A Peaceful Day (2)
A Peaceful Day (2)
The rain must have stopped at some point, because when I opened my eyes under the blanket, I felt surprisingly refreshed.
I felt the blanket and only the outside was damp; the inside was nice and dry, so the texture wasn't bad.
If only Min-ji hadn't been lying next to me with her leg slung over my body...
I carefully pushed Min-ji's leg aside, slipped out of the blanket, and got up to see the boys running around in the distance.
I don't really have any interest in running unless I'm on a treadmill, so I went back to the room, grabbed a fishing rod, and headed for the stream.
I filled a washbasin with water using a scooped-out gourd, dragged it into the shade, and then started fishing.
A little later, the moment I caught a minnow, the boys walked over.
"Ugh, man, your sweat reeks like crazy. Go wash up."
"I can just jump in the stream, what's there to wash?"
"Whoa, that's pollution, y'know? The fish're all gonna die. We shouldn't be culling invasive species—we should be culling you first."
Park Ji-hoon, who'd been watching me, spoke up.
"Is that your dad's shirt?"
"Yeah."
I was squatting down enjoying my fishing, wearing a massively oversized white box tee.
"Where'd the fishing rod come from?"
"Dad loves fishing, so we've got a ton at home. This one's for freshwater."
Right on cue, a fish on the line—and this one was pretty big...
"Oh..."
I unfolded my legs, steadied my stance, and in one sharp motion, snapped the rod up and yanked it out.
I grabbed the caught fish by the head, naturally worked the hook free, and dropped it into the basin. Jun-su's eyes sparkled.
"Jun-su, you're gonna get hooked if you stand there."
"Yep!"
Jun-su came around to the other side, and I immediately baited the hook and cast it back into the water.
"Hwaaahm..."
"If you're that tired you should've slept more. Who goes fishing first thing in the morning?"
I wiped the tears that had welled up from my yawn and said,
"It's fun."
The rich sound of cicadas all around was the very definition of perfect healing.
Park Ji-hoon checked the fish in the basin and said,
"A spicy fish stew would be absolutely insane right now."
"Yeah, well~ none for you."
"Every time I just say something, you..."
I looked over at Jun-su, who was watching the fish intently.
"Jun-su, wanna give it a try?"
"Yes!"
I got up from my spot and said to Park Ji-hoon,
"Do it with Jun-su and catch a bunch~ so we can have 'em for breakfast."
"Okay."
I spotted a long clothesline strung up, and started hanging the blankets from inside the mosquito tent out in the sun. Min-ji and Da-yeon, who must have woken up at some point, helped out.
"Shall we go for a walk?"
"Oh... absolutely."
We went back to the cabin, put on wide-brimmed hats, and started walking slowly.
Every so often Da-yeon would freak out at a bug she spotted, but she still looked like she was enjoying herself.
After we'd been walking for a while, Min-ji freaked out at a snake and bolted off into the distance with Da-yeon.
Without really thinking about it, I kicked the snake in the head with my foot, and it went sailing off into the woods.
"".....""
The two of them, who'd watched me act so casually, slowly crept back over with stunned expressions.
When we got back to the stream, I clicked my tongue at the basin, which was now full of fish as if nobody knew the meaning of the word moderation.
"Are you insane..."
When I'd fished briefly earlier I'd figured it was a honey hole, based on the bite rate, but way more had been caught than I expected.
I released the fish that weren't good for eating, then quickly started prepping the rest.
And for the spicy stew, I sent Park Ji-hoon on an errand to buy the extra ingredients.
I, of course, had zero confidence I could make a good spicy fish stew.
So after I'd just prepped the fish, I handed them over to Da-yeon, and Da-yeon started cooking.
Park Ji-hoon had bought a slingshot while he was out buying the extra ingredients, and now he was suddenly trying to snipe dragonflies.
"Oh, man... what are you, a grade-schooler..."
I'm genuinely amazed every time I see that dumb bastard act his age.
...How long had passed? I was right there next to him, shooting a slingshot too.
Honestly... it was fucking fun.
We could order delivery, too, so we had fried chicken for lunch and went back to enjoying the water.
Da-yeon, having watched me fish, came over, looking curious.
I taught Da-yeon how to fish.
"Da-yeon's dad absolutely loves fishing."
"Yeah, I know."
"He'd absolutely love it if Da-yeon joined him too, y'know?"
"You think so?"
"Of course~"
"And I'm Da-yeon, of course~"
"Hah, nice? I like that, that's my style~"
When evening came we grilled meat, savoring the last of our healing trip,
and when morning came we made a quick trip back home.
