Ch.198198 – When We Call Your Name 1

# 198 – When We Call Your Name # 1

Dahui Yu’s memory drifted to a summer day.

To that “incident” of summer that had now become something that never happened—.

It was a summer when the cicadas’ cries could be heard loudly through the thick stone walls of the storage room, even without straining to listen.

Newspapers and news reports talked about the worst heat wave in decades, and various agencies sent out warning messages about people collapsing and dying from heat stroke.

Maem-maem-maem-maem-.

Jeu-jeu-jeu-ji-jeu-jeu-.

“I’m not the only one who can hear the cicadas, right?”

Jeongseok was startled by the cicada cries and the scent of summer coming from beyond the tightly closed storage room door. If he twitched his nose, he could almost smell the fragrance of summer flowers.

“…This is my memory.”

Shwik-. Dahui Yu brought her hands together in front of her chest. Her gesture was as careful as if she were holding a precious egg in her hands.

“So it was me in that storage room after all. It was us who asked for the door to be opened. This is inside that memory from back then. Back then, I…”

Dahui Yu had been locked in a storage room sometime in her childhood. At that time, Dahui had been connected to ‘something’ other than herself, which was why her memories from then were hazy.

“Back then, I was us. Beyond that door, we were waiting.”

Now Dahui was beginning to vividly recall the sensations and memories of that day.

This corridor, being a place formed from memories, was changing in appearance as it resonated with Dahui’s revived memories.

The basement of the broadcasting room had transformed into a shadowy storage room. It was a spacious storage room with high ceilings, as seen through a child’s eyes.

Seeing this change, several hypotheses naturally came to Jeongseok’s mind. It was as if thoughts were being pulled into his mind like the N-pole of a magnet attracting the S-pole.

‘One summer during elementary school, Dahui Yu went to school looking for Juhui Yang’s older sister and became possessed by something. Pastor Cheon Boseong locked her in a storage room and performed an exorcism…’

During the exorcism, Ha Yeongwon, who was Pastor Cheon’s son, couldn’t bear the sounds and voices coming from the storage room and opened the door.

As a result, a half-naked girl was discovered inside the storage room. Neighbors who heard the commotion gathered, Pastor Cheon was arrested by the police, and Ha Yeongwon’s life went terribly wrong.

As far as Jeongseok knew, Ha Yeongwon had regretted his choice that day. He had said that if he hadn’t opened that storage room door that day, everything might have remained normal.

Even Ha Yeongwon himself didn’t seem to remember exactly why he had opened the storage room door that day, but it was certain that the memory of that day had become the foundation of who Ha Yeongwon was as a person.

“This is that day.”

Jeongseok felt an itchiness all over his body as if ants were crawling on him. He experienced the sensation of blood rushing to his face and then draining to his feet several times.

Is such a thing possible?

“What was in that storage room was really us! This isn’t just a recreation of memories!”

What was locked in the storage room was elementary school student Dahui Yu, but in reality, it was all of them. In this moment, Jeongseok felt something like fate.

“We had already met. Everything was connected as one. The past and the future. That world and this world. And all of us. I can’t believe this is possible!”

In Jeongseok’s mind, the flow of time appeared like a spider web.

Time was like a round, intricately woven spider web, where the future could influence the past, and the past could change the present and future.

But just as a spider web has a center, the flow of time also had fated events at its center that absolutely had to happen.

“This is that moment right now.”

“Jeongseok, you bastard, what are you muttering to yourself? We need to get this door open quickly!”

While Jeongseok was lost in emotion, Juhui Yang was trying to figure out how to make the boy outside open the door.

They needed to persuade the boy on the other side to open this door so they could leave this place and head toward the Sea of Eternity.

“Hey! You’re Ha Yeongwon, right? Open the door quickly! This door! We’re going through all this trouble to find you, and you don’t even know it! Open the door now!”

Bang bang, bang bang bang-.

When Juhui Yang pounded on the door forcefully, they could feel the boy outside flinch as if he was terrified. However, the boy had more courage than expected.

