Magician City Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Girl

One year pa.s.sed.

It became time for Yu-ye to enroll in Elementary school.

The only problem was his age. His birth year was miswritten as a year later than the year he was born. On paper, he was still a 7-year-old.

Unfortunately, he had to wait for another year.

Although he had a year left, to Grandma, the year seemed short. She was suddenly thrown the responsibility of taking care of a young boy, therefore she was frantically searching for the necessities to enroll Yu-ye into school.

Then, sometime during the year; a family moved in right next door. The family consisted of a father and his two daughters.

Yu-ye's days now consisted of watching TV alone in his house without his busy Grandmother. Yu-ye always practiced the breathing technique Handcart Grandpa pa.s.sed on to him.

At first, it was hard to force a change on the way he breathed. But as Yu-ye patiently and regularly practiced, he felt that the weird breathing technique was getting easier.

When focusing on mastering the breathing technique, he heard the loud noises of the family moving in next door. Curious, he bolted outside to look.

There were two men. One that looked like the father of the two girls and another that looked like the father's friend. They were busy trying to quickly move the family's belongings inside their new home as the father's two daughters, one high school girl and one middle school girl, blankly stared at them.

The middle schooler seemed like she wanted to help move some of the mountainous luggage as she paced back and forth in front of it. She was soon stopped by her father who had scolded her, and told her to leave it alone and step aside. She moved over with a pout on her face.

On the other hand, the high schooler looked as if she was in the midst of p.u.b.erty. She stood in the corner with a horrible frown, glaring at the whole process.

She almost looked resentful in embarra.s.sment, hinting at the well-to-do life that they must have had before they moved to the Moon Village.

Yu-ye thought it was fascinating to see how drastically different the two girls reacted, even though they were sisters.

Then, the middle school girl who was bored of shuffling the dirt beneath her feet, caught on to Yu-ye's curious face. She scurried over and asked:

"Hey! Do you live next door?"

Yu-ye stared quietly, then nodded.

"Wow, Really? From now on, I live right here too. Hope we can get along!"

The middle school girl who s.n.a.t.c.hed Yu-ye's hand, Yunyoung, excitedly shook his hand.

"I… I hope we could get along too."

Yu-ye was surprised to meet such a person. He had gotten scared from the unexpected handshake, but he still shook it calmly. To him, the Moon Village was filled with seniors tired of life, and sick with the toll it took on them. But seeing a young girl full of life amazed him. He felt the world he knew suddenly filled with wonder.

Seeing Yu-ye's reaction, Yunyoung's eyes filled with a glint of hope.

"You are so adorable! Do you have a sister by any chance?"

"No…I don't…"

"Aw well, then why don’t you be my brother? Wouldn't that be great?"

"Okay…"

Yunyoung, happy of his response, pulled him along down the hill. She wanted to ask him to show her around the town since she was a newcomer here, but unfortunately, the Moon Village hardly had anything to see.

That didn't stop Yunyoung from smiling. Yu-ye also became pleased as he showed her a slight grin. He finally came to understand that happiness became double when shared with another.

Unlike Yunyoung that came across as warm hearted and friendly, her sister kept her distance and was always unhappy. It was soon easy to understand why her sister was dark and miserable. Although only a day had pa.s.sed since their family settled in, the father constantly complained about their situation. In a matter of hours, all the adults in Moon Village were told of their story.

Their story was sad as well as typical. The family's financial state worsened as the father's business began to sink. However, the loan he signed for a friend came back as a big boomerang, stripping the family of what little money they had left. Even taking their house. The friend never paid them back. Yunyoung's mother, sick of the extreme poverty the family was going through, left a single divorce paper and fled the house. With no living expenses left to spend, the three moved to the Moon Village.

Yu-ye, despite his young age, could understand their story perfectly.

If he didn't understand anything else, at least he knew how scary signing a loan was. It was one of the top 3 reasons why people moved into the Moon Village. And it was always because they signed a loan for their close friend or relative.

For this reason, Yu-ye learned at an early age that signing a loan for another person was never safe. But even though he understood that, he still told his Grandmother that if it was for her, he would sign a loan for her when he grew older. This was one of the rare times his Grandmother seemed genuinely happy with Yu-ye.

About 6 months had pa.s.sed since Yunyoung's family moved in.

