Chapter 37 (1/2)

SoJ Episode 3 Chapter 37

Episode 3: Age of Ghosts / Chapter 37: Break Time (5)

TL: emptycube

Editor: Obelisk

It was still day when Chu Youngjin joined them.  In the beginning, Choi Hyuk wanted to train his karma and his followers. That was his original plan.

However, Lee Jinhee objected.

“Ehhhh? What! There’s something much more important than that.”

“Important?”

Even Baek Seoin seemed to question her objection.

“I can let Leader’s obliviousness slide but how can Baek hyung be like this too?”

Lee Jinhee who was astonished said.

“We have to do that!”

However, no one understood her. Eventually, she raised her voice in frustration.

“Aren’t we going to have a funeral?”

Those words blew through Choi Hyuk, Baek Seoin, and Chu Youngjin’s empty hearts.

PTSD. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

It was the collective term for, amongst others, the lethargy, insomnia, antisocial behavior, and loss of concentration that people experienced after a disaster.

3-day break. It was great at first. However, the more time pa.s.sed, the more painful it became as h.e.l.l approached ever closer each day.

By the third day, the survivor refugee camp’s atmosphere was a mess. People didn’t try to talk to other people. They didn’t even try to comfort each other. ‘My pain is your pain anyways. I don’t expect it to get better. Nothing good will happen by sharing our stories. Everything is just f.u.c.ked up.’

Even people who looked fine on the outside, when you looked inside, they would be suffering some sort of hards.h.i.+p. It was the same for Choi Hyuk and Baek Seoin.

Choi Hyuk was currently 18 years old. You could say that he lacked the experience to immediately think about holding a funeral. However, it should have been quite likely for the 26-year-old Baek Seoin to have thought about holding a funeral for his parents, but he hadn’t thought about it even once.

They weren’t the only ones. From young to old, it was definitely abnormal that no one among the survivors thought about having a funeral. Though they might mourn by themselves, no one shared their sorrow with anyone else.

They could have been too tired or they might have thought that there was no need to make a big deal out of it. They might have thought that they would only be criticized if they brought it up after such a vicious experience.

Maybe it was because they kept reading each other’s moods that they started to hate everything.

“Still, that’s not right!”

However, Lee Jinhee had some sort of strange principle. She didn’t care about how others looked at her. She only looked at her own values. The stuttering Choi Hyuk, Baek Seoin, and Chu Youngjin were pushed aside. What if her actions made them uncomfortable? She pushed aside those concerns.

As she said, “We have to do it! We have to!” with utmost certainty, the pa.s.sive three’s hearts started to move. They felt they really had to.

Baek Seoin rushed to a bank and withdrew some money. Since there was an emergency program for the survivors who had lost their bank accounts and cards, he didn’t have any difficulty doing so.

Baek Seoin took out all the money he had saved for school. Lee Jinhee had already taken out all the money she had.

Money was something of the mundane life and as that had already disappeared, it had no value.

With that money, Baek Seoin and Lee Jinhee bought chrysanthemums, incense, food, alcohol, disposable kitchenware, and even borrowed a long table. They didn’t leave it to a funeral service company and personally bought everything and had them delivered.

Choi Hyuk was like a duckling following the mother duck as he followed behind them. He did not say anything after hearing the word ‘funeral’.

As they continued with their preparations, the sun started to set.

Marronnier Park. Three tombstones were erected next to the Guardian Choi Miyeon’s burial mound.

One had Baek Seoin’s parents’ names written on it.

Chu Youngjin’s girlfriend, Lee Hyejin, was written on another.

Finally, Jung Minji’s name was written on the last tombstone.

“… Let’s make one for Jung Minji…” They went through with Choi Hyuk’s suggestion of making one for Jung Minji.

The survivors of Seongbuk District watched as Choi Hyuk’s group took apart the sidewalk bricks and erected tombstones made of polished unusable s.h.i.+elds and swords with lethargic eyes. Some of Choi Miyeon’s admirers recognized Choi Hyuk and helped them.

Lee Jinhee said to them.

“Misters and ladies, you should make tombstones as well. I’ll help you.”

Of course, they too had lost people dear to them.

Tears suddenly started to fall at her words.

“No… We…”

They were unable to piece together the words they wanted to say. A man among them took a sidewalk brick and engraved a name on it. It was his daughter’s name. He placed the brick against Choi Miyeon’s burial ground.

“For now, I’ll… I’ll do this. It’s shabby but since it’s next to the guardian… so… I’m sorry… sorry, Hyeyeon…”

The man was unable to complete his words.

Lee Jinhee hugged him and patted his back. Sob. Sniff. The man tried to hold back his tears but once the tears started to fall, they weren’t easy to stop.

Tak. Tak. Whoosh.

Baek Seoin lit a match and burned the incense. The smoke silently rose up. As the air was still, the smoke rose up in a straight vertical line.

They burned incense and placed chrysanthemums in front of their parent’s names.

One, two…

On his second kowtow, Baek Seoin did not stand up immediately. His shoulders were trembling. In his prostrating posture, he kept mumbling something before slowly, slowly getting up. His eyes were red but there were no tears.

Choi Hyuk watched Baek Seoin’s method and followed it exactly. He placed chrysanthemums in front of his mother’s grave, burned incense and kowtowed twice…

Chu Youngjin was the same. He followed Lee Jinhee’s words, “You just need to do what Baek hyung did. It’s okay if you cry but let’s not shed too many tears.”

They each kowtowed in their respective places and then, kowtowed to other tombstones on their way back. In front of Baek Seoin’s parent’s tombstone, Choi Hyuk said, “May you rest in peace,” and in front of Lee Hyejin’s, who was the same age as him, he said, “Go to a nice place.” Finally, in front of Jung Minji’s tombstone, he said, “Rest well. You did your best.”

It wasn’t much. It wasn’t touching nor was it odd. It was simply a process of confirming their deaths.

They didn’t simply think to themselves, ‘Did you die? Did you really die? That easily? Really?’ and gloss over it.