Chapter 31: Missing (3)

The literature girl Yoo Dahee bought lots of snacks and cup noodles at the convenience store and shared them with me. I took one cup noodle and a bag of chips.

Splash-

As I poured water into my cup noodle, Dahee followed suit.

It was a bit unexpected.

Dahee from Class 1-A was somewhat famous at school. She arrived every morning in a sleek, expensive-looking car. It was natural for rumors to spread about her being from an incredibly wealthy family.

So it was surprising to see this rich kid sitting in a convenience store chair, making cup noodles at almost 10 PM on a Friday night.

"It should be ready now. I think we can eat."

Swish-

As I opened the cup noodle lid, steam rose from the noodles well-soaked in red broth.

Although I had eaten soup earlier, I honestly didn't know where it went, and since I left in the middle of eating, my stomach still had room. Never underestimate the stomach of a first-year high school boy.

Slurp-

Eating ramen sitting in the convenience store made everything that had just happened feel like a dream.

And as my stomach gradually filled, I began to feel like this situation I was experiencing was also like an unreal dream. Me, sitting in a busy street convenience store at 10 PM with the famous literature girl Yoo Dahee from school.

Swish-

Dahee finished her cup noodles and opened her narrow eyes.

"You haven't been to school for a few days, right? Because of that, I had to clean the library alone."

"Well... there was something going on at home."

"Really? Was it something bad? Is it resolved now?"

"More or less."

I hesitated a bit, not knowing what to say in front of Dahee. The three years I spent in an all-boys middle school had made me awkward in front of girls.

I could talk relatively comfortably with delinquent girls like Yang Juhee or Bong Ji-yeon who lived life carelessly and recklessly.

But Dahee was the most... elegant, should I say... refined among the girls I'd seen my age.

To use an analogy, it felt like this: I was a stray cat living on the street, and I had encountered a Persian or whatever house cat from an incredibly rich home on the street.

I didn't know what to say. I was worried about looking stupid or shabby.

Come to think of it, I hadn't been able to wash or do laundry properly these past few days because I was so out of it!

I wonder how I look right now.

"......"

"......"

The conversation between Dahee and me naturally stopped.

Dahee was looking around the street with a relaxed attitude, while I was very awkwardly thinking I should say something, anything.

I wonder if this is how men feel when they're struggling in an awkward blind date with someone out of their league. I wouldn't know. I'd have to have been on a blind date first.

Why am I going through this right now?

Who is Yoo Dahee?

I didn't know much about Dahee.

Class A's library committee member. Someone who likes foreign novels. Rumored to be from a rich family.

Besides these, I had almost no information.

High school is structured in a way that makes it surprisingly difficult to become friends with kids from other classes.

Honestly, if I didn't have the title of library committee member, I might have lived my whole life without any connection to Dahee.

"Ah."

Just then, I remembered something. I opened my bag and took out a book I had been keeping for a while.

It was the "Easy Guide to Feng Shui" book.

"Did you give me this book before?"

"Oh. That book."

"It was quite helpful."

"Really? But that's strange. I don't remember giving you such a book."

What's this now?

There was even a post-it note with 'Yoo Dahee' written on it! I felt dizzy, wondering if this was another ghost or supernatural trick. Then, Dahee laughed.

"Hehe. I'm joking. You were nodding off, so I thought it might be rude to wake you up and left it by your head. What were we talking about then... ghost stories, wasn't it?"

So the ghost story conversation wasn't a dream. The boundary between what was a dream and what wasn't had been blurry in my memory. This moment was clearly sorting things out.

"Did we talk about ghost stories?"

"Wow. That's mean. Did you forget our conversation?"

Dahee frowned and turned her head away, pretending to be upset. Even just that gave me tremendous psychological damage.

It was a different kind of attack from Yang Juhee frowning and asking, "You wanna die?"

"We were talking about the third ghost, besides the shaman ghost and the head ghost. The third ghost is the most terrifying, but no one knows its identity because everyone who meets it dies."

It was truly a terrifying story. A ghost whose identity is unknown because it kills everyone it meets.

However, there was something that bothered me.

"But how do people know there's a third ghost? If everyone who encounters it dies and no one knows its identity, 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. You're the type to nitpick such things, Young-won."

Oh no. Did I lose points for being too detailed?

After fighting ghosts these past few days, I've gotten used to fact-checking... Talking to girls was as difficult for me as defeating ghosts.

Yang Juhee was an incredibly easy person to talk to. Is this the difference between easy mode and hard mode?

"Someone said that in the end, there's an answer to every problem. Young-won. Try to focus more on the essence."

"......?"

Whoosh-

The wind blew, making it a bit chilly. It was spring approaching summer, but the evening was slightly cold.

Finding it hard to bear the momentary gap in conversation and the silence, I thought it might be good to just say anything.

"By the way. What were you doing here? Were you waiting for someone?"

"No? I just came out of the house for a bit. My family is strict. They don't let me make friends freely. Especially talking to boys is forbidden. I'll probably never be able to have a boyfriend in my life."

"Huh? Really? I didn't know families like that still existed these days."

I was impressed in many ways, and at the same time, my heart fluttered a bit.

I'm having a conversation with Dahee, who's not even allowed to make friends freely - it made me feel like I was someone special. So, I felt a bit braver.

"Hey. Do you use Instagram or something? So I could contact you in advance if I can't go to the library..."

"I don't."

Scrape-

Just then, Dahee pushed her chair back and stood up.

Gulp!

