Ch.164Chapter 164. Heavy Snowfall

“Boss. There’s a heavy snow warning.”

“I have eyes too.”

Looking out the window, Bob let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

It was snowing.

And not just any snow—huge flakes were pouring down, piling up thickly on the ground.

“Snow in LA! And in October, no less!”

When they warned about heavy snow, he’d thought the weather service was making another false alarm.

Just two years ago, LA had gone through an entire winter without a single snowfall.

But he never dreamed snow would come this early.

“Is everything ready?”

“Yes, it’s all prepared.”

His subordinate dragged over a suitcase and opened it.

Inside were large black bags rolled up tightly.

“But body bags at this time of year? What on earth are they for…?”

“Why are you asking me, you idiot? He needs them, so I asked for them.”

Bob’s mood quickly soured, and he snapped in irritation.

Jinsoo had urgently requested him to bring body bags.

Ten of them, no less.

If anything, Bob was the one who wanted to ask what they were for.

Was it time to create a real criminal record now that his previous one had been wiped clean?

Glancing out the window again, Bob recalled something from the past.

“It was just like this, snowing heavily.”

“Pardon?”

“At the labor camp where we were. There were guys who made grand plans. Their plan was to rape all the virgin inmates.”

“D-did they succeed?”

“No. They were stopped by a single man and couldn’t go any further. That day, the pure white snow field was completely stained with blood. After paralyzing three men and seriously injuring five others, Jinsoo had to spend 10 weeks in solitary confinement.”

“……”

A night with a raging snowstorm.

Remembering that blood-spattered snow field made Bob’s legs go weak.

The memory was nothing but pure terror.

Both were equally frightening—the monster who could tear a man’s jaw apart with his bare hands, and the sex-crazed monsters who would drop their pants and charge forward even after witnessing such a scene.

Just imagining it made him want to vomit, so Bob squeezed his eyes shut.

“The body bags. I’ll go deliver them.”

“Go ahead.”

“Daddy!”

Just then, the door burst open with a thud, and Bella rushed in.

The subordinate hurriedly closed the suitcase to hide the body bags.

“What is it? What about school?”

“It’s closed today! Saint Catalina is probably closed too. Can I go have a snowball fight with Cuss?”

“…Go ahead.”

“Yes!”

Bella threw down her bag, pulled out her gloves, and excitedly ran back outside.

Watching her leave, Bob let out a sigh.

“Jinsoo. Please don’t do anything you’ll regret. If not for yourself, then for your daughter.”

***

“Here they are.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

A suitcase?

Why use a suitcase to deliver bags…?

Wondering if Bob had made a mistake with the items, I opened it to check inside.

“Hmm. That’s right.”

These were indeed what I had ordered.

So they use black bags in America.

The texture was smoother too, different from what we use in Korea.

But it didn’t matter.

As long as they served their purpose.

I loaded the suitcase into my car and left the garage.

I had taken a day off from work.

I couldn’t miss today.

“Wow. This is insane. Absolutely insane.”

The road conditions were beyond terrible.

Parked cars were completely buried in snow, invisible, and what had been ankle-deep snow had melted from the heat of cars, turning into black slush sprawled across the road.

Still, snow plows were constantly passing by, keeping the roads relatively clear.

I drove right behind one of the plows, enjoying the cleared path ahead.

Not long after, I arrived at my destination, Saint Catalina.

I made a call, bringing my left wrist close to my ear.

“Are you ready?”

“Almost there.”

“Come out. I’ve arrived.”

“Alright…”

The voice on the other end responded with a solemn tone before hanging up.

I immediately got out of the car and retrieved the suitcase.

With each step, a crunching sound accompanied the clear footprints I left in the snow.

Right now it was only ankle-deep, but soon it would reach knee-height.

I had something to do before that happened.

Thwack!

“Ouch.”

Something hit the back of my head.

When I turned around, Cuss was running toward me with a grin, wearing a padded jacket and a scarf.

“Jinsoo! Snow! Snow!”

“Excited?”

“I’m excited! Super duper excited! Look at this! The whole world is white!”

Cuss couldn’t stay still.

She gathered handfuls of snow to scatter it around, then fell into the snow and rolled around.

Right. Today was a day I had promised to spend entirely with Cuss.

We had agreed to play in the snow when it came.

Fortunately, LA County had issued a school closure, allowing Cuss to leave school early.

I chose Saint Catalina’s campus as our playground not just because it was spacious, but for another important reason.

“Is that it?”

“Yes! That! The snow mountain!”

Cuss pointed excitedly at a corner of the campus.

It was a massive pile of snow, worthy of being called a mountain.

I’d heard that Saint Catalina had machines to clear snow from walkways for student safety during heavy snowfall.

That pile must be the result of their snow clearing.

“Are you ready to go sledding, Cuss?”

“Sledding?”

“Yes. You ride this down from up there.”

I took out a bag and waved it around.

But Cuss’s reaction was rather underwhelming.

“Ugh…? Is that fun? Sounds boring.”

“Ha. Sheesh. You don’t trust me.”

When I was a child living in the countryside, the reason I eagerly waited for snowy days was none other than sledding.

When heavy snow accumulated, the path up to the fields would become a steep sledding slope.

I would climb up with the neighborhood boys and slide down on fertilizer bags.

Sometimes kids would bring rice bags made of paper instead, but they’d inevitably tear them on rocks and have to go back for fertilizer bags.

We’d always play all day until someone would crash into the riverbank after failing to navigate a curve, then adults would come and shut down our sledding hill.

The festival would conclude with all of us gathering at the injured kid’s house, blaming him for ruining our fun while eating roasted sweet potatoes…

Damn. I got carried away with nostalgia.

