Chapter : 05
The next day, Chowon looked up at the massive building in the distance with a somewhat surprised expression. Carved in large embossed letters at the very top of the building were the words: WINSOME DAYS.
She had never been there before, but she knew the place.
Winsome Days. The largest shopping mall and a landmark of the region.
“Is this it?” “Yes.” “…….” “Let’s go inside.”
Yohan answered lightly and took the lead. Chowon tilted her head in confusion but followed him without further comment.
As soon as they entered, the interior of the building, with its exceptionally high ceiling, caught her eye. Winsome Days featured an open-atrium structure from the 1st to the 10th floor. Thanks to this, one could lean against the railing of any floor and see the 1st-floor lobby at a single glance.
However, that didn’t mean you could see the ceiling clearly from the lobby. This was due to the “Luminarie Bridge” built right in the middle of that open space.
The Luminarie Bridge was a walkway connecting both ends of the 5th-floor railings. Situated in the heart of Winsome Days, it was famous for the rose-shaped lights installed along its railings. Amidst green lines that coiled around the railings like lush vines, round lamps—resembling full moons—hung like fruit, each emitting its own glow. Because of this, whether looking down from the 10th floor or up from the 1st, the Luminarie Bridge always sparkled like a garden of light.
“…Where exactly are we going?”
Chowon, who had followed the silent Yohan all the way to the 5th floor, finally asked her next question as they reached the bridge. Only then did Yohan look back at her, gesturing with his chin and a faint smile.
Chowon tilted her head slightly to scan the scene behind Yohan. The bridge wasn’t exactly packed, but the density was quite high with people taking photos or admiring the lighting.
Yohan reached out his hand first.
“…What?” “You get anxious when there are a lot of people.” “How do you know that?” “Take it.”
Instead of a specific answer, Yohan spoke with urgency. When Chowon seemed to hesitate for a moment, he took a step closer and gently grasped one of her hands.
Wait, just a second.
Before Chowon could say anything, he naturally led her forward.
Walking toward the center of the bridge, Yohan was deep in thought. He still hadn’t sorted out how much he should tell Chowon. He knew it would be much safer to tell her everything. But if he did, she might hate him. If he were hated, if he had to hear her resentment… would he be able to endure it?
Closing his eyes briefly before opening them, Yohan looked back at Chowon. Amidst the sparkling lights of the railing, he saw her face looking up at him quietly. Though she said nothing, he could tell what she wanted to ask just by the look in her eyes.
So, what and how do you want to explain? What is it that made you bring me all the way here?
Yohan wanted to stay by her side a little longer without being hated.
Yes, I can’t tell her everything just yet.
“…Noona. Do you remember when I said I was a Jangseung (totem pole)?” “How could I forget? Such an absurd story.”
Chowon spoke with a deliberately blunt tone and looked around. There were too many people.
Her anxiety was already at its peak due to the rain the previous day, and she felt uncomfortable in places with so much physical friction. Whenever she was in a crowd, she felt an ominous sense that her past misfortunes would suddenly leap out. A fear that the faces that had ruined her—running through the snow-covered forest in the dead of winter—would reappear through the throng of people.
At that moment, Yohan’s hand gently pulled her toward him again. The gap between them narrowed instantly, and Yohan smiled as if it were no big deal. It was as if he had read her anxiety perfectly.
“The part about being a Jangseung… half of it was a lie, but the other half is true. I’m not a normal person.” “…What?” “I thought a lot about how to explain what you’re curious about. But… I figured showing you would be faster than saying a lot of words. So, I’m going to lend it to you for a moment. My eyes.”
Chowon wanted to press him for more details, but Yohan didn’t give her the chance. He quickly turned her around. In an instant, with her back to Yohan, Chowon was facing the people on the bridge and the surrounding railings.
Then, Yohan covered both of her eyes with one hand. The intense heat from his palm immediately enveloped her face.
“Don’t be too surprised.”
As he whispered the barely audible words into her ear and slowly removed his hand, the world had changed. Chowon looked at the landscape before her with an expression of mixed bewilderment and horror.
…What is this?
Something black, thick, and murky was perched on the backs of every person. It was hard to even call it “one” thing. They surged as if alive, clinging disgustingly to the eyes, mouths, and skin of the people they were attached to.
Reacting to every laugh and word, they would swell in size or sometimes shrink. Some weren’t attached to people but to objects, the ceiling, or the floor. Hanging like viscous sewage, they dripped down onto the heads of passersby or stuck clammily to their feet.
