Chapter 96: Chapter 96 – The Sky is the Sky and the Beach is the Beach (2)
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
“You can stay as yourself too,” Juho said to Agrippa. “You’re the only Agrippa in this world who got to be in the water at the beach.”
Although Agrippa gave no answer, Juho felt that he was looking for evidence. He had been longing for some evidence that showed that he, too, possessed something unchanging. With that, Juho looked around. Sea, sand, sky, seagull, endless horizon. They were all things that he could easily make.
“Call your friends.”
Agrippa didn’t understand him, so Juho added in the friendly manner, “The Agrippas you were confusing yourself with.”
“… What for? My ident.i.ty will get lost the very moment they get here.”
“Don’t you worry,” said Juho, smiling. “I’ll find you.”
“Find me?”
“I can do it.”
“We all look exactly alike. I’m serious. There’s not one distinguis.h.i.+ng characteristic between us.”
Juho shrugged confidently.
“Nothing’s impossible here.”
A large wave swooped over Agrippa and rushed back to where it came from. However, it drenched neither Juho nor Agrippa. No, the Agrippas, countless Agrippas, filled the beach, fixating their ivory eyes on Juho. None of them spoke. Instead of seeing, they listened with their gazes straight ahead.
Juho walked through the statutes carefully and tried to strike up a conversation, “‘Scuse me.”
No answer.
“h.e.l.lo?” he tried again, but there was no answer. With his eyes on the traces left by the wave in the distance, he walked past the Agrippas. Sand was taking up the s.p.a.ce once filled with water. Similarly, the Agrippas were occupying the place where the sand should’ve been. Following the wave, Juho walked toward it.
It was neither this nor that, neither the statue next to him nor behind him.
He went further, pa.s.sing a large number of statues. They all looked exactly alike, even their flaws. He tried lifting them, one on each hand. Their cold ivory skin felt smooth to the touch. They even weighed the same. It made sense that Agrippa had been so confused. ‘I wonder if animals look at us the same way I look at these statues? Do they think that it’s impossible to distinguish us, like the grains in the sand? No, that’s not true. A puppy knows its owner. Not one pebble in a valley is the same. Though they might all look the same to some people, the pebbles each have their own unique shape. Once there’s a memory attached to it, its shape evolves into something even more unique. For that reason, I know I can find Agrippa here.’
“Found you,” declared Juho, standing in front of the wave.
There was one last Agrippa in front of him. Having walked past a slew of Agrippas, it was the one Agrippa unique to Juho. He gave no answer still. Only, his forehead twitched ever so slightly, and the wave broke stubbornly.
“How did you find me?” asked Agrippa.
“Your moustache,” Juho answered.
There were hairs placed vividly under Agrippa’s nose. Juho had drawn them in in the science room. Thankfully, they had remained intact despite the water.
While in a daze, the Agrippa started laughing suddenly, “Hahaha!”
He laughed heartily, resounding throughout the entire beach. The moustache vibrated as he laughed. At that moment, a powder-like substance fell on the ground. It was time to part ways.
“It seems like it’s time.”
“It appears so.”
Agrippa’s face crumbled away, turning into sand. It was becoming one with the sand at the beach.
“I’m sure you have what it takes to find me.”
“Yep,” answered Juho, confidently.
Even if he became one with the sand, Juho would still be able to find him.
“That’s all that matters. Even though I’m about to be reduced to a handful of sand, I’m at peace.”
Just as his chin and forehead, his once clear eyes began to trickle down. Juho reached for him, feeling the smooth texture of the sand as it brushed past his hand. Agrippa seemed somewhat older. Maybe it was the sand, or the scorching sun that was beating down on him. His mouth spread open, but it too crumbled away before he had a chance to speak.
“I know,” said juho.
“She won’t change.”
Agrippa slowly faded away, his neck and shoulders gone.
“It’s been a pleasure.”
With one last smile, Agrippa vanished. The water washed away what little sand was left in Juho’s hand. Before he knew it, the water had come up to his neck. ‘When did you get here?’ Water had a tendency to be fickle.
From the water, Juho looked in the direction of the beach. A woman was walking on the sand, leaving footprints. By the look of the silhouette, she seemed to be wearing a hat, slouching slightly. Though Juho wanted to get a better look, he was moving farther away from the sh.o.r.e. ‘Who could that be?’ The woman seemed to be wearing pants. Her silver hair became visible under the visor. Stopping in her tracks, she bent down to pick something up from the sand. Maybe she was patting something. She appeared to be well-advanced in age. ‘Did she really remain unchanged or did she give into change?’ Juho wondered. Straightening her back, the woman went on her way leisurely. In order to stop her, Juho tried to shout, but no sound came out as water began to rush into his mouth. Agrippa. Juho had become Agrippa himself. Regardless of who it was, one had to become the sand in order to leave that beach. Juho felt his body crumbling away under the water. Whenever the wave broke, he got pulled under, sinking and becoming one with the sand. His eyes met with the blue, serene sky. It was the sky that he had always seen, and he felt relieved. A simple fact remained: He was still himself.
At the sight of a seagull flying about in the sky as it searched for something, Juho closed his eyes.
