I Became a Cub in the Elven Kingdom

“So.”

“Yes?”

Hayeop looked up at her with clear eyes. They shone as brightly as leaves touched with dew, and tiny freckles dotted the bridge of his nose like strawberry seeds.

“How did the two of you think you could live in that little room?”

The lady marveled that they had gone undiscovered for so long. What nerve the boy had, she said.

Honestly, Hayeop had expected her to recoil in disgust. He had even prepared himself to be slapped or thrown out on the spot.

But her capacity for accepting the unexpected was far greater than his timid imagination had allowed. Perhaps winning the Miss Korea title had something to do with it. She had a boldness born of experience; even something well outside the ordinary barely made her blink.

“Well...”

It was hard for Hayeop to explain. At first, he really had meant to stay for just one night. He hadn’t planned for things to turn out this way. They simply had.

“It was nice, living together and talking.”

He smiled, his gentle eyes curving and his cheeks lifting.

“In that heat. You really are a fearless child.”

The lady shook her head. He was his mother’s son, all right, she said: gentle-looking, but with a strong will.

“Tell me about yourself,” she said to his mother.

What had happened all these years? Everyone had their own troubles, yet she had never thought to ask.

His mother gave a small shrug, as though it were nothing. She was so thin that her collarbones stood out sharply.

“What’s there to tell?”

She had worked herself to the bone to earn money, only to find that her husband had taken up with another woman and set up a home with her. She told the story calmly over a sip of soju.

“What? He had an affair?”

The lady said it made her sick with anger and tapped her chest with her fist.

“How did you live through something so painful?”

“I just kept living, and somehow the days went by.”

Yes. It wasn’t so much a matter of how she had lived. She had simply kept going.

“We’ve both had terrible luck with husbands.”

One had lived with her husband’s absence, the other with her husband’s betrayal. Sharing that sense of misfortune, they drank soju together. Hayeop, who could hardly hold his liquor, sipped along with them. The little warmth it brought made him feel good. He had been wound as tight as a strip of dried squid, but at last he began to relax.

“Still, even if you had no luck with your husband, you were blessed with your son. Now that I look at him, he does resemble you.”

Tears filled the lady’s eyes as she looked at Hayeop.

“You must have been so startled that day.”

She must mean the day he had pretended to be the young master’s friend. His mother had been so nervous that she’d spilled hot tea, and the lady had raised her voice at her in front of him. As she apologized, her eyes grew wet. Hayeop’s stung too. He felt guilty. He truly hadn’t meant to deceive her like that.

“No, it’s all right.”

And he meant it. He was grateful enough that she understood him and his mother now.

“...And Yoonwon.”

At the sudden mention of the young master’s name, Hayeop thought his breath had stopped.

“Are you two close?”

She asked with great care. Was close the right word for their relationship? Hayeop could almost hear his conscience tearing, but he gave a small nod.

“I was lonely and young, and I left Yoonwon alone far too much.”

Looking back, she said, she saw nothing but regrets. Hayeop was the first person Yoonwon had ever brought to her and called his friend.

“I don’t think my son loves me.”

“How could that be?” his mother said.

They had time now. Couldn’t she start trying? She placed a slice of rolled omelet on the lady’s plate, saying she shouldn’t drink so much on an empty stomach.

“The distance between us has grown too great. I think it’s too late to undo it.”

“The young master grew up to be such a thoughtful, fine person. Please don’t say that, ma’am.”

His mother took the lady’s hand and held it tightly. They could try from now on, she said. Children were always waiting for their parents to hold them.

The warmth of the conversation filled the kitchen and lingered there until the young master came home.

“I’m back.”

He entered the kitchen as usual, a sports bag slung across his chest, and stopped short at the sight of the three of them.

“...”

His dark eyebrows shot up. His sharp eyes moved quickly from one face to another as he tried to work out what had happened. All three pairs of eyes looking back at him were red.

“You’re home, Yoonwon.”

The lady lowered her gaze. Hayeop’s mother hurriedly wiped her tears on her apron and stood.

“You must be hungry after exercising.”

She asked if he would like a late-night snack. It was already past eleven. Hayeop rose from his seat. The rolled omelet had gone cold, and he wanted to make Yoonwon a fresh one, warm, savory, and a little sweet.

“Young master, I’ll make you some rolled omelet.”

“You know how to make that?”

The lady looked astonished. Had he been helping with all the cooking too?

“Yes.”

Hayeop smiled shyly. He had volunteered confidently, though in truth the young master ended up doing almost all the work. They mixed two spoonfuls of fragrant sesame oil into the yellow beaten eggs and cooked them until they were just golden.

They brought the warm omelet to the table, and the young master joined them.

