Rosetta nodded with satisfaction and spoke as if showing off.
“The connection has gotten stronger, hasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Now I can even hear your voice. How much time do you think is left?”
Yes, this was ultimately the purpose. The man in the mirror. Angel readjusted her expression and smiled.
“It seems less than a week remains.”
“Hmm, really?”
“Yes.”
Whether it was the answer he wanted, his already bright face bloomed even more.
“Then I should prepare.”
As Rosetta said that and spun his body around, Angel asked him.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yes. I hope this time the date you mentioned is correct.”
With words pointing out that Angel’s prediction had been wrong, Rosetta left the drawing room without even a greeting. He left the drawing room in less than five minutes after entering. Angel stomped her foot irritably.
“I’ve been patient long enough…”
Just as she was about to spit out curses about Rosetta, the door opened again and the attendant Puti entered the drawing room with other servants.
“Holy Maiden-nim.”
If it were only Puti, she would reveal her entire personality, but behind him were many servants. Angel looked at Puti with a small smile. Puti bowed his head with a good-natured smile just like Angel.
“Thank you for making time despite being busy today. You seem very busy, so we’ll attach someone to escort you outside.”
Until the end, Puti scratched at Angel. Angel answered irritably.
“It’s fine.”
Then Puti retreated without insisting a second time.
“Thank you for your precious time.”
Angel glared with cold eyes at Puti, who was indirectly issuing an order to leave by telling the servants to clean the drawing room, paying no mind to whether she was there or not.
He seemed to act so rudely and disrespectfully, trusting in that great emperor, but really, not much time was left for that either.
At most a week until the existence in the mirror would be dragged here.
After the man she’d been waiting and waiting for came here, the Emperor would fall into great despair and sorrow.
Angel smiled bitterly as she left the drawing room.
When the Emperor fell into such despondency, naturally that rude attendant wouldn’t be able to act as triumphant as he was now. Angel erased today’s defeat by thinking of the joy that had approached right before her eyes.
***
Seoho crouched down in front of his parents’ photos placed side by side and took out the cake and thermos. Perhaps because he hadn’t visited many times, it was still an unfamiliar place.
Not knowing if it was okay to take out food in such a place, the cake was neatly contained in its box and the thermos lid wasn’t opened either, but Seoho decided to be satisfied that he’d made the effort.
Seoho looked at the faces of his parents smiling harmoniously and muttered quietly.
“Happy birthday.”
His parents’ birthday, which was only a week apart from his own.
He’d thought birthdays didn’t have much meaning after death, but still, since he’d observed his own birthday, he wanted to observe his parents’ birthday too.
Until recently, he’d cried so much whenever he came to this place. He’d cried so hard he couldn’t control his body, to the point where people around him offered him tissues. That’s why he couldn’t come often.
But now it was okay.
He was still sad and his heart felt heavy, but it was bearable. Seoho talked to the two people about his daily life.
Since Seoho’s daily life didn’t change much and was always similar, naturally stories about the eyes drawn on the wall whose identity he couldn’t determine also came up.
“A strange picture appeared on the wall.”
Those eyes that were gradually gaining vitality weren’t so scary anymore.
“At first I was scared, but now it’s okay.”
Seoho asked playfully.
“Mom and Dad didn’t send me a friend, did you? So I wouldn’t be lonely.”
Seoho muttered quietly while looking at the photo beyond the glass.
“Actually, I wondered if it might be Mom and Dad, but the eyes were blue.”
It would be a lie to say he hadn’t hoped. He’d thought that maybe his parents were worried about their son left alone, so they’d come to take him.
But seeing those eye colors, it became certain. The owner of those eyes wasn’t his parents.
In fact, from the crying sound itself, it hadn’t been his parents, so perhaps it was a natural result. He was a little disappointed, but even so, it wasn’t as if those eyes had become scary again or that he was reluctant about them. Seoho said with a smile.
“I guess I made a foreign friend.”
He decided to just think positively about it. It was a bit funny that he’d befriended a dead foreign friend before making a foreign friend in real life.
“A shaman said I’m going to die soon. But I’m not really scared.”
If he’d said this directly in front of his parents, he would have been asked if he was crazy. Seoho burst into laughter.
“Strange, isn’t it?”
Seoho continued making small talk after that, then checked the time. He seemed to have arrived around twelve o’clock, but it was already past four.
Seoho dusted off his bottom and got up.
