Time Mansour - Chapter 47



Only Noblemtl

Episode 47: The Room Where Time Never Stops

childhood,

I could see the eternal snow outside the window.

A rocky mountain with a white peak all year round.

Down there.

Narrow alleys ran along the hill like streams.

As the day grew dark, a pack of wild dogs living in the mountains came flowing down the alley like water.

Is it because of that memory?

or not.

Maybe it’s just because I’m scared.

I’m not sure though.

I was afraid of dogs. Not bad, but I had a bit of a phobia.

When I was very young, whenever I saw a dog passing by, I would crawl under the car and hide.

When his mother motioned for him to come out, he would crawl deeper inside.

This hasn’t changed much as I’ve gotten older. Even now, if I see a dog while walking, I’ll go around the road to avoid it.

‘If you had told me to leave the puppy with you, I would have refused outright.’

But since I said it was a cat, I received the cage from Junwoo.

however.

“Meow.”

This didn’t look like a cat.

As he approaches me, I take a step back without realizing it.

Every time the cat took a step, I was startled.

“··· Don’t you usually avoid strangers?”

I thought of a stray cat that runs away at the mere sound of human footsteps.

This kind of dog-like thing rubs its face against someone it meets for the first time… No, it’s not a cat that looks like a dog.

“Are all cats that have been touched by humans like this?”

He kept tilting his head.

I don’t know if you know how flustered I am.

The cat meows and waves its front paws as if to tease me.

Then he sits right next to me and keeps touching the bottom of my pants with his front paw.

“It’s so different from the cat I had in mind.”

I’m a little scared.

I looked into her eyes, slowly backed away, and climbed onto the bed.

I laid down like that and picked up my phone, trying my best to not be scared.

suddenly.

“Meow. Meow.”

The cat jumps up and follows me onto the bed.

He walks back and forth, stepping on my body as I lie down.

thud.

Leaving footprints on my heart many times.

Soon he crouches down on my chest and starts grooming the soles of his feet.

‘You’re being friendly to someone you’re meeting for the first time today. You’re really fearless.’

While thinking that it was amazing.

I too mustered up my courage and carefully placed my hand over the fur.

I lightly stroke the cat’s back. I can feel its fluffy fur between the cracked fingerprints of my palm.

It’s warmer than I thought. The warmth surrounds my entire palm.

I lay in bed, brushing the soft fur aside.

**

When I half-opened my eyes, I heard a cat sniffing.

I turned my head in a half-asleep state.

“No. No. Don’t do that. It’s not for eating.”

He jumps up from his seat in surprise.

Mold growing on an empty lunch box left over from a meal.

The cat sniffed at the mold. Watching it flicker its tongue made me wake up from my slumber.

If we’re going to stay together for even a few days, I guess I’ll have to clean up the room.

I bent my back as I thought about that.

Her hair rolled on the floor in clumps of dust like hay from a Western movie.

Place old traces in a 75-liter garbage bag and tie tightly.

Pick up the big trash first, then sweep up the small ones with a broom.

finally.

I scrubbed the floor with a broom. The water marks were clearly visible on the floorboards. Well, it would dry out over time anyway. I just finished mopping and stretched my back, thinking about what I wanted to do.

like that.

After I finished cleaning, I looked.

“It must have been quite noisy when you were cleaning, but you still slept well.”

Before I knew it, the cat was asleep.

Inside the empty box.

Crouching down.

I was dreaming.

**

new year.

To me, who had no parents or relatives.

What is a holiday?

The day the restaurant closed, it meant nothing more or less.

Everyone returns to their hometowns, leaving only the cold to wander aimlessly on the empty streets.

As the traffic light turns green, the winter wind comes across the crosswalk alone from the other side.

While waiting like that for a while.

“uncle!”

Da-eun spots me from afar and waves.

Da-eun received a request from her mother.

It seems that the mother was concerned that her child had to stay in the hospital even during the holidays.

So I was going to make some rice cake soup and send him back.

.

That’s what it was.

“A hamburger? For New Year’s Day?”

I asked back without realizing it.

Da-eun hesitates and nods her head.

It seems a bit odd to eat a hamburger on New Year’s Day.

On the one hand, I thought it was nice to see Da-eun’s changed appearance.

‘Now you even say what you want to eat.’

Yes. There is no rule that says you have to eat tteokguk just because it is Seollal.

“Okay. Okay.”

like that.

As I nodded my head in response.

Before the breath could even disappear.

A smile appears on Da-eun’s face.

**

widely.

The hamburger combo is placed on the table. Knock, knock. The French fries are flipped over and spilled all over the plate.

“But, uncle, don’t you have any plans today? Aren’t you going to your parents’ house?”

“Ah… yes. They both passed away when they were young.”

“Ah… Really? I didn’t know… I’m sorry.”

Da-eun is surprised and doesn’t know what to do.

The kids’ parents probably know a little about my situation, but it seems like they haven’t told the kids.

No. No. I squeezed the ketchup while laughing. The bag shrivels up and spits out red ketchup.

“Uncle… don’t you want to see mom and dad?”

Da-eun looks at me and asks cautiously.

I nodded my head toward those shaking eyes.

“Of course I think of Mom. But honestly, I don’t even know Dad’s face. I’ve never even thought about missing him.”

“Ah… I guess I was really young. To the point where I don’t remember.”

“Yes, because he is wealthy.”

To begin with, my father was someone I had never met physically. So I didn’t feel anything special about him. I answered him so casually that I was taking off the paper wrapper from the hamburger.

“A posthumous child? What is that?”

Da-eun asked back. She tilted her head while holding the French fries in her hand.

‘That’s right. I was in elementary school.’

