The boy was finally in the darkness.
Whether he opened his eyes or closed them, what he saw was the same. There was no day here, nor night. The sun did not rise, nor did the moon. In the deep and heavy darkness, the boy felt inexplicably comfortable. The only sound that reached his ears was the sound of his own breathing. The boy quietly listened to his breath.
Finally, all senses vanished. Everything returned to nothingness. As his consciousness drifted away, the boy thought, "Ah, it was too long..."
Yes, that's right. It was too long.'
Then, a voice came from somewhere. They say that when one reaches the threshold of death, they talk to a voice, so he guessed this was what they said. The voice that willingly agreed with him, as if it had been watching over his hard work, felt quite familiar.
'Is it finally over?'
Honorific words came out naturally.
Yes, it was too long!
Finally, it was rest. A sorrowful feeling surged. He had finally reached the last moment of this detestable life. The boy spoke as if he was clinging.
What about Myojeong? What happened to Myojeong? Have you felt sorry for me at least once? ...It was really hard. I hated this world and wondered why I was the only one suffering like this. But in the end I won... Please tell Jeongju and Mesani that I'm sorry. Still, it was bearable because those guys were by my side... And please say thank you to Yoon Taehee. Anyway, I wasn't bored at the end because of him. It's thanks to him that everything ended like this...
The boy, who had finally reached the threshold of mortality, spoke his words candidly. The voice quietly listened to the words that continued without hesitation. Eventually, after finishing what he had to say, the boy felt relieved and asked.
'So what happens to me now?'
'Will I be reborn? I don't want that. I just wish to disappear forever like this. If I had to be born again, I would like to live as a stone or a patch of grass on the side of the road. Unknown to anyone, living a quiet and mundane life.
'Hey, what happened to me?'
The boy urged, and the voice responded solemnly.
"You get 5 penalty points.'
'Ah..."
I see, 5 penalty points... The boy who had been agreeing paused.
'Huh?"
'5 penalty points!'
The voice suddenly became stern.
What does that mean, all of a sudden?"
'Boy, why is your hair so long?'
'Hair? Me?"
'Yes! The side hair is, well, almost like a blanket. A blanket.'
"..."
The voice started to get angry. "What is he talking about, the side of my head is a blanket?" Even though the boy didn't understand, he felt very upset. So the boy also got angry. Why is my side hair like a blanket? It is too long. By long, I meant my life, not my hair! Shut up, man. It is a violation of the hair regulation no matter what. Who made that rule? Disregarding one's hair on one's body is disrespecting the parents. Even though I don't have any parents, as stated in 'Sajasohak, the body, the hair, and the skin are received from the parents, not to be damaged. That's filial piety. What do you know...
Gasp! Jaegyeom snapped his eyes open.
"..."
The morning sunlight pouring through the window was dazzling, and the sounds of birds were loud. Jaegyeom, who was looking up blankly at the familiar ceiling, blinked a couple of times.
Oh, shit. The dean was...
Jaegyeom ripped off the blanket and buried his face in the pillow.
***
Jaegyeom opened the door with unsteady steps. As he came out into the living room, he heard the sound of soup bubbling. Jeongju, who was standing in front of the gas stove, seemed to have heard him and popped his head out.
"Jaegyeom, did you sleep well..?"
Jeongju paused mid-greeting.
"Jaegyeom, what's wrong? Why are you sweating so much?"
At first glance, Jaegyeom's complexion did not look good. Jaegyeom wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. After being silent for a moment, he mumbled in a weak voice.
"A dream... Because of a dream."
"W- what dream?"
He came closer to jaegyeom with a very worried expression.
"A dream about being chased by a bald man with a stick."
'What? I can't believe you're had such a terrible nightmare!"
Jeongju was startled and hurriedly rubbed Jaegyeom's back, "Quickly forget about that dream." Jaegyeom lowered his head and let Jeongju's hand remain. It had been a while since he slept on the floor, so his back was sore.
At that time, Mesani, who had been out in the yard, rushed in through the open sliding door. Panting for a moment, Mesani soon smiled brightly and bowed.
