Roar!

    A taxi running through the forest of the building quickly arrived in front of the hospital''s emergency room.

    Hye-jin held out the bill and got off the taxi saying she didn''t need any change, and ran like crazy to head to the cancer ward.

    Please. I don''t think so. I don''t think so. Please. If there''s a god, please.''

    The elevator didn''t come, so I ran up the emergency stairs three times.

    I was out of breath, but I didn''t care.

    Nothing will happen.

    Just, simply.

    Why isn''t there such a thing? Or it suddenly got better. Or the hospital may not necessarily be where the country is.

    First of all, I came to the hospital thinking that I didn''t know, but there may be no country here.

    Yes, I''m sure it will. It would be nothing more than a small happening.

    Since we''re here, let''s go up and make sure nothing happens before we come down.

    Such thoughts floated around my blackened head.

    When I woke up, Hyejin was in front of the cancer ward.

    And right after that, Hyejin didn''t have to find the mother of the country.

    I could just tell. I''m sure he does.

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    "Patient, calm down. Sir, sir, sir!

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….”

    "Oh, sir, she fainted! Hurry up and come here!"

    A desperate cry from outside the ward.

    Holding back the trembling steps, Hye-jin took a step toward the place where she could hear the sound.

    And there.

    "Oh...."

    With the beep of the machine indicating that the heart stopped, the mother of the country who was pronounced dead.

    There was a scene where a country that cried like crazy and cried and eventually fainted was scattered helplessly in front of nurses.

    Nurses lifted the country''s body and laid it on the bed.

    My left hand drooped without strength. The nail that I got earlier was still left.

    The carnation made of red cubic was torn in half hideously.

    Like the heart of a country.

    And like Hyejin''s feelings when she looks at it.

    "What have I... done?"

    Hye-jin couldn''t stop thinking that she wanted to collapse.

    I can''t quite remember what happened after that.

    It was so painful that I felt like I was being chopped out of my memory.

    An animal called a human being could collapse completely in just a few days.

    * * *

    Boom boom boom boom boom boom!

    "Nara, I''m Hyejin! Come out for a second. I also bought your favorite bungeoppang. Let me just look at your face for a second. Huh?"

    A familiar voice was heard over the tightly closed iron door, with a loud knock on the door.

    Still, a grateful person who supported him. Hyejin''s voice.

    But the country didn''t want to see her now.

    Because she thought she couldn''t take care of her mother''s death simply because of Hyejin?

    Of course it wasn''t wrong. And I didn''t want to call it Hyejin''s fault.

    It was a complicated job, to say the least.

    So the country just didn''t want to think.

    When my head tried to roll even a little, only painful memories came to mind.

    "Just go...….”

    Lying in bed, covered in blankets, said.

    As if I had a dream, I couldn''t tell how many days had passed since I finished my mother''s funeral.

    I didn''t eat anything, and when I thought I was going to die, I drank only a little water.

    Half-out of his mind, he smashed things inside the house, resulting in cuts and stab wounds all over his body.But most of the wounds were scabbed, so it seemed like time had passed.

    "Nara, then I''ll leave the fish-shaped bun in front of you. Make sure to eat it later. Okay? Okay?

    "I don''t want to……."

    No matter what Hye-jin said for a long time, the sound of her footsteps slowly going down the stairs rang in the ears of the country.

    Severe depression.

    I just wanted to lie like a mummy and die.

    Apart from the thought of wanting to live, I didn''t even think I wanted to move.

    After returning home, I don''t know why, but I opened the refrigerator, and all the kimchi and side dishes my mother made were moldy.

    I''ve never been hungry since I saw it.

    It was as if the whole body had turned into a wax figure or a mannequin.

    I had no strength in my body, so I just kept on pouring sleep.

    I don''t want it to happen like this forever. I just want you to keep dreaming.

    Nara was hugging her mother''s pillow.

    The pillow smelled like a mother. It was as if my mother was always next to me.

    I missed you. I missed you.

    That made me sadder. So I was more sorry.

    Maybe it''s because of him.

    I didn''t know if it was yesterday or the day before yesterday, but my mother appeared in my dream last time.

    Mother tells the country it''s not your fault.

    I comforted you by saying, "You didn''t do anything wrong, so stop it now," but when I woke up from my dream, it was only more painful.

    But my mother didn''t blame me. A dream is just a dream. That nothing has changed.

    A country that fell asleep like that.

    I''ve been sleeping, waking up, sleeping, waking up over and over again, and now even the sense of time that remains is fading away.

    Sniff!

    "……Huh?"

    Something, it smelled.

    A smell that I almost forgot about in a corner of my memory, now it can''t fly away.

    It wasn''t even savory butter. Nor was the luxurious flour of expensive bakeries.

    It was nothing but carefully handmade red beans.

    To put it bluntly, it was also cheap.

    Yeah, cheap was right.