Around this time, Yu-ye's Grandmother started to take small labor jobs with other seniors in town. It didn't seem as though she was preparing the money for Yu-ye's school or even their living expenses as she never worried about money after they had moved to Moon Village. However, it did seem like his Grandmother was afraid of becoming the odd one out of her group of friends.

Because his Grandmother had started a small job, Yu-ye was now left alone all afternoon.

The environment he was put into could affect Yu-ye negatively, but Grandmother did not worry too much as he was the result of her daughter's mistake.

To Yu-ye's relief, Yunyoung came over often to keep him company.

At first, she maybe came once a week, but as soon as they got used to each other, she came by every day to play with him.

Their playdate wasn't Yu-ye's usual way to play: getting dirty with dirt and soil, but it was a calm one. They would sit down to have a little chat or lay down together in front of the TV, pa.s.sing the time. A few more months has pa.s.sed as they became closer. Yunyoung started to come over right after her school sessions, staying till the evening when Yu-ye's Grandmother would come back.

Any usual middle schooler would have spent most of their time playing with those of the same age group, but it seemed like Yunyoung didn't have many friends, as she stayed home with Yu-ye most of the time.

Becoming bored of watching TV every day, Yunyoung decided to teach Yu-ye some basics.

"Okay. now look closely. This is called adding."

Yu-ye cupped his cheeks with both of his hands, then gave out a little "Mmm…" or a "Hmm…" and then after a while, finally replied, "…Okay."

Unsatisfied with his unsure tone, Yunyoung fixed her eyes on Yu-ye, sternly looking straight into his face and asked again.

"Really?"

"Um…"

Troubled with her question, Yu-ye furrowed his brows in thought.

Yunyoung, charmed with his cute response, then asked where he learned to behave so adorably while pinching his cheeks.

Yu-ye, seeing Yunyoung delighted by his response, happily replied that he once saw people on TV behave the same way.

"But in the end, you don't understand, right?"

"Yea…"

"Aha! I knew it. Oh, wait. Why don't I show you?"

Yunyoung was kind, patient and even provided Yu-ye with the maternal affection he needed. Yu-ye was extremely slow to understand, but Yunyoung felt satisfied and proud of teaching him what he lacked.

She doubted that Yu-ye would remember her after he grew up. She thought of her own childhood. She thought of her father's friends that came to visit occasionally.

They told her numerous times that they couldn't think of how many times they used to take her on a piggyback ride when she was younger, but Yunyoung could never remember. And likewise, this kid isn't going to be any different towards her.

Still, she liked teaching Yu-ye.

Before, Yunyoung approached Yu-ye in hopes to use him like how her sister used her. Like a servant.

But, her heart wasn't as stubborn as she thought it was. She could never bring herself to use him. Instead, if she didn't see him for a day, she was worried sick about him.

She told Yu-ye to wait a bit and came back with a handful of small rocks. She tossed them on the floor and started teaching him the basics.

Yu-ye looked like a smart kid from the outside, but once they started, he was a clean, untouched blank sheet. It took her two whole days just to teach him addition.

4 days had pa.s.sed since she started teaching Yu-ye. To her surprise, Yunyoung was enjoying her time teaching him. After addition, the pace began to pick up. Yu-ye already understood subtraction without help, then he managed to master division and multiplication by the end of the day.

She had also taught him the special chant she had learned back in Elementary school, to remember the multiplication table from one to twelve. He memorized up to the ninth table.

She truly taught him with pa.s.sion and care, but suddenly thought of an odd question. Could a child who had never gone to school really understand basic arithmetic so perfectly?

For a while, Yunyoung reminisced back to her elementary days.

But, she soon gave up.

It was too long ago that she forgot.

Yunyoung was a girl who always ranked average in school no matter how hard she tried. Seeing Yu-ye's talent at learning math, made her grow a little jealous. She pushed away the arithmetic book that Yu-ye had mastered, then picked up a storybook she had rented from an Elementary school library.

"Starting today, we'll try reading."

There was a reason why Yunyoung brought a storybook out of all other school subjects. She herself was horrible in the language arts department.

Strangely, she was the girl that always failed in language arts when her peers all seemed to think that it was one of the easiest subjects.  Therefore, she was more determined to make Yu-ye walk a different path than she had come. She promised herself to read him many books.

When she opened the book in front of Yu-ye, he stared at the book worried and in dislike. Yunyoung brushed it off and flipped to the first page.

"Okay. Try reading this sentence."

