His father, the only family he had, was dead.
His father, the only family he had, had finally passed away.
On the ninth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the funeral was held at the T City Funeral Home. Half of the attendees were strangers, and half were acquaintances.
Most were old friends of his parents, none were Jo Jun-yu's friends.
Or rather, he had no friends in this small town.
He wrote the eulogy himself and read it himself.
His mind felt numb, his lips numb, even his eyes couldn't move freely.
He could only hear his own voice reading the eulogy, unaware of its volume, a voice that lingered in his mind until the end of the funeral.
After people said their final goodbyes to the body, some gently patted his arm, others said, "Condolences." This scene reminded him of his mother's death fifteen years ago.
At that time, it was also in this funeral home, in this farewell hall. He vaguely remembered the sympathetic looks from people.
Yet, he had completely forgotten what his mother looked like.
After the cremation, most people would first store the ashes in the funeral home, but Jo Jun-yu didn't do that. Following his father's wishes, he scattered the ashes in the river.
Finally, as per local custom, he arranged a feast.
From beginning to end, he managed it all in one go, surprisingly smoothly.
In the afternoon, after the feast ended, he paid the restaurant owner and left.
It was just a five-hundred-meter walk to his home. Such is the way in a small city - nowhere is too far.
The house was a standalone building, renovated once twenty years ago, now looking quite old.
Pushing open the red painted iron gate and entering the small yard, the busy street sounds in the distance made him feel even lonelier.
Jo Jun-yu let out a long sigh and sat down on the steps in front of the house.
"Father, tormented by illness, has finally gone... So now I too..."
Jo Jun-yu picked up a bottle of weed killer from a corner of the yard, thinking that consuming it would allow him to leave this damned world.
Just as he was about to open the bottle, the iron gate of the yard creaked open.
A tall man in jeans and a brown jacket walked in.
Jo Jun-yu stood frozen, staring at the unexpected visitor.
The man first looked at him for a few seconds, then unceremoniously surveyed the yard.
"Who are you looking for?" Jo Jun-yu asked guardedly.
The man flashed a hearty smile, "Little uncle, don't you recognize me? We just met."
"Just now?" Jo Jun-yu wondered. There were no relatives left in this small town of his, so who was this person calling him 'little uncle'? Moreover, he hardly remembered anyone from the funeral he had just attended.
"My mother has been unwell lately, so I came to the funeral. I wanted to talk to you, little uncle, but you were too busy then..."
"Could you please explain a bit more clearly..." Jo Jun-yu was puzzled about how this man, who appeared older than him, was calling him uncle.
The man walked closer, his presence suddenly imposing and making Jo Jun-yu feel short of breath.
"You really don't recognize me?" The man's face showed a hint of sadness, but it quickly turned back into a smile, "I guess it makes sense, it's been so many years. But little uncle, you haven't changed a bit since you were a child."
Jo Jun-yu frowned internally, never having encountered such an overly familiar person. "Met before? Who are you?"
"Ethan."
Jo Jun-yu then remembered. Although his memory of the boy's appearance was blurry, he definitely remembered Ethan! He was the son of Jo Jun-yu's aunt's daughter, a year older than him. In the East Asian tradition of respecting seniority, Ethan was his nephew.
When Jo Jun-yu was around five or six years old, during his grandmother's birthday celebration, Ethan's family had come to visit.
Jo Jun-yu hadn't invited Ethan to the funeral; only his sister was informed about their father's passing. His father and that sister had grown up together and were very close. Later, she moved to the United States with her son and they seldom kept in touch.
"You still remember me, that's great! Saves a lot of trouble." Ethan still wore his enigmatic smile.
"Trouble? What trouble?" Jo Jun-yu was confused.
He remembered, yes, but he was too young at that time to recall many details. However, there was one incident he could never forget.
That summer, he and Ethan were playing with a remote-controlled car in this very yard. When Ethan tried to take the controller from him and he refused, Ethan stomped on the car and broke it. They ended up fighting, and Jo Jun-yu, having lost, started crying. His father, embarrassed, scolded him and sent him away to a friend's house.
After the birthday celebration, they left, and Jo Jun-yu had thought he might never see that rascal Ethan again. He had wanted to get back at him but eventually stopped thinking about it.
"Little uncle, what are you doing with that weed killer?" Ethan had noticed the bottle in Jo Jun-yu's hand.
"I was just putting it away. It's in the way in the yard."
"But I just saw you opening it." Ethan snatched the bottle away. "It's newly opened, and there aren't even any weeds in the yard."
"None of your business!" Jo Jun-yu glared at him.
"You weren't thinking of drinking this, were you?" Ethan suddenly became serious.
