Cloudless Sky Chapter 86 (Patreon)

Chapter 86

A little later, Soram, who was now completely lying down, moved his socks up and down. While his clothes were a thin knit and jeans, his socks were plain gray socks that would suit a suit. Even if he had casual clothes, he didn't keep casual socks since he wore suits every day for work. The same went for the socks in Tae-un's sneakers.

Still, when they wore ordinary clothes instead of black suits for once, the appearance of the two in the car looked quite different. It was in stark contrast to the scene last winter when Soram had gone to Guncheon to meet Tae-un and returned sitting in the driver's seat and passenger seat, just like now.

Soram, recalling the scenery that had been all rice fields, said,

"Han Tae-un, you must be returning in glory."

"Why?"

"You became a star. You filmed commercials, received a salary, and gave your parents an allowance with what you earned, right?"

"I did give them, but they probably won't think much of it."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because their income is much higher."

While the car was stopped, Tae-un turned his head towards Soram and then looked ahead again.

"Unless I earn as much as you do, my parents won't be impressed with me."

Huh? Of course, Tae-un's annual salary and advertising revenue would be less than Soram's, but it was definitely not at a level that could be called low. Soram's head tilted to the side.

"How large-scale is your parents' farming?"

Could it be that all the potatoes in the country come from Han Tae-un's fields?

"They mainly cultivate medicinal plants, both in open fields and greenhouses on a large scale."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Then what about potatoes?"

"They don't grow potatoes. I never said they grew potatoes, so why do you keep looking for potatoes from me?"

"Hmm..."

It was quite unexpected, but it was difficult to pinpoint and explain what it was. He definitely thought there would be plenty of crops like potatoes, corn, eggplants, cucumbers, and carrots.

"There are many delicious things besides what comes from the fields. They're close with the captain and also with the person who runs the orchard."

Soram looked out the window without answering. Wherever he looked, there were only cars moving slowly, and the destination indicated by the navigation was still far away. It was the first time he had experienced such a waste of time since he became able to fly a car.

Perhaps this journey itself could be seen as an unplanned waste of time from the beginning.

Since he was going to spend two days in Guncheon, his plan to visit Busan was postponed to the last day. Although it seemed like he had reluctantly given in to Tae-un's persuasion, if Soram had really hated it, he would have turned his head away until the end. The reason he took this path was that he wanted to listen to what Tae-un so desperately wanted. He hadn't finished repaying his debt of gratitude to him yet.

He had been ignoring the Great Rift for 8 years now, so it should be okay to turn a blind eye for a couple more days.

It'll be fine.

His eyes, which had been watching the back of the driver while lying on the road seat, gradually closed hazily. If his drowsiness until now had been an escape, this was the calmness brought by a schedule where he had put down the burden of being a hunter for the first time.

As Soram, who had been chattering, fell asleep like that, the car became quiet. Tae-un cleared away the paper bag in Soram's hand and turned the air conditioner upward so that it wouldn't directly hit him.

The car moved very slowly for a long time and finally got off the highway. Gradually, a completely different scenery from the city began to appear.

Passing through a two-lane road between low, old commercial buildings, at some point, the paved road ended. The car continued along the dirt road next to the rice fields.

As the car jolted, Soram opened his closed eyelids. He propped himself up on the reclined seat. Outside the window, a bright yellow field was spread out instead of a gray road, and on the left side of his view, a familiar village appeared.

"We're almost there."

"Right. How did you know?"

Uh... His hand, which had been rubbing his sleepy eyes, paused for a moment, and his heavy eyelids blinked. Then he soon opened his mouth and yawned.

"I guess the memory of flying to the county office last time remains."

"This place is a bit far from the town, but you have a good memory."

"Hmm..."

Maybe it was just that the village here was one of the ones on the way to the county office. Soram straightened the seat and chased away the rest of his sleep.

The car drove up a gently sloping road and eventually entered the yard of a house.

Tae-un's family home was a two-story brick house. The scenery commonly seen on weekday evening TV programs unfolded on both sides of the house. Things like a vegetable garden where lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes grew, and large greenhouses lined up. And in front of the house, there was a large cattle shed where cows were actually raised.

Wow... Soram exclaimed at the sight he was seeing for the first time in his life and was about to step out of the car with one foot.

Moooo!

"Gasp."

Just in time with opening the car door, a cow let out a long moo. The low mooing sound resonated heavily around the area like a ship's bell. Startled, Soram froze while holding the car door.

"Why? Is there a problem?"

"Uh... I'll get out."

Tae-un, who had come to the front of the passenger seat at some point, opened the half-open door the rest of the way. Soram stretched his neck to find where the sound had come from and cautiously got out of the car.

Moooooo!

The cow let out another long moo. He paused again for a moment, and when it became quiet, he quickly moved to Tae-un's side, who was unloading luggage from the trunk.

"Here."

"..."

Instead of holding the bag Tae-un handed him, Soram hugged it with both arms. He kept looking around, looking exactly like a young master who had been dropped alone on an uninhabited island. Although Soram hadn't lived a life pampered enough to be called a young master.

"Is this your first time coming to a place like this?"

