Slowly Falling | LK Adaptation

Chapter 42

Somi came out of her room, intending to have lunch. But when she walked out, she realized that mother Jeon wasn't in the living room, and her bedroom door was closed.

This was rare. Although mother Jeon hadn't left the house since she became ill, she would still spend most of her time out of her room, and would always be out when it was time to eat. Although Somi found it strange, she guessed that her mother wasn't in a good mood because of what happened with Lisa yesterday.

Somi didn't take it to heart. She went into the kitchen, heated up their meals, then knocked on mother Jeon's door. "Mom, it's time for lunch."

Usually, after a few seconds, there would be some sort of movement from inside. But Somi stood by the door for a full minute and didn't hear anything. She knocked on the door again and shouted: "Mom, lunch."

The room still remained silent. She finally felt that something was wrong. She grabbed the door handle and slowly twisted. Like Jungkook, mother Jeon would close her door but never lock it.

"Mom?" She opened the door and peered inside, but she couldn't find even a shadow of the older woman's figure.

Her mother wasn't in her room.

Somi became anxious. This house only had two bedrooms, one bathroom, and one small room that was Jungkook's- a total of five rooms. Somi went and checked each room one by one, but there was no sign of mother Jeon anywhere.

Mother Jeon usually wore slippers at home. Although her mother never went out, she still had a few outdoor shoes stowed away in the shoe cabinet. Somi rushed towards the front door and opened the shoe cabinet next to it. Mother Jeon's shoes were all there and accounted for.

Did she go out in her slippers?

SOmi looked through all the rooms again. There were only five rooms in their small house; there was no place to hide.

Now she was really in a panic. She had always hoped that mother Jeon would someday venture out of this house, but she never expected her mother to leave without a word.

She ran back into her room, grabbed her cell phone, and dialed Jungkook.

Jungkook was in the middle of his shift's peak delivery times, but seeing that it was Somi who was calling, he answered his phone. "Somi? What's the matter?"

After hearing her brother's voice, all the anxiety and uneasiness in Somi's heart gushed out. "Brother, Mother is gone."

Jungkook was somewhat taken aback and had to ask: "What? Speak more clearly."

When Somi spoke again, her voice trembled. "I don't know when she left. I've been studying in my room before, and when I noticed it was time for lunch, I went out. I heated up the food and called for her, but no one was in her room. I've looked all over the house, but she's not here. I even checked the closet."

Jungkook's expression gradually sank. The house they rented wasn't big. Someone as big as a person shouldn't be hard to find. If Somi really couldn't find her in the house, then she truly wasn't there.

Jungkook comforted his sister and said: "Don't worry. Mom probably didn't go too far. Go downstairs and look around."

"Alright."

"I'm coming back right now. Take your cell phone with you so you can call me straight away if you need to."

"Un."

He ended the call and immediately changed his status so that he wouldn't receive any more orders. He asked his superiors for a leave of absence, handed all his current orders to his coworkers, then hurriedly rode his scooter home.

As he was doing this, Somi ran downstairs to look for her mother. They've lived in this house for two years already, but her mother had never left the building once. Mother Jeon may not even know where they lived. She circled their neighborhood first, but after failing to find her mother, she ran towards the neighborhood gate to ask the around.

The gate usually had aunties and grandfathers milling about, chatting, and playing chess. But since it was lunchtime, there were very few people at the door.

However, an uncle did remember seeing mother Jeon when Somi gave him a description of her. The uncle had seen her leave the neighborhood and, at the time, actually thought that she was acting a little strange. The uncle explained: "I saw her leave. I remember looking at her a few times because she was only wearing house slippers."

"Which way did she go?" Somi asked.

After a moment's thought, the uncle said: "I'm pretty sure she went east."

"Ok, thank you." Somi quickly walked past the gate. She didn't dare run though, because the street was filled with roadside stalls and had a variety of shops open. Tea shops, stationery store, a flower shop...Somi had to peer at each shop just in case her mother went into one of them.
　　
As she did so, she realized that her mother didn't have a phone or even any money. She would also be unfamiliar with the place and would be totally clueless. A worried Somi walked all the way to the small park, but she still didn't find mother Jeon. Anxious, she called Jungkook again.

As Jungkook drove his scooter, he heard his phone ring. He parked his scooter to the side and answered: "Somi, have you found mom?"

"No. An uncle by the gate said that he saw her go out, but I've walked all the way to the park and still haven't found her." In the end, Somi was only a high school student. Unable to cope, she started to cry. "Brother, what happened to mom?"

Jungkook heard her sobs and tried to comfort her: "Everything's going to be fine. We'll definitely find her. And if we don't, we'll immediately call the police."

"Ok..." She wiped away her tears and, after a few more words, hung up her phone to continue her search.

