Missing Person (3)

Yoo Dahee, the Literature Girl, bought a bunch of snacks and cup noodles from the convenience store and shared them with me.
I received one cup of noodles and one bag of snacks.

*Rustle rustle*

As I poured water into my cup of noodles, Yoo Dahee followed suit and poured water into hers.
It was a bit unexpected.

Yoo Dahee from Class 1-A was quite famous at school. It was because she arrived at school every morning in a black, luxurious-looking car.
Naturally, there were rumors going around that she was the daughter of an incredibly wealthy family.

So it was a bit surprising to see a rich girl sitting on a chair at a convenience store in a bustling area around 10 PM on a Friday night, cooking cup noodles.

“I think it’s ready now. Seems like we can eat.”

*Swish*

As I opened the lid of the cup noodles, steam wafted up from the noodles well-soaked in the red broth.

I had eaten soup with rice earlier, but honestly, I didn’t even know where it went, and I had left in the middle of the meal, so my stomach still had room.
Never underestimate the stomach capacity of a high school freshman boy.

*Slurp*

Sitting in the convenience store eating ramen, the events that had just happened felt like a dream.

As my stomach gradually filled up, I began to feel like the situation I was in was also like an unreal dream.
To think that Yoo Dahee, the famous Literature Girl of the school, and I were sitting in a convenience store in a busy area at 10 PM.

*Slurp*

Yoo Dahee finished her cup of noodles and opened her slender eyes.

“You haven’t been coming to school these days, right? Thanks to that, I had to clean the library alone.”

“About that… I had some things going on at home.”

“Really? Was it something bad? Is it resolved now?”

“More or less.”

I felt a bit shy, not knowing what to say in front of Yoo Dahee.
The three years I spent in an all-boys middle school had turned me into a timid guy in front of girls.

I could talk pretty casually with delinquents like Yang Juhui or Bong Jiyeon, who just live life roughly.
But Yoo Dahee was the most refined, or should I say elegant, among the girls my age that I had seen…

To make an analogy, it was like this:
I was a stray alley cat, and I had encountered a Persian or something, a house cat from a very rich family, on the streets.

I didn’t know what to say.
I was worried about looking stupid or shabby.
Come to think of it, I haven’t washed up properly or done laundry well these past few days because I’ve been so out of it!
I don’t know how I must look right now.

“……”
“……”

The conversation between Yoo Dahee and me naturally stopped.

Yoo Dahee was looking around the street with a relaxed attitude and I felt very awkward and thought I should say something, anything.
I wonder if this feeling is similar to what men go through when they have an awkward blind date with someone out of their league. I don’t know. I’d have to have been on a blind date to know.

Why am I even going through this right now?

Who is Yoo Dahee?
I didn’t know much about Yoo Dahee.

The library committee member of Class A.
A girl who likes foreign novels.
Rumors of being from a rich family.

Apart from these, there was very little information.
In high school, it’s much harder to become close with students from other classes than you’d think.
Honestly, if I didn’t have the position of library committee chair, I might have lived my whole life without ever crossing paths with Yoo Dahee.

“Ah.”

Then I remembered something.
I opened my bag and took out a book I had been keeping for a while.
It was the book “Easy Guide to Feng Shui.”

“You gave me a book last time and left?”

“Ah. That book.”

“It was quite helpful.”

“Really? But it’s strange. I don’t remember ever giving you that book.”

What is she talking about now?
There was clearly a post-it note with ‘Yoo Dahee’ written on it!
I wondered if this was another trick of ghosts or something creepy, and I suddenly felt dizzy.
Then Yoo Dahee laughed.

“Pfft. I’m just kidding. You were nodding off, and I felt bad waking you up, so I left it by your pillow. What were we talking about then… I think it was about ghosts.”

So the conversation about ghosts wasn’t a dream.
The boundary between what was a dream and what wasn’t was blurry in my memory.
Now, it was clearly sorted out.

“We talked about ghosts?”

“Wow. That’s mean. You forgot that you talked with me?”

Yoo Dahee frowns and turns her head to the side, pretending to be upset.
Just that caused me a great deal of psychological damage.
It was a different kind of attack from when Yang Juhui scowled and asked, “Do you want to die?”

