Chapter 629 (1/2)
When he opened his eyes, he subconsciously touched his head. He expected that his head would be covered in blood, but unexpectedly, his hands were clean. He saw a messy desk and clothes strewn everywhere. Junmin stood up from the floor. The small kitchen had a foul stench, and his friends were sleeping on the floor.
“It wasn’t a dream?”
He hurriedly looked at the monitor. 1988. Those four numbers entered his eyes clearly. He walked past his snoring friends and went into the bathroom. He checked his face in the mirror that had a corner broken. His eyes looked exhausted, but he was not injured. It was the him from a year ago. The loud bang that muffled his ears, the shock that followed after that, his body that flew through the air, as well as the people that looked at him with shock. That was then followed by the memory of Haejoo screaming in the rain as she looked his way.
“I’ve really returned.”
It was a shocking matter. Unless he was in a dream, he really came back from the dead.
“It’s just as that woman said.”
The woman he saw at the boundary of life and death - just like what that woman with an indescribable beauty said, he really came back to life.
“They say animals have souls….”
There was a time in his early twenties when he picked up three stray dogs by the road and raised them. The dogs had ugly features all over their faces. That woman told him that he was given another opportunity because he looked after those dogs dearly. He never knew that such a trivial good deed would allow him to go back in time. As unbelievable as it was, though, he really came back to life.
He couldn’t hold back his glee and came out of the bathroom, waking up his friends. His friends, who earned money by playing minor characters in various theatrical pieces, woke up in vexation.
“You guys should treat dogs well in the future.”
“Dogs? What dogs?”
“You don’t know dogs? I mean dogs, the ones that bark.”
“You hated them though. What changed your mind?”
“What do you mean, I hated dogs? Where can you find a bigger dog lover than me?”
“What the hell man, did alcohol get to your brain after drinking too much? Hey, everyone you know knows that you hate dogs. What nonsense are you saying? If you are still drunk, then get some more sleep. Leader[1] told us that we’ll have our schedules full tomorrow with a historical drama. I think I’ll rot in the countryside for about two weeks. He got us historical dramas from all the three major companies, RBS, KBS, and YBS. With those, we won’t have to worry about money for the time being.”
Another friend, in the corner, spoke,
“Hey, how long do you think we can keep doing this? We’ll be forty in a couple of years.”
“What can we do? We just have to keep trying ourselves out at the TV station. Let’s get some sleep first.”
His friends giggled before going to sleep again. Junmin couldn’t understand. He hated dogs? He was given another chance at life because he saved some dogs. Just as he was thinking about that, he saw faint colors emanating out of his friends. The area around their ears had turned cloudy as though it was painted with pastel. He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating, but the cloudy colors still remained. One of them had a red color, and another one had a blue color. The one sleeping in front of the fridge had a grey color, and the one next to that had a yellow color.
After staring at the colors for a while, he came to a realization. The colors varied according to what he thought of his friends’ acting skills. The one that had a hard time memorizing lines was black, and the one that could memorize but had terrible acting was grey. The ones that were decent looked red, blue, and yellow. Junmin went back into the bathroom and looked at the mirror. Unfortunately, his ears reflected in the mirror did not have any color.
“I’ll be leaving for a bit.”
“Can you buy some ramyun on the way back? We’re out.”
Just as he was about to rush out wearing shorts and a baggy t-shirt, something came to mind. He opened the closet and took out his suit. He changed into his only suit and put his shoes on.
“What the heck? Why did you change your clothes?”
“Reasons.”
He even put his necktie on before going towards the streets. He grabbed a bus and headed towards Daehak-ro immediately. Everything was the same as though his death was just a figment of his imagination. Junmin immediately headed to the streets with the small theaters. He saw the building, that Yecheon resided in, that he had been to many times. He bought a ticket and went inside. There were 10 minutes until the play started. He sat down on one of the narrow chairs. Before he embraced this new life of his, he had to check something first. After more people came in, and one of the members of the troupe made an announcement, the play started. The lights turned dim, and an actor appeared on the stage right in front of him. All of them were familiar faces. Eventually, Haejoo came up. Her good, yet awkward acting hadn’t changed. So I’ve really returned to life. Joy overwhelmed him.
At the same time, Junmin discovered it. There was a beautiful light circling around Haejoo’s ears. Unlike his friends at home and the other members of the troupe, her color was composed of multiple different colors. Sometimes it was yellow, sometimes it was blue. It felt as though a rainbow was hanging on her ears.
He smiled.
He could begin again.
He would finally make that woman into an actress that was sought out and loved by all people.
After the play ended, Junmin approached Haejoo. He wasn’t embarrassed like in his previous life. He was planning to say it boldly this time.
“Do you have any thoughts on doing acting properly?”
* * *
“Time of death: 20:28.”
Those words reverberated in my ears. Hearing that, I could neither become angry nor deny it. I didn’t cry either. Crying would be shameful here.
“Because of you!”
She called herself a friend of Junmin’s, huh. The woman wearing a doctor’s gown shouted. When she struggled, the nametag on her gown fell off.
Kang Seoyeon, neurosurgeon. That seemed to be her name.
I picked up the nametag and gave it back to her. The nametag was smacked away into the air, and my cheeks felt like they were burning.
“Because of you!”
She kept repeating those words. I felt my insides churning. Even though I hadn’t eaten anything, I got the urge to empty things out. I quickly went to the bathroom and grabbed the toilet. What came out after an intestine-churning vomiting was just some murky stomach fluid.
Why am I alive? Why did that person die? I could feel the sensation of the kiss we exchanged just a few short hours ago, yet that person left for a place I could not reach.
I left the bathroom and walked through the corridor. The people I came across looked at me strangely, but I didn’t care. The moment I left the hospital, an intense headache assaulted my head. I felt like I had experienced this scene somewhere before.
When I came to, I was standing on a bridge. I couldn’t remember how I came here. I looked around, the moment I saw the black river water flowing beneath, I sighed in relief. If I was at home when I came to, I would have felt even more horrible. It was obvious that I would be disgusted at myself for trying to live on by myself by going home.
It didn’t take that much hesitation as I grabbed the banisters. My body was smoothly heading forwards as though I’d done this before. Now, I just needed to put strength into my arms and stand over the guardrails. It would all be over.
One step. All that was left to put everything down was just one step.
Just then,
“Don’t you want to start over?”
I turned my head slowly to the left, along the guardrails. There was a woman standing about five meters away from me. I hadn’t seen her before, yet she looked familiar.
“Start over?”
“Yes, start over.”
“Start what over?”
“Do you really not know?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t even have the energy to speak right now. I’m going to put everything into jumping off.”
“Will jumping off change things?”
The woman’s words clearly touched my nerves. I let go of the banisters and looked at the woman.