00003 Sangbong-ri ------------------------------------------------------------------------=
Minjun, who had enrolled in the National School, was the center of everyone’s attention.
Perhaps because the children knew that Minjun had not been born and raised in Sangbong-ri, but instead had come from a distant city, they unleashed a barrage of questions once they grew close.
Despite being the youngest, Minjun answered the children’s questions with surprising maturity, and after a little more time had passed, he began spending his days like any other good neighborhood friend, going out to play with them indiscriminately by rivers, mountains, and the sea, getting into mischief together until their relationship developed into that kind of bond.
The person who grew closest to him through this process was, as expected, Kim San, who had shown curiosity and interest toward him from the very beginning.
Thanks to San, they also became close with the older boys and girls in the higher grades, so the two stuck together so tightly that no one would have batted an eye had they called each other brothers.
“Minjun! We’re going to play in the water today. You coming too?”
“Mm… I’m not sure about today. The mister upstairs said he’d make something with bokbunja for me.”
“Bokbunja? That sounds delici— No. Don’t do that, come with us. I brought an octopus trap today too. I’m gonna catch an octopus with it.”
“Octopus? The ink-spraying kind?”
“Yeah! The season’s a little past its peak, but you can still catch them in the sea in front of Rock Island. Hyung Sungmin caught one a week ago too, and my mom made sashimi out of it for us.”
Because Minjun had only ever seen octopuses on TV or in books and had never seen or eaten one in real life, he was far more drawn to the idea of catching an octopus than to bokbunja, and at that moment San immediately followed up with another pitch.
“And today Hyung Sungmin prepared a spear. He said he called two more sixth-grade hyungs, and they’re gonna pick sea urchins and clams and stuff, and catch fish too.”
“A spear?”
“Yeah! He said he brought it from his house.”
Sungmin, a fifth-grader, was the leader of Gangyeon National School for his age, always at the center of things while leading all sorts of play, so when Minjun heard that Sungmin had prepared something, his mind was made up.
“Great! Got it. Let’s go together.”
“Okay. Then hurry. Sungmin hyung and the others already went on ahead; they took the traps from me and left first.”
The moment Minjun accepted, San began hurrying him impatiently, and in reaction to San’s behavior, Minjun also hurriedly shoved his books into his bag and moved together with him to the beach not far from the school.
From afar, they could already see the older boys playing in the water after jumping into the sea wearing nothing but their underwear, and both San and Minjun quickened their pace, stripping off their own clothes one by one as they shouted.
“Hyungs! We’re here!”
“Hello!”
Watching the two waving their hands wildly while stripped to the waist, Sungmin, who had been warming up before the real hunt, welcomed them with a broad grin.
“Hurry over! What are you doing!”
“Yes!”
Sungmin’s welcome seemed to excite them even more; the two flung their bags and clothes onto the beach, and San, likewise wearing nothing but his underwear, shouted to Sungmin:
“Hyung Sungmin! Did you set the traps?”
“Yeah. I set them above Rock Island. Where we caught the octopus last time.”
“Kuh! I hope we catch some today too. We were talking on the way here, and Minjun said he’s never eaten octopus before.”
“Octopus? How come he’s never eaten it?”
“Dunno. He’s tried squid, but I guess he’s never had octopus. He says he doesn’t remember.”
Under Sungmin’s gaze, which seemed to ask if it was true, Minjun nodded and affirmed it was the truth, and Sungmin looked at him while maintaining his smile and said in a very reliable voice:
“Well then… we gotta catch one just to show Minjun how octopus tastes, right? Brothers! If we see any octopus, let’s try to catch them.”
“Just let me see one. I’ll blow an octopus’s head off with this spear!”
“Of course. Sungmin, the spear you brought is totally amazing. It’s not just good for octopus—it skewers fish instantly. It really makes you feel like hunting.”
As the two spoke as if the equipment meant they had nothing to worry about, Sungmin grinned and sent a signal that seemed to mean it was time to start the real hunt, then spoke to Minjun and San, who were still in the lower grades and whom deep water would only endanger.
“You guys play just on this side. The water’s shallow here, so it’s plenty deep enough for you to play. You know the deep pool? I released some baby fish there, so you can play over there.”
Behind Rock Island, there was a large hollowed-out pool about the size of a small swimming pool—more than enough for the lower-grade Minjun and San to play in.
Moreover, Sungmin had released fry into this spot, and the way they glittered and sparkled was nothing short of magical.
