Chapter 2. The Last Vacation
Chapter 2. The Last Vacation
The early morning at the airport was bustling with the heat of crowds waiting to depart.
When I arrived at So-hee's place last night, she had already spread my suitcase out in the middle of the living room and was packing everything from toiletries to spare clothes.
Since more of my belongings were stationed at So-hee's place than in my own studio apartment, it was a natural progression.
We sat side by side, checking our passports, and after eating a late dinner, we chatted away until dawn, sharing lists of must-visit restaurants at our destination.
My body was tired, but watching So-hee talk with her cheeks flushed red from the excitement of the trip, it felt like all the fatigue accumulated at work evaporated like smoke.
"Ji-han-ah, I'm hungry! Can't we eat that? Huh?"
So-hee looked up at me with puppy-dog, pleading eyes in front of the flashy sign of a handmade burger shop.
Whenever she makes that harmless yet lethal expression, the word 'refusal' vanishes from my dictionary.
"Sure, let's do that."
Since we'd gotten up at the crack of dawn and hadn't eaten breakfast, I was hungry too.
As I took the menu she handed me, our fingertips brushed ever so slightly.
My lips curled up involuntarily at the faint, electric flutter running through my fingers.
It had been three years, so I should have been used to it, but strangely, in front of someone named Yoon So-hee, my heart pounded uncontrollably like a rookie's every single time.
Perhaps So-hee caught the smile that disarmed my usually blunt self, because she beamed as if she owned the world.
I chose a burger thick with fried egg and bacon, and So-hee picked one with fragrant basil sauce dripping from it.
"Did you exchange currency?"
"Of course. Who do you think prepared for this trip?"
"...So-hee."
"Exactly. So, Seo Ji-han-ssi, you just have to follow me."
So-hee grinned and pinched my cheek.
"Starting today, for the next three days, Seo Ji-han-ssi is going to empty his brain. Forget about work, forget about calculating numbers, and focus only on me. Got it?"
"I don't really think much to begin with."
"I'll give you that."
So-hee giggled.
After finishing our meal and checking our luggage, we headed to the duty-free gate.
Every time we passed a boutique store shining with flashy lights, So-hee's pace slowed as if pulled by a magnet.
Watching So-hee get excited over a single perfume tester strip and her eyes sparkle at a chocolate package, I volunteered to be the porter without a word of complaint.
I had learned over the past three years that getting worked up over such trivial sights was the charm of the wastefulness that travel provides.
Come to think of it, the place where I first met So-hee wasn't anything special either.
Three years ago, at the after-party for a friend's wedding—a friend who'd gotten into trouble and married shortly after high school graduation.
I was drinking alone in the corner because I couldn't be bothered to mingle with people, and So-hee suddenly sat next to me and started talking.
"Why are you sitting there all alone and boring?" she asked, and I replied dryly, "I'm always like this," to which she laughed out loud, wondering what was so funny.
And she's been by my side for three years.
By my side—blunt, cold, and terrible with words. What on earth does she see in me?
Zzzzing—
My pocket vibrated. It was Yu-hyeon.
[Yu-hyeon: Don't forget the duty-free whiskey. I'm serious.]
What a pain. I put my phone back instead of replying.
Near the gate, news was playing on a TV hanging from the ceiling.
— Following last night, mysterious luminous phenomena have been continuously observed in the skies across the globe until this morning.
Research institutions around the world, including NASA, have launched an emergency analysis, stating it is "a supernatural phenomenon far beyond the category of typical auroras or meteor showers."
Meanwhile, in some urban areas, reports of livestock and pets engaging in mass self-harm or bizarre, abnormal behavior have surged...
In the night sky on the screen, those streaks of light I saw on my way home from work yesterday were spreading.
I thought it might be AI footage since they weren't visible over Seoul, but it didn't seem to be.
The streaks of light in the video were much clearer than yesterday. Red, blue, green, yellow. It looked like someone had spilled paint across the sky.
"Wow, Ji-han-ah, look at that."
So-hee stopped walking and looked up at the screen.
"It's pretty. Isn't it like an aurora?"
"NASA said it's not an aurora."
"Then what could it be?"
"I don't know. Maybe aliens are invading."
