A Dangerous Atmosphere
She wanted someone—anyone—to comfort her.
That much was true. She had thought it.
But still.
Ha-rin… even so, this isn't right.
Thinking that to herself, Ha-rin slowly began to undress.
A soft rustle—fabric sliding over skin, one piece after another—and then she carefully opened the door of the shower stall and stepped inside.
…Something about it felt wrong.
With all the strange things that had been happening around her lately, she had wanted to lean on someone. But if that someone was her close friend's boyfriend…
That was a problem.
So Ha-rin had wrestled with it. If she had just closed her eyes for one night—stopped thinking, gone home, and fallen straight asleep—none of this would have been an issue.
What had she been so afraid of that she had seized on Lee Ha-jun's offer to stay the night at his place without a second thought?
The thought of herself like that left her feeling pathetic. Disgusting, even.
A-yeong must still think of her as a good friend.
…And she was stabbing her in the back like this.
If A-yeong ever found out, how would she react?
…I don't know.
Water hissed down. With a tight, stifled feeling in her chest, Ha-rin left the shower running and stood there blankly for a moment.
Her eyes drifted to the neat row of toiletries on the shelf—the shampoo, body wash, and foam cleanser Ha-jun had explained earlier, and the rest.
Carefully, she reached out and pressed the shampoo pump. A modest amount pooled in her palm. She worked it into a lather, then lifted her hands to her head.
Black strands spilled through her slender fingers. As the scent of the shampoo trailed down her fingertips, she recognized it on instinct.
It was one of the scents that always clung to Ha-jun.
Haa…
…She wasn't supposed to notice that.
By dinner she had thought the awkwardness had mostly faded. Apparently that had only been a delusion. Alone again in the quiet, the reality hit her hard: she was spending the night at a classmate's house—a boy her own age.
A little flush crept into her face at the odd sensation. She dabbed on body wash after the shampoo and began to gently rub it over herself—and only then realized that a heat she couldn't name was warming her skin.
…She wasn't supposed to think about this.
People were like that. Tell them not to do something and they wanted it more. The harder she tried not to think, the more vividly the thoughts rose up.
Before long her mind was one step from running wild with imaginings she could barely control. And what Sa-ra had said before was feeding them, too.
…Did guys really like a girl's body when she was stripped bare like this?
Ha-rin flushed at the thought, then whipped her head from side to side, flinging the filthy imagination as far away as she could.
…What are you doing, Lee Ha-rin!
As if to deny it, she scrubbed at her innocent skin harder than necessary, taking her frustration out on herself. Whether her body was attractive or not—what did that matter right now?
…It wasn't as if she would ever have reason to show it to anyone like that.
She told herself that and rinsed the last of the foam from her skin.
And in that exact moment—
Flicker. Flicker.
The bathroom light blinked with a vaguely ominous rhythm, then, with a sharp crackle—
—went out completely.
I was staring blankly at the TV.
Not that anything on the screen was actually registering. If I didn't do something, though, every weird fantasy imaginable would flood my head—so I was desperately mashing the remote, flipping channels.
A few minutes passed. Figuring she should be finishing up and coming out soon, I picked up the phone I'd tossed on the sofa.
And right then—
Flicker—
The light overhead blinked once.
Then, with a crackling hiss, the power died.
Startled, I looked around at the total darkness and tried to figure out what was going on. First thought: maybe the breaker had tripped from overuse. But the lights in the buildings across the way, past the veranda, were all out too. So it wasn't just our place.
I scratched my head, wondering how to deal with it—then a crystal-clear answer hit me.
…I couldn't.
There was nothing for it. If it had just been the breaker, I could flip the hidden panel back on. But a blackout for the whole neighborhood? What was I supposed to do about that?
Thinking that, I started to sink back onto the sofa in a daze—then a belated realization shot me upright.
…Lee Ha-rin.
She was in the bathroom. And she'd left her phone outside.
That worry made me hesitate for a second before I started slowly toward the bathroom.
Knock, knock.
I rapped lightly on the door.
"…"
No answer.
I carefully opened my mouth.
"Hey, Ha-rin… uh, it's not anything else."
I'd already promised not to go near the bathroom, so I had to be even more careful.
"…Looks like the power went out."
I explained the situation as calmly as I could and waited for her reaction.
"…"
Still nothing. Sensing something off, I knocked harder than before.
Thud, thud.
"Hey, why aren't you answering?"
…An ugly thought started to form. The bathroom floor was already slippery—what if the sudden blackout had startled her and she'd slipped hard on her way out?
Growing frantic, I pounded the door again.
Thud, thud.
"Hey, Ha-rin! Answer me!"
Still nothing.
I hesitated a moment longer—then opened the bathroom door.
"…Ha-rin!"
I swept the phone flashlight across the steam-fogged bathroom. Through the hazy white vapor, someone with long black hair was crumpled in the corner.
"Ah—fuck!"
Apparently when people see something that looks like a ghost in a dark space, they yell and stumble back on pure instinct. I took a step back myself, then steadied my nerves and shone the light on the corner again.
"…Hey."
Thankfully, not a ghost.
Breathing easier, I carefully approached to check on her—and then nearly lost it all over again at the bare skin that filled my eyes.
"Ah… ah."
But the sight of Ha-rin trembling violently snapped me back to myself.
"Hey… are you okay?"
She looked bad. Face drained pure white. Eyes unfocused. Lips quivering. Short, sharp breaths kept spilling out of her.
"Haa… haa…"
This was no time to worry about who should be embarrassed.
I caught her by the shoulders so she wouldn't fall, met her eyes, and spoke as low and steady as I could.
"Ha-rin. It's me."
"It's okay, yeah? …The lights just went out for a bit."
As I calmly laid out what had happened, the focus started to crawl back into her shaking eyes.
Then, in a voice thick with tears, she said:
"Why… why does it keep…"
I held her up in silence as her body threatened to collapse.
"Why… why does this keep happening to me."
It wasn't just the bathroom lights going out. It was everything that had piled up since that alley long ago—every ominous, awful thing—finally bursting open in here.
"I… what did I do that was so wrong… hic."
"It's all right, okay?"
I'd faced something like this before, so the comfort came naturally. At those words her feelings surged; she sobbed, lost her balance, and toppled toward me. I barely managed to catch her.
"…This is seriously too much."
Mm…
Everything was fine, except—
"…Not even once. It just keeps going."
Ha-rin, I get that you're upset. I get that it's hard. But right now the situation is a little…
"…Sniff."
She was crying so wretchedly I couldn't say a word. And yet I couldn't just look away either—the sensations where her body met mine were… not normal.
While I hung there, stuck, my clothes grew heavier and heavier with water.
"…It's not fair."
To make matters worse, Ha-rin started pressing closer and closer against me.
"Ah…"
I squeezed my eyes shut.