    Cheap sugar and cheap flour. Cheap oil and cheap red beans.

    Bungeoppang was not the country''s favorite food.

    Just because my mom liked it. When I bought it for you, I kept buying it because you ate it well.

    But I ate it every day and it tasted good.

    It became a real regular, and the bungeoppang sold in other cart bars was not filling.

    But I completely forgot. I thought I would never eat it again, and I didn''t want to.

    But

    The savory scent that tickles your nose and the smell of sweet red bean paste.

    It was fundamentally different from what Hyejin bought yesterday.

    I''m sure he does. Because this smell was full inside.

    "This is……."

    Nara really felt a sense that she thought had disappeared from her for the first time in a long time.

    My stomach growls!

    An empty stomach cried.

    I was hungry.

    I felt a sense of shame in my country. I felt like I had committed a great sin simply because I felt that I was hungry.

    Hye-jin, who was suddenly dazed, came out of the blanket and sat on the bed blankly, and someone knocked on the door.

    "Country, country, country! I''m Hyejin. This smell, you know? The fish-shaped bun you always buy! The man who was selling it came back here today.”

    "Really, he...….”"Three thousand won worth of sweet red bean fish-shaped buns, right? I bought it. You don''t have to open the door. I''ll leave it in front of you, so come out and eat. It''s not good when it''s cold. Huh? You know? Because you gave me a lot of service!"

    Hyejin goes down the stairs of the villa after saying that.

    To be honest, I didn''t want to go out.

    Isn''t it annoying? Doesn''t it hurt your pride?

    Until a few hours ago, I just wanted to die. I didn''t want to eat anything.

    I thought I didn''t deserve it. I thought I put everything down.

    Why

    "Why on earth…….”

    I don''t know if I feel this way.

    I came to my senses and found myself standing at the front door.

    I thought I wouldn''t go forward until I collapsed and died, but my fingers were moving slowly in front of the button that opened the door.

    My index finger trembled.

    I didn''t know if it was because I was hungry or because I was nervous.

    Whoo-hoo!

    The sound of the door unlocking was too loud.

    Squeak!

    Slowly opened the door.

    Whether Hye-jin was right to go down, there was no one at the door.

    Instead, there was still warmth.

    A bag of warm bungeoppang stood obliquely.

    Next to it, there''s a small kwak milk.

    Don''t get sick from eating so fast! It was placed with a post-it saying, "Cheer up, dude!".

    "Oh...."

    On that little note. And bungeoppang that I never thought I''d see again.

    "Ugh……"

    The country collapsed once again.

    It seemed that all the useless resolutions and thoughts that had been built up had become powder and disappeared.

    The country, which had collapsed due to leg relaxation, began to eat bungeoppang and milk in both hands.

    Once in my mouth, I couldn''t stop.

    It was so delicious that I didn''t even know why. It was like the most delicious food in the world.

    I pushed the fish-shaped bun into my mouth.

    It was crispy, freshly baked, but warm enough to eat rather than just hot.

    Is setting the temperature also a consideration of its own sake?

    I didn''t know if it was true, but at least the country felt that way.

    The bungeoppang was lukewarm, but it tasted warm.

    Sweet red beans couldn''t have been more delicious. Cheap flour dough and cheap margarine couldn''t have been so savory.

    I couldn''t stop eating even though I bought him milk so that he wouldn''t get indigestion.

    I pushed a fish-shaped bun into my mouth.

    I didn''t care if it was the tail or the head first.

    If I let go of my senses, I felt like I was going to faint because of the dizzying sweetness.

    I chewed my cheeks until they were plump, then drank milk and gulped them down.

    "Crying... Crying...….”

    "Huh? What''s this? There''s a guy upstairs, right? Lady, are you all right? Why are you crying like that again.

    Maybe it''s because of the commotion.

    I was surprised to find a country where the uncle, who came up with an angry face from the house below, sat down in front of the front door and ate fish-shaped buns.

    He even called his wife to think about what to do, and soon asked her.

    "What''s going on? Huh? Let me know if there''s anything I can do to help. Why are you crying so much, young lady?”

    "That''s... that''s...….”

    "What''s that?"

    "Bungeoppang is so delicious. It was unbelievably delicious. So……."

    "Oh, I''m going crazy.”

    I''ve never seen anyone cry because bungeoppang is delicious in my life.

    Still, the man next door thought it was a good thing.I was angry at the sound of crying every morning, but I was more worried than that.

    The irritation, which seemed to be a little bit left, also disappeared as if it had never been the case when I saw the person in the upper house lying down like this.

    But looking at the person upstairs in front of me. But I thought I was alive.

    Hyejin said the fish-shaped bun was worth 3,000 won, but the amount was a little too much.

    Did they give too much service?

    But it didn''t matter now.

    "It''s warm and... It''s delicious...."

    The red bean fish bun smelled like a mother.

    And it tasted like my mom.