“Seonwoo-ya.”
“……”
“It’s late, but happy birthday.”
Beyond the Vice Director’s arm, a cake was visible. The part that had been cut piece by piece with a fork was hidden in the back so it didn’t show, making it look fine like new from the outside. But in the empty space where fruit had disappeared, there were clear marks where the cream had been pressed.
ლ
They say people sometimes instinctively feel an ominous premonition before a big incident strikes. Did that include the chilling energy that spread from the nape of the neck throughout the whole body?
Seonwoo woke up at a time neither earlier nor later than usual, ate breakfast normally, and spent the same kind of day. Yet his heart was anxious all day long. It felt like something had already started somewhere invisible that he couldn’t even stop.
But on the morning of the accident, he hadn’t felt such emotions. He only had memories of shaking off sleepiness while drinking fruit juice his dad had blended with strawberries and bananas.
Perhaps his sixth sense had developed from experiencing a major accident, but it was an unconvincing story to Seonwoo. It was better to think it was because of the conversation he’d had with the Vice Director yesterday.
Seonwoo thought the unpleasantness felt after conversing with the Vice Director was because of his unique way of speaking. It wasn’t clear what he was trying to say, but he spoke in a way that seemed somehow profound and deep.
But in reality, it was hollow without substance. It was no different from an artist intoxicated with his own world. However, when he spoke gently in that voice, it seemed most people would be entranced and drawn in.
He would’ve done well taking a place as a cult leader and living comfortably. Seonwoo deliberately filtered out most of what the Vice Director said. So when he tried calling Taejeong just to check and heard a guidance voice saying it was really a non-existent number, it was unexpected.
That said, there was nothing Seonwoo could do. Not only was there no reason to search for his whereabouts, even if he wanted to contact him, there was no way to do so. He just hoped Taejeong’s runaway life would continue smoothly.
Seonwoo rolled his tongue along the inside of his cheek while wondering whether to delete Taejeong’s contact information, which had now become useless. He felt a bumpy foreign sensation. Yesterday there’d been a slight taste of blood, and by morning it was swollen.
When he wasn’t paying attention, he touched the wound with his tongue. If he just left it alone it would heal, but he kept touching it so the wound couldn’t possibly get better. From the afternoon on, he even felt pain. Seonwoo rubbed his throbbing cheek and eventually threw his phone somewhere out of sight.
But nothing happened to the extent that being on edge seemed pointless. It was like that until night came and he lay in bed looking at the ceiling. Even so, the vague ominousness didn’t disappear.
Wondering if it would be okay once a day passed, Seonwoo was watching the moment midnight passed on his phone screen. He confirmed with his own two eyes that the date was changing, but the unpleasantness remained the same.
After sitting at the edge of the bed for a while, he opened the window wide. He took several deep breaths while inhaling the cool air rushing in from outside. It was one of the methods he’d learned from the counselor. The effect wasn’t bad, so he repeated it even while lying in bed.
The night air of April was cool and soft enough to soothe his sensitized nerves. As he listened to the sound of rustling leaves heard intermittently from far away, his eyelids gradually closed.
ლ
His eyes snapped open at the sound of the ceiling collapsing. Seonwoo sat up as if bouncing and looked around. It was dark, but he could feel the bed touching his body and the ceiling was fine.
From outside the window came a whooshing sound. At first, he thought it was the sound of wind. But it didn’t take long to realize it was the sound of rain.
The sound of rain was so fierce and loud that he felt overwhelmed. At that moment, outside the wide-open window flashed. It was only a few seconds, but the outside became bright as if a flash had gone off.
Soon after, a loud thunder sounded as if the sky was collapsing. It was what had woken Seonwoo. First, he closed the window. Looking closely, thick streams of rain were pouring down diagonally.
The desk was drenched with rainwater. Needless to say about the items gathered in one place on the desk. From workbooks to wrong-answer notes, drying them wouldn’t be enough to salvage them.
When he closed the window and the sound of rain was blocked to some extent, the tension eased. Seonwoo forced his hazy mind awake and left the room. First priority was dealing with the desk that had become a sea of water.
Even when he came out to the living room, he could faintly hear the sound of rain from far away. It seemed to be heard through all the windows in the house. When passing through the hallway, Seonwoo unknowingly looked at Taejeong’s room. The door was still open.
“……”
He changed direction while heading to the bathroom. He passed through the dimly lit hallway and entered the owner-less room. Here the window was closed. The thick blackout curtains installed in double layers were all drawn, so the sound of rain could barely be heard.
Having confirmed that rain hadn’t come in, his business was done. Seonwoo took out all the towels in the bathroom. Returning to his room, he spread one on the floor to pile up the wet items and wiped the desk with the rest.
After dealing with the desk, he left the room holding one dry towel. Since sleepiness had flown away anyway, he planned to check if there was anywhere rain was coming in. The moment he came out to the living room, thunder and lightning struck behind him once more.
Seonwoo, who’d grown accustomed to being alone every night, fearlessly wandered here and there without even turning on the lights. On the second floor, everything except his own room was fine. When he came down to the first floor, perhaps because there was a lot of empty space with a high ceiling, the sound of rain echoed. The sound of pouring water traveled along the entire wall and seeped everywhere.
Even though it was clearly cut off from the outside where rain was falling, listening to the incessant sound of rain made it seem like this entire house was submerged underwater.
But aside from the carelessly left-open window, there seemed to be nowhere else that needed attention. It was when he looked around the first floor and finally passed in front of the entrance door. The sensor light on the shoe cabinet, which recognized Seonwoo’s movement, turned on.
At that moment, Seonwoo’s feet stopped abruptly. His motionless body stood like that until the light went out and it became pitch dark.
“……”
Seonwoo moved his arm and flailed his hand weakly above his head. The sensor light brightened once again. There was only one pair of shoes at the entrance. It was the one Seonwoo always wore.
Where his gaze stopped wasn’t there. What Seonwoo was looking at was the hallway where he was standing on both feet. Shoe prints clearly stamped from the entrance door to the hallway continued.
They weren’t the traces of one person. There were differences among the prints stamped haphazardly mixed together. As he examined them closely, the sensor light went out. The flailing hand gesture once again was sharp, unlike just before.
When the light came on, Seonwoo placed his bare foot next to one of the traces. He compared it with the size of his own foot. It was the same difference he had seen before. Running shoes floated up in his head like instinct.
The stain particularly holding moisture wasn’t at regular intervals. In some places, the outline was smeared as if the sole had slid. Where the shoe prints continued was the opposite direction from the hallway Seonwoo had walked. It was the path to the Vice Director’s study.
Then bright light poured from the hallway window. For a brief instant, he saw the shoe prints continuing beyond the door. It was the moment Seonwoo unconsciously drew in an empty breath. A few seconds later, a roar as if crossing through space was heard.
At that moment, Seonwoo clearly heard the noise buried under the thunder. It was a much duller and faster sound. The unidentified sound came from the end of the hallway.
But at the end of the hallway was a door, and from that position, not even a bit of light leaked out. However, the noise that became clearer the closer he got proved that someone existed beyond the door.
