episode_0061

“I’m sorry. Every time I see you, I only receive help, so I wanted to take care of you, so I ended up holding on to you like this. There was a little incident, too.”

“Haha, this is a food that is hard to get. I am just grateful. I think this would be a good snack for kids.”

“Oh my god?”

The man took a ziplock bag out of his pocket. I glanced at it and saw that it was dried fruit.

No, I’m paying for that precious thing with chicken…

To be honest, I enjoyed the chicken, but I thought, ‘Isn’t it a bit too much?’ It’s just that chicken is difficult to eat, and the ingredients themselves aren’t that expensive.

“Thank you. I was worried because the kids have been getting sick sometimes lately, but all of this… The general said it would be resolved soon, but fruit isn’t that precious. Still, I thought it would take a while for our kids to get their turn to eat it.”

“No. Well, what’s precious about an item? It’s a jackpot if it goes to someone who needs it.”

What the heck, last time I ate something that I got from a woman I don’t know if she was Yuri or Miri, I couldn’t even control my facial expressions…

This was the problem for the old man. Aren’t people supposed to take care of themselves first? Why do they treat others better?

Oh, is this the fish you’ve caught? You don’t even think I’d abandon you and go for someone else?

Well… it wasn’t a wrong idea, but public sentiment is what’s important.

I could originally nag my uncle with nice words, but isn’t it the uncle’s usual behavior that piles up and evolves into nagging?

“Thank you, Do-hoon. Just like my wife said, I feel like I always receive help. I heard you’re going to be in charge of a big job for the unit again. Take care!”

“Yes, well… I’ll go now.”

“Be careful! The girl next to you too! Eat your food quickly. You have to grow tall!”

Ugh… Do you think that eating makes you grow?

Since I had made a mistake, I couldn’t say anything loudly, so I just bowed my upper body slightly to say hello and started to move my feet quickly.

First of all, I wanted to quickly go to a place where those two people were not.

How long did it take to walk like that?

I don’t know if it was there originally or if it was just installed, but the old man and I noticed a neat children’s playground.

No, isn’t this a military camp? Doesn’t it feel like there are only two goal posts in a desolate parade ground?

There were quite a few children running around and playing in the playground. This was also a scene that was unimaginable outside, and I even thought that the children might not even know about the existence of zombies.

I grabbed the old man’s hand and dragged him to one of the benches scattered around the playground, which happened to be empty.

We’ve had a meal and walked a bit, so shouldn’t we take a break and chat? The old man had a lot to say.

“You could have just given them combat rations or spam or something. Why did you give them dried fruit?”

“Huh…huh?”

“Why did you give it to me? If you give me that, I can even estimate what I can buy. That’s really stupid.”

You’re like this stupid old man. And my mouth isn’t even a mouth. If there’s something like that, shouldn’t I be the one giving it to you first?

I honestly felt bad for him because he acted like that even though I knew he liked fruit.

“No, it’s Danhwa. You caused so much trouble there… You should give me that so I don’t get scolded…”

“What? Are you saying it was because of me?”

No, people can misunderstand things. Besides, I apologized to the person involved and they forgave me.

I was shocked that the old man was interfering in a situation where both parties had agreed to pretend that the matter never happened.

Moreover, the old man is the one who caused it.

“If you had brought me here every time you came here, you wouldn’t have had such misunderstandings. Do you know what I always thought when you said, “I’m going to the dam. Please give me a shelter.”?”

“No…”

“What do you mean ‘no’? This time, when we came together, there wasn’t anything dangerous! I thought it was some kind of really scary place. There were about ten Screamers on the way there, and when we got there, I thought it was a place where they’d shove guns into our heads.”

From my perspective, I honestly said I didn’t show it, but it was always on my mind. If it’s such a dangerous place, shouldn’t we go together?

However, since I had been going with my uncle for a short while, I had suppressed those feelings out of inertia because he had always gone to the dam alone.

Because we always went together unless my uncle was visiting the dam. I thought there must be a reason why I shouldn’t go.

So, this time, on the way here together, I felt a sense of betrayal.

What the heck, there was a place like this? What the heck, wasn’t this a dangerous place? Why would you leave such a nice place?

Are the people living here bad? Or are the people above rotten? There must be some reason.

But all those guesses were wrong.

Because that wasn’t the case at all. The conclusion I ultimately reached was that it was a mistake.

“If you had come here often with me, would I have misunderstood like that? Tell me the reason quickly. Why didn’t you bring me here? And why did you bring me here this time? If there’s no good reason, I really won’t stay still.”

In the end, it was because of the old man that I ended up being treated so vulgarly. If the old man hadn’t acted like that, he wouldn’t have had such a strange misunderstanding with the woman with the child.