“Wow~ Hyung Sungmin! This is exactly why playing with you is the absolute best!”
At San’s flattery, Sungmin coolly waved his hand and then disappeared with a stylish dive, and Minjun played together with San in the pool, saying:
“Hyung Sungmin really deserves to be the leader.”
“Right! Of course. Hyung Sungmin is incredible. He’s good at fighting, good at studying, good at sports. And he takes such good care of the younger kids and everyone. I really wish he were our real older brother, you know? Huh? But… now that I think about it, you seem pretty similar to Hyung Sangmin?”
At this out-of-the-blue remark, Minjun tilted his head, and San began listing similarities on his fingers.
“You’re good at studying too. You even solve second-grade problems… And you’re good at sports, and you take good care of me… I don’t know about fighting, but you’re good at that too. And you’re popular with the girls and older girls.”
“It’s just because I’m the only first-grader, so naturally I’m number one. Isn’t that why you’re thinking that?”
“Is that so?”
“You’re good at sports too, hyung? You’re a good swimmer too.”
Unable to easily refute Minjun’s compliment-disguised-as-rebuttal, San soon conceded and began playing joyfully again.
They played for quite a while. Since Sungmin and the rest of the group had failed to catch any fish in the water and had only dug up clams and sea urchins, their session ended after catching two flatfish, and Sungmin spoke with a face full of regret, draining water from his ears:
“Damn… I don’t see any octopus. I was gonna treat Minjun to one.”
“Tell me about it.”
“We barely caught these flatfish. Feels like all the octopus have moved on.”
Though Minjun felt disappointed at the older boys’ words, he soon hid his feelings and said:
“You already caught fish and a whole pile of clams and stuff. It’s really amazing. The season for octopus has passed… Even adults probably couldn’t catch one, right?”
“Well, yeah. You’re right. We just got lucky a week ago.”
“Well… if we catch one later, we can just give it to Minjun. Hey, hurry up or we’ll miss the TV rerun.”
Minjun’s words, which slightly defended and propped them up, made everyone sigh with lingering regret, but they accepted the results and prepared to leave.
But at that moment, San shouted something that made everyone stop in their tracks.
“Ah! We almost left without the traps!?”
They had forgotten that while they had been trying to catch fish with spears, they had also been catching octopus with traps, distracted by Sungmin’s cries about octopus hunting, so everyone wore expressions of belated realization. As San untied the rope and tried to pull up the trap, he grunted at the unexpectedly heavy weight, and as he lifted it, he realized something was inside.
“Huh? Something’s in here.”
“Isn’t it just fish?”
Everyone stopped trying to leave and rushed over at the news that something was in the trap, and there, impossibly, an octopus had taken hold.
“O-octopus!”
“Wow~ Is this a dream or reality!?”
“Can’t believe it! How do you catch two in a row with traps!”
Everyone burst out in wonder at the marvel, and Minjun too was surprised by the wriggling octopus, swallowing hard at the thickness of its legs, which was on a completely different level from a squid’s.
“Wow~ it looks really delicious. It’s completely different from squid legs!”
“It’s tastier than squid. San’s trap is a magic trap. Completely. San, is your mom home?”
Sungmin too swallowed hard, his gaze fixed, and asked San, who was mumbling in shock, whether his mother was home, and when San nodded that she was, Sungmin broke into a wide smile and shouted:
“Let’s hurry! Can we… ask your mom to make this into sashimi, San?”
“Yes! She will!”
“Really? Then can we watch some TV while eating the sashimi?”
“TV?”
“Yeah, TV. They’re showing a soccer rerun today. The one between Korea and Spain. I couldn’t watch because of school, but I heard in the staff room that they’re showing a rerun.”
Minjun didn’t know what soccer was that would make Sungmin, whom he thought was so cool, light up with excitement… and make the sixth-grade hyungs nod their heads too, so he asked:
“Is it fun?”
“Of course! But we’re short on numbers, so it’s always just the three of us playing. The rest are too busy doing other stuff.”
“Then we’ll play with you too. Hyung Sungmin says it’s fun, and you’ve never said something was fun when it wasn’t.”
“Really? Then let’s watch TV together and I’ll explain the rules. San, you’ll play too, right?”
San nodded as if it were obvious, agreeing with Minjun’s remark.
“Of course! It’s always just playing dodgeball and rubber-band jump rope with the girls. It’s boring.”
“Kikik, the fun of rubber-band jump rope is when the band snaps. Anyway, then let’s eat together and watch soccer. It’s really cool and fun.”