“We were talking about the third ghost, besides the Shaman Ghost and the Head Ghost. The third ghost is the most terrifying one, but everyone who encounters it dies, so no one knows its true identity.”

It was a really terrifying story.
A ghost that kills everyone it meets, so its identity is unknown.
But there was one thing that bothered me.

“But how do people know there’s a third ghost? If everyone who faces it dies and its identity is unknown, it seems like there wouldn’t even be rumors. Since there are no witnesses at all.”

“Hmm… Now that you mention it, that’s true. Youngwon, you’re the type to nitpick stuff like that, huh.”

Oh no.
Did I lose points for scrutinizing too much?

These past few days, I’ve gotten used to fact-checking this and that while fighting ghosts… Talking to girls was as hard for me as defeating ghosts.
Yang Juhui was a really easy girl to talk to.
Is this the difference between easy mode and hard mode?

“Someone once said that in the end, there’s an answer to every problem. Youngwon. Try focusing a bit more on the essence.”

“……?”

*Whoosh*

The wind blew, and it was a bit chilly.
It was a slightly cool evening, though it was spring before summer.
Unable to endure the momentary blank in the conversation and the silence, I thought it would be best to just blurt out anything.

“By the way. What are you doing here? Are you waiting for someone?”

“No? I just came out for a bit. My family is strict. They don’t let me hang out with friends freely. Especially with boys, I can’t even talk to them. I’ll probably never be allowed to have a boyfriend in my life.”

“Huh? Really? I didn’t know there were still families like that these days.”

I was impressed in many ways, and my heart fluttered a little.
Yoo Dahee, who can’t even freely hang out with friends, is talking to me… It felt like I had become someone special.
So, I gained a bit of courage.

“Hey. Do you have Instagram or something? In case I can’t go to the library, we could contact each other in advance…”

“I don’t.”

*Screech*

Then Yoo Dahee pushed back her chair and stood up.

Eek!
I crossed the line.
Even I could tell I was rambling like an idiot!

“I think my ride is here now. I have to go. Youngwon. It was nice seeing you today. You can have the rest of the snacks. Well then…”

Well then, bye…
She was going to say that, right?
As I was waiting for the next words to come out of those cherry-colored lips, as if I was enchanted,

“…Well then, open your eyes now.”

“Huk!”

I trembled with the feeling of my heart being squeezed.
You could say I almost had a fit.
Even a cat suddenly doused with cold water would have been tamer than me.

*Thud!*

In the end, I fell off the chair.

*Clatter*

The torn snack bags spilled over my head.

“Ah, shit. That hurts.”

Falling off a plastic chair set up in front of a convenience store.
Where did this bolt from the blue come from?
I looked around and saw the bustling convenience store street just as it was.

“What the hell.”

When did I fall asleep?
Hadn’t I experienced something like this somewhere before?
They call this feeling déjà vu, don’t they?

“This is the second time.”

It was always like this whenever I talked with Yoo Dahee.
I thought I’d check the time on my phone, feeling strangely eerie.

The clock on my phone showed it was past midnight, 1 AM.
But that wasn’t the important part. It was the post-it note stuck to my phone.

An 11-digit number was written on it.
Starting with 010, it was clearly someone’s phone number.
And that ‘someone’ was probably…

“Was it… not a dream?”

For some reason, I felt thrilled, my heart pounding and my lungs swelling up!
For the first time in my life, I got a girl’s number!

I should save it right away!
If I save the number, it’ll automatically add her as a friend on KakaoTalk, too!
Oh, shit!

“But it’s late.”

1 AM.
Contacting her at this late hour would be a bit rude.
I happily hailed a taxi and went home.

The next morning.
I woke up early and headed to the phone service center.
It was to repair my mom’s phone.

“It’s not charging. The battery is completely drained. This happens quite often with Samsung Galaxy series phones that have been used for more than 5 years.”

The phone battery drained.
But it was a bit strange.

“My mom changed her phone early this year. It’s the latest model, so how can the battery be drained already?”

“Well, machines don’t always work the way humans want them to. There’s still a warranty left, so we can replace it with another phone or…”

How odd.
In the end, Mom’s phone broke down.
I stopped by the hospital and told Mom about this.

“Mom’s phone broke? Oh no. My life is ruined. If it at least turned on, I could have moved the files somehow! They really can’t fix it?”