“I’ll come again if I can.”
Seoho gathered the thermos and cake box he’d brought. He didn’t know if it was okay to leave the food, so he just decided to take them.
As Seoho was about to turn around, he suddenly thought he didn’t know if he’d be able to come to this place again.
Really strangely.
Suddenly.
Seoho turned his body and greeted his parents once more.
“Goodbye.”
And he left the place without lingering.
He transferred buses several times and finally got on the bus with the familiar number. It was a time approaching seven o’clock, well past six.
Seoho sat in an empty seat that opened at the right time and looked out the window. As he was scanning the familiar streets with his eyes, someone suddenly called Seoho.
“Seoho-ya?”
It was a voice that had become familiar. When he turned his head, sure enough, Oh Yuri was looking at him. It was a bit surprising to run into her on the bus.
“Yuri-ya.”
As if Oh Yuri was just as surprised, she approached Seoho and asked.
“Where are you coming from?”
Seoho didn’t answer her question properly and responded with a smile.
“Yeah. I’ll move over for you.”
“No, it looks like you have stuff.”
Oh Yuri approached Seoho closely, then discovered the box placed on his lap and opened her eyes wide.
“Is that… a cake?”
Seoho answered awkwardly.
“Oh, yeah.”
The thermos was in his bag, but the cake didn’t fit in the bag, so he’d had no choice but to put it on his lap, and it seemed to have caught her eye.
As he was wondering what to say, Oh Yuri smiled slightly and asked.
“Don’t tell me, your parents finally took care of this for you?”
Seoho vaguely brushed it off.
“Well…”
As if Oh Yuri had reached her own conclusion, she nodded and asked.
“Are you going home?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m done with all my exams too. I’m hanging out with friends today, so I’ll contact you later.”
“Okay.”
Oh Yuri, who had exchanged words with Seoho a few more times, pressed the stop button. Seoho felt the same feeling he’d felt earlier at the columbarium.
The feeling that he wouldn’t see Oh Yuri again.
Seoho called the name of Oh Yuri, who was greeting him.
“Yuri-ya.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
Oh Yuri, who had been looking at him as if puzzled by Seoho’s words, looked at the box in his arms and then smiled.
“Ah, the cake?”
There were many other things to be grateful for, but Seoho just nodded.
“Yeah.”
Oh Yuri waved her hand with an embarrassed smile.
“Hey, come on. Bye.”
Seoho greeted the back of Oh Yuri as she got off the bus.
“Bye.”
It was a day with a strange feeling.
***
Where had he been? The man who had been away all day opened the door and entered the house.
Rosetta was curious about the life outside the house that he couldn’t see and curious about the people he met.
Who was the person who made him smile once in a while while looking down at the small, square object, what did he go out to do, where had he been?
He was curious about all of his daily life.
Rosetta, who had been looking at the man’s appearance as if entranced for a while, suddenly received a strong premonition.
‘It really won’t be long now.’
The feeling of being strongly connected with him. Rosetta’s eyes widened at the sudden change. But his surprise was brief.
The man’s emotions flowed into Rosetta. The man was sad right now.
A feeling of being sad while also feeling somehow relieved.
“This is…”
The man, after cleanly washing as always, returned to the bed. Throughout his movements as usual, sadness accompanied the man with his calm face. Had you always been this sad?
He seemed fine when looking from the outside, he seemed okay except when shedding tears.
‘Were you this sad?’
Could such sad emotions have been hidden even behind the smile I considered beautiful?
All kinds of thoughts covered his mind.
At the same time, tears dripped down. Whether he’d become assimilated with the man’s emotions or was just happy to be more strongly connected with him, he didn’t know, but tears came out. The man’s emotions and Rosetta’s emotions mixed together in a mess.
Rosetta cried out loud.
Puti was startled and opened the door to enter the room, but he didn’t even notice that. No, he ignored it. It was a natural disregard since he was someone who couldn’t harm him.
Rosetta didn’t even know that Puti, after confirming Rosetta crying out loud, let out a small sigh while pushing people further away.
Rosetta just looked at the man. The man was lying on the bed, looking at the wall.
The wall where the mirror had first been connected.
‘He’s looking at me.’
The man opened his mouth and said something. Unlike his turbulent inner thoughts, the voice that came out externally was calm and gentle.
A soft voice and speech that matched his neat face.
The turbulent inside that contrasted with it.
The tears wouldn’t stop at that gap.
