NTH 47

The place they went to was a park-like outdoor space and an indoor glass greenhouse where one could observe hundreds of species of rare birds. There were also places where you could see birds of prey like eagles and hawks, and a spot where you could take a commemorative photo with a large parrot perched on your arm or shoulder.

“The eagle isn’t even tied up. They say it’s a bird of prey, isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

When Jeha pointed to a large eagle sitting on a tree stump, glaring at the people, Nana, who was watching from the side, answered.

“It must have been trained not to attack people. For creatures that live in a place like this, eating food given by humans, it would be embarrassing to even be called a bird of prey.”

“Now that I hear it, that makes sense.”

“Besides, that one looks too old to attack people.”

“What? How old?”

“For an eagle, it looks like it’s in its old age. I think it’s probably lived for at least 25 years.”

“How do you know that?”

“Its face looks old. Wasn’t this something everyone knows?”

“That’s ridiculous. It’s not a cat or a dog, it’s a bird. How can you tell the age by looking at a bird’s face when they all look the same? I don’t even know what the average lifespan of an eagle is.”

“I just know by looking. And you call yourself a doctor?”

“No, my major is not ornithology…”

“That’s a lame excuse. A doctor should know everything. Don’t you even know the term ‘know-it-all doctor’?”

Jeha, who was looking at Nana replying with a calm face with bewildered eyes, grabbed a bird park employee who happened to be passing by.

“Excuse me. That eagle sitting over there, how old is it?”

“You mean Daejang? He’s twenty-six years old. His name is ‘Daejang’ (Captain) because he’s the oldest bird here at our bird park.”

“Th-thank you…”

Nana giggled, looking at Jeha who barely managed to reply with a dazed face.

“What did I tell you. From now on, call me Dr. Nana.”

“Alright…”

Just then, an announcement flowed out from the speakers hanging in the air.

「In a moment, starting from 15:00, the goshawk viewing will begin. Those who wish to view the goshawk, please come to the central plaza.」

Nana’s face lit up upon hearing the announcement.

“Jeha, it seems the hawk is coming out. Let’s go see it too.”

“Okay.”

Jeha took Nana and walked towards the central plaza. A considerable crowd had gathered in the plaza to watch the hawk.

It was said that the goshawk comes out with its keeper three times a day, shows its flight by circling high above the bird park, and then takes commemorative photos with those who wish to.

Nana silently and intently watched the hawk, which had been sitting on the keeper’s forearm, soar high into the sky, spread its wings tautly on both sides, and fly.

Jeha did not take his eyes off Nana for a single moment. It was because Nana, who was watching the hawk, looked so precarious, as if he might disappear like smoke in the blink of an eye.

As the hawk was about to descend back towards the central plaza, the keeper whistled loudly and extended his arm forward. At that moment, Nana muttered in a very small voice that no one else could likely hear.

— Come here. Come to me.

Only Jeha, with his exceptional hearing, could clearly hear that sound. A moment later, the hawk that came down settled not on the keeper’s arm, but on Nana’s thin wrist.

— So pretty. You’re really cool.

As Nana’s lips moved, the hawk blinked its round eyes quietly as if it understood his words. Everyone around them started murmuring in admiration. The flustered keeper quickly approached Nana.

“Oh my, how could this happen… I am so sorry.”

Nana, with a calm expression, handed the hawk over to the keeper and looked back at Jeha.

“Now let’s go see the parrots in the greenhouse.”

Nana walked with a familiar gait, as if he had been here before. Walking alongside him, Jeha opened his mouth.

“You called the hawk on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you call it?”

“I wanted to see it up close.”

“How was it, seeing it up close?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t really think anything. The hawk was prettier than I thought… But, it was a bit, how should I say it. I suddenly felt a chill. Goosebumps all over, and it was incredibly cold.”

Hearing those words, Jeha bit his lower lip hard and wrapped his arm firmly around Nana’s shoulders. It was a posture where he was half-hugging him.

He could not quite judge whether it was a good idea to look around more, but he could not ignore Nana’s humming as he looked forward to seeing the parrots, so Jeha had no choice but to head to the greenhouse.

Inside the greenhouse, countless large and small parrots of all kinds were perched on tree branches and fences. The colors of their feathers were a vibrant, dazzling array of natural hues, from snow white to yellow, light green, blue, and red, almost to the point of hurting the eyes.

Jeha, who had bought bird feed for the experience, handed it to Nana.

“They say if you put this on your hand and wait quietly, the birds will land on your hand and eat it.”

“Really? You try it, Jeha.”

“Umm…”

Honestly, it was a bother. The act of feeding animals felt completely foreign to him. If it were not for Nana, he would never have come to the bird park. But since Nana told him to try, he felt he had to at least make a gesture.

Jeha poured some bird feed onto his palm and extended his hand towards the small parrots. Soon, three or four small, sparrow-sized birds flew to Jeha’s hand and pecked at the feed.

