Staring at his brother's face, as white as a sheet, inside the coffin, the young Baek Seungho wasn't letting out a single tear. He couldn't.
Even with his mother wailing beside him, Baek Seungho only came closer to his brother, caressing his face through the casket.
Hyung… Are you really gone? Just like that?
He couldn't believe it. They had been mourning for four days now, but it felt like it had only been yesterday when his brother was helping him study, taking care of him at home, when they were picking Jamaica cherries.
Baek Seungho's fingers flinched.
That tree… that…
Just thinking about that tree made him recall the night when his father and his friends were feasting on the dead snake. After that night, he hadn't been able to sleep properly.
Each time he closed his eyes, the image of the snake stretching its mouth as wide as it could came to his mind. Was that the view his brother had as it tried to eat him whole while wrapping itself around him?