By the time Jungkook arrived home, Somi still couldn't find mother Jeon. Jungkook called and asked where she was, and after picking up his sister, he drove them towards a nearby police station.

The policemen asked for a recent photo of mother Jeon and a description of the clothes she was wearing at the time of her disappearance. Somi readily gave a description of the clothes mother Jeon was wearing at breakfast this morning, but as for a recent photo...

"Is a photo from three years ago alright?" Somi subconsciously tugged at the corner of Jungkook's sleeve as she asked the police uncle opposite her.

The policeman looked up from his notepad and said: "Say that again?"

"...." Somi could only look at her brother. Jungkook explained: "My mother became ill three years ago and had only slightly improved recently. She hasn't had a photo taken of her for a long time."

The policeman replied: "Alright, send me the photo. We'll put it in our database so people in our network will see it. If someone finds her, they'll contact us."

Somi had received one of those 'missing persons' notifications before. The police system would automatically push these notifications to nearby citizens in a target area to quickly find the missing person. As she and her brother left the police station, she suddenly had a thought. "Brother, why don't I ask my circle of friends to look out for mom?"

"Un, go ahead. I'll go try circling the area again and look for mom."

"Alright. Let's split up."

"Have you had lunch?" Jungkook asked.

Somi shook her head. "I was in the middle of microwaving the food when I realized that mom was missing. Why would I think of eating at a time like this, ah."

Jungkook sighed. "You have to eat lunch first. You're going back to school in the afternoon, so you need to eat something. Don't worry so much, I'll find mom."

Mother Jeon was gone! There was no way that Somi was in the mood to just go back to school. But after seeing Jungkook's expression, she could only nod. "I understand. But please let me know if you have any news."

"Of course. You can rest assured." He patted her head and sent her off. Once Somi returned home, she sent out a notice to all her friends. After she had done this, Somi went into the kitchen and looked at the dishes on the table. Too lazy to warm up the food, she simply made do and ate the food cold.

----

Meanwhile, Lisa was taking a leisurely break. Picking up her phone, she casually looked through her notifications and saw that an hour ago, Somi had sent something to all her friends. Unexpectedly, it was a notice saying that mother Jeon was missing. Lisa sat up and read through the message several times, and after confirming that it was indeed Somi who sent it, called the young girl immediately.

Somi picked up on the first ring. "Sister Lisa."

Her uneasy tone made Lisa's heart sink. The mass message was sent out an hour ago. It seems that mother Jeon still hadn't been found. "Somi, Auntie Jeon is missing?"

"Un. I knocked on her door for lunch and found her gone. I already went to the police with my brother."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm at home. My brother's still looking for mom, but there's no news yet."

Lisa thought for a moment, then said: "Don't worry. I'll go right now and help your brother look for her."

As she said this, Lisa was already rushing downstairs with her car keys. Eunha had something to do today and wasn't at work, so Lisa directly closed her store. Once she got into her car, she called Jungkook. The phone rang twice before he answered: "Lisa?"
　　　
"Have you found Jeon?"

Jungkook was somewhat startled at her words, but he didn't ask how she knew. Instead, he replied: "Not yet, but I just talked to a shopkeeper who saw her, so I think she hasn't gone too far."

"I'll come and help you look."

"Alright." He paused, then added: "Thank you."

"Things don't need to be so formal between us, ah." Lisa started the car and said: "I'm going to start driving, so I'm hanging up."

Jungkook put his cell phone back in his bag after Lisa hung up.

He had already driven around the area twice. Since he still couldn't find her, he may have to go further out. As if realizing something, Jungkook blinked and reached for his phone again. He wanted to call Somi and remind her to stay alert. Maybe mother Jeon will walk home on her own. Just as he was about to dial Somi's phone, he noticed someone sitting on a bench nearby.
　　　
Somi had already checked this small park once before. He had also gone looking in this area and hadn't found their mother. But at this moment, wasn't that person sitting on the bench mother Jeon? Jungkook slowly put down his phone and walked towards her.

Mother Jeon was watching a father-son pair playing with a remote control plane. The little boy seemed to be very interested in the plane. Whenever the toy plane took off, the little boy would yell incessantly.

She thought of Jungkook while she watched this scene. When he had been a child, he would shout just like this whenever he heard his father's stories.

"Mom." Jungkook approached her and called out. Mother Jeon raised her head and hesitantly looked up at the person standing in front of her.

He was no longer that excited child in her thoughts. He had already grown so big.

He sat down next to her and asked: "Why'd you come here?"

Mother Jeon turned away and didn't answer.

Jungkook spoke again: "You left so suddenly that you scared us all, ah. Especially Somi. She got so scared she started to cry. Next time you want to go out, remember to tell her..."

Mother Jeon was still silent. After a while, Jungkook stood up and helped her up. "You still haven't eaten...let's go home."