“Sigh.”
Opening his eyes, Juho let out a sigh. To wake himself up, he reached for the cup that came into view. It was cold.
“h.e.l.lo,” greeted Juho.
At the sound of Juho’s voice, the Chinese teacher looked up from his book. He was also the Book Club’s homeroom teacher. Despite being separated by a mere door, the school library smelled entirely different from the rest of the school. Juho was impressed by its subtle scent of dust and books. Once he identified Juho’s face, the greeted him back with a slight nod.
The shelves were filled with books organized into categories. Between the shelves was a small box designed for requesting new books for the library. The translucent box seemed rather empty.
After thinking for a bit, Juho picked up the pen and paper next to the box and wrote down the name of the book he wanted to see in the school library. It was a book written by Joon Soo. Although there was a wide array of books in the library, his books simply weren’t popular enough. His fans tended to be quite avid, but they were few in number. Folding the paper in half and pus.h.i.+ng it into the box, Juho remembered why he had come to the library – to pick a book. Juho wanted to know more about sand. Just like how Juho hadn’t always been Yun Woo, sand hadn’t always been sand. It had been granite in a high mountain at one point. Either from external erosion or internal disintegration, the rock broke into enormous pieces. As large as it was, it took a long time for it to travel down the mountain. Eventually, it shrunk gradually in size, naturally and/or by was.h.i.+ng down the river. The rocks kept shrinking as they crashed into each other, bruising and wearing each other down. There was no way to make them bigger. The whole process repeated itself until the rock was reduced to the size of a grain of sand. Juho wanted to know where the countless grains of sand had come from.
He looked in the shelf with books on geographical science. It didn’t take long before he found what he had been looking for.
‘What is Science?’
‘Easy-to-Understand Science’
‘A Quick Look at the History of Science’
‘How Did Ancient Civilizations Know the Earth was Round?”
‘The Fundamentals of a Triangle.’
‘Mathematics That Fits in Your Palms.’
‘Physics: the Fascinating Science.’
‘The reason Why the Sea is Salty.’
‘Nothing Can’t Be Explained with Science.’
‘How to Make a Mummy.’
‘Mushrooms’
‘The Extinction of Dinosaurs’
‘Earth’
‘Climate in the North Pole.’
Standing in front of a wall of books, Juho started searching from the top. ‘Sand, sand. It has to be here around somewhere.’ The book didn’t come into view until he started looking down. Eventually, he squatted, going after the books at the bottom shelves.
“Here it is!”
‘Formation of Sand.’ Seeing how it was covered in dust, n.o.body seemed to have bothered looking at it. It looked rather technical ‘This will do. Otherwise, I can just get one from the bookstore,’ he thought, picking up the book. When he walked out, there was a student sitting where the Chinese teacher had been sitting, reading. She was reading with the same posture as the teacher.
“I’d like to check this out,” Juho said.
Just like the Chinese teacher, she looked up quietly and asked, “Your student ID?”
“Here,” said Juho, handing her his ID. Taking the ID from his hand, she scanned the book’s barcode and typed the book’s information on the computer, seemingly familiar with the library’s system. Meanwhile, Juho glanced over at the book she had been reading. The book came into view while resting on her skirt that fell just below her knees. A lone bird in a gray background.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks,” he said. She gave him a light nod in response. With just them there alone, the library was quiet, and as soon as he stepped out through the door, the sound of clamoring would come flooding into his ears.
Before he went on his way, Juho stopped to ask the girl a question, “Is that any good?”
She looked up as she was about to pick up her book, understanding him immediately.
“Yes.”
“How good?”
“Quite good.”
A woman of few words. Seeing as how she didn’t seemed to welcome the conversation, Juho went on his way without asking anything further.
“If you haven’t read it, you should,” said the girl, her eyes fixated on the book.
“Why?”
“It’s worth it.”
Juho didn’t say anything.
“Yun Woo’s story is kind of like sand in some ways,” she added.
“Sand, huh.” Juho had never heard his writing compared to sand. Looking at the dusty book in his hand, he asked, “What made you think that?”
“It rushes into the reader’s mouth without permission.”
“Is that what Yun Woo’s book does? It goes into your mouth without permission?”
“So to speak,” she said, patting the book. “With wind, fine sand can go anywhere. You couldn’t grab it even if you wanted to. The moment you think you’ve caught it, it’s already escaping through your fingers. It’s kind of annoying, but on the other hand, I feel grateful.”
“But you like the book though?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t read it otherwise. I wouldn’t recommend it to a person that I’m not even close to either.”
‘I should be thankful,’ thought Juho. Thinking back on it, they had met before, when the entire Literature Club had come to the library.
“You’re part of the Book Club, right? We’ve met before?”
“Yes, and you’re part of the Literature Club.”
She remembered him. Just like now, she had been reading then. While Juho reminisced about that day, she went back to reading. Without disrupting her further, Juho quietly stepped out of the library.
“Sand that rushes in without permission.”
Her expression lingered in his ears. The lone woman who had left for the beach had to have been carrying that same sand. Afterall, sand didn’t discriminate.