Paradigm

Chapter XXIV

Jeju-do, South Korea, May 1994.

Four days. San had used a funeral in Namhae as an excuse to skip Monday and Tuesday at university. Hongjoong had not tried to be intrusive. His friend was never absent for anything, and he feared he would have to console him if, by extorting further information, the student collapsed. Hongjoong did not like mourning and the myriad of things associated with it. It just made him feel profoundly uncomfortable, devoid of empathy.

As for Wooyoung, he was off for the whole week.

The two of them had met at the airport, burning with anticipation, reunited on the occasion of their first face-to-face meeting out in the open. From the moment they set foot on the island, they would love each other for all the world to see. Four days to live what any other couple would experience in twenty years. Enough to last a lifetime. Four days away from the community and its machinations. And above all, four days away from Bora.

The hotel by the seashore was very typical from the outside, but the inside clearly did not keep its promises. Old quilts and bolsters on a creaky bed, a dilapidated bathroom in which the bidet worked better than the shower...

Well. Even in the high season, the price remained more than correct. Since they had paid for it out of their own personal funds - that meant none of which came from ilminist activities, for once -, something cheap was more than welcome.

The plane journey had been short, but the bus had broken down between Jeju airport and the peaceful holiday village where they stayed. The couple set down their bags mid-afternoon and went for a walk around on the beach. The paths were magical. The shimmering blue of the agitated body of water facing the deep, infinite blue sky cast a shadow of its marvelous color over the cliffs that greeted the sea like a pearl in its jewel case.

San loved this place deeply. He felt at home here. Of course, he often missed France and other countries where he stayed for a longer period of time in his short existence but only South Korea gave him this intense feeling of being at the right place. When he was there, there was no other place in the world where he would rather be. Free from his usual wanderlust, he could finally truly enjoy the moment. That fraction of a second that he would sooner or later forget, along with the fractions of a second that had followed, but whose beneficent wave would always vibrate within him.

His lover's palm spread a gentle warmth against his own. His gaze fell on their tightly bound hands. A strong feeling expanded his heart in a strange way. He suddenly felt like crying, laughing and screaming all at once. Of happiness. A happiness that was not intellectual. True happiness.

Naturally, they had stopped when evening began to fall. The sky was turning pink. A seagull had been following their walk for several meters, hopping in a funny, clumsy way. Wooyoung was amused. While the psychology student was busy luring the bird to the bank with grandiloquent gestures that left the animal indifferent, San had removed his clothes. Wooyoung did not notice until his lover dipped a foot in the water.

"You can't possibly be planning to swim in that !"

The writer's only reply was to step quickly into the water, before immersing himself completely at once. It was really cold, but he had expected it. He swam in apnea for a few meters before taking a deep breath. The air was still warm, but the icy drops on his skin made it prickly.

Wooyoung gazed at him from the shore, hesitant. He had the cold feet, though he was tempted to join San in the water.

"Come on ! Once you're in, it's not that cold anymore !"

The writer was exaggerating a lot. In fact, he was dying for an excuse to mock the psychology major's whining once more. Seohee had accustomed him from an early age to bathing in the icy waters of Brittany, whereas Wooyoung was repelled by the sea even in the hottest days of summer.