"Hunters above the deputy chief level are not allowed to leave their jurisdiction without permission."

"But you came to see me in the winter."

"I wrote a statement."

It was a confident answer just like him. Tae-un finished unloading the rest of the luggage and closed the trunk.

"This is the house where my parents live, and the annex is over there. Let's just greet them quickly and go. I told them in advance that I came to rest with a friend."

As they came out of the container garage and entered the yard, something came running towards the two of them from over there. It was a country dog about the height of Soram's knees. The dog, which tried to stop in front of people, bumped its body against Soram's shin.

"Oh, oh. Han Tae-un, what's this?"

"I guess this is the puppy that was born recently."

"Huh?"

"It must have imprinted. It likes people."

As he said, the dog was standing on its hind legs with its front paws on Soram's leg, wagging its tail diligently. Soram moved his feet to avoid the dog. Then the dog followed him at a matching speed, trotting along. Its mouth with a pink tongue sticking out from under its black nose was smiling widely.

"...It's cute."

Soram squatted down. The dog with baked cookie-colored fur really liked people. When he held out his hand and let the dog rub its face as it pleased, the tail, the size of a piece of chalk, wagged wildly from its small bottom. Looking at it, it seemed like something was loosening up inside him.

"They were waiting."

He raised his head at the sound of a voice. A middle-aged couple came out of the house door with a question mark-shaped doorknob. At first glance, they didn't resemble Han Tae-un to the point of saying, "Oh, they look like him!" but if you combined their appearances, it seemed like Tae-un would come out. Soram stood up from his spot and bowed his head.

"Hello."

"You must have been uncomfortable coming all this way. The road was jammed."

The father's way of speaking had a slight feeling that he was intentionally suppressing his dialect. However, it was the same accent that occasionally slipped out of Tae-un.

"The one who had a hard time is Tae-un, who drove. Please speak comfortably. I came to hang out as Tae-un's friend."

Soram immediately put on a smile. Tae-un went in front of his parents and handed over a large Korean beef gift set.

"This is from Soram."

Tae-un also spoke in dialect as soon as he stood in front of his parents. The mother looked at Soram standing behind her son.

"You spent a lot of money."

"Uh... no. I just bought it because it felt awkward to come empty-handed."

The mother's way of speaking, bluntly saying that he should have just come empty-handed and eaten their food instead of buying something like this, was also similar to Tae-un's. Hmm, honestly, looking at the three of them, it felt like 'you reap what you sow' and 'Han Tae-un was born where these two were planted.'

The family, meeting after a few months, exchanged only a word or two in the same indifferent tone as Tae-un's usual manner. The content was about each other's well-being, which was really heartwarming, but judging by the atmosphere alone, it felt like they were doing some heavy smuggling... The most lively one here was the yellow dog, which was excited to have people standing around busily.

The blunt conversation between Tae-un and his parents also ended shortly.

"Go on up. Have a good rest."

"Yes. We'll go and rest comfortably."

"Would it be inconvenient if I pack some food for you to take back and forth?"

The mother's gaze met Soram's. Soram quickly put on a smile again.

"No. Oh, thank you so much..."

"It would be burdensome. Don't do it."

Soram was startled by the words he heard from the side, but the mother nodded her head without looking disappointed.

"You're right. Okay. You go and get it yourself later."

"Yes."

The two of them ended the short meeting like that and went back inside through the door they had come out of. The dog hesitated for a moment and then followed the familiar people and slipped into the house.

Tae-un tapped Soram's back with his palm.

"Let's go. Us too."

"Hey, how can you say that to your mother! She'll be disappointed."

"I don't think so. My family doesn't get it if you beat around the bush. If you had said okay earlier, she would have come with food every hour."

"..."

Indeed, there was a reason why Han Tae-un turned out the way he did.

Tae-un guided Soram to a side path next to the backyard.

"Why are you making it so difficult? You said you're shy with strangers and twice as rude."

"I may be rude, but I'm not out of my mind. You know I'm your superior, so how can I just..."

Moooo!

The cow's mooing resounded through the surroundings once again. Soram's shoulders rose and fell greatly. This time, even Tae-un, who was right in front of him, couldn't help but notice.

"...Were you startled? The sound is quite loud."

"No... I wasn't extremely startled."

"If you go inside and close the door, you won't hear it well."

The annex Tae-un mentioned was located a little way up the side path through the gate next to the yard. A cozy log cabin appeared behind a large tree. Tae-un took out a key from the flowerpot stand next to the door and opened it. In a place like this, there was no way a thief would break in even if it was left unguarded like that.

Inside the house, there was a smell of wood and grass. For Soram, who had been living in a dormitory for several years, a place furnished as a home was really rare. Wallpaper with outdated patterns, a yellow-brown sofa placed in front of it. Above all, the most unfamiliar thing was the view of the wide mountains and river visible through the full-length window occupying one wall. It really started to feel like he had come on a trip.

"Put the luggage down here."

The bag containing clothes for one night and two days was placed next to the sofa.

"It's amazing. This is my first time coming to a place like this."

"Why hasn't someone who can fly anywhere been to a place like this?"

"Right. Why was that?"