Ch.31031 – Missing Person 3

# 031 – Missing Person # 3

The literary girl Yu Dahui bought a bunch of snacks and cup noodles at the convenience store and shared them with me.

I received one cup noodle and a bag of chips.

Splish-splash.

As I poured water into my cup noodle, Yu Dahui followed suit and poured water into hers.

It was somewhat unexpected.

Yu Dahui from Class A of the first year was quite famous at school. She arrived every morning in a black, luxurious-looking car.

Naturally, rumors spread about her being the daughter of an incredibly wealthy family.

So it was rather strange to see such a rich kid sitting in a convenience store chair in the bustling downtown area at almost 10 PM on a Friday night, preparing cup noodles.

“It should be ready now. I think we can eat.”

Shhk-

As I opened the cup noodle lid, steam rose from the noodles soaked in red broth.

Although I had eaten rice soup earlier, honestly, I didn’t even know where it went, and since I left in the middle of eating, my stomach still had room.

Never underestimate the stomach of a first-year high school boy.

Slurp-

Sitting in the convenience store eating ramen, everything that had happened until now felt like a dream.

And as my stomach gradually filled, I began to feel that the situation I was experiencing was somewhat unreal, like a dream.

Me sitting with the famous literary girl Yu Dahui in a downtown convenience store at 10 PM.

Slowly-

Yu Dahui finished her cup noodles and opened her slender eyes.

“You haven’t been to school for a few days, right? Because of that, I had to clean the library alone.”

“Well… I had some issues at home.”

“Really? Was it something bad? Is everything resolved now?”

“More or less.”

I felt a bit awkward in front of Yu Dahui, not knowing what to say.

The three years I spent in an all-boys middle school had turned me into a bumbling fool in front of girls.

I could interact relatively comfortably with delinquent girls like Yang Juhui or Bong Jiyeon who lived life carelessly and recklessly.

But Yu Dahui was the most elegant, or should I say dignified, among the girls my age I had seen.

To make an analogy, it felt like this:

I was a stray cat living on the streets, and I had just encountered a Persian something-or-other house cat from an extremely wealthy home.

I didn’t know what to say.

I was worried about looking like an idiot or appearing shabby.

Come to think of it, I’d been so busy these past few days that I hadn’t washed properly or done laundry!

I wonder how I look right now.

“……”

“……”

The conversation between Yu Dahui and me naturally came to a halt.

Yu Dahui was looking around the street with a relaxed attitude, while I was feeling very awkward and thought it might be good to say something, anything.

I wonder if men who suffer through awkward blind dates with mismatched partners feel similar to how I feel now. I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been on a blind date.

Why am I going through this right now anyway?

Who is Yu Dahui?

I didn’t know much about her.

Library committee member in Class A.

A girl who likes foreign novels.

Rumored to be from a wealthy family.

Besides these things, I had almost no information.

High school is structured in a way that makes it surprisingly difficult to become friends with students from other classes apart from your own.

Honestly, if I didn’t have the title of library committee member, I might have lived my entire life without any connection to Yu Dahui.

“Ah.”

Then I remembered something.

I opened my bag and took out a book I had been keeping for some time.

It was a book called “Easy Guide to Feng Shui.”

“Did you give me this book before?”

“Oh. That book.”

“It was quite helpful.”

“Really? But that’s strange. I don’t remember giving such a book to you, Yeongwon.”

What is she saying?

There was even a Post-it note with ‘Yu Dahui’ on it!

I suddenly felt dizzy, wondering if this was another ghost or supernatural occurrence.

That’s when Yu Dahui laughed.

“Pfft. I’m joking. You were nodding off, so instead of waking you up, I left it by your head. What were we talking about then… ghost stories, wasn’t it?”

So the ghost story conversation wasn’t a dream.

The boundary between what was a dream and what wasn’t had been blurry, but now it was becoming clear.

“We talked about ghost stories?”

“Wow. That’s harsh. Did you forget our conversation?”

Yu Dahui frowned and pretended to be upset, turning her head away sharply.

Even just that gave me tremendous psychological damage.

It was a different type of attack than Yang Juhui frowning and asking, “Do you want to die?”

