Chapter 607 (1/2)

He ran across the long corridor. The people that looked at him with weird gazes became distant behind his back. The sounds that mourned for the dead faded away and he entered a space without any sound. Now, he was no longer in the corridor of the funeral hall. He ran recklessly through the now long tunnel that was made of concrete. In front of him was the rabbit, which seemed like the symbol of hope. He felt like he would fall into the depths of this nightmare if he missed it, so he followed the rabbit like his life depended on it. The distance between him and the rabbit seemed like it would shrink, but it did not. The rabbit turned around from time to time and nodded as though it was checking that Maru was following him properly.

After running for god knows how long and just as he felt the limitations of his stamina, the rabbit in front of him disappeared. Maru looked around him. Where was this place? For now, there was nothing he could see around him. Even light didn’t exist, so he couldn’t make out his arms. The sudden blackout was enough to paralyze his reason. All of his thought processes stopped in an instant, and just as he felt afraid due to the loss of direction, he heard the sound of heartbeats. Only then did he realize that there was no sound around him either. Instead, the sounds coming from inside the body became so loud. He could even hear his stomach vigorously churning. Thinking that this was the perfect environment to faint, he tried to regain his calm as much as possible, but the sounds of physical metabolism inside his body kept eroding away his reason. When he lost his hearing, his minimal sense of position, which relied on his sight, disappeared as well. Feeling that his body was leaning towards the back for some reason, Maru laid on the ground. If this was a torture room, Maru wanted to give the designer of this room the Nobel prize for torture.

He didn’t know how long he spent lying down like that when he started to feel a warmth that he had been longing for. It was the warmth of a person. He smelled the fragrance of a person. Maru slowly opened his eyes.

“What is it? Did you have a dream?”

She - Gaeul - was lying next to him. Gaeul, who was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt, sat up before turning on the light next to the bed. Maru touched his face with his right hand. His face was drenched as though he had been through a rainstorm.

“Look at all that sweat. Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Wait a moment. Drink some warm water.”

Maru strongly hugged her, who was about to turn around and stand up.

“Mr. Han Maru, don’t act like a kid.”

“Just a moment, let me stay like this for just a moment.”

“Honey, what is up with you? Did something happen?”

“No, it’s not like that. I just had a terrible dream.”

“Dream? What dream?”

She stroked his face with her hands. Aah - Maru felt a deep sense of relief. He felt like his two legs finally landed in reality. The nostalgic smell of the duvet, the faint shampoo fragrance, and the 5,000 won clock he bought at a discount store couldn’t be more welcome to him.

“Do you feel a bit calmer now?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Then why don’t you let me go already?”

She smiled mischievously and shook off his hands.

“I’ll get some water and aspirin for you. It looks like you’ve been pushing yourself too much recently. Wait a sec.”

Light entered through the opening of the door. Maru looked at her, who was rummaging through the cupboard in the kitchen as she put her hair behind her ears. A dream, yes, it was a dream. Maru looked down at his hands before clenching them. There was a sharp pain from his palms.

“Did I finally wake up?”

He pinched his cheeks as well just in case. It hurt. For some reason, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Here, say ah.”

Maru opened his mouth. She put some medicine inside his mouth. He accepted the cup of water she gave him and drank the lukewarm water. He felt a lot clearer after the water entered his body.

“Are you not feeling well?”

“No, I’m okay now.”

Maru grabbed her hands.

“Are you really okay?”

“I’m fine. I just had… a cruel dream.”

“A cruel dream? If you put it like that, it makes me want to know what it was about.”

She made a devious smile. She climbed onto the bed and leaned her head against his shoulder. Maru lightly hugged her with his right arm.

“I died, and then.”

“That’s a bad start.”

“I told you it was a cruel dream. Anyway, I died, and I went back to my high school days with the god’s help.”

“That sounds good. What happened after that?”

“I tried my best to live. Oh, and I found you as well.”

“Back when we were in high school? Dang, you should’ve let me meet some other boys too.”

“Should I have done that?”

She shrugged.

“Just from that, it doesn’t sound like a nightmare to me. Or, don't tell me, was meeting me that cruel of an event for you?”

“When I think about it now, I think it might have been.”

“You’re looking for a beating.”

She slapped his back endlessly. Maru twisted his body to avoid her hands. He wondered why he felt so thankful about quarreling with her like this.

“So, after that….”

“Nah, don’t say it. It was a bad dream, wasn’t it? You should forget about things like that as soon as possible.”

“Is that how it is?”

She nodded.

“Get some sleep. You should sleep early if you want to wake up early tomorrow.”

“Yes, I should.”

“Should I sing a lullaby?”

He lay down again with his head on the pillow. Next to him, she started humming a song. He felt relaxed as though the nightmare didn’t exist at all. He thought that if he woke up tomorrow, he would start another ordinary day.

Just as he closed his eyes, feeling the warmth from her body,

‘Wake up tomorrow?’

Maru moved his hand and grabbed her wrist. He sighed as he made out the outline of the thin wrist. From one moment onwards, the sensation of her skin had disappeared from his palm.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around him. He was in a place with a lot of empty chairs. He looked forward. He saw a stage that was sunken in darkness.

Tap tap - the sounds of a shoe rang across from the center of the stage. Eventually, the white pin light shone on the center of the stage.

“Was the play fun?”

At the center of the stage was a masked man. Maru knew who that man was. He was the man he had seen several times in his dreams. The man, wearing a mask that was colored in black and white, walked around the stage with quick steps. It started raining on stage, and the masked man took out an umbrella from nowhere. The song 'Singing in the Rain’ faintly started flowing out in the theater. Maru watched as the man tap-danced on the stage according to the rhythm for a while before jumping onto the stage. He then grabbed the collars of the man doing the musical right in front of him.

“What do you want from me? Just what the hell do you want from me!”

“Nothing. I told you. It’s your choice, but the choices will be given by me.”