Chapter 2
"Hey, hyung, I opened a tteokbokki place. Want a coupon to celebrate the opening?"
......
'He said he'd give it to me, so I took it, but why tteokbokki all of a sudden?'
Today, as usual, I was killing time at the gym when a younger guy I knew suddenly told me he was quitting his job as a personal trainer.
Then, as a parting gift, he gave me the free coupon for Set A that I was holding now.
The back had the shop's name and a map, while the front had a barcode and a twelve-digit number.
'Still, isn't he changing his tune a little too easily?'
Just a month or two ago, whenever he opened his mouth, he said he wanted to make it as a bodybuilder, come back with at least one title, and succeed. Now he'd given up on that dream and decided to run a business instead.
Naturally, from my perspective, it meant losing one of the younger guys I was close to at the gym. And it wasn't as if he wasn't making decent money, either, so I was just bewildered.
When I asked why, all he said was that it didn't seem to suit him.
After dealing with all kinds of nightmare clients—people who paid and then quit halfway through, or changed their schedules on a whim—he said he couldn't take the mental strain anymore, or something like that.
At some point, he felt like his physique had fallen behind mine and decided he just didn't have the talent.
'From where I'm standing, it's not like I have some amazing physique or muscles, either.'
Maybe other people really did see things differently from how you saw yourself.
And then, after shoving this coupon into my pocket, he practically fled, backing away before quietly saying those words...
"Come on. You said you were going to be a chef with that body of yours, hyung. I guess my dream is just to run a business and live my life, too."
Dream. The moment he said that, I realized there was no point in trying to talk him out of it anymore. I couldn't hold him back.
He'd said it with a sly little grin and his usual teasing tone, but for some reason, the earnest appeal in his eyes felt real.
I could understand that he wasn't running away. He genuinely wanted to head in that direction.
"Hmm..."
'But, so... how am I supposed to use this?'
It was pretty far to go there myself.
I couldn't exactly walk fifty minutes just to eat some tteokbokki.
I searched for his shop online, but it didn't even have a website, so there was nowhere to register the coupon.
Just in case, I tried entering it into the coupon-ordering feature on the social media app I used most often, but it only gave me an error saying the number was invalid, as if that wasn't how I was supposed to use it.
No matter how much I searched, I couldn't figure out how to use it, so I called the shop. Surely I could figure it out with a little help from an employee.
As soon as I called, a part-timer answered in a gentle voice and launched into the friendly customer-service routine that came with the job.
When I asked how to use the coupon, they started explaining very kindly.
"You can just tell us the coupon number over the phone. The one that starts with 8."
"Sure. 8427......"
After I calmly read the numbers out one by one, the employee told me the order had been placed.
After the call ended, I waited a little, paid the delivery fee, and received a steaming-hot tteokbokki set.
'...Why is there so much?'
That was the first thought that came to mind as soon as I opened the bag and checked what was inside.
From the steamed egg to the oddly oversized fried snacks, there was a massive serving of tteokbokki and sundae—enough for two people to eat comfortably.
The 1.25-liter cola, which I didn't particularly like, was an extra.
No matter how I looked at it, it was far too much food to call a single-person set.
Even so, the oil on the cheese atop the tteokbokki caught the sunlight, making my mouth water despite myself.
I only started working out because I had nothing better to do, and I'd heard cooking took stamina... It wasn't as if I needed to worry about losing muscle, either.
It wasn't one of my favorite foods, but since trying a variety of dishes was important if I wanted to cook, I picked one up and put it in my mouth.
It melted in my mouth with the cheese. The cheese and sauce each asserted themselves in different ways, then met on my tongue to create an indescribable new flavor.
A strange taste that even shook my image of tteokbokki, the food I thought I knew...
'Why does this taste so good...?'
By the time I came to my senses, I was already dunking fried snacks in the tteokbokki sauce, eating like I couldn't stop.
'Come to think of it, didn't Minseo like tteokbokki, too?'
A name suddenly crossed my mind.
We hadn't been in touch for over a year, but that didn't mean we weren't close. Minseo was an old classmate from middle and high school.
