Ch.225225 – The Young Man’s Abyss

# 225 – The Young Man’s Abyss

Buzzing with activity—

An incredible number of children were running around the yard.

“Kengy! Stay still for a moment!”

“Hieek! You shouldn’t pull this Gubulnoi’s tail…!”

“Wolf-spider Kengkeng is the real Kengkeng!”

“Flying squirrel Kengkeng is the real Kengkeng!”

“Mom! My sibling keeps taking my bicycle!”

“Waaah!”

Long ago, when I used to walk around the neighborhood, I wondered where all those children had gone. Even during my childhood, the once noisy and bustling parks and playgrounds had become so quiet.

I had wondered where all the children went, but apparently they were all here. My mansion was literally swarming with children, making it impossible to even catch a brief nap.

“Dad, play with us!”

“Play with us!”

“Let’s play dinosaurs!”

“Dad, you be the Brachiosaurus! We’ll be the hunting Tyrannosaurus!”

“I’m Giganoto! Boomboo-boompow!”

I was trying to take a nap, but the children were grabbing my arms and pulling my legs so hard that I couldn’t gather my thoughts.

As if children weren’t talkative enough, with more than ten of them crowding around, my mansion felt like an enormous kindergarten.

There are too many children now. I never thought there would be this many.

The problem was that this wasn’t the end of it.

“Hey! What are you doing? We need to defeat the ghost story! The low birth rate ghost story!”

Yang Juhui found me. Dahui and Kwon Sua were also arm in arm. I looked around slightly flustered, then quickly opened my mouth when I thought I’d found a good excuse.

“Doesn’t Dahui need to work on her writing?”

“You know what? A person’s life is like several books. Creating a child is an even greater achievement than writing several books.”

“Grab him quickly! Pirates, assemble!”

Women who appeared out of nowhere grabbed my arms and legs. They were my fourth and fifth wives.

With so many women’s hands on me, I could do nothing but scream like a gnu caught by a pride of lions.

“Guaak!”

That’s when my eyes snapped open.

When I came to my senses, it was morning. I went to the living room to wipe off the cold sweat covering my body, and saw women in dresses walking around the mansion.

Not just ordinary white dresses, but red, blue, and yellow ones that looked like the three primary colors of light. In order, they were Yang Juhui, Yu Dahui, and Kwon Sua.

“Why do you look so upset?”

Yang Juhui asked me.

I recalled the dream I had last night. I had an extremely vivid and intense dream, but thinking about it now, I couldn’t quite remember what it was about.

“I had an incredible dream.”

An incredibly noisy and boisterous dream. And it had something ominous about it, as if showing me the future that awaited me. You could call it a prophetic dream.

“Dream? The wedding starts in an hour! Wake up!”

Slap-slap-

Yang Juhui’s palm hitting my back snapped me to attention. As she said, today was our wedding day. I still had no sons or daughters.

But from now on, I’d have plenty. Today was just the beginning.

“The weather isn’t just good, it’s hot! Why autumn of all seasons? Don’t people usually have weddings in spring?”

“I know, right.”

Bong Jiyeon and Jin Seoyeon, both beautifully dressed, came to the bridal waiting room set up in the mansion. Dahui waved at them and greeted them lightly.

“Autumn is the season that’s meaningful to us. Don’t you think it’s the perfect season for a new beginning? Spring and summer are boring for us.”

Click, click-

The girls seemed busy greeting the arriving guests. Me? I was also busy standing in the garden, guiding people and greeting them.

The wedding was held at our mansion. People we invited began flooding into the spacious yard, and everyone was licking their lips at the sight of wine and desserts on the white tables.

“Must have cost a fortune.”

“So who’s supposed to catch the third bouquet?”

“Isn’t it Hong Miri? She is older after all…”

“If we’re going by age, then Kang Haneul would be…”

I was surprised by how many people there were. My garden was quite spacious, but it seemed like it might be completely filled.

It was a fresh realization, but I was amazed at how many relationships I had built over time.

—Woof woof…!

—Woof woof…!

—Boomboo-boompow…!

—Yingyingya-ying.

“There are a lot of strange animals in the garden.”

“Not just animals, but strange people too, right? That woman sitting in front of the piano. Where have I seen her before?”

“Maybe it’s because I couldn’t sleep last night, but doesn’t the pianist’s neck look a bit long?”

With so many people making comments, the murmuring was like a wave of crowds. Though it was autumn, it felt as hot as summer, making me sweat profusely.

Maybe we shouldn’t have had an outdoor wedding.

I thought September would bring cool breezes, but this is a complete heatwave.

While the “Low Birth Rate Ghost Story” has been somewhat resolved, perhaps the “Global Warming Ghost Story” is still ongoing.

Anyway, seeing the countless people made me dizzy. I hadn’t really felt the reality of getting married until now, but I was starting to feel nervous.

Me. I’m going to have a family now.

Not just a given family, but one I’ve chosen myself.

“Lastly, I’d like to add that the groom and brides must live as one, for better or worse. Even when they show each other their flaws, if they yield to each other one by one…”

The officiant’s speech was getting long. The officiant was a pastor from a Seoul church who was acquainted with my father.

“Now, the groom and brides, bow deeply to each other’s parents—”

Jeongseok, who had become more skilled as a politician, cut off the lengthening speech and continued with the proceedings.

