Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 199. Shining Star
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Eileen sat in the passenger seat of the car, arms crossed as she looked at me.
"So."
Her eyes, sharp as lost bullets, fixed on me.
"The reason you came looking for me is that?"
"Yes."
"..."
Eileen let out a soft "huff" and swept her bangs back.
"I'm already super anxious, and that's normal, right?"
"Perfectly normal."
"Ugh."
It didn't take long for Eileen to get a call.
I'd asked her to come, and she'd shown up right away.
She'd said it was because she owed me a favor.
"The other three seem to be doing fine."
"..."
"..."
Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon stared at Eileen with uncomfortable expressions,
while Yoo Daon watched them with a gleeful grin.
The three of them were crammed tightly in the back seat.
I checked on them through the rearview mirror.
It hadn't been long since they'd sat together, but Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin were already bickering.
"Hey, move over a bit."
"This is as far over as I can go."
"Quit hogging it."
"I'm not hogging; you're just skin and bones."
"..."
Song Arin's gaze, along with mine, drifted to a certain part of Jang Chaeyeon.
"...You're such a jerk."
Song Arin clicked her tongue and turned her eyes toward Yoo Daon.
"Huh?"
"Didn't say anything."
"Don't fight, please."
"Okay."
"We're not."
Yoo Daon replied brightly, while Song Arin sounded annoyed.
"You two from HR still get along great."
"This is getting along?"
"If you're fighting like that, yeah. Means you're close."
Eileen nodded and looked at the others.
"Anyway, I get the gist of what you're saying."
She nodded at me.
"I was heading back after work, and no one in the office picked up their phones."
"You thought that was weird, huh."
"Yeah. If it weren't for your call, I'd have gone straight to the Management Bureau."
Eileen let out a sigh of relief as she looked at me.
"Since I'm a team leader too, I've heard some things."
"Like what?"
"You mentioned the moon, right?"
She looked up at me.
"I heard there was some anomaly near the moon."
"..."
The moon.
"But that was just rumors among team leaders, and even those came from higher up, who didn't seem keen to talk about it. So we couldn't dig too deep."
"I see."
"That said, since I'm field and dispatch, I got some guidelines."
She muttered, "Where is it?" as she rummaged through her pockets.
She pulled out candy wrappers, receipts, and other junk before going, "Ah," and producing a small note.
[Scenario 3]
That was written boldly on the note.
"You haven't read this?"
She was really good at holding back curiosity.
Eileen stared at me blankly at my question.
"You know why more capable people than me don't make it to team leader?"
"Why?"
"They couldn't hold back their curiosity and died."
"That hits home."
Song Arin blurted it out after hearing Eileen, and Eileen just glanced back at her before locking eyes with me again.
"Anyway, if something moon-related blows up, this is what they want me to read."
I looked at the note she'd pulled out.
The paper wasn't old and was neatly folded.
What the hell had our team leader been up to that he hadn't gotten one of these?
"Heo Chan is office staff."
Eileen answered flatly, catching the implication in my gaze.
What do office staff even do, really?
As I watched her about to unfold the note, a sudden curiosity made me ask.
"Are there other scenarios, then?"
"There are."
"How many? What's in them?"
"..."
She stared at me blankly.
"...Got it."
"Thanks for understanding without me having to say it."
She nodded, opened the note, and I peered over her shoulder at it.
[Climb the water tank on the roof of the Buyeong Building in Gangseo-gu and gaze at the stars. Must go during the day.]
No other details.
Just an address and a pointless directive.
"That's what it says."
"..."
Must go during the day, and gaze at the stars.
"Doesn't that contradict itself?"
"That's why I'm not going."
Eileen leaned back into the car seat as she replied.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"Where else? Your place."
"...Alright."
Yeah. Not like we could go anywhere else but my place.
Going to one of the other three's homes felt off, and same for Eileen's.
Process of elimination left my place, the only guy's.
No one spoke on the way home.
A strange tension hung in the air.
Only after opening the door did Eileen naturally step into the living room and look around.
"Where should I sleep?"
"In my room."
"And you?"
"On the sofa."
"I'm not so shameless as to kick the homeowner onto the sofa."
"I'm not so shameless as to put a guest on the sofa either."
"If the owner insists, I'll follow. What about the others?"
At Eileen's words, the three women's gazes tangled in midair.
"I'll just crash on the sofa with you."
"Me too!"
"I-I... uh... um. Um..."
"No? No need for that."
After hosting Jang Chaeyeon and Yoo Daon here last time, I'd realized something.
"I cleared out the closet room and made it a guest room. Sleep there."
