Ch.206206 – Stories of a Summer 1

# 206 – Stories of a Summer # 1

“Did you see that new movie? The one with Gu Hyena as the lead!”

“I did. I don’t usually like horror movies, but that one was fun.”

“Don’t you think it’ll hit ten million viewers?”

The school, facing the sweltering summer ahead, was filled with children’s chatter. However, the boy couldn’t join any group and lay slumped at his desk, creating a fortress with his arms.

The first semester of freshman year was almost over, but the boy still had no friends. The only person who ever spoke to him was a girl with fox-like narrow eyes.

“Hey.”

“…”

“Hey.”

“…”

“I know you’re not sleeping.”

The boy couldn’t sleep because of the persistently annoying female student. Finally raising his head, he found the girl with long, flowing hair leaning in so close their faces nearly touched.

“Whoa!”

“Finally looking my way, huh?”

The boy felt slightly embarrassed by the girl’s face so close he could feel her breath. Perhaps because he had shouted, other students were looking their way and whispering.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“No idea.”

The boy shook his head as if to clear his unsettled feelings and stood up.

“Hey, where are you going! Let’s hang out!”

“…”

The boy ignored the girl calling after him and left the classroom. He was heading to the bathroom. The hallway was full of students excited about the upcoming vacation, and some of them made eye contact with him.

There were no greetings.

The boy thought he was like a ghost.

Present but unnoticed by anyone.

During this time, the boy made eye contact with a man.

He was a young teacher in his mid-twenties who had recently joined the school. He had a curious appearance that made him look both adult-like and somehow like a peer.

This teacher had been extremely popular with students since his first day. When asked if he had a girlfriend, he claimed to have at least two.

‘I don’t think that was a joke.’

Some kids had apparently run into the teacher downtown and said he was with extremely beautiful women.

Women as pretty as celebrities.

“These super pretty ladies were grabbing the teacher’s arms and pulling him around!”

“I saw it too! Like bulls quartering someone!”

“Teacher must be really popular.”

‘He’s such a radiant person. Someone like that must enjoy every day like summer vacation.’

At that moment, the boy caught a glimpse of a dark shadow on the teacher’s face.

‘Just like me…’

Suddenly, the boy felt his thoughts were foolish.

The distance between the wealthy, popular new teacher and himself, friendless, was as vast as that between the sun and Pluto. The shadow he thought he saw on the teacher’s face must have been his imagination.

“What’s wrong? Do you have something troubling you?”

Just then, the teacher approached the boy. The boy realized he had been staring intently at the teacher’s face. It was a habit of his.

The habit of staring intensely at people’s faces. Most people found the boy’s gaze unpleasant.

“I don’t have any troubles.”

The boy wanted to hurriedly leave. He was embarrassed.

As the boy rushed toward the bathroom, the teacher said:

“Take this.”

It was a small piece of paper.

He thought it might be a business card, but it had bumpy patterns that looked like braille used by visually impaired people.

「 · – · ·　 · –　 – –　 · · –　 · · – ·　　　 – – ·　 ·　 – · –　 – · · ·　 ·　 – –」

“…”

Dorang-dorang dorangmul-.

A strange ringtone sounded then.

It was an outdated idol song.

‘Even such a mature teacher listens to songs like that.’

The boy felt something unexpected from the mature teacher and returned to the classroom. No one paid attention to the boy entering the classroom.

Except for one person.

“Hey! Where did you go? I was bored!”

“…”

“Oh my, ignoring me again? I’m really hurt.”

The boy sat down and opened his book for the next class. When he reached into his pocket to take out his pen, he pulled out the bumpy paper and placed it on his desk.

‘What is this?’

「 · – · ·　 · –　 – –　 · · –　 · · – ·　　　 – – ·　 ·　 – · –　 – · · ·　 ·　 – –」

Suddenly, the boy became curious about the symbols on the paper.

Having little interest in attending class, the boy put considerable effort into figuring out what the markings were and could only vaguely realize that they were some kind of “text.”

After school, the boy headed to the library.

While looking for a book about Morse code there, an English teacher approached him.

“A Morse code translation book? It’s been a while since anyone borrowed that.”

“…”

The boy became a little embarrassed when English teacher Hong Miri spoke to him. Teacher Hong Miri was a popular female teacher who was very young and beautiful.

During every class, she would boast about having a “secret to not aging.” She had an easy-going personality and got along well with students. Her catchphrase was “I’m eternally twenty years old.”

“…”

But the boy was somewhat awkward with people, so he just gave a slight nod and borrowed the book before returning home.

Though he called it “home,” the boy actually didn’t have one. Having lost his parents at a young age, he was living with his maternal uncle.

