episode_0032

My uncle and I decided to start by looking around the orchard in question.

I didn’t like the idea of having to crawl back outside from the warmth of my room, but I needed to see what was going on before I could solve the problem.

“I need someone to guide me to the orchard…”

The old man said something stupid. If you need someone to guide you, just bring someone from Hanmaum Church. Why are you worrying about that again?

I grabbed the old man and headed toward where the crowd was. The sight of people huddled together around a kerosene stove reminded me of penguins.

“Excuse me, can you guide me to the orchard…”

“Oh my gosh! I hung out the laundry to dry!”

It’s winter now.

“Oh! I forgot it was my turn to eat. Hohoho!”

It’s calm now.

“By the way, didn’t the pastor ask you to chop some firewood in the afternoon?”

“…”

Before I could finish speaking, the people gathered around the fireplace each made an excuse and hurriedly left.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, so I turned around and saw that it was an old man. He was shrugging his shoulders with a mischievous expression on his face.

“People here are a bit scared. Should I have told you sooner?”

“…Shut up.”

“I don’t think your attempt is bad. Someone might have volunteered to do it.”

The old man nodded with a serious expression on his face and said,

It’s too late to give lip service, you old man.

I didn’t like seeing the old man fussing around, so I ignored him and walked by. The old man looked flustered and said, “Oh, oh!”, but it wasn’t my concern.

“That fake boss just said he’d take out all his liver and gall bladder if I just solved it. What’s with people’s attitude?”

Isn’t it a bit odd that someone who said they would solve the problem has come forward and no one is stepping forward?

I’m not asking you to go with me to a place full of zombies, I’m just asking you to guide me to an orchard. Is that something to be so scared of?

Asking for help? I don’t know when helping turned into feeding you everything.

“There’s nothing I like about this place.”

“It tastes good for something like that.”

Before I knew it, the old man who had been chasing me around was getting on my nerves.

“I ate it because I felt bad throwing it away. I ate it not because it was delicious.”

As you leave the chapel, you will find that the annexes of the Hanmaum Church are located in a circle. I don’t know why, but each floor had wooden planks lined up with cloth.

“Sir, do you know why it was done like that?”

“That’s a window that’s been blocked. It’s the same as covering the windows we don’t use before winter comes. Except for the chapel, everything here is covered.”

Window… I chewed on those words and took in the surroundings again.

A row of windows, an entrance with a familiar appearance, flower beds lining the walls of the building…

“It’s not a school. Why did they build the building like this?”

“That’s right, school. I think this used to be a mission school?”

Why is this real?

“Thinking of building a school on a mountain, there are many ways to waste money.”

“The answer is, it failed spectacularly due to a genius positioning, and that’s how the fakes came in. Which parent would want to see their kids hike up to school in the morning? Right?”

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the students who had to climb up and down the stairs to heaven or hell every morning and evening.

It’s not that bad. Now it’s turned into a refugee camp full of fake flavors.

“So how are we going to get to the orchard?”

“I was thinking of getting help from someone… but since our capable and proactive Danhwa showed me what the situation was like… I guess the only option left is ‘We’ll take care of it ourselves.’”

After asking the question, I regretted it. Why did I do such a stupid thing when I knew that he was the type to get away with his body?

I didn’t want to do something stupid like wandering around an orchard in the dead of winter. I looked around and saw a woman warming herself by the fire in front of a drum next to a building with a bored expression.

It was a different atmosphere from the people who had been bright-eyed with twisted faith earlier and who had run away as soon as they heard that help was needed.

I thought this was it so I walked towards her, but the woman didn’t even look at me until I was right in front of her.

“If you have time, I’d appreciate it if you could help me out a bit.”

As soon as I spoke, the woman took a cigarette out of her bosom and lit it with the flame coming from the drum. As if she had been holding her breath, the cigarette burned quickly and after a while, a cloud of smoke rose up.

I took a step back because I didn’t like the smell of cigarettes that much. Only then did the woman make an unexpected expression and start looking at me.

I didn’t notice it when we didn’t make eye contact, but when I looked at him like this, he gave off a very decadent vibe. I couldn’t help but think that he wasn’t the type of person who should be in church.

“I thought you would bleed because you looked dirty, but surprisingly, you don’t bleed?”

“…”

You’re talented.

He was no less skilled at getting on people’s nerves with just a single word than my uncle. To be honest, I felt worse than when I was treated like a brat.

Upon closer inspection, there was no gun in the woman’s eyes. She just seemed hazy, like someone under the influence of drugs.

“I don’t have any hobbies like doing drugs or smoking like others.”

“Oh my, be healthy. Do outsiders hate that kind of thing?”

As I watched her smiling with a secret voice, I began to feel a little angry.

I took a deep breath. It seemed like he was really taking drugs. Judging from the fact that he didn’t even hesitate to say crazy things.

