TWELVE 77

To the front were vast rice paddies, and to the back was a mountain. Whether it was because it was winter or because the land was no longer being farmed, the paddies were utterly desolate. The mountain behind was overgrown with thick weeds, the paths had vanished, and vines smothered the trees, giving it a sinister air.

The “room” where I had been imprisoned was a makeshift building crudely constructed without a single window. It looked like it might have been used as a shelter or storage for a farmer or a caretaker.

Since it was somewhat furnished, I suppose it was the former.

In any case, I could be certain of one thing: no one visited this place now.

To tie someone up and lock them in a place like this… he must have truly intended to let me starve to death. Thinking of Jeon Juseok made my blood boil.

With no wallet and no cell phone, I had no choice but to walk aimlessly until a residential neighborhood appeared. I hadn’t realized it until a moment ago, but my walking was quite unsteady; they must have struck my ankle the wrong way.

My operated shoulder was even worse. I might need re-operation once I returned. It hurt that much.

Even though my body was a total wreck, my mind was at ease. Walking indefinitely was far better than being bound and trapped in a cramped space. Besides, I should be grateful it wasn’t the middle of the mountains or a deserted island. Should I be thankful for Jeon Juseok’s sloppiness…?

‘When… did you take that photo?’

‘When else. I took it quickly when you were passed out after downing the g-water.’

Sloppy as he was, it seemed he had indeed prepared with intent.

Even though I knew it was meaningless, I couldn’t shake the curiosity of why on earth he had gone this far.

If something happened to my physical safety, he wouldn’t be able to get money from me. It made no sense, no matter how much I thought about it, that a man who would throw a fit if a repayment was even a day late would make such a choice.

He tried to harm me even at the cost of taking a loss. Doesn’t that mean that by harming me, he stands to gain a profit far greater than the money I would have repaid?

Thinking that way, a chill suddenly ran down my spine.

Organ trafficking? Was it something like that? Or selling me off as a slave somewhere? I had seen such things on social issue investigative programs.

As much of a son of a bitch as Jeon Juseok was, I wondered if he really had the guts to commit a crime of that magnitude, yet it also felt like he was more than capable of it if he were backed into a financial corner.

Regardless, I wouldn’t just endure it and let it pass like before. I intended to find a police station the moment I entered a town. I had to report Jeon Juseok, and also… I had to contact Gi Seoin.

To be honest, I was more worried about Gi Seoin right now than myself. He was already blaming himself for the incident with his mother; wouldn’t he think my disappearance was his fault too? What if he really misunderstood and thought I had left, lost his mind, and harmed himself…?

Please, I hope he hasn’t done that. It would be better if he didn’t look for me at all rather than suffer like that.

I rubbed my face vigorously. It was to keep from crying. Crying now, when nothing was certain, was just a waste of energy.

Let’s walk. That was the only thing I could do right now. Returning to Gi Seoin.

I walked for a long time along a narrow path between rice paddies, barely wide enough for one person to stand. When I escaped the place where I was trapped, the sunset was just about to settle, but before I knew it, the sun had gone down.

I didn’t know what neighborhood this was attached to, but I could tell it was a truly remote countryside. There wasn’t a single streetlight, and even after leaving the paddy path, I felt soil beneath my feet. Although I hadn’t seen any while walking, the road was carved with tire tracks, suggesting that cars did pass through.

Although I wasn’t from the countryside, perhaps thanks to my history of living in neighborhoods where streetlights were a luxury, the darkness here wasn’t scary. I didn’t have time to be afraid because I was busy sorting through the emotions surging up at the thought of Gi Seoin and Jeon Juseok.

Engrossed in thought like that, yet struggling not to lose myself in it, I walked and walked following the tire tracks.

Even when I wanted to rest, I bit my tongue and endured. It was December. If I fell asleep in a place like this in this kind of weather, it would be the perfect way to die a lonely death.

Please, a neighborhood where people live should have appeared by now…

Before the sun set, I could definitely see roofs huddled together in the distance. But once night fell, let alone houses, I couldn’t see anything because it was so dark even an inch in front of me.

In the midst of this, I was thirsty. I wasn’t hungry. My stomach ached as if even my internal organs were bruised. My joints creaked and my muscles throbbed. I was at my limit, but I couldn’t collapse.

I moved my feet with the feeling that I was shaving away my life. And finally, a single house appeared before my eyes.

“I’m sorry. Is anyone inside…?”

It was a country house where no light leaked out and no presence could be felt, but I tried to speak up first. However, as expected, no one answered me.

I made up my mind and touched the sliding door, but it wasn’t locked. The inside was empty. It seemed it hadn’t been vacant for long, as it was relatively clean.

