Chapter 37
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Heartbreaking Farewell
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"No! Grandma, I want to live with you."
"Johnny... Don't do this. The promised time is up."
On stage, Han Siu, playing the role of the grandson Jonathan, looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
He clutched both hands of Bella (No Yeonghui), who was being so cold to him, and continued in a trembling voice.
"Grandma... Was I such a bother to you? Huh? Is that why you're trying to send me away so quickly?"
"Johnny. As I told you, when people get old, their bodies start hurting here and there. You can't keep tormenting an old lady like this."
"...Grandma."
Bella squeezed her eyes shut and spat out harsh words on purpose.
Not long ago, she'd gotten a call from Nixon.
The expedition performance had ended safely, and it was now okay to send her son back home.
"That's enough. No more of this talk. Go pack your bags. Your dad said he'd come pick you up the day after tomorrow."
"Grandma...!"
"Go on."
With that, Bella callously pulled her hands away from her grandson's grasp.
Then, as if his desperate gaze was too much to bear, she retreated into her room.
After getting the call from her son, Bella had wrestled with the decision.
Whether it was right to send away this grandson she loved so dearly.
Bella, who had agonized day and night for several days,
Had been so deep in thought that while kneading cookie dough, she hadn't even heard Johnny's words. In the end, she made a big decision.
Rather than keeping the child by her side, where her remaining days were few, it was better to send him back to his father's.
Once Johnny returned home, Bella would surely suffer from aching loneliness again.
But that was okay.
"Having lost you once, the second time should be easier for me."
Bella murmured while gazing at the photo frame containing a picture of her late husband, who had left this world first.
"It'll be easy. Losing someone isn't new to me anymore. Right, dear? It would be too cruel to make that young child go through the pain of losing someone, just so this old woman who won't live much longer can be happy."
The pain of losing a loved one.
Thrown into that agony in an instant, Bella had holed up in this house full of traces of herself and her husband, unable to bear it.
She couldn't inflict such immense pain on Johnny.
Thankfully, young children forget easily and find new lives more adeptly than an old person like her.
"Johnny will do just fine. He's only been with a blocked-up old lady like me for less than a month. He'll shake it off soon enough and make new precious people in his life."
Bella's poignant soliloquy couldn't continue.
A sharp yell came from outside.
The set of Bella's house on stage showed a cross-section of the home.
It was designed so that Johnny, on the other side of the partition right next to Bella's room, could be seen pounding on her door and shouting.
"Grandma! I don't want to be separated from you. I want to keep living with you from now on. But... but... that's not it, right? I'm just a nuisance to you, aren't I?"
"..."
Bella bit her lip hard, unable to respond to Johnny's tear-choked words.
If she opened her mouth, "No" would come flying out.
"Okay. I'll do what you want, Grandma. But in return, I won't ever see your face again. Even if Dad brings me back here later, I absolutely, absolutely won't look at you! Never...!"
The young grandson, betrayed by the grandmother he trusted, screamed in despair while sobbing.
In the end, Bella in the room also quietly broke down in sobs.
"I'm... I'm leaving! I never want to see your face again...!"
The final line, spat out amid heaving sobs.
With that cry, the child kicked the door open and stormed offstage.
The audience was gripped with terrifying immersion by the child's unchildlike delivery and acting.
After the child ran off, sniffles echoed from various spots in the seats.
The house, now left with Bella alone.
The stage lights slowly faded.
Complete blackout.
In that darkness, playwright Han Yuju inwardly cheered in triumph.
'Found him, found him!'
Amid everyone sniffling in the lingering emotion, Han Yuju felt like bursting into loud laughter all by herself.
The lead of this performance, who had just exited the stage.
Han Siu's tearful acting was real.
She could tell at a glance.
That wasn't crying on the director's command.
Even if it was just following directions to the letter, it didn't matter.
A child actor who could execute instructions so perfectly.
That alone made him utterly precious.
'I told you I'd find him, didn't I, sunbae?'
As everyone else lingered in the afterglow, sniffling away, Han Yuju alone wore a triumphant smile.
"Whew."
"Did you eat well?"
"Yeah. I'm stuffed."
I was at Moon Heesung's house for the first time in a while.
Lately, he'd been busy filming his drama, and I'd been tied up with RUN rehearsals, so our schedules hadn't lined up.
After successfully wrapping his drama, Moon Heesung had invited me over on my day off.
Feeling bad for missing my birthday, he'd filled the table with a feast.
Ah, he hadn't cooked it himselfhe'd asked his favorite restaurant, and a chef had come and gone specially.
That's why there were so many dishes I'd never seen before.
Out of curiosity, I'd tried a bit of everything and ended up eating way more than usual.
This damn little stomach of mine balloons up like a balloon if I overeat even a little.
"Shall we cut the cake now?"
"Ugh."
The mention of more food made a burp slip out before I knew it.
Oops, rude of me as a guest in someone else's home.
Startled by my own manners lapse, I sneaked a glance up at Moon Heesung.
Fortunately, he was chuckling and looking at me fondly, like I was cute.
Times like this make having a kid's body awfully convenient.
"Haha, let's just cut it now and have it as a snack later."
"Uung. Okay."
We lit the candles on the cake and made a wish while blowing them out.
Just when I thought it was all done and flopped onto the sofa, Moon Heesung went into his room and came back with something.
"And this is my birthday gift to you."
"Ooh, thank you!"
I took the gift, but...
What could it be? I was curious.
It was a small box, wrapped in very luxurious packaging.
What on earth had he given me?
"Can I open it?"
"Of course. Go ahead."
