Chapter 8;

I left the house heavy with burden. 

None of it made any sense. 

Gongchan would never run away from home. He was completely devoted to his family, unlike anyone else I knew. He was the eldest son, and I was the youngest, so he’d always had a level of filial responsibility that I never did. 

He did seem different during that Summer. More volatile. And there was that day I’d seen him crying. And the day that he’d said… The day he’d made a mistake. 

I thought of my promise to him, one that he’d never known. Maybe all of this could’ve been prevented if only he had told me everything that was troubling him.

Not wanting to go home yet, I walked around the village for a while with no destination in mind. The streets seemed empty without him. Cold, ice encrusted. The blue roof tiles covered in sleet, the peeling walls and the muddy grass. Those green, rolling hills were dull and lifeless now. 

It just didn’t feel like home without Gongchan.

*

Since he’d left, Gongchan had become a hot topic of gossip. It seemed he’d gone from the most adored boy in the village to the most reviled, almost overnight. A few blamed the parents, but many said he was an ungrateful brat. There was even a wild rumour that he’d gotten a girl from the next town pregnant and was now being hounded by her angry father. There were even whispers of something more sinister, some involvement with the kkangpae — gambling or drugs or worse.

One afternoon, I was walking home after going into town for groceries, when I came across two of the older women from town. They were the gossipy type, and I would always hear all sorts of interesting stories by listening to them. Cheating husbands, secret children. The works. So, surreptitiously, I made to follow behind them as they walked. However, the topic of conversation soon had me listening much more carefully than usual.

“Whatever’s happened, his life is over now,” one of them said. “What a waste too. He was such a handsome boy.”

“Good-looking men like him are always layabouts or playboys,” her friend readily agreed. “Look at your cousin. He’s a gambler and a moocher.” She leaned back in a self-satisfied away before adding, “AND an alcoholic.”

“I agree,” said the first woman with a haughty frown. “They get arrogant and think they don’t have to work… What a shame for him to have thrown away his youth like this.” She sighed. “Such an embarrassment to his family. Imagine if his dongsaeng wants to imitate him! I don’t know what I’d do if my Yeeun turned out like that!”

“Lucky my Jae-hyun worked hard and got into medicine! I don’t know if I could live with the burden of such an ungrateful son.”

Gongchan. They were talking about Gongchan. Not wanting to hear anymore, I quickly diverted my route, still seething even when they were out of earshot. 

It was disgusting how quickly people wrote him off. As if just because he hadn’t passed his exams, he suddenly had no hope at a