Episode 125
“If I fold it like this.”
“huh.”
“This thing sticks out and becomes an ear.”
“So what you’re making now is a rabbit?”
“Ugh, dinosaur.”
“Aha….”
The sound of small colored paper rustling.
Lee Yun-byeol slowly blinked his eyes as he looked at the blood-covered man who nodded in accordance with the child’s words. Perhaps because it was a cool day, my knees, which I held with both hands, felt cold.
‘…I have to do it.’
I had no energy.
Yunbyeol Lee liked children. Unlike adults, they enjoyed their own immature language and also liked actions filled with pure emotions. When they gave gifts with special value of their own, Lee Yun-byeol was so happy that he felt like he could fly.
But other than that, the work was hard. The values of children and adults were very different, and while they were full of strength, Yunbyeol Lee’s physical strength was not good. Especially in a world like now where there are monsters and anyone can die, Lee Yun-byeol was gradually getting tired.
She smoothed her empty hands.
“….”
It was sad.
‘Why does a child like that have to die…’
I heard the story from Detective Hong Gyeong-jun. The strange child she was looking for was found dead, and there were no other adults nearby.
Hearing those words, Yunbyeol Lee became suspicious of whether the person he saw at that time had killed the child.
I shouldn’t say this, but the guy who kept talking gibberish honestly seemed like a crazy person, and the way he looked at the child like a kid was not normal. If the child and the man had not known each other, they would have reported it.
But now I just regret it.
‘I should have taken you with me.’
Regardless of whether the man and the child were holding hands or not, Lee Yun-byeol should have taken the child’s hand and run away with Seo-ah. No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed like the crazy guy was using the child as bait to save his own life.
I still remembered the first thing the crazy guy asked me when he looked at me. It’s March 1st, so why isn’t anyone taking a break? At the same time, seeing her as a crazy person, Lee Yun-byeol defined her as a dangerous person. If we had just had more time, we would have been able to bring the child who was caught in the hands of a crazy person.
‘Why did I come to this world at that time?’
It was so sad.
Of course, the child and her really have no relationship at all, but…
“Teacher, this is it.”
“…huh?”
“This is a dinosaur.”
Lee Yun-byeol looked at Seo-ah, who was handing me a small bundle of paper.
To be honest, the ‘dinosaur’ the child gave me didn’t particularly look like a dinosaur. It seems like I didn’t fold the paper after knowing something properly, but just did what my heart wanted. As someone named Lee Jae-heon said just a moment ago, it resembled a rabbit.
However, when Lee Yun-byeol saw Lee Jae-heon looking at me and the child’s face as if he was watching me, Lee Yun-byeol suddenly felt proud.
“…Thank you Seoya.”
After all, a child’s gift had the power to make people feel good.
As Lee Yun-byeol carefully received the wad of paper, Seo-ah seemed to be in a very good mood. The child tried to hold back but ended up laughing, covering his mouth with both hands, and Lee Yun-byeol hugged the child.
“Did you fold it with your uncle?”
“Yes, uncle. Like this… for teaching me how to remove the tail.”
“Yes, it’s pretty.”
“That’s cool.”
“It’s cool too.”
As I chimed in and looked at Jaeheon Lee, he raised one of his eyebrows. Yunbyeol Lee thought, ‘What should I do?’ I think it meant a certain amount.
I couldn’t help but look at it.
‘…I should apologize.’
As a child, Seo-ah was much more vulnerable to this environment, so her nerves were tense. Besides, wouldn’t it be even weirder for someone to let a child approach a person covered in blood? In Lee Yun-byeol’s opinion, Lee Jae-heon, whom she saw for the first time, was someone to be wary of.
But if you think about it a little, you can see that her judgment was wrong.
Unlike them, who were all injured here and there, most of Jaeheon Lee’s group were healthy. Nevertheless, if only Lee Jae-heon was injured, wouldn’t that mean that he also injured others? In a world like this.
However, no matter how surprised Seo-ah suddenly approached her, Lee Yun-byeol had to apologize because she was openly wary of such a person. Even if it were in her position, it would have been quite unpleasant.
But I couldn’t open my mouth right away.
“Where have you been and now?”
“Mister, I picked up firewood near us.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“Still…”
This was because two students in school uniform who appeared to be Lee Jae-heon’s original group were next to him.
The students placed torn boxes, etc. in the bonfire in the front yard of the pavilion, wondering where they had come from. There was no smoke, perhaps because it was wet, but Jaeheon Lee was frowning at the students.
“Don’t go out without saying anything. “It hurts.”
“sorry.”
“It was a good thing I picked it up.”
Then he stroked the boy’s head with his hand.
“But it’s not urgent, so why haven’t you said anything about where you’re going? “You said that last time too.”
The tone itself was blunt, but his expression was clearly worried.
He was a good person. Especially since he didn’t say anything even though he was as injured as me, Lee Yun-byeol often wondered if it was someone else’s blood other than his own. Even though I knew that wasn’t the case thanks to the worried expressions of those staying around.
