Chapter 61: Okay, I was wrong

Gravity Railway.

A railway built on the slope of a mountain to transport ore from the highlands.

This railway, shaped like a giant slide, gained great popularity as a tourist attraction, contrary to its original plan.
The result was the spread of word-of-mouth about the thrilling speed of the descent.

And the American businessman Lamarcus Thompson, who smelled money here, introduced a ride called the ‘Switchback Gravity Railway’, modeled after the gravity railway, at the amusement park ‘Coney Island’ in 1884.

It was the moment humanity opened its eyes to the new civilization of roller coasters.

“Uh…”

The reason I suddenly brought this up was,

“Hmm…?”

Because the amusement park looked dizzyingly small from the top of the rail.

“Oh, oh…”

Because the clicking sound of the lift, slowly increasing in altitude, was shaking my mind.

“Ah.”

Because the speed of this crazy iron lump, starting its descent into endless darkness without any warning, was faster than expected.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

All sorts of nonsense spewed from my mind because I wasn’t in my right mind. My shoulders were hunched, and sweat was pouring from my hands.

“Dojin, are you okay—”
“Aaaaaaaah!”

Before I could even hear unni’s words, a 360-degree vertical loop painted my body with a sensation I had never felt before.
The cold wind blowing through every hole in my body made it impossible to stay conscious.

What was even more frustrating was that this roller coaster was built indoors. Of course, I knew it was built with thorough safety checks and design, but the human brain prioritizes the visual information in front of it.

When the train narrowly passed through a bridge where people were walking at the end of the course, I was seriously wondering if my head was going to hit it.

“Ugh, ugh…”

I stumbled out of the exit and collapsed onto a bench. My ears were ringing, and I felt like I was going to die. The sensation of gravity pulling on the soles of my feet felt unfamiliar.

“Do-Dojin. Dojin…”

A large palm covered my spinning eyes. Unni, with a worried expression, waved her hand back and forth and continued.

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three…”

No, was it two? I don’t know. They all look the same. Anyway, unni, hearing my answer, started stroking my face with a tearful expression.

“Are you really tired? Do you feel like throwing up? S-Should I call an ambulance? Ugh, I should have just ridden the elephant train if I knew this would happen.”

“Unni…”

“Huh? Should I call them?”

“No, not that…”

I leaned against the bench and let my body go limp. After a few deep breaths, I felt my scattered mind returning to one place.

“Here… I mean, besides the indoor space, there’s also a roller coaster outside, right?”

“U-Uh, yeah. But why?”

As my mind cleared, the thrilling sensation I had experienced on the rail earlier came back to me, tickling the back of my neck.
My god, I had never felt such a chilling sensation in my life. To think I’m only riding this now. I feel like I’ve missed out on half of my life.

“Compared to the one we just rode, how scary is it?”

Unni’s eyes widened.
But soon, as if answering my question was more important than her own curiosity, she rested her chin on her hand and began to think seriously.

“Hmm… First, the height is lower than the Fruit Evolution we just rode. The speed is similar too. But there are a lot of sudden acceleration sections, so the perceived speed feels a little faster… And it splashes a lot of water, so it feels very chaotic?”

This was already thrilling enough, but it has sudden drops and even splashes water?
Just thinking about it made my whole body tingle.

“But why are you asking? You’re not thinking of riding it, are you? It’s still too early for you, Dojin. Let’s go ride the elephant train with me instead of that—”

Unable to contain my surging excitement, I instinctively jumped up from the bench.

If I keep riding from now on, how many more can I ride? No, since I’m here, I should try to ride a variety of them. There might be a jackpot among them.

As I was thinking that, stepping forward like a five-year-old child who had come to an amusement park for the first time, I felt a heavy sensation on my left hand.

“Ah.”

What I was holding in my left hand was Dasom’s hand. Her fingers were tightly intertwined with mine, looking quite firm.

…Come to think of it, when I was on the roller coaster earlier, I was so flustered that I grabbed onto anything I could, starting with the safety bar. And the last thing I grabbed was unni’s hand.

Unlike the other things that shook precariously and were easily let go, unni’s hand clung to mine and wouldn’t let go.

The sense of stability, like holding onto a subway handle, made me unconsciously hold on.

Startled, I quickly let go of her hand. I must have been holding on so tightly, as her hand was slightly red.

“Sorry, did it hurt?”

