After briefly awakening my faith through the grace of flour and enjoying some mercy.
Having finished our middle and high school activities, the three of us boarded the same bus to return home.
We had only sung a few praises and talked a little, but it was already 12:43.
Checking the time and realizing that half of the day was already gone, the faith that had inflated with flour and cheese began to fade.
Honestly, it wasn’t an activity that felt particularly objectionable compared to what I had heard…
But I still don’t know if it was really necessary to participate by getting up on a Sunday morning.
Still, since I had joined in for a week, I planned to make up excuses next time and not attend.
The three middle schoolers returning by bus in front of the apartment.
“Are you coming next week?”
“I’m good.”
That was the meaning behind the question about whether I would go to church next week.
When the question slipped out in the elevator, I shook my head and replied.
Taehyun isn’t exactly a devout believer, so he just spoke honestly.
Then, as if passing the baton, he turned his head toward Shiyeon and passed on the question.
“How about you, Shiyeon?”
“Um, not really….”
She shook her head in agreement, just like how I was saying I wouldn’t go.
Right, Shiyeon isn’t particularly interested in religion either.
“Ha.”
Seeing us respond so blankly, Taehyun let out a short sigh.
As I said earlier, he doesn’t give off the feeling of being a devout believer.
Yet, why does he wake up early every Sunday morning, take the bus, go to church, and not return home until lunch?
Why? If he’s a diligent student, he should follow his mom’s words.
He was bound by the four letters of being a lifelong believer, losing his choice long ago.
Even though he doesn’t have a strong faith, going to church continuously must be torturous.
Besides, as a student, he’s allowed to sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays.
He’s giving up one of those precious two days every week, so it’s natural for us to feel a bit envious.
But since we have an idea about his home situation, he can’t easily say he’s envious.
That sigh is the result.
The elevator arrived at the fourth floor right after that conversation, and as the doors opened with a clatter, we stepped out and exchanged brief goodbyes.
“Take care.”
“Um, bye.”
As soon as I got off the elevator, I walked toward my destination with a blank expression.
Beep beep beep, pressing the password corresponding to my spot, I returned home with Shiyeon.
I had shut all the windows tightly in case it rained.
That action, combined with the exasperating collaboration of the hot and humid Korean summer, turned our home into a small sauna.
As soon as I entered the house, I felt the air suffocating me.
…It was quite unpleasant.
“Where’s the remote…?”
Given the indoor temperature that felt even hotter than outside, I immediately looked for the air conditioner.
I turned my head quickly, scanning around the living room for the remote.
I grabbed the target resting on the sofa, pointed it straight at the air conditioner, and pressed the red power button.
A low hum came from the air conditioner.
I rapidly pressed the down arrow button on the remote, setting it to the lowest temperature of 18 degrees, and tossed it carelessly back onto the sofa.
With a soft bounce on the cushy cushion, the remote landed nearby without leaving the sofa.
Until the cool air had sufficiently spread, being right in front of the air conditioner was the best spot.
I laid down on the mat and cooled my flushed face with the cold wind.
Just then, Shiyeon approached me quietly.
“Whoa-!”
“Ugh.”
For some reason, she suddenly pounced on me, pressing down with her whole body while exclaiming something I didn’t understand.
With the sudden weight covering me, a faint and bizarre sound escaped my mouth.
Our bodies were almost stacked vertically.
I reached out my left arm to secure Shiyeon who was sprawled over me.
Then, with my right hand, I extended my fingers and began relentlessly poking her sides.
“Eek?!”
“You know I’m exercising.”
Shiyeon’s body twisted as she let out a peculiar scream that was hard to hear.
“Oh, ah! No, no!”
“Are you going to do it or not?”
No matter how much her body twisted, my fingers digging into her soft sides stirred her skin in a wild frenzy.
Even though she struggled to form words, she continued to resist.
As soon as I presented the two options, she quickly shouted the correct choice.
“I won’t, I won’t!”
It was just a playful act of overwhelming her with force for about five seconds.
In that brief moment, I managed to force her into submission.
After receiving her desperate surrender, my fingers finally stopped moving.
“Whew.”
A short sigh of relief mixed with liberation lingered in my ears.
