GB 23

Haero was in a deep sleep. It had been a week since Yoon Sang-won left for the mainland. He was very busy and couldn’t be tied to just one base.

Contrary to Yoon Moo-hwa’s worries, his father and Haero were getting along better than expected. They weren’t having warm conversations or going out together, but Yoon Sang-won came home regularly and even bought Haero a stuffed animal once.

Haero was sleeping while hugging a large, soft black cat plushie. With both Yoon Sang-won and Moo-hwa away, Seon Ikhyeon came by once a day to check on him, but there was an emptiness that neither Yoon Sang-won nor Seon Ikhyeon could fill. It was something that even the plushie he carried around all day couldn’t fill.

Still, Haero slept with the plushie every night, as if believing it would make the emptiness disappear. It wasn’t just because he was young, but because he was lonely. Even children understood loneliness.

The light in the empty house’s entrance flickered on. The warm yellow light was bright, but it didn’t reach Haero’s room on the second floor. Someone quietly put down his bag as he entered through the inner door. Before unpacking, he lightly unbuttoned his uniform and went upstairs.

Although he clearly had his own room, the quiet intruder entered Haero’s room. Even in the darkness, things were visible. In Haero’s room, the sound of waves could be heard, and a tiny mood light cast a soft glow like jellyfish floating in a night sea.

He crouched down next to Haero. Even so, he was so large that he was bigger than Haero’s silhouette, which was puffed up by the blanket and the plushie.

Haero was sleeping soundly without even stirring once.

The house was so eerily quiet that if one raised their head, it felt like they might see an overwhelming cluster of stars like those visible from the sea, rather than the ceiling.

At first, he intended to watch Haero sleep for a moment and then return to his room. But strangely, as he sat there, he developed an odd determination to stay until Haero woke up and discovered him.

Wake up, come on, wake up.

As if hearing the silent urging, Haero frowned, rubbed his nose, and stirred. Then he slowly opened his eyes.

At first, Haero’s eyes were blurry with sleep, and he didn’t seem to be seeing properly. “What is it…” He grumbled and closed his eyes again.

Finding this amusing, Yoon Moo-hwa asked with a hint of laughter in his voice, “What’s what?”

Yoon Moo-hwa thought there would be no response, but after a brief pause, Haero’s eyes suddenly opened wide. Then, like a child who recovers from fatigue with just a little sleep, he abruptly sat up.

“Yoon Moo-hwa?!”

“Yeah, it’s Moo-hwa hyung.” Yoon Moo-hwa replied with a chuckle.

Haero made a strange expression, as if even Yoon Moo-hwa’s playful voice was suspicious, then raised his hand and placed it on Yoon Moo-hwa’s cheek with a slap.

The warmth and texture were vivid. He kept kneading the sharp cheek. With so little fat, he almost had to squeeze it.

After doing this for a while, he finally seemed to realize this was real and let out a short scream. The scream was full of joy, “Hyung!”

Haero spread his arms and hugged Yoon Moo-hwa tightly.

Yoon Moo-hwa’s eyes widened at this tremendous welcome, unlike anything he had ever experienced. Of course, he was used to being commended upon returning from missions, but that wasn’t his portion. And it wasn’t special. He had only done what was expected of him.

But this was different.

He hadn’t achieved anything extraordinary, just returned from what was a routine operation for him, yet he was embraced with a vivid, grand welcome as if he had returned from the dead.

This was a first for Yoon Moo-hwa, who had lived twice as long as Haero. He was a bit taken aback but soon raised his arms to hug Haero back.

The small body, which he could cover entirely with just one hand, was trembling from how much strength Haero was putting into the hug.

“I’m sorry. For leaving without saying goodbye.”

Being an adult means having more opportunities and abilities than children, but it also means thinking it’s okay not to explain things. Yoon Moo-hwa realized for the first time how often people become cowardly under the excuse of having no choice.

He felt a bit sorry. Because he would likely often become cowardly out of necessity in the future. The fact that it would happen to Haero, of all people, weighed a bit heavily on his heart.

“Are you back? You’re not leaving again, right? I missed you. I really missed you so much. I even dreamed about you a lot. But I didn’t cry and stayed strong.”

After leaving the island, Haero was finally returning to his actual age. Childlike, yet still brave.

Yoon Moo-hwa felt a bit tender towards Haero, whose only expression of resentment was “I missed you.”

He had only known the word tenderness before, but this was the first time he truly felt it.

He wouldn’t answer the question about not leaving again, preferring silence to lying, but he could say this much. It wasn’t even a lie. 

Yoon Moo-hwa’s lips parted gently. “Yes. I missed you a lot too, Haero.”

Throughout the operation, he often thought of Haero. It seems that was what missing someone felt like. For it to be just one child, its weight and meaning were beyond his expectations. Yoon Moo-hwa sighed contentedly, without regret. It was a satisfied worry, wondering if he had brought something too incredible into his life.

* * *

Yoon Moo-hwa and Haero were at the beach, wearing identical sunglasses.

The beach was busier than usual, perhaps because the sailors from Yoon Moo-hwa’s 7th Fleet, who had docked yesterday, were out with their families. The artificial beach looked no different from a natural one, except for the robots that periodically collected and recycled washed-up trash.