“Ah…”

Unni, who had let out a faint groan and was clenching and unclenching her hand, soon flinched her shoulders and started waving her hands frantically.

“N-No. No, no, no? It didn’t hurt at all. Forget about that, let’s just go quickly. Th-That, you said you were going to ride it, Atlas. It’s peak time now, so we’ll have to wait a long time if we’re late.”

Unni said that and started walking.

I also quickly stepped forward, but with her speed, as if she were using a shrinking technique, all I could do was follow her from ten steps behind.

****

“Phew.”

As I drank some water, a groan, like an old man’s, escaped my lips reflexively. I knew it was unseemly, but I couldn’t help it. It felt like adrenaline was flowing from every corner of my brain.
As I was spread out on the chair like a limp noodle, using the back of the chair as a support, a sharp voice came from across the table.

“Pfft.”

Dasom, sitting in front of me, was fiddling with her smartphone and letting out a silly laugh.

“What’s so funny?”
“Mmm, our Dojin came out so cute. Phew, hehe…”

Dasom, who had been letting out thick breaths and tapping her smartphone frantically, soon froze like a stone.

“No, I mean, I was just thinking the facility is really pretty. They say ten years is enough to change a river and a mountain, and it has changed a lot. Right?”

I just stared at unni’s face without saying anything. Unni, who had been avoiding my gaze, finally lowered her gaze, her face as red as a beet.

“I-I’m sorry. For secretly taking pictures without telling you…”

However, what came out of her mouth was a completely unexpected and absurd statement. I thought she was embarrassed for acting so unseemly.

“…But I only took thirty pictures?”

Dasom said in a barely audible voice, fiddling with her fingers. The way she kept glancing at me seemed to say, Aren’t you proud of me for holding back so much?
I couldn’t help but laugh at her absurd appearance.

“Let’s see what you took.”

“Oof.”

On the smartphone screen was a picture of me looking in the mirror, wearing animal ear headbands. Dammit, to think she took a picture of me trying it on for a moment out of curiosity.

I pushed away unni, who was fidgeting and trying to snatch the smartphone, and scrolled down.

Me, pale from a balloon bursting right next to me. Me, rubbing my butt after falling while skating. Me, looking up at the sky with a terrible expression after getting off the Gyro Swing. Me, eating a churro with a fake expression, my eyes wide like a squirrel… I should probably delete this one.

“No!”

Unni, who had snatched the smartphone with a nimble movement, started scrolling through the gallery with a fiery gaze, checking if any pictures were deleted.

The thought of thirty pictures like that being taken made my skin crawl, but well, forget it. I had taken several ridiculous pictures of her too.

The picture of unni, smiling like a fool, looking at me without even knowing there was ice cream on her nose, was truly a masterpiece.

Of course, unlike someone, my pictures weren’t taken secretly. They were taken while openly laughing at her.

“Why, why are you looking at me like that…?”

Unni’s gaze, which had been fixed on my smirking lips, trembled as if an earthquake had hit.

It was just a laugh that came out because it was funny, but judging by her overreaction, she seemed to have a guilty conscience about something.

Whatever it was, it was a good reaction.
Because it had been a very long time since unni had shown me an emotion other than guilt.

“No, just. I was just worried you were walking around without knowing there was something on your face.”

Unni’s face swelled up like a balloon about to burst. This, her dignity as an older sister was at stake.

“That expression was good.”

As I pressed the shutter of the DSLR camera, Dasom covered her face with her hands. With each press of the shutter, the red hue of her face deepened.

“D-Don’t…”

How can someone who’s turning thirty the day after tomorrow be cuter than a high school student?

“You took thirty pictures, so I should take that many too.”
“…”

Unni’s mouth closed tightly. It was time to repay the humiliation of being treated like a baby all day.

“Don’t cover your face. I still have twenty-two more to go.”
“I-I’m sorry…”

Riding that momentum, I continued to tease unni, but a thought suddenly came to my mind.

What if I hadn’t met Han Yeoreum at the jjimjilbang that day?
What if I had chosen to keep running away instead of facing her?
What if I hadn’t realized my own desires?

What kind of relationship would unni and I have now? No, I was more curious about what kind of expressions we would be making.

But anyway, I made a choice, and I had been pushed to a point where I could no longer turn back.

Now, I have to push aside the trivial worries and move forward.
Even if the end is a cliff, that fact will not change.