The Strange Man and the Beautiful Stranger
The cold wind bit sharply as Jia and I left the school building together. Winter was clearly on its way, and we huddled close, linking arms just like always. Especially for me—Hyesu—the sweat that had soaked my body was cooling rapidly, stealing away what little warmth I had left. Still, the burning heat that had flooded through me earlier was finally settling under the chill breeze. Ah… even so, my cheeks were still blazing hot.
My own moans had echoed all the way out into the hallway. What if someone had heard and misunderstood? The mere thought made me want to run away and hide somewhere. Embarrassed beyond words, I hurried my steps. Beside me, Jia was chattering away without pause. Now that my graduation project was finally finished, she said, I could finally relax a little. Jia herself was still deep in her own project. Because she had started late, her deadline felt especially tight. On top of that, she had such a friendly personality that she was always surrounded by friends and had plans every single day. Maybe that was why she hadn’t been able to focus on her work at all. Of course, once the deadline drew near, she would whine and pull all-nighters to finish it anyway. That was just how she had always been, even back when we did school assignments together.
“I’ll help you later,” I told her, my face showing clear exhaustion.
Jia smiled brightly, looking more grateful than ever. She said she would ask for help once my body felt a little better. Even so, there weren’t many friends who cared about my health as much as she did. We looked at each other and laughed playfully before picking up our pace again.
We had decided to grab a drink together for the first time in a while. Since my graduation project was finally done, I was itching for a glass myself. Truthfully, I wasn’t someone who particularly enjoyed alcohol, but I did love the atmosphere of drinking with friends. Lately, though, I had avoided those gatherings because of my project.
We kept chatting about this and that until we reached the school’s main gate. That was when I suddenly noticed a man whose gaze felt strangely magnetic. He looked incredibly young—maybe just twenty years old. Or perhaps even a little younger. He had a rather slight build. I couldn’t understand why my eyes kept drifting toward him. There was simply a peculiar pull. Or maybe discomfort was the better word. He felt like a person, yet somehow not quite human… Even I found it difficult to describe the sensation.
Whatever the case, the moment I saw him, an odd feeling swept over me and I couldn’t look away. And he was staring right back at me, his gaze piercing. Just then, Jia nudged me with her elbow.
“Do you know him? A younger guy?”
“Huh? Me? No… I’ve never seen him before.”
“Then why is he staring like that? And why are you staring back?”
I gave an awkward laugh and shrugged. Feeling inexplicably uneasy, I quickened my steps and walked past him. I worried he might follow, but he showed no sign of doing so. It was all just… strange.
“Wait… maybe he fell for you at first sight?” Jia teased, glancing back at the mysterious man.
He was still standing in the same spot, staring blankly in my direction. I snuck another look at him and laughed awkwardly.
“No way…”
“Then why is he looking at you like that? It feels a little creepy…”
Jia whispered softly. I felt the same discomfort and hurried my steps even more. Once we had put some distance between us, I glanced back again.
“He’s… gone.”
At some point, the man had vanished without a trace. Like a ghost. The unease only grew stronger, but I tried to ignore it and headed toward the bustling downtown area with Jia.
There was a famous bar near the station that students from our school loved. That was where Jia and I decided to go tonight.
Ah… maybe it was because I had finally finished my graduation project, but tonight the reins were completely off. I drank as if I had been set free. Perhaps it was also because of those strange nightmares I had been having lately—I wanted to get thoroughly drunk and sleep like the dead. The alcohol tasted strangely sweet. One glass led to another, and before we knew it, we had talked about everything we had been holding back. Midnight had come and gone in the blink of an eye.
Jia and I were both completely wasted. We could barely hold ourselves upright and had to lean on each other for support. Yet every time we looked at each other’s faces, we burst into giggles. The downtown area was still brightly lit even past midnight, packed with university students. It had been so long since we had talked this much, laughed this much, and drank this much.
Jia, who had recently broken up with her boyfriend, eventually started crying while cursing him out over drinks. I joined in, fiercely bad-mouthing her ex to comfort her. We spent the night that way, but of course the last subway train had already left. Walking home in our current state was out of the question, so we headed to the taxi stand.
“I’ll go first…”
Jia, who could barely keep her eyes open, waved from the open window. I waved back and watched her leave. Then I waited for the next taxi. There were plenty of students waiting at this hour. Most of them were as drunk as I was, but a few seemed sober. Maybe they had been stuck at school working on their graduation projects until this late. Watching them, I felt a strange sense of camaraderie, but at the same time I couldn’t help smiling at the thought that I had finally finished mine.
I was swaying unsteadily, struggling to keep my balance in my drunken state, when I absentmindedly turned my head forward. A four-lane road stretched out ahead of me. Beyond it was a bus stop. And there, a familiar man was staring straight at me.
Of course, there were quite a few people nearby. They were all laughing and chatting noisily with their friends. But this man stood alone in silence, staring at me without saying a word.
“What the…”
I tried to ignore him, but my eyes kept returning to him—because he was the same man I had seen in front of the school gate earlier. Once again, that strange unease washed over me and my face twisted into a frown.
Why is he staring at me like that?
His gaze was truly uncomfortable. No, it had gone beyond discomfort and was now bordering on disgust. Had he followed me? The moment that thought crossed my mind, my mood soured even further.
No way… It can’t be… right?
I tried to brush it off, but the odd feeling refused to leave me. That was when—
“Miss, are you getting in?”
The sudden voice startled me. I came back to my senses and saw the taxi driver had rolled down his window and was looking at me.
“Ah… yes! I’m getting in!”
I hurriedly opened the back door and climbed inside. The moment I sat down, my mind began to relax. Ah… my whole body felt like it was melting. Maybe the alcohol was hitting me again. I told the driver my destination, and the taxi pulled away after the light changed.
My gaze naturally drifted to the side window. And just as naturally, it moved past the window to the bus stop beyond it.
Ah! Sure enough, the man was still staring at me. But this time, something was different. A woman was now standing beside him.
“Wow…”
The exclamation slipped out before I could stop it. She was so breathtakingly beautiful that I couldn’t help myself. Even though the taxi passed by in an instant, the brief glimpse was enough to burn her image into my mind. She was that stunning.
Is she a model? Or an actress?
Her long, slender legs, full breasts, pale skin, vivid red lips, and large, slightly sharp eyes—above all, the faint smile playing on her lips—made her beauty impossible to forget. She was standing close to the mysterious man, whispering something to him.
I let out an embarrassed laugh. Jia’s earlier words had suddenly come back to me. The idea that he might have fallen for me at first sight. Of course that couldn’t be true. Not when someone that beautiful was standing right next to him. How could I possibly catch his eye? Yeah, there was no way. He had probably been waiting for her at the school gate. There was no reason for him to have followed me. Then why had he stared at me so intensely? Maybe I had imagined the whole thing. I had been under so much stress lately that I was probably overthinking it.
Still… was there really someone that pretty at our school?
I couldn’t get the woman out of my head. Even as another woman, I was stunned by how beautiful she was. Someone with that kind of looks would have caused a stir on campus. Maybe she was an aspiring celebrity? Come to think of it, I had heard that our school’s theater and film department was quite famous. There were quite a few alumni working in the entertainment industry. Perhaps she was one of them. Or maybe she was a graduate who had come to see one of the professors.
I shrugged and stared blankly out at the city lights that still filled the late-night streets. The inside of the taxi was quiet. The driver didn’t say a word either. The car simply continued on toward my destination in silence.