The Road to the Sea
It had already been several days since she'd spent the whole day shopping downtown with Suyeon and come back home.
In the meantime, Yeoncheong had been enjoying a vacation all her own—revisiting games she'd abandoned ages ago, or trying out recipes that looked promising on social media and the internet.
Now this is what a break is supposed to feel like.
It was summer, and it had been hot enough already. The air conditioner held a comfortable temperature and kept the apartment pleasantly cool, and Yeoncheong had no intention of leaving her bed even in the middle of the day.
She leaned back against the headboard with a freshly unwrapped ice cream bar in hand and stretched her legs out long in front of her. With no one around to see, she'd shed her tracksuit entirely and lounged in nothing but her underwear.
In truth, Yeoncheong had never been the type to hole up at home just because it was summer. If anything, she used to be the kind who insisted you had to embrace the heat a little to stay healthy in the summer months.
Of course, that was before she learned the hardship of sweat pooling between her chest and her underwear. Once she discovered that indescribably sticky, clammy discomfort, that was when she'd shut herself indoors.
Man, I have no idea how people in the old days survived this heat.
Just as Yeoncheong was offering silent thanks to the great inventor of the air conditioner, her smartphone rang out noisily.
Stretching her arm to its full length, she grabbed the phone off the nightstand and answered.
"Hello?"
[Yeoncheong, are you home?]
The caller was Chairwoman Yurim.
"Yes, I'm home."
Though she hadn't meant to, a note of wariness crept into her voice. The memory of being interrogated about underwear and then dragged all over the place was still painfully vivid.
As she tilted her head, wondering what this could be about, and waited for the answer on the other end of the line, a giggling laugh came through, and Yurim explained the purpose of her call.
[I've got something for you, so I stopped by. Come down for a sec.]
Only then did her tension ease a notch, and Yeoncheong answered that she'd be right down before heading out of the apartment.
The moment she opened the door, a heavy, muggy wave of heat hit her. Worried the cool air inside would leak out, she shut the door quickly and hurried outside.
As she approached the familiar car parked nearby, the window rolled down and Chairwoman Yurim waved.
Yeoncheong bent at the waist and met Yurim's eyes through the driver's seat.
"What brings you all the way out here?"
"You're going to the beach with your friends tomorrow, aren't you? Take this and eat it while you're there."
Yurim unclasped her seatbelt for a moment, reached over, and handed her the envelope sitting on the passenger seat. Inside was a bounty of fruit—expensive fruit, at that.
A question was written plainly across Yeoncheong's face: Why would you give me this?
Yurim refastened her belt over the insistent chime of the car's warning system and said, "Call it a bribe for the girls."
Yeoncheong couldn't hide her embarrassment, at a loss for how to express her gratitude.
"You really didn't have to go this far. You're not even my parent..."
"That's exactly why—there's no one else to look after you. And I wanted to apologize for not mentioning it before your school trip."
Thanks to her endlessly kind friends, things had worked themselves out in the end, but the regret of not having warned her in advance had lingered in a corner of Chairwoman Yurim's heart ever since.
Of course, Yeoncheong—who already owed the woman help in more ways than she could count—didn't blame her one bit.
With a voice full of mischief, Yeoncheong peered down at Yurim.
"A little late for that, isn't it?"
"You don't get to say that while accepting a bribe."
Having caught on that it was a joke, Yurim played along with a smile.
Resting a hand on the car window, Yeoncheong offered her thanks.
"I'll enjoy it, I promise."
"Good. Just don't stay out too la—"
Yurim, launching into the nagging she'd have given on behalf of Yeoncheong's parents abroad, suddenly froze mid-sentence.
Wondering what was wrong, Yeoncheong lifted her head slightly—
—and gravity did the rest. Down through the slack neckline of her tank top.
"You—you little maniac!"
Yeoncheong's unrestrained chest, uncovered because she'd complained it was too hot to wear a bra, was on full display.
Following Chairwoman Yurim's gaze, Yeoncheong looked down, and her face flushed crimson in an instant.
"Ha Yeoncheong! Even if your place is right downstairs, this is too much! Do you seriously think it's acceptable to come outside dressed like that?!"
