Chapter 41….
Waiting and Waiting
“This is the place…”
He had only heard reports about it, never actually come himself.
Since his mother and older brother had never lived in one steady place, he hadn’t even been sure if this was the real one.
Just then, Woo Soo-han was seen glancing around, as though searching for something.
At that sight, Chairman Yang Mansik felt his heart growing impatient.
But he held it in.
These people had still come, even after the danger the day before.
And it wasn’t something to be rushed anyway.
He no longer doubted them.
Then he saw Soo-han suddenly pause.
Looking back at him, Soo-han spoke:
“This way.”
Yang Chairman quickly followed.
Where Soo-han was standing, old rotting construction materials were piled up.
“Is… is it here?”
“Yes. Well… he’s digging at the ground, playing.”
“Hah, ha-ha.”
When Yang left home, his older brother had been in his mid-thirties.
By then, Yang himself had finished high school, served in the army, found a job, and was buried in work.
But even at that age, his brother’s days were spent digging dirt at playgrounds or vacant lots with the neighborhood children.
He’d play all day, only coming home after the kids were called in by their mothers.
“And Mother?”
“Well, I haven’t seen anyone who looks like a grandmother yet… but something’s moving. We’ll know if we follow.”
At Soo-han’s words, Yang Chairman and Park Mansu quickly followed behind.
The place wasn’t far.
Near the vacant lot, beside an old tree.
There Soo-han stopped.
Scorched rocks, maybe from old construction, were scattered about.
“Hm? That’s strange… what is this?”
Soo-han scratched his head in confusion.
Yang Chairman, startled, asked urgently:
“Something wrong?”
“No… not wrong. Just… I’ve never seen this before.”
Then Mansu, stepping closer to the rocks by the tree, spoke:
“That rock, right?”
“Huh? Yeah. So this can happen?”
“It can. Similar things—like the Rock of the Waiting Wife, or Old Mother Rock, or Grandma Stone…”
Hearing this, Yang realized at last: that stone was his mother.
At first, it looked like just a rock.
But when Chang-sik went near and began acting childishly, rolling on the ground, the rock rippled—then revealed the figure of an old woman.
What he thought was a stone… was actually an old woman.
Chang-sik lay down, using her thigh as a pillow, humming.
[Bzz-bzz-bzz, searching for flowers~]
[My dear Chang-sik, you played well today.]
[Mom, Mom, let’s make kimchi stew with pork fat.]
[We’ll eat when the youngest comes back.]
[When is Mansik coming?]
[If we wait, he’ll come.]
The old woman endlessly stroked the head lying on her thigh.
Her eyes were warm, but tinged with loneliness.
“Madam…?”
He tried to speak to her.
But she only stroked Chang-sik’s head and gazed blankly into the distant horizon.
Chairman Yang Mansik staggered forward, then dropped to his knees, embracing the rock.
The old woman’s body shimmered faintly around the stone.
“Mother! Mother! It’s me, your youngest! I’ve come!”
He cried like a child, clutching the rock.
But she… the mother bound within the stone, only gazed at the horizon, not even seeing her youngest.
“Please! I beg you!”
The old man crawled toward me, clutching my legs.
“Let me talk to my mother! Let me see her!”
Watching him scream for his mother, I could only sigh.
Mansu helped me:
“Honestly… in cases like this, it’s nearly impossible. Often the spirit binds itself to an object when it refuses to leave… speaking with them is difficult.”
“I just want to see my mom… just once…”
The old man wept like a child, begging.
The stone-mother continued to pat Chang-sik’s back as he whined for her attention.
[Mom, let’s make kimchi stew with pork fat!]
[We’ll eat when the youngest comes back.]
[When’s Mansik coming back? He went traveling with Bzz-bzz.]
I turned to the others.
“Wait.”
“Huh?”
“Wait here.”
“Where are you going?!”
Ignoring their calls, I ran to the car.
The driver and secretary, resting nearby, jumped up in surprise as I came rushing.
“Find me a butcher shop nearby! Now!”
“Sir?”
“Hurry!”
The secretary glanced toward the rock, then opened the door.
“Please get in. Driver Kim, set the GPS to the nearest butcher shop.”
We drove fast, entering a small countryside town.
Soon, we found one.
I burst inside.
“Do you have pork fat?!”
“…What?”
“Pork fat, the trimmings!”
“Why would you—”
I shoved a 50,000 won bill at him.
“Here! Just give me some pork fat! The stuff you usually throw away!”
“Why would you pay for—”
“And I’ll buy this too!”
I grabbed a portable burner, knife, and cutting board from his shop, slapping down another bill.
“…Do you at least have kimchi?”
The butcher, bewildered, finally relented when the secretary politely offered even more cash.
Moments later, I rushed out with pork fat, old kimchi, a pot, rice, everything.
Breathless, I returned to the stone.
“Now… since the youngest is back, you should make stew, right?”
Still, no response.
I lit the burner.
Poured in the kimchi.
Then—
[You have to fry the pork fat first.]
“…What?”
The voice was warm.
The old woman, who had only stared at the horizon, was now looking directly at me.
Then she turned her head toward her son—her youngest, now aged, sobbing uncontrollably.
[You’ve come, my youngest…]
It worked.
[My dear boy.]
She smiled brightly.
Even though her son was old and wrinkled, she still recognized him.
Yang Mansik trembled as he watched the old aluminum pot before him.
Inside, the pork fat sizzled, releasing its nutty aroma.
Soo-han crouched by it, smiling faintly like an old woman.
“Chang-sik, do you like Bzz-bzz so much?”
[I love Bzz-bzz!]
“Why do you love it?”
Through Soo-han’s figure, the image of their mother appeared—first old, then slowly younger.
As the kimchi stew simmered, she became the mother they remembered.
Beside her, his older brother appeared as well.
Mansik clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle his sobs.
Mansu nodded gently—it was real.
Chang-sik grinned, holding something out.
[Let’s eat this together after the stew.]
It was a stone candy.
Mansik was stunned.
Their mother set out two rice bowls—one for Chang-sik, one for him.
[Our youngest should eat too.]
“Mother…”
Mansik accepted the bowl and broke into uncontrollable sobs.
[Where have you been?]
“Mo…ther…”
[Do you know how long your brother’s been waiting?]
He couldn’t answer, only wept.
His mother stroked his head, her touch the same as always—gentle, loving, forgiving.
[At last, all three of us are together again.]
“Mother, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
She wiped his tears with a cloth.
[Eat. Your brother waited so long.]
Mansik ate the kimchi stew with cold rice, tears streaming down his face.
Once, he had tried recreating that taste with chefs—but it had never been right.
Yet now, it was exactly the taste he remembered.
“Delicious! Mom, I wanted this so badly!”
He spoke like a child, food spilling as he cried and laughed.
[Sorry I couldn’t wait longer for you.]
“Mother?”
[But I’m glad you lived well.]
“Where are you going?!”
[Thank you for coming back, my youngest.]
“Don’t go! Please, don’t leave!”
A light rose toward the heavens.
Mansik tried desperately to grab hold.
Beside him, Chang-sik placed the stone candy in his hand.
[Here, eat this. I never sucked on it, not once. I thought maybe that’s why I never came home first. This time, I really didn’t.]
“Ughhh!”
Clutching the candy, Mansik embraced his mother, begging her not to go.
But her form rose in light.
As he clung to her, she only patted his back softly, comfortingly.
