Chapter 45. To Paradise, Once More (2/2)

The two of them continued on with their breakfast and chatted about what they needed to do for their happy future on the other side.

“Don't think too hard about this.”

As they left the diner and headed back to his place, Seol Jihu fell into deep thought. So, Kim Hannah offered a bit of advice.

“You're still only Level 1. No one is expecting you to do something incredible. So, you should just focus on getting used to life on that side for the next couple of years. You can even think of it as playing a game.”

“Playing a game?”

“Right. Like video games. You log in when you have a bit of free time, kinda like that. Of course, it'd be your main line of work, though.”

Seol Jihu recalled hearing something similar to this before.

[My ass. In the end, this is all just a fucking game, man. A game. And you're supposed to enjoy playing games.]

But unlike when Kang Seok said those things, Seol Jihu didn't feel disgusted this time. No, he thought that it wouldn't be so bad to view this whole thing just as Kim Hannah had said. Everyone had different ways to enjoy themselves, after all.

As they walked back to his place, they encountered a middle-aged woman busy sorting through the trash in front of the building where he lived. She was a cleaning lady he had seen a few times while he went about his business in the past.

The woman was mouthing off her discontent while trying to sort out the mountainous pile of trash. She then spotted the youth and the glasses-wearing woman and tilted her head a little. Seol Jihu felt guilty about all the crap there, so he quickly bowed to her and ran inside his room.

After entering his home, they began preparing themselves to return to Paradise.

“This thing, is it fine to leave it behind here?”

“Do what you feel like.”

After taking out all the prohibited items, Kim Hannah produced a small slip of paper from her pocket.

“Well, then. It's finally time for us to head back to Paradise you so desperately wanted to return to.”

Seol Jihu smirked and pulled his own slip of paper out. It was here that Kim Hannah spoke to him one more time.

“I'm asking this for your own good, but you know what you need to do once we go back there, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“Okay. Let's go, then.”

Rip.

Along with the noise of the paper being torn, a circular light appeared in the empty air. Kim Hannah was swallowed up by this light from her head down to her feet and disappeared from sight in an instant.

Seol Jihu observed this with great curiosity before deciding to rip his own paper – but then, he stopped.

He spotted his smartphone, discarded to the corner of the room. After Yoo Seonhwa gave it back to him, he didn't even get around to charging it, so it was currently turned off.

'The place I need to be…'

He felt a sudden urge to confirm something. If he switched that phone on, wouldn't calls from his family or Yoo Seonhwa arrive?

It didn't take too long for him to realize how embarrassingly unrealistic that wish was.

'….There's no way they'd contact me, anyway.'

Seol Jihu let off a lengthy sigh before ripping the transfer paper in half.

*

“Ehew, why is there so much trash here… hm?”

The middle-aged woman continued to complain to herself as she sorted out the trash. It was then that she sensed the presence of someone behind her. She turned around to take a look.

A beautiful woman with a pretty dress was standing there while holding an envelope in one hand. She must have come here the first thing in the morning because her hair was still damp.

When their gazes met, the beautiful woman politely greeted her.

“Hello there, Auntie.”

“Aigoo, hello to you too. It's been a while…. Wait, I did see you for a little bit yesterday, so it's not a while, is it?”

The middle-aged woman greeted the young woman warmly as if they were familiar with each other.

“Besides that, you also came today? I thought you decided to not to come here anymore.”

“Yes, I have a business here today.”

Yoo Seonhwa displayed an uneasy smile.

“By any chance, have you seen the guy who stays in room 405?”

“Ahh… Him? Yes, I've seen him.”

A light gleamed in Yoo Seonhwa's eyes.

“Is he home?”

“Well, that. Maybe, around 30 minutes after you left yesterday? One hour? Anyways. He came home around that time after you left. I want to tell him that you stopped by, but he seemed so tired and troubled, so….”

Yoo Seonhwa's mouth hung open a little.

Yesterday, after Seol Jihu ran off, she chased after him right away. There was something she just had to confirm. So, she paid the taxi driver extra just to get to Seol Jihu's place as soon as possible.

The problem was that he hadn't come back home. She waited for a long time, yet he didn't show up.

If she knew he'd come so soon afterwards, then she would have waited here. She couldn't have guessed that he'd come home after she left. He must have wandered around the streets aimlessly before stumbling back home somehow.

“I think he's in there, now. But, what should I do…. Aigoo…”

“What's wrong?”

“It's something a bit scandalous for me to say, but…. I wonder if it'll be fine?”

“I'm sure it'll be fine. Please feel free to speak.”

“I saw him enter not too long ago, but some pretty lady was sticking very close to him, you see.”

“Pardon?”

As soon as she spotted Yoo Seonhwa's facial expression, the cleaning lady hurriedly added a few more words.

“I'm not sure what's going on. That lady borrowed some cleaning equipment last night, saying that she's going to clean out room 405. She was speaking in such a curt and straightforward manner, even though she looks like a fox. All this trash, it's from that room, you know?”

“….”

“D, did I overstep my boundaries?”

“….No, not at all.”

Yoo Seonhwa said her goodbyes and hurriedly entered the building. She quickly ran up the stairs. She wasn't feeling something as petty as jealousy. It was definitely not lingering attachment, either.

However.

As she listened to the story from the cleaning lady, the various possibilities she thought of were converging into one situation she hoped would not happen.

If what she saw yesterday was not wrong, then….

'No, he can’t.'

He had finally regained himself, yet this….

If her suspicions were proven to be correct, then she swore to herself that she'd save him no matter the cost. With this in mind, she arrived at the door to room 405.

“Jihu!”

Thud, thud!

“Seol Jihu!”

She pounded on the door for a while, but there was no response.

Yoo Seonhwa bit her lower lip and fished out a key from her handbag. He gave her this key a while back, saying that she should use it in an emergency.

She knew that she shouldn't do this, but now wasn't the time to argue about the finer points. She inserted the key in the lock and heard it unlatch.

Yoo Seonhwa pushed the door wide open but didn't enter. Because, as soon as she saw the interior, she displayed the expression of stupefaction.

She heard just now from the cleaning lady that he was in his room, yet….

“Ji, Jihu….”

There was no one in the room.

Not even a trace of human presence remained.

The room was empty.

Yoo Seonhwa dazedly looked around the room before she suddenly spotted items that didn't belong here. They were items for women. She could tell that those obviously didn't belong to Seol Jihu.

Yoo Seonhwa squeezed her eyes shut before quietly closing the door. She locked the door again and stood in the same spot for a long time.

“You idiot….”

A short while later….

Yoo Seonhwa breathed in deeply as if she had made her mind up over something. And with a grim expression on her face, she switched her phone on.

Only a handful of rings went by before the call was picked up, and a voice that sounded artificial came out from the speaker.

—Miss S, Seonhwa?

“Yes, it's me.”

—Oh, my goodness! Is it really you, Miss Seonhwa?

“Yes, it's me. There's something I'd like to talk to you about.”

Yoo Seonhwa spoke with a heavy voice before taking a look around her. She then brought the phone very close to her mouth and began whispering for a while.

—…Pardon? W, what did you say?

“That's what I'll be doing.”

—Wait, wait a minute. Miss Seonhwa?

“I can't speak at length at the moment. As for the details…”

Yoo Seonhwa blurred the ends of her words and bit her lip again.

A short moment of silence later….

—…The things you said, are they coming from your heart?