“We were talking about the third ghost, besides the Shaman Ghost and the Head Ghost. The third ghost is the most terrifying one, but no one knows its identity because everyone who meets it dies.”

That was truly terrifying.

A ghost that kills everyone it meets, so no one knows its identity.

However, there was something that bothered me.

“But how do people know there’s a third ghost? If everyone who encounters it dies and no one knows its identity, it seems like there wouldn’t even be rumors. Since there are no witnesses at all.”

“Hmm… now that you mention it, that’s true. Yeongwon, you’re the type to question such things.”

Oh no.

Did I lose points for being too nitpicky?

After fighting ghosts for the past few days, I’ve gotten used to fact-checking various things… Conversing with girls was as difficult for me as defeating ghosts.

Yang Juhui was actually really easy to talk to.

Is this the difference between easy mode and hard mode?

“Someone once said that every problem ultimately has an answer. Yeongwon, try to focus more on the essence.”

“……?”

Whoosh-

The wind blew, making it a bit chilly.

Although it was spring approaching summer, the evening was slightly cold.

Finding the brief gap in conversation and the silence unbearable, I thought it might be good to just say anything.

“By the way, what are you doing here? Are you waiting for someone?”

“No? I just left home for a bit. My family is strict. They don’t let me make friends freely. Especially talking with boys is forbidden. I’ll probably never be able to have a boyfriend in my life.”

“Huh? Really? I didn’t know families like that still existed these days.”

I was amazed in many ways, and at the same time, my heart fluttered a little.

I’m having a conversation with Yu Dahui, who isn’t even allowed to make friends freely – it made me feel like I was someone special.

So I felt a bit more courageous.

“Hey. Do you use Instagram or something? So I could contact you in advance if I can’t make it to the library…”

“No, I don’t.”

Screech-

At that moment, Yu Dahui pushed her chair back and stood up.

Gulp!

Did I cross a line?

Even I thought I was rambling too obviously!

“I think my ride is here. I need to go now. Yeongwon, it was nice seeing you today. You can have the rest of the snacks. Well—”

Well, goodbye-

Is that what she was going to say?

I was waiting, almost entranced, for the next words to come from those cherry-colored lips.

“—Well, now wake up.”

# # #

“Huh!”

I trembled violently, feeling like my heart was being squeezed.

It was almost like having a seizure.

Even a cat suddenly doused with cold water would have been calmer than me.

Crash-!

I ended up falling off the chair.

Rustle-

The torn snack bag spilled over my head.

“Ah, damn. That hurts.”

Falling from a plastic chair set up in front of the convenience store.

What a bolt from the blue.

Looking around, I could still see the bustling convenience store street.

“What the hell.”

When did I fall asleep?

Haven’t I experienced something like this somewhere before?

Isn’t this what they call déjà vu?

“This is the second time.”

It was always like this when I had conversations with Yu Dahui.

Feeling somewhat eerie, I thought I’d check the time on my phone.

The phone’s clock showed it was past midnight, pointing to 1 AM.

But what was important wasn’t that, but the Post-it note attached to my phone.

There was an 11-digit number written on it.

Starting with 010, it was clearly someone’s phone number.

And that “someone” was probably…

“Was it… not a dream?”

For some reason, I felt thrilled, my heart pounding, and my lungs swelling with excitement!

For the first time in my life, I got a girl’s number!

I need to save it right away!

If I save the number, it will automatically add her as a friend on KakaoTalk!

Oh, shit!

“But it’s late.”

1 AM.

It would be inconsiderate to contact her at such a late hour.

With a happy heart, I caught a taxi and returned home.

The next morning.

I woke up early and headed to the phone service center.

It was to repair my mom’s phone.

“It’s not charging. The battery is completely discharged. This happens occasionally with Oseong Galaxy series phones that have been used for more than 5 years.”

A discharged phone battery?

But something seemed odd.

“My mother got a new phone at the beginning of this year. How can such a new phone already be discharged?”

“Well, machines don’t always work exactly as humans want them to. It’s still under warranty, so we can replace it with another phone—”

How strange.

So my mom’s phone ended up breaking down.

I stopped by the hospital to inform my mom about this.

