GB 21

They wanted to go back but didn’t know how. As it got dark, this already unfamiliar giant metal island felt even stranger.

When pitch-black darkness settled in, the sea showed its true face. The waves grew larger, causing the ships in the port to collide with each other. The sound was terrifying. It made them wonder if the monsters the adults spoke of weren’t the navy, but rather the sounds coming from the ships the navy used.

Haero and Suhee wandered hand in hand until they were discovered by a patrolling military policeman. Though both of them thought they had walked quite far, they hadn’t even left the civilian area.

“That was dangerous,” the policeman clicked his tongue as he turned on the air conditioning. 

Suhee and Haero were exhausted in the back seat, drenched in sea humidity.

“You might think it’s land and step into the sea in an instant. You have to be careful of the water at night. It lures people in.”

Using the policeman’s fairy tale-like warning as a lullaby, Haero and Suhee dozed off with their heads leaning on each other’s shoulders.

Suhee was the first to leave the place. The teacher, who came to pick up the child, held the drowsy little one tightly and gently rubbed his sleepy eyes.

Feeling disturbed, Suhee finally woke up. He blinked, neither able to hug the teacher back nor push them away, and shed a small tear. This was Suhee’s impression of this new world – unable to accept it all at once, but also unable to coldly push it away.

Meanwhile, Haero was in a deep sleep, unaware that Suhee had gotten out. Suhee waved to the sleeping Haero through the window. 

The policeman quietly reported their current location and direction. A low, attractive voice on the other end acknowledged and said they would depart from the hospital now.

“Haero.”

Haero didn’t recognize his name and didn’t open his eyes.

“Haero? Haero?”

Haero didn’t want to wake up. Even when the warm and large hand was shaking his body, he just felt annoying, troublesome, and scared.

When the child curled up more and seemed to be trying to hide even his face, the policeman turned his head. Seeing his perplexed expression, Yoon Moo-hwa  quietly gestured. The policeman immediately moved to the side and stood at attention.

“Haero.”

Haero flinched.

“I know you’re awake.”

Yoon Moo-hwa  rolled up his sleeve to check his watch, “It’s already past dinner time. You need to eat because you got a shot today and you need to sleep early.”

“…”

“At the cafe.” Haero’s eyes suddenly opened. Yoon Moo-hwa  continued slowly, “I waited for you.”

After the cafe’s closing time, Yoon Moo-hwa  went to the lobby. He waited for Haero there the whole time. He could have asked for a search, but he didn’t. There was no way to leave this ship anyway. Today was a Force 8 gale with waves over 5 meters high, so no ship could sail. 

Even the navy was trapped – so how could Haero leave?

Haero couldn’t leave and even if he couldn’t leave the base island but didn’t return, that too would be Haero’s decision to accept.

So Yoon Moo-hwa  decided to wait all night. If he didn’t return by morning, no, if he didn’t return by noon, then Yoon Moo-hwa  would accept Haero’s choice.

Then he received a phone call in the dark lobby. It was from the military police office. They said they were protecting two children and described their appearances. Thanks to the database stored from the first entry, they quickly found Haero’s guardian.

Although Yoon Moo-hwa  had decided to wait for Haero’s choice, he immediately moved to meet the military police.

“Didn’t you want to come back?” The policeman glanced at Yoon Moo-hwa .

With three younger siblings himself, he thought Yoon Moo-hwa ‘s tone was too cold and blunt. He didn’t think the child, smaller than his youngest sibling, would be moved by such words.

But Haero was moving. He curled up more and blinked nervously.

“Did you want to become a pirate again and meet me as an enemy on the sea? To worry about whether to aim a gun at me and shoot or not?”

Wow. That’s too much. He’s still just a child… The policeman inwardly clicked his tongue.

Just then, Haero suddenly sat up. 

“No!” Haero was on the verge of tears. “No! I don’t want to fight with Yoon Moo-hwa ! I didn’t stay away because I wanted to fight you!”

Shuddering as if the mere thought gave him goosebumps, Haero stretched out his arms. He wanted to hug Yoon Moo-hwa . But Yoon Moo-hwa  stood with a cold face, not indulging in this childish behavior.

Haero, not realizing he was acting childishly, felt pain throughout his body as the embrace he sought wasn’t fulfilled. Not knowing it was due to his body starting to fight to build immunity after the vaccination, Haero just felt resentful towards Yoon Moo-hwa  for not hugging him.

“I wanted to come back, but I couldn’t leave Number 3 hyung alone.” Overcome with sadness, Haero covered his face and started sobbing, “Number 3 hyung asked if the navy came to the island because of me. What if that’s true? I couldn’t leave him alone after that… So I followed him out, but we went much further than expected… Then the sun set, and we couldn’t … couldn’t come back.”