Because I act so mature, I sometimes forget. So, without realizing it, old words come out.

“Before you are born, when you are in your mother’s womb, when your father passes away, that’s what they call you.”

I gave a brief explanation and took a bite of the burger. There was a hole in the middle. The patty couldn’t hold up and was crooked.

“I see. So that’s why you don’t go to your relatives’ house?”

“No, that’s not it. We don’t have any relatives at all. We’re both only children from displaced families. We don’t have anyone we can call relatives.”

“Huh? What about displaced persons?”

“···”

Da-eun looks at me with round eyes.

I also stared blankly at the child for a moment.

How should I explain this?

I thought the child would get confused if the explanation was too long.

“Displaced persons are people whose hometown is North Korea.”

I compressed it and simplified it into one sentence.

“Oh! A North Korean defector? I know him. I saw him on YouTube!”

As expected, my explanation was insufficient.

“···”

ah···

I couldn’t continue speaking after hearing Da-eun’s answer.

Suddenly, I feel older with my whole body.

I’ve only lived half of my life. I’ve been pretty indifferent about my age. So I’ve lived without really caring about getting older.

As I talk to children, I realize that I am getting older day by day.

‘Wow. Do I have to start talking about this from the Korean War?’

If I were to explain that the terms displaced person and defector have different meanings, I would have to go back to a long time ago. Then, I would think that other questions would just keep coming up.

just.

“That’s right. So how is the Otube channel these days?”

Changed the subject.

We changed the conversation to a topic that we could both understand.

“Oh, YouTube? The number of views is decreasing, but it’s not bad. The number of subscribers is increasing little by little. And most of all, it’s fun.”

Da-eun smiles with ketchup on her lips. The shadows on Da-eun’s face have largely disappeared.

“As long as it’s fun, that’s fine. So what’s your video concept these days?”

“It’s just different every time. Sometimes I upload videos of us eating, and I also film us hanging out together.”

He keeps on munching on hamburgers with his mouth full. His cheeks stick out.

And I’m also learning video editing. Right now Junwoo is doing it all, but it seems hard to do it alone. But I think it’s better for me to do it than for Sohyun to do it.

The kid is talking a lot today. Da-eun couldn’t eat because she was talking. The hamburger just stayed in her mouth.

It seems clear that the mouth is constantly moving,

The hamburger in my hand showed no signs of decreasing.

so.

Because Da-eun eats too slowly.

There’s no choice.

Without even realizing how time flies.

We couldn’t help but laugh and chat for a long time.

**

Before going home, I stop by a convenience store.

Daughter.

The paper scrapes against each other, leaving fingerprints on the glass door.

At the convenience store I go to every day, I look around unfamiliarly.

My gaze turned to a stall I had never glanced at before.

“Let’s see. Cat. Cat. I wonder where the cat treats are.”

He muttered quietly and scanned the stalls with his eyes.

A small stand in one corner. Items with pictures of cats were thrown into a basket.

I was just going out for a bit.

Because I returned home later than expected.

so.

“Meow.”

The cat kept crying.

‘You really get lonely a lot. It was only for a few hours.’

I think I know why Junwoo left this child with me.

It keeps circling around me, blinking its eyes as if it’s blaming me.

Let’s see how long you’re going to look at me like that.

Thinking like that, I confidently took the Churu out of my pocket.

“Meow···”

Even before opening the bag, the look in his eyes changes. His expression relaxes. Even without smelling it, he seems to know what it is. He suddenly strokes his cheek with his front paw and acts cute.

I squat down, holding the churu in my hand. I feel a slight surprise every time its moist tongue touches my hand.

A guy who still has an appetite even after eating two churus in one sitting.

Because they said that giving more than two a day is bad for your health.

I looked away from the guy’s gaze, trusting the knowledge I saw on YouTube.

So I went into my sister’s room and tried to edit the lecture video.

“Meow. Meow.”

He rarely leaves my side.

Even if I try to get it off, it’s so fast that it quickly catches up to me.

“Okay. Okay. I understand.”

Well, it would be okay to stay for a little while. Thinking that, we went into the room together.

As I sit down on the chair, he comes up onto my thighs and curls up into a ball.

So I turned on the video editing program and loaded up a record of my previous work.

at that time.

suddenly.

-Jiying.

The phone rings. It vibrates in my pocket.

Glance. I look at the door first without realizing it.

‘I guess the door is closed.’

I pressed the call button on my phone, put the cat on the floor, and got up from my seat.

“hello?”

“What are you doing?”

“Just stay. Why?”

While responding to Changseok like that, I touched the doorknob.

“huh?”

The doorknob wouldn’t budge. My sister’s room was firmly shut.

“···”

I took the phone away from my ear and checked the time. I could still hear Changseok’s voice on the other end of the phone.

What is it? What is the situation? I was momentarily flustered and couldn’t answer. I looked around. The room was the same. Nothing had really changed.

What’s different from usual?

“Meow.”

The only thing that’s missing is the cat crying.

“What? Can’t you hear me? Hello? Hello? Why aren’t you talking all of a sudden? Did you get cut off? No. What is it? Hello?”

Changseok’s voice was heard on the other end of the phone.

After I sorted out the situation in my head, I finally opened my mouth to face Chang-seok, who was calling me.

“Oh. Listen carefully. Hey. More importantly, when do you have time?”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“No. You all come over to our housewarming party.”

“Huh? You moved? When?”

“Three years ago.”

“Are you crazy? What the hell are you talking about?”

Come to think of it, I don’t remember inviting anyone to this house.

More than any other reason, it was because the house was so dirty that I was reluctant to call anyone.

however.

I just finished cleaning today, so I guess I should check.

What happens if someone other than me enters this room?