185 – Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Again… #

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing here!”

A huge cat leaped into the air, startled at the sight of Fox Noi. “Ta-at!” she exclaimed with a peculiar sound effect made with her mouth, transforming into a girl of about ten years old.

Even after seeing it several times, it’s still fascinating.

The girl, with her sparkling silver hair, white dress, and a straw hat that suited her perfectly, scolded Fox Noi, the black-haired girl with fox ears.

“Meeting Mom and Dad is supposed to be forbidden! It’s against the rules!”

“…”

Fox Noi averted her gaze at Cat Noi’s reprimand, looking sheepish.

She answered quietly.

“I didn’t want to either! I was hiding, but I got caught! Besides, you ended up getting spotted by Mom and Dad too. We were only supposed to watch from afar.”

I wasn’t sure how, but somehow our daughters had appeared from the future, daughters who were supposed to only observe us from a distance.

But since they’d met us like this, I wondered if there might be a problem.

Worried, I asked,

“Will meeting us cause some kind of time paradox?”

Like some kind of error that might arise if a time traveler from the future interfered with the past.

Things like that are all over *Back to the FuXure*, aren’t they?

At my concern, Fox Noi raised both hands high and replied,

“There’s nothing like that! Because this Fox Noi has the power of ‘Mystery,’ similar to the power of ‘Miracle’! So I can do all sorts of mysterious things.”

Indeed, the fox ears and tail on Fox Noi were thanks to the power of “Mystery.”

A very mysterious little girl, wasn’t she?

What about Cat Noi, then?

“I also have the power of ‘Wonder.’ That’s how I can turn into a really big cat. Of course, there are more secrets, but…those are secret from Daddy right now!”

Cat Noi was quite particular.

Could it be that Yoo Yeoreum only gave birth, but Seo Gaeul raised her?

At my question, Cat Noi scrunched up her face.

“That’s a secret too!”

How cute!

Truly mysterious and wondrous children.

Anyway.

“Hey, Hanamjin. You asked me to make dumplings, so I worked hard on them. What do you think? I even added that ketchup you’re always singing about.”

Seo Gaeul appeared, holding a plate from which wisps of steam curled. Inside were dumplings that certainly looked appetizing – kimchi dumplings, it seemed.

Just then, feeling the pangs of hunger, I took a bite, and the flavor…

“No way.”

It was a flavor that made my face scrunch up.

Gaeul flinched – just a little – at my reaction.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“It’s… not good.”

I knew Gaeul miraculously lacked any culinary talent, but still.

How could it be this… not good?

“I go out of my way to make these, and you complain about the taste? That’s so mean!”

Gaeul grumbled, a soft, low sound.

Just in case, I squeezed on even more ketchup.

But strangely, it didn’t help.

It just tasted sour.

How could the magical ingredient, ketchup, possibly fail?

“Hey, it doesn’t taste good ‘cause you’re drowning it in ketchup.”

“……”

“Kitty Noi, come here. I’ll tie your hair.”

Just then, Yu Yeoreum appeared in the distance, waving at Kitty Noi.

Kitty Noi, in response, scampered away – *whoosh!*

“I can do that myself, you know!”

She was probably just embarrassed.

Of course, Yu Yeoreum didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s still unbelievable that I have a daughter. There were so many things I wanted to do once I had a family. Go shopping together at the big mart, go to the beach in the summer, the mountains in the fall, skiing in the winter, and… things like tying up her hair…”

“…Hmph. Just this once.”

Soon, Kitty Noi hesitantly walked over and entrusted her hair to her mother.

Though, just looking at them, they looked more like sisters with a large age gap than a mother and daughter.

“Hee hee hee. It tickles!”

Kitty Noi giggled as her hair was being tied, wriggling with the sensation.

Watching them, Yoo Yeoreum tilted her head, puzzled.

“That tickles? How peculiar.”

“Heeheehee, hohoho!”

Unable to withstand the tickling, the Cat-Noi wriggled free of Yoo Yeoreum’s grasp with a flurry of movement – *padadat!* – gone.

Now it was off, frolicking in the fields with the Fox-Noi, the Nymphs, and Mibbang.

“Let’s have a contest to see who can collect the most bottle caps!”

“Alright!”

“Mmmfufu, such tiny and precious Kore…!”

“It is our duty as Nymphs to protect Kore so small…!”

“Even this Baengnyeoul is happy to be surrounded by such small friends…!”

Soon, other children flocked from somewhere, filling the field with a *wagle wagel* of playful noise.

The children played until dusk, waving goodbye to each other as their mothers’ calls echoed from their respective homes.

Yoo Yeoreum and Seo Gaeul also waved to the children.

“Let’s eat.”

