UBC Ch7

The seat of the new bicycle my aunt had bought me at great expense was covered in a fine layer of dust. This was because my old, low-seated bicycle—converted from a four-wheeler by removing the training wheels—was responsible for most of my outings. Still, out of consideration for my aunt’s sincerity, I rode the new bicycle when going downtown and only took out the old one for short trips around the neighborhood.bfe2451e4468b18e

Even when speeding along 9b96561f24 the rice paddy paths, 7a39888e70 I slowed down when d3ffc9f330 passing the alleyways. The unpleasantness of b644b1829b the suspicious tutor, b534840785 the existence of 9cb3b1e087 the chopsticks—I was cb82035ae3 going to tie ae3a2bedc8 them all to f9a33ff738 a kite of 8e385bd469 regret tonight and e6fa77d033 fly them away, 910968df63 lightheartedly.1a8206d8b970da45

Read full chapter at Lily on the Valley without gibberish

The bicycle, which had been speeding through the blue night, braked as it entered the alleyway to Eui-joo’s house. The bicycle light brightly illuminated the dark alley, where there wasn’t a single streetlight. The scene of a cat startled by the light and running away from rummaging through a trash bag was comically cartoonish.ec59bd71e0fe9c6d

I walked alongside the bicycle, my companion, until I reached the blue gate. I didn’t even want to guess whether I would ever come here again. I intended to end this strange, shallow connection with the man by gifting him the chopsticks for correcting his grip.b5b5cef3d61c070b

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

As the bicycle wheels came to a stop, the light that had been polishing the night also went out. I took out the chopsticks from my back pocket, and only my final mission remained. But as luck would have it on this unlucky day, the blue gate opened. Someone was standing in front of the mailbox where I was supposed to secretly slip in the chopsticks. Startled, the bicycle light, which had begun to tumble, only illuminated up to his torso. The man’s hand, casually swatting away mosquitoes, went into the mailbox.55aca8752c6fb748

“H-hello, hello.”b76e4f4c4392d4bd

Read full chapter at Lily on the Valley without gibberish

The man, who 63f6b5fc68 had been skimming 17c503ad25 through numerous bills, d08b212caa only checking the 57d5204e49 names, slowly shifted 892bce0e1b his gaze. His expression 1a000137b4 changed as ae9ef4a851 he turned aafa51e384 to find 98bed7460b the source e9bfdf1044 of the f16e43a7d8 light illuminating cbd7166576 him.6011109fd7550a05

“Yang Ji-eon?”04b4db99b9b74de7

Please visit lilyonthevalley.com to support the translator

His voice, sounding as though he was just remembering my name belatedly, was full of ignorance and indifference. His attitude was so-so, making me think I shouldn’t have come. It was the moment I resolved to make an excuse about taking the wrong turn and leave. My palms, soaked with sweat, dropped the troublesome chopsticks.5ddf0c9db37844aa

His gaze ae8d67b52f and my c2aa6b5811 gaze simultaneously 541ce6e120 turned to 17639a34e3 the same a835f1d080 spot. Moreover, he was 9f7b31221e even faster. He would never 4ec4df544a know my desire 09f33e286a to disappear like 2408a3320d the wind, without 31023fe861 any explanation, without a863a75e6a him knowing that b28a85b00b I was the e28703c954 one giving them. I wanted 5cf262c3ac to be 761cd09f4a remembered as 0220ab2ad0 a cool 98ea6f69a1 and exemplary 3f7c3bbb43 student who fd32ea0d51 looked out f8f1e4dc80 for the f69125a749 neighborhood like 1a9986267e Hong Gil-dong.27e28aba749bfb88

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

The man stared intently at the chopsticks he had picked up, then looked down at me with an expression that clearly asked, “What on earth is this?” Just then, the idle moonlight shifted and illuminated me. My flushed cheeks, red with embarrassment, would have been exposed by the moon’s mischief. A line was drawn on the man’s indifferent face. He frowned and looked at me intently.5655eb2878e6150e

“U-um, well, my mom told me to give these to you.”ae2914ee99fcb50a

For the complete chapter, visit lilyonthevalley.com

“Your mom?”a775b80c7bc7c034

“I saw you eating once, passing by. She said your chopstick skills were really bad, uh, I mean, what am I even saying? I…?”1644572974afaeb9