Yu-ye broke out in a cold sweat as he stuttered the first few syllables.

"Th…e…P..rin..cess…?"

Once again Yu-ye cupped his face with both of his palms and shook his head. Yunyoung sighed. As she had thought, his Grandmother had never taught poor Yu-ye a single letter.

In all honesty, Yunyoung came to Yu-ye's house often because she liked the idea of a younger brother, but also because she unconsciously sensed his Grandmother's neglect towards Yu-ye.  If she was to see the two of them walking down the street, they looked like complete strangers and not a family.

"Didn't granny teach you to read Korean?"

"…No…"

Yu-ye replied in low spirit.

Most children naturally have a special talent, especially when they are at a young age. It was different from the wits adults used. It was embedded as an instinct.

This was because the children themselves knew that those people were the types of people that gave them the physical and mental comfort.

Similarly, Yu-ye didn't want to disappoint Yunyoung. That was the reason why he spent the last couple of nights forcing himself to wrestle with arithmetic whenever she went home.

But, that kind of effort started to reach its limit.

Noticing his state, Yunyoung smiled even wider and spoke with encouragement.

"Aw, that’s too bad. I guess I'll have to teach you everything, right?"

"Right!"

Finally, Yu-ye's face brightened and he responded with a sunny smile.

Yunyoung pulled Yu-ye in for a tight hug after hearing his adorable response.

Such affection and consideration Yunyoung gave to Yu-ye touched him deep in his heart, filling it with an overwhelming amount of happiness.

When Yu-ye grows up to make some of the most important decisions in his life, maybe the love Yunyoung gave him will help him find the right direction.

Yunyoung expected Yu-ye to forget the times she had spent with him entirely when he grows older, but Yu-ye's memories were far greater than her expectations.

The townspeople always thought Yu-ye as a peculiar and somewhat underdeveloped as he spent most of his days busy playing alone. However, that was just his exterior.

Yu-ye's intelligence, memorization and other learning skills were far above any child his age. It wasn't trained. It was talent.

When Yunyoung taught Yu-ye arithmetic and reading, he couldn't understand quickly because he had never been in the position to learn them. He had been living a simple life; just sitting alone in his house all day without a book or a person to bother teaching him.

However, when he started getting used to the few days he spent learning arithmetic, he had shown a tremendous amount of growth in just a couple of days. Learning Korean was the same. When Yunyoung put him to it, he absorbed the whole alphabet and the syllable system in a matter of hours.

Yu-ye never thought little of Yunyoung's existence.

At first, he was just glad of the company, but when they developed a bond, something increased in his heart.

It was a fire. Using her affection and care as its fuel, the small candlelight that was in Yu-ye soon turned into a blazing forest.

Because of this, Yu-ye remembered her existence entirely.

The way she looked from head to toe, what clothes she wore, what hairpin she had yesterday and what conversation they shared, and even her calming, sweet scent when she would bring him closer for a warm, comforting hug. All of it.

The things Yu-ye remembered did not stop with Yunyoung.

Yu-ye always took any story seriously, keeping it in his heart. Although the adults usually used professional terms and difficult vocabulary, making it difficult for him to fully understand, he always made sure to memorize it completely.

This trait of his wasn't always a good thing.

He was even able to remember that day when his Mother left, and when she claimed she was going to go earn some money for the family. He knew she was never coming back, and he never expected her to.

Piece by piece, with the TV and Grandmother's whining complaints, Yu-ye solved the puzzle of his family.

Yu-ye always watched the morning drama shows with his Grandmother whilst eating breakfast.

The shows were made to prioritize and increase the percent of viewers in the morning, and therefore always dealt with the most dramatic stories including violence, cheating, and divorce.

Ironically though, what may have been a truly horrific experience to some was only considered as a common source for profit in the TV. Nothing surprising.

Yu-ye's story of his household was the same. A man cold heartedly leaving a woman who was impregnated with his child was nothing but ordinary and common. The basics of the story in Yu-ye's life and the one shown on TV was the same old news.

At first, a man and a woman start a loving relationship.

The two promise each other their hands in marriage.

However, because of the guy's side of the family preventing him from the marriage, he decides to leave.

She belatedly realizes she is pregnant with his child, informs him, but is left alone.

A few years later, they happen to meet each other again with the help of cruel fate.

Yu-ye was always baffled in the scene where the man's parents refused his marriage, but because all other dramas seemed to show the same kind of situation, Yu-ye forced himself to believe that that's how the world worked.

