Missing #3
The literary girl Yu Da-hee bought a huge pile of snacks and cup ramen at the convenience store and shared them with me. I took one cup ramen and one bag of chips.
Slurrrr— When I poured water into my cup ramen, Yu Da-hee followed suit and poured water into hers too. It was a little surprising.
Yu Da-hee from Class 1-A was somewhat famous at school. Every morning she arrived in a sleek, luxurious black car. It was only natural that rumors swirled about her being the daughter of an insanely wealthy family.
So seeing a girl from that kind of background sitting on a plastic chair outside a bustling downtown convenience store at nearly ten o’clock on a Friday night, waiting for her cup ramen to cook… it felt strangely fascinating.
“It should be done now. I think we can eat.”
Swish— The moment I peeled back the lid, steam rose in lazy curls from the noodles soaked in bright red broth. I’d eaten beef bone soup earlier, but honestly I barely remembered swallowing it since I’d left halfway through. My stomach still had plenty of room.
You should never underestimate the stomach of a first-year high school boy.
Slurp— Sitting in front of the convenience store eating ramen made everything that had just happened feel like a dream. And as my belly gradually filled, the entire situation I was caught in started to feel like just another unreal dream.
Me, sitting in a downtown convenience store at ten at night with the school’s famous literary girl, Yu Da-hee.
Srrrr— Yu Da-hee finished her ramen and slowly opened her narrow eyes.
“You haven’t been coming to school for the past few days, right? Because of that, I had to clean the library all by myself.”
“Ah… there was some stuff going on at home.”
“Really? Was it something bad? Is it resolved now?”
“More or less.”
I felt a little awkward in front of Yu Da-hee, unsure what to say. The three years I spent in an all-boys middle school had turned me into a total loser around girls.
With someone like Yang Ju-hui or Bong Ji-yeon—the delinquent types who lived however they wanted—I could talk pretty comfortably. But Yu Da-hee was on another level. Among all the girls my age I’d met, she was the most refined… the most elegant.
If I had to compare it, I was a stray cat living on the streets, suddenly face-to-face with a purebred Persian cat from some ridiculously rich household. I had no idea what to say. I kept worrying that I looked like an idiot or that I smelled bad.
Come to think of it, I’d barely washed or done laundry these past few chaotic days. I had no clue how I must look right now.
“……”
“……”
Our conversation naturally died. Yu Da-hee gazed leisurely at the street, while I sat there feeling incredibly awkward, wondering if I should say anything at all. This must be how guys feel on a blind date when they realize they’re completely out of their league.
I wouldn’t know. I’d never been on one.
Why was I even experiencing something like this right now? Who was Yu Da-hee, really?
I didn’t know much about her. She was the library committee member for Class 1-A. She liked foreign novels. Rumors said she came from a rich family. That was pretty much it. High school made it surprisingly difficult to get close to kids from other classes.
Honestly, if she hadn’t been the library committee member, I probably would’ve gone my whole life without ever speaking to her.
“Ah.”
Suddenly something occurred to me. I opened my bag and pulled out the book I’d been carrying around for a while.
It was Easy Guide to Feng Shui and Geography.
“You gave me this book last time, right?”
“Ah. That book.”
“It actually helped me a lot.”
“Really? That’s strange. I don’t remember ever giving you this book, Yeong-won.”
What the hell was she talking about? There had even been a sticky note that said “Yu Da-hee” on it!
For a second I felt dizzy, wondering if this was another ghost or monster prank. Then Yu Da-hee laughed.
“Pffft. I’m kidding. You kept dozing off, so I didn’t want to wake you. I just left it by your head. What were we talking about back then… something about ghosts, right?”
So the ghost conversation hadn’t been a dream. The line between dream and reality had been so blurry, but now it was finally clear.
“We were talking about ghosts?”
“Wow. That’s cold. You really forgot we talked?”
Yu Da-hee frowned and dramatically turned her head away, pretending to be sulky. Just that alone dealt massive psychological damage. It was a completely different kind of attack from when Yang Ju-hui would scowl and ask, “You wanna die?”