It seemed I would have to rest here for a bit. Since it was indoors, the wind would be blocked, so I thought I wouldn’t freeze to death.

The moment I laid my head on the bare floor, I fell into the clutches of sleep, not even knowing how I fell asleep.

And from the moment I opened my eyes, I bitterly regretted having slept like that.

Because my tension had relaxed somewhat and I had slept on a cold floor, my physical condition had plummeted to its worst.

In times like this, I had to get to a place where there were people even faster.

I tried to get up with effort, but I collapsed again immediately. It wasn’t my will. My body wouldn’t move. My head felt heavy as if it were filled with iron.

Do I have a fever? I touched my forehead but I couldn’t tell. I was shivering from the cold, and a cold sweat was flowing.

In that state, I repeatedly fell into a faint sleep and woke up.

I’m not going to die here, am I?

I sincerely had that thought, and strangely, a laugh came out instead.

But what about Gi Seoin?

Just thinking of him caused tears to suddenly pour down.

The pain that felt like it was crushing my whole body grew more severe, and I groaned or even screamed.

I really think I’m going to die here.

I couldn’t even flicker a fingertip.

If I die here, I feel like no one will be able to find me…

To die so pointlessly, really?

If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have lived so desperately. I should have lived while caring less about what others thought. I should have lived while doing the things I wanted to do.

Going to see movies, eating at good restaurants, drinking cocktails with strange names, going on trips, swimming in the sea…

With Gi Seoin… I should have done anything like that. Everything I hadn’t been able to do, I wanted to do with you.

Grandmother.

I’ve had times where I was so exhausted I thought it might be better to die. But please save me. If I really must go, there is someone I absolutely want to, someone I must, say a final goodbye to.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Oh dear.”

Grandmother?

“He’s awake. He’s awake!”

I mistook it for the voice of an elderly woman. Listening again, it wasn’t a grandmother’s but a grandfather’s voice.

But I don’t have a grandfather. Both grandfathers on both sides passed away before I was born, so I had never met them.

“Are ya alright?”

Then who is the person asking me right now?

“Young man. Are ya comin’ to your senses?”

“…Who are you?”

My voice, which I barely managed to force out, was so hoarse it was no different from an old person’s. My eyes only opened late. It felt as if pebbles were filled inside my eyelids. My vision took even longer to function properly. The blurry outlines slowly regained their original shapes.

The person in front of me was, as expected, someone I didn’t know.

“Would ya know if I told ya who I am?”

The elder gripped something white with both hands and twisted it. Seeing water dripping, I realized it was a wet towel. The elder placed the wrung-out towel on my forehead.

“Lie back down more.”

The elder, who gently pressed my chest, wiped my chin and neck with the back of his hand. The rough texture of the skin reminded me of my grandmother once again.

“Where is this?”

As I asked, I rolled only my eyes to look around. A worn-out room with a TV that looked as if it had aged as much as I had. The place was also similar to the house where I had lived with my grandmother for a long time.

“They call it Hoje Village. I’m the village headman here. Name’s Park Chulmoon. What’s the young man’s name then?”

Where is “Hoje Village”? I had never heard of it.

“It’s Woo Seungkyung…”

“There ain’t a single person with the surname Woo in this neighborhood, so what’d ya come for? Why’d ya go into that empty house after grandmother Jaere Kim passed away?”

The dialect was strong, but I was glad I could understand it through intuition. It seemed the empty house I had wandered into was the place where a person named Grandmother Kim used to live. This elder’s name is Park Chulmoon…

He seemed like just a kind-hearted elder, but I couldn’t pour out all my circumstances to a person I was seeing for the first time.

“I came to play with my friends and got lost. It was so cold I was going to go inside for a bit… I’m sorry.”

“What’s there to be sorry for? Where do your parents live? We gotta call ’em. Won’t they be worried!”

The elder, speaking as if scolding, took a cell phone out of his pocket and held it out. It was a 2G phone like the ones I used to see when I was a child.

“I don’t have parents. But, what’s the date today?”

“It’s the twenty-first day.”

“The twenty-first day… The 21st? Is it December 21st?”

“Yeah! I brought the young man here the day before yesterday. I was gonna take ya to the hospital if ya didn’t wake up today, but an old man like me lacks the strength to move ya alone so I told my nephew to come by.”

I couldn’t properly understand the part after “Yeah!”

Ah, I was about to be happy that I lived and didn’t die, but I became incredibly depressed.

I had prepared a gift and a letter, and this time I really wanted to celebrate properly…

Gi Seoin’s birthday has passed.

At this moment, more than the fact that I had been kidnapped and then died and came back to life in a rural neighborhood with no connections, the fact that I missed Gi Seoin’s birthday devastated me.