I undid the neatly tied ribbon and peeled off the wrapping.
Clickthe case inside looked equally high-end.
"Ooh, a fountain pen?"
"Right. I figured you'd be signing a lot from now on. For fans, contracts, and all that."
Moon Heesung beamed and asked if I liked it.
The fountain pen looked extremely expensive at first glance.
The body had intricate embossing all over, and it wasn't too heavy.
Pop went the cap, revealing a nib in soft gold.
It felt refreshing to examine a proper item for once.
Even judging by the aesthetic eye I'd honed as a noble in Battenberg Castle back then, it was very luxurious.
"Ooh, it's pretty."
"Good. Look hereyour name's engraved on it. Took time for the custom order, and I was so busy picking it up that it got delayed."
"Ooh."
Sure enough, in elegant script on one part of the body: 'Han Siu'.
I'd used nibs like this plenty before.
Locked in the tower, I'd frantically pour out the scripts from my head onto paper every day.
By the end, my right fingers were twisted grotesquely around the pen holder.
"Wanna try it?"
"Yeah? Write something here."
Moon Heesung immediately fetched a blank sheet and handed it to me.
I scrawled my name in wobbly Hangul.
Han... Siu...
Then Moon... Hee... Sung.
Trying to write someone else's name, which I rarely did, made my already messy handwriting even messier.
"Ugh."
Dissatisfied, I pouted.
"Haha, you're still young. Practice makes perfect."
"Uung."
Still, it stung that this fine fountain pen was wasted on my poor writing.
I thought for a moment, then wrote "Happy New Year" in elegant cursive.
Hmm, skills haven't rusted.
I nodded to myself, pleased, when a quivering voice came from beside me.
"Di-did you practice cursive, Siu?"
"..."
Oops, old habit slipped out.
I barely managed to bluff that it was just something I copied from TV, and we sat side by side on the sofa.
Then Moon Heesung started the movie he'd prepared for us to watch together.
Boomboom boom
The rich sound effects were deeply satisfying.
Moon Heesung's living room had not only a huge TV but also top-notch audio setup.
At first I didn't know what the audio was, but I'd poked around so much that he'd kindly explained it.
The movie he'd picked today was a historical drama about two friends' bond.
It followed two men who'd been close since old times, separated by an unfortunate accident, then reuniting by chance through one incident.
In a scene where they confirmed their unchanging friendship like fate, sharing drinks openly across the table.
"Siu, that kind of relationship between those two is called makyeokjiu. It means close friends whose hearts align perfectly, never clashing, willing to share life and death."
"Uung. I see."
Lately, I'd been picking up four-character idioms one by one from Moon Heesung.
It started when I'd flipped through the drama script he'd brought and asked about a few weird four-letter combos.
He said scripts are full of idioms and allusions like that, so he'd been teaching me.
I made an effort to memorize, feeling the unique language structure of this culture firsthand.
"That's similar."
"Hm?"
"That one from before. The term for a warm friendship like Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya from ancient China... Ah! Gwanpojigyo! You said it was like you and me, uncle."
I cited gwanpojigyo that Moon Heesung had taught me a few days ago.
His eyes widened in surprise at my words.
Then he grinned broadly and patted my head.
Among the adults around me, Moon Heesung was the most gentle when touching my head.
Ah, Dad's soft too.
Not stroking like this, but patting gently.
"Haha, exactly. Same meaning. You really never forget once I teach you, Siu."
"Uung. Of course."
"You're something else. Really something else."
"Lately, this stuff's fun. How old Korea was, how the neighboring countries were."
"...I was never curious about that as a kid."
"Why not? It's so fun."
I replied casually to Moon Heesung's wistful mutter.
Having lived my whole life in England only to land in the East 400 years later, how could I not be interested?
The more I learned about how my old England had changed, and what this new country Korea I'd been reborn into was like, the more fascinating it got.
Plus, this new knowledge would help my acting down the line.
Just like the etiquette lessons that came in handy when I played a noble in Oscar Theater Troupe.
Who knew what eras or regions I'd portray next? I had to remember everything.
"You know what that line means, Siu?"
Moon Heesung pinpointed a line from the TV actor.
"Seong-eunim manggeumhaopnida?"
"Yeah. What does it mean?"
I smirked, lifting one corner of my mouth at Moon Heesung, who figured I wouldn't know.
"I know it."
I'd heard it once in a drama before.
Hadn't asked anyone, but having grown up watching Shakespeare's plays in my past life, inferring this line's meaning was easy.
"Oh, really?"
The problem was elsewhere.
"Th-that... isn't it meaning that...?"
I couldn't figure out how to unpack the meaning in words.
"Your memory's fuzzy, huh, Siu? Uncle'll explain."
No way!
I couldn't let him peg me as some kid who just pretends to know!
"Seong-eunim means the grace bestowed by the king on his subjects..."
...In the end, Moon Heesung's explanation began.
Somehow, I felt grumpy.
I could express it fine in English.
I'd thought Hangul was easy to pick up at first, but the more I learned, the deeper the system got.
Word order could flip completely inside a sentence and mean the same, or a tiny shift could change the meaning entirely.
And somehow, new 'neologisms' popped up by the dozens every year.
"Now you get it?"
"...Yes."
I answered in a small voice, feeling unfairly wronged.
But then,
"How about we do something fun with that sentence?"
My eyes sparkled instantly at his follow-up.
What can I saymy emotions fluctuate wildly.
Blame the kid body. Really.
"Something fun...?"
"Yeah. Something fun."
But what could I do?
Everything Moon Heesung called 'something fun' had always been genuinely fun.
"Yes! Let's do it!"