“We were talking about the shaman ghost, the hair ghost, and the third ghost. The scariest one is the third ghost. Everyone who meets it dies, so no one knows what it really is.”
It really was a terrifying story. A ghost that killed everyone who encountered it, leaving its identity forever unknown. But something about it bothered me.
“Then how do people even know the third ghost exists? If everyone who meets it dies and no one knows what it is, how could the rumor even spread? There wouldn’t be any witnesses.”
“Hmm… now that you mention it, that’s true. You’re the type who picks apart every little detail, huh, Yeong-won.”
Oh no. Did I lose points for overanalyzing? After fighting ghosts these past few days, I’d gotten too used to fact-checking everything…
Talking to girls was just as difficult for me as fighting ghosts. Yang Ju-hui really was easy to talk to. Was this the difference between easy mode and hard mode?
“Someone once told me that every problem has an answer in the end. Yeong-won, try focusing on the essence a little more.”
“……?”
Whooo— A cold wind blew past, making me shiver. Even though summer was approaching, the spring evening was still chilly.
The sudden lull in conversation and the heavy silence were unbearable. I decided it was better to just say anything.
“By the way… what were you doing here? Were you waiting for someone?”
“No? I just came out for a bit. My house is really strict. They don’t let me make friends freely. Especially not with boys. I’m not allowed to talk to them at all. I’ll probably never have a boyfriend in my life.”
“Huh? Really? There are still families like that these days?”
I was impressed in many ways, but at the same time my heart started pounding. I was having a conversation with Yu Da-hee, the girl who wasn’t even allowed to make friends freely. It made me feel like I was somehow special.
That gave me a bit of courage.
“Um… do you have Instagram or something? That way if I can’t go to the library, I could contact you in advance…”
“I don’t.”
Scrape— Yu Da-hee pushed her chair back and stood up.
Crap! Did I cross the line? Even I could tell I’d been rambling like an idiot!
“Looks like my ride’s here. I should head back. It was nice seeing you today, Yeong-won. You can eat the rest of the snacks. Well then—”
Well then, goodbye— Was that what she was going to say? I was staring at her cherry-colored lips, completely entranced, waiting for her next words.
“—Then open your eyes now.”
“Huk!”
I shuddered violently, feeling like my heart was being crushed. It was practically a seizure. Even a cat suddenly splashed with cold water would’ve been calmer than me.
Crash—! I fell off the chair.
Rattle— The torn snack bag spilled over my head.
“Ah, shit. That hurts.”
To think I’d fall off a plastic chair in front of a convenience store. What kind of ridiculous misfortune was this?
When I looked around, the downtown convenience store street was exactly as it had been.
“What the hell?”
When had I fallen asleep? I felt like I’d experienced something like this before. They called that déjà vu, right?
“This is the second time.”
Whenever I talked with Yu Da-hee, it always ended up like this. Feeling a chill, I thought I should check the time on my phone.
The clock showed it was past midnight—1 a.m. But that wasn’t the important part. There was a sticky note attached to my phone.
Eleven digits. Starting with 010. It was clearly someone’s phone number.
And that “someone” was probably…
“The dream… wasn’t a dream?”
For some reason, I felt electrified. My heart was racing, my lungs felt full of air! This was the first time in my life I’d gotten a girl’s number!
I had to save it right away! Once I saved the number, it would automatically add her as a friend on KakaoTalk too! Oh shit!
“But it’s pretty late.”
One in the morning. Contacting someone at this hour would be rude. With a happy heart, I caught a taxi and went home.
The next morning, I woke up early and headed to the phone service center. It was to fix my mom’s phone.
“It won’t charge. The battery is completely dead. With the Ohsung Galaxy series, this sometimes happens if you’ve used it for more than five years.”
Battery discharge? But something felt off.
“My mom only got this phone at the beginning of this year. It’s the latest model. How could the battery be dead already?”
“Well, machines don’t always do what humans want, you know. It’s still under warranty, so we can replace it with a different phone—”
It really was strange. So Mom’s phone had broken after all.
