Chapter 10. End (1)
In the blink of an eye Yu-ye became 12.
It had already been 3 years since he first started school.
Kids around his age were like stalks of bamboo. They seemed small and weak one day, then strong and tall the next. So did Yu-ye. In the span of 3 years, the whole world changed little by little. The only thing that remained unchanged was Yu-ye’s expressionless face and his extremely neutral character.
Although Yu-ye had grown up in an unfortunate family background, he didn’t mind. He had the same school life as any other kid, if not better.
The only time anyone would notice his family situation was the times where he couldn’t bring the materials he needed for a project or during the student-parent festival each year where he stood there, alone.
To some, his situation brought them pity. The parents that felt sorry for Yu-ye would include him in their group or family for the day of the festival.
During school times, the teachers paid a little more attention to Yu-ye, trying to care for him a little more than they did other students.
But Yu-ye was fine without it.
His personality was extremely malleable, meek and calm. The frequent visits to the library broadened Yu-ye’s understandings about the range of differences in the world, and become at peace with everyone.
The person who cared about him most during school was none other than Yunhwa.
She was no longer Yu-ye’s homeroom teacher, but she still gave him the most affection and interest. She would ask other teachers to help Yu-ye pay for his lunch, and made it possible for Yu-ye to take the necessary afterschool classes for free.
Although Yu-ye was busy going home to Yunyoung right after school, her efforts paid off when Yunyoung started to pressure Yu-ye. He finally started to come out to the after-school classes although he was somewhat unwilling to.
Yunyoung was now a high school girl.
Originally, she planned to work a part time job to save up some money to help her family situations, but her father strongly disagreed. Therefore, she sat home quietly studying instead. Now that she became a high schooler, she returned home later than 5PM, studying for the exams and taking afterschool classes. This was also the reason why she strongly encouraged Yu-ye to take the afterschool classes too. She was worried about Yu-ye staying alone in the house.
Anyhow, Yu-ye’s days were always peaceful.
It didn’t last for long though.
In his near future, his world would be soon shaking to its core.
Yu-ye’s ears perked up, breaking the focus he had on his book. It was the cuckoo-clock chirping to tell him it was 8.
Yu-ye put down his book and looked at the clock. Recently, his focus had gotten better. Once he picked up a book to read, he couldn’t tell how much time had passed. It didn’t matter if it rained or thundered outside as he was mesmerized in his books. Today was no different. Before he knew it, he had finished two books, and it soon became sunset.
“I don’t see sis today.”
That explained the emptiness he felt while reading the books.
Yu-ye and Yunyoung felt they were closer than blood-related siblings.
They took up nearly half of each other’s day. Yu-ye’s grandmother always said they must have been married, had a mother-son relationship, or a father-daughter relationship in their past lives. It was unusual to hear grandmother talk about anything related to one’s marriage because of how much she had gone through, which explained how close the two looked in other people’s eyes.
However, Yunyoung wasn’t at Yu-ye’s house today. It was always around 6 when she would come as if she belonged in his family, taking up the space next to him. Maybe she had a pile of chores to finish, but Yunyoung always told him the day before if any such thing happened. She never mentioned anything yesterday.
“Did something happen at school?”
Yu-ye worriedly left his house to check next door. He quickened his pace worrying if she couldn’t move because she was sick. If she wasn’t home, he was going to wait at the entrance to the Moon Village hill for her return.
“Hey sis! Are you there?”
Yu-ye asked while banging on her front door.
They were close enough that Yu-ye didn’t need to bang on the door before he entered, but he did so anyway. He was afraid that her hysteric older sister would come out to pick a fight if he didn’t. Something similar happened the last time he visited as her older sister held him by the ear and dragged him in circles in her yard.
Yu-ye listened closely to the small noises coming from the house. The blue strings gathered around his ears as he focused. Through the mumbles and other noises, he heard Yunyoung’s voice clearly.
He went in the house wondering what had happened. As he entered, he saw Yunyoung, her older sister, and even her father organizing their belongings and packing everything. They had only left out their clothes and sheets. Maybe they weren’t leaving right away.
“Hey sis, what’s going on?”
“Oh, hey Yu-ye! We’re going to move out soon!”
Yunyoung was dressed in new clothes that Yu-ye had never seen before. She stopped packing, ran over to Yu-ye, and hugged him tightly.
Yunyoung twirled happily with Yu-ye in the yard as Yu-ye stared at the joyful, smiling faces of her sister and her father. There must have been a good news.
“Really? You’re moving? Out of this village?”
“Yup! My sister is getting married!”