"Ugh... seriously! Don't even say things like that!"
So-hee frowned and slapped my arm.
"Even if it's a joke, it's scary. Don't say stuff like that when we're going on a trip."
I chuckled. It's just that we don't know about them; there are actually more strange weather phenomena on Earth than one might think.
This, too, would likely be just the kind of gossip that the media would churn out sensational articles about—doomsday theories and whatnot—for a few days, only to be forgotten like a mirage in the public's memory after a month.
Because the world has always rolled along peacefully and boringly in that way.
The plane took off on time. About two and a half hours to Okinawa.
As soon as we took off, So-hee rested her small head on my shoulder and fell asleep.
She must have been tired after chattering excitedly until late last night.
As we climbed high into the sky, I could see the streaks of light mentioned in the news outside the window.
Seeing them in person, I felt a sense of eeriness.
Colors of all kinds rippled along the endless clouds.
Beside me, the sound of steady, rhythmic breathing was transmitted through my shoulder.
I didn't dislike that weight. In fact, I liked it.
'This is happiness.'
Since meeting So-hee, I had never been greedy, nor had I thought about being so.
Because I had too many memories of getting hurt from being greedy when I was young. So I decided to hope for only as much as I held in my hands.
If I don't get greedy, at least I won't have to shed tears of blood.
Even if it's not a grand life like others, just not jagged. Not extraordinary.
Just growing old in such a small, simple way beside the person I love.
That this much is enough.
I had always believed that without a doubt.
I glanced at the news subtitles appearing small on the in-flight monitor. It was still about that light.
I closed my eyes without much thought.
Ding-dong—
Along with the notification sound, the captain's arrival announcement came on.
It felt like I had just closed my eyes for a moment, but seeing that we had arrived in Okinawa, I must have been exhausted from work to the point of extreme fatigue.
The Okinawa I faced upon leaving the airport was terribly hot.
It was a sauna-like humidity on a completely different level from the muggy heat of Seoul, and the direct sunlight of the tropics poured down as if to burn my skin.
Contrary to So-hee's worries, it was far from chilly even in the evening; it was weather where you could barely catch your breath only after the sun went down.
On the way from the airport to the city by taxi, the exotic scenery passing by blurred my sense of reality.
Single-story houses with low roofs, tropical palm trees planted as street trees, and incomprehensible Japanese signs.
So-hee pressed her face close to the small window, shouting like a dolphin repeatedly, "Ji-han-ah, look at that! Daebak, there are palm trees there too!"
At an old restaurant on Kokusai Dori that we went into for lunch, we ordered a local dish called Okinawa Soba.
So-hee made a fuss about how delicious it was, and I just silently emptied my bowl.
To my taste, it was nothing more or less than a bland taste of knife-cut noodles in meat broth.
I couldn't understand why people would come all the way to Japan to eat something like this, but the moment I saw So-hee's face across from me, happily munching on the soba, that irrational question was cleanly cleared away.
Because seeing So-hee looking happy was, for me, a perfect reason in itself.
I wondered if others had the same reason.
After eating, we wandered around the busy market street nearby.
So-hee was busy going into every colorful souvenir shop and touching this and that.
After deliberating while picking up and putting down dolls of the 'Sisa (SHISA)', an imaginary monster said to be the guardian deity of Okinawa, and intricate glass craft ornaments, what she finally bought was a pair of palm-sized plush dolls.
A pair of identical dolls with bizarre smiles.
"Ji-han-ah, which one do you want? You take one, and I'll take one!"
So-hee said, showing me the two identical dolls. I took one without much thought and put it in my pocket.
Buying purple sweet potato ice cream sold on the street, one for each of us, we slowly walked toward the beach, licking the melting liquid.
So-hee took out a selfie stick and stuck close to my side.
"Ah, Seo Daeri-nim! At least force a smile when taking a picture!"
"This is my expression."
"Ah, you're really like a wooden block!"
In the end, the camera frame captured a few photos that formed a strange contrast: me, the wooden block who looked like he was bothered by everything in the world, and So-hee, whose face was in full bloom as if she had the whole world.
...It wasn't a bad photo.
And then, the Okinawa sea we faced. We just threw our luggage at the hotel and, as if possessed, went out to the pure white sandy beach.
