Chapter 178
Chapter 178
"......."
Once Yang Hye-in and the grandmother left, the house sank into silence.
Until just moments ago, Ha-neul and Su-a had been listening intently to the grandmother's stories, but now they finally breathed out. Me too.
The only person who was perfectly fine was So-hee.
How to put it—does she have some sort of "kindly delinquent" setting when dealing with old ladies? It felt like I'd seen that trope a lot in subculture delinquent characters.
"What's wrong with you guys?"
So-hee tilted her head, and Ha-neul and Su-a gave awkward laughs.
"Oh... no, nothing."
I couldn't exactly say I was worn out or that it was awkward, so I just mumbled something vague.
Honestly, I regretted it. I'd regretted it from the moment we arrived.
If Yang Hye-in hadn't so tactfully taken the grandmother outside, I would've felt like I was sitting on a bed of nails.
I hadn't done anything wrong exactly.
I'd tried to give Yang Hye-in a proper break, she refused, and we'd ended up here because neither of us would back down. That was all.
"Well, the grandmother's a good person, and this house isn't that bad either, it's just..."
Unless you're someone with truly extraordinary social skills, meeting someone else's family elders, not your own, is incredibly awkward. If bumping into a distant relative who remembers you from a wedding but you don't remember them is painfully awkward, then this was that situation's final boss.
"Yeah, never mind, it's nothing."
But because there still wasn't anything to complain about, I shook my head again and trailed off.
So-hee, still with a question mark floating above her head, picked up another yakgwa and popped it into her mouth.
"But..."
The next person to speak was Ha-neul.
"Then Big Sister Hye-in—I mean, Miss Yang Hye-in."
She'd started to use the "Big Sister Hye-in" she'd called her earlier, then hastily switched to something else.
"So, has she never once come here while she's been working?"
"......."
Hm.
That might be the case. At least, that's what I'd thought, which was why I'd tried to force a vacation on her.
But if so...
...No, maybe there's some reason I can't judge. Most of all, it could have been because of Choi Na-kyung that Yang Hye-in never came here.
"I can't exactly ask her directly, though."
"Yeah..."
Su-a said, her expression complicated.
"Well, if she wants to talk about it, she'll tell us."
Only So-hee said that.
Sure, because this kid had actually heard at least a bit about Yang Hye-in's personal history.
...To be honest, I was fifty-fifty about it.
The thought that I was curious. And at the same time, the thought that I didn't want to hear it because it would probably make things uncomfortable.
...Well, nothing I can do about it.
I'd just have to stay quiet until Yang Hye-in told me herself.
After all, I was the one who'd dragged her here.
*
"This place hasn't changed at all."
"Oh, no it hasn't."
She'd muttered it quietly, but the grandmother, usually so hard of hearing, somehow picked it up perfectly, waving her hand dismissively.
"I fixed up the house and all with the money you sent."
"...That money. You gave it back when I said I needed it."
When it was needed again, during the process of getting So-hee into school, the grandmother had sent back nearly everything that was left. It wasn't all the money Yang Hye-in had saved, but it was still a large enough amount that the bank called.
Thanks to that, things worked out well at the time.
"It's fine, it was what was left after fixing up the house. And this old granny's still got plenty of energy."
Of course, the money the grandmother earned by working herself probably wasn't much. Especially compared to what Yang Hye-in earned while doing far less physical labor.
Given her personality, there was no way the grandmother would stop working just because she was told to, so Yang Hye-in didn't bother bringing it up.
Yang Hye-in slowly turned her head and looked around.
The house was already on a hillside, but the field was a fair climb further up behind it.
If you climbed the steep mountain, there was a section in the middle where it suddenly leveled out. The field was there. Land where the trees on the gentle slope had been cut down, exposing the soil. Rows of sweet potato sprouts were growing there.
It wasn't a large field. Even if sweet potatoes grew there, it wasn't a quantity you could dig up and sell.
Just enough to share a little with the neighbors and eat through the winter. Exactly that much.
"Grandmother, don't you ever think about coming to Seoul?"
She'd asked this same question many times over the years, but
"I like it here."
The grandmother's answer was the same.
"......."
I hate it here.
