Chapter 32: Dream

As I placed the bulgogi on the heated frying pan, it sizzled. Soon, the aroma of soy sauce marinade wafted through the air, tickling my nose and making my mouth water.
The smell was good, but what about the taste? I picked up a piece of meat from the pan and put it in my mouth.

“Hmm.”

The savory taste that stimulated my tongue and the chewy texture of the meat filled my mouth. Not bad. This completes the preparation for lunch and dinner.
I turned off the kitchen stove and stepped outside.

In the silent hallway of the Western-style house, only my footsteps echoed, leaving a faint lingering sound.

“Well, well.”

I couldn’t help but exclaim as I looked around the facilities.

A kitchen equipped like a restaurant, a bathroom reminiscent of a water park, and even a home theater so grand that most ordinary theaters couldn’t compare. And this was just a ‘villa’?
If I were to be stranded somewhere, I’d rather be stranded here and even pay a premium for it.

As I walked down the hallway with these thoughts, I suddenly felt a throbbing pain under my eyes. The accumulated fatigue, suppressed by tension, seemed to have surfaced. I was no different from them.

A few hours ago, the faces of the two who had come out of the room were pale, and soft moans escaped their lips.
I had thought about helping the staggering duo to the bedroom on the second floor and then going to sleep myself, but I endured, thinking they should at least have something to eat when they woke up.

“Haaam.”

A faint yawn escaped my tightly closed lips. But if I slept now, I wouldn’t be able to wake up until morning. What should I do?
Come to think of it, there seemed to be a terrace near the bedroom. I should go sit there and take a nap.

Having organized my thoughts, I grabbed my legs, which felt like they would give way at any moment, and headed towards the terrace on the second floor.

“What, you said you were dead tired.”

However, someone had already claimed the spot.

“I just, woke up from a nap.”

Han Yeoreum’s voice, as she replied, was subdued. Did she have a nightmare, as she mentioned this morning?

“What a sight.”
“What is?”
“Your face.”

Thanks to crying her eyes out earlier, every part of her face, from her eyes and nose to her mouth, was swollen.

“Go look in a mirror.”

I chuckled at her blunt reply and sat down next to Han Yeoreum.

“The rain, it’s not stopping.”
“So it seems.”

It was raining outside. As I poked my head out the window, the briny scent carried by the wind drenched my entire body.

“Looks like no boat today either.”
“Probably.”

Rain was also falling within Han Yeoreum’s eyes as she stared blankly at the falling raindrops. It was an expression that was once familiar to me, but had become blurry over time.

“Don’t worry. There was enough food in the fridge for the three of us to eat like crazy for two weeks and still have leftovers. There were also a lot of emergency rations and canned goods we could eat if necessary.”
“I see.”
“I took a quick look around earlier, and there’s a home theater inside. Oh, and a huge bathroom too. So don’t worry unnecessarily, just play hard and wait. Let’s think of it as a vacation at a resort.”
“Yeah.”

Han Yeoreum’s expression remained dark as she replied. She stared blankly at the wind for a moment, then slowly spoke.

“What if, I mean.”
“Yeah.”
“What if the rain doesn’t stop like this, and then the people outside forget I’m here, and I end up living here forever?”
“Huh?”
“During the day, I’ll go fishing in the sea, and in the evening, I’ll grill the fish I caught. And in my spare time, I’ll grow fruits or rice in the yard of this house.”

At first glance, her tone sounded playful, but her expression was quite serious.

“I don’t have to go to school and study. I don’t have to go to work and earn money. I don’t have to force myself to meet people I don’t like.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, I’ll just live here, taking care of myself. Eating, sleeping, taking walks around the island when I’m bored, swimming, and so on.”
“Then do you want to try that?”

Han Yeoreum’s bead-like eyes turned towards me. They were so filled with mist that it felt like they would scatter if I reached out my hand.

“I have a lot of money. Of course, I can’t buy this island, but if you want, I can get you an uninhabited island.”
“I was just saying.”

When I spoke a little too flippantly, Han Yeoreum chuckled as if she found it absurd and lightly kicked my left leg.

“If you don’t like it, then don’t.”

I replied, lightly kicking Han Yeoreum’s right leg. She tried to lift her right foot again to kick my leg, but I noticed and pulled my leg back, causing her to flail her foot in the air in a comical pose.
Han Yeoreum, trying to cover up her embarrassment, kicked the air a few more times, then cleared her throat and turned her head away.

“Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Less embarrassed than your face.”

After a few more rounds of meaningless insults and chuckles, we turned our gaze back to the scenery outside.

“What do you think? Living alone on an uninhabited island.”

Han Yeoreum asked tentatively, bouncing a raindrop on her palm.

“I wouldn’t like it.”
“Why?”
“I wouldn’t be able to watch ‘Myun,’ which is coming out next month. I’ve been waiting for it for so long. And ‘Last Fantasy XVI’ is coming out next year, I want to play that too.”
“Hmm.”
“Well, if I had to, I could probably manage for about a week, but not longer than that.”
“Lucky you.”

