#88
* * *
Nam Seonwoo woke up with a slightly strange feeling.
This sensation of having slept too well felt unsettling. Despite falling asleep early, yesterday had been eventful. Moreover, Wednesday was a day with Contemporary History class early in the morning, so he shouldn’t have woken up feeling like he’d had such a good sleep.
He fumbled for his phone on the bedside table but couldn’t find it. Checking the old wall clock, he confirmed that class time had indeed passed.
‘Why didn’t the alarm…’
He wondered if his phone battery had died. As Seonwoo quickly got up and was about to put his feet on the floor, he paused. He had discovered something like a huge boulder on his bedroom floor.
…Why is he here?
He didn’t know when Kim Minhwan, who had been sleeping in the living room, had crawled into the bedroom, but the reason the alarm hadn’t rung was easy to figure out.
Seonwoo picked up his phone from the floor. Seeing it fallen near Minhwan’s hand, it seemed the guy had woken up to the alarm sound, immediately rushed over to turn it off, and then fallen back asleep without a care. It was infuriating.
Kim Minhwan woke up blinking his eyes after receiving a kick from Seonwoo. As he scratched his stomach and yawned, he seemed to realize the situation belatedly and covered his mouth with his hand.
“…Hyung? Where is this, why, why are we…?”
Seeing him covering his chest with both hands, he seemed to have misunderstood the situation. Seonwoo smacked the back of his head and said:
“Stop talking nonsense and if you’re awake, hurry up and go catch a taxi. We have less than 20 minutes until class, you know?”
“Huh? Class? What class? …Oh!”
For other subjects, one absence might be acceptable, but the Contemporary History professor was particularly sensitive about attendance. It was better to be late than absent.
After hastily getting ready, Seonwoo found the house quiet. Kim Minhwan had apparently gone out to catch a taxi right away. The borrowed clothes neatly folded by the entrance suggested they were too small for him to wear outside. Seonwoo hurriedly put on his sneakers and rushed down to the first floor.
“Hyung! Here!”
Kim Minhwan was waving his hand in front of a taxi. But Seonwoo unconsciously scanned the roadside instead. Soon realizing what he was looking for, he shook his head vigorously and ran toward the taxi. As he quickly got into the taxi, Minhwan followed and shouted, “Driver, Korea University!”
There were many alarms that had accumulated overnight. Seonwoo cleared them one by one from the top with a somewhat nervous feeling. He wasn’t sure whether he was hoping for a message from Kang Jihan or hoping there would be none.
Kim Minhwan, who had been watching him from the side, suddenly asked:
“By the way, hyung, do you have a phone charger? I think my phone died.”
“How could I? Someone made me leave without even my pencil case.”
“S-sorry. Then could you just leave a message for Minsu and Dongjun for me? They might be worried since I disappeared suddenly yesterday…”
Those two seemed to be the people he had been drinking with yesterday. Seonwoo handed over his phone, meaning for Minhwan to send the message himself.
That’s when it happened. Simultaneously with a loud bang from behind, the car shook violently.
“Damn it! Who’s that crazy bastard?! Are you students okay?”
A car trying to cut in aggressively from the adjacent lane had hit the back of the taxi. It was a minor collision, but the impact caused Seonwoo to tilt over toward Kim Minhwan. Minhwan quickly caught him and said:
“Yes! We’re fine. Wow, that scared me. Hyung, you’re not hurt anywhere, right?”
“……”
“Oh no, hyung dropped his phone. Sorry, I’ll pick it up quickly…”
As soon as he removed the hands supporting Seonwoo, the slender body collapsed limply. Kim Minhwan stared blankly at Seonwoo, who had fallen weakly onto his lap.
“…Hyung?”
“What’s going on? What’s wrong with the student next to you? What happened?”
“I-I don’t know, hyung? Why… uh, hyung…? D-driver, what should, I do…”
As far as Minhwan knew, Seonwoo wasn’t the type to play such pranks. Just then, Seonwoo’s phone vibrated. Panicking, Minhwan looked down at the phone with trembling hands.
[Contemporary History Kang Jihan]
Seeing the familiar name, he frantically answered the call as if grabbing a lifeline.
“H-hello?”
-…
But only a heavy silence hung over the phone. The taxi driver scolded Minhwan, who was struck with fear.
“What do you mean ‘hello’? Student, get your act together! Call for help right now!”
“Uh, yes, c-call…”
-Call?
“J-Jihan hyungnim…! Here… Seonwoo hyung suddenly, won’t open his eyes… ugh, I’ll c-call back—”
-Where are you right now?
