59. Was It Fun?
59. Was It Fun?
59. Was It Fun?
Yu Ha-yeon found daily life without training unbearably dull.
After the gate incident, the first-year students' bodies had been shrunk for a certain period.
The academy prohibited training for students with reduced bodies, concerned their senses would become scrambled.
Yu Ha-yeon's dormitory blazed with lights even at midday, bright enough to sting the eyes. She sent a message to the person she always contacted whenever boredom struck.
— Han Si-jun, what are you doing? I'm bored.
Han Si-jun rarely checked his phone, so his replies were slow. Yu Ha-yeon waited for ages.
"...Why isn't he looking at it?"
Time passed. Han Si-jun didn't reply.
Lately, his answers came later and later, and he used busyness as an excuse to grow distant. All he was supposedly doing was waiting in the dormitory for his body to return to normal. Yet Han Si-jun insisted he was busy.
Yu Ha-yeon found that displeasing. And suspicious.
'Lee Seol-ha, Ban Ha-na.'
The figures who had newly appeared and were getting in the way surfaced in her mind automatically.
One was already visibly infatuated with Han Si-jun, like a vixen.
The other had disliked Han Si-jun, but lately had been sending him strange glances.
"No way... right...?"
I've been watching him for years. There's no way Han Si-jun would be swayed by them.
Yu Ha-yeon was confident in her appearance. People praised it until their mouths went dry. Han Si-jun, though reluctant, had grudgingly admitted she was pretty.
"Yeah... Han Si-jun, who's seen me every single day, isn't going to fall for some little kid..."
Judging that Han Si-jun was probably napping, Yu Ha-yeon flopped around on her bed. Ban Ha-na didn't match Han Si-jun's type. A small, younger girl wasn't his taste.
"But..."
Why was she so uneasy?
The seed of doubt had sprouted, and Yu Ha-yeon couldn't easily control her emotions. Especially not when the unease involved Han Si-jun.
She operated her phone and called him immediately.
— The customer you are trying to reach is currently unavailable...
— The customer you are trying to reach is currently...
— The customer you are trying to...
"..."
She sent signal after signal. Han Si-jun never picked up.
Seized by anxiety, Yu Ha-yeon had no choice but to stop calling.
"This is your fault, Han Si-jun."
I had no choice.
You brought this on yourself.
Holding that thought, Yu Ha-yeon opened the 'Couple Location Tracker' app on her phone.
An app that let couples see each other's locations, designed for men prone to cheating.
On the day Han Si-jun met with the chairwoman, he had acted strange, so she had slipped his phone from his pocket and secretly installed it.
His lock pattern was only an L-shape. As his childhood friend, Yu Ha-yeon had easily unlocked it and installed the app.
"Where on earth are you that you're ignoring my calls?"
She stared at the screen and checked his location.
Why was Han Si-jun in a place like this?
The question surfaced alongside a shallow surge of anger.
"Hero Land...?"
A place Han Si-jun and Yu Ha-yeon had visited as children. Would Han Si-jun, who hated active outings, be there? There was no way he'd gone alone. Yu Ha-yeon was certain.
Han Si-jun, holding another girl's hand and riding the attractions.
Imagining it, anger boiled up inside her.
"First... I need to find out who he went with..."
Even if she went to Hero Land now, she wouldn't be able to find him in that vast space. There was only one entrance back into the academy. Yu Ha-yeon began to plan, intending to wait for him outside.
***
After the Gyro Drop.
Ban Ha-na was complaining about the aftereffects.
"Si-jun... were you trying to kill me...?"
"...Riding one ride like that isn't going to kill you."
In fact, the other visitors were exiting after enjoying the thrill. Judging by their wildly disheveled hair, they'd had a great time.
"Sh-Should we ride it one more time?"
That included Shin Si-hwa.
Ban Ha-na shrank back a little, as if they seemed abnormal to her.
"L-Lies... This has to be a dream..."
"...Alright. We'll stick to non-scary rides."
Ban Ha-na's amusement park combat power was fully assessed. The Gyro Drop boasted significant combat power among park attractions to begin with, so it was a poor fit for her.
'We should move.'
I took Ban Ha-na's hand and started walking in search of rides she could handle. Our most excited member, Shin Si-hwa, made a disappointed noise, but today's guest of honor was Ban Ha-na.
I bought a rabbit headband from a nearby shop stall and slipped it onto Ban Ha-na.
"Hehe... I'm a rabbit too!"
Perhaps she'd already forgotten the terror of the Gyro Drop, because she gave a happy smile.
'If having a bad memory means letting things go that fast, I'm a little envious.'
Bad memories slid off Ban Ha-na easily. I stroked her hair, now adorned with rabbit ears, as we walked through the park.
"Si-jun! I want to ride that one!"
Whenever an attraction caught Ban Ha-na's eye while we walked, we boarded it. She only picked simple rides: the merry-go-round, the Blue Dragon Train. She could enjoy small thrills, which made her highly cost-effective.
After a simple meal, the sky grew darker. I sensed we didn't have much time left.
"Ha-na. Want to go there for our last ride?"
"Hmm...?"
I picked our final ride. Every amusement park trip has one indispensable attraction, right?
Friends come for bumper cars and roller coasters.
Couples come for rides where they can stick close together and enjoy themselves.
When we arrived in front of the attraction, Ban Ha-na's voice shrank to a whisper.
