Living in the city was far more exhausting than I imagined.

Everyday life was a repetition, people moving without a break, days that never seemed to improve no matter how hard I tried.

The weary sighs, complex relationships, and suffocating gazes were more than enough to envelop the noisy city. I was becoming obsolete amidst that chaos.

Finally, exhausted to the limit, I decided to drop everything and rest for a while.

I wanted to go anywhere. As long as it wasn't this noisy city, even the middle of a desert without an oasis would have been fine.

Just then, I got a call from a close friend, Kim Nayeon, who was living in Jeju.

I poured out all the things I had been bottling up, and Nayeon's answer was simple.

---

"Then why don't you come to Jeju? I'm staying at a guesthouse, let's stay together there. I'll give you a really fun trip for a month!"

---

The destination was set. And so, for the first time in a long while, I left for Jeju Island.

'I'll look at the clear sea, eat delicious food, eat my fill of tangerines, and just rest without thinking about anything.'

At least, that's what I thought until I arrived in Jeju.

. . .

The problem was a single tangerine.

I was walking along and found a tangerine that had fallen on the ground behind a wall, and I simply picked it up without a second thought.

Out of nowhere, a strange man spoke to me.

"Hey, tangerine thief."

'...What? Tangerine thief? Me?'

From the start, it felt weird. No, it felt disgusting.

The man was glaring at me as if I had stolen the tangerine, already convinced I was a thief.

But what made it even more maddening was that this crazy guy was speaking some kind of alien language...

No matter how thick the Jeju dialect is, I couldn't even understand what he was saying.

This is too much!!

I ended up sweating as I tried my best to explain the situation.

I don't know what kind of slapstick comedy I was performing on the street on this sunny day; because words wouldn't work, I was rolling around and jumping, doing all sorts of shows.

Despite that, he kept pushing me as a tangerine thief. Seriously, that jerk.

After wrestling with words for a long time, the argument escalated.

I've been a good, moral citizen my whole life, but I never thought I'd end up at a police station for such a ridiculous reason.

I tried to stay positive, thinking it was a rare experience, but I was still furious.

---

After barely being released, I gritted my teeth and thought,

'Fine. Let's forget it.'

'I can't let one person like that ruin my trip when I've come all this way.'

'I'll meet Nayeon, go to the guesthouse, rest well, eat good food, and travel all over Jeju.'

I flipped him off as I watched his back walk away from the police station.

'Let's never see each other again, you total jerk!'

When I arrived at the guesthouse, the anger I felt vanished at the sight of the surrounding scenery.

A wide yard with a beautiful sunset, the sound of gentle waves, and in the center stood Gyuldanchae, the clean and well-built guesthouse where I would stay for a month.

With a renewed heart and excitement, I opened the guesthouse door.

"You're here! Over here!"

Nayeon greeted me warmly.

And ... a man turned his head from beside her.

That unlucky face that had been calling me a tangerine thief. That rude tone. The jerk who made a good person like me go to the police station.

. . .

Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

No way.

Our eyes met.

His face stiffened. My face went beyond stiff and started to rot.

---

Seeing the unusual reaction between the wronged tangerine thief and the rude guy, Nayeon looked back and forth between us.

"Huh? Do you two know each other?"

Oh, I know him. I know him very well. The man I went to the police station with on the very first day of my trip.

Of all people, he was the son of the guesthouse where I was staying.

. . .

Why is it that nothing in my life ever goes right? God, why are you giving me such trials...!

I thought to myself. This trip is ruined, too...