episode_0009

A funeral hall filled with artificial flowers sent by the foundation run by Jena’s father.

It was empty because no one stayed for a long time. The dead have no relatives.

After taking a quick glance at the lonely scenery, the black-haired girl calmly opens her mouth.

“… That’s surprising. Why are you guarding your senior’s wedding hall like a resident?”

“You. What kind of shame are you coming here for? Aren’t you going out?”

Yena, who spent an entire night kneeling in the deserted ceremony hall, shows caution to the unwelcome mourners.

‘First year Jeong Da-hyeon.’

okay.

I was worried starting from the new semester because the two of us tried to stay alone in the dark club room in the old building.

If that damn woman hadn’t incited Gyu-kyung, there wouldn’t have been a fight with the horn gun.

-She’s definitely the bitch who indirectly influenced the death of my childhood friend.

Maybe he was secretly harassing me.

When I pressed him, I thought it was fortunate that he agreed and backed off… … .

How dare you shamelessly come all the way here!?

I bite my lower lip so hard that the blood drains and glare at it.

Dahyun, not paying much attention to the glares, takes out a paper bag from her arms and holds it to Yena.

“I don’t mean to fight. I have something to tell senior Yena.”

An off-white headband was pulled up over her black hair, which was combed somewhat in one direction. He must be 10cm taller than her.

Even considering that Yena is smaller than average, she is tall.

Although she is not decorated extravagantly, she is the epitome of a simple beauty.

“This is it.”

“… Don’t approach me arbitrarily.”

If you didn’t know her true nature, you would have thought Yena was an ordinary and timid high school junior. It’s creepy.

He slaps the ‘junior’s’ hand away with the back of his hand and refuses his approach.

As if he didn’t like the other side as well, he exhaled evenly and fixed his almost red-brown eyes directly on Jena’s wall.

“Phew. When I was in high school, I decided to endure it as much as possible, right? I will first ask why you are refusing.”

“Hmm, there’s no way I can just take what you’re giving me, right? On the topic of raw lamb arches… .”

On the topic of raw lamb arches –

Dahyun, whose eyebrows don’t even move when called by her nickname, sits across the table.

Then, in frustration, I take off the jade headband and my hair sticks out.

The docile and timid atmosphere suddenly reverses.

“… To be honest, I was surprised when the senior there recognized me. He was the friend next door to Jeong Gyu’s senior, right? The only time we saw each other was when we were in middle school.”

Dahyun mumbles, “As expected, there is no such thing as a perfect transformation.”

“-If you understand, get out of the way right away. W, this is no place for a nerd like you!”

I cried, cried while being interrogated, and cried without sleep.

The weight of the tears flowing down my cheeks felt like a thousand pounds, and it was painful every time I cried.

Fortunately, the tears dried and I was able to put on the mask representing myself again. but-

‘I don’t know. ‘What should I do now?’

A long-standing promise to him was broken. After that, no matter what you do, you will break it.

Now I just want to relive the sad farewell through a funeral.

Therefore, there is no way you would want to bring in uninvited guests to this quiet place.

“Ugh… We’ve come a long way to get here, isn’t it okay to light some incense and leave? People are so mean. The incense burner is empty.”

After the two incense sticks that Jena and her father had burned, no incense was added.

Jena was nervous because it seemed like it meant the number of people who remembered the dead person.

If more people were recognized, the dead friend would feel better.

“… Then quickly smoke it and get out.”

“Yes, yes. I still don’t know why you act like a resident.”

Yena almost ignores the hand gestures and takes out a lighter, as if shooing away a fly.

And other stuff too.

“What are you doing!?”

incense… Didn’t you say that?

Instead of incense burner, light a candle in your mouth.

Although the outward appearance has changed little,

The image of a delinquent child wandering around with his hair dyed reddish and wearing an aviator jumper is nice.

“It’s complicated. I quit smoking so I could go to the same school as my regular senior. I literally studied hard. It hasn’t even been three months since we met again, but it’s useless.”

Nakwon High School is a prestigious private institution in the region, so it is not easy to get into.

Raising my grades at No Base and being admitted was close to a human victory.

“… How many times have you met with us!? Didn’t Gyu-kyung really recognize that the bully was you?”

“It’s too dull. At first, I decorated it with a similar atmosphere to my senior’s ‘ex-girlfriend’, but… ?”

As soon as I heard the words ‘ex-girlfriend,’ my blood rushed to my stomach.

I can’t take it anymore!

“You.”

“Why? Stay calm.”

“-Shut up. She wasn’t a girlfriend or anything! Don’t speak carelessly if you don’t know much. Don’t you know that I didn’t show up for the funeral?”

Dahyun was startled when an ugly figure appeared inside the wall.

I couldn’t answer because an inexplicable emotion that transcended life was in my eyes.

“Ugh, it’s all because of you guys. It was a time when he had almost stabilized from the shock of losing his parents! My body has almost recovered. But after meeting you, I lost my motivation and couldn’t get back together again! I resented you.”

Water builds up again in the tear ducts that I thought had dried up.

