“Do you want me to go?”

Eun-chae’s pupils, looking at Woo-seok, slowly lowered.

Although she tried not to show that she didn’t express her discomfort with someone leaving, she couldn’t hide her empty heart. In the precious neighborhood, where a friend had finally appeared after a long time, it seemed like a big vacancy with the thought that it might not happen again.

Did I get a little excited? Eun-chae raised her head, thinking about it.

“No.”

With the natural response, Woo-seok chuckled.

“I’ll stay a few more days.”

“Really?”

“I really like it here.”

Eun-chae moved her mouth as if to refute, but she stopped. Because the good thing was true.

“Let’s go to the supermarket. I’ll buy you chocolate.”

Woo-seok habitually flicked Eun-chae’s forehead with his finger and took the lead. Eun-chae, who was stroking her forehead with the back of her hand, followed him.

Now it was a fairly familiar path, and Woo-seok being next to her had also become familiar. Eun-chae arrived at the supermarket, realizing that she adapts better than she thought.
While Woo-seok stood at the checkout counter and picked up a few chocolates, she peered into the beverage refrigerator to see what was inside. The banana milk and chocolate milk they had shared with Woo-seok were nowhere to be found, even after searching with her eyes wide open.

At that moment, Woo-seok, who had been teasing the owner grandfather today as well, finished paying and called Eun-chae.

“Aren’t you coming?”

Eun-chae immediately followed Woo-seok out of the supermarket.

“Where did you get the banana milk and chocolate milk we drank? They’re not in the supermarket.”

“A few days ago, my eldest brother stopped by briefly. Those are leftovers from my nieces and nephews.”

“Nieces and nephews?”

“My brother and I have quite an age difference.”

Although the banana milk in his hand, which he tried to match the atmosphere somewhat, eventually only made a noise with the straw, Eun-chae, who had been puzzled because she hated sweetness, nodded her head and counted the days.

“But why stay for a few more days? What about school?”

“I’m on leave. I also have to go to the military.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Are you going to stay here?”

Woo-seok stopped for a moment, turned around, and looked at Eun-chae.

“I ran away. I don’t think it will happen, but what if that man comes looking for you?”

He let it go, but he couldn’t cut it off. He knew the reason why he could only do that much, and he didn’t run away from that reason. He didn’t turn away.

Because he likes it. Because he likes it. So, he hates it, it’s hard, and it hurts.

But before, and even now, she has never uttered to him that she likes him.

“…That’s true.”

When Eun-chae answered quietly, Woo-seok frowned as if reacting unexpectedly.

“It’s really hard. Your words.”

“I’m in a difficult and tough situation right now too.”

“What happened?”

Looking at Woo-seok, who was criticizing himself in a mocking tone, Eun-chae even smiled. She didn’t want to convey the gloomy depression.

“I’ll tell you when you’re a little older.”

Woo-seok, who burst into laughter at the absurdity, pointed at Eun-chae’s forehead.

“You’re way below me.”

Certainly, Woo-seok was taller.

If he weren’t relatively taller, he would probably think he was even taller than he feels now.

Eun-chae smiled, relieving Woo-seok’s awkwardness for a long time.

The body, which had been moving like a machine, finally seemed to be beyond repair, and without worrying about it, Kwon Ki-joo lay on the bed, just breathing.

He raised his arm with a strong arm, covering his eyes, without even wearing his upper clothes, and his body was boiling with fever.

It seemed like his head would be worse than his broken body.

Had he been like this all the time, worrying about what would happen to his head after going to find Eun-chae and returning empty-handed? On that day, only Eun-chae’s appearance seemed vivid, as if it would pierce through the skin and come out.

He wanted to drink a dim beer and play meaningless games that everyone else does. She, who wanted to do such trivial things, now seemed happy.

He felt that clear line very well, and he felt it very well.
Slowly lowering his arm, Kijoo’s feeling spread out, and his eyes opened wide.

He’d be terrified that I haven’t told him a single name about the man I left.

Abandoned, discarded. Feeling and reflecting on such things.

“…….”.

But why, out of all things, did he need to know?

Kijoo exhaled hot breath, placed his hand on the bed floor, and stood up. The muscles of his slightly drier body moved like crumpled paper.

Combing through his dizzy head, he stood up, put on the sweater and coat he had placed on the table, and picked up a bottle of water. Tilting the water bottle with a slightly lowered head, the cold water dripped on his hair, somewhat subduing the heat.

Throwing the crumpled water bottle on the floor carelessly, he covered his forehead with his hair, allowing the water to flow from his hair.

After a long winter, finally, on the first day the season changed. Eunchae, who looked up at the sky filled with thick clouds, blew out a breath.

Early spring was as cold as midwinter, and even when she wore extra layers of clothes, her body shivered.

Going back inside again, she put on the vest that Grandma Kim had bought from the market and added another layer. Passing through the yellow gate, she headed to the supermarket.

Since Woo-seok bought a lot for her last time, this time she thought she would buy something. It wasn’t much, but she could buy one or two things to eat at the supermarket.

How about something chewy like dried squid since he doesn’t like sweets? While contemplating, Eun-chae inadvertently thought about cigarettes and shook her head.

Then, a white cheeked leaf brushed by in the wind as if to touch her.

Suddenly turning to look at the leaf that passed by in the wind, Eun-chae blinked her eyes slowly.

The dense eyelashes gently covered the area under her eyes and then fell.

Feeling even such subtle movements so precisely, time seemed to slow down suddenly. Then, in the distance, she saw a man in a coat walking steadily toward her.

The man’s shoulders moved like calm waves with each weighted step.

Eun-chae couldn’t move.

‘What if that man comes looking for you?’

Woo-seok’s voice echoed like a reverberation, and her heart, which had been fine for a while, pounded rapidly.

I want to breathe.

I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to see it.

Eun-chae bit her lip, took a few steps backward, and then turned her back towards the mountain.

The sound of the trees shaking in the wind echoed like rain, and the approaching footsteps continued to get closer without fading.

And not long after, as her shoulder was grabbed, her body was thrown back, and her back tilted toward the ground.

Without any warning, Eun-chae, lying on the dirt floor, felt no pain. Kwon Ki-joo, who caught her like catching a fish, wrapped his hand around the back of her head and also around her waist.