Ch.112112 – When the Cicadas Cry 2

# 112 – When the Cicadas Cry # 2

We all ate lunch together in the dining hall.

The housekeepers and Mrs. Danvers sat at the long table eating bibimbap, which was delicious.

I never imagined there would be a place that puts sliced hanwoo flank steak in bibimbap.

For me, this luxurious lunch was more shocking than my daily encounters with ghosts.

Also, the fact that Jeongseok went on a date was shocking.

“Hey, what’s going on? I heard you took photos with some girl at Jeongsim Bakery?”

I asked Jeongseok about what happened this morning when he joined us for lunch.

He responded with his characteristic expressionless face.

“She’s my dad’s friend’s daughter. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not that kind of relationship, so don’t misunderstand or get suspicious.”

Jeongseok drew a clear line.

While I was gauging whether I should cross that line or not, Yang Juhui gulped down some cold water and boldly crossed it.

“Hey. You two looked good together. She’s better than Bong Jiyeon. You know, girls don’t eat meals alone with guys they’re not interested in. They don’t even become friends. If she went to the bakery with you, it’s already a done deal.”

Soon, the housekeepers who were listening to this conversation burst into laughter.

“Look at them talking.”

“How cute. I remember when I used to have conversations like that.”

“If a guy and girl go to Jeongsim Bakery together, it’s already settled.”

What kind of place is Jeongsim Bakery to these Gaeryong people?

Is it a place where couples who go on dates there must start dating?

This world seemed full of secrets I didn’t yet know.

“Kids, do you know about the tree that makes love come true? It’s in our garden!”

One of the housekeepers told us something that perked up our ears.

A ‘tree that makes love come true.’

Could it be a haunted tree?

I thought I might be able to earn some points if I checked it out.

As I was thinking it would be good to see that tree after lunch, Yu Dahui spoke.

“That tree? It’s really big and old.”

At 1 PM when the sun was high in the sky.

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz.

Spio, spio.

The cicadas started making an incredibly loud noise.

Maybe because the garden was so large, it seemed like each bush and tree had a cicada perched on it, screaming for dear life. It was so loud that Yang Juhui covered her ears.

“Ugh, it’s so noisy. Why is it so loud?”

Unlike Yang Juhui who was annoyed, Yu Dahui, a resident of this mansion, seemed used to the cicadas’ cries.

Dahui said:

“They live as grubs for a long time, then sing for just one week. They sing until their throats burst, looking for a mate. When you think about it that way, doesn’t it sound romantic?”

Cicadas that sing of love for a week and then die.

In terms of singing about love, they were just like idols.

Anyway, there was a tree that seemed likely to have the most cicadas hanging on it.

It was an incredibly thick and large cherry tree.

How many years had it lived?

As someone with no interest in trees, I couldn’t even guess its age.

“They say if a couple who like each other carve their names here with a knife, they’ll get married and live happily ever after. That’s what the lady who used to be here told me.”

My ears perked up at Dahui’s story.

The lady who used to be here… must be my mom.

Curious, I looked at the tree and noticed that at about my eye level, someone had roughly scratched the surface of the tree with a knife.

“Chaeyeon♡Bo-“

My mom’s name was written there.

After that, I could see that another name had been carved but was scratched out with a knife.

I knew it must have been my father’s name.

Did mom write this?

Why was dad’s name erased?

While I was pondering this, other inscriptions caught my eye.

“Daegon, Ayeon 198-. 8. 12”

“May our love last forever”

Daegon was the chairman’s name.

Ayeon… not the chemical element zinc, but probably a person’s name.

Logically thinking, it must have been the chairman’s lover when he was young.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have written “May our love last forever.”

It felt strange to think that even an old man once had a boyhood when he believed in romantic superstitions. All the elderly in the world were once boys and girls.

I wondered if I would also become an old and cranky grandfather someday, which made me feel a bit melancholic. Though that’s far in the future.

Then I noticed other inscriptions.

“The friendship and love of the Film Club forever-.”

“Heart Queen,” “Aquaman,” “Darth Vader,” “Sailor Moon”

Film Club? Below were character names.

What could it be? The names seemed familiar.

“Aquaman…”

The names I had seen in the corridor were here.

Suddenly, I had a good idea.

“Hey guys, should we write our names here too? Yang Juhui, you have a knife, right?”

“Hey. Do I look like a woman who carries dangerous things like knives?”

“So do you have one or not?”

“…I do.”

Yang Juhui was a girl who always carried a box cutter.

She was quite a terrifying knife-wielding high school girl.

By the way, that box cutter was something she had extorted from me and apparently had no intention of returning.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

We carved “Ha Yeongwon Pirates” on the tree, followed by “Yeongwon,” “Jeongseok,” “Juhui,” “Dahui,” and “Sua.”

Buzz, buzz, buzz. As the cicadas cried in the hot summer, carving our names like this felt like a proper summer vacation memory, which made me feel proud.

Dahui asked:

“How long do you think our names will last? What if we come here every summer to see if our names are still there?”

Let’s gather here every summer-.

It seemed like a good idea.

I suddenly wondered what we would be doing next summer.

And the year after that? And the year after that? And the year after that?

We were bound by the fence of high school, but someday we would have to go to college, and the boys would have to serve in the military.

Would it be difficult to gather like this when that time comes?

What will we be doing when we become adults?