Chowon turned to Yohan with a look of total confusion. At her silent plea for him to say something, Yohan spoke calmly.
“This is the world as I see it.”
As he finished speaking, Yohan lowered his gaze to Chowon’s arms. Only then did she look down at herself and realize that her own body was being consumed by that black substance.
Like thick smoke, like sticky ropes, it was wrapping around her entire body. Much like ivy covering a wall, it seemed to have sprouted from her skin, growing and blanketing her.
“What on earth…….”
While a bewildered Chowon was lost for words, Yohan slowly raised both hands and placed them on her shoulders. Suddenly, the black vines covering her body broke apart like smoke and began to waver. Swaying like a candle flame in a gale, they couldn’t hold on any longer and were instantly sucked into the palms of Yohan’s hands.
As they were swallowed, a sound like the cracking of a whip echoed—snap, snap. She saw blood blooming through the bandages wrapped around the back of his hand.
Only then did Chowon realize. Even while the world was heavily cast in dark shadows, the space around him alone was as bright as if bathed in light. In a world thick with viscous darkness, the bridge lights seemed to mean nothing, yet the lights near him remained vibrant and glowing. As if in a pitch-black universe, only the stars around him had survived.
The shadows couldn’t get even an inch close to him. And at this moment, with his hands on her shoulders, Chowon was also safe from all shadows and darkness. As the darkness receded, the bright lamps around her began to shine of their own accord.
Yohan leaned down slightly to meet Chowon’s eyes.
“This is it. My answer.”
Chowon looked into his face, inches away, and into those eyes staring intently at her. She saw the reflected light and her own image standing within them.
In the shining universe within his eyes, only Chowon stood.
In a spacious room, a man sat on a black sofa with his head bowed. He had spent many years doing delivery work with a single white truck, but recently, an inexplicable anxiety had worsened, leaving him plagued by nightmares every day. His darting eyes and trembling hands clearly showed his unstable state. His expression was hollow, like someone exhausted from being tormented for a long time.
“You said scenes from the past keep appearing in your dreams.”
A young man carrying a tray slowly approached him. The young man placed the tray on the table and carefully set two teacups—one in front of the truck driver and one in front of himself.
When the young man sat down, the truck driver nodded feebly and looked at him. The young man met his gaze with a gentle smile.
“Can you explain exactly what kind of dream it is?”
Steam rose from the teacups on the table.
The consultation room, with its charcoal-painted walls and black sofas, felt somewhat cold for a place meant for opening up one’s heart. The young man who owned this space matched that atmosphere perfectly. His slender, sharp eyes were particularly striking.
However, he was someone who had already mastered the art of hiding that aura behind a warm smile. He could package himself however he liked and could gain anyone’s trust if he wished.
“When I was young… it’s a scene I witnessed as a child.” “Yes. What did you witness?” “So, a long time ago… a thief broke into the house… and my mother…….” “She was murdered.”
At the sudden interruption, the truck driver couldn’t finish his sentence and clutched his head in agony. The young man watched him intently, then curled one corner of his mouth into a smirk.
“…Oh dear.”
Uttering a sigh of mock sympathy after that fleeting smile, the young man picked up his teacup with an elegant gesture. After taking a sip of the warm tea, he looked at the truck driver again with calm eyes. The driver, who was originally of a sturdy build, looked strangely small and pathetic, perhaps due to the prolonged nightmares. A weakened heart sometimes manifests through the entire body like that.
“…Do you regret not being able to save your mother back then?” “That, that is…! I was just a child then. It was an age where I couldn’t even imagine one person killing another. My mother told me to hide, so I just did as I was told! I… I……!”
The older man’s eyes instantly reverted to those of the boy he once was. The young man did not miss that moment.
“Yes, of course. You were a child, seeker. There was nothing you could do, and it was only natural that hiding was the best option. You don’t need to feel any guilt for that. However, what matters is… the fact that after all these years, that scene has suddenly come knocking on the door of your life.” “Knocking… on the door?” “Yes. In other words, this is an omen. It is the word of the Absolute, wishing to help the child of the past who has been huddled inside you for so long after losing his mother to a madman.” “…The word of the Absolute…….”
As the truck driver muttered under his breath, the young man leaned forward like a supple predator. The eyes of the truck driver and the man met head-on. The moment he faced those obsidian-like pupils, the truck driver’s entire body froze like a stone statue.
“You can be saved from this hell.”
End Of Chapter : 05