“Congratulations! You always complained how thick your legs were getting from climbing the mountain every day. No more fat legs then, right?”
“Wow, that’s right! Haha, I won’t have thick legs any longer!”
Yu-ye tried to hide his disappointment as he tried to act happy and cheerful as if his sister was getting married. Yunyoung failed to notice Yu-ye’s sorrowful eyes as she excitedly chirped about how she came to move out of the town.
Yunyoung explained that she was moving back into her fancy old house.
Her father never became successful after moving to Moon Village, but her sister was lucky enough to marry a wealthy man. Knowing the family situation, her sister’s soon-to-be husband bought back her old house, and even gave more money for any family necessities they needed.
Yu-ye started to get a bad feeling in his guts.
Wasn’t this story like the one he had been hearing his entire life?
If he was to tweak the story a little bit more, it was the background story of Yu-ye himself. Yunyoung’s sister would fall in his mother’s place, then her father in his grandmother’s to complete it. It didn’t help that Yunyoung’s sister had a huge, protruding stomach, signaling how she already had a baby.
However, contrary to the anxiousness and disastrous feeling he had, Yu-ye wasn’t stupid enough to ruin a good mood.
When he thought back, maybe the husband was different than his father who was far from responsible. He even bought their house back.
In his heart, he wished her family the utmost happiness.
Yunyoung, still too excited to think of Yu-ye’s feelings, put her hand on her sister’s stomach, and proudly straightened her shoulders.
“My sister is pregnant.”
“Sis!! Stop telling everyone! It’s embarrassing! By tomorrow, the whole world would know thanks to your big mouth!”
Yunyoung’s sister who stayed quiet the whole time Yunyoung talked with Yu-ye suddenly cut in, playfully grabbing Yunyoung and shaking her neck as if she was going to choke her.
Yunyoung started to cough as her face turned red, but that didn’t stop the both of them from smiling. The sister’s face was also a bright red from the excitement and the embarrassment. It didn’t seem like she hated Yunyoung for spreading the word.
“Congratulations older sis! And you too sir.”
Yu-ye smiled at her father and her sister.
“Oh, thank you young man.”
Yunyoung’s father who was looking at the happy sisters looked pleased as he pat Yu-ye on the head. It was a happy smile, but also a complex one. Yu-ye carefully thought that her father might be feeling that he became successful again by using his daughter.
When her family started to organize their luggage again, Yu-ye quietly left the house.
Glancing over at Yu-ye’s limp shoulders, Yunyoung’s sister started to examine her younger sister, Yunyoung was too busy trying to pack up in excitement to care if Yu-ye left or not.
“Hey, are you really okay?”
“Hm? What do you mean sis?”
“You and Yu-ye. You guys were always together like the peas in a pod. So, I thought you were going to cry and throw a fit when it became time for us to move out…… but I guess you’re okay?”
As soon as Yunyoung’s sister finished her words, Yunyoung’s hands stopped moving. She stood there, dumbfounded and pale, finally realizing what was wrong. She was too thrilled about moving back to her old house, full of sweet memories of her mother to care about Yu-ye.
“S..Sis…”
Yunyoung responded in a shaking voice and her eyes full of tears. Why was she so stupid! How hurt was Yu-ye when she looked so happy to leave? The more she thought, the more she couldn’t breathe from the regret. Her sister sighed.
“Oh, you stupid girl. Go. Come on!”
“Oh, yes…… I’m going!”
Yunyoung ran straight to Yu-ye’s.
When she arrived, she noticed how desperate she looked. She had no shoes, and her feet were bare in the cold, but she couldn’t enter the house. She thought over and over, but she was still too sorry to enter.
She had been close to Yu-ye since she was in middle school.
She spent most of her days, if not all, with Yu-ye. Thanks to the time they spent, he was more of a family than her own family.
Then to think she forgot such a precious boy!
“Hey sis, are you done packing up?”
Yu-ye’s calm voice broke Yunyoung’s racing thoughts. The door to the room was open and Yu-ye stood there, looking at her with the mature smile of a grown-up.
“Ah, Yu-ye…”
“What are you doing there in the cold? Come inside. Hurry!”
Yunyoung hesitated for a moment, then saw Yu-ye’s hand waving at her to come inside, then she stiffly entered the room. She acted like a cat who had just been adopted: flustered and awkward. Yu-ye simply smiled, then messed with her hair to lighten the mood.
He was a little kid treating her as if she was even smaller than him.
She furiously ruffled his hair as a response.
