That Face Is the Problem - vanish into fiction

Da-sol said that he, too, had met a strange boy in the mountains when he was in middle school. He couldn’t remember if it had been a school trip or a family trip back then. In fact, he said that until he heard Jae-gyeong’s story, he didn’t even know if that memory was something that had really happened or just a dream.

However, as he listened to Jae-gyeong’s story about his first love, the fragmentary and sporadic scenes that had occasionally risen to the surface like a dream began to piece themselves together.

“Some tall boy was making a scene all by himself, tripped, and then screamed after seeing me.”

“Making a scene all by himself….”

Jae-gyeong repeated Da-sol’s words bitterly.

Da-sol, unbothered, stammered as he continued his reminiscence.

‘AAAHHH!!!!’

‘What is it? Shut up. You’re noisy.’

It was advice stemming from a child’s worry that mountain beasts might appear if he made loud noises, no matter how small the hill was. But that boy, even while bawling his eyes out, looked up at Da-sol and seemed shocked as he said:

‘A gh… ghost…? B-But you’re really pretty…. You look like a sparkly, pretty… stone.’

‘A stone? What are you saying? Stop acting like a jerk and get up. Did you hurt your head? Are you lost in a place like this? You’re truly pathetic.’

‘Huh? Uh, uh….’

The boy wiped his tears away and stood up. When Da-sol spoke like that, most boys would usually curse back or act tough, acting like they were going to beat Da-sol up in front of their friends while shouting, “Oh, let go! Just let go!”, but the crybaby giant simply sniffled and obediently followed Da-sol’s words.

So, Da-sol sighed and decided to be generous for once in a while. Perhaps it was because it was just a small neighborhood hill behind the town. Somehow, Da-sol knew where the exit was.

He showed the crybaby giant the way. But even after showing him, the boy kept whimpering and whining that the path was too dark and scary.

‘There are tons of streetlights, and fireflies are buzzing around in droves like this—what is there to be scared of?’ It was practically blinding.

I just remembered being bewildered by that back then. It seems like I grumbled a bit after that and then showed him the way myself….

There was only one thing that remained vividly in Da-sol’s memory.

‘You look like a sparkly, pretty stone.’

The expression “stone” felt fresh, and since it didn’t make him feel particularly bad, at least those words had remained in his heart for quite a long time.

“But you said it was a fairy, not a stone?”

Da-sol asked, looking surprised. Jae-gyeong scratched the back of his head.

“I think I said it was a fairy…. Because I really thought she was a fairy. Because she was so small and pretty….”

At the words “small and pretty,” Da-sol glared at Jae-gyeong. Jae-gyeong naturally lowered his eyes. Just because their feelings were mutual and they decided to date didn’t mean Da-sol had become any less scary.

“B-By the way, so that sparkling thing back then was fireflies…. I didn’t know….”

“We can’t be sure that the person we met back then was us. I heard ‘stone’, and you said it was ‘fairy’. And I also cursed like crazy, but in your memory, I’m very kind? There’s no way I could have been like that.”

“But the memories are too similar…! Words and phrases can be distorted, and depending on the person, one might only believe what they want to believe…”

Jae-gyeong swallowed hard. Then, he voiced the assumption he had been almost afraid to voice.

“By any chance… could my first love have been… you, Mr. Da-sol…?”

If that were the case, wouldn’t it be logical that he fell for Da-in, who looked exactly like the young Da-sol, and then fell for the person who looked exactly like Da-in and was the grown-up version of that mountain fairy?

“If that’s the case, it makes me feel even more gross.”

Da-sol said coldly. Jae-gyeong pursed his lips. ‘What did I do wrong this time….’

“Isn’t that just saying someone named Jeong Jae-gyeong is a total looks-obsessed fool?”

Liking someone solely based on their appearance was, in Da-sol’s opinion, the height of foolishness.

“A, a look-obsessed fool…?”

Jae-gyeong made a look of grievance.

Da-sol felt a bit piqued. Even though it was true that he liked him because of his face.

Whether that first love was really Da-sol or not wasn’t certain yet, but in any case, there was an original source, and it meant that Da-in and Da-sol were both people who resembled that original. To Da-sol, Jae-gyeong feeling aggrieved about it was even more absurd.

“I liked that kid back then not only because she looked like a fairy and was pretty… but because she was a sparkling child who helped me without hesitation when I was lost and crying….”

Jae-gyeong argued.

A sparkly, pretty stone. Once again, that sentence brushed through Da-sol’s mind. A thought suddenly occurred to him: whether the word the boy (presumably Jae-gyeong) said back then was “stone” or “fairy” didn’t really matter.

“…So you’re saying that kid was a sparkling child.”