Chapter 142
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 142
The early morning sea still held the lingering chill of a winter that had yet to fade.
The cold of the seawater, chilled overnight, remained even after the sun had risen, creating a coolness that wrapped around the skin despite the warm sunlight.
To put it another way, one might say the sea breeze, unable to let go of winter on its own, was stubbornly scattering the cold.
Was it just me being sentimental, to find something pitiful in the sight of it clinging to what must eventually fade, even as I found it annoying?
As Dokyun stood feeling the sea breeze, he felt his chest tighten with a rising sentimentality. He let out a small chuckle and shook off the thoughts.
‘Have I been cooped up for too long…?’
Or maybe I’m just getting sentimental with age.
Sipping a cup of warm coffee he’d bought from a café, Dokyun watched the sea for a moment before shifting his gaze to Eun-chae.
She looked quite the sentimentalist herself, staring blankly and endlessly at the water.
She gripped a cup of hot chocolate with both hands as she watched the sea, but when a seagull cried out and flew by, her gaze was stolen, her head turning this way and that to follow it.
Then, when the seagull grew so distant it was the size of a millet seed, she would turn her head back to the front and cast her gaze upon the crashing waves once more.
In truth, she looked much the same as when she used to watch the carp at home.
The only difference, if any, was that the sea was absurdly larger than a fish tank.
Dokyun entertained the thought, ‘To Eun-chae, maybe this sea is just the world’s biggest fish tank,’ before chuckling and looking around.
‘…It’s deserted.’
In a way, it was to be expected.
A beach at the start of May. An early weekday morning just before a public holiday. It was an environment where there couldn’t possibly be many people.
The only ones likely to be here were locals and those who worked in the area.
It was nice that it wasn’t crowded, but at moments like this, the thought, ‘Haven’t I been living too much like an unemployed person lately?’ would sometimes bubble up, making anxiety surge within him.
‘I should start thinking about returning to work soon.’
Thanks to Eun-seol’s arrangements, he was in a position to return to the company whenever he made up his mind.
The reason for returning wasn’t money.
As for money, thanks to the 4.5 billion won Eun-seol had deposited into his bank account right after Eun-chae had stabilized, he had so much he wondered if he could ever spend it all in his lifetime.
It was the thought, ‘Still, a person should work, shouldn’t they?’—a worry that others might call the complaint of the well-fed—that made him consider going back.
As he mulled it over, Dokyun’s gaze turned to the endlessly sparkling sea.
The salty breeze brushed past his face, followed by a refreshing sensation, as if a weight had been lifted from his chest.
‘…I’ll think about it later.’
In the end, he was just procrastinating again, but he felt it was okay to enjoy this leisure a little longer. Shaking off the thought, Dokyun stretched wide and let out a groan.
“Ughhh…!”
I’m so out of shape.
His body was this stiff just from a little driving. It seemed he really needed to start thinking seriously about his health.
As his thoughts continued, Dokyun turned his head toward Eun-chae, who had been staring blankly until now, and spoke.
“Want to walk a bit?”
“Huh?”
“We came all the way to the sea. We should at least walk on the sand before we go.”
Dokyun chuckled at the sight of Eun-chae looking back and forth between him and the sandy beach.
She didn’t seem to understand what he meant. In times like this, it was better to let her learn through experience rather than explanation.
Having made up his mind, Dokyun got up from the bench and took off Eun-chae’s shoes. She tilted her head and opened her mouth.
“You have to wear shoes outside.”
“It’s okay here.”
Dokyun held her shoes in one hand and extended his other to her.
“If you walk barefoot, it’s really soft. You’ll like it.”
“It’s soft?”
“Yeah. You can feel the sand sinking between your toes, and if you go a little further, you can feel the waves washing up to your ankles. That way, you can remember today more clearly, right?”
“Okay.”
Eun-chae nodded and took the hand Dokyun held out.
“Aren’t you taking yours off, Honeybee?”
“Hm? I’m fine.”
“No. You have to like it too, Honeybee.”
Dokyun looked a little troubled by Eun-chae’s firm words and her gesture of stopping in her tracks. Then, he gave an awkward laugh, took off his shoes, and rolled up his pants.
It was born from the thought that it would be okay to get into the spirit of it a little.
Once Dokyun had his shoes off, Eun-chae took them from him, held them in one hand just as he had done, and took his hand again.
At that, Dokyun let out a small laugh and started walking, and Eun-chae began to walk on the sand with him.
With every step, their feet sank into the ground. The dry sand pushed between their toes, covered the tops of their feet, and fell away again when they lifted them.
As he enjoyed the feeling of the soft sand enveloping his feet, Dokyun shifted his gaze to Eun-chae.
She was hopping around, kicking away the sand that clung to her feet. When Dokyun chuckled at the sight, Eun-chae’s gaze turned to him.
“It’s soft.”
“Right?”
“Yep.”
Nod. Eun-chae nodded and kicked the sand again. Dokyun watched her for a long while as they walked, then led her to where the waves reached.
Shwaaa—.
The wave that rushed in with the sound swept away the sand on top of her feet, and Eun-chae’s body flinched and trembled.
“It’s cold.”
Saying so, Eun-chae wiggled her toes. When the wave that had receded stretched toward her again, she flinched in surprise and stepped back.
But were a few steps not enough to escape the incoming wave? The water hit the top of her feet again, and again Eun-chae flinched.
Dokyun chuckled at the sight of Eun-chae staring at the waves, her brow furrowed as if she were annoyed.
Was her pride hurt?
