Ch.176Side Story) Dream of China (9)

After the movie ended, it was already getting dark outside.

Since it was winter now, Irene blankly stared at the streets filled with city lights. If it had been any other time, she would have been lost in thought, completely immersed in the scenery, but whenever she became conscious of Soo-hyun beside her, her concentration broke.

“Um…”

Why had he stared at her so intently during the movie? Why did her hand still tingle from when they touched inside the popcorn container? Though she had many questions, whenever their eyes met, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

She just pressed her lips tightly together, trying hard to cool the heat rising inside her. As soon as their eyes met, Irene rolled her eyes and eventually hung her head low, pouting her lips.

“…Never mind.”

She couldn’t even remember what she had wanted to say.

While driving toward some unknown destination marked on her phone, her mind was filled with thoughts about these puzzling emotions. She recalled when she first met Soo-hyun. Back then, she couldn’t smile naturally like she did now. It was a time when she had never once managed a natural expression due to questions about her own existence.

She had heard Soo-hyun’s music at the first competition she ever attended, and somehow they ended up talking while she was in a daze. Though he didn’t seem to remember, wasn’t she here now largely because of that one encouraging word he had given her back then? Meeting him had sparked her interest. A personal curiosity—she wanted to hear his thoughts about how she had changed… and now she was also curious about what impressions she would get from seeing him.

The impression she got when she met Soo-hyun again was surprisingly ordinary.

He was someone she could interact with much more comfortably than she had imagined. Unlike how distant she had felt he was, he was actually someone she could see right in front of her and talk to. Despite his seemingly fastidious appearance, he was kind, and despite his sophisticated performance, he had several careless aspects too.

Before she knew it, they were drinking together, and when she came to her senses… she realized she was looking at him differently than before. She knew well enough that this wasn’t a simple emotion. The problem was what to do about it. Since she hadn’t felt any certainty yet, Irene simply remained silent.

Her gaze shifted slightly toward Soo-hyun, who was leaning against the car window. She wondered what he was thinking, but for now, all she could do was cast glances his way.

“I can see it.”

At the sound of Soo-hyun’s voice, Irene raised her head and blankly stared at the scene before her eyes. Something visible only at night—her blue eyes gleamed as she watched the giant Ferris wheel gradually revealing itself through the window.

“An amusement… park?”

The twinkling lights beneath the darkened sky belonged to amusement park rides. The Ferris wheel spinning with far fewer passengers now, the carousel turning endlessly with no destination, balloons floating in the sky for the parade. Before she could figure out why they had come here, why this place of all places, Irene’s mind began to drift into those lights.

#

“This is my first time at an amusement park. I supposedly went once when I was little, but I don’t really remember it.”

“Same for me. When I was young… well, I didn’t really want to remember it anyway.”

Only the hollow music echoed through the nearly empty amusement park. Perhaps because it was almost closing time, occasionally they would see someone cleaning up trash. Irene and Soo-hyun walked through the empty amusement park, quietly watching the rides moving by themselves without any passengers.

Would there be people who disliked remembering their childhood? Though Irene tilted her head at Soo-hyun’s words, recalling the photo she had seen in his room, she didn’t ask him about it. A photo with only his younger sister and him—whatever had happened in the past, she quickly realized it wasn’t her place to pry.

“Actually, this isn’t a very famous place. It’s not that big, and only people who know about it come here.”

“And that’s why you brought me here?”

“Isn’t it better this way? Since there are fewer people, we can be alone like this.”

He wanted to avoid crowded places as much as possible. When there were many people, sounds mixed and tangled, making it impossible to focus on the sound that belonged to Irene Yuris. This quiet place, where only empty music played, creating an eerie yet somehow atmospheric ambiance—to Soo-hyun, it seemed like a rather nice location.

After all, they weren’t going to ride roller coasters together anyway. As they walked for quite some time, Soo-hyun spotted a cart selling souvenirs and picked up a headband, gently placing it on Irene’s head. It was a headband with a star sticking out—when Irene tilted her head in confusion, the star moved along with her. Soo-hyun smiled and tapped the star before speaking.

“Do you dislike headbands?”

“…It’s not that, it’s just a bit sudden.”

If anything, she might say she liked it. It somehow gave her the feeling of actually being at an amusement park in this quiet place. Carefully adjusting the headband on her head, Irene smiled softly as she looked at Soo-hyun. Then, noticing they had gotten a bit closer, she stepped back slightly and cleared her throat.

“You must like stars. Usually, they’d give you something else, like horns.”

“I used to dislike them. They seemed, well, lonely.”

“Stars look lonely to you? That’s completely opposite from me.”

“I like them now. I just disliked them in the past.”

After saying that, Soo-hyun stopped in front of a brightly lit, spinning carousel. It was shining alone like a star in the dark amusement park. Though it wasn’t exactly age-appropriate for them, it wasn’t bad. Since there weren’t many properly functioning rides anyway, Soo-hyun glanced at Irene and pointed to one of the carousel horses.

