Osaka, Japan;
In front of a gravestone, a man stood silently for a long time. From morning to evening, several people passed by and left, yet, he still stood there like a statue, just staring at the name on the gravestone.
He was about a head taller than an average man, a clean short crew cut, and his face was beautiful. It was irresistible, from his clean chin to his deep aquamarine eyes, which is very rare for a typical East Asian.
As the dawn changed to dusk, the gravekeeper, who was familiar with his face, walked towards him and gently patted on the shoulder, "Kazuma-san, visiting timings are over."
"Kazuma-san." The gravekeeper patted him again, bringing his senses back to the earth.
Kazuma slowly inclined his head upwards to see the setting sun, and then, spoke as he glanced at the gravestone, "Saeko-chan, I'll drop by the next week, okay?"
He turned around and trudged mechanically towards the exit, ignoring the pain in his legs.
As he started walking further away, he felt everything was fragmented and disconnected; His thoughts, emotions, memories, ideas, and beliefs; as if he lost a part of his soul.
*Horn*
Right then, a bright loud horn sound was heard from his left, and he turned his head towards the direction of the sound.
Instead of attempting to jump aside, a smile appeared on his face as he mumbled, "Saeko-chan, looks like your big brother is also coming to you."
*Blackout*
First years Boys Dormitory, Seoul National University;
*Gasp* An 18-year-old teenager suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, sweating all over the face.
"Just a nightmare," thought the boy as he sighed in relief in the darkness that filled the room.
*Rumble*
Hearing the sound of the thunder outside and the sound of heavy rain, he stretched his hand towards the lamp but to his surprise, the lamp was never there, and his palm touched nothing but air.
"Huh?" As he wondered what happened to the lamp that used to be on the left side of his bed, he causally retracted his hand freely only to find the back of his wrist hit something hard and made a sound.
"Ouch…" As he let out a cry in pain, a familiar sleepy voice was heard from above. "don't disturb me. I have a game, first thing in the morning."
"Eh? Mizuno?" The boy exclaimed in surprise before frowning deeply, "What is he doing up there? No. That's not it. What am I doing down here in the first place?
My room doesn't have two-story beds nor does his. Where are we, then? Did we pass out while drinking? But, I don't remember drinking with him either."
Just then, he started hearing the sounds of footsteps running in the hallway, the sounds are getting louder with each second while doors were being knocked continuously.
As the door of his room was also knocked on continuously with a palm, the boy stepped down from the bed and started walking towards the source of the sound to open the door.
The bright light in the hallway made him shut his eyes for a second before he opened his eyes only to stand there like a statue, "What… the… hell…"
In front of him, there's a familiar corridor with rooms along with the scene that was happening before him.
The students who were around 18-20 are running in the corridor towards somewhere. A scene that was inscribed in his mind, 10 years ago.
"Oi, Kazuma… What are you standing there for… Quickly, follow us. It seems someone from your department attempted to commit suicide." A muscular and rough-looking young man in his pajamas spoke to him in Korean while leading a few other freshmen.
Before the boy even replies, the other boy grabbed his hand and dragged him with them until they reach a huge crowd that was gathered around a room, which was on the upper floor.
Meanwhile, Kazuma, who was totally confused, went into deep thoughts, "Just what is happening? This is the memory of Sunwoo's suicide attempt. Am I in a dream?
No, I just happened to get a dream of me getting into an accident. Does that mean a dream in a dream? Like that Hollywood movie?"
As they reached the crowd, Kazuma started hearing murmurs just like his memory from 10 years ago.
"Poor guy" "I heard he was bullied by Sangmin-sunbae" "Really?" "Yeah, I too think so. His ex-girlfriend is Sangmin-sunbae's younger cousin" "Nah, I heard that she's his crush." "Huh! Didn't he hang himself because of the recent test score?" "Who knows. I have a match tomorrow. I'm going back." "Isn't he, your buddy?" "Don't make me laugh. That coward is my friend?" "C'mon, don't talk like that."
As the words also seem very familiar as if he recalled the past, Kazuma pinched his arm, "Ouch."
"Why this dream feels very real?" thought Kazuma while standing there silently until the warden and some of the seniors arrived and shooed off everyone.
Thinking that it was just a dream, Kazuma thought of returning to his bed as he did back then so that he can wake up in reality.
As he lies on the bed once again, Kazuma put his hand on his heart which is beating normally, and mumbled with a sigh, "my heart… Somehow, I feel very light here. I wonder why…
Is it because it's a dream?
It would be nice if all of this is real. I would atleast get the chance to stop Saeko-chan…"
***
The next day in the morning, Kazuma stretched his hands and legs with a smile on his face, "a good sleep after so many weeks. What a strange realistic…"
"Dream…" His body froze, not being able to move, his face turned white as a sheet, and his eyes got wider while his throat suddenly got dry. At that moment, Kazuma felt as if time is stopped as the surroundings appeared in his view.
For a whole minute, he didn't move an inch, before slowly mumbling, "No… it's impossible.
It's impossible… impossible…"
"It's f**k**g impossible…" He screamed while grabbing his head, startling his friend who was sleeping in the above bed.
"What the hell, Kazuma. What are you screaming so early in the morning for," shouted Mizuno as he was scratching his messy hair and stepping down from the bed.
Meanwhile, looking at him, Kazuma moved back with his pale face, staring at him as if he saw a ghost, "no. Stay back. Don't come near to me."
"Huh? Are you on a hangover? What the hell are you talking about?" Mizuno stared at him with a frown.
Kazuma didn't reply to him and just quickly walked hurriedly out of the room after grabbing his mobile phone. Looking at the familiar faces in the corridor, he mumbled, "No… No, it's impossible," again and then, started running amidst the curious gazes of the students before exiting the dormitory followed by exiting the university.
Taking heavy breaths; he took a seat at a nearby bus stop ignoring the gazes of the women who were waiting for the bus, and then, opened the contacts list on his mobile phone and started scrolling down until he reaches a name.
His hand started to shake as his thumb was about to press on the name, just then, someone interrupted him from beside.
"Excuse me..."
Kazuma turned his head to see the familiar writing hovering on her head that he was able to see on everyone else as soon as he woke up in the morning.
Sok Miyeon
Level-12