Mr. Wu is watching TV of a the most advanced camera commercial when he hears someone knocking his door. He opens the door, rather hastily. He doesn't see anything at first, but then he sees a fat boy, dressed in a scout uniform, standing before him, holding a book Introduction to Being The Greatest Wilderness Explorer, and reading it outloud.

"Good afternoon! My name is Joonmyeon and I am a wilderness explorer in Tribe 54, squad lodge 12. Are you in need of any assistance today, Sir?"

The boy grins, showing bright smiles that enlarges his chubby cheeks.

Mr. Wu flatly declines. "No."

"I could help you cross the street." The boy grins.

"No."

"I could ... help you  cross your yard?" The boy frowns.

"No."

"I could ... help you cross your... porch?"

"No!"

"Well, I gotta help you cross something." The boy shrugs.

Mr. Wu shrugs and put his hand on the air. "No, I'm doing fine."

Mr. Wu closes the door, rather hard. He waits for a several seconds before he puts his ear on the door. Frowning, he opens the door again.

"Good afternoon! My name is Joonmyeon ...."

"Kid ...."

" ... and I am a wilderness ..."

"Kid ...."

" ... explorer in Tribe 54 ..."

"You don't really have to ...."

" ... squad lodge 12 ...."

"KID!"

The boy halts. "Are you in need of any assistance ...?"

"Thank you! But I don't need any help!"

Mr. Wu shuts the door, but the door bulges. The shoe of the boy is blocking the door.

"Ouch ...." the boy whines.

Mr. Wu sighs and open the door again. The boy looks at him with innocent face. Mr. Wu facepalms himself.

"Proceed ...." Mr. Wu exhales.

"Good afternoon ...."

"Just skip to the end!"

Joonmyeon closes his books and pouts. He exhibits his finger to brown sash containing dozens of badge on his chest.

"Do you see these, Sir? These are my wilderness explorer badges. You may notice one is missing," Joonmyeon points an empty space between them, "It's my Assisting the elderly badge. If I get it, I'll become a senior wilderness explorer!"

Joonmyeon screams out of his lungs.

"The wilderness must be explored! Kak, kak, kak! ROARRR!!"

Mr. Wu grits his teeth. Joonmyeon's scream makes a painful feedback on the hearing aid he is using.

"It's gonna be great! There is a big ceremony and all the dads come and we pin on our badges."

Mr Wu clicks his tongue.

"So you wanna assist an old person."

"Yeah! Then I'll be a senior wilderness explorer!"

The gears  in Mr. Wu's brain is spinning. An idea comes to his head. He finds a way to get rid of this annoying child.

He looks around twice before he faces Joonmyeon.

"Have you ever heard of a 'snipe'"? Mr. Wu whispers.

"Snipe?"

Mr. Wu winces his eyes. "A bird. Big eyes. Every night it sneaks into my yard and gobbles my poor azaleas. I'm elderly and infirm. I can't catch it."

Joonmyeon's eyes get more and more bigger upon hearing every word Mr. Wu says. He turns his head around and tries to scan where the snipe could possibly be.

"If only someone could help me ...."

"Me, me, I'll do it!" Joonmyeon is hopping on his spot.

"I don't know, it's awfully crafty. You'd have to clap your hands three times to lure it in."

"I'll find her, Mr. Wu! I'll find her for you!"

"Well, I think its burrow is two blocks down." Mr. Wu points his finger randomly. "If you ...."

"Two blocks down. Got it!"

That chubby kid jumps from his porch and starts clapping his hand three times. He coos the bird, trying to lure it out.

"Snipe! Here, snipie, snipie ...."

"Bring it back here when you find it!" Mr. Wu shouts to Joonmyeon as the kid walks slowly to the end of the block. He sneers. An annoying puppy is out already.

He is about to close the door when he spots a large buldozer is passing his front road  slowly. The signal man beside the vehicle is screaming.

"Stop! Stop! STOOOOOPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!"

The bulldozer stops but it already hits the post box of Mr. Wu. The post box is pushed from its foundation, tilting helplessly on its handle.

"HEY, HEY YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Mr. Wu runs as fast as his old feet could to the post box. The signal man is nervously holding the post box, trying to fix it to his previous position.

"We are so, so sorry, Sir."

"Don't touch it! Get it out of your hand." Mr. Wu holds it and tries to snatch it.

"No, no, no. Let me take care of it for you." The man takes it back and try to insert the post box nails to its hole.

"Get away from our mailbox!" Mr. Wu screams.

"Sir ...."

"I DON'T WANT YOU TO TOUCH THAT!"

