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Lee-yeon burst out into a laughter. Today is a day no different from any other day. As always, everything will be okay.
Because she had long since forgotten her birthday.
When Choo-ja first set foot on the second floor, she had looked around the house as meticulously as a real estate agent. Seeing the neat structure and luxurious furniture, she had held out a pen and left a checkmark besides ‘A lot of money’ checkbox.
“I heard he goes to the washroom.” Said Lee-yeon.
“In his sleep? Like sleepwalking?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my goodness! What a weird guy.”
Once, Lee-yeon went to see him without much thought, but when she saw Kwon Chae-woo standing tall in the dark, she almost had a heart attack.
“Look at his clear skin.” When Choo-ja tried to reach out, Lee-yeon immediately grabbed her arm.
“He might wake up.”
“He won’t, I already tried shaking him awake.” Choo-ja insisted.
“But still….” Lee-yeon averted her gaze and took a step back from the bed.
The fuss that continued for a few days was now blurry as though everything had been a dream. I can’t believe I’ve regained my peaceful life. Lee-yeon looked down at the man lying like the dead, with a calm face she rarely saw.
Please, she prayed. Please just sleep like this.
“By the way, did you read the newspaper? Remember the elementary school we attended before? The principal got into a big trouble. There’s a rumor saying that the playground was turned into a wasteland due to school construction….” Choo-ja suddenly stopped talking and looked at Lee-yeon.
“You didn’t, right?” Lee-yeon scratched her cheek. Choo-ja widened her eyes.
“Did you report it to the newspaper?!” asked Choo-ja.
“I mean…”
“Are you not going to do your business?! Didn’t I tell you that we make our living by managing customers?!”
Lee-yeon left the second floor without a word. She could hear Choo-ja yelling at her as she went down the stairs, but there was nothing she could do about it.
“Do you even have a brain―?!”
Lee-yeon tried hard not to smile. It’s not only the principal who abused trees and used them only for ornamental purposes. A world that values trees more than humans will never come, Lee-yeon knew but that wasn’t a problem for her.
Then Lee-yeon, see you later. The sudden chill made Lee-yeon shiver. It had been a week since the man didn’t wake up. Kwon Chae-woo might have expected the result of not sleeping together.
* * *
“This is crazy!” Lee-yeon, who ate the soil at the root of the tree, clenched her teeth. She abruptly took off her straw hat with a grim look on her face and went straight into the restaurant.
“Sir!”
“Welcome! Ah, you! Please leave!” The man frowned as soon as he saw Lee-yeon.
“Are you trying to kill them again?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The man roughly tapped Lee-yeon on the shoulder and steered her out the door. She, however, held onto the door, refusing to leave.
“Last time, you put herbicide in the ringer and killed it—”
“If you keep interrupting my business, I’ll have to call the police.”
“This time, you poured seawater, didn’t you?” She could still taste the saltiness.
The customers began to murmur, seeing them quarrel. The man’s face turned red. This troublesome bitch is ruining my business.
“I thought it was strange that the ginkgo tree kept withering.”
“I never called you! This is not your business!”
The man pushed Lee-yeon roughly outside the restaurant. He narrowed his eyes at her. But to Lee-yeon, his worried, trembling eyes were ridiculously easy to read.
“Your hospital went bust because you keep snooping around from house to house like that, not minding your own business. You know that?”
“I know.”
“If you know, then stop doing the same thing!” He spat on the ground.
Everyone in the village knows So Lee-yeon, the director of Spruce Tree Hospital. Recently, she became even more well known for her notoriety when the article about the principal of the elementary school was published regarding the school construction. Many residents got tricked by her innocent face that contradicted her personality.
This tree doctor didn’t bother to understand people’s circumstances. She rushed to save the trees as long as she could help it and people thought she was crazy.
“Just shut up and leave, okay?” said the restaurant owner. “I have the right to do whatever I want to do with my tree that is on my property, and I will never call your hospital for help! Stop being a nuisance and go! You are crossing the line!”
“Then who would do it?”
“What?”
“If not me, then who helps that ginkgo tree?” Lee-yeon pointed to the dying tree. “I know you’re trying to get rid of this because it’s covering the restaurant signboard.”
The man’s face stiffened.
“Every morning, you spray seawater, peel the tree bark, and apply waste oil to kill it. You inject insecticide into the canopy and cut it with a chainsaw.’ Her voice trembled. “What will happen to them if I stop caring? Even if they appear no different from a power pole to people’s eyes, these are living things! Once they have put down their roots, they deserve to live!” The uneasy feelings that Lee-yeon had repressed since morning led to an emotional outburst.
“Who are you to kill these trees? What gives you that right? What have they ever done to you?” She felt sick to her core. It reminded her of the small, trembling hand that held the pencil and the reflection papers that were piled up as tall as her height.
“It’s not fair for them to be used and thrown away like that.”
The man was angry at the childish stubbornness, but when he saw the woman’s red eyes, he suddenly couldn’t breathe for some reason.
“Do you want to hear something scary?” said Lee-yeon. “Even after you die, the trees will live on.”
They’ll live through centuries. Lee-yeon clenched her teeth and held back her tears.