OL Ch 40

The sound of knocking on the [door] could be heard. It was such a strong knock that the closed door swayed, and through the gap, someone was looking at him.

The moment he realized it wasn’t a human’s eyes, Hayun opened his eyes.

“…..!”

He swept his chest down, startled by the nightmare, and then realized he was lying on his left side. He tried to turn his body quickly, but he heard the rustling of the blanket. Hayun held his breath as a habit.

Then, Mookyeong reached out to Hayun.

“If you sleep like that, you’ll fall. Come here.”

It was dark, so he couldn’t see Mookyeong’s face. Hayun looked at his hand, which Mookyeong was holding, and then moved his lips. He couldn’t think of what to say.

When Hayun stayed still without moving, Mookyeong patted his side of the bed. When Hayun still didn’t move, he got up and picked Hayun up.

“Why are you sleeping so far away? This bed is already small.”

“…..”

A small bed. Hayun mulled over Mookyeong’s words. He couldn’t believe it, but he didn’t argue. He buried his face in Mookyeong’s arms, who was holding him. But he didn’t close his eyes. He felt like he shouldn’t close his eyes and fall asleep again.

As Hayun strained his eyes, Mookyeong let out a soft laugh.

“Can’t sleep?”

Hayun nodded. Mookyeong’s large hand stroked Hayun’s head and cheek.

‘Ah, right. It was like this.’

Mookyeong tilted his body from side to side while holding Hayun. Then, seeing Hayun’s eyes still wide open, he whispered in a low voice.

“If you can’t sleep, shall I give you a piggyback ride? It’ll be better if we take a short walk outside.”

Hayun didn’t answer, but at some point, he was on Mookyeong’s back. Mookyeong carried Hayun on his back and went downstairs. With each step, the floorboards creaked, and his body swayed slightly. It was still early in the morning, so everything was dark.

Hayun wiggled his toes instead of talking to Mookyeong. Then, a blanket flew in from somewhere and wrapped around Hayun’s back and feet.

‘Right. Mookyeong could do this.’

Hayun rubbed his face on Mookyeong’s back. Meanwhile, Mookyeong passed the stairs, opened the front door, and went outside. But strangely, he didn’t feel any wind. He couldn’t see his surroundings properly either. Realizing the reason, Hayun clenched his fists. He had kept his eyes wide open, determined not to fall asleep, but his vision kept blurring.

“…..”

Mookyeong-ah.

Hayun called Mookyeong, but no sound came out. Mookyeong didn’t even know he was calling him and just looked ahead. Hayun pressed his trembling lips with his teeth at the sound of his intermittent humming. Then he hit Mookyeong’s shoulder hard. But he couldn’t feel any contact with his hand.

‘Just once. Turn around just once. Show me your face.’

He wanted to see Mookyeong. Not the current Mookyeong, but the Mookyeong who loved him, the Mookyeong he loved.

‘I miss you so much, too.’

Hayun kept waving his hands. But Mookyeong didn’t turn around. As if nothing was happening, he just looked ahead, occasionally humming and walking. Hayun gave up on hitting him and grabbed Mookyeong’s clothes.

But the clothes kept slipping out of his hands like fine sand. Hayun clenched his fists until his fingertips turned white. But he couldn’t stop the clothes from slipping away. The moment he completely let go of the clothes and looked up, he felt a sharp pain in his nose.

“…..!”

Hayun gasped, clutching his nose. His nose was throbbing, and his head was throbbing. His chest pounded violently with sweat. Hayun looked around with surprised eyes. Then he found Mookyeong. His heart sank, and his body lost all strength.

“I told you not to stick to me.”

At Mookyeong’s reproach, Hayun realized that he had been lying on his left side. Mookyeong hated it when he touched him while he was sleeping, and he hated facing him. Judging from his posture, it seemed that he had not only touched him but also faced him.

Just then, drops of blood fell from Hayun’s nose. He quickly tilted his head back and wiped under his nose. He had been hit squarely, and his nose was bleeding. Meanwhile, Mookyeong went into the bathroom connected to the room. At the sound of the bathroom door closing, Hayun carefully got up.

He washed his face and blocked his nose.

‘I shouldn’t have stuck to him.’

If he hadn’t, he might have started the morning a little better. Hayun glanced at his reflection in the mirror for a moment and then lowered his head. He couldn’t bear to look at himself.

