The source was none other than Sayclub…. It was a post from August 2000.
He clicked to verify if it was really written by Hwang Jegu’s friend, but the page didn’t exist. With a frustrated heart, he even searched ‘His Majesty Hwang Jegu’. He hoped that if there were a few more posts about Hwang Jegu on that mini-homepage, they might come up.
“Hwang… His Majesty Hwang… Jegu…. Huh?”
At the end of the search, one more mini-homepage post caught his eye. Reading the content written below the title, Yeon Cheonguk couldn’t help but distort his expression.
Jegu-ya, live happily in heaven.
My friend, His Majesty Hwang. I’ll never forget your smile for the rest of my life.
I love you, my friend.
00/00/2000.
“What? What is this now?”
Died in 2000?
That doesn’t make sense. If this is real, then why was 2009 written as the death date on that electronic dictionary…?
In this world, Hwang Jegu is just a boy who left the world long ago in 2000, leaving no trace at all.
His head was complicated. He couldn’t possibly know the answer. Having fallen into an even darker labyrinth, Yeon Cheonguk was certain.
There must definitely be an answer inside that electronic dictionary!
The clock was pointing at 11 PM. Yeon Cheonguk put on his gown and rushed to the elevator. He shook his car keys while anxiously waiting for the floor numbers to decrease.
Since the management office handled trash collection, he didn’t know well where the apartment trash area was. As Yeon Cheonguk ran around looking around the complex, he spotted a large truck leaving onto the main road.
“Excuse me! Over there! Just a moment!”
He shouted while chasing the car in his pajamas. Fortunately, thanks to his excellent vocal power, the sanitation worker hanging on the back of the truck glanced toward Yeon Cheonguk.
Yeon Cheonguk didn’t miss the timing and shouted until his voice went hoarse. He can’t let it interfere with tomorrow’s performance…! But he had no choice.
“Ahjussi! Just a moment! Just a moment!”
The collection truck stopped by the roadside. Yeon Cheonguk, who breathlessly ran and caught up to the truck, climbed right up into the seat next to the sanitation worker.
“There’s something in there that shouldn’t be thrown away…! I’m sorry. Let me take a look. Ah, that one…!”
Discovering his own among the trash bags they had just loaded, Yeon Cheonguk repeatedly bowed his head and apologized. The sanitation workers grumbled and returned the trash. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Even while bowing until the truck left, he was full of anticipation rather than annoyance.
Normally, he would have been worried first, thinking ‘Those people mustn’t recognize me.’ But right now, Yeon Cheonguk’s head was full of nothing but the mystery called Hwang Jegu.
Returning home, Yeon Cheonguk squatted down at the entrance and rummaged through the trash bag. Fortunately, the electronic dictionary was safe. When he opened the screen and pressed the power button, the lock screen appeared.
<Please enter password>
___ ___ ___ ___
The password is 4 digits.
It was the lock screen he had faced again with difficulty.
Yeon Cheonguk recalled the date the web page he saw earlier was written. It was August 28, presumed to be Hwang Jegu’s birthday. With trembling hands, he firmly pressed the number buttons.
<The password is incorrect.>
“Haa…… What on earth is it?”
He ran to the computer and tried entering every possible date. He tried them in reverse order, even entered the death date, tried all kinds of combinations, but the answer that returned was always <The password is incorrect>.
Yeon Cheonguk, who had been tearing at his hair, suddenly raised his head.
No, this is really absurd.
Really, there’s absolutely no way this is possible.
But what if.
What if, my birthday…?
This time, his hands really trembled.
1.1.1.5.
It was the moment when Yeon Cheonguk entered the four digits of his birthday and pressed the confirm button.
Unbelievable. The main screen slowly revealed itself.
Menu tabs lined up on both sides, and a dictionary-shaped icon appeared clearly in the center.
White fog appeared before his eyes. Like special effects on a darkened stage, pure white smoke spun around in front of him. Soon all his senses mixed together as he was sucked into darkness. Yeon Cheonguk closed his blinking eyes.
***
The sound of a clock’s second hand regularly pounded his ears.
Yeon Cheonguk opened his eyes while lying face down on the desk. His body was heavy as if suffering from sleep paralysis, and his whole body was soaked in sweat.
It was an unfamiliar room. A black vintage fan was spinning rattling in the corner of the room. Yeon Cheonguk looked around with a dazed face, not fully awake.