Mr. Wu freezes. Out of his rage, he hit the man with his stick. The man falls to the ground, while holding his forehead. The man groans and Mr. Wu could see blood seeping from the spot where he hit the man. Sweat starts dripping from Mr. Wu's pore as people around them are staring at him, shocked to see his action. Mr. Wu hugs the post box as he notices people start grouping around the signaller. Mr. Wu's breath hitches. He slowly backs up and then runs inside his house.

He locks the door and closes all the curtains, blocking himself from people's gaze. He peeks from his the curtain. People are still tending the signal man and there is even a sirene sound approaching. Cops have come. They come out of the car and begin questioning the man.  

Through the small cracks, he sees the construction head standing on his front gate, face toward Mr. Wu. His hand is rubbing the top of gate fence. He looks at Mr. Wu coldly, saying his satisfied voice.

Finally, this place is mine.

o o o

Mr. Wu is summoned by the court. He was reported by the constraction head as public menace who had injured one of his men. Mr. Wu comes to court by the bleak feeling. He sits down in front of the court room, waiting for his name to be called. There are people passing by before him and he feels intimidated by how they speak and walk. He clutches the Court Summon page on his hand, terrified for what will happen.

His name is called. He stands up, feeling much harder to do so with his ancient bones. An officer opens the door for him and he enters the room. There in the front he sees the construction head and his colleagues, the worker he has hit, and the judge that looks him down from his escalated seat. The door is closed. Mr. Wu takes of his head and walks to the court seat. His heart beats really fast. He is terrified. Seohyun's smiling face is the only thing he tries to picture in mind to prevent him from running and escaping from this haunting place.

o o o

It is night already. Mr. Wu is standing on his front gate with a female police officer who escorted him back and forth to the court. The wind is blowing coldly, penetrating his thinned brown suit. He shivers as the kind officer talks to him.

"I am sorry for everything, Mr. Wu. You don't seem like a public menace for me."

The officer is looking at him with pitiful look as she is handing him the brochure he had seen the other day.

"Take this. The guys from Shady Oaks will be here to pick you up in the morning. Okay?"

The officer nods to him before she enters her car and leaves. Mr. Wu looks at the car until it is gone before he faces his house. The house is dark and looks deserted, pretty much like himself. Mr. Wu touches his post box. It has been tightened by series of rope by himself before he came to the court today. He rubs it, gently. A sigh escapes from his lips.

"What should I do now, Seohyun?"

It is 12 pm already and Mr. Wu is still awake. He walks to a closet under the stairs where he and his wife puts something they don't really need inside it. He pulls the light switch on and takes a luggage on the top cabinet. He needs it to pack the most personal belongings he will bring to Shady Oaks tomorrow. He grunts as he finds it too hard and heavy to pull. He snaps it and he almost trips as the luggage weight drops to the ground. Mr. Wu takes a breath for a moment, he might just break one of his bones.

Pluck

Mr. Wu lifts his gaze. He notices several books falling from their standing due to the force of the pulled luggage. He reaches it and pulls it from the cabinet.

My Adventure Book.

Mrs. Wu's old book.
 
Mr. Wu drags his feet to the living room with the book on his hand. He drops his body on his couch, next to the couch Mrs. Wu used to sit. He begins to flip the pages, one by one. There are so many things he has not seen for a while: the picture of little Seohyun, the article about Mr. Park - the adventurer he and Seohyun admire, the dried leaves little Seohyun collected, the picture of Paradise Falls with a house beside it, and many more.

Tears begin to brim on Mr. Wu's eyes. He is missing Seohyun so much now. Tomorrow, he will move to the retirement house. He doesn't want to move, but he has to, his presence is no longer wanted here. He is going to leave this house, the last thread he has to cling with the presence of Seohyun. If he leaves this house, what will happen to it? It will be crushed, nothing else will happen but it. This house is his last piece of her that he has kept these years. How can he survive if it is gone?

He flips a page and sees the words that little Seohyun scribbled badly on the entire page.

Make your own adventure.

Mr. Wu closes his eyes. The tears he has tried to keep all this time fall down, drop on the book page. He exhales and inhales many times. His eyes wander to everything in the room.

This is the last thing that he possesses in this world. He has nothing else.

HIs eyes land at last to the fireplace counter, where little Seohyun picture and the picture of their house on the top of Paradise Falls - they once painted it together - stay. He locks his gaze at the latter picture, suddenly trapped into it.

Paradise Falls ....

A fire sparks inside his heart.

He's got an idea.

He wipes his tears. Looking at little Seohyun's old picture, he makes an X sign on his heart.

I will fulfil my promise to you, Seohyun.

May 31, 2014

I found it really hard to make this chapter. Happiness, upsetness, sadness kept juggling in my heart. I made some changes here and there with the plot and tried to suit it with my own story track, especially at the last scene when Yifan is crying when opening Seohyun's book. Gosh .... I hope you all like it. Leave a comment so I know how you feel about it.

Schandelierre