Jeong Tae-ui sat down a few steps away from him. Then he also lent his ear to the sounds passing overhead. It was a grand and refreshing sound, like the fluttering of thousands or tens of thousands of sheets of paper brushing by above. Once, and then after a long while, once more. Occasionally, beyond the sunset, a clear whistle echoed softly.

At last, the sun set. As the tiny remaining sliver of the sun swiftly slipped away, the day turned dark in an instant.

Someone beyond the wall went inside, and the birds scattered.

There, only the sky remained, dyed in blue-violet gradually deepening into indigo, and the darkness.

“Your hair doesn’t look that long. It’s a little longer than usual, but it doesn’t look messy. …Still, if I call the barber, I should ask him to cut mine a bit, too.”

Jeong Tae-ui suddenly said this while tilting his head, looking at Jeong Jae-ui. Jae-ui was still gazing at the now empty sky and only then looked back at Tae-ui. Come to think of it, since breakfast, Tae-ui hadn’t crossed paths with Jae-ui. They had both stayed in their rooms all day.

The detached building wasn’t very large, and their range of movement was limited, so normally they would cross paths several times even if they didn’t stay together during the day, but it wouldn’t be strange not to meet at all. Jae-ui sometimes stayed in his room for days when focused on something, and Tae-ui wasn’t much different.