For a while they fought, ruffling and messing each other’s hair, then stopped to see that both Yu-ye’s and Yunyoung’s hair looked like a pair of bird nests. The two started laughing at each other, then the awkwardness was gone. Yu-ye was always the same.
He knew how to think even more maturely than Yunyoung who was now a 2nd year in high school. He knew how to put others before himself.
Her sister always teased her saying ‘you basically raised Yu-ye. You’re his mom!” But Yunyoung couldn’t disagree more. She didn’t do anything. He grew all on his own.
The more she thought, the more she didn’t want to leave Yu-ye.
Yunyoung thought for a bit before she opened her mouth.
“Do you want… to come with us too…?”
She slowly asked Yu-ye, but she was sure of his response.
She would be rejected.
It wasn’t because of the money. She heard from her father that her sister’s husband paid their house monthly for any household needs or wants. That would mean even if Yu-ye was to come, he would do no harm. Yu-ye never wanted anything, and was never greedy.
But Yunyoung knew Yu-ye better.
He was more mature than herself, and extremely intelligent.
“If I go, what about my grandmother? I mean, I don’t have a mom.”
“Th…that’s right…”
His response was what she expected.
She sighed.
Yu-ye grabbed Yunyoung’s hand.
“It’s okay. I can come over, right? It not like you’re going overseas.”
“But it’s still too far….”
“I know. It’s the Jeju Islands, right? But are you going to stop visiting just because of the distance?”
“Nope! Never!”
Yunyoung frantically shook her head.
“If you don’t come, I could go. Sis, I’ve never seen the ocean. When I come, show me its beautiful seas. That would be enough to make me happy. Oh, and I want some raw fish too.”
“Oh, Alrigh…” Yunyoung burst in tears. She couldn’t finish her sentence.
When she leaves the village, all she has left is a happy life ahead of her. She would live in her old house, with her caring family, but it was a different story for Yu-ye. Until his neglecting grandmother came back, he would be alone, day and night.
She thought of Yu-ye eating his meals alone in silence. It made her sob even harder. She was sorry, and she was heartbroken. Many mixed emotions suffocated her and made her heart ache.
She even cursed her sister for making them move away.
Then she hated herself for blaming others, and teared up again.
Yunyoung broke down, hugging Yu-ye as tightly as she could.
Yu-ye, as mature as he was, patted her back and kept her company.
Yunyoung cried all night, until the morning sun came up.
Chapter 10. End (1)
In the blink of an eye Yu-ye became 12.
It had already been 3 years since he first started school.
Kids around his age were like stalks of bamboo. They seemed small and weak one day, then strong and tall the next. So did Yu-ye. In the span of 3 years, the whole world changed little by little. The only thing that remained unchanged was Yu-ye’s expressionless face and his extremely neutral character.
Although Yu-ye had grown up in an unfortunate family background, he didn’t mind. He had the same school life as any other kid, if not better.
The only time anyone would notice his family situation was the times where he couldn’t bring the materials he needed for a project or during the student-parent festival each year where he stood there, alone.
To some, his situation brought them pity. The parents that felt sorry for Yu-ye would include him in their group or family for the day of the festival.
During school times, the teachers paid a little more attention to Yu-ye, trying to care for him a little more than they did other students.
But Yu-ye was fine without it.
His personality was extremely malleable, meek and calm. The frequent visits to the library broadened Yu-ye’s understandings about the range of differences in the world, and become at peace with everyone.
The person who cared about him most during school was none other than Yunhwa.
She was no longer Yu-ye’s homeroom teacher, but she still gave him the most affection and interest. She would ask other teachers to help Yu-ye pay for his lunch, and made it possible for Yu-ye to take the necessary afterschool classes for free.
Although Yu-ye was busy going home to Yunyoung right after school, her efforts paid off when Yunyoung started to pressure Yu-ye. He finally started to come out to the after-school classes although he was somewhat unwilling to.
Yunyoung was now a high school girl.
Originally, she planned to work a part time job to save up some money to help her family situations, but her father strongly disagreed. Therefore, she sat home quietly studying instead. Now that she became a high schooler, she returned home later than 5PM, studying for the exams and taking afterschool classes. This was also the reason why she strongly encouraged Yu-ye to take the afterschool classes too. She was worried about Yu-ye staying alone in the house.
Anyhow, Yu-ye’s days were always peaceful.
It didn’t last for long though.
In his near future, his world would be soon shaking to its core.
Yu-ye’s ears perked up, breaking the focus he had on his book. It was the cuckoo-clock chirping to tell him it was 8.