It was a spectacular view.
The refreshing emerald sea that I had only seen in television documentaries was waving before my eyes.
So-hee kicked off her shoes and ran around excitedly on the white sandy beach.
Grabbing the hem of her fluttering white dress, she shrieked and splashed water every time the waves rolled in.
I sat on the sand under a shaded parasol, blankly capturing in my eyes the blue sea that made my eyes ache and So-hee's silhouette, which shone even more dazzlingly than that.
'...It's nice.'
Something touching welled up in a corner of my heart.
This salty sea breeze, the hot sunlight that felt like it would burn my skin, and my girlfriend laughing there while getting her dress wet. Everything was perfect.
"Ji-han-ah!"
So-hee ran over breathlessly and flopped down next to me. Seawater dripped from the ends of her hair, soaking my thigh.
"Why aren't you coming into the water? Are you just going to do sand baths after coming all the way to Okinawa?"
"It's a hassle. It feels sticky when seawater gets on me."
"Aigoo, you're really no fun."
So-hee pouted, then leaned against me, hugged her knees, and looked at the sea.
"You know, Ji-han-ah, let's save up money hard and go to the Maldives next time.
They say the seawater there is truly as transparent as crystal, so boats look like they're floating in the air.
And after that, let's go backpacking in Europe... Let's keep traveling around the world like this even when we get old and our hair turns white. How about it? Promise!"
"...Who's going to earn that massive amount of money?"
"Tsk, of course we'll earn it together! Our Seo Daeri-nim can earn a lot of money if you grow super fast!"
So-hee playfully called out my company rank and hummed a tune.
Then, suddenly, her voice quieted down a little.
"I... am really happy right now, Ji-han-ah. Just standing here with you makes life worth living."
I didn't know how to answer, so I just reached out and roughly messed up So-hee's wet hair.
"What is that, is that your answer?"
Despite my annoying touch, So-hee gave a bashful smile.
"Yeah. That's my answer."
"That's mean. Sometimes you could just say, 'I love you too~'."
"...."
I don't know how to bother wrapping my sincerity in cringey language.
Instead of an answer, I held So-hee's hand tightly.
That was the best I could do.
She'd understand this much, right? It's been three years.
So-hee looked down at our joined hands, chuckled as if satisfied, and leaned her head on my shoulder.
The sun was slowly sinking below the horizon.
The sunset turned bright red with a crimson hue.
The sound of the waves was quiet.
Before I knew it, there were only a few people on the beach, and it felt like only the two of us were left on the wide white sandy beach.
Suddenly, I felt a strange sense of incongruity.
The wind... was too calm.
Not even a single seagull flying in the sky cried, and not even the palm leaves in the distance moved.
It was like the silence of the night before a storm, as if the whole world was holding its breath, waiting for something to come.
That ominous silence scratched at my nerves for a moment, but feeling the breath of So-hee, who was leaning on my shoulder with her eyes closed in exhaustion, I soon erased it from my mind.
'It's probably nothing.'
It was peaceful.
It was the most ordinary and most perfect evening in the world.
And, it was at that very moment.
Beyond the sunset horizon, the sky began to ripple bizarrely.
At first, I thought it was clouds.
But it wasn't.
The middle of the sky, which had been burning red, began to crack bizarrely with a jjeojeok— sound, as if it had been struck by something huge.
"...Ji-han-ah?"
Sensing that something was wrong, So-hee raised her head.
"What... is that? Why is the sky like that?!"
In an instant, a murmur mixed with astonishment spread across the entire beach like a wave.
The people remaining on the beach looked up at the sky one by one.
Some trembled in fear and pointed at the sky with their fingers, and some couldn't hold it in and screamed.
In the distance, thousands of birds took flight all at once and were fleeing frantically somewhere.
Jjeojeojeok—!
I couldn't hear any sound, but it felt like I could hear a jjeojeojeok—! sound.
The sky, literally, split in half.
And through the gap in the split atmosphere, a flood of light began to pour down.
Thousands, tens of thousands of those ominous, colorful streaks of light I had seen on the news plunged indiscriminately toward the ground like a meteor shower.
Toward the people.
Toward So-hee.
And, toward me.