“Heesh, look at all that dust. You’re like some kind of wild animal, covering yourself in straw like that! Though, I guess I was the same when I was little….”

It was a pleasing sight.

Even if the world was inconvenient without cell service.

She almost wished these scenes could continue for another year or so.

And then, it was dinnertime.

Today was Bbangdaengyi’s turn to cook, but strangely, the fellow was nowhere to be seen.

Thanks to that, Yoo Yeoreum simmered a hot pot with mushrooms and greens she’d acquired from Gangwon-do.

*Hoo-lup,* taking a sip of the broth, it tasted better than she thought?

It seemed Yoo Yeoreum had a talent for cooking.

“I wonder where Yeoul is.”

Yoo Yeoreum asked me, clearing the dishes.

I hadn’t seen Bbangdaengyi since this morning either.

Come to think of it, Bbangdaengyi had been disappearing mysteriously these past few days.

‘Something’s fishy.’

And, judging by the arrival patterns of fellows like ‘Fox-Noi’ and ‘Cat-Noi’, I suspected a certain little girl was involved once again.

At this point, it was almost something to look forward to.

What sort of encounter will next astound me?

# # #

Woof woof─!

A familiar bark echoes from somewhere.

It’s the sound of a spider the size of my palm barking.

Following the sound, I climb a high hill, and upon the summit, where the moon and countless stars seem to pour down, Bbangdaengyi stood.

“What are you doing there….”

I wanted to ask if she hadn’t eaten dinner yet, but I simply closed my mouth. Some scenes, you see, are best enjoyed in quiet contemplation.

Bbangdaengyi standing beneath the moonlight, surrounded by the wolf spider Kkeongkkeongyi frolicking about, was truly like a painting, so much so that I felt sorry to intrude.

So, I quietly tried to listen, and I could hear Bbangdaengyi’s soft murmur – sharing a story.

“Really? Such a thing happened. Amazing!”

What could be so amazing?

Now that I look, someone was standing next to Bbangdaengyi.

I wondered if it was a small girl, but no.

She was half a hand-span taller than Bbangdaengyi.

It was a woman wearing a pointed hat, like a witch from a story. In her hand, she held a staff, a rather mystical sight with winding vines intertwined around a tree branch.

Someone I’ve never seen before.

Who could she be?

As I took a step closer, the woman seemed to notice me.

She waved to me with an attitude so friendly, as if we had known each other since long ago.

“Over here.”

“Ah! Hanam-jjin!”

Bbangdaengyi, on the other hand, fidgeted like a raccoon caught stealing.

I approached them and examined the woman.

The woman looked to be about twenty years old.

Just as I was thinking she resembled a sorceress who’d stepped out of a fairy tale, Bbangdaengyi spoke.

“Hanam-jjin, this is…Neoguri-Ol!”

Neoguri-Ol.

What a unique name.

“Not your real name, is it?”

“Nope! Her identity… well, it’s a secret, for the record!”

“Is *that* why you’ve been sneaking around these last few days, meeting her?”

With a Fox Noi and a Cat Noi already in the picture, what reason could there be to meet a Raccoon Ol in secret?

As I wondered, the Raccoon Ol quietly nodded.

“……”

A friend of few words, perhaps?

As if to compensate, Ppangdaengie, like some kind of interpreter, explained the meaning to me.

“Hanamjjin, meeting Raccoon Ol means the time to part ways with everyone is coming. It’s not good for people living in different times to spend too long together… or so she says! Not that *I* really know!”

In other words, the moment I met Raccoon Ol signaled the time to say goodbye to Fox Noi and Cat Noi?

Maybe Raccoon Ol shouldered the duty of returning everyone to their original worlds, their original times.

“Am I right?”

“……”

Instead of answering, Raccoon Ol thumped her staff against the ground. *Thak-*

That must mean I was right.

I was curious why, compared to the other girls, Raccoon Ol appeared so much more mature, but before I could ask, Ppangdaengie made a face like she was about to cry.

“That’s why I was keeping you from meeting Raccoon Ol. If you two meet, it means the time to part ways with the people everyone’s come to cherish is right around the corner….”

I understood Ppangdaengie’s feelings, too.

By hiding Raccoon Ol from me, she was protecting this shimmering, dreamlike time.

Thanks to her, I’d spent such fun times with kids like Fox Noi and Cat Noi.

I’d also grown a little closer to Seo Gaeul and Yoo Yeoreum.

I’d even learned to extend a “kindness without expecting anything in return.”

“But today, the moon is just *too* beautiful, you know? And the stars, too. According to Raccoon Ol, we absolutely had to be looking at the sky tonight. Something big is supposed to happen, so here we are, watching.”

