228 – EP.10 Rebirth-1
***
Yoon Sia did not send her hospital bills right away. Instead, she left her cafe earlier than scheduled.
She boarded a bus, and only after changing buses three times, about 15 minutes each, was she able to get to the hospital.
From Noble mtl dot com
In front of the hospital room where her father was, she could see her mother dozing off while sitting on one side of the six-person room.
Yun Shia couldn’t bear to walk to her hospital room. This is because she felt that if she entered this room full of gloomy and sickly energy, she too would be consumed by that energy.
While she was standing there, unable to get in or out, her mother, who had been dozing like a chicken, opened her eyes.
“…….”
The mother and daughter looked at each other.
Yoon Sia opened her mouth to announce that she had arrived.
Her mother, fatigue creeping around her eyes, slowly raised her rusty body.
She gave her husband a look, then left her hospital room, dragging her slippers.
“What about rice?”
These were the first words she said to her daughter.
“I ate. What about Mom?”
It was a dinner filled with Americano and cookies.
“I had a good lunch so I don’t think much about dinner.”
The sun has already passed. Yun Sia didn’t add much to her mother’s lie.
The two women walked along the hallway. The two entered the lounge and sat down in the empty seats.
And the silence that followed.
While Yoon Sia was taking in the quiet yet busy atmosphere of the hospital hallway, her mother suddenly spoke to her.
“The condition has gotten worse. They said they will change the medicine starting tomorrow.”
Her father’s condition was heard. I feel like my heart is sinking.
“So you need more money?”
“I received a call from the administrative department… So I was pushed back a lot.”
Extreme fatigue and resignation were etched into the mother’s eyes.
“Okay. I’ll send you more.”
Yun Sia felt sick to her stomach.
She was not bitter because she spent more than half of the price of her wages, but because she thought this situation of having to pay for her wages was cruel.
“Mom is going to extend her shifts, she has to work until the afternoon now.”
Her mother worked as a supermarket cashier.
“Then what about Dad?”
Yoon Sia asked, tapping the bare floor with her heel.
“Sia, so…”
Her mother slurred her words again.
“Can you please see Dad in the afternoon? I can’t use the caregiver for long anymore.”
“…I’ll ask if I can adjust the tutoring time.”
“Okay, thank you.”
After her words, the conversation between mother and daughter did not continue.
Yun Shia spent half of her remaining money, and she stood up and left the hospital.
“…….”
Her mother watched indifferently as her daughter left without saying hello.
Only empty lethargy remained in her eyes.
The woman with deep wrinkles around her eyes and mouth no longer had the guns and love of her youth.
***
After wondering what to eat, I ended up choosing cup ramen.
This is because the soul craved the taste of artificial seasoning that could not be properly consumed due to dimensional travel.
Perhaps because the house was located in a very wealthy area, the convenience store had to go down a hill for a long time.
As I was going down, I wondered why the hill was so steep, and then I realized that people who live here never walk up the hill in the first place.
Everyone will travel by car.
I went down the hill, lamenting the fact that I was still a small citizen even after being possessed.
When I arrived at the bottom of the hill, a convenience store with a familiar logo greeted me.
Feeling half excitement and half joy, I was about to enter when I noticed a dog food bowl placed next to the entrance.
I looked around to see if he had a dog, but I couldn’t see a dog or even a leash.
– Rattle
The door opened with a bell, and I walked around the stalls, filling my lungs with the familiar air of modern times.
I put a basket full of irritating and spicy things and put them on the checkout counter.
The part-time worker mechanically stamped their barcodes.
“It’s 32,300 won.”
I bought it greedily and got quite a lot.
“Here.”
I held out my card, and the part-time worker pointed to the card reader with his finger.
Ah, you put it in yourself.
“What is the dog food bowl at the entrance?”
I asked while inserting the card.
“That’s the boss feeding the cat.”
I guess I’ve heard this question often, but I said it as if I was tired of my part-time job.
“A cat?”
“Yes. It’s a feeding place for stray cats or something… That’s why they leave things like churros in convenience stores.”
It seems like the owner is a cat lover.
I took the card out of the reader and left the store.
It is already getting dark.
It was a while longer to climb the hill, so I busily exercised my legs.
– Meow
Behind me as I was climbing the hill, I heard a small cat sound.
***
After returning about halfway down the way I came, I received a call from Yoon Sia.
I took the cell phone with my free hand.
“Hello?”
[Ah… Inho, can I call you?]
It is a quiet voice.
“Yes, it is possible.”
There is still a long way left on the hill road.
[Perhaps….]
Yoon Si-ah blurted out her words. Is there something I would like to ask you?
[Could it be possible to move the tutoring time to night? Around 8 or 9 o’clock….]
“Uh… Why?”
[Well, something happened to me.]
“Hmm….”
As I withheld the answer, I heard a sigh from the other side.
[Now you’re suspended from school… No, you’re doing it in the afternoon because you’re resting at home, right? Since I have to adjust the time again when the suspension is lifted anyway… I wonder if it would be better to move it in advance…]
Yoon Shia, heard through the cell phone, was desperate.
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
I couldn’t find any reason to refuse, so I answered her.
[Huh? Really?]
She did not miss my vague affirmation.
“But are you okay?”
Well, since it’s such a problem, I guess it doesn’t matter.
[What?]
“If you come back after a night’s sleep, won’t it be past 9 o’clock?”
I told her my one problem.
There is silence on the other side of the phone.
During that long period of silence, I climbed the hill and waited for Yoon Sia’s words.
[Inho.]
When we got to the front of the house, Yoon Sia asked me in an awkward voice.
[Palm… When are you talking about?]
Oh, there are no palm trees?
I’m old.