Page 100 of Perfect Happiness
Jinu let out a wry laugh.
“I don’t know what I was expecting.If she had killed him, she wouldn’t have told us.It’s not like someone walks around with a guilty note posted to their forehead.”
Jinu opened another can of beer.He took a large swig but didn’t say anything after that.Eun-ho also didn’t ask any more questions.He had thought that once he talked with Jinu, things would clear up, but things were only hazier now.He still didn’t believe it, and he still didn’t see a way forward.His head was just spinning with more questions.
Yuna, who are you?
*
It looked like sunset all afternoon.There was thick fog, and the cast iron sky was becoming darker by the second.It wasn’t even 5 p.m.yet.Jane straightened her back and repositioned her hands on the steering wheel.She needed to keep her attention on the right side of the road so she wouldn’t miss the sign.
Jane would miss the entrance to Woohyeri if she blinked.Not only was the road hidden by trees, but there was no sign except a bus stop sign that was barely the size of Jane’s palm.Neither was the village visible from the highway.
Woohyeri
1001, Bukmyeon, Mt.Suri
Jane made a sharp right after the sign.After driving through a kilometer of terraced rice patties littered with bales that looked like dinosaur eggs, Jane finally began to see people.The village was comprised of two dozen houses that were scattered along the foot of the tiny mountain.
Once Jane turned the corner of the terraced farmlands, she came upon an abandoned house and the perfect place to hide her car.The house, which was up the street from her grandma’s cabin, hadn’t changed much since the last time Jane came to Woohyeri three years ago.The wall surrounding the house was all but missing, the front gate had fallen off its hinges, and the greenhouse in the front yard had a large cut through its plastic roof.Jane never thought she’d have a reason to enter the front yard of this abandoned house, but now she did.Jane drove her car inside the front yard and parked behind the greenhouse.It wouldn’t be wise to park her car at her grandma’s cabin.
Jane walked back out through the front gate of the abandoned house to see if she could see her car from the road.From there, she could just barely see it if she was looking.
Jane jogged more than five hundred meters up the hill toward her grandma’s cabin.The cabin was at the end of the road, in the deepest pocket of the village, and surrounded on three sides by an overgrown pine forest.When Jane arrived, she was met with an unsightly front gate.Its blue paint was chipping, there were rust stains that looked like dried tear stains of red, and beneath the gate were winter weeds as large and gnarly as thick jungle vines.
Jane tried pushing the gate.Not surprisingly, it was locked.She pressed the bell on the gatepost.No response.As her final attempt, Jane called out at the top of her lungs:
“Is anyone home?”
No answer.Jane figured that if someone hadn’t answered by now, she could be relatively certain no one was home.Jane turned toward the iron fence which was intertwined with rose vines.It looked like it could only endure four more seasons before becoming scrap metal, and yet the posts were firmly planted in the ground.Pushing and kicking had no effect.Even when Jane climbed onto the fence, it was sturdy enough to support her weight.
Jane made a soft landing just beneath the maple tree.When she looked up, though, she was met with something she hadn’t been expecting.The cute, colorful two-story cabin that looked like it had come straight out of a fairy tale was gone.Jane felt like she was staring at a house that had been abandoned for decades.
The maple tree was nothing but barren branches, and the unpruned juniper in the planter had lost its shape.Vines had climbed the walls of the house and were blanketing the roof.The deck was rotting and piled high with dead leaves.And the windows were even dirtier than those at the abandoned house down the road.
Jane crossed the front yard and headed toward the front door.Locked.The window to Grandma’s old room was also locked.And because thick curtains were blocking the window, she couldn’t even see inside.
Jane went into the back to find an even more desolate sight than at the front of the house.The retaining wall was cracked and crumbling, the garden was overrun with pieces of plastic and weeds, and lying beneath the persimmon tree was a pole pruner.The soggy earth was green with moss, and fierce mountain winds were blowing in from the shadows of the forest.
Jane hopped across the soggy ground and arrived at the back door.Not surprisingly, this, too, was locked.Jane even checked the window to the first-floor bathroom, despite knowing that even if it was open, she would only be able to fit her head through it.She bent her neck backwards and looked up at the second floor.On the left was a window just big enough for her to squeeze through.Of course, she would have to get up there first to know if it was open.
Jane went over to the shed.When she opened the door, a small wheelbarrow was blocking her way.It was the one Grandma used for working in the vegetable garden.The wheels and hull of the thing were caked in dirt, as though someone had been gardening recently.Inside the wheelbarrow was a pair of dirty blue work boots.
When Jane switched on the lights, an eight-step folding ladder standing next to a stack of firewood met her eyes.This was what her grandparents had used when picking persimmons or fixing the roof.Beneath the ladder were two pairs of boots placed side by side.Based on their size, the pair of black boots looked like they were for men, the yellow boots for children.Both were as dirty as the one in the wheelbarrow.
Three dirty pairs of boots ...Jane stored the boots in her memory and closed the door.Right now, she had to drag the large ladder out of the shed and set it up beneath the window.
As she dragged the ladder out of the shed and set it up against the roof, Jane thought about how much easier life would be if she were stronger.The window wasn’t locked.That was fortunate because that meant she wouldn’t need to break any windows.It was also large enough that she could comfortably fit through.
Jane pushed the window open and stepped inside.She was now in the bathroom.Next to the sink were rubber hair ties, a box of soap, and on the shelf were children’s shampoo, an Apeach toothbrush, toothpaste, and a cup.The bathroom slippers placed at the entrance to the bathroom were also Apeach-themed.Apeach was one of Jiyoo’s favorite characters.She collected everything from stickers and pencils to pillows and socks.
It looked like Yuna used the first floor and Jiyoo used the second floor.Jane took off her shoes and left the bathroom.Because the hallway was dark, she left the door to the bathroom open as she went to the next room.Inside, she was confronted with a sight from thirty years ago.The bed, desk, wardrobe, even the lights were all exactly the same as when Yuna had lived here.Jane was drawn to the windowsill as though under the influence of some magic spell.
A family of puppets with name tags were sitting at a table and drinking tea.Mom, Dad, Yuna, and Baby.Jane’s puppet, who was missing its legs and had its belly slashed open, was lying at Jane’s feet and staring up at her with its single back eye.
Run, before Yuna comes home!
Jane squeezed her eyelids shut.
