Ursa Major | Park Jin-Seong

9 • Liberated

"Liberation Day in Korea celebrates the day that the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Imperial Japan in 1945. And being half-Chinese and half-Korean, I've definitely heard some pretty messed up things passed down from both sides of the family. I was really desensitized to a lot of bloody and gruesome things at a young age, but they were definitely things I needed to know about. People would later freak out in high school when I didn't jump out of my skin at the thought of gore."
-초성민 (Cho Seong-Min)

"Liberation Day was always a day of liberation for everyone. Korea was liberated from Imperial Japan. Students are liberated from school. Adults are liberated from work. And it seems like the day when I constantly get liberated out of reality, in favour of memories, visions, and almost getting your girlfriend killed."
-박진성 (Park Jin-Seong)

"I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user. I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new. I'm obsessed, I'm embarrassed, I don't trust no one around us. I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new.
-Bebe Rexha, "I'm a Mess"

Monday, August 15th, 2022, Liberation Day Holiday, South Korea. It's been a few months since Seong-Min or Areum have even talked to Nari. It's a relief for Areum. She's been staying with Seong-Min, and she's finally free from her sister's bullshit. Seong-Min is disappointed that she hadn't had another attempt on her life, because it was quite entertaining, but at least Jin-Seong had some peace of mind to know that things at work had mostly calmed down.

Areum has a new favourite pastime: third-wheeling. Ever since that evening when the three of them gormandized only potatoes for dinner, she's been third wheeling on a lot of their dates, or as Seong-Min still likes to call them, "non-dates" or "get-togethers." However, today is different. Areum needed to go run some errands, so it would just be Seong-Min and Jin-Seong.

It's a good Liberation Day for Areum. Liberation from her sister. Liberation from her sister's insanity. Liberation from everything about her sister. No Nari Day. And also, liberation from her roommate. She had found her own place to rent, and was moving out next weekend.

Seong-Min was quite happy about that, although she didn't show it. She was planning on asking Jin-Seong to move in with her after Areum moved out. She would miss having Areum around to constantly third-wheel, but a small part of her didn't think she would.

Jin-Seong picked Seong-Min up, because Areum was using Seong-Min's car. When Jin-Seong and Seong-Min arrived at the park, they started walking around, and Seong-Min immediately dropped the question.

"Move in? Next weekend? Um, sure I guess."

"You seem a bit hesitant about that."

"Well, I've lived alone since I moved out so it will definitely be a big change."

"여보, don't worry about it. It'll be fine."

But that wasn't really what was on his mind. Jin-Seong was more worried that people would think that he was sleeping with her (South Korea is very conservative when it comes to freaky).

But he supposed it would be okay if he didn't tell anybody he moved in with her. And besides, Nari wasn't totally off his mind either. The thought of her killing Seong-Min in her sleep was terrifying. At least if he lived with her, he could have a better chance of protecting her if Nari did try something.

And then it happened again. This same scenario that would appear in his mind's eye constantly. He saw Nari walk up behind Seong-Min in her home and stab her in the back. Blood gushed out like a fountain as she fell to the floor motionless and Nari dropped the knife, cackling like an evil villain from a movie. And he was paralyzed the whole time. He tried to call out to warn Seong-Min, but no matter how hard he yelled, there was never any noise.