—I’m not Ha Yeongwon!

“What?”

Juhui Yang was slightly taken aback. What was this kid outside saying?

Soon, Dahui Yu quietly said a word.

“Idiot. At this time, he wasn’t Ha Yeongwon. At this time, he was Cheon Yeongwon.”

That’s right.

The boy at this time was Cheon Yeongwon. But if he opened this door, he would become Ha Yeongwon. Just as falling from heaven (天) to earth (下), his life would be ruined.

In other words, making the boy open this door was essentially making him ruin his own life with his own hands.

Knowing this, Dahui Yu couldn’t help but hesitate. This place, this moment, was the source of her guilt for having taken away the boy’s life.

Dahui had once promised herself that if she could ever go back to that time, she would quietly stay in the storage room. She wanted to spend the rest of her life quietly in that cramped storage room without stepping outside.

Because she felt that if she could occasionally hear the boy’s voice along with the cicadas, that would be enough.

“You shouldn’t open this door. If you open this door, your life will be filled with great sadness. Don’t listen to our voices. Just turn around and go back to your mother.”

Dahui Yu warned toward the other side of the door.

Soon, Juhui Yang was greatly surprised by this statement.

“Hey! What are you saying? We should be begging him to open the door! What you just said is a lie! Open this door quickly! Don’t you want to see pretty noonas? Hurry!”

Pretty noonas?

Juhui Yang felt a chill run down her spine at the words that had come out of her own mouth. She disliked girls who pretended to be pretty. She hated having to play that role herself.

‘But Ha Yeongwon must like pretty women. Even though he’s just a child, he probably can’t resist pretty noonas. I need to seduce him into opening the door.’

The boy outside the door was just an elementary school student.

She thought it would be easy to seduce such a boy into opening the door.

Soon, the summer boy snorted.

—There’s no way there are pretty noonas in this storage room. There must be… ghosts in there! Ghosts! If I open the door, you’ll eat me and hurt my family! I know it all!

“Hey! Why would we be ghosts? We’re not ghosts!”

—Then show me some proof!

Proof? While thinking about how to show proof, a small hand suddenly appeared through what seemed like a gap in the storage room door. Everyone was surprised to see that hand.

—Ghosts are dead people. And dead people’s hearts don’t beat. If you can prove your heart is beating, I’ll believe you’re not a ghost.

“Here, look!”

Juhui Yang placed the boy’s hand on her heart.

The boy shouted.

—Your heart isn’t beating!

“What are you talking about!”

Juhui Yang could imagine that the boy couldn’t feel her heartbeat because of the underwear she was wearing or the size of her chest.

“This is…”

At that moment, Dahui Yu trembled.

It was because she felt an intense longing. Dahui knew what she had to do. So she slowly approached the hand and placed the boy’s hand on her heart.

“How about now?”

—Your heart is beating.

Seureurek-.

The outstretched hand disappeared back through the wall on the other side.

—But I still can’t open the door. Dad told me not to open it. If he finds out I’m at this storage room, I’ll be in big trouble. I…

The boy’s attitude was still lukewarm. After listening to the conversation for a while, Sua Kwon thought she had to step forward.

“I had many young fans too. I know how to handle children. Little one, if you open this door, noona will buy you something delicious.”

—No!

“Huh!”

Sua Kwon was shocked.

She had never been rejected for anything in her life until now. Well, she had been rejected when she confessed to Ha Yeongwon, but that was in the past.

“Lord Yeongwon has rejected me twice now!”

Sojin Jeong and Hyena Gu, who were watching this scene, could not understand what these people were doing, so they just stared blankly at each other’s faces.

# # #

It was hot inside this storage room.

Everyone’s foreheads were starting to drip with sweat.

Time outside the door seemed to be passing quite quickly. The changes between night and day were clearly visible through the gap in the door where the boy’s hand had reached through.