Kim Minhwan’s eyes grew moist at the voice that weighed heavier than the silence from before. Though there wasn’t a single word telling him to stay calm, somehow he felt more reassured than with any emergency call.
Kim Minhwan’s trembling gradually subsided at the low, resolute voice. He moved calmly and quickly, following the instructions from the voice on the other end of the phone.
*
*
Nam Seonwoo found himself standing in front of a bus stop. Judging from the familiar scenery, it seemed to be near his family home where he lived until his early college years.
This was the second time he had opened his eyes in a different space, standing perfectly fine. Recalling the scenes he saw in the funeral home parking lot, this must also be part of his memories.
As before, his body wouldn’t move according to his will, while his vision and thoughts were free. One difference was that unlike at the funeral home, nothing significant seemed about to happen here. The bus number on the stop sign was a route he frequently took in college, meaning this moment was an extremely ordinary scene.
So, inside his body waiting for the bus, Seonwoo reflected on the accident just now.
Though it seemed like a simple collision, it must have been too much stimulation for his body, which had collapsed at even a shuttlecock. Besides, having hit his head on Minhwan’s shoulder of all places, he seemed to have lost consciousness again.
Clearly, there wouldn’t be any major physical issues this time either. However, Minhwan, who had been beside him, must have been very startled. He could well imagine what impression Minhwan would have of him now, with his social anxiety and fainting.
‘Did I make enemies with cars or something?’
Though they called it accident-free, he had bad luck every time he drove. There were times when serious accidents nearly happened, and Kang Jihan used to criticize Seonwoo, saying he was “careless when driving.”
But Seonwoo felt wronged. Not all those incidents were due to his lack of driving skill, and accidents can happen on the road no matter how well you drive.
“Oh no! What should I do!”
Seonwoo looked toward the sound. A girl wearing a nearby middle school uniform was holding paper bags that looked twice her size in both hands. Seeing various items rolling on the ground, it seemed one of the paper bags had torn.
‘Wait, this is…’
Unlike the hesitant Seonwoo, this ‘Nam Seonwoo’ immediately bent down and started picking up the items. The schoolgirl kept bowing repeatedly, unable to help because of her other bags.
“Thank you! Thank you so much.”
“I think I got everything. Check if anything is missing.”
“I don’t think so! …Oh, wait. Toto! Where’s Toto?”
Toto. The moment he heard that unique name, a memory flashed through his mind. He seemed to have laughed at that name before.
A chubby elephant keychain. That must be the Toto the schoolgirl was calling for. And that keychain was now there, fallen on the road.
“Ah, there it is!”
“It’s over there. I’ll get it for you.”
His body automatically went down to the road and picked up the keychain. Unlike the relieved voice of the student, Seonwoo maintained high tension as he scanned the road.
Sure enough, a motorcycle was approaching rapidly from a distance. And if his memory was correct, he was about to collide with that motorcycle.
Strictly speaking, he had “almost” collided—it wasn’t a major accident. Thanks to his reflexes, he quickly moved aside, and the motorcycle merely brushed past his clothes. But the arm that made that 1mm of contact had tingled for a while. Even that disappeared cleanly after a few days, and the memory was naturally forgotten before long.
Instantaneously, a tremendous wind rose with a loud noise. As remembered, ‘Nam Seonwoo’ quickly moved his body backward, and the motorcycle disappeared into the distance, giving the middle finger.
‘……’
Though he wasn’t sure why this scene was suddenly unfolding, seeing this forgotten moment made Seonwoo realize something.
It was a belated realization. He finally understood why Kang Jihan had been so sensitive when in the car.
Finally.
His body moved on its own again. ‘Nam Seonwoo’, who rubbed his tingling arm once, finished picking up the schoolgirl’s belongings and put them in her bag. Just then, his phone vibrated. The name that appeared on the screen was Kang Jihan.
-Where are you?
“Hey, Jihan. I just had an amazing experience.”
Seonwoo, rambling on about what just happened like a heroic tale, looked exactly like the immature young man of that age. Unlike Seonwoo, who was excitedly boasting about his reaction speed, Kang Jihan’s voice was stiff.
-You find that funny?
At that time, Seonwoo couldn’t understand Kang Jihan, who didn’t laugh along but only kept probing with questions. Back then, he just thought, “I guess Jihan isn’t interested in stories like this,” when the expected reaction didn’t come. Thus, this motorcycle incident became an unimportant memory that was forgotten in Seonwoo’s mind.
-Go to the hospital.
“My boyfriend is a medical student, why would I go to the hospital? You can examine me.”
-I’m not joking.
But now, that reaction sounded different.
