SL 2.1

Naeun ran out in her pajamas. The countryside at midnight, where even the streetlights were few and far between, was quiet and eerie. But none of that mattered to Naeun anymore. She had something far more urgent to deal with.

Despite it being nearly midnight, Naeun didn’t hesitate to ring the doorbell at Beom’s house. The village chief and his wife, roused from sleep, turned on the lights. Even in that brief moment as they responded, Naeun anxiously shifted her feet, tears welling up in her eyes.

—Who’s out there at this hour?

The village chief asked groggily.

“It’s me, Naeun.”

—Naeun? What’s going on at this hour?

“It’s an emergency!”

Click. Without another question, the door opened, and Beom’s entire family came rushing out. Naeun wiped at her constantly falling tears with her sleeve. It didn’t help much.

“What happened? Is your grandmother sick?”

“She’s gone. I woke up, and… she was definitely next to me when we first fell asleep… Where could she have gone…”

Naeun was so flustered, her words tumbled out in a mess. But Beom’s father, sharp as ever, instantly grasped the gravity of the situation.

—Ah, ah. This is the village chief speaking. Ms. Myung has gone missing, so if you’re still awake, please check around your houses.

His voice echoed throughout the area, loud and clear. One by one, lights flickered on in the previously dark homes, and the entire village slowly lit up.

Meanwhile, Beom tried to comfort Naeun, who was trembling down to her fingertips.

“We’ll find her soon. The village is small, so we’ll find her quickly. It’s happened before too, and she was found right away.”

“Aunt told me so many times to be careful… that Grandma might wander out in the middle of the night… I should’ve watched her better…”

Naeun had definitely fallen asleep with her grandmother in her arms. That familiar, comforting scent had relaxed her, and she’d fallen into such a deep sleep, it cured the insomnia she suffered from in Seoul.

But then she woke up thirsty, and her grandmother was gone. In a panic, Naeun had searched the entire house and combed the yard. But there was no sign of her.

“It’s not your fault, seriously. Try to calm down,” Beom’s father said as he finished the broadcast and put on his hat.

“He’s right. It happens sometimes with dementia patients, so don’t blame yourself too much. We’ll go out and find her soon.”

“I’m going too!”

Naeun sprang to her feet. She couldn’t just sit still while everyone else was out looking. Besides, there was no way she could feel at ease.

“No, you should get some rest. You’ve been through a lot.”

“I want to go. Please let me help.”

Seeing how desperate she was, the village chief scratched his head and finally nodded.

“All right. Take a flashlight and don’t go too far out, okay? Beom, you stay at Ms. Myung’s house in case grandma comes back.”

“Got it.”

By the time they’d divided up the roles and stepped outside, the village was already in an uproar. Clearly just out of bed, the neighbors were shouting Naeun’s grandmother’s name at the top of their lungs. Naeun struggled to suppress the lump in her throat and parted ways with the village chief, picking up her pace.

“Grandma! Grandma, where are you?”

She shone her flashlight into the rice paddies, wondering if her grandmother had fallen in, but found no clues.

“Grandma, please come out!”

Her grandmother had truly disappeared, and Naeun’s heart was burning with worry. She had run around so frantically that somewhere along the way, she’d kicked off her shoes and was now barefoot.

“Grandma, please… please…”

Blood was flowing from her feet, and tears from her eyes. Out of breath, Naeun paused and locked eyes with someone. It was that annoying man she’d seen a few days ago. In her frantic running, she had ended up at his luxurious villa. For some reason, he was outside.

Naeun wiped her tears with the back of her hand and turned around. She had no time to waste.

“Hey.”

But the man called out to her. Limping, Naeun ignored him.

“Hey.”

His voice called again, slightly louder this time. She needed to hurry, but his voice calling her again and again was grating on her nerves.

She was already anxious to death over her missing grandmother—what was the big deal about standing in front of someone’s house? Her guilt toward herself and worry for her grandmother twisted into something else. Naeun turned to him and shouted.

“I wasn’t loitering in front of your house or anything!”

The man froze at her sudden outburst. Naeun glared at him, panting.

“As you can see, I’m really busy right now! So don’t waste my time.”

Meanwhile, the voices of townspeople calling out “Ms. Myung!” echoed in the distance. The man listened to the calls for a moment before asking in a dry voice:

“Who’s this ‘Ms. Myung’ they’re calling for?”

“Excuse me?”

Naeun felt like she was about to lose her mind. His calm tone was absurd.

“Your grandmother?”

“Do you not understand the situation or something…?”

But then, what he said next made it impossible for Naeun to ignore him.

“She’s here.”

“…What?”

“She’s in my house.”

The man swung the gate wide open, as if to prove it. And just as he said, there sat the grandmother Naeun had been desperately searching for—swinging innocently and gazing up at the night sky.

Naeun’s knees gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.

Her heart dropped. Why was Grandma here? It was the last place she would have expected.

As if reading her mind, the man quietly explained,

“I didn’t lock the gate. Looks like she slipped in. I didn’t know what to do, so I came outside.”

And that’s when he saw Naeun crying.

He reached out a hand to help her up, but Naeun stumbled to her feet on her own. The outstretched hand hung awkwardly in the air as she ran past him toward her grandmother.

What is this ridiculous feeling? The man looked after her with a faintly perplexed expression.

“Grandma! What are you doing here!”

Naeun hugged her grandmother and burst into tears. The innocent old woman tilted her head.

“Why are you crying?”

“You scared me when you disappeared. Why did you come here?”

“Unni, you’re so pretty. Look at the sky.”

Naeun bit her lips hard, trying not to cry.