“But where’s the sled?”

“Where else? Right here.”

“Huh…? I think I saw that in a drama while flipping through TV channels.”

She saw it in a drama?

Why would fertilizer bags appear in a drama?

Is some rural Korean drama popular in America these days?

Feeling dubious, I led the hesitant Cuss up to the top of the snow pile.

The temperature was quite low today, so the accumulated snow hadn’t melted, promising a good slope.

“Here. Try sitting on this.”

“Hmm…? On that?”

“Come on, just trust me for once.”

I laid down the bag and sat on it.

Cuss frowned for a moment, tilting her head, but then came over and sat between my legs.

“Hold the front of the bag tightly.”

“Like this?”

“That’s right. Now we’re going to start.”

“Hmm…”

I wrapped my arms tightly around Cuss’s waist and pushed off with my feet.

The bag began to slide smoothly down the slope.

Here we go, here we go, here we gooooo!

“What is this? It’s not even that faaaaaaaaaast!”

“Yeehaw!”

The bag accelerated instantly, quickly reaching a speed that made our cheeks vibrate as we raced down.

Maybe because the bag was American-made, it seemed to slide much better.

But wait, this is way too fast…

“Aaaahh!”

“Eeeek!”

Eventually, we shot down the slope at the speed of light and crashed right into a snow pile at the bottom.

Fortunately, it was soft enough that the impact wasn’t too severe.

“Puhaaaa…!”

After digging through the snow and pulling Cuss out, I saw that we were both completely covered in snow.

Cuss, having sat in front, even had snow all over her face.

I roughly brushed it off and cleaned her face, only to have her glare at me.

Did she not like it?

“Jinsoo! One more time! One more! Let’s go back up quickly!”

Apparently not.

Her eyes were sparkling as she tugged at my arm.

“Alright! Let’s ride until we’re sick of it!”

“Hehehe!”

We immediately grabbed the bag and climbed back up the slope.

Let’s play until we catch colds today.

Until we’re so sick we can’t move tomorrow.

That way I can skip work tomorrow too.

“Jinsoo! Hurry up and sit down! Hurry! We’re about to depart!”

“When did you get all the way up…”

“Oh? There’s Alice and Tom! Alice! Tooom!”

Cuss suddenly waved her hands and called out.

Squinting into the distance, I could see tiny kids leaving school together.

Ah, those are Cuss’s friends from first grade.

Alice and Tom approached us cautiously, looking up as if we were circus animals.

“C-Cuss. What are you doing up there…?”

“We’re sledding!”

“What? Where’s the sled?”

“This is the sled!”

“What? Are you stupid? That’s just a plastic bag!”

“Ha! You clearly lack life experience. Watch this!”

That’s rich coming from someone with only three years of life experience.

Cuss snorted, sat on the bag, and pushed off with her feet.

As she quickly gained speed, she gripped the bag tightly, stretched out her legs, and slid down.

She nearly collided with me, forcing me to dive sideways to avoid her.

Cuss zoomed past and crashed into another snow pile with a thud.

“……”

“……”

A moment of silence followed.

Tom and Alice looked as if they were witnessing some barbaric festival.

Soon, Cuss emerged from the snow pile, raising her hand triumphantly.

Seeing her flushed face, Alice and Tom’s expressions began to soften.

“Th-that’s not even a proper sled. Just sliding down a snow slope…”

“That looks super fun! I want to try too!”

“W-what? Then me too…!”

I had brought plenty of bags.

I handed bags to the little ones and sat down on a bench some distance away.

Cuss no longer looked for me.

Busy going up and down with her friends, she seemed to have forgotten all about me.

“Excuse me… Mr. Cuss’s father?”

“Yes. Jake, right?”

“Yes. Hello, sir.”

Someone suddenly spoke to me from the side.

It was Jake, bowing politely with a Korean-style greeting.

I wonder where he learned that.

“Do you want to join them?”

“No, why would I intrude on the kids’ fun?”

“Come on. You’re still a kid yourself as far as I’m concerned. If you want to play, go ahead.”

“Is that really okay?”

“Take this.”

“Thank you!”

When I handed him a bag, Jake immediately broke into a smile and ran toward the snow pile.

Sheesh. Acting all proper when he was just waiting to join the fun.

Kids should be kids and play to their heart’s content.

“Whoa? A sledding hill!”

“What are you doing here?”

Hearing an exclamation, I turned around to see Cyber-chan… I mean, Bella standing there with her mouth wide open.

What’s she doing here?

She doesn’t attend Saint Catalina.

“I was going to play with Cuss, but she wasn’t answering her phone…”

“Want to join? Take this.”

“Is this a sled…?”

“Yeah. Is there a problem?”

“Why are you using body bags as sleds?”

“……”

Body bags?

My mind went blank for a moment.

Come to think of it, what did I say when I ordered from Bob?

“Oh no.”

I had asked for “bags.”

Without specifying anything before it, just “bags”—it’s understandable he thought I meant body bags.

“Whether they’re body bags or whatever, who cares! As long as they slide well!”

“Uh… I guess so?”

“That’s right! Go play!”

“Thank you!”

Taking the body bag, Bella also scurried off to join the endless sledding loop.

Watching the children play together gave me a strange feeling.

But seeing Cuss laughing and looking so happy made me smile too.

I think I’ll just sit here and watch the kids play.

“Jinsoo! Come ride with us!”

“Ah, well… since you’re calling, I guess I have no choice?”

Just one more time.

It’s definitely not because I’m having fun and want to join the kids.

It’s just that Cuss is begging me to join her, saying she can’t ride without me.

I picked up a body bag and ran toward the snow slope.