There was a time she'd said that boldly, but... now she wondered if she even needed to say it out loud anymore.
They'd already had this exchange so many times.
The grandmother hadn't tried to stop Yang Hye-in from leaving either.
Yang Hye-in kept gazing down at the whole village in one view, then slowly opened her mouth.
"Grandmother."
"Hm?"
"Don't you resent me at all?"
She was a granddaughter who had left this place and not come back for years.
In that time, the grandmother had lived alone the whole while.
She'd sent money, then taken it back under the pretext of borrowing it.
Anyone could see she was an unfilial child.
"It's fine, it's fine."
But as always, the grandmother simply said that.
"You must have had your reasons..."
"......."
Yang Hye-in said nothing.
*
It was quite a while later when Yang Hye-in and the grandmother came back.
Was the field that large?
Seeing the road back, it was so steep I didn't feel like climbing up there myself.
Yang Hye-in was still expressionless, and the grandmother was still all smiles.
I feel bad saying this about them, but honestly, it really doesn't suit them.
Still, I like the grandmother.
....
Well, she is a good person, definitely.
Personally, I was uncomfortable around someone I'd just met, especially someone so much older than me, but from Sara's perspective, who'd hardly ever encountered this kind of pure goodwill, it seemed to be different.
"But the house is so small, what to do. If we take out the blankets it should be enough, but it'll still be cramped if we all lie down together..."
The grandmother looked at us with a slightly worried expression, but I quickly shook my head.
"Ah, no, we're fine."
Really, we were fine.
Because I sleep squeezed tight between these three every single night. Especially since Ha-neul started sleeping over more often, the bed's gotten even narrower.
So I was used to waking up in the morning so wedged in I could barely move.
Anyway, the house was a lot wider than a bed. A little snug sleeping wasn't a big problem, I thought.
"Well, if you say so..."
"Really, it's fine."
Only after I'd said it several times did the grandmother finally nod and smile.
*
People really are fickle. Once you live in a much better environment than usual, you get completely used to it and don't want to go back to the way things were.
The bed I've been using since I arrived in this world is, frankly, a luxury bed. Not just the size—the comfort when you lie down doesn't even compare to the bed I had in my original world.
And it was far more comfortable than a blanket spread on the floor.
I closed my eyes and listened. The other kids all seemed to have fallen asleep. Maybe it was because we'd spent hours in the car and had eaten more than usual, so we were fuller.
But sleep wouldn't come for me at all.
It wasn't that I was wedged in like usual. Apart from that, lying on a hard floor was incredibly uncomfortable.
Finally, after tossing and turning a bunch, I just sat up.
Unlike Seoul, there weren't many bright lights outside the house, but the night sky was luminous. From the faint light coming through the window, the moon must be shining brightly.
After sitting for a moment, I let out a long sigh and just got all the way up.
A good way to fall asleep when your sleeping spot is uncomfortable is to just hold out until sleep crashes over you.
Fortunately, Sara's body was weak to drowsiness. Once I was awake just a little while, sleep would overtake me regardless of the hard floor.
You think I'm like that because I want to be?
Well, it can't be helped. Sara's weak body seems to be the result of both congenital and acquired causes.
She tires faster than other people, she feels fatigue more quickly. Normally it's not a big problem, but when something happens where she has to exert strength somehow, like last time, it gets really difficult.
Maybe I should gradually increase the types of exercise.
...Ugh, I really don't want to.
Sighing heavily, I stepped out onto the wooden porch where I'd sat during the day. I could already see someone sitting out there.
A familiar back.
"...Miss Yang Hye-in?"
When I called softly, Yang Hye-in, who'd been looking up at the sky, turned her head toward me.
Yang Hye-in's figure, faintly lit by the moonlight... honestly looked so elegant I wondered if she should be the young lady here instead of me.
"My lady."
"...I told you not to call me that here."
I glanced back briefly, but it didn't seem like anyone else had followed me out.
"......."
"...I know. Then what exactly am I supposed to call you?"
That was a question.
I couldn't exactly use "Miss Yang Hye-in" in front of the grandmother either.
Well, since it'd come to this, maybe we should hash out an agreement until I got sleepy.
Thinking that, I went and sat down beside Yang Hye-in.