"My lord, have you woken?"
"Huh? Oh yeah..."
Jaegyeom scratched his head and avoided eye contact.
It was just a dream, but jaegyeom was distraught for no reason.
Given the content of the dream, looking at jeongju and Mesani, who knew nothing, a faint sense of guilt arose. Jaegyeom, feeling somewhat ashamed, fiddled with his nape.
Mesani, who had no way of knowing Jaegyeom's true intentions, was just beaming.
"My lord, my lord! Oh, I collected some Gonggi stones. Would you like to take a look?"
Mesani clung to Jaegyeom's waist like a cicada, and he chattered non-stop.
"Hmm... Alright, bring them here."
While Mesani went to get the stones, Jaegyeom went to the kitchen.
He stood in front of the stove and peered inside the pot. What Jeongju was boiling was bean sprout soup. After looking around for a moment, Jaegyeom asked,
"...Where did he go?"
Jeongju asked while slurping the soup with a spoon, "What?"
Jaegyeom gestured to his room with his chin. "Yoon Taehee."
Jeongju's eyes widened at Jaegyeom's words.
"What? Huh, is he not there?"
"When I opened my eyes, he was not there."
Waking from the nightmare, Jaegyeom belatedly remembered the existence of Yoon Taehee and turned his head. But what he saw was a bare, empty bed. The luggage that had been laid down last night had disappeared to nowhere. He thought he had got up first and went to the living room or out in the yard, but that seemed not to be the case.
"I thought he was still sleeping in your room?"
Jeongju put down his spoon with a puzzled look. He deliberately didn't open the door for fear of waking him up. "When did he leave?
I don't think I heard him go out..." Jeongju, who was usually a light sleeper, tilted his head at him and belatedly opened the door.
"Oh. It's true..."
The guest who stopped by last night had even neatly folded his bedding before leaving.
"I guess he woke up early in the morning and went home first."
Jeongju muttered with a sullen face. Jaegyeom, who was looking at the empty bed, looked around and looked for his cell phone. He was wondering if he might have left a text message. He turned on the screen with some anticipation. However, the home screen was empty.
".."
Jaegyeom suddenly felt wronged.
I went through a lot of trouble carrying him on my back instead of throwing him on the side of the road, but then he left without saying a word?
"That's why they say you shouldn't take in black-haired beasts..."
Jaegyeom, who was muttering to himself, turned his back and left the room.
"He could have at least had breakfast. The bean sprout soup was nicely made..."
Jeongju's voice of regret followed Jaegyeom's back.
***
For the first time, Jaegyeom entered the hall alone without an accompaniment.
Jaegyeom, who had not yet made a work schedule, was not sure when he should go to work. For the past two days, he didn't have to worry because someone came to pick him up. But today there was no information. All he knew was Yoon Taehee's number.
Yoon Taehee, who had disappeared without a word, was unreachable even by noon. So this time Jaegyeom decided to call first, intending to ask what time he should arrive. However, the call went on endlessly before being directed to voicemail. Yoon Taehee did not answer the phone.
What's going on? Has something urgent happened?
The feeling of being wronged in the morning turned into a strange curiosity by lunch. He briefly considered calling again, but decided to let it be. Perhaps he was just very busy.
There must be a good reason why he couldn't contact him. Anyway, there would have been a trace of the incoming call, so he thought he would get a call back later. Since he went to work around afternoon yesterday and the day before yesterday, he came to the vague conclusion that he should go roughly around that time today as well.
Jeongju offered to take him by car himself, but Jaegyeom shook his head. He couldn't always depend on someone else to accompany him. Fortunately, there was a bus stop not far from the house. With that, Jaegyeom boarded the bus to Jongmyo Shrine as instructed by Jeongju.
The bus ran smoothly with the clear sky of Jongno in the background.
Upon arriving at his office, a few team members welcomed Jaegyeom. Compared to yesterday, the number of people was small, as some had been called out on dispatch, and others had not yet arrived for work. The first thing Jaegyeom asked was whether Yoon Taehee was here.
"Chief Yoon? He hasn't arrived yet."