The only thing different between Yu-ye's life and the drama was that Yu-ye's Mother gave up and left him, running away from her responsibilities.

Maybe this was the difference between reality and TV.

No matter how well a drama was written and produced, reality was always more dramatic than a drama.

This thought was confirmed with Yu-ye's Grandmother.

At the start of the drama show, she always spits out,

"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Where is the harbinger of death when you need him? He is better off dead!"

Then as the episodes progressed, the insults got rougher.

"That man deserves to be dismembered with his remains strewn on the floor for everyone to see!"

Towards the end of the series as the drama finishes with a happy ending, she always sighed,

"Oh, you poor girl……Where are you and how are you doing…"

Every time a similar drama was seen, Grandmother showed a regular pattern in her emotions. As Yu-ye sat uncomfortably, cautious of her expressions, he could conclude his own story.

'Those stories are like mine.'

However, even when he knew his Mother had abandoned him, he was never resentful.  He still remembered most of her character. The little round face, the pattern that she spoke, her silhouette as she cooked in the kitchen, and other little things. Those thoughts always made him lonely, but not hateful. Additionally, the mothers on TV always lived feeling sorry for their children. At the same time, they lived in misery. Torn from the fact that they were abandoned by their men.

Yu-ye thought, 'Would Mother be miserable like them as well?' and if she was, he felt that he didn't need to hurt her too if she was already in pain.

Yu-ye was in front of his Grandmother who was starting to tear up.  He tried to think back to the warm embrace of his own Mother. Yu-ye had a perfect memory, but no matter how hard he tried to remember his Mother's arms, it wasn't in his memories. The only embrace he could ever come close to was that of Yunyoung's.

Yu-ye thought of her soft, warm embrace of the girl all afternoon.

Yunyoung and Yu-ye always spent the afternoons together.

Her father had recently been hired to a new job. Although he became a low-paying security guard, in this economic crisis, those jobs were hard to come by as any other job.

He seemed a lot happier, but the time he came home was problematic. He usually ended work later than 11PM, and if he had to stay as the night guard, he came home after 3AM the next day.

Her father spent most of his time outdoors so naturally the house ch.o.r.es became those of Yunyoung's responsibility.

She had a high school sister but she was lost in herself, entering a dark time in her life.

She hung out with the bad boys from school every day and came back just before her father did.

The ch.o.r.es were a little overbearing for a middle schooler, but Yunyoung still managed to get everything done. When school was done, she came straight home, prepared the rice, then finished the laundry while it cooked. Then she managed to make some simple side dishes, threw away the trash, and stopped by the bank to pay for utility fees or taxes.

When she finally finished her ch.o.r.es at home, she dragged her exhausted body over to Yu-ye's. While making Yu-ye study, she tried to finish her homework. However, because she was not used to doing the house ch.o.r.es on her own, she almost always fell asleep.

Watching Yunyoung fall asleep, Yu-ye also felt his eyelids getting heavy and then used Yunyoung's arm as a pillow to take a nap right next to her.

When both fell asleep, Yunyoung's sleeping habit of hugging nearby objects kept Yu-ye warm. They slept with Yunyoung cuddling Yu-ye until Grandmother came and it was time to go home.

Grandmother, stuck in her traditional thoughts, saw Yunyoung as an eyesore but didn't care enough to say anything.

Her other thought was a little bit worried for Yu-ye as he stayed home all day, but Yunyoung always came to babysit Yu-ye. Thankfully.

Yunyoung and Yu-ye slept in an embrace even in the hottest day of the summer.

Thanks to the Moon Village's high alt.i.tude, they slept while cool breezes swept the porch and a nearby bug repellent would scare off the mosquitos.

Yunyoung's pet.i.te, soft features sleeping in a uniform next to a tinier Yu-ye who smiled as he slept, was enough for anyone to feel at peace in relaxation.

For some, like Yunyoung's sister, it was something to be jealous of. When unlucky, on the off chance she came home early, she would kick Yunyoung awake in jealousy.

"Oh, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d! He should be punished by the heavens!"

Looking at his Grandmother absorbed in the daily TV drama, Yu-ye continued to think of Yunyoung's warm embrace. The peacefulness he had felt in her arms was as if he had finally come home from a long journey.

Her embrace was far more accepting, loving, and understanding than that of a faint memory of his Mother's touch.