Yeoncheong fled upstairs, leaving Yurim's scolding behind her, and the lecture she hadn't managed to deliver came pouring in nonstop through KakaoTalk messages instead.
Using the sunlight filtering through the curtains as her alarm had been her routine all vacation—but today, and today only, Yeoncheong woke to the sound of her smartphone alarm.
She tossed her bag, stuffed with a change of clothes, fresh underwear, and a towel, down by the front door. The straight eyes of the swinging capybara keychain seemed to curve ever so slightly, as if quietly amused.
Dressed in the shorts and short-sleeved shirt she'd worn on the school trip, Yeoncheong busied her knife in a small corner of the kitchen. With each cut, the fruit Chairwoman Yurim had given her fell into neat, bite-sized pieces.
She packed the fruit into a disposable cooler bag she'd rushed out to buy the night before, along with some ice packs, then grabbed one of the shopping bags still piled up from her trip downtown with Suyeon.
Two days away from home. After disposing of the freshly made fruit peels and food waste, Yeoncheong came back in, wiped the sweat beading on her forehead, and raised a hand.
Clothes, underwear, toothbrush...
A finger folded down with each item she counted, checking for anything forgotten. With the swimsuit she'd ordered to match Suyeon's, Yeoncheong fell silent.
In the stillness, certain she'd packed everything, she gave a firm nod. When she lifted her head and checked the clock, there seemed to be plenty of time before they were supposed to meet.
Still, better safe than sorry.
God only knew what she'd be called if she showed up late on a day like this. Slinging the bag of clothes over her shoulder in place of a school bag and carrying the shopping bag of fruit in her hand, Yeoncheong stepped out into the sweltering heat—leaving behind her tracksuit, buried pitifully between pillow and blanket at the corner of her neatly made bed, its sleeves stretched out begging to be taken along.
"Hey! Ha Yeoncheong!"
Nayun, who'd come outside the terminal and was scanning the crowd, spotted Yeoncheong and waved her over.
She snatched the shopping bag from Yeoncheong's hands and strode ahead, while Yeoncheong trailed behind her, panting hard.
"I thought you weren't gonna make it before the bus left."
"I—I seriously, left early today, I swear..."
Yeoncheong felt genuinely wronged.
Just when you think you've accounted for everything, life gets you. Summer break sat right on the edge of adults' vacation season, so she'd factored that in, left home early, and even taken a taxi—a rare choice for her—only to hit gridlock with the terminal right in front of her. In the end she'd jumped out mid-route and sprinted the rest of the way in a complete frenzy.
Looking at her friend's utterly spent face, Nayun decided against saying anything more.
Inside the terminal, the crowds were a human tide. Thanks to Nayun coming out to meet her, Yeoncheong found the others in no time.
Suyeon, whom she'd seen most recently, along with Seoha and Hasol, whom she hadn't seen since before the break, smiled and welcomed their tardy friend.
"Yeoncheong, it's been forever~"
Hasol stood up and offered her seat. Yeoncheong, worn out from her unplanned sprint, wasn't about to refuse the kindness.
"Glad you made it on time."
Seoha, sitting beside her, handed over a bottle of water. Yeoncheong downed what was left in one go and thanked her.
"Thanks. I thought I was going to die."
With both hands on her hips, Suyeon laid into her friend for cutting it so dangerously close.
"What took you so long?"
"Hey, let it go. I saw her—traffic was backed up and she ran from way down the block."
Thanks to Nayun taking her side as she set the shopping bag on the floor, Suyeon stopped there.
She'd clearly sprinted here worried she was cutting it close, yet the sight of her friends waiting without having boarded the bus puzzled Yeoncheong.
"Hasn't the departure time already passed?"
"That's right now."
"What?"
Suyeon sighed and looked outside, and Yeoncheong sprang back to her feet, flustered. Just as her heart grew heavy with the thought that maybe everyone had waited on her account, Hasol chimed in to fill in the gaps.
"Don't worry. The bus hasn't even arrived yet."
Only then did Yeoncheong let out a breath of relief and slump her head down.
Suyeon wore the face of someone who wanted to tease her a little longer, but seeing her friend drenched in sweat, she decided to let it slide.
Having realized why this one spot was so disproportionately crowded, Yeoncheong asked, "When do they say it's getting in?"
