Even though a week had passed since Ha Min's disappearance, there were still no clues, not even a single guess.
Even the protagonist of a mystery/investigation drama solves a case with just one clue, but I'm not a protagonist of a mystery/investigation drama and I don't have any clues to follow, so it's actually strange to look for them!
“So, did you find any clues?”
"at all."
After practice, I was sitting alone in the empty club room. When I turned my gaze, I saw Chun-ok leaning against the wall opposite me, looking at me.
It was only two days later that I finally spoke to her, despite the honorifics I had been using. The reason was ridiculous. After she surprised me three times by saying she was joking around… .
“No way!! I’m surprised, just relax!!”
I ended up using informal language without realizing it, and I just let it go. I felt like she liked it when I let it go, so I couldn't bring myself to pretend not to notice.
I was a little mentally exhausted, so I was sprawled out on the chair like I was drying laundry, when Chun-ok, who had been looking at me with her hands clasped behind her and her head stretched out, spoke in a worried voice.
“Does your head hurt if you think too much? Cool your head. I don’t think he’s weak enough to go wrong.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Ghost intuition? That kid has a bit of a different vibe.”
“I have no idea….”
The only thing I feel about Ha Min is the concrete expressions that can be seen on the outside, like 'He's a big but gentle junior like a puppy cat.' Not the abstract expressions like those fantasies.
“I was going to try to cool my head today anyway.”
“Good idea! But, what is that? You were looking at it intently.”
Chun-ok asked, pointing to the concert flyer I was holding tightly. I straightened out the slightly crumpled end of the flyer and showed it to her, then answered.
“A concert flyer. An indie band I’m interested in is performing at Ttukseom Park.”
“If it’s a band, it’s like an orchestra, right? A group of people who play instruments and sing in unison, like you do?”
“That’s right. I decided to go with my club members.”
It was Yejun hyung who brought the concert poster and suggested that we go see the band. It was an indie band that I had been interested in after seeing them busking in Hongdae before.
We had agreed to meet at Ttukseom Station before the show, so we planned to have a quick meal at home and then quietly head over.
“That sounds fun. Is it far from school?”
“Just have to take the subway a little way?”
“Always be careful in crowded places.”
“Hey, what could happen in the middle of public transportation with so many people?”
And if I had known that would be a flag, I would never have said it.
* * *
“I’m back.”
When I came home from school, my younger brother, who was lying on the sofa playing on his smartphone, waved his hand and greeted me.
After I put my luggage down in the room and changed into my civilian clothes, my younger brother just rolled his eyes and glanced at me before asking me a question.
“Where are you going?”
“Uh. I have a club meeting, so I’ll go eat and go out.”
“Mom and Dad are going to be late today. Make me some kimchi fried rice.”
“Then, you do the dishes.”
After the cooking and dishwashing were neatly finished, I took out the cold rice and kimchi container from the refrigerator. While I was cutting the kimchi with tongs and scissors, I heard a strange sound from behind me.
“Cook the fries until half-cooked and even, then top with cheese for a smoky flavor. Sprinkle parsley on top just like the GOAT.”
“You want to starve?”
Where on earth did you learn such strange things? I held back the urge to give my younger brother, who was still more immature than an elementary school student, a piece of honey chestnut, and threw rice on top of the kimchi.
What's so special about kimchi fried rice? If you put rice on top of kimchi fried in cooking oil and fry it, that's kimchi fried rice.
“Hey, Chae Bong-jun!! It’s almost done, so stop playing and set the table!”
“If I put down the spoon, it’s over, so what else is there to serve?”
I couldn't believe my brother's words as he looked up at me with his smartphone on his stomach. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
“You don’t want to eat side dishes? Put some dongchimi in a bowl.”
“Do you want to eat kimchi with kimchi fried rice?”
“Kimchi fried rice and dongchimi are separate foods.”
Don't you know how refreshing it is to have a sip of the sweet and sour dongchimi soup with shaved ice in the middle of your kimchi fried rice and have your mouth go down so cleanly? A bite of crunchy radish is a side dish. You don't know how to taste it.
The guy with the tired look got up, picked up the bowl, and headed to the refrigerator. Soon, the dongchimi was on the table, and by the time the spoon was set down, the half-boiled fries were ready.
“Just put it in a frying pan. I don’t want to bother with the dishes.”
So I went to the table with a bowl in one hand and a frying pan in the other. My brother, who was sitting on the chair, had placed the pot holder in front of him, so I put the frying pan on it.