I stopped by the hospital and told her what happened.
“Mom’s phone broke? Oh no. My life is over. If it would at least turn on, I could transfer the files inside! They really can’t fix it?”
“They said the battery’s dead. They can probably fix it if they just replace the battery.”
“But it’s not even a year old. How can the battery be dead already? That’s so weird. I think the service center is lying.”
“…It didn’t seem like they were. Things can just break sometimes.”
Maybe it had something to do with the elevator. As I was thinking that, Mom said,
“Yeong-won, there’s no such thing as ‘just’! Every problem has an answer!”
“……?”
I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. What was it? It felt like something was about to come to me.
…Well, no matter how much I regretted it, there was nothing I could do about a broken machine. Mom said she had various tests scheduled at the hospital today. I thought hospitals were usually closed on weekends, but since this was a large corporate hospital, it seemed the doctors worked on Saturdays too.
I decided to head home. Jeong Seok and Yang Ju-hui were supposed to come over to my house today.
“Uh… hello, ma’am.”
But instead of coming to the house, Yang Ju-hui came straight to the hospital where Mom was admitted. I’d told her the hospital name and room number yesterday, and she must have remembered.
“Wow, you’re so pretty. Who are you?”
“I’m Yang Ju-hui. I’m in the same class as Yeong-won.”
Friends. Were we something as lukewarm as friends? Yang Ju-hui, who usually acted without hesitation, was fidgeting awkwardly like she needed to use the bathroom.
Soon she spoke to Mom.
“You look really young. I feel like I could call you unnie.”
“Of course. I had Yeong-won when I was your age. Looking back, I really was young. Seeing you reminds me of that time! By the way, Ju-hui, do you have a boyfriend?”
“Pardon?”
“If not, what about our Yeong-won? Isn’t he handsome? He’s got that trendy look these days! I’m part of the MZ generation too, you know. I think he’s good-looking!”
Oh god— I suddenly felt incredibly embarrassed. I had a strong premonition that if I stayed here any longer, I’d create a black history I’d never be able to escape for the rest of my life.
“Mom! I’m leaving! Ju-hui! Let’s go! Jeong Seok’s coming to our house soon too!”
“Yeong-won. Wait a second.”
Mom called me. With slightly teary eyes, she opened her wallet and whispered to me.
“I’ve been keeping this to give you someday. The day has finally come.”
Wondering what it was, I took it. The packaging looked like it might contain vitamins. But it wasn’t vitamins…
“…Mom!”
“What? Contraception is important. Put it in your wallet.”
“Ugh. Looks like Mom’s all better now. Anyway, I’m going!”
I left the hospital with Yang Ju-hui. Today was the day the pirate crew was supposed to gather, share opinions, and play games.
Beep— Right on cue, a message from Jeong Seok arrived too. Maybe he’d already arrived and was waiting?
But when I checked, the message was from someone I never would have expected.
“……”
“What did Jeong Seok say? If he’s already there waiting, tell him to buy a few bags of snacks.”
“Huh? No.”
I panicked and quickly hid my phone. Yang Ju-hui, who had been leaving the hospital, narrowed her eyes.
“What? Why are you acting like that? What are you hiding? It’s not Jeong Seok, is it? Is it Jeong So-jin? Are you still talking to Jeong So-jin? That girl is totally crazy! Do you know what she did at school yesterday?”
What did Jeong So-jin do at school yesterday? I had no idea. Anyway, the important thing was that Yu Da-hee had sent me the first message.
Beep, beep— Notifications kept coming. It looked like she was saying something to me. But checking in front of Yang Ju-hui felt awkward.
“I need to use the bathroom real quick.”
“Ha Yeong-won. You’re acting super suspicious right now.”
I know. I know, but…
Before leaving the hospital, I dashed to the first-floor bathroom and opened my phone.
Bored. What are you doing today. Was this… an invitation to meet up? A date request!?
My heart was pounding wildly, but… I had to swallow my tears and refuse!
“……”
What the hell was this?