Yu-ye put down his book and looked at the clock. Recently, his focus had gotten better. Once he picked up a book to read, he couldn’t tell how much time had passed. It didn’t matter if it rained or thundered outside as he was mesmerized in his books. Today was no different. Before he knew it, he had finished two books, and it soon became sunset.
“I don’t see sis today.”
That explained the emptiness he felt while reading the books.
Yu-ye and Yunyoung felt they were closer than blood-related siblings.
They took up nearly half of each other’s day. Yu-ye’s grandmother always said they must have been married, had a mother-son relationship, or a father-daughter relationship in their past lives. It was unusual to hear grandmother talk about anything related to one’s marriage because of how much she had gone through, which explained how close the two looked in other people’s eyes.
However, Yunyoung wasn’t at Yu-ye’s house today. It was always around 6 when she would come as if she belonged in his family, taking up the space next to him. Maybe she had a pile of chores to finish, but Yunyoung always told him the day before if any such thing happened. She never mentioned anything yesterday.
“Did something happen at school?”
Yu-ye worriedly left his house to check next door. He quickened his pace worrying if she couldn’t move because she was sick. If she wasn’t home, he was going to wait at the entrance to the Moon Village hill for her return.
“Hey sis! Are you there?”
Yu-ye asked while banging on her front door.
They were close enough that Yu-ye didn’t need to bang on the door before he entered, but he did so anyway. He was afraid that her hysteric older sister would come out to pick a fight if he didn’t. Something similar happened the last time he visited as her older sister held him by the ear and dragged him in circles in her yard.
Yu-ye listened closely to the small noises coming from the house. The blue strings gathered around his ears as he focused. Through the mumbles and other noises, he heard Yunyoung’s voice clearly.
He went in the house wondering what had happened. As he entered, he saw Yunyoung, her older sister, and even her father organizing their belongings and packing everything. They had only left out their clothes and sheets. Maybe they weren’t leaving right away.
“Hey sis, what’s going on?”
“Oh, hey Yu-ye! We’re going to move out soon!”
Yunyoung was dressed in new clothes that Yu-ye had never seen before. She stopped packing, ran over to Yu-ye, and hugged him tightly.
Yunyoung twirled happily with Yu-ye in the yard as Yu-ye stared at the joyful, smiling faces of her sister and her father. There must have been a good news.
“Really? You’re moving? Out of this village?”
“Yup! My sister is getting married!”
“Congratulations! You always complained how thick your legs were getting from climbing the mountain every day. No more fat legs then, right?”
“Wow, that’s right! Haha, I won’t have thick legs any longer!”
Yu-ye tried to hide his disappointment as he tried to act happy and cheerful as if his sister was getting married. Yunyoung failed to notice Yu-ye’s sorrowful eyes as she excitedly chirped about how she came to move out of the town.
Yunyoung explained that she was moving back into her fancy old house.
Her father never became successful after moving to Moon Village, but her sister was lucky enough to marry a wealthy man. Knowing the family situation, her sister’s soon-to-be husband bought back her old house, and even gave more money for any family necessities they needed.
Yu-ye started to get a bad feeling in his guts.
Wasn’t this story like the one he had been hearing his entire life?
If he was to tweak the story a little bit more, it was the background story of Yu-ye himself. Yunyoung’s sister would fall in his mother’s place, then her father in his grandmother’s to complete it. It didn’t help that Yunyoung’s sister had a huge, protruding stomach, signaling how she already had a baby.
However, contrary to the anxiousness and disastrous feeling he had, Yu-ye wasn’t stupid enough to ruin a good mood.
When he thought back, maybe the husband was different than his father who was far from responsible. He even bought their house back.
In his heart, he wished her family the utmost happiness.
Yunyoung, still too excited to think of Yu-ye’s feelings, put her hand on her sister’s stomach, and proudly straightened her shoulders.
“My sister is pregnant.”
“Sis!! Stop telling everyone! It’s embarrassing! By tomorrow, the whole world would know thanks to your big mouth!”
Yunyoung’s sister who stayed quiet the whole time Yunyoung talked with Yu-ye suddenly cut in, playfully grabbing Yunyoung and shaking her neck as if she was going to choke her.
Yunyoung started to cough as her face turned red, but that didn’t stop the both of them from smiling. The sister’s face was also a bright red from the excitement and the embarrassment. It didn’t seem like she hated Yunyoung for spreading the word.
“Congratulations older sis! And you too sir.”
Yu-ye smiled at her father and her sister.
“Oh, thank you young man.”
Yunyoung’s father who was looking at the happy sisters looked pleased as he pat Yu-ye on the head. It was a happy smile, but also a complex one. Yu-ye carefully thought that her father might be feeling that he became successful again by using his daughter.