After that, Eun-chae began a battle of nerves all by herself, walking forward when the waves receded and stepping back when they rushed in again.
Metaphorically speaking, she was playing tag without a chaser.
The sight of her letting go of his hand and bustling about on her own was utterly adorable. Her initial look of annoyance had vanished, and at some point, Eun-chae started to run, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile.
Dokyun took his smartphone out of his pocket and captured the moment in a photo.
Click—.
The shutter sounded. When Dokyun checked his album, a wonderfully captured photo filled the screen.
The beach, dazzling in the morning sun. A photo of Eun-chae running about on the sand, which was marked with a long trail of two sets of footprints, large and small, holding one of her shoes in each hand.
Dokyun, who was smiling faintly at the photo he’d taken, then looked up at Eun-chae, who was running around, oblivious to being photographed.
She moved like that for nearly ten minutes, sometimes nimbly dodging the waves, other times getting her ankles soaked by a wave that came in deeper than expected. Finally, with a satisfied expression, she approached Dokyun.
She looked quite refreshed, her shoulders rising and falling as she caught her breath.
“Did you have fun?”
“I won.”
She answered the question “Did you have fun?” with “I won,” puffing out her chest proudly.
At that, Dokyun burst out laughing, and Eun-chae tilted her head.
“Good job.”
“Yep. I did a good job.”
A smile spread across Eun-chae’s face.
He thought to himself that her bright, lovely smile, combined with the sparkling sea, was creating a truly dazzling light, and he smiled along with her.
*
But that’s just how the sea is, isn’t it? If you take away the scenery of the beach itself, there isn’t much else to see.
Thankfully, Eun-chae was the type of personality who preferred to look at one thing for a long time rather than many different things, so he didn’t feel pressured to show her around everywhere. Still, since they were out, Dokyun wanted to show her something more, so he led her to a nearby fish market.
It was a market set up in an open area right next to the beach.
Upon entering, Eun-chae stared blankly at the market, her face a picture of utter shock.
Dokyun tilted his head at Eun-chae’s strange reaction and then asked a question.
“Why?”
“The fish… they’re all dead.”
“Ah.”
A belated realization.
Eun-chae had never seen a dead fish before.
At that, Dokyun felt his heart drop and his mind raced.
“R-Right! The fish here are for eating!”
“You eat fish?”
Oops.
Dokyun felt cold sweat trickle down his back as he looked at Eun-chae, who was tilting her head.
In his panic, he hadn’t thought it through.
He had never once fed fish to Eun-chae.
As Dokyun’s pupils began to shake as if in an earthquake, Eun-chae, who had been looking at the fish market for a while, gripped his hand tightly and continued her question.
“Is it tasty?”
“…Huh?”
What did I just hear?
As Dokyun stared at Eun-chae, doubting his own ears, Eun-chae, who was looking at the fish laid out everywhere, asked again.
“Fish, are they tasty?”
“Uh…”
Dokyun’s gaze scrutinized Eun-chae.
She did seem shocked, but…
Looking again, it seemed closer to a shock born of curiosity.
I mean, she definitely had a shocked expression, but she was also audibly swallowing.
Anyone could see she was licking her lips in anticipation.
Eun-chae, who had never shown any interest in food other than meat, was now showing interest in a non-meat ingredient for the first time: fish.
Seeing Eun-chae licking her lips while looking at the fish, Dokyun once again found himself thinking, ‘Just what are fish to Eun-chae?’
What on earth did fish mean to her? They were part of her daily routine, her most important hobby, and now, a food ingredient that made her mouth water.
As Dokyun felt dizzy from this overly complex and unknowable world, Eun-chae shook his arm.
“I want to try it, too.”
“Sh-Shall we…?”
Dokyun managed an awkward smile as he responded to her.
“Yes, that one.”
Eun-chae’s fingertip pointed toward a sea bream laid out in the middle of the market.
‘…How does she even know sea bream is in season?’
Did she know by instinct? Did Eun-chae possess some mysterious eye that could identify seasonal fish at a glance?
As Dokyun stared at her with such thoughts, Eun-chae, full of anticipation, urged him on.
“Let’s go.”
“…Alright, let’s give it a try.”
At her urging, Dokyun simply smiled and walked with her.
*
The biggest advantage of a fish market must be that you can get fresh fish sliced into sashimi right on the spot and eat it.
…It was definitely an advantage, but thanks to Eun-chae watching the fish being dismantled right before her eyes, it didn’t feel like an advantage to Dokyun.
He looked over and saw Eun-chae watching the fish being sliced, her mouth agape, her expression caked with curiosity.
She was watching the scene—the belly being cut open, the organs removed, and the bones and flesh completely separated—without any reaction at all.
Dokyun stared at the floor and tried to compose himself.
Right, being unfazed by that? It was understandable if he thought about it for a second.
She might be calm now, but wasn’t Eun-chae once synonymous with blood and knives?
It was perfectly understandable that she’d have a tolerance for such grotesque scenes, but still…!
‘Something…’
Something felt wrong.
Even though she herself was fine, for some reason, he felt as if Eun-chae’s childhood innocence was crumbling.
To be more precise, he felt as if his own fantasy about Eun-chae’s childhood innocence was crumbling.
The thought, ‘This isn’t right…’ kept running through his head.
“Looks delicious…”
A murmur reached him.
Looking at Eun-chae’s expression, he saw she was licking her lips.
‘Ah…’
Dokyun squeezed his eyes shut.
It seemed the fish market had been a mistake.