“Your phone broke down? Oh no, my life is ruined! If it could at least turn on, I could transfer the files inside! Can they really not fix it?”

“They said the battery is discharged. They mentioned something about replacing the battery.”

“How can a phone less than a year old already be discharged? That’s so strange. I think the service center is lying.”

“…It didn’t seem that way. Well, things can break down.”

Maybe it was because of the elevator?

That’s what I was thinking when my mom said:

“Yeongwon, nothing happens ‘just because’! Every problem has an answer!”

“……?”

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

What is it? It feels like something is about to come to mind.

…Well, there’s no way to fix a broken machine no matter how much we regret it.

Mom said she was going to have various tests done at the hospital today. I thought hospitals usually closed on weekends, but maybe because it’s a large hospital run by a corporation, doctors work on Saturdays too.

I decided to go back home.

Jeongseok and Yang Juhui were supposed to come over to our house today.

“Um… ma’am. Hello.”

But Yang Juhui didn’t come to our house; she came directly to the hospital where my mom was admitted.

I had told her the hospital name and room number yesterday, and she remembered.

“Oh my, you’re so pretty. Who are you?”

“I’m Yang Juhui. I’m in the same class as Yeongwon.”

Friend.

Were we lukewarm like friends?

Yang Juhui, who usually acted without hesitation, was fidgeting awkwardly like someone who needed to use the bathroom. Soon, she said to my mom:

“You look so young. I feel like I could call you ‘unnie’.”

“Of course. I had Yeongwon when I was your age. Looking back, I was really young. Seeing you reminds me of those days! By the way, Juhui, do you have a boyfriend?”

“What?”

“If not, how about our Yeongwon? Isn’t he handsome? In the style of today’s kids! I’m also part of the MZ generation. I think he’s handsome!”

Oh geez-

I suddenly felt very embarrassed, and I had a feeling that if I stayed any longer, some black history would be created that would make me cringe for the rest of my life.

“Mom! I’m going! Juhui! Let’s go! Jeongseok will be at our house soon!”

“Yeongwon. Wait a moment.”

Mom called me.

And with slightly teary eyes, she opened her wallet and whispered to me.

“I’ve been keeping this to give to you someday. Finally, this day has come.”

Wondering what it could be, I accepted it, and it looked like packaging that might contain vitamins.

However, this wasn’t vitamins…

“…No, Mom!”

“What? Contraception is important. Keep it in your wallet.”

“Come on. Mom, you seem fully recovered. Anyway, I’m going!”

I left the hospital with Yang Juhui.

Today was the day the Pirate Crew was supposed to gather to share opinions and play games.

Ding-

It seemed like a message had come from Jeongseok.

Is he already there waiting?

But when I checked, the message was from someone I hadn’t expected at all.

“Yu Dahui: Why didn’t you contact me yesterday? I was waiting ㅎ”

“……”

“What did Jeongseok say? Tell him to buy some snacks if he’s already there waiting.”

“Huh? No.”

I was startled and hid my phone.

Yang Juhui, who was leaving the hospital, narrowed her eyes.

“What’s up? Why are you acting like that? Are you hiding something? It’s not Jeongseok. Is it Jeong Sojin? Are you still in contact with her? She’s completely crazy! Do you know what happened at school yesterday?”

What happened with Jeong Sojin at school yesterday?

I don’t know.

Anyway, the important thing is that Yu Dahui sent me a message first.

Ding, ding-

Judging by the continuous notification sounds, it seems like she’s saying something to me.

I felt a bit awkward checking it in front of Yang Juhui.

“Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom.”

“Ha Yeongwon. You’re acting super suspicious right now.”

I know.

I know…

Before leaving the hospital, I quickly ran to the bathroom on the first floor and opened my phone.

“Yu Dahui: What are you doing today?”

“Yu Dahui: I’m bored”

She’s bored.

What am I doing today.

Is this perhaps an invitation to meet today?

A date request!?

My heart was racing, but… I had to decline with tears in my eyes!

“I think I’m meeting friends today ㅠ We planned to do something at home ㄷㄷ”

“Yu Dahui: Really? That’s great ㅎㅎ I’m in front of your house right now. I met Jeongseok on the way.”

“……”

What is she saying?