Valley (2)
Valley (2)
Just like that, two days passed, and Saturday finally arrived.
Believing you should prepare thoroughly before a trip, I asked Lee Min-ho exactly what they already had there
and bought whatever was missing.
Since it was summer and the place was in the mountains, I expected bugs to be everywhere,
so I bought a large mosquito net tent.
There was a farmhouse cabin, but we wouldn't be inside it all day, would we?
So a mosquito net tent we could set up on the wooden platform was a necessity.
And while they had most other things—a barbecue grill, for example—I heard there were only two fans.
Just in case, I bought one and even assembled it beforehand.
'I can handle most things, but I can't stand the heat...'
Honestly, once you jump in the water, you'd be so cool you wouldn't even think about it,
but A-ra was different.
A-ra might still say she was hot even after getting into the water.
*
"Hoo... it's hot, so hot..."
"Woof!"
"Holding Lil' One makes it seem even hotter."
I loaded the stuff into the car and arrived in front of Lee Min-ho's house.
I didn't need to go inside, so I waited outside.
That guy Jeong Hwan-yi said he was on his way.
"Lil' One, should we get down for a moment?"
"Woof! Woof!"
"...No?"
"Woof!"
It couldn't be helped.
I had to get in the car, hold her, and stay in the air conditioning.
Just as I opened the car door to get inside, the heavy front gate opened.
Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho were coming out.
In Lee Min-ho's arms was not a carrier, but Cloud himself.
"Hello, Sister-in-law."
"Ah... Hello! A-ra-nim!"
He bowed his head in greeting as usual.
I wish that guy Lee Min-ho would stop calling her 'A-ra-nim.'
Treating a friend's wife like some kind of master just felt weird.
"Jeong Hwan-ssi, Lee Min-ho-ssi, it's been a while. Don't tell me that kid is Cloud?"
"Yes...! Cl... Cloud."
"Woof."
As expected, the gentle Cloud
responded calmly.
"Would you like to hold him?"
"Hehe, can I hold him in the car?"
"Of course! Cloud will love it too."
Would he like someone he just met?
When he first saw me last time, he avoided me.
A-ra carefully accepted Cloud from Lee Min-ho.
The way she lifted him so cautiously, as if handling a tiny baby,
made me feel a bit embarrassed.
The way she treated a puppy assured me that she would cherish our child just as much when they were born.
Thinking that made me smile on its own.
"You said Cloud is a Samoyed, right?"
"Yes!"
"Maybe that's why—he's still a baby but already so big."
He was only about two months old, but he was already bigger than Lil' One.
It must feel a little novel for A-ra, who was only used to hugging a Pomeranian.
Well, I hadn't held any other breed besides a Pomeranian and a Samoyed either.
"It's hot—why don't we get in the car and talk?"
"Yeah, Seong-hwan-a, you're really hot, aren't you?"
"It's supposed to go up to 37 degrees today."
"That's perfect for playing in the water, right?"
Maybe it was because she was holding Cloud, or maybe because she was happy about going to play in the water—I didn't know—
but seeing A-ra grinning from ear to ear made me smile too.
***
"Is this the right way?"
"Yeah, if you go further on, you'll see a fork in the road. Just take a right."
"Okay."
I had worried the road might be unpaved because it was in the mountains, but since it was a place visited by chaebol families with expensive cars, the road was well-paved.
Past the clean entrance, the private land was blocked off by a gate that looked like a ticket barrier. Lee Min-ho held his card key up to the gate, and the iron gate opened.
"Whoa... a chaebol indeed..."
"A system like this doesn't cost much."
It only feels like it doesn't cost much to you, the eldest son of a chaebol family.
You have something similar installed at your house.
How far did we drive past the iron gate?
Small farmhouse cabins started to come into view.
"Is that it?"
"Even if we each took one, there would be cabins left over."
"Oh..."
A farmhouse cabin is supposedly a small house used for taking a short break while farming.
So there were apparently fields and orchards next to it.
Well, they didn't seem to be in use right now.
"Then, isn't using a farmhouse cabin illegal?"
"Nope, it has a proper farming license."
"Lee Min-ho-ssi even knows about farming licenses? You must have studied a lot."
"Hehe.. Thank you."
Lee Min-ho's face reddened at the compliment.
I knew what a farming license was too, though.
I wish I could get some praise too.
"Should I praise our Seong-hwan-ie too?"
As if reading my mind, A-ra began to stroke my head enthusiastically.
My face flushed bright red and started burning hot.
"Noo... Noona, I'm driving right now."
"Then I'll do it later."
"No... I'm not asking you to do it later... Ahem..."
When I looked in the rearview mirror, those two guys were giggling.