“Nana, look at this. I succeeded.”

As he smiled and turned to look at Nana, Nana, who had his phone out at some point, took a picture with a click. Jeha said with an awkward expression.

“Why the sudden picture?”

“Seeing you like that, you look like a celebrity who came for a nature conservation campaign. If you wrote 「Let’s Love Birds」 on top, it would be a perfect public service announcement poster.”

“Stop talking nonsense and you try it too.”

“I can call them without feed.”

“You can make those parrots come too?”

“A bird is a bird, what’s the difference? Should I try? Hey, everyone! Come here!”

Nana shouted to the birds and spread his arms wide. He looked just like a cult leader. Just as Jeha was about to burst out laughing, dozens of parrots, as if by agreement, all spread their wings at once and flocked to Nana.

“Whoa! Jeha! Save me!”

Nana, who was instantly buried in birds, waved his arms and called for Jeha. Jeha managed to find Nana’s hand amidst the fluttering birds and pulled him out. He shouted at the employee who came running in surprise.

“Why are the birds acting like this!”

“I don’t know! This has never happened before!”

In the end, two or three more employees came running and the incident was barely resolved by detaching the birds from Nana and making them fly back to their places.

Calming his wildly beating heart, Jeha brushed the parrot feathers off Nana’s clothes.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Why did the birds go berserk like that? It wasn’t this bad at the university.”

“I don’t know either. The only difference, if any, is that back then I was just trying to call a few as a test, and now I was thinking, ‘Gather as many as you can!’”

“If it made that much of a difference just by thinking it, I guess we have to say you can communicate with birds through telepathy.”

“But I don’t know what’s inside a bird’s head at all. It seems like birds really don’t think about anything.”

Looking at Nana’s side profile as he said such things seriously without laughing, Jeha asked without expecting an answer.

“Then what kind of animal do you think has thoughts?”

Nana, lost in thought for a moment, opened his mouth.

“Well, how about a horse…”

Jeha asked back in surprise.

“What? A horse? You mean the ‘horse’ that people ride and run on?”

“Yeah. The horse that neighs ‘hee-hee-hee,’ runs ‘thud-thud-thud,’ and lives in a stable. It seems like they would think about something.”

“Why? On what grounds?”

“Because their eyes look kind and pretty?”

Jeha was momentarily stunned.

The fact that Nana had specifically chosen ‘a horse’ out of all the many animals in the world did not feel ordinary.

Not a dog or a cat, which are closest to humans, nor a monkey or an orangutan, which are most similar to humans, nor a fox or a pig, which are known to be quite clever, but a ‘horse’ of all things.

“Nana, then shall we go to the racecourse next week?”

Nana replied to Jeha’s question with a fresh smile.

“Okay. Anywhere is fine as long as I’m going with you, Jeha.”

As the date to go to the racecourse with Nana approached, Jeha became hesitant. It was because of the things Nana had said after the leather crafting and the goshawk viewing.

When he was doing leather crafting—especially when making the indoor slippers—Nana said his mood sank and he felt sorrowful, and that he acted like a deaf person to the point that Chief Jeong suspected his hearing. When he held the goshawk on his arm and looked at it, he said he suddenly felt a chill, got goosebumps, and felt cold.

Therefore, Jeha could not help but think of the deaf leatherworker, Meokmeoki, and Manbong, who had died by falling into a cold, icy valley while falcon hunting.

Nana’s past lives were always difficult and miserable, and the process leading to his death was invariably unfair. Knowing that full well, was it a desirable thing to take him to the racecourse and make him recall the emotions of Makdong?

However, because he remembered how happy Nana had been, Jeha ultimately had no choice but to take him.

“Jeha, they say you can buy betting tickets with a phone app. Should we buy some too?”

Nana, who was sitting next to the driving Jeha and searching for various things on the internet, said in a voice full of anticipation. Jeha reached out and stroked the back of Nana’s head.

“Buy them if you want. How much are the betting tickets?”

“You can buy from one hundred won to one hundred thousand won per race. They say there’s a race every 30 minutes.”

“That’s not much. I don’t know much about it, so you can buy as much as you want.”

After that, until they arrived at the racecourse, Nana looked up how to bet on tickets with a rarely seen serious expression.

Jeha, who parked the car in the racecourse parking lot, which was already packed with cars despite the early morning, pulled Nana in for a kiss. But unlike usual, Nana coyly pulled his head back.

“I want to go see the horse race quickly.”

“You can’t go if you don’t kiss me.”

“Why are you suddenly like this?”

“Come here.”

Gently grasping the back of Nana’s neck and lightly pushing his tongue between his lips, Nana opened his mouth as if in resignation and accepted Jeha.

Jeha was anxious. He was afraid that if he wasn’t touching Nana like this, he would be consumed by the darkness of his past life and be dragged away somewhere.