Tricycle
Author: Kim You-jeong
A work published in issue 3 of "Mokma," newly discovered in 2021.

Bok-dong stood with his finger in his mouth, blankly watching Gi-yeong play on his tricycle. Actually, he had already begged to ride it for the fourth time since earlier. But Gi-yeong never let him ride it.

As Gi-yeong rode the tricycle,

"Ring! Ring! Ring-ring! Out of the way! Out of the way!"

Shouting like this with his mouth and speeding off, Bok-dong rushed to his side and begged,

"Hey! Gi-yeong! Let me ride it a bit?" But Gi-yeong glared fiercely and said,

"What's wrong with this jerk? Do you want to get run over and killed?"

Then he pushed him away with his hand and just rode off.

Even so, Bok-dong could not leave the tricycle for even a moment. Not only that, but without even being asked, he would run after it to push it from behind or grab the handle to pull it. Because even if he couldn't ride it, just touching the bicycle made his heart so happy.

But once, something went wrong, and he knocked over both Gi-yeong and the tricycle all at once. Gi-yeong immediately got angry, stood up, and mercilessly slapped Bok-dong's cheek.

"You jerk! Did I tell you to pull it?"

"Waaah!" Bok-dong covered his eyes with both hands and couldn't help but cry.

After he had cried a great deal, his older sibling came and whispered to comfort him,

"Hey! Don't cry, I'll let you ride the bicycle," and only then did he stop crying.

Bok-dong's older sibling went around the village and gathered about ten little children. And they made a fuss, singing songs and saying they were having a grand athletic meet. The first event was a race to run three laps around the alley. The person who came in first place here would be given a piece of cut-out newspaper as a prize. The children excitedly dashed about, thrilled by the grand athletic meet.

As Gi-yeong stood to the side quietly watching this, he also got excited. Rather than riding the bicycle alone, he really wanted to join the grand athletic meet with all the friends. So he looked at Bok-dong's older sibling and begged,

"Let me play too, huh? Huh?" to which they replied, "Forget it, you jerk! You only rode the bicycle by yourself, right?"

"Then I'll go home and bring the bicycle, let me join too."

Only after doing this was Gi-yeong able to take part in the race. However, even if Gi-yeong came in second, he was called first and given a piece of paper, and even if he came in third, he was again called first and given a piece of paper. Because of this, Gi-yeong eagerly rushed to keep racing, not even noticing the sweat dripping down his forehead.

In the meantime, Bok-dong rode that tricycle and, just like him, shouted,

"Ring! Ring! Ring-ring! Out of the way, out of the way!" as he rode around the alley continuously. (The End)