The military policeman stole a glance at Yoon Moo-hwa ‘s profile, who had made the child cry. It was remarkable how cold and indifferent he seemed, without showing any emotional response. 

While such a small child was crying so pitifully, without making a sound. Just as it seemed too much, Yoon Moo-hwa  spoke. “Then what about me?” His voice was cold and blunt. “Was it okay to leave me alone?”

But the content wasn’t. Of course, Yoon Moo-hwa  wasn’t the type to get upset over such things. But was that completely true?

Yoon Moo-hwa  vaguely acknowledged to himself that he might have felt a little hurt.

While being ushered out of the cafe after closing, sitting in the darkening lobby, waiting without being able to do anything – though he was used to it to the point of being numb, Yoon Moo-hwa  found the time unfamiliar and unbearably uncomfortable.

The true name of that discomfort was probably hurt feelings, or perhaps small disappointments he was preemptively tasting to avoid being let down.

“I was very worried about you. Didn’t you think about me waiting at our meeting place? Is it because I’m not in the cave anymore, so you don’t feel the need to look after me?”

The military policeman was greatly surprised to see Yoon Moo-hwa , in a very monotonous and stiff tone, saying things that seemed childish no matter how you looked at it. He forgot about the difference in rank and stared at him.

Yoon Moo-hwa  felt the policeman’s gaze but pretended not to notice. Right now, that was too trivial a matter. And with his calm words, Haero felt as if he had become Yoon Moo-hwa  in that moment, feeling hurt on his behalf.

Haero felt sorry and deeply stung. Since coming here, he had always needed Yoon Moo-hwa , but the fact that Yoon Moo-hwa  could get along very well without him and didn’t need him made him sad. Unlike on the island, unlike in the cave, he wasn’t necessary to Yoon Moo-hwa  anymore.

Hesitating, Haero spoke in a small voice, “I, I guess so. Because you’re fine without me… But Number 3 hyung isn’t.”

“That hurts my feelings… Number 3 has three younger siblings including you, but I only have you, Haero.” Yoon Moo-hwa  slightly shifted his gaze to meet the policeman’s eyes. 

Though brief, the sharp, cold gaze made the policeman stand at attention before quietly leaving.

“Why did you think that? Weren’t we supposed to need each other? I thought that was decided from the island.” Yoon Moo-hwa  knew how to comfort Haero. Surprisingly, he gave the exact answer Haero wanted to hear. “I need you too, Haero. You need me too, right? Isn’t that better than just me needing you? Right?”

Someday, he might feel embarrassed recalling his own words. But not now. The words he spoke to Haero flowed naturally, as if coming from somewhere other than his head, sliding off his tongue. It was as if sea fog was coming out of his mouth, tightly embracing the two of them and obscuring everything around.

Since the world changed to focus on the sea, children’s independence came earlier. As guardians were often out at sea, public childcare systems became highly developed, and most children grew up and spent time there. Not only that. When Haero reaches the age to enter the naval academy as promised to his father, it will become truly difficult to see him. For a relationship with an inevitable separation promised, there’s no need to hasten that time. Especially not at an age like now when survival rates are extremely low.

Yoon Moo-hwa  put his hands on his knees and bent down to meet Haero’s eyes. “Someday when you grow up, Haero, there will come a time when you no longer need me and find me bothersome. So until then, let’s get along well. With me caring for you and you caring for me.”

After a moment of thought, Yoon Moo-hwa  added, “Wherever we are, if the two of us are together, that place becomes our cave. The cave where we took care of each other.”

This single sentence gave Haero more comfort than any other words. Haero felt this unfamiliar island suddenly transform into the familiar cave. While looking into Yoon Moo-hwa ‘s eyes, this place became the small cave where Yoon Moo-hwa  had to bend down, like the ship they rode.

Haero’s face gradually brightened. Soon, he kept nodding. Like a ship that had been rocking in the waves finally tying its mooring line to a bollard, Haero too finally set his heart on this strange land. At the end of the sea path Haero had wandered to find was Yoon Moo-hwa . Just as Number 8 had found and saved the shipwrecked Yoon Moo-hwa .

Finally, the storm that had been making Haero seasick calms. Regaining his composure, Haero planted an inexplicable certainty in his heart.

A certainty that even if he parts ways with Yoon Moo-hwa  someday, they will surely meet again. Although Yoon Moo-hwa  had brought him out of the cave, wherever the two of them are can become a cave.

And Yoon Moo-hwa  will return to that cave. Because he had given him a new life there. Just as Number 8 became Haero, Yoon Moo-hwa  became his Yoon Moo-hwa  there. This was the rule Haero had set, the law of life he had learned. This would now become the bollard in Haero’s heart.

A childish rule, selfish and self-centered like someone from the pirate island. But as simple as it is, it’s captivating.