"S-Si-jun. Isn't the haunted house scary...?"
"It's not scary at all. You'll be fine."
Probably.
I kept that last word to myself and took Ban Ha-na's hand.
"Can I sit this one out...?"
Shin Si-hwa said that and bowed out. She enjoyed speed-based thrills, but seemed frightened by things that jumped out suddenly.
"Then we'll go by ourselves."
"Take care, Si-jun..."
Left with no alternative, only Ban Ha-na and I entered the haunted house.
As if swallowed by the darkness from the very first step, Ban Ha-na squeezed my hand tight.
"If... if you let go of this hand... I'll die...! I might die...!"
"You won't die. They're just people."
The ghosts in a haunted house are all part-timers. Not supernatural phenomena, just people wearing costumes. I couldn't fathom being scared of that.
'Come to think of it, I've never been here with Yu Ha-yeon.'
I had a memory of going in with my parents long ago, but I'd never gone with Yu Ha-yeon, who was afraid of dark places. Technically, this was my first time bringing a girl here.
While I thought about that, walking down the dark corridor, the first danger arrived.
"M-Mirrors. Si-jun...!"
Countless mirrors lined the corridor, reflecting us as we walked with only small lights to guide us. Our reflections looked no different than usual, but an uncanny chill hung in the air.
'Mirrors, huh...'
When I saw them, an episode from V. AGE came to mind.
V. AGE had six episodes total. If you cleared all of them without dying, you could see the game's ending.
If my memory was right, one of the middle episodes was related to mirrors. It showed a person's future and let them speak with their future self. Players could use it to judge whether they were heading toward a happy ending or a bad ending.
'I wonder what my ending will be like.'
Unlike Ban Ha-na, trembling beside me like a leaf, I felt no tension at all. I kept walking, lost in thoughts about endings.
Then, Ban Ha-na lowered her voice.
"Si-jun... what's that up ahead...?"
Ahead of us, where we walked relying on dim lights, a human silhouette was faintly visible.
"A g-ghost! Si-jun...! It's a ghost...! S-Save me...!!"
"I told you, they're people."
Ban Ha-na made a scene, shaking my arm back and forth. What's so scary about people?
I wanted to escape this dark space quickly, so I led the fleeing Ban Ha-na forward, toward the figure ahead.
"S-Si-jun. You're trying to kill me...! You don't need me anymore, right...!? You're trying to abandon me...!?"
"Just what kind of videos have you been watching...?"
Ban Ha-na's reactions made no sense. I ignored her and walked on.
Then I had no choice but to stop. My reflection in the mirror looked slightly different.
I stopped and stared.
'What is this...?'
The me reflected in the mirror wore an expression tinged with regret.
'There's still quite a while before that episode happens...?'
It wasn't my shrunken current appearance. It was a more mature version of me. I didn't know why, but my eyes were seeing a future likeness.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror and came to a single guess.
'Is this a warning not to regret?'
It would have been nice if I could talk to the mirror version of me, but he didn't open his mouth. He only looked at me.
Ban Ha-na spoke to me in a panic.
"Si-jun...! What are you doing...! The ghost is coming closer...!!"
"Wait a moment, Ha-na."
This was more important than a ghost.
But the moment Ban Ha-na spoke to me, the me in the mirror vanished somewhere, hiding itself.
Just what had that been?
A natural phenomenon? Or the enforcement power of the world?
Still grappling with the inexplicable event, I sensed footsteps approaching from up ahead.
"Kyaaak...! Si-jun...! The ghost is coming...!!"
Ban Ha-na made a scene, her whole body shaking. And the thing she was so afraid of revealed itself from the darkness.
"Excuse me, we're in the middle of inspection. Didn't you see the sign out front?"
"...Huh?"
The lights in the mirror room came on, revealing a staff member. Absurdly, he was saying this was inspection time.
Ban Ha-na looked as bewildered as I was. The staff member called out to us.
"We're in the middle of inspection, so you need to exit..."
"L-Let's go...! Si-jun! Hurry...!!"
Dragged by Ban Ha-na's hand, I headed for the exit.
Just what had appeared in front of me? And why had I been wearing eyes so full of regret?
Mulling over the incident, I let Ban Ha-na's small hand pull me outside.
***
We had a great time at the amusement park, then headed back to the academy. It had felt short, but we'd actually spent quite a while. I could say with confidence that Ban Ha-na had filled that time well.
"Munyaa... Si-jun..."
Like a little kid who plays until she drops, Ban Ha-na rested her face against my shoulder and drifted off to dreamland. Out of consideration for her, Shin Si-hwa drove with notable care.
Time passed. Eventually, we arrived at the academy.
"Whew, that was tiring... Ha-na. Let's get you home."
I said that and reached to shake Ban Ha-na awake, but froze at the voice that followed.
"Han Si-jun. Looks like you had fun today, right? Ignoring my calls."
"...Yu Ha-yeon?"
Why was she in this parking lot? Along with the question, cold sweat beaded on my cheeks.
Yu Ha-yeon murmured to me, her expression frigid.
"Going to an amusement park with that kid. Was it fun? Behind my back."
Her voice carried a chill that froze my heart. I guessed inwardly.
'I'm screwed...'
This situation was a disaster. I could tell Yu Ha-yeon wasn't going to let this slide.