I also had common sense and concepts. But what should I do? Even if I put everything I was given together, that was the only answer I could come up with.

The old man’s mouth, which had been tightly shut, slowly opened.

“I did that because I thought you’d blame me.”

“What?”

What is this? Am I resenting you? Why? For what reason?

“As you felt when you came here, it was a good place to live. That’s why I thought I would complain. The kids here play according to their age, learn according to their age, and live according to their age.”

So what?

“I thought you would think that way even if you didn’t say it. ‘Why did this person make me live in this shitty place instead of a nice place like this? Why did he make me do that to him?’ ”

I said I would do it. Why do you care about that, sir? I was going to die anyway, I was planning to die, but you saved me, so I decided to live for the pleasure of helping you.

“You idiot. Die.”

I hit the old man’s face hard with my hand.

Did you only see me like that? Just some brat who complains about living in a poor place, having a hard time eating, and having a hard life?

“When you were joking around like a fool earlier. Didn’t you say sorry then? You’re a real idiot… If you keep your mouth shut and pretend like nothing happened, you’ll only cause more misunderstandings? I told you. Tell me when you go. I told you. Don’t wander off alone. ”

In the end, the words I was saying were piercing my heart like a knife, but I didn’t show any sign of it and just lay down flat on my back.

If I tell you the story, you won’t understand me. Why didn’t the old man set up a shelter here? It was obvious. He must have hated the military. He wouldn’t want to stay in a place where he had almost no good memories.

Even though he playfully talked about how he was an ace during his military days, I knew he was just joking and not saying he wanted to go back to that time.

Above all, it was only recently that he spoke of the ‘unpleasant memories’ from his time as a soldier.

Even if the people in this unit had nothing to do with the old man’s misfortune, they would have been reluctant to even think about it.

Well, I’m not going to get mad and say, ‘You made me live in a place like that because of that stubbornness?’ How can you look down on someone so much…

My heart sank a little. I thought I had tried hard. The fact that I thought I would resent you for something so trivial made me do it.

It’s unfair.

“I’m sorry. But I brought you here because I don’t think that’s the case anymore. No, I knew you wouldn’t do that. You said that a while ago. Danhwa, you know I’m a bit like that.”

“No…ugh.”

I was about to say something, but then I suddenly felt a lump in my throat and quickly closed my mouth. Damn it, why am I doing this? Why am I acting like a brat over something so insignificant…

“Shorts…!”

A sudden heat came over me. I wondered what it was, but the old man was hugging me tightly. It was really disgusting, what the hell was he doing…

It’s not that the words are disgusting, it’s just that it’s not really disgusting or anything. It’s that I felt like he realized his mistake belatedly and was trying to do something about it.

I didn’t know where to put my hands, so I just put them on the old man’s back. I had no choice. If I just let my arms hang down, I thought the old man would feel embarrassed, but I couldn’t wrap my arms around his neck, right?

Anyway, my turbulent heart calmed down. It seemed like the old man’s actions were not in vain.

Yeah, I bet the old man had his own set of worries. People like me originally had their own set of worries, even if others didn’t understand them.

Who else but me, who has been watching over the old man for so long, would understand such a beggarly side of him? Since I had decided to live by helping the old man, it was something I had to endure.

“Let go.”

“Sorry, Danhwa. What should I apologize for? ”

“You don’t have to apologize, so just let it go.”

“No, don’t do that. I said I was wrong. I guess I didn’t think about you enough. I’ll be more careful next time. Okay?”

“Let go before you get really angry. Do I look like some kind of kid who’s whining about something like that?”

The old man let me go. I could see stains on the old man’s clothes, probably because they weren’t washed properly. I thought that when I got back to the shelter, I would tell Lina to do her laundry properly.

What are you going to do if you can’t even do something as simple as laundry properly?

“Anyway, keep your word. If you keep leaving me alone because of something really useless, I won’t stay still. I’m your partner. Got it?”

“Of course.”

I had that thought to myself as I listened to the confident old man’s answer.

Even if I do this, I’ll probably have another accident later. I sighed inwardly two or three times. Yes, that’s because I’m an old man. I’ll have to be aware of it every time that happens.

“And.”

“And?”

“Shelter supplies, if you’re using them yourself, I don’t know, but if you’re giving them to someone else, get permission from me. At the very least, ask before giving them to me.”

The old man looked at me and searched through my bosom.

“Ahem! Of course I packed yours separately, so don’t be so mad…”

Okay, either this guy doesn’t get the hang of it or he’s doing it on purpose.

“My, my food is important too! Above all, I’m saying this because you spend too much. Got permission?”

“Yes…”