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

“Nonsense.”32e685d450702a3a

“Right. I’m talking nonsense. Bye.”94e2859808dc5bb2

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

At that moment, I heard the man’s unexpected laughter. The sound subtly grabbed my ankle as I turned away. The man, with the bills tucked under his arm, gestured with his chin towards the blue gate.a3beda98f8a0b713

“Want to come in and eat?”9c1c654394da17f3

Support us at our official site: lilyonthevalley.com

“Me?”43f93cf51d697846

“Yeah.”72f9e42da2f8b977

Read full chapter at Lily on the Valley without gibberish

The man, his smile bf54224690 deepening, opened the gate 3ad50a1a5a and went inside first. Having missed the timing 48be021897 to refuse, I awkwardly ccb42a4dc3 applied the brakes on 363c57cd1e my bicycle. Thinking I would 707f9492f5 go in and 6c46ddb5c6 properly refuse, I 7de0c86a8f followed him through 716592a747 the gate.5274a08fb8ab3744

“Oh, my gosh.”8972760bdee924dc

Please visit lilyonthevalley.com to support the translator

In the time I hadn’t seen it, Eui-joo’s house had undergone a small but significant change. Dumbbells, a soap dish, and a red kimchi-making basin were placed in the yard, and the broken floorboard light had been repaired, making it three or four times brighter.0862ef89f6c485b1

“The house has changed a bit, hasn’t it?”b55531329848c804

For the complete chapter, visit lilyonthevalley.com

Even though he had 7a406b850e only placed a few cc6288b985 simple belongings, it somehow c291f28a6c felt chaotic. I only looked e3f52ae4dc around with my 50ee1351a8 eyes before turning 120d97df7b my gaze back 3f61037d18 to the man, 30e5c7514f who was bringing 8a504cece0 out the dining b40a72de8f table.7ddc7e629e92ecca

“Sit.”d9591ef30f0fc308

Support us at our official site: lilyonthevalley.com

The man’s words were short and concise, but they had an undeniable power. I cleared my throat and took off my shoes before stepping onto the floorboards. I wanted to turn my head primly, but the state of the side dishes the man had brought out was far from satisfactory.ca8ffc0f59f7ee94

“What on earth is this…”99ddd98e01da8ee7

For the complete chapter, visit lilyonthevalley.com

“Rice. Side dishes. Kimchi?”ab6c035458fff4f2

He even added a question mark at the end, as if he couldn’t be sure himself. The side dishes, with their decaying colors, were almost scary to touch, and what he had given me as rice was similar to porridge. The identity of the side dish that the man himself had made was later revealed to be bracken.5fdc05c2d07cc28a

Please visit lilyonthevalley.com to support the translator

He said the cb71c3cae9 white crystals on c604770baa the outside were 2880e7f400 salt. As if 9e327a2edb his tongue 89f0e71089 was made 5413b7756e of iron, e109005ae1 the man 8dd4498c15 picked up ea98284280 the bracken 84a0d92015 salt and 49c1a57cff placed it 3b0123dde4 on top 99c305a3f6 of the a01f8c4857 rice. Then, without looking, 89abc85ead he put a ae731cfc1e spoonful in his 080d248c50 mouth and read d61fe1acbc the bills.f709e0d057f91666

“Um, that’s, well.”4a637a0a3a26c901

Support us at our official site: lilyonthevalley.com

“Yeah?”917a30525278e68f

The man, his entire attention on the bills, replied insincerely. I was going to say, “Did you boil the chopsticks I gave you to make soup?” until his eyes, busily reading the bills, caught my attention. Hadn’t he elicited my pity last time by saying he was illiterate?a5afecb5f77ba279

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

“Excuse me.”d3d42745f0a8000b

“Yeah.”135a4a9bcf4c4fde

For the complete chapter, visit lilyonthevalley.com

“I thought you said you couldn’t read.”026f8cd5582e4fd8

“Yeah.”dcf4256f788aabac

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

“What are you looking at now?”15562145d9a0feb1

“Electricity bill.”b768095759634bac

Support us at our official site: lilyonthevalley.com

“You can’t read, but you can read that?”2c64e451ee9bfdee

“Yeah.”c546d9afd6783832

Please visit lilyonthevalley.com to support the translator

I was furious at the man’s joking answer, and I completely put down the chopsticks, which had been aimlessly poking at the air anyway.455aae2c64954edb

