Chapter Text
The body greeted the shoreline as the first burst of colour kissed the horizon.
Jongwoo had first mistaken it for a spotted seal as it bobbed out of the water and opted to let the animal be. He went about his day, checking and radioing in the weather conditions before spending his morning tending to a broken window that had curiously blown in after a windless night, careful not to disturb the seal as it rested on the rocks, bathing in the sun.
Jongwoo worked, and every half-hour or so he would stand at the highest point of the small raised lump of earth erected just outside the lighthouse, he liked to call “the hill”, to take a peek at the rare mammal. And every time he would do so, the seal would be there, lying still in the sun. Sleeping, Jongwoo thought, returning to his chores.
The seal lay unmoving as noon rolled in with the tide. As the crash of the waves grew violent, dread began its feast on Jongwoo, catching him between the gnash of its teeth, pulling him towards the shoreline.
The colour should have been his first hint.
“This is not a sight you’d want to see before dinner.”
“No, sir.”
A low buzzing danced around the two men, a swarm of flies ecstatically settling over their sun-warmed meal.
“Hm.” The older man flicked the tarp back over the rotting yellowed pink swell that once was considered human.
Salt air mussed the man’s chalky hair, his mouth curved downwards in a perpetual frown. The coast guard had arrived promptly three-hours later than Jongwoo had been promised. A body, dead beyond recognition an inconvenience rather than an emergency. A crew of five men had eased their way onto the dock, pushing past Jongwoo without introduction. Only the officer in charge, Officer Hwang, had bothered to spare a barked greeting over his shoulder.
“Jongwoo-ssi? Is that correct?"
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re young,” the officer observed, his hardened gaze softening unnoticeably as he took in Jongwoo’s built. “What a shame.”
“Sir?”
The man grunted as he rose from his squat beside the body. “Take my advice,” he began grimly, balancing his left foot on a rock a step higher than where he stood. “Go home. Find a nice girl. Get married. You cannot live your life here. It won’t let you.”
Jongwoo’s eyebrows furrowed. “It…?”
The officer lifted his hand to his nape. He massaged the kinks from his neck, eyes fixed on the grey sky above. “Been a while since the last big storm…” he said with a sigh.
“Don’t get caught it the next one, do you hear me?”
Jongwoo’s mouth pressed into a thin line. The wind billowed, slapping against the tarp at their feet. A furious gust exposed the body.
A faceless creature stared up at him; maggots sat where eyes should, lips ballooned towards the sky.
The medics from the crew wrapped the tarp back around the corpse. Without thought, the youngest of the men fastened a strap taunt against the bloat of its stomach, releasing a putrid gas.
The foul stench of death sat heavy over his senses.
The groan of the door’s rusted hinges signaled to the man seated near the dull fire of Jongwoo’s return.
“You’re back,” he greeted, setting his book down on his lap.
Jongwoo shrugged off his coat, silently hanging the garment on the wooden hook beside the door. He walked past the man seated by the hearth, making his way to their small kitchen.
His hand hovered over the kettle of boiling water, seeking warmth.
To his companion’s contentment, Jongwoo returned to the cozy sitting area. He plopped onto the worn-out cushions of the couch; tea clutched in his grasp.
The man smiled. The rocking chair he occupied creaked as he rose from his seat. He kneeled on the rug to add a log to the fireplace, somehow always privy to Jongwoo’s body temperature.
“I suppose it was not a seal, was it?”
Jongwoo’s silence was all the answer he needed. The man casted his eyes downwards, as if to send a silent prayer over the deceased. He grabbed the iron stoker off its stand to push the burning logs. The blaze rose as he worked. Sparks nipped at his face, but like usual, he did not seem to notice.
“Where do you go?” Jongwoo asked quietly.
The man’s attention abandoned the fire, head turned quarterly towards him.
“Where do you go when people come?”
Jongwoo thinks the question surprised him. The man returned his gaze towards the flame, his expression hazed in an orange glow. Though, Jongwoo could never be sure. Emotion rarely seemed to visit the man’s face; save for the easy warm smile he would throw Jongwoo’s way.
“We’re running low on firewood,” he mused distantly. “Hardly enough to get us through the storm…”
Then, “I’m not sure what you mean,” the man replied plainly, crossing his legs underneath him, shifting to face Jongwoo. “I’m always here.”
“Are you?” Jongwoo took a sip of his tea, letting the rich taste sit on his tongue a moment before swallowing. “Strange… I can never seem to find you when there’s others on the island.”
“Hm. That is strange…” the man did not elaborate further.
Jongwoo took another sip of his tea. The fire crackled between them, filling the silence.
“The body. Did they say how old?”
“No,” Jongwoo sighed, leaning forward in his seat. Slow steaming wisps escaped the mug clutched tighter now between his palms, a welcome warmth settling over his face.
“I’d say quite old, given – well, it’s state.” He paused, unwanted images of the decomposing corpse rested fresh behind his eyelids with every blink. “It barely resembled a person at all,” he added.
“I wonder… I wonder if they’ll be able to identify them.” The push and pull of the flames seemed to hypnotize him, stealing more thoughts off his tongue than he would typically allow.
“A pity,” the man said after a moment. “To die nameless.”
A burning ember escaped the grate, dying flat on the smoked stone. “Don’t you think?”
To that Jongwoo had no reply.