The friends answered with a collective shrug.
Once she'd caught her breath, Yeoncheong reached down and picked up the shopping bag on the floor. Her friends' attention quickly shifted to the container she pulled out of the cooler bag.
"So, want a little snack while we wait?"
Yeoncheong picked up a piece of fruit, popped it in her mouth, and held the container out to the others. Watermelon, peaches—all cut into easy, bite-sized pieces. At the unexpected contents, her friends' eyes lit up.
"Whoa! You even brought fruit? And here I thought you weren't planning anything..."
At the sight of Suyeon regarding her with narrowed eyes, Yeoncheong cleared her throat awkwardly.
"I didn't buy it, okay? The chairwoman gave it to us to eat together."
Her friends, likewise picking up pieces with their bare hands, smiled in satisfied delight.
Only after everyone had grabbed a slice or two and waved her off insisting they'd had enough did Yeoncheong put the lid back on the container. Seoha wiped her hands with a wet wipe and asked,
"Why did the chairwoman give it to you?"
"She said to keep taking good care of—"
Yeoncheong, who'd been relaying the story exactly as she'd heard it, stopped mid-sentence.
She'd decided there was no need to go into all that—but the realization came a little too late. Her friends were smirking at her.
"Not a single word out of any of you. Tease me and you're dead."
Perhaps the heartfelt warning got through, because they didn't tease her—but a different wave of questions came rushing at her instead.
"You're really nothing more than acquaintances with the chairwoman?"
"Really. She's friends with my dad, and they're sunbae-hoobae from school. That's the whole story."
Fortunately, an announcement came over the speakers that the bus Yeoncheong and her friends would be boarding had arrived, sparing her any further interrogation.
"Bus is here. Let's go, let's go."
As they boarded the late-running bus one by one, Yeoncheong stared openly at Suyeon, who stood in front of her. Sensing the gaze, Suyeon narrowed her eyes.
"Do I have something on my clothes?"
"No, I was just thinking that outfit you bought looks really good on you."
Suyeon was wearing the clothes from their shopping trip downtown. Yeoncheong had tossed the remark out casually, recalling the memory from just a few days ago.
"Wh—huh?"
A flush spread across her friend's face so suddenly that Yeoncheong worried she was coming down with something—but Suyeon just lowered her head and pushed Yeoncheong onto the bus ahead of her.
"Never mind. Just hurry up and get on."
With the boarding itself delayed and the highway congested on top of that, Yeoncheong and her friends arrived at the beach later than planned.
The one small comfort was that they didn't need to wait around for check-in at their accommodations.
There was no separate room to speak of—just the lodgings with two beds roomy enough for two each and one spacious bathroom, which Yeoncheong and her friends gave a quick once-over. While the others pooled their luggage together and gathered their swimsuits and odds and ends, Yeoncheong tucked the fruit into the mini fridge.
Amid the show-and-tell of everyone's newly bought swimsuits, Suyeon handed Yeoncheong a black one.
"Here, this one's yours."
Hasol, finding this odd, asked, "Why do you have Yeoncheong's?"
"I ordered them together from a shopping site I was browsing."
Nayun, recalling the shapeless lump of fabric that had gone flying out of the package, asked, "It's a one-piece, right?"
"Considering Suyeon ordered it, I just assumed it'd be a bikini, honestly."
When Seoha added her own none-too-subtle disappointment, Yeoncheong snorted.
"Ha! No matter what, I should at least get to pick my own swimsuit."
Suyeon, who'd been quietly keeping to herself, corrected Nayun's assumption and set the record straight.
"Yeoncheong, the one you ordered isn't a one-piece. It's a monokini."
"What's that?"
Yeoncheong tilted her head as she examined the swimsuit Suyeon had handed her. It was a type of swimsuit she'd never once heard of in her life.
"Well, it looks like a one-piece from the front, but... actually, never mind. You'll figure it out the second you put it on."
Hasol's lips fluttered as she tried to explain, but the other girls shushed her, and Yeoncheong never got to hear the rest. The four of them snickered among themselves over some secret only they were in on.
That was when Yeoncheong began to suspect that something, somewhere, had gone very wrong.