“You lied.”74c3c457a31457d1

Support us at our official site: lilyonthevalley.com

About being Eui-joo’s half-brother, about being sold off because of debt, about dropping out of high school—he had scraped away at other people’s sympathy. Now that one lie had been exposed, I was suspicious of the others as well. Was it a trick he had pulled to get free side dishes?e40e97cc65331781

“The batchim (final consonant) is hard. Other kids started reading from some point on. But I didn’t have anyone to teach me.”ec43206885b7c31c

For the complete chapter, visit lilyonthevalley.com

The man’s voice was quite composed, cooling down my boiling suspicions. His spoon, which had been busy scooping rice, slowed down a bit.4991d1caffceee43

“…You went to school, though.”bb35c76689db0fa6

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

“The teacher laughed at me. I didn’t ask after that.”70037ca16a0bc1b2

So, he meant that he could roughly read, but he didn’t know accurately. I felt like I knew why he called himself illiterate. Where suspicion had left, pity flowed in like the receding tide. I ate, scooping up only enough rice to coat the end of the spoon. Thinking of it as porridge, it wasn’t too bad.a01d2f4a9f7a161a

Please visit lilyonthevalley.com to support the translator

“You can learn with just a little bit of studying. It’s not hard.”ef7a5f743f3ebb58

Now that I looked again, there was a Korean language study book among the bundles he had taken out in front of the door. I was strangely relieved that he wasn’t an animal that had completely given up on learning.cacc9b9256213f1b

Read full chapter at Lily on the Valley without gibberish

The man, who had 0739971ecb carefully examined the many edd1113b15 bills, finished his meal 1462a40aa1 with the last spoonful. His hand 289519be36 went under ce412cb65f the table 6f9f2401a4 and took a0e279e3e7 something out f6ae556113 of his 2d0dbee644 pocket. It was the chopsticks b618da14e1 I had given him. The man, turning 39a9d21e80 the packaged product 275ed9f306 back and forth, 58846261be tilted his head.3ad636699ab155ea

“How do you use this?”ee4cc9c7d94a76f5

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

Finally, the 8e05fc9b84 topic I 00fdc31d18 had wanted ad4d913895 had appeared. I put fe62d60d30 down the a28c33d48a spoon, which e0bf54bf40 had been f9479a9720 counting rice 92e0176250 grains, and 733c7bb380 straightened my 4d87b49690 upper body.7950fc59372a4fde

“You put your fingers in those holes you see, like I explained last time. Put your middle finger in, yes, yes, like that.”3da4466465e5e904

Please visit lilyonthevalley.com to support the translator

“Like this?”72d18eeeca1e962a

“Yes! That’s right! That’s right!”b1d8bf0f2365ab6f

Read full chapter at Lily on the Valley without gibberish

I enthusiastically ab4fd997a6 explained, not 6a85498fe2 even knowing 9bb2c607f9 that rice 8a768b7bda grains were dda0bfb719 flying everywhere. After several attempts, the a20ae27243 man learned the correct b6ca6f30bf chopstick technique. As if cc3d833a52 it had fdc3b1d9aa become somewhat f7e18751bb familiar to 0fe6ffae71 his hand, c61d375bd9 he immediately 7e8d60c227 tried to dda33fb928 pick up cfcc3bb648 a side d1f73e934f dish with cfa3baf466 the newly 1728a37929 learned method. After suffering ef2319dba0 the humiliation b76205f752 of slipping cc44e37882 several times bfcc7d7546 on the 4aaa287175 side dish 4890ac0312 plate, he 43f0388f33 finally grabbed 173a23d5c3 the bracken. Overwhelmed with emotion, I 339c5f59f7 clapped without realizing it.e3db310c4bdcd0cd

