Video Call
Well, somehow managed to survive another day.
The instant that thought crossed my mind, a message chime pinged across the internal network: "Officer Lee Siwoo..."
The timing was so uncannily precise it felt like witchcraft, but I powered down my monitor anyway. It wasn't as if I'd become a public servant out of some profound sense of civic duty, nor was the overtime allowance generous enough to make me volunteer to stay late. I'd seen more than a few colleagues log overtime with a casual click, claiming nobody would ever check, only to end up weeping tears of blood when they were audited and forced to pay back several times what they'd fraudulently claimed.
At any rate, I was all set to pack up and leave—
"Siwoo-ssi~ What are you up to this evening~?"
—until Ahra-noona appeared out of thin air beside my desk and chimed in first.
I could swear she wasn't standing there a second ago.
Lately, without fail, Noona would ask about my evening plans the moment quitting time arrived. At first, I hadn't minded. We’d stop by a café to read or catch whatever blockbuster had just hit theaters, which gave me some semblance of a social life. For someone like me, whose default routine was holing up quietly at home to conserve energy for the next workday, I really should have been grateful for her invitations.
"I'm sorry, not tonight," I replied. "I made plans with some old friends I haven't seen in a while."
The issue was just how frequently she asked. The other staff members seemed somewhat understanding since I was her direct junior, but being seen together too often was bound to spark unnecessary gossip. Leaving my own reputation aside, I figured Noona wouldn't want those kinds of rumors circulating either. This was a government office, after all. People came here to earn a paycheck, not to get embroiled in workplace scandals.
"With your friends?"
"Yes. One of them is enlisting soon, so we're having a farewell drink to cheer him on."
"What a shame. I found this wonderful little restaurant today that I was sure you'd love."
She said it was a shame, but honestly, I couldn't detect the faintest trace of disappointment on her face.
Was what I saw that day just my imagination?
What had happened inside her car. The way she had seized my necktie, pulling me close, trapping me beneath that piercing gaze. The scene still flickered through my mind in sudden flashbacks—a scorching, dizzying sensation. As if commanding me never to forget that moment, she would occasionally, very occasionally, look at me with those exact same predatory eyes.
I had contemplated whether I ought to draw a firmer line, but she had a seamless way of never giving me the room to do so.
"Have lots of fun, then~ Oh, by the way... is that friend you mentioned before coming too?"
"No. We ended on bad terms, Noona."
"Mmh, is that so~? Ah, you haven't forgotten, have you?"
The corners of Ahra-noona's lips curled into a subtle, knowing smile.
"Our plans to go look at your graduation album."
I still hadn't given her a date. I knew I'd have to give her an answer sooner or later, but for now, I was putting it off as long as I could.
"Hey! Siwoo's here!"
"Siwoo, you rascal! Good work today!"
"The pride of our crew, Public Official Lee Siwoo!"
I had rushed straight over after changing out of my work clothes, but their faces were already flushed red. They must have started knocking back drinks the moment they sat down. Bathed in the familiar, easygoing atmosphere, I slid into an empty seat across from them.
"Thanks for coming out, man," Taehwan said, slurring slightly. "Work must be running you ragged."
"Not as ragged as what you're in for. How could I not show up when a buddy's shipping off to the military?"
"Nobody has my back like Siwoo! Here, drink up!"
I took the brimming shot glass he thrust toward me, downed it in one go, and managed a bittersweet smile. A wave of pity rose in my chest looking at him, delayed for so long by the enlistment backlog only to be dragged off now, but I did my best to push it down. Tonight was meant for laughter and good cheer.
"You think your girl's gonna flip her shoes and dump you while you're inside?"
"Ha! We've been together over a thousand days. You really think she can't hold out?"
"What's a thousand days? Campus is crawling with hungry wolves. Every guy around her is gonna make a move."
"Fuck! Don't jinx it! If she ever cheats on me, I swear to God I'm going AWOL!"
"Listen to you talking crazy already. Your army life is gonna be an absolute trainwreck."
Snickering among the banter, I felt the pleasant warmth of the alcohol creeping in. Come to think of it, almost everyone we knew had broken up right around the time they made Private First Class. Of course, none of them had suffered an ending like mine. They had simply drifted apart, worn down by the waiting and the distance. It wasn't... infidelity. It wasn't getting cuckolded.
"Hey, did you guys hear about Kim Hayun?"
Perhaps because the conversation had drifted toward cheating, her name surfaced out of nowhere. There was only ever one reason for our circle to bring up Kim Hayun: to tear into her, chew her up, and spit her out.
"Word is she didn't just come down for a visit," someone said. "She's actually settling down here for good."
"Seriously?"
Small-town gossip. It had already spread across the entire county.
To be honest, I wanted nothing more than to erase what I'd witnessed in the civil affairs hall that day. Let's just pretend I never saw her. If there were a recycle bin in my mind, I wanted to drag that memory right into it, crumpled and discarded just like the note she had left behind. During all the years we hadn't crossed paths, I had managed to forget her entirely.
Was it a monthly rental?
Yet for some reason, the address I had briefly glimpsed that day remained burned into my memory. Even knowing I shouldn't, I had looked it up once out of morbid curiosity. She could have moved back in with family, but no—it was a rented room. One of the cheapest, most run-down shacks in the entire township.
"A guy I know who hangs out with Go Woojin's crowd told me that bastard cheated on her too," another chimed in.
