Episode 547
“….”
Jeong Eun-woo realized that he had failed.
“…this.”
It wasn’t that difficult to figure it out.
Before my eyes, my nephew, who was just a middle school student, was looking up at me.
The brown hair is slightly curved, as if a shadow is falling on the small, round head. The semi-curly hair, so weak and difficult to define, looked quite thin, and the teardrop dot under the left eye made the child with an uncomfortable expression look a little more fragile.
“Is this a hallucination?”
“….”
Young Jeong In-ho did not answer, as it was clearly an illusion shown by the other side of the world.
“Okay, so.”
Jeong Eun-woo fell into a unique feeling while looking at the student who was still small in stature.
Just a moment ago, he had seen with his own eyes that this child had grown into a tall young man, but now what was in front of his eyes was the image of the nephew that Eunwoo Jeong remembered best.
Jeong Eun-woo remembered Jeong In-ho around this time better than Jeong In-ho now.
“I remember opening the box, but I can’t remember anything else. “When I came to, you were in front of me.”
“….”
“Can you explain what this situation is?”
The child did not answer until the end.
“It’s a shame.”
Jeong Eun-woo gave up easily.
He raised his slightly bowed head and looked around.
“….”
They were trapped in a large water tank.
However, it was very different from the regular aquarium and the one at the ‘Sea Treasure Hall’ that Eunwoo Jeong had seen. The inside of the large glass box was decorated like a well-appointed home.
“…If I remember correctly, this looks like the house we used to live in together…” As
I pulled back the curtain, water so sparkling that it hurt my eyes filled my vision.
It was so bright it was like sunlight shining on a clear day.
“….”
Jeong Eun-woo slowly touched the smooth wall.
A large glass wall where a window should be.
It is a barrel wall that is as thick and hard as the one in the ‘Sea Treasure Hall’ and cannot be broken, and is not in the form of windows like a real home.
“hmm.”
Jung Eun-woo went to the front door just in case, but it was blocked by a glass wall as well. Instead of a door with a lock, it has a transparent wall.
He realized that he would not be able to force his way out of this place. And even if you could break the glass wall with force and escape, the outside was filled with water that was dizzying just to look at. Even if I were forced to leave this place, I didn’t think the results would be good.
There was no way to get out of here unless some condition was met.
“….”
Jeong Eun-woo looked down at his hands.
“…Ah…”
There were no webbed feet, no scars that had appeared at some point, or faint wrinkles that had appeared with age.
He noticed in the hallway mirror that he had become considerably younger.
“Are we back to when we raised Inho?”
Jeong Eun-woo smiled slightly.
“It’s just like a lantern.”
or not.
“Something like God’s aquarium for breeding souls…”
Jeong Eun-woo was non-religious, but this house was so cozy and dreamy that it felt like it was an aquarium created by God to watch me.
The well-created comfort and the frustration of being trapped in a tight box came to him at the same time.
Jeong Eun-woo left the entrance and returned to the living room.
“….”
I can see the water flowing past the large glass wall that fills one corner of the living room.
“…Oh my…”
It sparkled.
It shines in a variety of ways, as if light is shooting into water filled with glitter, or as if it is emitting light itself.
The house where Jung Eun-woo is trapped is in a strong current, as if it is being quickly swept away somewhere.
Yellow, pink, sparkling with pure transparency, light blue occasionally flowing out, and purple that is faintly visible to the eye. Like a bucket full of pearl paint… It
‘s full of color and the color is transparent, making it impossible to know where I’m being swept away.
“…Inho.”
Eunwoo Jeong called his nephew while still looking at the current.
“Inho, can you speak?”
“…there is.”
“You’re wearing a school uniform. Are you going to school?”
“I left school early because I had a headache. sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry to me. “It’s your life…”
he asked with a small smile.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“…no.”
“okay?”
Jeong Eun-woo continued calmly.
“I’m scared.”
He felt frightened by the strong current beyond the wall.
