Chapter 29: Are you crazy?

A summer night, with its characteristic sticky heat.
On the cramped floor of the caravan, barely large enough for three people to lie down, Han Yeoreum cursed the sleep that wouldn’t come.

One reason she couldn’t sleep was the poor environment—having to rely on a makeshift pillow made from a rolled-up hoodie on a hard floor without proper bedding. But fundamentally, she wasn’t used to the concept of sleep itself.

Days spent dozing off, hunched over a toilet in a park restroom, experiences of secretly sleeping in commercial buildings and then fleeing from security guards.
For Han Yeoreum, night wasn’t a time for rest, but a time of fear, a time to protect herself from external threats.

Strangely though, since the night she returned, following the man’s back, she had been able to sleep to some extent.

Thinking about it makes me annoyed again.

For some reason, every time she closed her eyes today, she felt an unbearable frustration. Yes, she was already a light sleeper, and now she was agitated on top of it.

“Damn…”

Han Yeoreum recalled the clear stab wound on Yu Dojin’s forearm.
The crimson blood flowing from between the parted skin, and the ominous sound it made as it dripped onto the floor.

She had given him first aid, but the horrifying sight seemed to be seared onto her retinas.

—Don’t die. You can’t die…

The silver-haired woman, the cause of it all, her face pale, kept repeating the same words like a broken robot, endlessly applying antiseptic to Yu Dojin’s wound.

If you were going to do that, you should have just come in earlier. If you hadn’t been so stubborn and just came in, that idiot wouldn’t have ended up like that.

Han Yeoreum was overwhelmed by the urge to kick the woman sleeping with her back turned. How could she be so brazen after causing such a mess? Can you even sleep?
Really, I’d rather sleep next to that idiot than next to this woman.

Considering the tightly packed shelves and appliances, Han Yeoreum, being the shortest, had been pushed to the end. Even if there was a valid reason, it was still annoying…

About three hours had passed since Han Yeoreum had been unable to sleep.

“…Are you asleep?”

Suddenly, the woman’s sharp voice came from beside her.
No, this is seriously infuriating. I can’t sleep because of you, and now you’re sleep-talking?

“Oppa… are you asleep?”

Han Yeoreum, about to scold her for the unending noise, turned her head and saw a rather strange sight.

“You’re asleep, right…?”

The silver-haired woman had gently placed both hands on Yu Dojin’s back, who was lying on his side.

“…”

And then she carefully buried her face in his back.

“Sigh… Hhh… Ugh… Ah…”

She began to inhale slowly. As if trying to suck up all the man’s lingering scent from his back.

“…Sob… Hhh, no… I can’t, I shouldn’t be doing this… This is why I didn’t want to come…”

At some point, the woman started sobbing.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… Unni, I’m sorry… Oppa, I’m sorry…”

The woman was crying so pathetically that even Han Yeoreum, who had been furious to the core, felt a pang of pity.

“It’s because of me again…”

Han Yeoreum quietly turned her head away. She thought it would be rude to watch any longer.
She just thought quietly to herself.

****

The island morning was hazy. The wind, which had blown as if to swallow everything last night, had somewhat subsided, but its remnants still lingered, tickling the trees.
Moreover, it seemed to have rained overnight, as everything was damp, and a fog from somewhere enveloped the entire island.

“What, why are you up so early?”

As I was admiring the island scenery for a moment, Han Yeoreum crawled out from behind me, rubbing her eyes.
Her eyes, with their drooping dark circles, resembled a panda’s markings.

“You should sleep more.”
“Ah~ I don’t know. I kept waking up all night, and when I finally thought I fell asleep, I had a bad dream.”

Han Yeoreum scratched her greasy hair. Well, it couldn’t have been easy sleeping in that cramped space.

“Is your arm okay?”
“Yeah. It stings a little, but this much is nothing.”
“Okay…”

She looked at the bandage on my arm with a worried expression, then spoke softly.

“But… aren’t we stranded?”

Stranded on an uninhabited island, with no contact with the outside world. As she said, it could be called being stranded.

“No.”
“Are you being optimistic, or do you have a reason?”