If I got swept up in A-ra's pace like usual, I didn't know what kind of teasing awaited me, so I quietly started driving.
"Hey, the parking lot's over there."
"Okay."
I pulled in as Lee Min-ho told me to turn left.
It was a small parking lot that could fit about three cars.
"Three parking spots at a vacation home for the family to visit?"
"When we come here, it's not just us."
"?"
I didn't know what he meant, but the family must be large.
Did he mean that all the household helpers came along too, because it was a chaebol family?
If so, it was so detached from reality that just imagining it gave me a headache.
Anyway, I parked the car in the lot and got out.
I had to take the stuff out of the trunk first, but Lil' One refused to get off me,
so it seemed hard for me to do it myself.
"Sorry, can you two take the stuff out of the trunk? Lil' One won't let go of me."
"Is it because Cloud is in your wife's arms next to you?"
"She's got a bit of jealousy in her. Is it okay to let her find a husband?"
"Hmm..."
That couldn't be it.
Lil' One and Cloud got along so well, how could she feel jealous?
And Lil' One treated Cloud like a little brother.
She was probably just holding onto me because she liked me.
"Anyway, please take them out."
"What in the world did you put in here..."
The two of them opened the trunk door.
Seeing the rolled-up mosquito net and the fan, they looked quite surprised.
For the record, the two of them were supposed to buy the meat and shrimp.
Maybe because they both knew how well A-ra ate, they brought so much meat that it was hard for one person to carry.
The fact that the plastic bag broke and they carried it in a 3,000-won non-woven cloth bag from E-mart was a funny twist.
"For now, I'll put the meat in the big fridge in the cabin."
"What did you bring for drinks?"
"About 3 bottles of cola and 5 bottles of beer?"
No soju, I see.
That was a relief.
A-ra could drink beer to some extent without getting drunk.
*
"Lil' One, Cloud, isn't it cool?"
"Woof!"
"Woof."
I brought them to the shallow water where my feet wouldn't be fully submerged and set Lil' One and Cloud down.
It had been so hot since getting out of the car, so how refreshing must it be to enter the cool water without worrying about being swept away?
True to the effort it took to bring them, they splashed around, played, and licked each other like crazy.
Now that I was in the water anyway, even though it was a shallow spot where my feet weren't even submerged, I plopped down.
The sound of the cold, cool water trickling by made it feel even more refreshing.
"What are you doing?"
"The water here is incredibly cold."
"Heh... It's cold and clean because this is a place where no one lives."
When I praised the private land, he started grinning.
Anyway, he was wearing different clothes from before.
Why did he change if he was just going to go into the water with his clothes on anyway?
"They're my favorite clothes."
"You cherish the strangest things."
"By the way, are you trying to go to the deep part? Where is it?"
"It's right next to us."
The place Lee Min-ho pointed to definitely looked deep.
A deep spot right next to a shallow spot. It was a situation perfectly suited for an unconventional valley.
"If we set up here, we can watch the babies while soaking coolly in the water."
"That shallow spot was made by my mom for us kids."
"Aha..."
So, the kids played in the shallow part,
and the parents played in the deep part while watching over them.
It really was something only possible on private land.
"Seong-hwan-a, you're already in the water?"
"Noona, it's really cool in here."
Hearing A-ra's voice, I turned to look beside me.
As expected, she had already gotten into the deep part before me and was looking this way.
Even though she seemed to be enjoying herself more, she was asking me if I had gotten in first.
"Is it deep over there?"
"No? It only comes up to just below my chest?"
"Then it's not that deep, I guess."
I knew some truly deep valleys were about 4 or 5 meters deep.
I had seen it on Qtube, people diving and moving around with some kind of equipment.
"I'll stay here with the kids for a bit, so you two go and play in the deep part."
"Alright, I'll leave the drinks here on the wooden platform, so drink up if you get thirsty."
"Yeah. What about water for the little ones?"
"They'll probably drink the river water."
"Hmm... That bugs me a bit because of parasite eggs..."
"Then we can just feed them dewormer later."
"Is that so...?"
Well, if you wanted to debate it endlessly, you'd end up asking how people in the Joseon Dynasty lived.
I should just make sure to feed them dewormer later.
"Haa... So cool..."
With my worries about the kids out of the way, I looked up at the spotlessly clear sky.
Still, it was really fortunate that the rain didn't ruin a long-awaited vacation.
"Woof!"
"Hm? What's wrong?"
After playing vigorously, Lil' One came up beside me and rubbed her head against me.
This was her signal asking to be held.
"Eutcha... Ahaha, that tickles."
When I picked her up, she began licking my cheek eagerly.
It seemed like she wanted to express her gratitude.
Though Lil' One living a long, long life with me was all the thanks I needed.