CH 105

“…”

“What about you?” he asked.

The answer to that question was already set in stone. I looked down and said, “If you let me call you Yeonseon.”

At the same time, the hand that had been rubbing my lips lifted my chin. After kissing me several times, he whispered in a voice that was trembling with delight, “Anything you wish. I told you—the choice is yours. What you call me is up to you.”

His answer was just as I expected. I bit the inside of my mouth lightly, and when his lips met mine, I released the tattered flesh and parted my lips. As I closed my eyes, his kiss felt so familiar that I felt death within me.

Act 16

Hyehyun didn’t know this. I didn’t go to the funeral, but I went to the intersection of Yeonseon’s accident. After many days, the only thing that marked the spot of the accident was the photo of the time.

How many motor accidents occurred in this country? When I saw the pedestrians cross the street nonchalantly and the cars go about their way, I could tell—always, every day. It was such a regular occurrence that, aside from the fact that the victim was the singer Yeonseon, there was nothing special about this accident, and it would have been fated to be forgotten.

I went to the bus stop next to the pedestrian crossing. Cars crossed the line unceremoniously. Pedestrians ignored the crossing light and stepped on the crossing. When there were no cars, sparrows would sit there.

At some point, the sun dyed the sky red.

Darkness fell upon my surroundings, and cars turned on their headlights. The people using the crossing dwindled. Then, the number of cars decreased as well. When the surrounding buildings started to turn off their lights, I got up from my seat.

Just like the pedestrians who were jaywalking earlier this morning, I ignored the signal and walked on the road. My feet took me to the exact spot of the accident and stopped on that white line. I stared at the empty space that I had been this entire day.

The moment I stepped foot on the road, tears were streaming from my face. I exhaled a heated breath and called out the name of the “thing” that stood before me. “Yeonseon.”

The scene of the accident was so devastating that the identities of the victims were barely recognizable by their clothes. I was the same. Among the countless victims on the road, the only way I could find Yeonseon was by the pants he was wearing that day and his shoes which were in relatively good condition.

Yeonseon’s face… I couldn’t see it at all.

He was a pulverized lump of meat, a tomato that was macerated with a hammer. How else could I describe it? He was a crop plagued with rust. Eradicating his former appearance, the loathsome tire mark razed his body.

How painful must it have been? How much suffering did he go through? But at that point, I could no longer share anything with him.