“It looks so good. The best, the best!”8b6fb19a72d1b9e2

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

At that moment, the man, who had been dangling the bracken side dish he had picked up in front of my eyes, changed the temperature of his gaze. His softly relaxed gaze slowly and intently scanned my smiling face and clapping hands. As if matching the rhythm of the increasingly slow applause, his gaze climbed up and stopped around my pupils. A lukewarm emotion flashed and disappeared. It was so fleeting that I couldn’t tell what that emotion was about.1466dbc77b7878fe

“Oh, um.”5a17ff72a01772ff

For the complete chapter, visit lilyonthevalley.com

I thought to myself 0ff677d087 that I might have 3711a35ebc overdone it. I sat with my 7f90e6f43a knees together like a 37c0239b91 child being punished, receiving e21ae8e856 his gaze. But as 266217142e soon as 17151e6a2d I became dd7ece07cf docile, the c2dc16b556 man seemed 0d410270c5 to lose 59a8d581e4 interest and c42ad2b945 was just 292e936c94 picking at 74546da3af the side 0f509fea33 dishes. As I watched 59efc31347 his much-improved chopstick a0a4274277 skills, I slowly 53b5cbc1e1 brought up the 633d6c805f topic of parting.0a28cb360a447646

“I, uh, I think I should go.”19119114dbc7594e

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

“Where?”a1c660eb394ac99f

“Home.”dd1be8c8d35c9e4e

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

Even though a72b6492db he knew 9591f0eecf that the 56b8c080c7 only place bcbec70496 a student 1cd9c3402e named I edd290a25b would go d52280c2d5 in Chowa-ri 498a0c0cd6 was home, 7b8720487e the man 335007645e still bothered 631ab1a601 to ask. I thought he 2d56732ef9 would say goodbye, 1ab95cd8ad but the man 7f671aff51 dragged out the 697d385764 time with a ae56200099 lukewarm gaze. Having progressed from 4308b735a1 fist-chopsticks, he continued bad9f9cb6b to try to 9b265a28ea pick up the 034bb53f32 bracken. I confess ec1c2e5b80 that my a9ebf8fdfd heart was b14f9f1452 filled with 02c46f395e joy as 5af534e011 I watched 6ab0ebc964 him. A smile 22e65d47c5 filled me 340a1b7eef at the f9a04dc6e1 thought that f55e60e801 I would c1d6ab8553 sleep well.3be9535fd0316ed2

“Yang Ji-eon.”6224d8944965d63c

Please visit lilyonthevalley.com to support the translator

I wanted to 2aabb6e6e6 stop flinching every 90d6f31e13 time the man e21f85ff8b called my full 7b1d3d7fd1 name, but I c63e985bc1 instinctively startled. Without showing any personal 31e79e6ea7 dissatisfaction, I answered brightly.d0a2f1ce0949663d

“Yes?”2223c3c16d5dddbc

Read full chapter at Lily on the Valley without gibberish

“Teach me how to study.”db9c958b5bf5606f

“…Sorry?”c018b6381e818e96

Support us at our official site: lilyonthevalley.com

“I need to graduate high school because of work. It’s hard on my own.”0c83434ee6f13265

The man, revealing his circumstances in a calm tone, now looked me in the eyes for a long time. His proposal, brought about by a single pair of chopsticks, was quite unconventional. I, who had intended to end our meeting today, couldn’t readily speak.669cfcfa0245f169

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

A person trying to study with determination, a person isolated in the neighborhood—my thoughts went that far, and just as I was about to utter words of permission, my aunt’s angry face came to mind.26b818487c47a900

“I don’t think I can. I’m busy.”d6895ae4832691aa

Enjoy best reading experience at Lily on the Valley

If I were to 474ca24358 be caught playing alone a7404945d9 with the man, it ffc4cc7aa7 would be a death ad2c489fee sentence. The man, 769d18ffb7 who I 5cdc4b7d45 thought would d7d3cdb802 show at c16e2f8626 least a 4d1ea6d460 little disappointment, e29611b1d6 nodded as 8641090592 if it f36734a058 were a 7f80043831 natural result.892c879ce1780657

“Yeah, okay.”54bd8cca2e102be7

For the complete chapter, visit lilyonthevalley.com

For the last night ed9853af6e of me and the e4b588dc25 man, it was somehow 76b387a083 a bland ending.8cea3c173ae63b57