Han Yeoreum stroked the terrace railing with a lonely expression.

“I don’t have anything. Unlike you.”
“What don’t you have?”
“Things I want to do, things I can do. I dropped out of school, and I don’t have any skills or talents. I don’t have any connections to get me a job, or anyone waiting for me. No friends to talk to…”

Han Yeoreum’s shoulders slumped further as she continued speaking. I didn’t like that.

“Why do you say you don’t have anything?”

I replied in as nonchalant a voice as possible, stretching.

“You have me.”
“…Says who?”

Han Yeoreum looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. Like looking at a child who knows nothing about the world.

She wasn’t wrong. Excluding what was visible on the surface, I still knew nothing about the girl named Han Yeoreum.
The weight of the life she had endured, the extent of the pain she carried, the thoughts she was having at this very moment.
I didn’t even know the reason why she followed me back that day.

“I’m relying on you now, but I can’t live like this forever. I’ll have to leave someday, won’t I?”

Han Yeoreum said.

“I guess so.”

After all, we were strangers.

“But I don’t know what to do when I actually leave.”

Han Yeoreum clenched her small fists and lowered her head.

“You can start with a part-time job. And learn slowly as you go.”
“I’ll probably quit soon because I can’t control my temper. Unlike you, I’m the type to give up easily if I don’t like something.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”

Her voice, filled with anxiety, sounded like it would be swept away by the falling raindrops at any moment. I hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

“Hey.”

Even as I opened my lips, various thoughts and worries flashed through my mind.
Is it right to say this? Even if I say it, how can I convey it effectively? What if she gets hurt?

“Han Yeoreum.”
“What.”

But the conclusion was always the same.
That’s why I spoke to the brat in front of me, the one who was practically begging for an answer, the one who still had milk on her breath.

“Yeoreum.”
“…I’m not in the mood for jokes right now.”

I looked at Han Yeoreum, who was wiggling her eyebrows, and continued.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not the type to endure things I don’t like either.”
“What?”
“It’s true. I give up easily if I get even a little annoyed.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot? Do you think I don’t know you’re pushing yourself quite a bit right now?”

I bit my tongue to suppress the laughter that threatened to burst out. I really don’t know when I became like this.

You, you’ve been worrying about that all this time?

“Lately, you’ve been forcing yourself to laugh, making jokes that don’t suit you… In the first place, you said it yourself. That you’re far from being that kind of person.”
“I said I’m far from being someone who bluffs and acts all tough.”
“It’s the same thing! If pretending to be okay when you’re not in the mood isn’t bluffing, then what is?”
“So that’s your misunderstanding.”

Han Yeoreum closed her mouth with an unconvinced expression at my words.

“Of course, it’s awkward since I just started, but I don’t dislike it. I think it’s getting more fun as I do it.”

More accurately, it was closer to remembering something I had forgotten, but the gap was so long that it was practically like starting anew.

“Hey.”
“What… No, just. Stop calling me for every little thing and just say what you have to say.”
“Walking on the beach was fun, wasn’t it?”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Han Yeoreum couldn’t give a proper answer and just mumbled.

“Why are you hiding it now? Do you want to go back to the room with the lie detector?”
“So what? What are you going to do with that broken machine?”
“For your information, I had a lot of fun.”
“…I.”

Han Yeoreum’s gaze drifted towards the beach visible beyond the window. I leaned in beside her and continued teasingly.

“If you don’t answer quickly, I’ll bring that lie detector from earlier. I’ll make it work somehow.”
“Ugh, this is really… It was fun! It was fun! Okay?”

It was fun—It was fun—Fun—

Han Yeoreum’s voice echoed throughout the island. Her face flushed like a ripe tomato again at the unexpected natural phenomenon.

“The escape room we did during the day. Was that fun too?”

Han Yeoreum looked up at the ceiling at those words, then spoke as if in passing.

“…It was fun.”
Her voice sounded somewhat relieved.

“That’s how you learn things one by one. Ah, I didn’t know this before, but this is fun.”

I looked up at the sky again. It was dark due to the storm clouds, but it was still an endlessly high and wide sky.

“You said earlier that you don’t know what to do. Actually, it’s the same for me. There are so many things I haven’t tried because I was scared.”
“You have design.”
“That’s also because I was drawing and then decided I had to go to college, so I chose a major that fit. It’s not that it’s not fun, but I keep having lingering thoughts. Like, was this the only path for me?”

I don’t have the eloquence of a movie protagonist to give someone profound advice, nor the charisma to lead lost people in the right direction.
In some ways, it’s a shabby life, but I’m not ashamed of it. Rather, there must be things that even a simple person like me can do.

“Anyway, I got fired from my company, so I have nothing to do. You said you dropped out of school too.”
“So what?”
“So let’s go out and try various things. We might find something fun, you know.”

At the very least, I could be the pathetic adult who could accept whatever this cheeky brat said.