I hadn't kept in touch with any of my friends after going into the military without telling anyone, but I figured Minseo would take it in stride if I suddenly got in touch, so I sent a text.
- Hey. What're you doing? I'm eating tteokbokki. This stuff is freaking delicious
- (Photo)
I could practically picture Minseo, already annoyed, whining playfully and asking what I was doing and whether they could have some, too. Minseo would call as soon as they saw the text.
And sure enough, my prediction was right. My phone rang before even thirty seconds had passed.
Thinking Minseo hadn't changed at all, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Help... me... Help me..."
But what I heard wasn't that kind of silly nonsense. It was a thin, powerless voice, like something a ghost would make.
The voice of a little girl on the verge of death sent a chill down my spine.
Then all I could hear was the sound of cold wind and droplets falling one by one, which only made it more terrifying.
Maybe the call had been muted, because the sound soon cut off... but I could still hear that pained voice right beside my ear.
'Minseo wouldn't make a prank call like this, not as far as I know.'
Minseo was a coward who couldn't stand anything scary. There was no way they'd pull such a convincing prank just to startle me, so I stood up, certain of it.
'Something's happened.'
Fortunately, Minseo's house wasn't very far. I put on my sneakers and ran. I reached the front door in five minutes.
I already knew the door code because I'd visited now and then. It opened easily, as if it hadn't been changed.
As soon as I opened the door, the horrible sound I'd heard through the phone began to echo again.
And... the hellish scene before my eyes was so horrific that it felt as if a piece of hell, something that shouldn't exist in this world, had fallen into this space and overlapped with it.
"......Fuck."
As I stepped inside, I felt soft, jellylike clots of congealed blood underfoot...
A vile smell stung my nose, wafting through the air.
Two chairs were stacked grotesquely, creaking, and a nearly snapped rope swung irregularly beside them...
And, finally, a frail little girl wearing nothing but a T-shirt soaked red with blood...
Her neck was sunken so deeply it looked as if she'd been strangled, with the inside nearly visible.
The objects themselves were all familiar, everyday things, but their arrangement and the situation were so horrifying that they conjured up a strange terror.
'A little girl had tried to kill herself at Minseo's house.'
There was no other way to explain what I was seeing.
Had Minseo been looking after a relative's child, only for this hell to unfold while Minseo was away?
Whatever the case, there was no doubt that this little girl was the one whose voice had called me for help.
She was small and frail, her eyes closed, and somehow she seemed beautiful and mysterious...
'I'm really not the type to help other people, but...'
I didn't know how many times I'd changed my mind today already. I simply didn't want to leave this child to die.
Her innocent beauty made my heart melt. I could feel it pounding as I found myself wanting to protect her, cherish her, and dote on her.
'Ha... I always thought I wasn't into little kids...'
The preference I'd discovered after twenty-one years wasn't exactly something I was happy about.
Well, what could I do? It was true that this girl was cute.
"Hold on tight. I'm gonna run."
I couldn't tell if she was conscious. No—if she was even alive. Still, I spoke softly and carefully lifted her up.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and legs and lifted her as carefully as if she were a precious princess. She was so light I barely felt her weight—a mysterious child.
I'd never held a girl this size before, so I didn't know what one should feel like, but to me she seemed so frail, like glass that could shatter at any moment.
She really was in danger, so fragile and unstable that she seemed about to break.
"Just... don't die. Please."
With all my heart behind that desperate prayer, I gave her forehead a light kiss, then tensed my arms and legs and ran outside.
I sprinted around corners at a mad pace, running nonstop even as my muscles screamed that they'd reached their limit.
......
After running for a while, I finally reached the crosswalk in front of the hospital, but bad luck had it that the light had just turned red. I'd have to wait at least a few minutes for it to change again.
'Waiting would be stupid. Every second counts.'
"Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Make way...!"
I shouted loudly into the empty air like a madman, then ran straight into the road.
Fortunately, the cars stayed put and waited for me to pass.
'I'm sorry... and thank you.'
I apologized to the drivers and thanked them silently as I charged toward the hospital.
"Patient...! We have an emergency!"
Only after shouting with all my might could I finally sink down to the ground right there.