There were four members of their household. To other people, a family of four might have seemed perfectly ordinary. To the four of them, it was a number beyond measure.

“Chanel.”

The lady called Tteokbeongi in her elegant voice. Naturally, he didn’t even turn his head. He just worked his jaws, munching on a piece of egg cooked without salt.

“He doesn’t even know his own name.”

It must be because he was a mutt, she said. Hayeop hid a small smile.

“His name is Tteokbeongi.”

At the sound of his name, Tteokbeongi finally got up from the sofa and came over, wagging his tail. He rubbed his head against Hayeop’s calf, making a show of how pleased he was. Then he planted his chin on top of Hayeop’s foot. The touch of his damp nose felt nice.

“Who gives a dog such a countrified name?”

The lady clicked her tongue. She tried calling him Chanel once more, but when he paid no attention, she gave up. She tore off a little piece of the cornbread beside her and waved it gently.

“Tteokbeongi.”

When the dog came running at once, she smiled.

That was what family meant. When the sun began to set, you came home and gathered around the table together. The four of them sat at the large table, sharing food, conversation, and warmth.

Steam rose from the hot rice, the braised short ribs glistened with sweet seasoning, and the fluffy steamed eggs sent up soft clouds of heat. Every carefully prepared side dish shone. Hayeop picked up a slice of pink sausage and chewed it neatly.

“Ah...”

Just then, a startling warmth reached his fingertips. Surprised by the thrill of that touch, he quietly glanced aside.

Under the table, Yoonwon’s large hand had closed tightly around his. Yoonwon didn’t look at him once. Instead, he smiled easily at his mother and said, “The braised ribs are delicious.”

Hayeop felt his cheeks grow warm. He smiled and lightly traced Yoonwon’s palm with the tip of a fingernail beneath the table.

“Thank you for the meal.”

Hayeop calmly finished his entire bowl of rice. The young master had volunteered to wash the dishes, a chore that would ordinarily have been Hayeop’s.

Hayeop hurried back to his room and went straight to the old cassette radio set off to one side. He kept missing the beginning of the program, but today he was right on time.

—This is Lee Moon-se on Starry Night. With autumn so close, what song is playing in your hearts tonight?

It was starting. Even the opening words made Hayeop’s heart pound. He lay on his stomach, full of anticipation. Please, let them have chosen his letter this time.

One listener’s story followed another. Hayeop found himself laughing softly, wondering at some, growing indignant along with others.

Tap, tap.

Then he heard something at the window and sat bolt upright. Tap, tap. Pebbles were striking the glass. It was the young master. Hayeop shoved his feet into his slippers and dashed out without looking back.

—Ha ha, here’s an interesting letter.

The host’s low voice was still coming from the radio behind him.

—“My house is probably the cheapest one in Apgujeong,” it says.

Outside, Hayeop saw a tall figure waiting for him by the wall. He ran over and rose onto his toes, reaching up with both arms to pull Yoonwon down by the neck.

Neither of them waited for the other. They kissed.

—The rent, apparently, is zero won.

The window had been left slightly open. The radio’s voice drifted out of the room, but Hayeop no longer cared.

Only the soft, wet sounds of their kisses scattered into the night air.

—People say first love never works out. Mine did.

Countless stars filled the sky above them, forming a beautiful Milky Way that looked ready to spill down upon them. Crickets chirped nearby. Hayeop wanted for nothing.

—I confessed my love. The person I love is beside me. With the stars shining so beautifully, how could I call that a love that didn’t work out?

Yoonwon’s lips moved over his with a softness that made him dizzy. He wrapped an arm around Hayeop’s waist and braced his other palm against the rough wall, protecting Hayeop’s back from it. The thoughtfulness of that small gesture made Hayeop’s chest ache.

—Who are you with tonight? Are you looking at the stars as you listen?

Their lips parted. Hayeop tipped back his head and looked up at Yoonwon. In Yoonwon’s eyes, he saw himself. He had tried so hard not to fall in love, but looking back, he knew he had loved him even then.

“Young master,” he called softly.

And the person Hayeop loved answered.

“What is it?”

—Whatever kind of love you have, if you’re watching the stars together at this moment, isn’t it already a wonderful night?

What kind of luck had brought Hayeop to him beneath all these stars?

In truth, Hayeop had wanted to make a different wish on his thousand paper cranes: that the time he spent with the young master might last forever.

But he knew that youth shone so brilliantly because time was finite. And so he had wished only to see a smile on Yoonwon’s face when he looked at him.

The cranes he had folded from paper of so many colors seemed to have become the stars overhead, looking down on him as though they had granted his wish.

And that was his first love.