Han Yeoreum crossed her arms and asked back, dumbfounded.

“Do you think Oh Minseo wouldn’t have anticipated this?”

Han Yeoreum’s eyes widened, as if she had just realized something.

“Even if something went wrong, she’s not the type to put people on an island without a backup plan. Besides, only the communication is down, the electricity is working fine, and there’s enough lodging and food. Also, it’s not inhabited, but it’s not that far from the mainland, and people around us know our situation. If we wait, someone will come for us eventually.”

Oh Minseo said she was just playing with me for her own pleasure, but that day, I became convinced of the existence of something else, something dormant beneath her eyes.
Of course, I didn’t know exactly what it was now, but that too would naturally reveal itself and be resolved over time.

I just have to do what I have to do. By her side, until she someday confides in me.

“Let’s just have a simple breakfast and then go find that villa on the mountain. We can’t sleep crammed in there again tonight.”
“Well, I don’t really care either way…”

Han Yeoreum muttered, wondering if that person would follow, but Yu Garyeon surprisingly followed without a word of complaint.

“…”
“…”
“…”

An indescribably awkward atmosphere hung between us as we climbed the hiking trail extending above the campground.
Yu Garyeon was strangely gloomy, perhaps because of what happened yesterday, and Han Yeoreum glared at her with narrowed eyes, as if disapproving of her.

“…Um.”

Yu Garyeon, ignoring Han Yeoreum’s gaze and staring only at my arm, cautiously spoke.

“Yeah?”
“Your arm…”
“It’s okay. It just stings a little, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

Yu Garyeon fidgeted her lips, as if wanting to say something, then closed her eyes tightly and continued.

“That’s what happens when you meddle unnecessarily. If you’re planning to provoke my guilt with that, you’d better give up. It doesn’t bother me… at all. Actually, I’m glad. That you ended up like that.”
“Okay.”

Saying such things with a face on the verge of tears wasn’t convincing at all.

“Isn’t that a bit much?”

However, unlike me, who had spent a long time with Yu Garyeon, Han Yeoreum, seemingly not understanding the situation, narrowed her eyes even more sharply and spoke.

“It’s okay. So this is…”
“You be quiet.”

Han Yeoreum cut me off and raised her voice.

“This is ridiculous. Whose fault is it that this kid ended up like this? What~? It happened because you meddled unnecessarily? Even if you’re sulking, there are things you should and shouldn’t say, right?”

Yu Garyeon’s eyebrows furrowed with an ominous sound.

“I’m sorry, but if you don’t know anything, could you please stay quiet?”
“I’m saying this because I don’t know anything. Do you even realize how pathetic you look right now from a third person’s perspective?”

Han Yeoreum shook her head and poured out words of criticism.
Yu Garyeon, who had been listening silently at first, seemed to get annoyed by the continuous remarks, clenched the hem of her dress, and spoke.

“Hah, now even a brat like this is telling me what to do… Hey, this isn’t a simple problem that a kid like you can meddle in.”
“You said it well. Do you think it makes sense for someone who’s known him for so long to do less than a brat like me?”
“What did you say?”
“Did I say something wrong?”

Just as I was about to intervene to mediate the escalating tension,

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, a loose stone from somewhere hit my left foot.
It wasn’t a major impact, but perhaps because of the injury I sustained on my left calf last night, I lost my balance and fell.

“Oppa!”

However, thanks to Garyeon throwing herself to support me, I didn’t sustain any further injuries.
As a price for that, Garyeon’s white dress became covered in dirt.

“Does it hurt? Do you think your leg is broken? Do you need help?”
“It’s okay. I just tripped on a stone. Garyeon, your dress…”

As if snapping back to reality at those words, Yu Garyeon pushed me away with both arms.

“Ah… W-What do you want me to do? Ah, seriously. It’s completely ruined because of you. This was expensive.”
“…What’s with that b*tch?”

Perhaps because the heat had subsided due to the series of commotions, the two of them became quiet again, and we, continuing our hike, finally reached Oh Minseo’s villa.
Of course, whether that meant it was time to rest…

“Kyaaaaaaah—!”
“Ugyaaaaaaah—!”

It didn’t seem like it.