Having had a satisfying lunch and enjoyed the cool breeze from the air conditioner, Shiyeon must’ve been quite bored.
Since it was an odd day, there was no worry about monster sightings, making for a relaxing day.
Though the steady passage of time towards Monday wasn’t good news, it seemed like we were spending the last of the holiday quite peacefully.
…I thought so, but suddenly, my eyelids fluttered open in the middle of the night.
‘…?’
I blinked to grasp the situation.
I was on my familiar bed, and my smartphone was nearby.
It was definitely before the alarm went off.
Yet, I didn’t feel clear-headed as if I’d had enough sleep either.
Why did I wake up at this hour?
The sound that made that question immediately understandable tickled my ear.
Bzzz.
The demon of summer, that sound from the insect I wished would become extinct.
Once I heard that sound, there was no paradise left.
Going back to sleep? No way.
Not knowing when that insect’s sound would echo in my ears, I would tremble with anxiety.
When I finally relaxed my worries and fell asleep, that sound would surely ring out again.
Quickly, I turned on the room light, dispelling the sleep that had fled from me. Then, after swatting at my ear with my hand.
Grabbing the mosquito repellent, I closed all the windows and doors.
My anxious gaze scanned the room.
Even the dust quietly clinging to the curtain looked like mosquito legs, my eyes fixating on the tiniest details.
Swish, the sound of shaking the spray echoed in the quiet room.
A moment of silence, something small and black flitting through the air.
Pshhh.
The muzzle aimed at the mosquito’s lifeline now emitted a white plume of death.
The acacia-scented spray filled the room in an instant.
I hit it; it was definitely a direct hit. There was no avoiding this blow.
With that certainty in mind, I scanned the floor with my eyes.
Wriggling painfully on the floor was a tiny, malevolent demon.
Now that I had located it, it was time to take care of it.
Pulling a piece of tissue from the rectangular box on my desk, I delivered a fatal blow to the creature squirming on the floor.
The feeling of pressing down didn’t even register in the surreal weight.
The center of the white tissue bore a dark red mark.
In that way, I was able to swiftly eradicate the demon of summer.
The rush of having finally killed it and the sense of achievement swept over me.
And on the other hand, a relief surged through me at the thought that I could return to peaceful sleep…
“Ugh, how many times did it bite me?”
Feeling the itch from various bulging spots on my skin, I started scratching the places where the skin protruded with my nails.
“Yawn….”
Still, rather than the itch, knowing that I wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night made me yawn comfortably.
Opening the tightly closed door of the room, which still held a faint trace of acacia scent, I turned off the light I had turned on to catch the mosquito.
After finishing an intense battle against the tension and anxiety that had filled the room for a moment.
Hoping to get just a few more minutes of sleep before the alarm rang, I sank back onto the bed.
Rearranging the blanket that had become disheveled as I almost jumped out of bed.
Once I set my fully charged smartphone beside my head.
I closed my eyes to fall asleep, focusing solely on the existence of sleep in a mind devoid of thought.
…Bzzz, the unappealing high-pitched sound flapped by my ear again.
‘…!?’
In the dark view, that sound resonated once more.
With a jolt, my eyes opened.
That sound was a warning bell, awakening my once complacent thoughts and hazy mind.
Gradually, my consciousness sharpened more than it ever did when any alarm went off.
It was as if that creature from moments ago had been a mere trailer, vanishing the instant I turned the light on.
Though I certainly heard the sound, that pesky creature remained invisible.
Was it an auditory hallucination caused by anxiety?
The buzzing sound that pierced through my ear, shattering that doubt.
In a panic, I quickly turned my body and sprayed the mosquito repellent in the direction it had been.
“Was there one more…?”
Upon reflection, the number of bites made no sense for it to be just one mosquito.
With the sound scratching at my ear again, my suspicion turned into certainty.
Amidst the commotion, even the teddy bear I had been leaning against spoke up.
“Is it a mosquito?”
“Yeah, if you see it, just let me know.”
4:52 AM.
The illustrious Magical Girl Sun, who could effortlessly dispatch any monster, was seriously battling against merely two mosquitoes, with only she and her mascot being aware of that fact.