When her family started to organize their luggage again, Yu-ye quietly left the house.
Glancing over at Yu-ye’s limp shoulders, Yunyoung’s sister started to examine her younger sister, Yunyoung was too busy trying to pack up in excitement to care if Yu-ye left or not.
“Hey, are you really okay?”
“Hm? What do you mean sis?”
“You and Yu-ye. You guys were always together like the peas in a pod. So, I thought you were going to cry and throw a fit when it became time for us to move out…… but I guess you’re okay?”
As soon as Yunyoung’s sister finished her words, Yunyoung’s hands stopped moving. She stood there, dumbfounded and pale, finally realizing what was wrong. She was too thrilled about moving back to her old house, full of sweet memories of her mother to care about Yu-ye.
“S..Sis…”
Yunyoung responded in a shaking voice and her eyes full of tears. Why was she so stupid! How hurt was Yu-ye when she looked so happy to leave? The more she thought, the more she couldn’t breathe from the regret. Her sister sighed.
“Oh, you stupid girl. Go. Come on!”
“Oh, yes…… I’m going!”
Yunyoung ran straight to Yu-ye’s.
When she arrived, she noticed how desperate she looked. She had no shoes, and her feet were bare in the cold, but she couldn’t enter the house. She thought over and over, but she was still too sorry to enter.
She had been close to Yu-ye since she was in middle school.
She spent most of her days, if not all, with Yu-ye. Thanks to the time they spent, he was more of a family than her own family.
Then to think she forgot such a precious boy!
“Hey sis, are you done packing up?”
Yu-ye’s calm voice broke Yunyoung’s racing thoughts. The door to the room was open and Yu-ye stood there, looking at her with the mature smile of a grown-up.
“Ah, Yu-ye…”
“What are you doing there in the cold? Come inside. Hurry!”
Yunyoung hesitated for a moment, then saw Yu-ye’s hand waving at her to come inside, then she stiffly entered the room. She acted like a cat who had just been adopted: flustered and awkward. Yu-ye simply smiled, then messed with her hair to lighten the mood.
He was a little kid treating her as if she was even smaller than him.
She furiously ruffled his hair as a response.
For a while they fought, ruffling and messing each other’s hair, then stopped to see that both Yu-ye’s and Yunyoung’s hair looked like a pair of bird nests. The two started laughing at each other, then the awkwardness was gone. Yu-ye was always the same.
He knew how to think even more maturely than Yunyoung who was now a 2nd year in high school. He knew how to put others before himself.
Her sister always teased her saying ‘you basically raised Yu-ye. You’re his mom!” But Yunyoung couldn’t disagree more. She didn’t do anything. He grew all on his own.
The more she thought, the more she didn’t want to leave Yu-ye.
Yunyoung thought for a bit before she opened her mouth.
“Do you want… to come with us too…?”
She slowly asked Yu-ye, but she was sure of his response.
She would be rejected.
It wasn’t because of the money. She heard from her father that her sister’s husband paid their house monthly for any household needs or wants. That would mean even if Yu-ye was to come, he would do no harm. Yu-ye never wanted anything, and was never greedy.
But Yunyoung knew Yu-ye better.
He was more mature than herself, and extremely intelligent.
“If I go, what about my grandmother? I mean, I don’t have a mom.”
“Th…that’s right…”
His response was what she expected.
She sighed.
Yu-ye grabbed Yunyoung’s hand.
“It’s okay. I can come over, right? It not like you’re going overseas.”
“But it’s still too far….”
“I know. It’s the Jeju Islands, right? But are you going to stop visiting just because of the distance?”
“Nope! Never!”
Yunyoung frantically shook her head.
“If you don’t come, I could go. Sis, I’ve never seen the ocean. When I come, show me its beautiful seas. That would be enough to make me happy. Oh, and I want some raw fish too.”
“Oh, Alrigh…” Yunyoung burst in tears. She couldn’t finish her sentence.
When she leaves the village, all she has left is a happy life ahead of her. She would live in her old house, with her caring family, but it was a different story for Yu-ye. Until his neglecting grandmother came back, he would be alone, day and night.
She thought of Yu-ye eating his meals alone in silence. It made her sob even harder. She was sorry, and she was heartbroken. Many mixed emotions suffocated her and made her heart ache.
She even cursed her sister for making them move away.
Then she hated herself for blaming others, and teared up again.
Yunyoung broke down, hugging Yu-ye as tightly as she could.
Yu-ye, as mature as he was, patted her back and kept her company.
Yunyoung cried all night, until the morning sun came up.