In his room in a converted storage shed, the boy opened the book and the paper. Tracing each letter like a blind person reading braille, light finally dawned on him.

“Worry…counseling…”

The note from the teacher said “Worry Counseling.”

# # #

Since childhood, the boy had seen things others couldn’t see and heard things others couldn’t hear.

These things mostly frightened him and were the reason he covered himself with blankets up to his head every night.

The reason the boy had no friends was also because of these things. When he was younger, the boy couldn’t distinguish whether the things that spoke to him were real people or not.

The shock when he discovered that a friend he had played with in the schoolyard for a whole day was actually a nonexistent being—.

—Honey, I don’t like that kid, he keeps saying strange things! Send him somewhere else!

—He’s my sister’s son! How can you tell me to send him somewhere else! My sister was like a mother to me!

—What if he’s a bad influence on our Minhee? Tell me straight! Either divorce me or send the kid away!

—Fine, then let’s get divorced!

—…How can you say that? Is divorce a joke?

As he grew older, the boy learned how to ignore many things. Pretending not to hear even when he heard. Pretending not to see even when he saw. That’s how the boy turned away from many things, and others turned away from him as well.

The boy thought he was like a ghost.

“…”

On a summer day before vacation.

On a boring day when cicadas were chirping loudly, the boy realized he was standing in front of an unfamiliar research lab.

It was a place labeled “Pirates’ Office.”

‘…Was there such a place in this school?’

Pirates. Pirates in a school.

It seemed like someone was playing a prank.

As the boy looked around, he made eye contact with a girl waving her hand from behind.

“Hey hey! Over here! School’s over now, so let’s play together! What are you going to do during vacation?”

The girl shining in the summer twilight looked like a scene from a youth manga. But the boy’s eyes noticed that there was no shadow at the girl’s feet in the dazzlingly bright sunlight.

The girl existed there, but no one else noticed that fact.

She was truly an ephemeral existence like a summer mirage.

“Hey hey! I said let’s play together! Hey! Let’s play hide and seek!”

He was angry.

That kindness, that smile—none of it actually existed.

It was fake, visible only to the boy’s eyes.

“…”

After hesitating, or perhaps out of some repulsive force or rebellious spirit or wandering heart, the boy opened the door to the Pirates’ Office and entered. Clunk, creak.

Inside was a man stroking a lizard as big as his palm on his knee. It was the teacher who had given the boy the Morse code.

“I knew you would come here. Sit anywhere. Want a cola?”

The teacher offered the boy a cold cola as if he had been waiting for him. The boy was slightly overwhelmed by the interior that was truly decorated like a pirate ship and stared blankly around.

“I decorated it as I pleased. I’ve always liked decorating rooms. Like a secret base.”

“…”

“So? What brings you to me?”

The man’s eyes looked at the boy.

The boy suddenly noticed how incredibly black the man’s eyes were. They were pitch-black eyes with unfathomable depth.

As if entranced, the boy sipped the cola and quickly came to his senses from the tingling carbonation.

“I don’t have any problems. I just felt strange seeing a place labeled ‘Pirates’ and unconsciously came in to check it out.”

“That’s a lie. Someone without any worries can’t find their way here. This place is like that. Perhaps you’ve thought something like… wanting to disappear somewhere?”

The boy couldn’t understand what the teacher was saying.

Quite an eccentric. But most of what he said hit the mark.

The boy thought he was like a ghost. He had sometimes thought that if he disappeared, wouldn’t all problems be solved?

“Let me tell you something—your disappearance won’t solve the problem. It will only make things worse. The fate of missing persons is generally miserable.”

“…”

“Goethe said: He who gazes into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into him. You. You seem to want to ignore many things by not looking at them. But that’s not working out so well, is it?”

“No… that’s… not Goethe but Nietzsche…”

“I’m joking. Focus a bit more on the essence. The important thing is that you’re already enchanted. What’s clinging to you looks like a beautiful female student, but it’s actually something incredibly evil.”

“…!”

The boy was greatly surprised.

He didn’t expect anyone else to notice the girl’s existence. Various emotions flashed in the boy’s eyes as he looked at the teacher.

“Teacher, who exactly…”

“Don’t you know who I am? I’m this school’s chairman and teacher.”

“…”

The teacher scratched the back of his head at the boy’s subtle attitude.

“What, you really didn’t know? Well, it happens sometimes. Kids who are so preoccupied they can’t pay attention to others. But well… to earn points for enhancement, such customers are also important…”

The boy became even more confused.

However, he could understand the teacher’s intention as he extended his hand toward the boy as if for a handshake.

“I’ll eliminate your worries. In exchange, I’ll take the object you value most.”