That’s why Jaeheon Lee always had a nonchalant expression on his face. Lee Yun-byeol suffered all night long despite an injury to one of his legs, and it made you wonder if he didn’t know how to feel pain.
The students looked embarrassed at Jaeheon Lee’s words.
“Just…”
“Okay, if you’re going to talk next time, then go.”
“…Uncle, were you worried about us?”
“Wouldn’t you? “The sleepy kids have disappeared.”
The students’ expressions brightened greatly.
‘…I’ve seen that a lot somewhere.’
When you work as a kindergarten teacher, you meet very different types of students, and among them, there was one who really enjoyed receiving affection. And among them, the excessive friends would intentionally create things to worry about and draw attention to themselves.
For example, you drop a glass that you couldn’t have missed and say it was a mistake. Like falling down on a non-slippery floor and attracting attention. Things like crying and calling the teacher because it hurts even though it doesn’t hurt sometimes happen. It’s an act that you can clearly see what’s inside, but you can’t say anything about it.
Yunbyeol Lee suddenly thought that he had seen that side of himself in the students wearing the school uniform.
“uh? “What are these fingers?”
“…a scratch….”
“Is it bleeding?”
“That’s true, but…”
“Shouldn’t this at least be washed with water?”
Lee Jae-heon, who saw the female student’s scratched hand, looked around as if he was really looking for water.
He looked really worried, as if he didn’t know that his hands were tattered, and the female student’s expression turned strange as if she had similar thoughts.
“Look at your hands…”
“Are my hands and yours the same? how old are you.”
“…19 years old….”
“Then you’re an adult, no.”
“…No…”
Then, the female student’s face gradually turned red as Lee Jae-heon looked at her with a look on his face as if to say, ‘Then is there something wrong with what I said?’ Judging by the way he lowered his gaze, it seemed like he was probably feeling embarrassed.
Even if it seems like it’s not just because it’s really embarrassing.
“What do I do if my kids’ hands get hurt?”
“….”
“I need to apply medicine….”
I wonder if that naked worry was Ae-jeong’s sincere joy.
Actually, it wasn’t anything very strange or special. What Yunbyeol Lee felt was also her own thought, and the students probably brought firewood because they sincerely wanted to help. Since most adults were away to do something, they might have felt like doing something too.
I just felt a very slight sense of discomfort.
“….”
This is how they seem very happy to accept the concerns of Lee Jae-heon, who was the most seriously injured among the survivors.
‘…It might be a useless thought, but…’
Don’t you usually be a little more cautious with patients like that?
When I think about it, the reactions of the other party members were also a bit strange. Of course, we had only met for a short time, but if someone in their group got hurt like that instead of us, it seemed like Lee Yun-byeol wouldn’t even be able to make eye contact.
But despite that, everyone around Lee Jae-heon remained calm. When that person moves or does something, he shows his concern by nagging, but other than that, he doesn’t treat the patient as much as I do and wonder, ‘How can he be alive?’
There is no reason to worry about profit margins, which are not the parties involved.
“….”
“Teacher.”
“…Ah oh. huh.”
“Are you sick, uncle?”
“….”
She couldn’t answer the child’s question right away.
“…Yes, it hurts.”
Lee Yun-byeol didn’t even understand what exactly he had answered.
I felt like I was floating.
* * *
‘These are just kids.’
Jaeheon Lee sighed as he looked at the two students sitting on either side of him and talking back and forth.
He could not understand these people because he had never craved affection, but at least he knew what people suffering from lack of affection thought and did. They wanted to constantly attract attention to themselves in some way.
Even if he hurts himself.
“I saw a box in the grass, so I put my hand in and there were thorns.”
“Isn’t that really stupid? Anyone can see that it has thorns, but if you put your hand inside it…”
Lee Jae-heon suddenly found the current situation a little funny.
“…It must have hurt.”
How did they collect so many crazy seeds?
Even in the original novel, the siblings often displayed similar behavior. When the protagonist’s attention is diverted and it seems like they will not be able to properly protect themselves. I suffered a small injury that was not noticeable and pretended not to have it in front of him.
However, now the target and timing have changed.
‘That means you rely on me that much.’
Jaeheon Lee was curious about how the main character would lead these siblings after his death. In the original novel, they were characters who depended on Jung In-ho, so it would have been easy to deal with them, but if Lee Jae-heon dies at all, the siblings’ mental health will not be safe.
Still, he had no intention of changing his current relationship.
“Kim Yeon-woo will be watching you outside anyway, so get some rest.”
“…yes.”
“If you really want to work, join the adults later. Or you can just see whether the bonfire goes out or not. “Because that’s pretty important too.”
“yes yes.”
“If you’re tired, rest next to me.”
At those words, Da-Hoon Park folded his long body and hugged his knees, and Da-Young Park glanced at him and snuggled up next to Jae-Heon Lee. As I didn’t say anything to him, I felt some of the tension in my body relax.
The people who are acting like this now are people whose parents are alive and well and who eat well three times a day. The contradictory background and current situation are a bit funny.
Why do young people come here?
“…I’m going to die if I keep doing this.”
I became so tired.
It’s all going to end one day, really.
(Continued in the next part)