Jo Jun-yu couldn't admit it, "Nonsense."
"You wouldn't be considering ending your life because of your father's death, would you? Do you have an Oedipus complex?"
"You're still as annoying as ever."
"If you're thinking of doing it, I suggest you go somewhere else. Aren't there several mountains nearby? Go there, and I bet no one will find your body for years."
"You bastard... Get out!"
Jo Jun-yu punched without holding back, hitting Ethan in the cheek. Ethan only slightly tilted his head, but Jo Jun-yu felt pain in his fingers.
"Why are you getting angry? If you die here, the house can't be sold."
"Sell it? On what grounds!"
"You must have heard from your father that this house actually belongs to my grandmother. I'm here to inform you that the house is going to be sold."
Jo Jun-yu remembered his father mentioning that because his aunt left home early, and at that time his grandmother was still alive, they all lived here. In fact, the house belonged to his aunt... He had lived here so long, since birth, that he had forgotten about this.
"When my grandmother passed away, she left all her property to me, so I have the right to deal with this house."
Jo Jun-yu bit his lip, wondering why Ethan chose to come at such a time.
Although he had many fond memories of this place, for him, who had decided to end his life, knowing that someone would take care of the house after his death was actually a relief.
"Then let this place become a haunted house!" Saying this, Jo Jun-yu twisted open the bottle cap.
"Snap!"
Ethan swiftly knocked the bottle out of Jo Jun-yu's hand. The bottle fell to the ground, and the liquid inside gurgled out.
"My dear little uncle, how could I watch you die? Although I'm going to sell this house, I wanted to invite you to live with us."
"I won't go. And stop calling me little uncle, it's disgusting." Jo Jun-yu lowered his gaze to his shoes.
"My mom doesn't want to leave you behind; she instructed me to bring you back."
Jo Jun-yu's hand, hurt from the punch, was slightly trembling. If he died here, how sad would his elder sister feel?
Suddenly, Jo Jun-yu was overwhelmed by a wave of deep sadness, and tears gushed out.
"Why do you care about me! Can you just let me die!" he yelled hoarsely.
"You can't die," Ethan said coldly.
The unstoppable tears and overwhelming emotions made Jo Jun-yu unable to perceive anything else.
It was like being trapped in the deep sea, desperate and suffocating.
Suddenly awakened, perhaps around midnight.
The room was pitch dark, with moonlight seeping through the gaps in the curtains, casting a beam on the floor and the bed.
Everything around was utterly unfamiliar, prompting him to wonder, "Am I dreaming?"
His mind, like an old computer, struggled to reboot. He tried to sit up but lost his balance and fell to the floor with a thud.
Rubbing his numb toes, a door nearby opened. The light turned on, and a woman glanced at him in panic, uttered something, and then hurriedly left the room.
Jo Jun-yu surveyed the unfamiliar decor, the high ceilings, and the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.
He had never dreamt of such a place. He staggered to his feet.
The door opened again, and several people entered.
Leading the group was an elegantly dressed elderly woman, her eyes filled with concern. It was evident she had come in a hurry.
Jo Jun-yu stared blankly at her, not recognizing her at first.
"Chris! You're finally awake!"
"You are..."
"It's your sister, Wendy."
She looked very different from the sister he remembered. The last time they met, she was much younger with short hair. But even now, she didn't look like a woman over sixty. If seen on the street, people might think she wasn't even fifty yet. However, her comforting presence was familiar to Jo Jun-yu, easing his tension.
"Where is this?"
"It's Ethan's house."
As they spoke, a middle-aged man in a brown shirt beckoned him to a sofa chair, measured his blood pressure, and asked him several questions.
He could barely understand the English spoken by the man, but thankfully Wendy was there to translate for him.
The conversation gradually made him realize that he had been in poor mental condition on the way to America, which led to his memories of the journey being vague and confused. He had followed Ethan all the way here and then suddenly fell asleep, so deeply that he couldn't be awakened, which frightened Wendy enough to send him to the hospital. After the hospital found nothing unusual, they decided to bring him home. Still worried, they called a private doctor to stay on call.
"You've been sleeping for three whole days!" Wendy said.
"Is this America? I don't remember how I got here." Losing large chunks of memory wasn't new for Jo Jun-yu, and it terrified him.
"Chris, don't be nervous. Maybe the incident with your father is too much for you to accept at the moment, causing you to forget many things."
"No! I'm not Chris!" Jo Jun-yu rushed to the window and pulled back the curtains. What greeted him was the New York skyline he had only seen on TV before.
This unfamiliar nightscape left Jo Jun-yu in disbelief - "Is this a dream? I've actually traveled from East Asia to the other side of the Earth!"