“The sky in my hometown was this pretty too. My father didn’t build a swing on the tree, so I made one myself and looked up at the sky every day. But where is my father now? Why hasn’t he come to see me? Does he not like me anymore? Did he abandon me?”

Naeun covered her face with her hands, hot tears leaking through. After managing to calm herself, she reached out a small hand to her grandmother.

“Let’s go home, Grandma. We’ll talk at home.”

“But Unni, what happened to your feet?”

Her grandmother’s gaze fell to Naeun’s scratched and bleeding bare feet.

“Why are your pretty feet like this?”

Her deeply wrinkled hands gently stroked Naeun’s feet, just like when she’d soothe Naeun’s bellyaches, whispering “Grandma’s hands are healing hands.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No. It doesn’t.”

“You don’t have shoes? Should I give you a pair? I have lots of shoes.”

“Okay. Give me some. But let’s go home first.”

Looking reluctant, her grandmother slowly stood up from the swing.

“Can’t I sleep here tonight?”

“No. This is someone else’s house.”

Was there a tree in the yard strong enough to hang a swing on? While she was pondering this, something fell off Grandma’s shoulder with a soft thud. It was a blanket. A blanket she’d never seen before. It must have been the villa owner who covered her with it.

Maybe he’s not as bad a person as she thought. Naeun folded the blanket neatly and helped her grandmother out the front gate. She handed the blanket back to the man.

“Thank you.”

“This mister is handsome, isn’t he, dear?”

Grandma suddenly cut in and pointed at the man with her finger. Naeun quickly lowered Grandma’s hand.

“Grandma! You shouldn’t point at people.”

“Thank you, mister.”

Grandma gave him a polite bow. Caught up in the moment, Naeun also bowed to the man and walked on, suppressing the pain in her feet. She needed to let the village elders know she’d found Grandma before night fell deeper.

Then something dropped with a soft thump near Naeun’s feet. It was a pair of luxury slippers the villa man had been wearing. Startled, Naeun turned her head.

“I’m sick of those. Toss them somewhere on your way. I figure it’s fair to ask you to run a small errand in return for looking after your Grandma, right?”

His words were clearly a lie. The slippers were expensive designer ones, practically brand-new. After hesitating, Naeun slipped her feet into them. Her feet hurt too much to refuse. The slippers still held the man’s warmth.

Then the man looked at Grandma and, in a tone that was noticeably more gentle, said:

“Grandma, come swing anytime you like. I’ll leave the gate open.”

Surprised by the unexpected kindness, Naeun was briefly speechless.

“Is that okay?”

“Sure. No one else uses it anyway.”

Grandma, overjoyed, pulled Naeun into a tight hug. As she patted her smiling grandmother’s back, Naeun hesitated and then said:

“I’m Go Naeun.”

It wasn’t much of a thank-you, but she just felt like telling him her name. The man blinked and responded:

“I’m Do Seungjun.”

Naeun slowly nodded. It was a name that suited his face well.

They locked eyes for a strangely long moment before the man turned and walked back inside. Naeun also started to walk. The oversized slippers flopped awkwardly, but she didn’t mind. She’d found Grandma, after all.

“Village chief!”

Not long after, Naeun called out to Beom’s father, who was running around drenched in sweat.

“You found Grandma?”

“Yes. She was at the villa.”

“Thank goodness.”

The chief sighed with relief.

“What was she doing over there! Really, this is too much!”

Despite his words, the village chief took good care of Grandma. Then he shouted to the grocer in the distance:

“Yongjoo! We found Grandma!”

“Really? Whew, you scared me half to death. Thought something terrible had happened.”

They were able to find Grandma partly thanks to the man’s help, but mostly because everyone in the village did their part.

With neighbors who helped as if it were their own problem, Naeun didn’t feel alone—even when she was alone. She couldn’t shake the sense that they were all in this together.

“I’ll take Naeun and Grandma home, so you go tell the others and get some rest.”

“Alright. Thank you. Naeun, you too—great job.”

Naeun bowed. The once-noisy village gradually quieted down.

For the first time in her life, she sincerely wished everyone else’s night would be peaceful and warm.

“Oh man, Beom’s probably been waiting with her neck stretched out. She’ll be thrilled.”

“Sorry. You must’ve had a rough time, waking up in the middle of the night.”

“What are you saying that for? We’re supposed to help each other. And that Miss Myung, she’s done a lot for us too. When we didn’t have rice, she’d cook for us. If there was a picnic, she’d even boil potatoes and hand them over.”

Naeun looked at the village chief, moved.

He spoke in a nostalgic, choked-up voice, as if he hadn’t forgotten a single childhood memory.

“Naeun, no matter how much the world changes, isn’t this what living is about? This is why they say good neighbors are like family. That’s why I’ll never live in Seoul, not even if I die.”

He ended with a playful tone. What a problem. In two months, she was supposed to leave this place, but Naeun was starting to like it more and more.

That special warmth she had forgotten was coming back to her.

The frozen emotions in her heart were starting to thaw.

“Naeun, are you glad you came here?”

“Yes.”

Just days ago, she’d been full of complaints—but now, her answer was sincere. She truly was glad she came.

“That’s all that matters. While we’re seeing each other’s faces, let’s help each other out. Grandma, think of this like staying with family and rest easy.”

The noisy chirping of insects, the soft ground squishing underfoot, even the village chief’s tufts of white hair poking out—they were all wonderful.

“Dad! Where’s Grandma!”

“Oh man, that kid’s got sharp instincts.”

Even her friend Beom, bouncing at the gate after waiting so long.

“Found her, kiddo. Don’t run! You’ll get hurt.”

“Yay! You found her!”

Everything was good. No—everything was becoming good.

 

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