"..."
The three women glanced around,
"I'll go wash up first, then."
Eileen headed straightforwardly to the bathroom, settling the matter.
*
"..."
I lay on the sofa, staring out the window.
The moon wasn't visible, but its light filtered through the window all the same.
It was an eerily bright moonlight.
"..."
Why couldn't I sleep?
As I tossed and turned, someone quietly stepped out from the guest room.
-Step... step...
"..."
Her purple hair caught the light, shining beautifully.
"Arin."
"Can't sleep?"
Song Arin sat on the edge of the sofa where I lay and looked down at me.
"Me neither."
"Maybe we fell asleep during that dream-within-a-dream thing?"
"Could be. Guess I slept too well."
She stared out the window.
"Be careful not to look at the moon."
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't see it."
She lay back, leaning against the sofa as she replied.
Her back touched my legs.
"Am I in the way?"
"No. I'm staying put."
I shrugged at her oddly firm tone and stayed lying down.
"Doesn't feel right."
Song Arin looked at me as she said it.
"What kind of feeling?"
"Just... earlier. No, what do you mean earlier. It was just this afternoon we met with Aestheticism."
She sighed and looked at me.
Unlike her usual self, her eyes were full of worry.
"I can't tell what might happen."
"You seem worried."
"Very."
She answered honestly and gazed out the window.
"Not sure if it'll help, but I'm always ready to back you up."
Song Arin looked at me as she said it,
"..."
and gave a slight smile.
"...I'm getting a lot of help from you too, Arin."
"Good. Thanks."
Song Arin waved her hand.
Soon, a nearby newspaper rolled up, turned into a man and woman, and began dancing like a couple.
Under the bizarrely bright moonlight, the princess danced led by the man,
bathed in the brilliant light. They bowed to us before reverting to newspaper form.
"Arin, when did you learn something like that?"
"...Just, y'know. When I was bored."
Song Arin muttered and glanced at me.
"Why, was it lame?"
"No. It was great."
"Yeah?"
Song Arin smiled faintly and nodded.
"Then next time, I'll make something even prettier."
"Looking forward to it."
"..."
"..."
Silence fell, and Song Arin fiddled with her clothes, sneaking glances at me.
Why isn't she leaving?
"Not sleeping?"
"I-I am, but."
Song Arin stammered as she looked at me.
"Sleeping with them makes me uneasy."
"Chaeyeon and Daon?"
Song Arin nodded.
"Do they snore?"
Jang Chaeyeon and Yoo Daon snoring? Honestly, I could kind of picture it.
"N-No, not that."
Song Arin muttered and glanced at me.
"Just... thought I'd feel safer sleeping here."
"..."
There was another sofa across from us, big enough for one person, and Song Arin looked at me for a moment before averting her gaze.
"W-What... it might be awkward, so I'll just—"
"Sleep here."
"...Huh?"
Song Arin looked at me.
Her eyes wide as she stared.
Honestly, it felt a bit awkward to me too.
"You sure it's okay?"
"Yeah. We might have important stuff tomorrow."
We'd worked hard yesterday—no, today.
"W-Well, then... okay."
Song Arin scooted over to the opposite sofa and lay down.
"..."
"..."
Our eyes met.
"...Not sleeping?"
"I will."
"..."
"..."
But her eyes were glued to me, so I had nothing to say.
"...Why do you keep staring?"
"Oh, uh. ...Night."
She squeezed her eyes shut.
I watched her closed eyes, then closed mine.
Just before drifting off, I vaguely felt someone brushing my bangs aside.
The next morning, there was an incident where Jang Chaeyeon rolled a sleeping Song Arin off the sofa opposite me, but otherwise, nothing much happened.
Even the rolled-off Song Arin didn't look that upset.
She'd have thrown a fit if it were the Song Arin I knew.
*
Daytime, on the roof of a Gangseo-gu building, we stood.
"It said to climb the water tank."
"But where are the stars in broad daylight?"
Jang Chaeyeon muttered.
"Stars, huh."
A star shining in broad daylight.
We climbed the ladder on the water tank.
-Clang... clang...
An unsettling sound echoed from the old ladder,
-thunk...
and at the top of the water tank, we gazed at the brilliantly shining star.
I took in the radiant sun.
"You know, the star that shines brightest in broad daylight."
I muttered, and at the same moment, the world shifted.
"..."
The sound of the car vanished.
The noises of countless people, everything disappeared.
Before we knew it, we stood beneath a sky thick with clouds.
I looked up at the sky.
Ancient stairs stretched toward the moon.