Something big?

Just as I looked up at the sky…

*Sareureuk-*

A shooting star blazed a long, fiery tail as it fell.

There wasn’t even time to make a wish.

As I clicked my tongue in regret, another star fell with a *sareureuk-* sound.

No, not just one.

*Saruk, saruk, saruruk—.*

A night where countless stars fell like rain.

I was rendered speechless by the grand and mysterious spectacle, as if overwhelmed.

“You don’t need to worry.”

It was then.

Raccoon-Oll, who had been silently keeping his mouth shut until now, stroked my hair.

The touch was familiar, yet longing, and also funny, so I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“Puh-hee-hee!”

Strangely, I found it hard to hold back laughter when my hair was tickled.

Maybe Cat-Noi and Fox-Noi laugh when they get their heads petted for the same reason, taking after me.

“It may seem like we’re walking different paths, and it may seem like everyone’s destination is different, but you will meet those you wanted to meet again at the end of the road. So, dream of tomorrow and sleep soundly.”

Suddenly, an overwhelming drowsiness washed over me.

Unable to overcome the heavy eyelids, as I slowly closed my eyes, a scene from the past flashed back.

The spring of my days when I was happy, those days.

—Mom, please stop putting ketchup in the kimchi stew!

A frank confession.

I didn’t used to like ketchup a long, long time ago.

But the reason I came to like ketchup…

It was only that taste that brought back the spring of my life that had passed.

But—.

Over the past few days, ketchup had begun to taste bad again.

Perhaps because a new spring was coming into my life, enough that I no longer needed to yearn for the taste of a long-gone past.

“…….”

When I opened my eyes, I was asleep, leaning against a tree bathed in warm sunlight.

Bbangddaeng was watching over me, and I wondered what was so soft; it turned out I had fallen asleep using Bbangddaeng’s thigh as a pillow.

“You’re finally awake? Sleeping straight through lunch without even eating breakfast. Ha-nam-jjin, for you to sleep in like this, what a strange thing to happen.”

“I had a dream.”

“What kind of dream?”

“I don’t remember. But, I don’t think I need to remember it. More importantly, I’m hungry. Yeoul-ah, let’s go eat.”

“Oh? You called my name, it’s been so long. I thought you had completely forgotten my name.”

“Forget? Never. Even a thousand years from now, I could never forget your names. Every time the rainy season comes, when the leaves turn crimson, when the snow falls… it will be you I think of now.”

“And I’ll think of you when I see the flowers bloom. You are our magnificent gardener, after all.”

Yes, this world was entirely my garden.

A garden I cultivated with everyone in mind.

“Do you like my handiwork?”

“Yes, enough that I want to keep showing it to many more people.”

Yeoul and I decided to nap just a little longer in the warm sunlight of the garden.

Then, some time later, we heard voices calling us from below, and together we walked down the hill.

After that, we shared boiling hot ramen, but the three empty places nagged at me.

“Where are Fox Nona and Cat Noe? And Raccoon Oli?”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

At my question, Seo Gaeul, Yoo Yeoreum, and Bbangdaeng looked at each other.

Then, as if they’d heard some amusing tale, they burst into laughter.

“Hanamjjin, what’s that? Raccoon Oli!”

“And Fox Nona? Is that a new nymph’s name?”

“Cat Noe is already five syllables.”

Giggle giggle giggle – the women laughed.

In that moment, my heart grew cold.

As if a frigid winter wind had blown through.

Does nobody remember them?

Perhaps that was only natural.

They came like a dream lasting only one night, like a miracle, mysteriously and wondrously.

“Huh? But why did I take out three extra plates?”

Bbangdaeng tilted her head, gazing at the plates set at the empty places.

She reached out to clear them away, but her hand froze in mid-air.

Seo Gaeul and Yoo Yeoreum had grasped Bbangdaeng’s hand.

“Let’s just leave them as they are, since we’ve already set them.”

“…I think I’d prefer that too. I don’t really know how I feel, but…”

“Ah–! Ha-nam-jin, why are you crying all of a sudden!”

“Baek Yeo-ul, did you put something strange in the ramen? There’s no way the man, Ha-nam-jin, would cry otherwise!”

“Jin-ah, are you alright?”

“These are tears of joy and happiness. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, so I don’t need to hide them.”

We continued our meal, three empty bowls sitting before us.

Though it seemed none of them understood, as yet, the meaning behind the empty bowls and my tears.

But as the sweltering sun fades, and crimson autumn leaves turn to melting snowflakes, when delicate blossoms bloom again, surely they will understand.

And so, I plant the seed of today, hoping that the flower of tomorrow will bloom in vibrant glory.

185 – Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Again… #