Did I cross a line? Even I could tell I was rambling like an idiot!

"I think my ride is here. I should go now. Young-won. It was nice meeting you today. You can have the rest of the snacks. Well then─"

Well then, goodbye-

Is that what she's going to say?

As I waited, mesmerized, for the next words to come from those cherry-colored lips,

"─Now wake up."

***

"Gasp!"

I shook violently, feeling like my heart was being squeezed. It was almost like I had a seizure. Even a cat suddenly doused with cold water would have been calmer than me.

Bang-!

I ended up falling off the chair.

Crash-

The opened snack bags spilled over my head.

"Ah, damn. That hurts."

Falling from a plastic chair in front of the convenience store. What a bolt from the blue.

Looking around, I could still see the busy convenience store street.

"What on earth is going on?"

When did I fall asleep? Haven't I experienced this somewhere before? Isn't this what they call déjà vu?

"This is the second time."

It was always like this when I talked with Yoo Dahee.

Just as I was thinking about checking the time on my phone because of the eerie feeling, the phone's clock showed it was past midnight, pointing to 1 AM.

But more importantly, there was a 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 with excitement!

For the first time in my life, I got a girl's number!

I need to save it quickly! If I save the number, it'll automatically add as a friend on KakaoTalk too!

Oh, shit!

"But it's late."

1 AM.

Contacting someone at this hour would be a bit inconsiderate. I happily caught a taxi and went home.

The next morning. I woke up early and headed to the phone service center. It was to repair Mom's phone.

"It's not charging. The battery is completely drained. This often happens with Osung Galaxy series phones used for more than 5 years."

A drained phone battery? But something was odd.

"My mom's phone was replaced early this year. How can it be drained already when it's the latest model?"

"Well, machines don't always work exactly as humans want. It's still under warranty, so we can replace it with another phone or—"

How strange.

Mom's phone ended up breaking down after all. I stopped by the hospital to inform Mom about this.

"Mom's phone is broken? Oh no. My life is ruined. If it could at least turn on, I could transfer the files inside! They really can't fix it?"

"They said the battery's drained. They said something about replacing the battery might work."

"How can a phone less than a year old be drained already? That's so weird. I think the service center is lying."

"...It doesn't seem that way. Well, things can just break sometimes."

Maybe it was because of the elevator. As I was thinking that, Mom said,

"Young-won, there's no such thing as 'just'! Every problem has an answer!"

"......?"

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. What is it? It feels like I'm about to remember something.

...Well, no amount of regret would fix a broken machine.

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

I decided to go home. Jung-seok and Juhee were supposed to come over to my place today.

"Uh... Auntie. Hello."

But Juhee didn't come to the house, she came straight to the hospital where Mom was admitted.

I must have mentioned the hospital name and room number yesterday, and she remembered.

"Oh my, you're so pretty. Who are you?"

"I'm Yang Juhee. I'm in the same class as Young-won."

Friend. Were we lukewarm like friends?

Juhee, who usually acted without hesitation, was fidgeting awkwardly like someone who needed to use the bathroom. Soon, Juhee said to Mom,

"You look so young. I feel like I could call you 'unnie'."

"Of course. I had Young-won when I was your age. Looking back, I was really young then. Seeing you reminds me of that time! By the way, Juhee, do you have a boyfriend?"

"What?"

"If not, how about our Young-won? Isn't he handsome? In the style of kids these days! I'm part of the MZ generation too. I think he's handsome!"

Oh geez-

I suddenly felt very embarrassed and had a feeling that if I stayed here any longer, some lifelong cringe-worthy memory would be created.

"Mom! I'm going! Juhee! Let's go! Jung-seok said he's coming to our house soon!"

"Young-won. 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. Finally, that day has come."

Wondering what it could be, I took it, and it was packaging that looked like it might contain vitamins.

But this wasn't vitamins...

"...No, Mom!"

"What? Contraception is important. Keep it in your wallet."

"Geez. Mom, you must be all better now. Anyway, I'm going!"

I left the hospital with Juhee.

Today was the day the pirate crew was supposed to gather to share opinions and play games.

Ding-

It seemed a message had come from Jung-seok just then. Is he already there waiting?

But when I checked, the message was from someone I never expected.

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

"......"

"What did Jung-seok say? Tell him to buy some snacks if he's already there waiting."

"Huh? No."

I was startled and hid my phone. Then, Juhee's eyes narrowed as we were leaving the hospital.

"What's up? Why are you acting like that? Are you hiding something? It's not Jung-seok, is it? Is that Jung Sojin? Are you still in contact with her? She's completely crazy! Do you know what happened at school yesterday?"

What happened with Jung So-jin at school yesterday?

I don't know.

Anyway, the important thing is that Yoo Dahee sent me a message first.

Ding, ding-

Judging by the continuous notifications, it seems she's trying to say something to me. It felt a bit awkward to check in front of Juhee.

"I need to use the bathroom for a moment."

"Ha Young-won. You're acting really suspicious right now."

I know. I know, but...

I quickly ran to the bathroom on the first floor before leaving the hospital and opened my phone.

「Yoo Dahee: What are you doing today?」

「Yoo Dahee: I'm bored」

She's bored. And what am I doing today?

Is this perhaps her way of asking to meet today? A date request!?

My heart was pounding, but... I had to hold back tears and decline!

「I think I'm meeting friends today :( We were supposed to do something at home」

「Yoo Dahee: Really? That's great :) I'm in front of your house right now. I met Jung-seok on the way.」

"......"

What's this all about?