"Hey, Ye-young. Don''t you think he''s kind of like that?"


    "Huh? What do you mean him? Who?"


    "You know what? He doesn''t even talk. I don''t have any friends.


    "And the one who can''t play! I always sleep."


    It''s break time when we were playing one card game.


    Looking at Yumi lying blankly with her arms cut at her desk, some of them pointed fingers.


    It wasn''t that the children didn''t like Yumi very much.


    I''ve asked her to hang out with me a few times, but I''m just a little upset because Yumi doesn''t answer.


    elementary school student


    That''s mostly the case with the accidents of young children.


    Emotional, also like a reed in the wind, it goes this way, that way, and changes.


    It is natural in a way that when one of the children in the group speaks out, the accident is focused on it.


    "Hmm. Is that so?"


    "Ye-young, don''t you think so?"


    "I don''t know. Maybe he''s just a quiet kid. I don''t really care. Oh, one card!"


    "Hey, you cheap bastard!"


    "What? You didn''t see it."


    Ye-young''s eyes glanced at Yumi after nodding her head roughly to her friend, who said she couldn''t stand losing.


    Surely I understand why children do that.


    I don''t talk much. I don''t make friends often. It''s just like he''s going to school alone.


    At first, I thought I was shy because I just transferred, but that''s not the reason why the guy who came with the beginning of spring is still like this until the end of summer.


    "He''s a strange boy."


    Unique one. Interesting one.


    Ye-young''s idea was just that far.


    She didn''t really hate Yumi like the other kids.


    No, even the other children didn''t think much about it in the first place.


    We can just hang out and spend time together. First, answer what you''re talking to. That''s all.


    It''s getting boring.’


    One card, jackstones, and so on. I''ve been getting tired of it for weeks.


    Of course, the other kids still had so much fun, even though they got together every break.


    The end of one summer when such a boring day went by.


    "Grandma, I''ll be right back."


    Grandmother caught Ye-young, who was leaving the house as usual.


    There were umbrellas and a few 1,000 won bills on his wrinkled and curved fingers.


    "Take your umbrella. It''s going to rain today."


    "Rain? The sky is so clear."


    "Anyway, the news said it was coming, so take it. And this.”


    "This is... money, grandma. What kind of money all of a sudden?"


    "Excuse me, dude. Isn''t it your birthday today? I''m sorry this is all I have for you."


    "Really? Uh...…? Oh, you''re right. Thank you, grandma. I''ll use my allowance well."


    "Then go away. I bought tteokbokki with my friends. Don''t forget your umbrella!"


    Ye-young who came out of the house like being pushed away with money and umbrellas.


    Ye-young, who turned her head and looked at the grandmother who was seeing her off until the end, jumped down the sloping stairs.


    Ye-young''s house was in a high-lying neighborhood.


    To put it nicely, it was a neighborhood in the back, and to put it worse, it was a place called Daldongne.


    Among them, a shack with a blue roof was a nest where Ye-young and her grandmother lived.


    It wasn''t much of a situation.


    Father who ran away from his family when he was in kindergarten.Less than two months later, she left herself at her grandmother''s house and said she would come back after 10 nights of sleep, but she hasn''t heard from her until now.


    My grandmother, who has raised her for years, is now very sick.


    In the past, he used to drive a handcart to pick up trash. He can''t even get out of the house these days.


    Ye-young knew it was a pretty bad situation.


    All of this made Young Ye-young an adult.


    But rather, she had no idea.


    "Hmm, hmm, hmm. What should I do with my allowance?"


    I just spin the umbrella that my grandmother gave me, hum and head across the Daldong to school.


    I don''t know when. About almost everything, I lost my mind.


    Come to think of it, it''s been like that since I was a kid.


    Leaves that are only swept away by rough currents. There''s nothing you can do, just be swept away.


    From the moment I realized it, Ye-young let go of everything.


    So it''s rather comfortable. Just live as you''re swept away.


    "How many more years can a grandmother live?"


    When I went to the hospital, I secretly overheard what the doctor and grandmother said.


    The doctor told me to leave, but I still put my ear to the door and carefully.


    The doctor in white said. I''m almost at my age. I''much as I.D.


    Even if you go to a nursing home right away and get treatment, it will be hard to go over 10 years.


    So, can grandma last five years in this moldy shack?


    If that''s the case, you''ll be at the end of middle school or high school.


    "Then I''ll go and...I think he''ll die."


    When my grandmother dies, I''ll just follow her.


    A young elementary school student. That was not a word or idea to say in a light tone.


    But Ye-young did.


    He was that kind of kid, and he became that.


    Drumming--!


    As soon as she left school, it began to rain with a tremendous force as if there was a hole in the sky.