A narrow room with almost no spare space except for one desk and one bed. Looking at the tacky patterned wallpaper and linoleum, the <Moulin Rouge> movie poster and <The Phantom of the Opera> musical poster stuck on the wall, it was the house he had lived in until he graduated from college.
It was a sweltering tropical night. Outside the window, cicada sounds echoed loudly. Soon sweat formed in beads on his forehead too.
Is this a dream? Why did I wake up in my old house?
I was definitely unlocking the electronic dictionary’s password at the entrance. Did I fall asleep like that?
It’s very strange to have suddenly fallen asleep as if fainting while looking at the dictionary, but thinking he should enjoy it once if it’s a dream, he tried to pull himself together.
Nngh… He let out a groaning sound and got up from his seat. Even though comfortable clothes were hanging full on the clothes hanger, Yeon Cheonguk was wearing a suit with a dark gray shirt. It was attire that suggested it had probably been an important day. Why was I sleeping face down on the desk wearing a suit? Really.
He looked over the desk. A light was blinking on the monitor next to the bulky computer tower. When he pressed the tower button, the Windows Vista boot screen appeared.
My goodness. This is a realistic old dream.
He looked around with an inexplicable anxiety and strange silence. He could hear the second hand sound, but there wasn’t a single clock in the room. Yeon Cheonguk checked the bottom right corner of the screen as soon as booting finished.
[August 19, 2009 AM 2:17]
It matched the month, day, hour, and minute with the clock he had just seen on the electronic dictionary…….
Only the bizarre future year of 2681 had changed to 2009. How intense must that number have been for him to even dream with that day in 2009 as the setting?
However, somehow he couldn’t let out a hollow laugh. Yeon Cheonguk was engulfed in an even more ominous intuition. With a darkened face, he looked over the desk again. A black Nokia touchscreen phone vibrated. It was actually a model that Yeon Cheonguk had used around 2009.
A call kept coming in from a number saved under the name ‘Gakseori’. A call at this dawn…. It was unsettling, but he didn’t answer for now. He didn’t have the mental capacity to talk with someone he didn’t even know.
Yeon Cheonguk sat back down on the chair and opened the electronic dictionary.
Beep, beep. He pressed buttons to open the electronic dictionary and looked through various menus.
Dictionary
Calculator
Multi
When he selected the Multi function, there were many menus that piqued his interest.
Memo / Video / Album / MP3 / Audio Book / E-book / Expansion Card.
He looked through them in order. Just as he was disappointed that Memo, Video, and Album were all empty, Yeon Cheonguk’s eyes lit up with curiosity upon discovering data filling the MP3 list.
__[Listening to music..]
__[Root_..]
- [Intro]
- [Backstreet Boys – As Long As You Love Me.mp3]
- [Park Kiyoung – The Beginning.mp3]
- [Come what may – Moulin Rouge OST.mp3]
- [The Moon Represents My Heart – Comrades OST.mp3]
- [It’s Been a While – Yoon Jongshin version.mp3]
- [How Is It – Park Hwayobi.mp3]
- [Stop Forgetting Me – Gummy.mp3]
- [Confession – Deli Spice.mp3]
- [Fly to the Sky – Habit.wav]
- [Noel – Proposal.wav]
- [Someday – Lee Sangeun.mp3]
- [Buzz – my love.mp3]
- […I Loved You… – Lyn.mp3]
.
.
.
His eyes widened. <The Beginning>, <Moulin Rouge>, Buzz….. This was undeniably a playlist that Yeon Cheonguk would have listened to…….
With his spine running cold, Yeon Cheonguk looked at the computer monitor again. Now, when a good 5 minutes should have passed, the time was the same as before. The sound of the second hand continued to circle loudly in his ears.
This is strange. Time seems to have stopped here.
[The current time is August 19, 2009, 02:17. This is the time when Hwang Jegu died.]
Suddenly the LCD blinked and flickered, then the notepad opened. The system began to write and send text in the notepad that had opened on its own.
“……I know. I know, okay? His Majesty Hwang or whatever died!”
Yeon Cheonguk shouted at the small LCD with the blinking cursor. Is the electronic device operating on its own because it’s a dream? Really, what a disgusting dream.
While grumbling, a loud telephone ring sounded from the living room. Unable to bear the ringing that was irritatingly loud enough to grate on his nerves, Yeon Cheonguk rushed out to the living room.