"Fucking psycho. What else did you expect from that loser? He was always chasing skirts, hitting on every girl that moved."
I felt no pity. Nor did I view it as sweet poetic justice. It was simply the inevitable result of the choices she had made.
I kept quiet about the fact that I had already seen Kim Hayun, that she had pleaded to get back together, and that we had run into each other a second time right at my workplace. It wasn't out of concern for her; I simply didn't want my friends stressing over my baggage during Taehwan's farewell party.
What is she planning to do, pregnant like that?
More than anything, I was just baffled. What did Kim Hayun honestly hope to achieve here? Country towns were conservative to the core. With bleached blonde hair, hot pants, and tattoos, finding a job would be next to impossible. She would have stood a much better chance trying her luck in a major city.
"He didn't come today either."
Kim Hayun had waited every single evening since that day. She had written it clearly on the note—that she wanted to meet at the place that held all their memories, and that she would wait there until he showed up. In case he had forgotten, she had even jotted down the exact location.
Ever since they broke up, she had searched frantically for any way to reach him. It had been a terrible breakup. No, calling it 'terrible' was a gross understatement—it was the absolute worst nightmare imaginable. Even so, Hayun hadn't wanted to lose Lee Siwoo from her life forever. She wanted to salvage their bond, even if only by a sliver.
If only I had been just a little braver back then...
Back in high school, she hadn't possessed the courage to face him in person. So she had tried text messages, KakaoTalk, Instagram, exhausting every avenue she could think of to keep the bridge between them from collapsing entirely. But Siwoo had already blocked her across every platform. When she tried to reach him through mutual acquaintances, she discovered she didn't have a single friend left. So back then, as a teenage girl, she had given up.
Only when everything with Go Woojin had burned to the ground did that lingering regret flare up once more. That was why she had returned to Sal-le-gun.
"I should head back."
Let's just go. He's probably just busy. Working adults don't have much free time anyway.
Just as she tried to console herself with that flimsy excuse, she sensed a presence behind her. A fragile ember of hope flared in her chest. Could it be? Did Siwoo finally read the note and come?
"It's been a while. Do you remember me?"
It wasn't Siwoo. The person standing before her was the very woman Kim Hayun had grown to detest: Park Ahra.
"What are you doing out here at this hour?" Ahra asked smoothly.
"...None of your business."
Unlike the tearful vulnerability she had shown Siwoo, Hayun's expression snapped sharp, her tone freezing cold. If there was one thing she had learned from that scumbag Go Woojin, it was that you couldn't afford to back down during the initial confrontation. The moment you let someone dictate the pace, they would walk all over you.
"My, aren't we prickly? I only came out to see if what was written on that note was actually true."
The moment the word 'note' slipped from Ahra's lips, Hayun's defensive posture shattered.
"How do you know about the note?"
"Who knows~? How do you think I know?"
"Stop playing games and tell me!"
Agitated, Hayun looked ready to lunge forward at any second, yet Ahra remained completely unbothered, wearing a languid smirk.
"Oh dear, please don't get so worked up. It isn't good for the baby, you know."
"Ugh...!"
At the mention of the baby, Hayun bit down hard on her lower lip. Her hand drifted instinctively toward her stomach. Her belly was still completely flat, showing no outward trace of pregnancy. Yet the clinic had confirmed it—there was indeed a tiny life growing inside her womb. A child fathered by Go Woojin...
"Besides, that's what I should be saying to you," Ahra continued, the playful lilt vanishing from her voice as the corners of her mouth leveled into a cold line. "Don't you think you ought to quit playing games?"
Ahra locked eyes with Hayun, her tone dropping into a chilling murmur.
"Showing up out of nowhere demanding to date again... do you honestly think that makes any sense? Have you given a single thought to how our Siwoo would feel hearing that?"
I checked my watch.
Already ten o'clock.
After downing copious amounts of alcohol during the first round, we had stumbled over to a second bar. With everyone bordering on completely wasted, I excused myself under the pretext of using the restroom.
What did I usually do around ten? Go to bed, obviously. I had to report to the county office early tomorrow morning. But these guys? They had spent their college years drinking until sunrise. Slang like 'pulling an all-nighter' or 'hitting the internet café till morning' were concepts I'd only ever heard about through them. If not for my friends, I would have lived my entire youth without ever knowing that world existed.
I'll wait for the right moment, toss down my card to settle the bill, and make a run for it.
They kept insisting we split everything evenly, but on an occasion like this, the friend earning a steady income ought to pick up the tab. No matter how tight my family's finances had been, I had entered the workforce years ahead of them.
I swiped open my banking app. The balance displayed 34,000,000 KRW. A quiet warmth filled my chest—I really had pinched every single penny to save this much. But just as I was admiring my hard-earned savings, my phone suddenly vibrated violently in my hand.
At this hour? It's ten at night. Did an emergency come up at work?
Those thoughts vanished the second I took a closer look at the screen, replaced by a sudden jolt of disbelief.
"A video call...?"
Why on earth was she facetiming me...?
I hesitated, my thumb hovering over the screen. Should I pick it up, or let it ring out? Maybe she had tapped the icon by mistake. But the call tone continued steadily, refusing to hang up.
Realizing there was no way this was an accident, I had no choice but to swipe the screen and accept the connection.
"Ah, you picked up?"
"Ahra Noona...?"
My eyes went wide at the sight displayed across my phone screen.
"How is it? Are you having fun with your friends?"