The Restricted Call
He's coming.. ///// -He's coming..- I called it twice more. But Souyeon, whether she's too busy with work or, in the end, blocked my number, I don't know, but she didn't pick up and it didn't ring back. A sigh escaped me. My heart was a mess. She sipped the cold coffee. "Am I that disgusting?" Junhee muttered to himself, then finally questioned, "I guess so.."
Then he gulped down the cold coffee in one go, roughly placed it on the sink, and, as always, reached into his pocket to look for cigarettes. The pack wasn't there. He went into the bedroom, rummaged through the drawers, but couldn't find it anywhere. Then he dug through the outer jacket he'd worn on the last call and found a pack, but it was completely empty. Ah! Irritably he sighed. Thinking back, he must have forgotten to buy one last time. Still, there were supposed to be a few left.. he grumbled. Scratching his cheek, he paused in thought. Should I just quit smoking? The idea occurred to him. After all, tobacco prices had been rising every year, and it was getting burdensome. Maybe he'd even seen the news that prices would go up again soon. So life was now so stressful that he couldn't even enjoy a single cigarette. Then maybe I should quit? he thought, but it was easier said than done. Quitting could wait until later.. For now he needed a cigarette desperately. In the end, the craving for tobacco overcame the reluctance. He slipped on his thick puffy jacket, covered his messy hair with a cap, and went out into the night.
Yawning again and again, he rode the elevator down to the first floor of the villa. He was on his way to the convenience store he always went to. But there was a man standing in front of the villa he hadn't seen before. The clothing was so strange that his gaze was drawn to it. It looked familiar.. He glanced at the man. Still young, mid-twenties? No, he looked even younger. On the other hand, his outfit was a black suit. It looked familiar too, but he couldn't place it. The mysterious man was staring straight at Junhee. 'What is this?' An inexplicable unease crept in. He shrugged it off, ignoring the strange man, and hurried toward the convenience store.
Just like always, he bought a whole pack of cigarettes. He couldn't buy just one because he would finish it too quickly. While calculating the cost, he thought that he definitely had to quit smoking, but it was just a passing thought, as always. He bought the pack, took out one cigarette, and put it in his mouth. As he lit it, smoke rose slowly from the tip. The harsh tobacco smoke filled his lungs, and he shivered. The empty stomach had made it a little bitter, but the satisfaction of the smoke filling the void felt good. Now he felt like he could last the day. With this dopamine, how could he quit? In front of the convenience store he quickly smoked one and headed back home.
Suddenly he wondered if the strange man was still there. A strange unease welled up. He didn't know why he felt uneasy, but it was undeniably creepy. His steps hesitated, but he couldn't stay out there, so he finally arrived home. Ah! Thankfully, the strange man had disappeared somewhere. Junhee felt a bit of relief. Suddenly he felt like someone was chasing him. He hadn't done anything wrong. Smiling, he entered the villa and stood in front of the elevator. As always, he put another cigarette in his mouth.
"Wait! Was it a church? Or a cathedral? Anyway! Yeah! Those people wear clothes like that?" It suddenly dawned on him. The outfit the man had worn. It appeared in movies and occasionally in books. "Priest collar.. I think it was called?" Remembering the white tie around the neck of the black coat, he believed it was correct. "Then was he a pastor? By the way, a young person like that can become a pastor too?" Thinking this, Junhee felt the suspicion toward the strange man fade. At least he felt a strange familiarity toward those who were like priests. Perhaps his caution eased. At least for Junhee. He wasn't particularly religious. Since childhood Junhee had been non-religious, but he had always felt less wary of monks and pastors. Maybe it was because his parents attended the church. "By the way, why is there a person like that here?" Had he come to move here? Junhee thought lightly and gradually erased the image of the strange man from his memory.
/////// "Hic!" Today, he woke up from a scream. He had another nightmare. It felt even more vivid than before. No, the content of the nightmare was becoming more realistic day by day. Again, Souyeon and Sohui appeared, and finally Souyeon crawled on all fours like a beast and lunged at him. Ah! How horrifying it was, it felt like his heart was dropping out. Even now, when he woke up, his pounding heart wouldn't calm down. "Ha.." Exhaling a deep sigh, he wiped down his startled chest.
That's when it happened. Drrrk.. Drrrk.. His phone rang, and soon a bell started to ring. Startled again, Junhee looked at the phone placed beside his pillow. It was a restricted caller. Junhee's expression immediately darkened. Moreover, it was exactly five in the morning. Was this a prank call at this late hour? He tried to ignore it. At first he didn't answer and hung up. But the call kept coming. "God damn it.." He grumbled irritably and finally had to answer.
"Hello?" he asked in a sharp voice. But again it was the same prank call. No answer came back. Irritation piled up more and more. The nightmare had already made him in a bad mood, and now the prank call made him feel like exploding. "Fuck! Hey! If you called, answer! How many do you think it is now?" But no answer came. "Hey!!" he raised his voice, but still no reply, and just as he was about to hang up, "Hello..." Suddenly a voice came through. Junhee felt a chill run down his spine. Panicking, he looked at the still-connected phone. With a dazed expression he brought the phone back to his ear and asked in a somewhat softened tone.
"What? What did you say?" he asked again. After a while, "Hello..." This time he heard it clearly. "S-Souyeon?" Then, the call ended abruptly. Panicked Junhee stared at the phone with a blank expression. All that remained was the notification that the restricted caller had disconnected. He couldn't call back even if he wanted to. It was extremely strange. Why had Souyeon called like this? Could something have happened? Was he just feeling uneasy for no reason? Hoping it wasn't true, Junhee searched for Souyeon's number and called again. Several beeps went through. But soon only the automated message that the other side wasn't picking up came back.
"What? What happened?" He called again, but the same thing happened. Souyeon didn't pick up. Then what about the call just now? Or was the voice really Souyeon? Junhee's doubts turned into suspicion. And inexplicably his spine chilled. He felt uneasy for no reason.
////// The morning light broke. The sky was gloomy, and finally snow began to fall. Junhee thought that this winter seemed to have a lot of snow. After all, even the Gangwon mountain areas had reported heavy snowfall. Anyway.. Today, Junhee sat in front of his laptop, unable to focus on writing novels. It wasn't just that he couldn't recall the content. The nightmares that kept repeating lately were also a problem, but above all, the restricted caller phone made it impossible to concentrate. Especially today, the voice at dawn had clearly been his ex-wife's. He stared silently at the phone. While staring at the now quiet phone, he shook his head, placed his hand on the keyboard, but still couldn't write a word.