I turned around, thinking that I should find someone else. Like the old man said, I felt like I had to be prepared to go out and do it myself.

“If you’re going to the orchard, I can guide you. It’s not that hard.”

The pharmacist said with a grin.

“Really?”

The old man who had been watching from afar came running to me at those words. I sighed involuntarily.

To fall for such talk, you’ve come a long way.

“Mister, are you stupid? You can tell it’s a lie just by looking at it. That woman even took drugs.”

The old man didn’t even blink an eye at what I said. He even spoke as if it was nothing.

“The world is like this, so what can I do about medicine? ”

“Oh my, you’re more open-minded than I thought. I thought the kid next to you would be a boring guy because he seemed so stuffy, but surprisingly. Now that I look at him, he’s in good shape.”

The pharmacist snickered at the old man’s words and said so. The woman’s words, which had been annoying until just now, were not really on his mind now.

That was because the old man’s words were that shocking.

Honestly, I was dumbfounded. The world is like this, so you can take medicine? And it’s not like you can do it, you can do it?

This was strange. I’ve often heard him say things like that, given his personality, but it wasn’t like him to say it like that.

“You speak as if you were the same person.”

I said what I felt. That’s something that can only be said between people of the same type, not between outsiders.

“Huh…huh?”

“Mr. Oh, you said you spoke like a weak person.”

It was a serious issue. It would have been good if he had cut it off now, but what if he was still doing it, knowingly or unknowingly? I tend to stick close to him, but I am still his partner.

There were clear limits to peeking into or controlling the man’s private life. If the man wanted to, he could do drugs as much as he wanted.

“Hahaha, that could just be it. Me taking medicine? Short story. If you saw me from the side, you would know. Do I look like someone who takes medicine or something? Let’s put aside any strange misunderstandings and focus on this beautiful lady who can meet our needs.”

That was right. It wasn’t a topic to be discussed in a place like this in the first place, and even if medicine was limited to private life, it was something that had enough influence outside that area.

The drug dealer right in front of me did that. Just look at his eyes, which make it seem like it wouldn’t be strange if he ate Dongtae and his friend.

Based on my common sense and my three years of experience with the old man, I don’t think he would do anything like taking medicine.

But why… I feel like there’s something there.

*

The sledger easily traversed the deep snow that would sink up to his ankles. We were no different. The reason we could do this was because of the snowshoes we wore under our shoes.

Because it was a mountain with a slight slope, whenever I touched the ground, the snow covered up to my wrist.

I thought that if that pharmacist hadn’t helped me, I would have had a hard time.

“As expected, short-sleeved shirts are a good fit. They also find someone who can solve their headaches right away.”

While I was lost in thought, the old man said this.

“Well, this is the basics.”

I said with a light smile, as I usually do, showing off the difference in skill between me and you.

“The two of you get along well. I wish I had a younger sibling like that.”

“Can’t you handle it?”

The old man said in a playful voice at the pharmacist’s words.

“I wonder what you just meant.”

“Can’t I just say no comment?”

“I like that too. It means “question and answer dance”, right?”

I punched the old man in the side. It was cold and he was wearing thick clothes, so all I could feel was the texture of the thick winter coat he was wearing.

“Write… Danhwa, gently…”

The old man was joking. It seems that his acting has improved considerably. If his hands had lost their sense of touch, he would have been fooled.

“You have to wear that and pretend to be sick so everyone will know.”

“Ha, haha… Is that so?”

“If you just go past there, it’s an orchard.”

Following the hermit’s hand gestures, I could clearly see the end of the slope. It seemed like they had almost reached the top of the mountain.

‘Ugh.’

At that moment, something like a sobbing sound reached our ears.

“Ugh, the medicine is wearing off… Seriously, it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.”

“What was that just now…?”

“There are other sounds besides that one. Most of the time it’s that sound.”

The old man’s expression hardened. It was the same for me.

It wasn’t because it gave me goosebumps, but because it made me realize what it was, because it was something I’d heard before.

We faced each other and almost simultaneously wrote down our death sentences.

“Oh, my head hurts. I guess they treated me well. Danhwa, I guess I should pay for the fruit properly before I go.”

“Ha… They didn’t give it to me because I asked for it. They gave it to me because they knew how.”

I opened the bow tied to my waist. Because it was elastic, the snow that had piled up scattered like grains of rice.

“What? Both of you all of a sudden?”

“It would be better to stick together. If you want to live.”

“I have a slightly different opinion from you. I think it would be okay if you turned around and ran away now.”

I said it nonchalantly. To be honest, it was half and half. Either run away or stick together.

“Here, next to the two of you, it seems like it would be the safest place…”

“A wise choice.”

The old man nodded to the pharmacist’s words.

That’s how the thread was formed. I stuck out my mouth.