimi-turtle!
"Why would you bring this!"
"I only meant it as repayment, mind you..."
"Who asked you to repay me!"
Straining with everything I had, I tore free the octopus the sea turtle had dragged over, the one clamped around my thigh. Matching its bulk, those suckers pulled with shocking strength—enough to make the flesh of my thigh ache. When I finally got it off, red marks in the shape of the suckers were left on my skin.
"Who told you to bring something like this."
"Do humans not eat such things with pleasure? That is why I brought it..."
"Ngh..."
I had nothing to say to a sea turtle that had gone to such pains to repay me. In its own way it had meant to return the favor, and simply throwing the gift aside felt wrong. I had to throw it aside and run anyway.
"We have come to repay you!"
"If one has received a kindness, returning it is only right and proper!"
"Wasn't sure what you'd like, so I brought everything."
The animals I had freed from the debris after that first sea turtle had each gone and caught more offerings—fish and the like—and hauled them over as repayment. One sea lion had even turned up with a fish as thick as my thigh. How it had managed to carry the thing, I couldn't say, but there it was, presented as thanks.
"I don't need any of it!"
I hurried Noona and So-eun off the beach. Stay any longer, and we were going to end up buried in seafood.