Vincenzo 03 The Tale of the Pheasant and the Chicken
w. smallnutt
The mailman slid two packages into a rusted, rough-surfaced mailbox. I walked over and thrust out the reply I'd been clutching in my hand. The mailman's cap was pulled down low, but I glanced at his face, which bore no resemblance to the mailman who always walked through our neighborhood. He was a completely different person.
His nose was sharper, his facial features were more defined, and his eyebrows were thick, leaving a strong impression. He had long, curly hair that was slightly reddish in the sunlight, so it would be hard to tell if he had grown it out in a month. He was also about half a hand's height taller than the mailman from a month ago, and his tall, well-built appearance would tempt any man. The new mailman hesitated for a moment, then took the mail I offered him, and before I could even give him permission, he ripped open the envelope without permission.
Thanks to that, the letter I'd sealed with such care had a strangely bitter, torn mark on it. Inside, my clumsy handwriting must have written a response. Seeing that, the postman's lips curled into a small smile. It was a strange smile, somehow unpleasant, yet lovely, yet quite alien... Isn't that a peculiar smile? It was a smile of unrequited determination.
The thought of whether this was even allowed crossed my mind, but that man, well, he didn't seem like the kind of person who would fool someone with such a shallow trick. It was just a hunch, of course. Still, the postman seemed to know something, so I just stood there, blankly, waiting for his next move.
"What's your name?"
“…….Tae Hoyo. He’s an outsider.”
The new postman asked, and I hesitated, but eventually answered honestly. If only because I didn't want to cause any trouble. The postman nodded slowly, and as I pondered his thoughts, he extended his hand.
"Let's go. I'll take you there."
"Where?" I was about to ask, but I swallowed the last word. My guess became certain as I was about to open my mouth.
My first motorcycle ride was surprisingly amazing. It was incredibly fast, weaving between trucks, midsize cars, and compact cars. I loved the thrill of gliding past at the blinking yellow lights. The exhilaration of cutting through the wind was indescribably dazzling. It felt like a movie. Just being able to capture this moment in my eyes was enough to make me happy.
Plus, the new postman seemed to be a rather kind person. Maybe it's because I've only met the worst of the worst, but he seemed to be modeled after the ideal "hyung." Maybe it was because I was certain he wasn't just any ordinary postman, but I just called him "hyung." He smiled without showing any sign of disapproval.
That guy told me the story about the chicken and the pheasant, and he really seemed like a learned person.
-
“Have you ever heard the saying ‘chicken instead of pheasant’?”
The new postman asked. Taeho leaned against the back of the man he wanted to call "hyung," and soon fell into thought. "Have you heard that before?" He had. Instead of answering, he nodded vigorously, and the sound of his tousled hair and jacket rustling was lost in the wind.
“Then do you know the difference between a pheasant and a chicken?”
“……. Isn’t the pheasant bigger?”
I wasn't certain, just a cautious guess. I was quite flustered by the awkward question, one I'd never seriously considered. Was he trying to show off his ignorance? Just as my fingertips reached my lips, a tinge of impatience surreptitiously, the new postman's faint laughter rang in my ears. It was a sound that made a bright smile appear vividly before my eyes.
"Similar. Pheasants are rare and wild animals. They fly wherever they want."
I listened intently. It was a charming, low-mid range voice that immediately caught people's attention.
“But did you know that chickens can actually fly? Chickens raised under the care of nature, without human intervention, can fly.”
"Really?"
I wasn't particularly suspicious, I was just picking out one of the more appropriate reactions.
"huh."
The new postman answered calmly. And the two remained silent, their faces facing the refreshing breeze. With their mouths open, the chilly wind made their teeth ache as they passed, mulling over the meaning of the words. It was quite philosophical. It took quite a while to unravel the meaning, but in the end, they couldn't find a definitive answer.
-
But that's personal. It doesn't really have anything to do with the current situation. Anyway, that's how I came.
And then the story of the pheasant and the chicken came back to my mind again.