Korea’s first polygamous marriage. Since there were multiple parents, our movements were bound to get tangled, and laughter erupted from here and there.

It was truly embarrassing, awkward, and chaotic.

“After the procession, we’ll take photos and throw the bouquet.”

Gulp, the sound of people swallowing could be heard everywhere. Today, the brides held bouquets as radiant as themselves, but Kwon Sua’s bouquet had yet to find its recipient.

It was truly a free throw.

“They say if you catch that flower, your love life will bloom.”

“Can anyone catch it?”

“This year for sure…”

The atmosphere at the wedding venue suddenly became as tense as the bottom of the 12th inning with two outs, bases loaded, and a 3-2 count in a baseball game.

“Heya!”

Finally, Kwon Sua’s bouquet was thrown backward. Numerous women rushed forward to catch it. The chaos that ensued as people became entangled was bewildering to everyone.

Pop-!

After the scuffle, the one who caught the bouquet was a woman who had leaped high into the air.

“Mom?”

I was quite surprised.

It was my mother who caught Kwon Sua’s bouquet.

“What! I haven’t had a wedding ceremony yet!”

“Were you worried about that?”

At my mother’s words, my father blushed as if embarrassed, and I felt extremely awkward too. I never expected my mom to catch the bouquet.

It had been a long time since I felt embarrassed because of my parents, even though I was well past adolescence.

There really isn’t anything in this world that can be predicted.

“The bouquet toss just now is invalid. Invalid. Mother, please return the bouquet to Kwon Sua.”

Eventually, the white bouquet returned to Kwon Sua’s hands. This time, people who truly wanted to reach marriage lowered their posture and tensed up in anticipation.

# # #

“Dad, play with us!”

“Today you have to play with me!”

“Where’s Giganoto!”

“Kengkeng! Come here!”

“Kengkeng is a flying squirrel!”

“It’s a wolf-spider!”

—Woof woof…!

—Woof woof…!

—Grrrr…!

—Grrrr…!

“Hieek…! Don’t pull this Gubulnoi’s tail…! If this Gubulnoi’s tail is pulled, the curly tail will straighten out and become a Flat-noi…!”

I often wondered where all those children had gone. Now I wonder where all these children came from. There are so many toddlers walking around Gaeryong these days.

“I can’t even take a nap.”

The problem was that with countless children, I had absolutely no time to take a nap.

I thought I could live like an immortal with all my money, but life doesn’t always go as planned.

Still, I loved the sound of little children running around and the voices of women scolding or comforting them.

My daily life that I protected was filled with hopeful times ahead and love that I put my heart into. But occasionally, very occasionally, nightmare-like things lurking in the shadows would poke their heads out.

Are they all happy? Did I make the best choice?

Am I still making the best effort? Could there have been a better option?

It was a groundless fear and a fundamental fear within me. When I trembled like that, a woman would approach and stroke my back.

“Did you have another nightmare?”

She looked like Juhui at times, like Dahui at others, and sometimes even like Sua or other women, or even like me.

It’s said that people who love each other grow to resemble each other, and after much time had passed, we had come to resemble each other’s existence so much.

I tried to find in our faces the young and fearful selves we once were. Recalling those times brought vitality to my body, which was exhausted from childcare, as if wings were sprouting.

“How are you these days? Are you happy?”

I asked.

I asked casually, but it was always a question whose answer I feared. What if I didn’t hear the answer I wanted? I was still a coward.

The woman who knew me well answered without the slightest hesitation.

“I’m happy. As happy as I could possibly be. Everything we wanted has come true. All thanks to you. What about you? What’s your wish? What you want, I mean. Have your wishes come true? Are you happy?”

What I want.

I looked around. The women had already fed the children and gathered around me. What I wanted… was actually something small and trivial.

“Right now, I just want to take a nap. I haven’t been sleeping well for the past few days…”

“Then lay your head on my lap.”

“My lap is softer! Besides, the reason Yeongwon hasn’t been able to sleep is because every night you all…!”

“We’re really going to die at this rate…! Don’t any of you know moderation…!”

I lay down with my head on the laps of the chattering women. The blue autumn sky was high, and the breeze was cool.

The gentle voices of the women echoed in my ears.

“Sleep well, Yeongwon.”

I slowly closed my eyes. Before me, in the distance, our past selves from what felt like long ago waved at me. Back then, we found the school uniforms we wore every day boring.

“Hey, everyone!”

I waved back at them and moved forward. That day, under the scorching summer sun, we sang of dreams while listening to the cicadas cry.

Could we have imagined the future that awaited us back then? I hoped this nap would last longer in this nostalgic dream.

I might not wake up for a while.

So, goodbye to everyone—

“Dad, play with us!”

“Where’s Giganoto!”

“I can’t find raccoon Kengkeng either!”

“Kids! I told you to be quiet because Dad needs to sleep!”

“Go play over there! Dad needs to play with the moms now!”

“If you’re not going to sleep anyway, play with us!”

Oh, shit…!

So much for taking a nap. But that’s how the world is. It’s hard to fulfill even a small, trivial wish like taking a nap.

That’s why we live with hope, thinking tomorrow might be different.

“Hey, who needs sleep! Everyone come here! I’ll give you kisses!”

Whoosh-!

I embraced my soft and warm roses. The children ran away with a “Waaah—” and the women were embarrassed in front of the children on this warm autumn day of mine.

My youth is still in full swing under the hot sunlight.