#049
– …Yes.
“It’s, it’s Seo Ranho.”
– I know it’s you, Ranho-ssi.
“…I was so busy today, I couldn’t… check my phone. I’m sorry.”
– …I was really busy too.
“…Right. You must have been busy…? I didn’t, um… ignore your calls on purpose…. It’s not too late yet… if it’s before dinner, would you like to eat together?”
At the careful question, I could hear Ban Hajoon let out a deep sigh. He made short interjections as if he was about to say something, then answered with a sigh-like “okay.”
“I’ll, I’ll come to you.”
– I’ll come to you. Ranho-ssi, you don’t like walking.
“I could just drive there.”
– I’ll come. In the meantime, Ranho-ssi, think about what you want for dinner.
At his somehow subdued voice, I gave an understanding response without saying more. A brief silence followed, and the call ended with a careful “come safely.” If I had really forgotten, Ban Hajoon would have been incredibly upset, making me feel dizzy with worry.
I decided to repay him for the Pepero with flowers and stood tall in front of the showcase. Hmm, what should I give him? Despite my contemplation, my hands reached out without hesitation. First, I pulled out white lisianthus. Because Ban Hajoon likes these. Then I chose the aurora roses that I had fallen for at first sight and impulsively bought today.
“Pretty.”
The flowers that had been properly hydrated in the showcase looked particularly fresh. Aurora roses are imported roses with rainbow-colored dyed petal tips, and seeing them in person, they were so beautiful I couldn’t resist buying them. I carefully observed the aurora roses, then took out several more stems and efficiently placed sirene, didiscus, and eucalyptus on the table. Once I had all the flowers out, I got a sense of how to arrange them.
The bouquet mixing aurora roses and lisianthus looked pretty even to me. I took out my phone from my pocket, took a photo to save, and placed it in a vase. I hummed while tidying up the table. I gathered the cut stems and leaves to throw away and wiped down the table with wet wipes. After emptying the quite full trash can and sweeping the floor once, it seemed about time for Ban Hajoon to arrive.
I untied my apron and washed my hands. While habitually washing my hands with cold water with my back to the door, the bell chimed.
“Are you here? Just a moment. Let me just finish washing my hands.”
I naturally assumed it was Ban Hajoon.
“Looks like someone’s coming?”
The voice I heard from behind wasn’t familiar to me. When I turned off the water and turned around, Chu Gangmin, who had also come yesterday, was waving his hands and leaning against the table. My relaxed lips tensed up.
“You look like you’re wondering why I keep coming when no one welcomes me.”
I unconsciously let out a deep sigh. If you know that, then don’t come. I rubbed my eyelids with my cold hands and untied my apron.
“I have a dinner appointment. You come here quite often.”
“I dreamed about the shop owner last night too.”
“……”
“I came to check. Whether you were well all night.”
What exactly was he trying to check? I had been tired all day, but Chu Gangmin’s appearance made me even more exhausted. I had even opened a flower shop to avoid getting involved with that guy, but things weren’t going as planned. No matter what I did, would I somehow end up meeting Chu Gangmin like in the novel?
“I keep not understanding what you’re talking about,”
“I’ve been having dreams about hitting the shop owner quite often, like I told you. After I have them, it’s hard to tell if it was a dream or reality. That’s why I came. In last night’s dream, I hit the shop owner too, and just from that bit of hitting, your lips and cheeks were all split open.”
“……”
“So I came to check. Whether the hitting was really just a dream. Whether I actually laid hands on that pretty face. It’s too pretty to hit… the shop owner’s face.”
The words he added shyly gave me chills. Why on earth was he dreaming about the novel’s content? I don’t understand why the novel’s coercive force was manifesting in Chu Gangmin, who wasn’t even the protagonist. Was it really displeasing to keep Seo Ranho alive when he was supposed to die alone in the novel? Was he subtly showing me his determination to kill me somehow? Telling me to run quickly if I wanted to live?
I don’t understand what’s what. The flower shop was already busy enough to kill me, and now Chu Gangmin appeared to gradually gnaw away at my sanity. What if I end up confusing the novel with current reality like Chu Gangmin?
“What the hell…”
Listening to Chu Gangmin’s story, it seemed like he was dreaming about the most provocative parts of the novel content I knew so well. Judging by how he kept talking about the moment when violence began, not the lovey-dovey early romance phase.
“I don’t know what kind of dreams you’re having, but handle that on your own and don’t come to me to talk about it. Everything you’re saying feels very unpleasant and threatening to me.”
“Isn’t the shop owner pretending not to know when you know everything?”
“Hey. What am I supposed to know…”
“You have a mole inside under your right ear. In a place hidden by hair where it’s not visible. Right?”
My hand gripping the table trembled slightly. How could he know that when even ears aren’t easily visible? His small pupils didn’t miss the aggrieved, annoyed movement.