“Want to ride?”

Though she let out a small laugh at the sudden suggestion to ride a carousel, realizing there wasn’t much else to do, Irene shook her head. While mentally complaining about what an atmospheric date this was, a faint smile formed on her lips.

Taking Soo-hyun’s hand and climbing onto the horse, the carousel began to spin as music that sounded like it belonged in a music box played. Up and down—with each wave-like movement, the star on her headband moved along, and vague childhood memories kept making her smile.

“I used to ride this a lot when I was young. Now I’m an adult and still riding these things.”

“My sister loved this. She used to sing about wanting to ride it someday.”

“Ah, you mean… Soo-jin? The one I met before.”

Soo-hyun nodded, but his expression was darker than before. It was natural since he was recalling old memories he had forgotten for a while, but Irene, not knowing the context, simply shrugged and watched him intently. In the long silence that followed, wondering why his expression had suddenly darkened, Soo-hyun met Irene’s eyes and continued speaking.

“I’ve played the piano since I was young. I was called a prodigy and at some point, journalists came to take my pictures, calling me a promising talent.”

“I know that. You’re famous.”

“Soo-jin hated how famous I was. She always complained that I only played the piano and never paid attention to her.”

“Big brother, why do you always just play the piano? You promised to play with me last time.”

It was a childhood memory. When he would return from practice, it would always be dawn when everyone was asleep. By the time he had washed his tired body and was about to lie down, his sister, on the top bunk, would ask him that. It was Soo-jin’s daily routine to secretly stay awake until he returned, only then sharing everything that had happened during the day.

Yet he had never actually played with her until she grew up—why had she followed him around so much?

“My relationship with my parents wasn’t very good. I was the one who decided to become a pianist, but it was my parents who were obsessed with winning competitions. Practice, practice. If I said I wanted to meet friends, I’d get slapped, and if I said I wanted to rest for a day, I’d be kicked out naked.”

But now it was all in the past. If that had been all, perhaps they would have stayed in contact all this time. Trying to suppress his anger by telling himself they were his parents, the ones who gave birth to him.

“…But when they didn’t tell me my sister was sick, I guess I wanted to be a proper older brother.”

“I’ll take Soo-jin with me.”

After being slapped and ignoring his parents who were throwing things, he took Soo-jin abroad. He contacted Chris to find a doctor and managed to cure his sister’s illness by finding a specialist. Cutting ties with his parents was surprisingly easy—so much so that he berated himself for not having done it sooner.

“You saw the photo in my room, right?”

“…I didn’t look on purpose.”

When Irene’s shoulders flinched at Soo-hyun’s question, he shook his head saying it was okay. Holding onto the carousel pole as it spun around, he blankly stared at the white breath coming from his mouth. The look in his eyes was mixed with regret and perhaps relief.

“When my parents made me practice and went to sleep, I would sneak out alone and look out the window. Looking at the star floating alone in the sky, I thought it was just like me at that time. Lonely and isolated, a solitary star that no one would shine a light on.”

“……”

“It’s a bit of a sentimental thought, but that’s how I felt back then. Well, we all think like that when we’re young, don’t we?”

When did he start thinking that stars might actually be nice?

Perhaps it was because the sky he saw after finishing a performance was so beautiful that watching the night sky became a hobby at some point. It probably stemmed from the lightness he felt after finishing his sister’s treatment, when all the burdens placed on him had finally disappeared.

Whirr—

Perhaps because closing time was approaching, the lights of the carousel began to flicker with a vibrating sound. The up-and-down movement of the carousel horse also became jerky, and noticing this, Soo-hyun looked at Irene’s slightly startled expression.

There was something called fate.

Like the stars he saw after all his performances ended, he felt a familiarity as if they had been together all their lives, even though they had never met before. His heart raced at trivial things, and he found himself smiling at insignificant actions.

Click—

Even on the ride where the lights had gone out, there was something that shone alone. In the pitch-black darkness, where it was difficult to distinguish each other’s faces, Soo-hyun met Irene’s eyes. He gazed into those blue eyes, even more blue and clear than the night sky he had seen as a child.

“I asked you when you would stop speaking so formally, didn’t I?”

“Um… yes?”

“Can I speak comfortably now?”

Though it was strange to bring that up in this situation, Irene nodded willingly. It was an odd situation. Despite it being so dark that nothing should be visible, Soo-hyun’s face was unusually clear. In the moment of complete eye contact, another brief silence passed between them.

Click—

“I like you.”

In the light that suddenly returned with a flash, Soo-hyun stared at Irene with the same smiling expression. In that fleeting moment when she couldn’t even utter a word of protest—

When Irene’s eyes widened in understanding of those words, Soo-hyun simply smiled once.