    At first, I thought it was just a summer shower, but seeing the rain, it was not enough to wait.


    "I have to thank my grandmother.”


    Eventually, Ye-young, who opened an umbrella, slowly began to walk home.


    There were some friends who asked me to go home with them, but Ye-young always refused with various excuses.


    It wasn''t that I was ashamed of my house.


    I just wanted to get rid of things that could be annoying in advance.


    "Well, I haven''t decided what to do with my allowance yet. Should I just buy some fish-shaped buns for grandma? What does grandmother like?"


    Just as I was heading home thinking about this and that.


    "Huh? He''s....”


    Something came into my little eye.


    A girl in the rain, walking along the street with a normal walk, not a quick one.


    Knowing face. It was Yumi from the same class.


    "He''s a real odd one."


    If it didn''t have an umbrella when it usually rained like that, I would have waited for it to stop or run home.


    Yumi just walked around. With your head down as always.


    For a moment, Ye-young thought that such Yumi was similar to her.


    I don''t care who''s around me, what''s happening in the world.


    "Hey, you''re Yumi, right?"


    "……Huh?"


    "Let''s use it together. It''s raining hard."


    I came to my senses and I was putting an umbrella on him.A simple curiosity at first. I thought he was a weirdo, but he changed.


    "You could catch a cold. Why don''t you just drink cocoa?


    "No, I''m going to eat ice cream, too."


    It would be a waste to use the allowance given by my grandmother.


    It would be fun to talk about.


    "Ye-young, you look like an adult."


    "……okay. I don''t like that word."


    Honestly, at first, I wondered what he was doing.


    But as the days of meeting Yumi became 2 days, 3 days, and increasing.


    And watching Yumi change little by little because of herself.


    Now that I think about it, Ye-young seemed to have fun living her own life.


    Considering that her grandmother died when she was in her second semester of high school, and she became alone but did not commit suicide.


    After that, I just lived my life.


    Because his situation hasn''t changed.


    There was nothing the sweeping leaves could do.


    I felt like I was going to die in time.


    She was a person who had no regrets or goals in life.


    By chance, while delivering, I passed by the restaurant where Yumi worked, and what I visited was just random.


    Of course, the rice is delicious and the restaurant is good, so it became a daily routine once a week.


    Oh, one thing surprised me.


    "Yumi, you''ve become so mature since I''ve never seen you before.’


    I found what I wanted to do since I was young, tried my best, and eventually I was able to give myself these delicious dishes.


    Both of them have grown up. Yumi was more mature than herself to look at Ye-young now.


    Of course, that''s all there is to it.


    So even with this result, Ye-young was not very impressed.


    I was able to accept it casually. Because it''s something I''ve been thinking since I was a kid.


    by the way


    Hey, Yumi. Give it a rest. I''m really okay.


    "Are you okay? What do you mean? What are you... what are you okay with you?….”


    The friend who beat himself up and became an adult first didn''t seem to be like that way.


    * * *


    And then I came back and now.


    Not in the past, but in the present table heaven.


    Ye-young came with the grim reaper at 2 a.m., not 2 p.m.


    Something hard to admit.


    "What do you mean? I don''t know what''s going on."


    Explain it to me, the afterlife. You know better than we do that this is no big deal.


    Haru and Choi Han-seok asked the grim reaper in a blunt voice.


    The two were of that nature.


    I don''t know if it''s because I''ve been through a lot and seen a lot, but whenever this happens, my head always gets cold.


    My heart is burning heart. Keep your head cold.


    I''ve heard it once somewhere, but at least Haru and Choi Han-seok were in that state.


    "Ye-young..." Ye-young...….”


    Of course, Yumi couldn''t.


    I heard that he was a meaningful friend, so in a way, this would have been a natural response.


    The grim reaper, who sighed and swept down his face, opened his mouth.


    "Let me tell you first. I don''t know the details. As always, I was leading the dead today, and Ye-young''s name was on the list of the dead."


    "Then, Ye-young."


    "Yes, I''m destined to die today...It''s …."


    The grim reaper who unfortunately hangs his tongue.


    It was quite an unusual reaction considering that she was always a fastidious person.Choi Han-seok, who had his arms crossed, asked one more time.


    But? But what? If you die, you die. If you live, you live. Isn''t it like that?


    "Ye-young usually dies at 3 a.m. An accident, taken to the hospital. Hold out in the emergency room and eventually die. Well, that''s the fate is."


    "That''s what it is, after all.”


    That''s the last thing I wanted to hear.


    Yeyoung''s life, what was written on the list, is almost over.


    Then there is no turning back.


    But the grim reaper left room.


    "Well, his soul came out first."


    "Are you out of your mind?!”


    Something that''s hard for him to understand.