"Daaaughter!!!"
Dad had been gaming, and the moment he heard the sound of the door opening he came running over.
"I'm home~"
"Was it fun?"
I handed Dad my phone.
Everything from our guesthouse, to the food we'd eaten, to inside the tent we'd played in on the rainy night.
Dad stared at the photos with wide eyes.
"Where is this?"
"Why?"
"You wanna go together with Dad next time?"
"With Da-yeon, too. It really was nice. It was fun."
"Ooooh..."
Dad took my phone and all of my luggage.
When I held out my hand to him while he was looking at the phone, he handed it right back to me.
"You got a lot of sun."
"Is it noticeable?"
"Yeah."
My skin tone is so fair it just flares up red; it hardly ever turns into an actual tan.
I spoke to Dad, who was opening up my suitcase.
"The stuff in the pack on the left is what I wore, and the stuff on the right is what I didn't wear."
"What's gotten into you? Putting everything away so neatly...?"
"If I half-ass it in front of other people, it could chip away at your image, y'know."
"Waaah~~ Si-yoon~"
"I'm sunburned, it stings. Don't touch me."
"Okay..."
Without a second thought, I went straight to the shower.
When I came out after washing up, Dad had already finished putting my stuff away.
"Not working out today?"
"Yeah, I'm tired."
"It's still morning, y'know? If you go to sleep now you won't be able to sleep at night."
"I'm still tired. I'm only gonna sleep for an hour, so wake me up~"
"Got it~ give Dad your phone so I can look at the pictures."
"Here."
The second I gave Dad my phone, I went straight to my room to sleep.
I looked at my daughter's phone for a long time.
Normally, a fifteen-year-old girl would have a lot of secrets, but Si-yoon never hid anything from me.
Back when Si-yoon was little, even when I sneaked a look at the secret diary she kept for homework, hadn't she just chucked it at me, asking what I was snooping at, and then gone right back to sleep...?
When I see things like that, she takes so much after my wife.
It had taken me two weeks of agonizing before I agreed to let her go on this trip, but now I really felt I'd made the right decision to send her.
In most of the photos, Si-yoon was beaming brightly.
"Was I... keeping her locked up too much..."
Thinking back on what my own, completely ordinary fifteen-year-old self was like, so different from now...
Si-yoon was at an age when she ought to be out there making a ton of friends, sharing things, laughing, chatting away, running around and playing with her friends...
Seeing her forced to live cooped up because of me, because I'm too famous inside Korea, absolutely broke my heart.
The same held true for Da-yeon; in the photos she looked so bright, like a bird that had just flown out of its cage and found freedom.
And then I noticed Si-yoon's earring.
The fact that she always wears it whenever she's not in a swimsuit... it feels like she's thinking of her mom, and it makes me feel so sorry.
Lost in these thoughts, I suddenly looked up at the sky and smiled.
"Honey, I'll bring Si-yoon to come see you tomorrow~"
After I cleaned the house, I made dinner and woke Si-yoon up.
"Si-yoon, time to eat."
The way she'd only wake up after I shook her for ages... she takes after her mother so much in that, too.
"Nnnh?"
"Time to eat. You wanna watch a movie tonight?"
"Nnnh... s... sure..."
Now if I just put Alpha and Beta on the bed, the cats would keep pawing at Si-yoon until she eventually wakes up on her own.
"Come out when you're awake~ Dad's bored."
"...'kay."
"H'yaaah..."
I poked the white fluffball and the spotted fluffball in front of my eyes a couple of times, then hauled myself upright.
"My phone... ah..."
I stretched as I walked out to the living room, where the air was filled with a delicious smell.
"You're up?"
"Yeah. My phone."
"It's on the sofa."
I picked up my phone, slipped it into my pajama pocket, and sat down at the table.
"You want to go see Mom tomorrow?"
"Let's. Oh, right. When are we going to Grandpa's?"
"Why?"
"I said I'd go with the kids from this trip."
"Since Si-yoon's on break anyway, hmm... how about next week or the week after?"
"Once the date's set let me know, so I can tell 'em I'm bringing my friends."
"Got it~"
After we ate, we took snacks Dad had made and watched the new hero movie that had just come out.
If I had accepted that casting call in the past, I probably would've appeared in every movie in this franchise as the child actor role.
As expected, while I was watching the movie and seeing Hanseong and Hyundai's tech with my own eyes, a hamster appeared on screen.