The beauty, the amazing colors, the ridiculous purity, the sanctity that should not exist in the world, and the strong current that shakes the brain and makes it shine.
The coziness and loveliness that gripped my ankles to the point where I couldn’t tell where I was made him scared.
‘How can something like this exist?’
How can I bear this sight?
It felt like my soul was being roughly gnawed by the wondrous sparkle. My heart is pounding and I feel like it’s eating my whole body. My whole body tingles as if an electric current is flowing through my brain, and my body becomes hard as if I had fallen into cement. I unconsciously hold my breath.
It was too bright. It was also so beautiful. I was so ecstatic that I couldn’t even describe the beauty as beautiful and found it disgusting. It was painful.
The vast, clogged current that does not know where it is heading is strange and vast. Even if you were to fall in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it would be less daunting than this. It would be more peaceful than this.
Probably better than this.
“….”
…Change that cannot be handled always makes people afraid.
The current of water cannot remain still for a moment and passes by, tormenting Eunwoo Jeong. It seems to be holding on, grabbing the collar, suffocating the windpipe, or holding and shaking the head.
How can I say this?
“Where am I now?”
What should I say about this terrible and disgusting thing?
When Jung Eun-woo turns his head to look inside the house, the house appears dark due to the backlight because his back is to the shining water.
It is filled with soft darkness, like the inside of a house with all the lights turned off in the middle of the summer. It is a shadow that gives indescribable fear.
It’s bright, but it’s also dark.
“….”
The nephew, wearing winter uniform, answered in the pitch-black darkness.
“…home.”
“This is not my house.”
“…Then where should I go?”
“….”
“Uncle….”
Young In-ho asks with a tired face.
“…Can you please tell me…?”
I don’t know what you’re asking.
Jeong Eun-woo, who was staring at his youthful face, could not bear to answer.
“….”
He felt wronged.
“…What do you need me to tell you?”
Eunwoo Jeong loved his nephew.
I am confident that the size of that feeling will never be small. At least, of all the things that existed and did not exist in this world, Jung Eun-woo loved Jung In-ho the most. I cherished it so much.
I respected Jung In-ho because he rejected Jung Eun-woo.
“What did I…”
If Jung Eun-woo didn’t love his nephew, he wouldn’t have respected him.
“….”
This was because respect was a very cumbersome emotional labor.
“…I think about that sometimes.”
Eunwoo Jeong spoke in front of the young hallucination.
“I should have killed you.”
“….”
“I should have killed you. Then I could live my life thinking a little less. Simpler… right? First of all, I think so.”
“….”
“But you were too small and cute to kill. So I have no regrets.”
Laugh like a sigh
“You’re too weak…”
Jung Eun-woo walked up to the hallucination and stroked its pale cheek.
My nephew, who is in middle school, was not that tall. He hates exercise, so he has a soft body with no muscles to be found, white skin that appears to have been drained of blood, and a face that always looks uncomfortable. He looks at me somewhere between an expressionless expression and a frown.
In the meantime, a very small reflection… simple affection.
“…haha.”
Little relationship.
“Yes, it was this face. that’s interesting.”
My cheeks were dry because I didn’t eat well and I didn’t take care of them.
The lips were swollen. When the weather was dry, like in fall or winter, Inho’s lips would often bleed. I felt sorry for him, so I bought him lip balm, but In-ho wasn’t a very conscientious child, so I didn’t give him a gift.
“I have a question.”
“…Yes….”
“Why do you eat so little?”
“…just like that.”
“Why do you hate sweets?”
“I just… don’t like it.”
“The answer is the same as when I was young.”
There is no such thing as ‘just’ in this world, but my nephew always tried to move on in this way. It was clear that I didn’t want to have a long or deep conversation with my uncle, who felt an awkward distance from me.
Jeong Eun-woo knew very well that his nephew was uncomfortable with him.
“I tried really hard too.”
Kuuk.
The hand holding the hallucinatory face gradually becomes stronger.
