Chapter 135: Watching From the Gaps
The bed where they had lain, followed by the frame and walls that had formed the house, disappeared, leaving a pure white void in its place.
In the midst of the swirling white ash, like a small storm, Cha Eui-jae pulled the hand he was holding, embracing the large body as if to protect it. The large body was drawn in without resistance. But it was only for a moment— soon, the warmth that had been in his arms gradually faded.
Cha Eui-jae's eyes widened. He released the arms that had been wrapped around his back and opened his hands to check. They were empty— his arms, his hands.
Cha Eui-jae gritted his teeth and shouted.
"Lee Sa-young!"
In that instant, Cha Eui-jae's eyes opened wide. In the emptiness where there had been nothing, someone dressed in black was kneeling, leaning their upper body against something black. It was a familiar yet unfamiliar figure from behind. Of course, seeing one's own back is rare, but he could tell.
That was 'me.'
Cha Eui-jae stared blankly at the figure's back. Eventually, 'he' lifted his head. Slowly rising, 'he' looked down at what he had been leaning on. It was a black coffin. He spoke softly, tenderly.
"It's okay."
"Just sleep a little longer."
The next moment, 'Cha Eui-jae' was walking. He crossed a yard filled with dry, dead grass. In one corner of the yard, flames roared fiercely from a kiln, and a harsh smell stung his nostrils. 'Cha Eui-jae' roughly slid open the tightly shut sliding door.
In the middle of the workshop, cluttered with tools and materials, Hong Ye-seong, wearing a magnifying glass that protruded like a lens, straightened his hunched body. His dirt-covered three-stripe slippers slapped against the floor.