Will we still be tormented by ghosts then?

Or maybe everything will be resolved well, and we’ll return to our daily lives, pursuing the dreams we’ve always wanted.

When that time comes, will we really gather once a year, on special occasions, to talk about our memories?

Suddenly, the thought of parting ways with friends I’ve grown close to through various hardships and living our separate daily lives felt a bit sad to me.

As I’ve said many times before, right now, fighting all sorts of ghosts, nightmares, and monsters, was the most brilliant summer of my life.

I wish days like these could continue forever.

I was lost in these thoughts when someone tapped my shoulder.

“Hey, Ha Yeongwon. Let’s take a picture.”

Yang Juhui called the kids and lined them up.

She suggested we all take a picture together, and Jeongseok slightly raised his eyebrow.

“Bong Jiyeon isn’t here?”

“Hey, that’s her fault for not being here. Hey, miss! Could you take a picture of us?”

A housekeeper who was watering the garden took Yang Juhui’s phone and took our picture.

“You guys don’t look close enough! Get a little closer. Put your arms around each other’s shoulders. Smile. That’s better. Now you look good. Okay, I’ll count to three. One—three!”

Click! Flash!

Ah, I think I closed my eyes. I didn’t know the flash was on in the photo app!

Kwon Sua laughed brightly.

“It’s been so long since I’ve had this much fun without worrying about others!”

# # #

After dinner, I felt good with a full stomach.

Dinner was a full Korean course meal.

The mansion had an enormous bath.

Soaking in it made my mind feel clear.

—Hey! Yu Dahui! You splashed cold water on me on purpose!

—No? What are you—eek! That’s cold!

I could hear the girls giggling from beyond the wall.

The thought that girls my age were bathing on the other side of the wall gave me mixed feelings.

Meanwhile, Jeongseok had been calm all day.

“In the end, we didn’t find out anything about the ghost. We just played all day.”

Jeongseok seemed quite disappointed that we had no results or achievements before dinner time.

I could easily agree with him since I was also obsessed with earning lots of points.

But well, isn’t it fine since we had fun?

And our real investigation would begin after evening, when night fell on the mansion.

A mansion where you shouldn’t wander around freely after 10 PM.

That’s suspicious, isn’t it?

“I’m planning to go into the chairman’s study tonight. I’d like you all to come with me, but the problem is that there are lots of poisonous plants, so it’s not easy to approach.”

Couldn’t we ask Yu Dahui for help with this?

She would know where the antidote is.

Just as I was thinking this:

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

A piercing scream was heard.

It came from the women’s bath where the girls were washing.

“Hey! What’s going on! What happened! What is it!”

I jumped up in shock, ran out of the men’s bath, and headed toward the women’s bath.

Then I saw someone collapsed on the changing room floor of the women’s bath, with bright red blood splattered everywhere.

Yang Juhui, wearing a white blood-stained bathrobe, shouted:

“Da…Dahui suddenly started vomiting blood…”

I approached the girl who had collapsed, looking pale.

She wasn’t breathing.

I put my ear to her heart.

“…It stopped…”

Perhaps because I had been soaking in the bath for a long time, a dizzying sensation came over me.

I felt like all of this might be a dream.

But this wasn’t the “Nightmare Corridor,” it was real.

“Dahui…”

I shook Dahui’s face and patted her cheeks, but it was useless.

While I was overwhelmed with shock, Yang Juhui shouted:

“Ugh!”

When I turned my head, Yang Juhui was spewing blood from her mouth.

“Urgh-“

“Yang Juhui! Hey!”

My hair stood on end as I watched Yang Juhui spewing blood from her eyes, nose, and mouth.

Yang Juhui said to me:

“Don’t…don’t look…”

The life disappeared from Yang Juhui’s blood-red eyes.

Thud-.

Why…?

Why did this happen?

Why did this suddenly happen?

I couldn’t understand.

As if in a trance, I trudged back to the men’s bath, where Jeongseok had also collapsed, having splattered red blood in the tub. Only Kwon Sua and I remained alive from our pirate crew.

Why on earth…?

As I was thinking this, Kwon Sua shouted:

“The window! Look out the window!”

There was a sense of déjà vu in being told to look out the window.

I stared out the window in a daze, as if my mind had flown away.

Through the bathroom window, I could see something amazing happening.

The sun, which had set in the west, was rising again in the east, and the constellations in the sky were swirling.

“What on earth is—”

Ding-.

Text appeared before me.

“《The Broken Clock》has—”

I tried to read the text, but there wasn’t enough time.

Click! Flash!

Something bright flashed in my eyes.

As I was rubbing my eyes in a daze, Kwon Sua laughed brightly.

“It’s been so long since I’ve had this much fun without worrying about others!”

“…!?”

I looked around in great surprise.

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz.

The kids were laughing under the cherry tree where cicadas were crying loudly.

Friends who had just died vomiting blood in the bathroom were now chattering away under the cherry tree, looking at the photo the housekeeper had taken.

“Wow, Ha Yeongwon, this bastard closed his eyes.”

“Hehehe, we can take another one! But this one is cute in its own way.”

…A dream?

No, it felt too vivid to be a dream, with sweat trickling down my back.

I could tell that many things had been ‘rewound.’

It was my intuition, with the trait of a clock. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I knew what I needed to do now.

“Guys… I have something to tell you…”