"Cute~"
"Yeah."
"Should we get a hamster?"
"I don't know how many you're planning to get, but are you planning to feed 'em to Alpha and Beta live? If you're trying to set up a food chain, you're probably gonna need quite a lot."
"....."
"Those two would be pretty happy, though."
I helped Dad get acquainted with reality. After watching the movie for a while, I fell asleep next to him on the sofa for the first time in a long time.
The next day, we visited the columbarium.
Watching Dad go through and sort the stacks of letters there, I could see that Mom had quite a lot of acquaintances.
Looks like Jang Seong-man, the Dreaming members, and Ji-eun had all been by recently, too.
Even though Dad loved Mom so very much, he was especially careful not to make it obvious on her memorial day.
He didn't even come here on the anniversary.
The reason, well...
Mom's memorial day is my birthday.
Dad cries for a long time every time we come here, so he probably didn't have the confidence to come here with me on my birthday without crying.
Only, lately, he'd been coming by himself in the early hours while I was asleep.
"Dad."
"...Yeah."
"Let's come together on my birthday, too."
"...Okay."
The bright and sunny weather from the morning put me in an upbeat mood.
After working out with Dad and washing up, I got into Dad's car.
"Call me when you're done."
"Got it."
Since I felt like I hadn't been to Yellow Light Art Academy much lately, I had come to see Mr. Go Min-su's face for the first time in a while.
When I walked in, Mr. Go Min-su was deep in conversation with Professor Ahn Jun-tae.
Mr. Go's eyes went wide the moment he spotted me.
Professor Ahn Jun-tae stared at me like he couldn't believe how much I'd grown.
"Hello~"
"Si-yoon, you're here?"
"Professor Ahn, I didn't know you'd be here."
"Yes... we'd only ever exchanged paintings, and my... you've grown so much I barely recognized you."
"You still recognized me though, didn't you?"
"Ahaha, seeing the way you talk, you're exactly how I remember you."
Professor Ahn Jun-tae soon refocused on the conversation, looking back at Mr. Go Min-su.
From the corner of my eye, I spotted someone fidgeting in the distance and recognized who it was immediately.
"Teacher Seo-hyeon!"
"Oh my! Is that Si-yoon?!"
I greeted Mr. Go Min-su's wife, Teacher Oh Seo-hyeon, cheerfully.
"And Jinsu?"
"He went to cram school~"
"What were you up to?"
"Just checking what materials we're low on~ and getting ready to order~"
While I was chatting with Teacher Oh Seo-hyeon, Professor Ahn Jun-tae walked over.
"Would you do me the favor of drawing something?"
I looked at Professor Ahn Jun-tae, smiled, and nodded.
"Not a problem."
I picked up a pencil and began drawing lightly, just to block in the guidelines.
As the lines flowed across the page without a moment's hesitation, everyone began focusing on my drawing.
Just when I'd used pale yellows as if to give it a bright feel, I immediately switched to black-based hues.
Before long, a dark painting was completed on the canvas, one that seemed to exude a sort of damp moisture.
Within that dank, soggy-looking darkness, the place where the light enveloped it gave the viewer a feeling of comfort.
The painting was of that rainy night I'd seen when I went on the trip with my club members.
When you're lost in a drawing, you have no idea how much time is passing.
Before I knew it, evening was approaching, and I called Dad to come pick me up.
"I'll be heading out, then~"
"Bye~"
"Get home safely~"
I gave them a casual goodbye and headed home.
Ever since the club trip, Dad had started loosening the reins on me more and more.
At first, he was incredibly anxious, but as long as I stuck to the main roads and wore my mask and glasses properly, he didn't really intervene much anymore.
Not that I'm the type to go wandering around without him in the first place, granted.
In the case of PC bangs, he didn't try to stop me at all now.
Break ended, and news got around that I was good at fighting.
It didn't just spread around the school—it straight-up made it into the news.
That I was a total delinquent and a thug...
Given Dad's line of work, even the smallest bit of gossip tends to become fodder for talk, so it created quite a stir.
I, personally, didn't give it much thought, but the people around me seemed to let it get to them quite a bit.
"Si-yoon! Shouldn't you be clearing that up somehow?"
"There's no story saying I specifically bullied anyone, is there."
"...No."
"So whatever. Whatever people think... it's not like there's no truth to it."
"But still..."
At my firm words, Da-yeon, who'd been worrying about me, wilted.
I smirked and said to Da-yeon,
"After school, you wanna hit a PC bang together?"
"...Okay."