“They said the battery was drained. Well, they said it might work out if they just replace the battery.”

“No, why is a phone that’s not even a year old already drained? That’s so weird. If you ask me, the service center is lying.”

“…It didn’t really seem like that. Sometimes things just break down, you know.”

Could it be because of the elevator?
As I was thinking that, Mom spoke.

“Youngwon, there’s no such thing as ‘just’! Every problem has an answer!”

“……?”

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
What? It feels like something’s about to come to me.

…Well, even if I felt regretful, there was no way to fix a broken machine.

Mom said she was getting various tests done at the hospital today. I thought hospitals usually closed on weekends, but maybe because it’s a large hospital run by a corporation, the doctors work on Saturdays, too.

I decided to go back home.
Jeong Seok and Yang Juhui were supposed to come over and hang out today.

“Uh… Ma’am. Hello.”

But Yang Juhui didn’t come to my house. She came straight to the hospital, where Mom was admitted.
I had told her the hospital name and room number yesterday, and she seemed to have remembered.

“Wow, so pretty. Who are you?”

“I’m Yang Juhui. I’m Youngwon’s classmate.”

Classmate.
Weren’t we lukewarm like friends?

Yang Juhui, who usually acted without reserve, twitched awkwardly as if she had an itch somewhere. Soon, Yang Juhui spoke to Mom.

“You look so young. I feel like I could call you ‘sister’.”

“Of course. I had Youngwon when I was your age. Thinking back now, I was really young. Seeing you reminds me of that time! By the way, Juhui, do you have a boyfriend?”

“Pardon?”

“If you don’t, how about our Youngwon? Isn’t he handsome? In the style kids these days like! I’m also from the MZ generation. I think he’s handsome!”

Oh, shit…
I suddenly felt extremely embarrassed and had a feeling that if I stayed here any longer, I’d create a lifelong embarrassing moment that I’d want to hide under the covers forever.

“Mom! I’m leaving! Juhui! Let’s go! Jeong Seok said he’ll be at our house soon, too!”

“Youngwon. Wait a moment.”

Mom called me.
And with slightly teary eyes, she opened her wallet and whispered to me.

“I’ve been keeping this to give to you someday. I guess that day has finally come.”

I took it, wondering what it could be. It looked like packaging for some kind of vitamin.
But this wasn’t a vitamin…

“…No, Mom!”

“What. Birth control is important. Keep it in your wallet.”

“Geez. Mom must be all better now. Anyway, I’m going!”

Yang Juhui and I left the hospital.
Today, my crew was supposed to gather to share opinions and play games together.

*Ding*

It seemed like Jeong Seok got a message, too.
Could he have already arrived and now waiting?
But when I actually checked, the message was from someone I never expected.

Yoo Dahee: Why didn't you contact me yesterday? I was waiting

“……”

“What did Jeong Seok say? Tell him to buy some bags of snacks if he’s there first and waiting.”

“Huh? No.”

I was startled and hid my phone.
Then Yang Juhui’s eyes narrowed as we were leaving the hospital.

“What? Why are you acting like that? Are you hiding something? It’s not Jeong Seok. Is it Jeong Sojin? Are you still in contact with Jeong Sojin? I’m telling you, she’s totally crazy! Do you know what happened at school yesterday?”

Something happened with Jeong Sojin at school yesterday.
I don’t know.
Anyway, the important thing was that Yoo Dahee had sent me a text.

*Ding. Ding.*.

Seeing the constant notifications, it seemed like she was trying to say something to me.
But it was a bit awkward to check in front of Yang Juhui.

“I need to use the restroom for a sec.”

“Ha Youngwon. You’re being hella suspicious right now.”

I know.
I know, but…
Before leaving the hospital, I dashed to the restroom on the 1st floor and opened my phone.

Yoo Dahee: What are you doing today?
Yoo Dahee: I'm bored

She’s bored.
What am I doing today?
Is this perhaps her way of saying let’s meet up today?
A date request!?
My heart raced, but… I had to decline with tears in my eyes!

I think I'm meeting up with friends today. We made plans to do something at my house.

Yoo Dahee: Really? What a coincidence. I'm in front of your house right now. I ran into Jeong Seok on the way.

“……”

What does this mean?