Hayun put on his glasses, left the room, and headed to the veranda. He stepped on the window frame and opened the veranda window. As soon as he opened the door, unlike in the dream, a cold wind blew in.

Judging from the fact that he went straight into the bathroom, Mookyeong would be getting ready to go to work soon. He didn’t want to provoke Mookyeong, who had become sensitive enough to swing his hand even in his sleep.

‘Just until he leaves for work.’

His cheeks were flushed, whether from shame or just from being upset. Hayun cooled his cheeks with the back of his hand and realized that his hand was trembling.

He leaned his forehead against the thin screen and waited for the trembling to subside. It was early, so the outside was still bathed in the bluish light of dawn.

Hayun roughly wiped his face, his thoughts returning to the dream. Lately, he had been dreaming a lot about the past. Perhaps it was because he couldn’t dream of a better future that he was dwelling on the past.

‘A better future.’

The moment he mulled over the future, Hayun’s gaze turned to the bottom of the veranda window. As soon as he looked down, his vision went dark, and he felt dizzy. Hayun stumbled and grabbed the living room window. The moment his head hit the window, he made eye contact with Mookyeong, who was just coming out to the living room. Mookyeong smirked at Hayun and then turned away.

“…..”

Whether in a dream or in reality, he couldn’t speak. Hayun leaned his back against the living room window and slid down to the floor.

‘What kind of dream is this in two parts…’

He felt like he was standing on the floor, but he didn’t feel like he was standing on the floor. Hayun pulled up his knees and curled up. His heart pounded, and he was out of breath. His nose, which had been bleeding, and his head throbbed. He felt vaguely distressed, not knowing what was weighing him down and making him tired.

So he just wanted to find a way to feel a little better.

Then, his left wrist felt like it was being tightened by a strong string, and he saw a sticker attached to the bottom of the window frame. It was a sticker with the name and contact information of the window construction company. Hayun traced the numbers printed on the sticker as if reading with his hand.

It was a familiar sequence of numbers, not a phone number. But there were more numbers after that familiar sequence. Hayun knew what it meant.

‘A side passage leading to another door.’

Hayun tilted his head. The [door], which he had never seen before, was visible through the gap in his glasses. And he could also see where the door led to.

‘Huh?’

Hayun stared at the door, clutching his wrist. The door was still only visible through the gap in his glasses. Unlike before, when he read the markings and guessed where it was, the name of the door, where it led, was clearly legible. Of course, he had to turn his head this way and that to read the letters because it was only visible through the gap.

Hayun roughly wiped his face. His head was still throbbing, perhaps because of the dream he had just had. He took a moment to catch his breath and walked over to the window on his knees. The door was roughly the same size as the window, and it was located between the veranda railing beyond the screen.

Hayun immediately opened the screen. Then a cold and sharp wind blew in, ruffling Hayun’s clothes and hair. Hayun, not caring, reached out to the door. But the door wouldn’t be caught by Hayun’s hand.

“…..!”

His hand passed through and swiped at the air. His body swayed because his hand movements were large due to his impatience. Hayun immediately tried to lean his back against the window frame, but his body was leaning forward. Hayun was startled and grabbed the veranda railing tightly. His heart sank as if he were on a roller coaster.

The excitement he had felt from looking at the door had cooled down. Hayun let go of the railing and lowered his head. Winter had passed, and now spring was in full bloom, but he felt like he was still trapped in winter. Hayun’s gaze turned downward.

A different impulse than before surged up. Hayun grabbed the top of the railing and stood up. He stepped on the railing and half-perched his body on the bar. At the weight of an adult male, the railing made an unpleasant sound. But Hayun didn’t back down.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just end it like this?

Fortunately, there was no one below. Hayun’s toes tensed, preparing to push his body upward. The moment he was about to move, the door slammed shut. His toes and hands, which were about to lift his body, froze at the sound.

Hayun gasped and stepped back. His body heated up, and he broke out in a cold sweat. Hayun turned his gaze away from the open window.

“…Get a grip. What is this, really?”

Hayun slapped himself on the cheek. Perhaps because of the cold wind, he couldn’t feel the pain well. He slapped his own face harder. The sound was quite loud, and he finally came to his senses. Hayun slapped the other cheek as well.