I scooped up the fried egg yolk on top of the kimchi fried rice with a spoon and moved it slightly to the side, and the soft-boiled yolk flowed out and soaked the rice with its rich flavor. Wow, this looks delicious.
“That’s right. When you go out, you go with Eunho hyung… …What kind of dongchimi are you drinking like makgeolli?”
“Ugh-”
If you eat dongchimi soup with a spoon, it's disgusting. The rule is to drink the whole bowl. Am I the only one who does this? I can't believe it.
As I turned the bowl of dongchimi over and emptied every last drop of the broth over my head, a look of bewilderment returned to me.
“Huh, what? What about Eunho?”
“When you go out later, do you want to go with Eunho hyung?”
“No? We decided to go separately and meet at Ttukseom Station. Why, do you have something to say to him?”
“I don’t have anything to say… What’s going on with you these days, hyung?”
“Eunho? Is everything okay?”
“Except for Eunho hyung.”
"…me?"
A dumbfounded expression formed on my face as Bongjun pointed at me with his chin, and I asked him again while pointing at myself with the tip of my index finger to confirm. Then he nodded in agreement while gathering up his bowls.
“Eunho hyung was worried. He said you seemed a bit anxious these days and asked me what was wrong.”
“…Eunho?”
“What’s really going on?”
I paused for a moment at my brother's words, which seemed rough on the outside but were filled with worry on the inside.
Did it show on my face that I was impatient and anxious? Since I'm the type of person who can't lie and my emotions show on my face, Eunho must have noticed right away.
'But how do you say this?'
Eunho, actually, there is a hidden member of our club who has been erased from our memories. He is Yoo Ha-min. He is a student at Sunghwi High School, but he is younger than you, a first-year student.
… The moment he says that, Eunho will definitely make a serious suggestion with a serious expression, saying, ‘Hyung, let’s go to the hospital and get some counseling.’ If I were Eunho, I would have reacted the same way.
“Ah… I’ve been practicing a new song lately, but I’ve been feeling a bit stressed because the results haven’t been as good as I’d hoped. I guess that’s what showed.”
Since I couldn't tell you honestly, I scratched my head and pretended to be calm, making a false excuse. Bongjun narrowed his eyes, stared at me, said he understood, and went to the sink with the dishes.
You didn't get caught, did you? I took out a tissue, wiped my mouth, wiped the table with a wet tissue, threw it in the trash can, and prepared to leave.
“Okay, I’ll go. Do the dishes.”
"ok."
As I left the front door, got off the elevator, and went outside, I remembered what my brother had asked me earlier.
Was it obvious enough for you to notice my changed feelings? Can I continue to hide the incident with Ha Min? While I was thinking seriously alone, I soon arrived at the subway. As I took out my transportation card to tap on the ticket gate and looked ahead, I was startled and opened my eyes wide.
A dark, round back of the head, tall and stocky physique.
There must be more than one person with that kind of back view, but for some reason I had the feeling that the person going down the subway over there was Ha Min.
“You, Yoo Ha-min!”
As soon as I realized that, I ran down the subway after him.
As the cool underground air filled my lungs, I felt that the surroundings were strangely quieter than usual.
“….Why, is there no one?”
How could there be so few people in the Seoul subway? I looked around with a slight creepiness, and then I heard a familiar voice behind me along with a footstep.
"senior."
I flinched and slowly turned my head back. Ha-min, whom I had wanted to see so badly but had never been able to see, was waving at me with a smile.
“Ji, is it really Ha Min?”
“Shhh, senior. I’ll tell you the details later. Would you like to come this way?”
Ha Min-i, who looked around with a gesture telling me to lower my voice, gestured for me to follow him. For a moment, I almost followed him without thinking. It was only after I took three steps that I realized something was strange.
“Senior Chae Bong-gu?”
“Who are you?”
My pounding heart instinctively took a step back as soon as it realized the situation. Even I, who have poor intuition, couldn't help but notice.
“What are you talking about? Sun-”
“Hamin…! He doesn’t call me senior.”
One, a guy who approached me in a friendly manner, saying, “Hyung, Hyung,” from the first time I remember meeting him.
“And don’t call me Chae Bong-gu.”
Second, he's the type of kid who would get upset if you called him by his last name, so he always just called us by our names.
“More than anything…. Ha Min doesn’t look at me like that.”
Third, don't give me that nasty look in your eyes that makes me feel like you're going to attack me at any moment.
As I took three more steps back and became alert, the man with Ha Min's face blinked in surprise before chuckling.
“Ah… Really….”
He covered his mouth and giggled, wondering what was so funny, and said to me with an eerie glow in his eyes.
“You caught this?”