—Let me tell you what happened at school today…

The boy occasionally visited the storage room and chattered about what had happened. What he had for lunch at school, how he had spoken to the girl next to him whom he had a crush on, and so on.

It seemed that whatever was in the storage room felt like a unique friend to the boy.

—Aren’t you bored being in there? Why are you locked in there? Why did my dad… lock you up?

Though he didn’t show it much, the boy seemed to think that something terribly wrong was happening, something beyond what he could handle.

His faith in his father was shaking, and his beliefs were being tested.

—If I open this door… will I get scolded by my dad? And according to what you noonas said, really difficult things will happen to me in the future. Do you know what will happen to my future self?

At the boy’s question, Jeongseok recalled the apartment full of cockroaches. It was true that when he first went there, Jeongseok, who had grown up without any lack in his life, was shocked.

The boy was living in such a place.

If he had lived in such a place, Jeongseok thought he wouldn’t have dared to invite friends over out of embarrassment, but the boy didn’t do that.

Come to think of it, the boy didn’t seem to be ashamed of himself.

“You’ll have many friends. You’ll become the captain of a pirate crew.”

Jeongseok said.

—What pirate crew.

Judging by his indifferent response, the boy didn’t seem very interested in pirates.

Jeongseok wondered when the boy started to become interested in pirates. It might be from now on.

Soon, Sua Kwon, who had been quiet, also said something.

“You’ll receive a confession from the most popular idol, but you’ll reject her!”

—That’s a lie. There’s no way that would happen.

The boy laughed, haha. It seemed they had lost the boy’s trust because of Sua Kwon’s words. As Sua Kwon regretted opening her mouth, the boy soon asked shyly, as if gathering courage.

—…Will I get a girlfriend too? These days, it’s trendy for kids in my class to date each other. Everyone except me is dating someone. I still prefer playing games though. Tsk.

“That’s…”

Jeongseok couldn’t easily answer and closed his mouth.

Juhui Yang answered that question.

“You will. If you just open this door! Of course, you probably won’t remember much about this day. I won’t remember much about these days either, but definitely!”

Juhui Yang recalled the time she had spent until now.

Looking back now, they were difficult but fun and precious memories one by one. If this door opens, they could all laugh and talk together again.

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. And joyful things to joyful things. What must happen will inevitably happen.

“We will definitely meet! Definitely! We won’t remember who we are at that time. But you will recognize us! You called us and brought us together! So you have to take responsibility!”

Juhui Yang was crying now. She didn’t know why she was crying.

But Juhui Yang’s tears triggered Sua Kwon, who had abundant empathy, to burst into tears, and even Hyena Gu, who had been standing like a borrowed sack of barley, started crying.

“Huh? Why am I crying!”

It was truly a sea of tears.

And the boy seemed bewildered by these crying sounds.

—I guess keeping people locked up is wrong after all. Sigh-.

The boy seemed to think that people were sad because they were locked up. The boy sighed deeply as if he had made some decision. How much time had passed since then?

Clank-.

Soon, the sound of a lock being unlocked was heard.

Dahui Yu had kept her mouth shut for a long time, but she knew better than anyone what was about to happen.

“Are you sure about this? You might regret it.”

—I’m doing the right thing. I won’t regret it.

The boy’s voice was trembling as he said this. It must be because of his fear of the times to come. Nevertheless, he had found the courage to do what he believed was right.

Dahui Yu thought that the boy was no different from the male student she remembered. It was natural since they were the same person.

Despite the saying that people can change, the male student had remained unchanged since childhood.

He was still the same person who tried to do the right thing even knowing that his choice would lead to great regret.

Some things don’t change.

It was truly eternal.

It felt as solid as a rock that had weathered storms for a long time, and Dahui Yu found herself smiling without realizing it.

Of course, she couldn’t explain such things in many words, so she just answered through her younger self’s body, just as she had done before.

“Yeongwon, thank you.”

Clank-. Creeeeak-. Finally, the storage room door opened. On the other side of that door, Yeongwon was waiting with the dazzling summer sunlight and the sound of cicadas.