“Gasp!”
I bolted upright on the wooden veranda.
“…?”
When I opened my eyes, I found myself covered with a summer blanket.
“Just how long did I sleep…?”
Seeing that the sun was still up, it didn’t seem like I had slept for that long…
“…No, wait a second.”
My eyes widened as I absentmindedly checked my phone.
“Wednesday?”
Good grief.
Did I really just spend an entire day lazily sleeping?
“7:00 AM…”
I slapped my forehead.
The house felt empty, but I could easily guess where my parents were.
Around this time, they would likely be…
“…As I thought.”
When I stepped out into the wide yard behind the house, I immediately spotted a hunched back in my field of vision.
“Did you sleep well?”
At my greeting, my father only glanced back briefly.
Thud!
Then, he silently returned to his farm work.
“Just getting up now?”
“Yes.”
“When are you heading back?”
“I’m not going back anymore.”
“Why?”
“I just want to live here for good.”
I felt a bit nervous after giving my answer.
If it were any ordinary parent?
‘The reaction would be predictable.’
They’d ask why I quit such a good job.
They’d ask if I thought becoming a prosecutor in South Korea was something anyone could do.
They’d ask if I thought the countryside was just some paradise.
But my father…
“Alright.”
He was a man of Gyeongsang Province through and through.
Seeing such a dry reaction made me feel relieved, yet I also felt a strange sense of disappointment.
“Is that it?”
Suddenly, my father stared at me intently.
“Did you get fired for taking bribes?”
“Father, you didn’t raise me that way.”
“Then that’s enough.”
With that, my father went back to his work.
I mean, when you act like this, it makes me want to tease you.
“We have plenty of rooms, so what if I were hiding a gangster somewhere in the house like in a movie?”
“What gangster?”
“A gangster who is a witness in an important case, and I have to hide him personally to protect him… something like that?”
“Stop talking such utter nonsense.”
“Hahahaha!”
Ah.
Laughter burst out of me involuntarily.
How long had it been since I had such a silly conversation with my father?
‘I should have come down sooner to keep him company.’
After all, my father…
He had grown quite haggard in the few years I hadn’t seen him.
To the point where it was obvious he had aged.
‘They say time once passed never returns.’
So, I should start doing my best for them from now on.
“Shall I help you?”
“You’ll just get in the way.”
“Come on. You’re not in the best shape either. Let me help.”
I hurried over to assist him.
For the record, we were currently in a cornfield.
‘The leaves have already grown quite long.’
In just a little while, they would be perfect for boiling with a bit of saccharin.
Corn was a classic summer delicacy in the countryside.
Goseong County, in particular, had sandy soil that drained well, making it famous for its high sugar content.
‘They say if the leaves are long and deep green, it’s a sign that the kernels are firm and full.’
I tried to recall what I had learned as a child.
Actually, there was no need for that.
Shimmer! Shimmer!
The snowflakes, visible only to me, were glowing and sparkling intensely around the high-quality corn.
— Look over here!
— This one! It’s this one!
— If you’re going to eat one now, you have to try this! You’ll regret it if you don’t!
Even though we weren’t actually speaking, it felt as if their will was being transmitted to me.
‘If this is my talent as a farmer…’
Growing corn is quite tricky.
They are prone to pests, and the timing for fertilizer has to be just right.
What if the snowflakes help me every time?
‘…That’s a total cheat code.’
While having these silly thoughts, I moved my hands quickly.
My father was the type of person who was very clear about “if you’re going to do it, do it; if not, don’t.”
“Go on in and rest!”
…If I dawdled even a little bit, a scolding would fly my way immediately.
9:00 AM.
“Son!”
My mother, whom I ran into on the street at the perfect time, opened her eyes wide.
She was with a group of people.
Seeing her hands full, it seemed like our Mrs. Kim had been grocery shopping in town.
“Give those to me.”
I quickly took the bags from her.
“Wait a minute. If he’s the son of this house…”
“That prosecutor? The one who’s doing so well in Seoul!?”
“My goodness. A prosecutor? Am I getting arrested today?”
“Does this lady have something she’s guilty of?”
“Oh, my. It is him. He looks just like he did when he was little. You’re Seojun, right? I almost didn’t recognize you!”
The neighborhood ladies swarmed around me instantly.