The scene was a mix of people tanning on beach towels under parasols, reading books, napping, and playing volleyball.

Haero was too preoccupied with his ice cream, which was melting faster than expected, to notice the scenery.

“This is melting too fast.”

The cat paw-shaped ice cream, a refreshing mix of raspberry, lemon, and strawberry flavors, was very popular but had a fatal flaw: it melted too quickly.

Yoon Moo-hwa, who had already finished his lime-green cat paw ice cream with kiwi and banana flavors and was now chewing on the wooden stick, offered help. He wrapped a wet wipe around the stick.

“It should be fine now.”

“How did you eat it so fast?”

Haero seemed to have developed a competitive spirit. He cast an envious glance at Yoon Moo-hwa. His small, determined look was cute, funny, and cheeky, making Yoon Moo-hwa laugh helplessly.

Explaining that his stomach, mouth, and oral cavity were much larger wouldn’t comfort Haero. Even though Haero’s behavior had finally become age-appropriate, he still didn’t think of himself as a child.

“I put in some effort. To beat Haero.”

This seemed to be the right answer. Haero’s mood lifted, and he grinned as he licked his ice cream.

Haero’s lips and tongue were much redder than usual after finishing. Although Yoon Moo-hwa didn’t particularly like sweet things, he thought it might be nice to eat them together occasionally since Haero enjoyed them so much.

Tonight was the parade for Navy and military families in preparation for tomorrow’s Sea Day. Although it wasn’t extremely flashy, having started as an activity for those feeling lonely and tired from base life, it had become quite a spectacle with over 10 years of history.

He planned to show this to Haero today.

It was fortunate that he had returned just in time, not missing this day he wanted to show Haero, despite operations often running longer or shorter than planned.

Moreover, today was also the day when the training ship stationed at the base was open to civilians. Yoon Moo-hwa had reserved two spots. In fact, there were plenty of spots available. Everyone had already been on it many times and were still regularly aboard, so there was no reason to visit such a familiar military ship.

“Are you done? Shall we move on then?”

Yoon Moo-hwa took the empty stick from Haero’s hand and patted his bottom. A few blades of grass fell off.

“I’ve got horns on my bottom.”

It seems he had heard the expression “growing horns on one’s bottom” somewhere. 

Instead of explaining that it was grass, not horns, Yoon Moo-hwa played along, saying, “Indeed. And you didn’t even cry and then laugh.”

The base in the middle of the sea was inevitably darker than the mainland. Even without a huge crowd, it was easy to get lost if you were distracted for a moment. However, Yoon Moo-hwa once again forgot that he should hold Haero’s hand, having never done so before. Fortunately, Haero reached out first.

“Where are we going?”

Yoon Moo-hwa looked down at the tiny fingers holding his hand, then at Haero’s face.

It was fascinating. Despite growing up with considerable neglect and violence disguised as discipline rather than love, he was so unscarred, as if he’d been loved all his life. It seemed like the fear of rejection didn’t exist for him at all.

In truth, this was because the other person was Yoon Moo-hwa. In Haero’s dictionary, there was no rejection. He was naturally someone who accepted Haero, and vice versa. That was the “mutually necessary relationship” Yoon Moo-hwa had mentioned. And before that, Yoon Moo-hwa was “his thing” that Haero had picked up.

If anything, Haero was holding hands not out of fear of getting lost, but more to prevent Yoon Moo-hwa from losing him.

Though slightly different, the two arrows ultimately pointed in the same direction.

Yoon Moo-hwa adjusted his grip on Haero’s hand for comfort and headed towards the training ship. “We’re going to board a ship together.”

Haero’s eyes sparkled. “Why? Are we leaving tonight?”

Yoon Moo-hwa was puzzled why Haero suddenly asked about leaving, but he nodded anyway. After all, the purpose of ships was to depart and arrive safely.

Walking slowly to match Haero’s pace, they soon reached the training ship, about the size of a passenger ferry. Yoon Moo-hwa helped Haero onto the gangway leading to the ship’s entrance. 

Each step echoed with a cheerful “clang, clang”.

Once aboard, they could see the parade unfold before them, small but beautiful.

“Should we go somewhere with a better view?”

“No! This is fine!”

Haero dangerously clung to the ship’s outer deck railing. Yoon Moo-hwa held the child’s waist imperceptibly as they watched the large mechanical dolls. The designs, powered by internal springs and human effort, ranged from bizarre to quite cute.

“That one’s cool.”

Of course, Haero chose one of the more bizarre dolls. It barely resembled a crustacean, seemingly imitating a large crab-like sea creature. 

Haero licked his lips looking at it. “Those taste good when grilled.”

Ah, so that was the reason.

Haero was much braver than Yoon Moo-hwa had thought.

“Really? I should try it sometime.”

Probably tastes like lobster, Yoon Moo-hwa thought vaguely.

Haero’s profile, eyes fixed back on the doll, clearly showed his excitement. 

Is it that fun? Yoon Moo-hwa smiled.

Kicking his feet in the air, Haero, childlike in his inability to hide his feelings, hurriedly confessed his emotions, “I really like being on a ship with you, hyung. I want to be on the same ship as you from now on. They say I can if I go to school, right?”

“School?”

“Yeah. I heard you have to go to school to become a navy officer. I’m going to get in there.”