“I tried, Inho.”
“Oh, I know….”
“Then Inho will know well. Because you are smart. He’s quick to notice… and he notices a lot… In fact, no one pays more attention than an uncomfortable person, so he did the same to me. I know everything. “It was really pitiful.”
“I’m sorry, uncle. I just…”
“I felt so bad but I didn’t know what to do with it. “I was so sorry.”
Eunwoo Jeong was still smiling, but his pupils were greatly dilated.
“How can I express affection with a blunt face like yours…? No one has ever done that. I wanted to give you back as much as you trusted me, but it wasn’t easy. you are scared of me “But I couldn’t figure out how to make it not scary… so I thought a lot about it.”
“Uncle, it hurts….”
“….”
Sigh.
Slowly, Jeong Eun-woo removed his hand.
“…I don’t blame you.”
It was true.
“But I was disappointed.”
This is also true.
“What on earth was I supposed to do?”
If I had stayed by your side, you would have turned into a monster and resented me in the end, but if you left, the grown-up Inho hated me as well. The hatred of his beloved nephew made Jeong Eun-woo sick.
Jeong Eun-woo’s smile is blurred by clumsy sadness and grumbling.
“Why am I so scared…”
He laughed as if he was going to cry out of extreme disappointment.
Seo Jang-hwa, Park Da-young, Do-yoon Han, and Kim Ki-jeong were all attached to him, and even if they gave him such big and small instructions, Eun-woo Jeong could not change.
Jeong Eun-woo is also a human being, so he was a little disappointed that I couldn’t do it. Sometimes I felt sad.
And if the subject involved someone I cared about, the fatigue was even greater.
“Inho.”
Jeong Eun-woo’s voice was kind.
“You grew up really well.”
“…I’m going….”
“He’s tall and handsome. “Our Inho is really handsome.”
“…Uncle, you are strange today.”
“But I would have been happier if he could have grown that much by my side.”
Sadness spreads through the sweet voice.
“I’m sorry I’m not a good person.”
“….”
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t be a positive influence on you….”
Jeong Eun-woo felt great regret as he left his nephew.
If he had been a better person, he wouldn’t have had to do that.
I would have just worked as much as everyone else or joined a suitable company and received work. I might not have had to be separated from my poor nephew.
But that assumption was meaningless. Jung Eun-woo was very different from others and was not a good person, but went down a bad path, and Jung In-ho was afraid of such monsters.
“I wanted to become friends with you.”
Eun-Woo Jeong gently holds the hallucination’s neck.
Ttuk
“….”
“….”
I broke it like that.
“…Even though it’s like this, it’s not going away.”
this.
I wondered if I could get out if I killed the hallucination, but it didn’t seem like I could get out that easily.
“Maybe once you get in here, you can’t get out at all.”
Jeong Eun-woo slowly blinked his eyes as if he was sighing.
“….”
He was smiling. It was
Jung
Eun-woo’s habit and his duty to blend in with a society full of weak people, but
…
There was no one here to see his smile. There was no one to check and no one to evaluate. In a crazy fish tank where he didn’t know if it was a dream or a hallucination, Jung Eun-woo forgot the reason to smile.
“….”
After a while.
He muttered softly with a tired expression.
“What should I do?”
I felt like I was standing in the middle of an unbelievable nightmare.
All that remains here is the hallucinatory corpse, the blood on one’s feet, the house as bright and dark as midday, and the strong current that makes it even darker. Even though it was the neck that was broken, the pale corpse with a handful of blood still caught in my vision.
Now he had no one to give orders to.
“I don’t know….”
Because it killed the hallucination.
“…I’m scared….”
Jeong Eun-woo lowered his gaze and quietly shed tears.
“….”
The silence in the house where only the corpse remained was simply terrible.
The sound of rushing water disturbed my stomach.
* * *
Meanwhile, quite some time has passed outside.
It was enough time for Jung Eun-woo to realize that he could not return.
(Continued in the next part)