“Seems like you don’t know. Then shall we check together? Whether it’s there or not.”
“Why would I?”
A faint tremor entered my voice. Even trying not to tremble, in front of the character Chu Gangmin, Seo Ranho was scared as if fear was hardcoded as a default value. I hoped and hoped again for anyone to appear. Please, anyone.
“Even in the dream, it was quite a sight when I stripped you. I wondered if it was possible even for a guy, no matter how rich and pretty he was. But…”
Chu Gangmin’s words trailed off loosely.
“It was possible… It was such a shame it was just a dream. Right when things were getting good, I woke up before finishing, and that was so disappointing.”
I wanted to wash out my ears from the words he whispered secretly in a low voice. Just hearing them made me feel dirty. Unable to bear the unpleasantness, I barely opened my mouth to threaten him.
“If you come one more time, I’ll report you.”
As if my words were a trigger, Chu Gangmin couldn’t hide his excitement and raised his voice.
“What are you going to report? Did I hit the shop owner, or did I force myself on you? Did I even hold your hand? What are you going to report, what exactly!”
Bang! At the sound he made while slamming the table, I unconsciously covered my ears and crouched down. I’m scared. Fear wasn’t an emotion I could just pretend was nothing and endure. Goosebumps spread throughout my body and I trembled like an aspen leaf. That’s when it happened. Like the appearance of a savior, the bell chimed.
There was movement nearby. Had Chu Gangmin moved away? Without even being able to open my eyes, unable to confirm who had entered, I heard footsteps quickly approaching me with a tak-tak-tak sound.
I was enveloped by something warm. As my body was pulled close and touched something solid, as soon as a familiar scent reached my nose, my tension melted away in relief.
“Ranho.”
Ah.
“Fuck, you’re doing this heart-wrenching thing again.”
“Woo, Woo Dohwan-ssi.”
My trembling hands that had been covering my ears grabbed onto Woo Dohwan’s clothes.
“Why are you so scared, baby? What did that bastard do?”
“…Bug, I was catching a bug.”
“Sounds like bug-like nonsense.”
“That person, on the table, there was a weird bug crawling,”
The rambling I spouted was complete nonsense. But what could I possibly say? That this was inside a novel I used to read while alive, and that I had possessed the character Seo Ranho after dying in an accident?
That fact alone would be shocking enough, but the character Seo Ranho happened to be the only supporting character who dies alone in the story. And the reason for his death was even more horrifying. He gets beaten to death by his ex-boyfriend Chu Gangmin, all over money. So I opened a flower shop to avoid meeting him, but whether due to the original story’s coercive force, I ended up meeting him somehow anyway.
For me, who knew the original content, the fear brought by finally meeting the target I had tried so hard to avoid was beyond imagination. Meeting Chu Gangmin repeatedly, every time I stood before him, it felt like all my blood was draining out. Meanwhile, Chu Gangmin, who dreamed about the most provocative parts of the novel, came to tell me about it so vividly that it was hard to endure with a sound mind. My spine was soaked with cold sweat.
“He didn’t do anything.”
“Ranho.”
Really. I muttered so only he could hear and put more strength into the hand gripping his clothes, burrowing deeper into the embrace that held me without gaps. Woo Dohwan spread out the coat covering my shoulders to completely hide me and spoke with a voice thick with displeasure.
“Hey there. Part-timer.”
“I’m not even working part-time.”
“I don’t know your name or age. I’ll just speak casually.”
There was a sound of laughing through the nose as if finding it absurd. From across the table, not above my head. Woo Dohwan tightened his arms around me and spoke each word clearly and distinctly.
“You’ve been annoying since last time, and today you’re acting like shit again.”
“Hey now.”
“What are you smirking about, so unpleasantly? If I see you acting like this in front of Ranho one more time, then it really won’t be fun.”
“Oh my, how scary.”
“Get lost before it really gets scary.”
I could hear a sarcastic voice as if reading from a textbook, but at the same time there was the sound of footsteps moving. Instead of standing his ground any longer, Chu Gangmin said “Who would come buy flowers when they’re scared,” and left the store while kicking things with loud bangs! He must have kicked a metal shelf because there was a loud crash! that made my body jump.
“That fucking bastard.”
Woo Dohwan moved as if he was about to let go of me and chase after Chu Gangmin right away. I put more strength into the hand gripping his clothes. In case Woo Dohwan might push me away and chase after Chu Gangmin. Chu Gangmin, the epitome of being strong against the weak and weak against the strong, had done taekwondo despite looking so pathetic. He even had a black belt, so if it turned into a physical fight… just thinking about it was horrifying.
The bell sounded. He must have pulled the door open so hard that the usually gentle bell made an unpleasant clang! as it struck.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