Mookyeong no longer had Seo Iju or Baek Jinha. He couldn’t just get rid of himself too.

“…Fuck.”

Hayun muttered in a voice filled with resentment. He felt like his insides were boiling. Hayun fell to the floor and trembled. He knew he had to endure it, but it was hard to endure. If he hadn’t had that dream, he could have gotten through today without any problems.

‘I wouldn’t be so upset if I had at least seen his face.’

Hayun recalled Mookyeong’s voice calling him affectionately. He couldn’t even remember it well now. A drop of water fell on the lens of his glasses, which were half-slid down and just hanging on his ear.

He felt a surge of anger for no reason. Hayun threw whatever he could grab at the door. But it was just a piece of cardboard, so it didn’t even reach the door and came back to him.

Hayun was annoyed at the absurdity and glared at the sticker.

‘What is this? Why did I notice that in this situation?’

Hayun sighed and threw the piece of cardboard that had returned to his hand on the floor.

Perhaps because he had cried, his head was relatively clear. But regardless of how clear it was, he couldn’t stand the fact that the sticker pointed to the door.

‘A side passage leading to the door in the yard of the old house.’

Hayun recalled Seo Iju smoking a cigarette after returning from a funeral home in the bluish dawn. And at the same time, he also remembered her hand pointing to a corner of the yard.

‘The place where the time capsule was buried.’

He wondered why his mind was focused on this when he was struggling with immediate hardships.

‘I guess I just want to think about something else.’

Hayun let out an annoyed breath.

Even he thought his thoughts were jumping around on their own.

‘But I already checked all the places the teacher pointed to.’

Hayun had previously recalled the existence of the time capsule when he found Seo Iju’s last trace. And from that day on, he dug up all the areas around where Seo Iju had pointed, trying to find the time capsule. But no matter how much he dug around, the time capsule never appeared.

Of course, there was a possibility that it was lost when the house burned down on ‘that day’. Or maybe someone had already dug it up.

“…The West Sea. Daeso Mountain.”

The West Sea.

Hayun inhaled slowly. Every time he inhaled and exhaled, his breath trembled because of the lingering tears.

“Teacher, and the West Sea.”

Hayun kept muttering the words that came to mind.

“Wedding anniversary, anniversary trip, the West Sea, Teacher.”

Hayun tried to recall what Seo Iju had said. He couldn’t remember well, perhaps because his memory had faded or because he was agitated. Hayun hit his own head hard.

“Family, making memories. A time capsule made to preserve memories.”

Hayun slowly raised his head. There was something he remembered along with the word ‘maybe’. Hayun jumped up. He quickly changed his clothes, grabbed his wallet and bag, and left the house.

He didn’t know how he got to Seo Iju’s old house where he used to live. Hayun entered the house site, panting.

Seo Iju’s house was surrounded by construction scaffolding and cloth. Previously, because Mookyeong was a minor and Seo Iju’s death had only been processed last year, it had been left unattended, with only the excavated area roughly filled in. Because a fairly large area in the middle of a residential area was left unattended, there had been constant complaints.

Thanks to this, even before he officially inherited it, Mookyeong had to submit a plan to the relevant department on how he would use the land after inheriting it. The fact that he was a psychic belonging to the Department of Defense would have played a big role.

‘Well, if you’re related to a government agency, you have to be careful about complaints.’

Anyway, now that the inheritance process was complete, this house belonged to Mookyeong. As soon as he obtained ownership, Mookyeong proceeded with the construction as planned.

‘It’s a good thing it’s only been a few days.’

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to get in here. Hayun checked that the workers hadn’t arrived yet and started looking for the place where the door connected to the side passage was.

It was a place that was practically in ruins, but he could still recall its former appearance. Hayun easily found the area that Seo Iju had pointed to with her hand, and the area that he had dug up.

‘Why didn’t I think of this?’

A place where the door and the door do not meet. There was no better place to make a side passage. Hayun read the nameplate of the door through his glasses. His wrist ached, even though he hadn’t done anything to it.

Clang.

Hayun turned his head at the faint sound of a clang. He thought someone was ringing a bicycle bell, but it was still early, and there was no one on the street. Hayun frowned, clutching his wrist. It hurt, but it wasn’t unbearable.

After briefly recording the nameplate, Hayun immediately turned around.