“Yes, yes. Hello. I’m Seojun.”
“Oh, my! You must be working so hard for the country.”
“He’s quite handsome, too. Are you on vacation? By the way, are you married?”
“Come on. If he were married, he would have sent us invitations long ago.”
At this point, the ladies’ eyes began to sparkle.
“How old is Seojun this year? My niece is quite graceful and lovely…”
“Oh, please. Weren’t you just complaining about how that niece doesn’t have a job and is a handful?”
“Hey, why are you raining on my parade!?”
“It’s not like he’s interested anyway. Besides, my daughter is a teacher in town…”
Flinch.
In an instant, the ladies all shut their mouths.
Flare.
Before I knew it, my mother was glaring at the ladies with sharp eyes.
“Hohoho…”
“Well… if you’re not going to keep Seojun by your side forever, you should start looking for a match…”
“Ahem.”
Despite that, my mother was firm.
“He’ll handle it when the time comes. Why are you all pressuring the boy?”
“…….”
The silenced ladies finally began to look at each other.
I suppose they knew our family’s history well enough.
And they knew that because of that incident, my mother was quite conservative about her children’s marriages.
‘Has it already been five years since my brother’s divorce?’
I had a brother four years older than me.
Of course, he was currently single again.
The problem was that he had rushed into marriage.
Did the former sister-in-law view my brother as nothing more than a money-making machine?
Of course, I’d have to hear her side too, but it was clear the two were fundamentally incompatible.
In the end, the marriage ended in disaster before even reaching the three-year mark.
So, was my brother currently living in misery?
‘If that were the case, my mother wouldn’t have reacted this way.’
My brother was currently thoroughly enjoying his healing life.
They say it’s only good at first after a divorce and that you become a wreck later?
At least for my brother, that was nonsense.
When I saw him during the holidays last year, his face was practically glowing with health.
“Why were you out?”
“Because I wanted to see you sooner, Mom.”
“Always with the smooth talk. Let’s go inside. You’re hungry, right?”
“Father is washing up right now.”
“It must be time for that man to be hungry too.”
My mother rolled up her sleeves.
“Then, shall I show off my skills for my younger son for the first time in a while?”
“What’s on the menu today?”
“I’ll marinate some meat for ribs later… and for lunch, something light, like refreshing young radish noodles? Wait a minute. Are we out of young radish kimchi?”
Gulp.
My appetite, which hadn’t been there, suddenly surged.
“Just in case, I’ll go find some young radishes for the kimchi!”
I immediately ran to the field.
Shimmer.
Shimmer.
The snowflakes were already waiting for me.
“Now. Which young radishes should I take?”
Sparkle!
Sparkle!
This time too, they radiated light.
Look this way.
Trust me.
They even diligently sprinkled snow powder over the radishes.
Being snowflakes, the ingredients they chose were cold and incredibly fresh!
“Yes, yes. I just had a thought—if I could take you guys to someone’s wedding, it would be perfect.”
I immediately pulled out one of the young radishes that the snowflakes had settled on.
Young radishes are also among the trickier summer vegetables to grow.
They grow well with lots of hot sunlight, but they can easily become tough.
If the stems are thick and hard, they become leathery when chewed and have a grassy taste.
So, when choosing young radishes, the leaves should be wide and tender, and the veins shouldn’t protrude too much.
In that sense…
“This is good.”
This young radish that the snowflakes had chosen.
The thickness of the stem was just right, and the leaves were so soft that I felt a sweet aroma would fill my mouth the moment I took a bite.
“I don’t even have to look to know it’s top-quality.”
I gave a thumbs up toward the snowflakes.
Was my emotion conveyed to them?
Bounce! Bounce!
The snowflakes bounced up and down in place.
It seemed they were happy with my praise.
In the evening, I met my old hometown friends for the first time in a long while.
At the local meat restaurant we used to frequent in our younger days.
“Oh, sorry. Am I late?”
Jingu rushed inside, out of breath.
“You live right in front of here, why are you so late?”
Hyeongtaek, who had arrived first, narrowed his eyes.
“Sorry. My cow escaped.”
“Again?”
“Don’t even get me started. I still haven’t found it.”
“What? Is it okay for you to be meeting us then?”
“Hey. Seojun is here, I couldn’t miss this.”
