episode_0228

***

Yoon Sia did not send the hospital bill right away. Instead, I left the cafe earlier than scheduled.

She boarded a bus and had to change buses three times, about 15 minutes each, to get to the hospital.

I could see her mother dozing off, sitting in front of the hospital room where her father was, on one side of the six-person room.

Yun Sia couldn’t bear to walk to the hospital room. This is because I felt that if I entered this room full of gloomy and sickly energy, even I would be consumed by that energy.

While she was standing there awkwardly, unable to get in or out, her mother, who had been dozing like a chicken, opened her eyes.

“…….”

The two mother and daughter looked at each other.

Yun Sia opened her mouth to announce that she had arrived.

Her mother, fatigue clouding her eyes, slowly stood up her rusty body.

She glanced at her husband, then left the hospital room, dragging her slippers.

“What about rice?”

Those were the first words I said to my daughter.

“I ate. Mom?”

It was a dinner filled with Americano and cookies.

“I ate a good lunch so I don’t think much about dinner.”

The year has already passed. Yoon Sia didn’t add much to her mother’s lie.

The two women walked down the hallway. The two entered the lounge and sat down in the empty seats.

And the silence that followed.

As Yoon Sia was taking in the quiet yet busy atmosphere of the hospital hallway, her mother suddenly spoke.

“The condition has gotten worse. They said they would change the medication starting tomorrow.”

I heard about my father’s condition. I feel like my heart is sinking.

“So you need more money?”

“I received a reminder from the administrative department… so I was pushed a lot.”

Extreme fatigue and resignation were etched into the mother’s eyes.

“Okay. I’ll send you more.”

Yun Sia felt sick to her stomach.

Not because I spent more than half of the price of her wages, but because I thought it was cruel to have to pay for her wages.

“Mom, I’m going to extend my shifts, and now I have to work until the afternoon.”

Her mother worked as a supermarket cashier.

“Then who is your father?”

Yoon Sia asked, tapping the bare floor with her heel.

“Sia, so…”

My mother blurted out her words again.

“Can you please see Dad in the afternoon? Now even caregivers can’t use it for long.”

“…I will ask if I can adjust the tutoring time.”

“Okay, thank you.”

After those words, the conversation between mother and daughter did not continue.

Yun Sia sent another half of the remaining money, then stood up and left the hospital.

“…….”

Her mother watched indifferently as her daughter left without saying goodbye.

There was only empty lethargy left in those eyes.

The woman with deep wrinkles around her eyes and mouth no longer had the guns and love of her youth.

***

While wondering what to eat, I ended up choosing cup ramen.

This is because the soul craved the taste of artificial seasoning that could not be properly consumed due to the dimensional shift.

Perhaps because the house was located in a very wealthy area, the convenience store had to go a long way down the hill.

As I was going down, I wondered why the hill was so steep, and then I realized that people who live here never walk up the hill in the first place.

Everyone will travel by car.

I went down the hill, lamenting the fact that I was still a small citizen even after being possessed.

When I arrived at the bottom of the hill, a convenience store with a familiar logo greeted me.

Feeling half excitement and half joy, I was about to enter when I noticed a dog food bowl placed next to the entrance.

I looked around to see if he had a dog, but I couldn’t see a dog or even a leash.

– rattle

The door opened with a bell, and I wandered from stall to stall, filling my lungs with the familiar air of modern times.

After putting a basket full of spicy and spicy things, I put it on the checkout counter.

The part-time worker mechanically stamped their barcodes.

“It is 32,300 won.”

I bought it greedily and got quite a lot.

“Here.”

I held out my card, and the part-time worker pointed to the card reader.

Oh, you put it in yourself.

“What is the dog food bowl at the entrance?”

I asked as I inserted the card.

“That’s the boss giving the cat food.”

He must have heard this question often, and he said he was tired of his part-time job.

“A cat?”

“Yes. It’s a feeding place for stray cats or something… That’s why they leave things like churros in convenience stores.”

It seems like the owner is a cat lover.

I took the card out of the reader and left the store.

It’s already getting dark.

Since it was a long way to go up the hill, I busied myself with my legs.

– Meow

Behind me going up the hill, I heard a cat’s low sound.

***

When I went back about halfway down the way I came, I got a call from Yoon Sia.

I took the phone with my free hand.

“Hello?”

[Ah… Inho, can I call you?]

It’s a quiet voice.

“Yes, it is possible.”

There is still a long way to go up the hill.

[if….]

Yoon Si-ah was speechless. Is there something I would like to ask you?

[Could it be possible to move the tutoring time to night? Around 8 or 9 o’clock….]

“Uh… why?”

[Well, something happened to me.]

“Um….”

As I withheld the answer, I heard a sigh from the other side.

[Now you’re suspended from school… No, you’re doing it in the afternoon because you’re resting at home, right? Since I have to adjust the time again when the suspension is lifted anyway… I wonder if it would be better to move it in advance…]

Yoon Sia, heard through the cell phone, was desperate.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

I answered her because I couldn’t find any reason to refuse.

[uh? really?]

She didn’t miss my vague affirmation.

“But are you okay?”

Well, since it’s such a problem, I guess it doesn’t matter.

[what?]

“If you go to sleep, won’t it be past 9 o’clock?”

I told her the one sticking point.

There is silence on the other side of the phone.

During that long period of silence, I climbed the hill and waited for Yoon Sia’s words.

[Inho.]

When we got to the front of the house, Yoon Sia asked me in a puzzled voice.

[Yaja… when are you talking about?]

Oh, there are no palm trees?

I’m old.