(A SHORT NOVEL)

Edge of the Fall (Part 2)

I was about to start eating when someone arrived.

A woman.

I felt disappointed. Somebody had seen me. Our eyes met for a few seconds when she looked in my direction. It was the last thing I wanted to happen, for I didn’t want to leave even the slightest hint of my impending disappearance. She could possibly see my photo as a missing person when I finally hide lifeless at the bottom of this mountain. She could potentially provide a clue to my whereabouts.

I just hoped she’d leave quickly so I could dive into the ocean of rocks at the bottom of the mountain after I eat and finish my drink.

The woman was alone. I did not see anybody following her. Her brow was furrowed, her face set in a frown, and her eyebrows knitted together. Yet, even beneath the frown, her beauty remained undeniable, like the first flowers of spring pushing through the frost, fragile yet full of life.

She walked right past me, ignoring my presence. She was dressed in baggy jeans and a red hoodie, the vibrant color accentuating her fair skin. The soft breeze seemed to carry a hint of spring with it, the scent of blooming flowers—though the chill of winter still lingered in the air.

I followed her with my eyes. She stopped and sat on top of a rock. She had her back to me. She held her cell phone up to her ear. I wasn’t sure if she was receiving a call or making one. All I knew was that she was talking to someone and sounded like she was arguing with them.

Instead of eating, I watched her, hoping she’d leave quickly. Inadvertently, I eavesdropped on their conversation.  Admittedly, she succeeded in distracting me from the very reason I was there.

The woman took the cell phone away from her ear, and it seemed like the conversation was over. I was startled when the woman suddenly screamed.

“Neohui dul-eun jiog-e gal su-iss-eo.”

I didn’t catch everything she said, just the words ‘hell’ and ‘two.’ Maybe she was telling the person she was talking to and anyone else involved to go to hell.

Then she stood up and repeatedly slammed the cell phone against the nearest pine tree to me.

Smash!

Some pieces of the broken cell phone even landed at my feet.

The woman sat down on the ground, sulking. She looked like a child who had been robbed of a toy.

“Salanghae! Geuleona wae?”

Apparently,  her boyfriend had left her. She was crying. She sobbed like a child. Did I do the same? What a shame that the answer is yes. I cried a river upon learning that the woman I was about to marry was impregnated by no less than my brother.

I felt pity for her, understood her, and could relate. I stood up to give her a tissue.

As the saying goes, “Misery loves company.”

I slowly approached her. Just as I was about to hand her the tissue, she suddenly stood up and stepped over the rope blocking the way. She stopped right at the edge of the mountain. One wrong step, and death awaited her.

It seemed like she wanted to jump to her death… just like me. The difference is mine is planned, hers was a spontanneous decision.

I stepped over the rope, too.

She turned to look at me. Her eyes looked furious.

“Deo isang dagaoji mal-ayo.”

I understood what she said. She didn’t want me to approach her.

I stopped. But as she was about to jump, I quickly grabbed her arm.

She struggled to break free as I pulled her from the mountain’s edge. I was like winter, holding her back. Like the spring desperately trying to emerge but unable to break my frozen grip on her. When she kicked me in the thigh, I let go of her, but she didn’t manage to jump. Instead, I hugged her tightly from behind and lifted her away from the edge, keeping her from the precipice, like the last bit of warmth trying to push through the bitter cold.

“Naleul noh-ajwo!!!”

She wants me to let her go, but I didn’t. She was screaming and struggling until we both fell and rolled down the ground, luckily away from the edge of the mountain. She elbowed me several times. Cursed at me.

Then suddenly I heard something.

“GEUNYEOLEUL NAEBEOLYEODWO!”

That was a man’s voice.

It seemed like there was someone else.

And there was… and not only one.

A group of men suddenly arrived and saw us in that state.

They ran towards us. One pulled the woman away from my grip, and the others grabbed me. Three of them were holding me. They were reeking of liquor.

Everything happened so fast. A pair of slaps landed on my cheeks. Followed by a powerful punch in the stomach that put me to my knees.

I gagged from the pain.

They took turns slapping me. One of them was even pulling my hair. My ears rang from the force of the slaps that hit me.

While I was kneeling, I looked up at the men surrounding me. I held onto one of their knees.

“Please…”

“Dakcho!!! Shibalnoma!”

One of them cursed and even spat on my face.

“Let me explain,” I said in broken Korean.

But they wouldn’t let me. I received an endless barrage of punches and kicks… to my face… to my stomach… to my thighs.

I think my eyes were the only parts of my body that didn’t get hit.

While I tried in vain to parry the punches and kicks of my assailants, I managed to gaze at the woman still being held by the man who had pulled her away. She said something to the men, but I couldn’t understand her words. She was desperately trying to break free from the man’s hold.

Blood was dripping from the wounds they inflicted on me, but they wouldn’t stop. Their punches and kicks were like the unforgiving chill of winter—cold, relentless, and numbing, cutting through my body just as the frost cuts through the warmth of spring. One cut me off when I ran toward the mountain’s edge, hoping to jump and still achieve what I came here for. I fell to my knees again.

It wasn’t jumping off the mountain that was going to kill me; it was the merciless beating from these men. I didn’t intend to go that way

I regret not jumping as soon as I got there.  I should not have planned to have a last supper. Instead of the food I brought, I ate painful punches and kicks and had their swearing and cursing as my side dishes.  Should I’ve just let the woman do as she wished and followed her to the bottom of the mountain? It would’ve been just a flash of pain. Maybe I wouldn’t even feel it. Unlike the beating from these men, which was slowly killing me with pain, like the bitter cold of winter, it was relentless. I thought of spring—of the warmth and the possibility of change—but it felt as distant as a dream I couldn’t reach. I couldn’t even imagine it, not when I was trapped in this frozen moment, slowly succumbing to the cruelty of my assailants.”

Before I lost consciousness, I saw the woman managing to free herself from the clutches of the man who had grabbed her earlier. She ran toward me. She was trying to stop the men from beating me. I felt her body pressing against mine, her warmth a brief, fleeting contrast to the cold fury of the men beating me. As she tried to shield me from the relentless anger of her countrymen, it felt like the first sign of spring pushing through a long, unyielding winter. But it was too brief, too fragile, just like the hope I barely dared to feel. I struggled to stay awake, but my eyes just shut. Everything went dark. 

To be continued…