Jingu quickly sat in an empty seat.
Seeing all three of us together brought back old memories and made me feel good.
“You just came because you wanted to drink.”
“Hey. If I lose that cow for good, the loss for me will be huge.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Sigh. Well, what can I do when I can’t find it no matter how much I look? Someone in the neighborhood will let me know if they see it. Anyone would recognize whose cow it is just by looking at it.”
At this point, my professional habits kicked in.
Guys who only grew up in the countryside are just too naive.
“Instead of that, why don’t you report it to the police?”
“Huh?”
Jingu and Hyeongtaek both turned toward me.
“It’s not a crime, the cow just wandered off on its own. Can you really report something like that?”
“Did you personally see the cow leave on its own?”
“If I had seen it, I would have caught it already.”
“Exactly. So, isn’t it possible that someone stole it?”
“Come on. In this day and age, who would…”
“There was a case like that among the ones I handled.”
I recalled an old memory.
“An eighty-year-old grandmother passed away. Inside her room. The body had no external injuries, looking as if she had simply passed away in her sleep.”
“And?”
The two of them began to focus on my words.
“Naturally, the police treated it as a natural death. Given her age and existing conditions, the cause of death seemed like a chronic illness at the time.”
“Are you saying it wasn’t a chronic illness?”
“Right. It was murder.”
“!”
The two of them widened their eyes in shock.
“Mu-murder?”
“Even the family found out before the police did. They had installed CCTV in the house because the grandmother had dementia, just in case.”
“So, who was the culprit?”
“A man in his 60s from next door who harbored lustful thoughts. He had strangled the grandmother to death.”
“What? That kind of crazy case is real?”
Yes.
Surprisingly, it was a true story.
“So, there’s no such thing as ‘one hundred percent’ in this world. If there’s even a 1 percent chance of a crime, you have to report it. Investigating is the process of eliminating that 1 percent ‘what if’ in the first place.”
“…….”
The atmosphere became solemn in an instant.
“I-I’ll report it right away.”
Jingu hurriedly took his phone and went outside.
Once it was just the two of us.
“…Wow. Hearing a story like that really makes it sink in that my friend was a prosecutor.”
“I’m a civilian now.”
“Since you brought it up, why did you really quit?”
“Let’s talk about that later.”
Hyeongtaek was certainly quick on the uptake.
When I showed a sign of discomfort, he quickly changed the subject.
“But then, you must have had some dangerous moments while working?”
“I’ve almost died before.”
I held up my wrist to show the deep scar that remained.
The wound that still throbbed several times a day…
“…Huh?”
Come to think of it, had I felt any pain from this scar today?
“Wow. What kind of story is behind that? I heard prosecutors just get buried in paperwork and don’t go out to the field.”
“The style differs from person to person.”
“It seems like we’ll have quite a lot to catch up on.”
Just then, Jingu, who had gone out to make the report, came back inside.
“The police said they’ll be at my house soon. Sorry, but I have to head out for a bit.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry about it, go ahead. The night is long.”
“…Seojun.”
Jingu paused for a moment and asked.
“Are you really planning on settling down here?”
His expression was incredibly serious.
“What are you going to do for a living? It’s hard enough to even open a law firm in a town like this.”
“He’s right. A town with a population of less than 50,000—what use is a lawyer? There’s only one judicial scrivener’s office too.”
No.
That’s not where the focus should be.
“So. Should I be like other white-collar workers, spending my life busy in Seoul and only visiting my hometown when my parents pass away? Regretting everything in front of their funeral portraits?”
“…….”
“How much longer do you think my parents have left to live?”
After a moment, Hyeongtaek gave a bitter smile.
“Seojun. Since we’re talking about it, I was really grateful last year.”
“Suddenly?”
“It was around this time, wasn’t it? Even though you were busy, you stayed with me for all three days of my mother’s funeral. You were dripping with sweat, personally carrying spicy beef soup to the mourners.”
“…It was nothing. Between friends.”
True.
In the past, I also thought of success as my top priority.
But.
‘These mundane daily moments are what’s truly precious.’
Escaping from the complex city.
Under the pouring starlight, having a bowl of rice wine and talking openly with childhood friends.
‘I’ll sleep well tonight.’
At least so far, my return home was a great success.
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