Why do you show up at a time like this and sprinkle salt on my holed heart? why-! Why on earth!!!

He becomes angry towards Dahyun, others, and the world, and then turns the point of his arrow on himself.

‘no.’

In the end, it’s because of me.

He said there was nothing he was more happy about getting to know me.

She herself became pitiful and shamelessly grabbed her ‘junior’s’ shoulders and sobbed incessantly.

“Give it back to me. Hmm… Hmm. Why do people who are important to me leave first? Why on earth-?”

My mother, the kind couple next door, and my precious childhood friend –

I didn’t believe the false prophecy made by the wandering shaman, but I thought that my childhood friend would eventually come back to her side.

However, in the end, despite his foresight, he left for a place he could never return to.

“You were a stronger person than you believed. I got a lot of help. So I don’t believe he committed suicide. If you’ve known me for a long time, you’d be even more heartbroken.”

Pat your back quietly.

Was Jeong Gyu recognized by someone? Everything, I’m glad.

When Yena sees her junior who doesn’t push her away, she feels even more disgusted with herself, so she pushes Dahyun away.

“Get out now. I don’t want to see this.”

“… It would be a good idea to change your attitude of looking down on regular seniors even now”

“Do not interfere. I’ll take care of it.”

The word “I don’t like” doesn’t contain any certainty.

Before turning around, Dahyun takes out a paper bag from her arms and gives it to her.

Get “. What about that envelope? This is a message that my senior asked me to deliver to you exactly 5 days later. He really wants to ask me a favor. I didn’t know it was a will at the time. I tried to give it to the police or open it, but ended up failing. Because you trusted me-.”

The junior walked away, dropping the lit tobacco on the floor. I will never have a chance to talk to you again in my life.

Joo Yena hesitates to open the letter she left me.

What if it contains curse words?

What if it’s a curse word that denies our time?

Can I endure it?

When I was patting a white paper bag so hard that it burned my hands,

Not long after, the homeroom teacher and an unfamiliar person came together. A middle-aged male teacher, with a pretense of dignity, gives a blunt warning.

“Yenaya. Come to school starting tomorrow. I told your father.”

“Yes-?”

“I’ve already been absent for 3 days. 3 days. Since we are not relatives, we cannot process it through public opinion. You’re not going to college? It’s someone else. The kids in my class told me that we lived next door, but we weren’t really close. It’s sad. But it’s an important time. I have to try to forget it.”

“… … … … .”

“Uh-huh, everyone is going to die. You’re not going to die along with me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Forget it-? Do you think you can forget it?

It was an unfamiliar person who stopped the cruel homeroom teacher.

He was a detective with an unlucky mustache, and he was holding a cane.

“Hello. This is Inspector Son Da-ik of the I Police Station.”

“… I told the police everything I knew. Are there more left-?”

The more I testified, the more miserable I realized that I knew nothing about him recently.

“Oh, I’m not the person in charge of the case. I had a personal curiosity, so I wanted to meet Yena through this guy. The autopsy clearly concluded that it was suicide. He died from shock due to cutting his tongue and a chronic illness. Wouldn’t it have been so painful that it was hard to imagine? I’m surprised they came up with this method of suicide!”

The unimaginable pain, did he regret it when he died?

It would have been a split second if I had fallen to my death.

No, if I had spoken a little more kindly, he might not have chosen death.

So I regret it.

“I am the detective in charge of the double suicide case of Shin Jeong-gyu’s parents. That incident was quite impressive. I would say I am personally investigating it.”

It wasn’t clear, the detective muttered and winked.

I felt a sense of fear because he seemed insensitive to death.

“-So?

“You haven’t been friends with him the longest, right? Didn’t the regular army have mental problems? Please be honest. They say they didn’t get along well with people at school.”

She flashed a pretentious smile at the two and pursed her neat lips.

“Aha, haha. I don’t want to talk any more with rude people, so please leave.”

-At the same time as she said that, the candles on the altar suddenly shook, but only she noticed.

***

I left the funeral home.

It was late at night when the last bus would have run out.

The dusk took all the shine from Jena’s blonde hair. He walks in the center of the road as if possessed by something.

A feeling of emptiness flows.

On the other hand, my heart is full and pounding. I can’t explain this feeling. What on earth is it?

When I opened the paper bag I received from the former gangster, there was a line of text written in alphabet.

“I didn’t forget my promise.”

“Yes! Hehehe, I didn’t forget either.”

There are no more fake smiles.

He smiled brightly like a child and hugged the letter tightly in his arms like a teddy bear.

I finally figured it out! I realized it.

-The overwhelming feeling was clearly love.

I was in love.

So I didn’t avoid it.

―Baaa!!!!!

Horns sounding like thunder and flashing lights.

A truck with a huge body.

***

“… Don’t be funny. Are you sorry for coming now?”

How much time has passed?

Instead of darkness, light spreads around my eyes, and my frowning childhood friend yells in front of me.

School rooftop… … ? Yena’s head rotates at a speed beyond imagination. Only one possibility emerges.

-Are you back? How many days ago?