Kang Chi: Beyond Life and Time

Chapter 17: Beyond Life: A Strange Feeling

Yeo Wool silently sat on the passenger seat. Pretending to enjoy the view of the countryside as they pass by was a good excuse to fix her head towards the right.

They should not be going back to Seoul via a free ride in a CEO's SUV, but surprisingly found themselves doing so. She felt awkward, but strangely grateful at the same time.

Wae? Naega wae ireoji?

As usual, she wanted to break the silence but decided not to because she did not want to embarrass herself by saying something that she would regret later. She already did just that last night. Once was more than enough. So, she wished either of the two of her male companions would.

"Hyung..." Han Wool began.

Omo...On second thought...Andwae...Jebal....

"...Yeoja chingu isseoyo?" Her brother asked Kang Cheol. She bit her lip in self-restraint.

Kang Cheol scoffed at Han Wool's question before replying with another question.

"Wae mureobongeoyo?"

"Geunyang...." Han Wool answered accompanied by a shoulder shrug.

"Geulsse, nega kkok araya handamyeon...Eobsseo."

"Wanbyeokhaeyo!"

"Jinjja? Wae?"

"Because Nuna doesn't have a boyfriend, but...."

"Okay!" She butted in. She had to say something before her brother tells Kang Cheol that she wants to get married at 30. "Han Wool-ah, there are things that we should keep to ourselves, like our keypad lock code and our secrets. Algettjiyo?"

"Ei..." Kang Cheol said with a soft laugh. "He's obviously concerned about you. Are you afraid that your brother will tell me your keypad lock code? Or perhaps your wish of marrying your Wangja when you're 30?"

Her jaw dropped in surprise at what he just said.

This is just so...embarrassing! Eotteoke?!

"Mwoya? Nongdamiya!" Kang Cheol continued with a scoff after seeing her expression.

She bit her lower lip in exasperation. They still have more than two hours to go but she did not know how long she could take.

"Whatever...I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when we get there."

A good thirty minutes had already passed but her consciousness was still alert as a meerkat on the lookout. It was a good thing that Han Wool had been silent for the same period of time. Though she knew her brother well enough to assume that he would not, she wished he would until they reach their destination.

To her surprise, it was Kang Cheol who first spoke after a while. She continued pretending that she was asleep, trying all her might to keep doing so and not blow her cover.

"Han Wool-ah..." Kang Cheol began with a serious tone, she felt her heart nervously skipped a beat. "That story about your Nuna when she was five years old. Do you know how or why it happened?"

"Geulsseyo...Abeoji said that he took Nuna with him during one of his hikes in Jirisan. He said he carried her on his shoulders, but when they were hiking up, he lost his footing, so they fell and sprained his ankle but Nuna wasn't hurt. Then, she suddenly ran into the forest, but Abeoji couldn't follow her immediately because his foot hurt a lot. He called her but she just ran farther away. So, Abeoji got up and tried to follow her, but she returned on her own. When he asked her why she did that, she said she followed a blue firefly. When he asked her how she knew the way back, she said the blue firefly guided her. She said her Wangja sent it. Abeoji said that since then, she kept saying that the man who saved her from the wolf is her Wangja and she's going to marry him."

As she listened to her brother's narration of her story, abandoned memories of her childhood surfaced from the deep recesses of her mind.

Am I the little girl in my dream last night? Maldo andwae....

Since she had heard her father tell Han Wool this as a bedtime story, she had always thought that it was just made up by his wildly creative imagination. It turned out that perhaps, she was just too young to remember...especially that blue firefly.

Seol ma! Could it be...?

The blue firefly-like orbs that floated around the flower that Kang Cheol gave him came to mind. Was it the same thing that she followed as a little girl? What were they, exactly? How come nobody else seemed to have seen it?

Perhaps Kang Cheol has the answers. But she cannot just open her eyes and butt into the conversation. It would be too obvious, much more so, embarrassing. She kept on pretending to be asleep, waiting for more revelations from her brother—revelations that she hoped would be bearable enough for her to remain silent.

Kang Cheol did not say anything after hearing Han Wool's story, as if letting everything sink in. She prayed to heavens that they reach their destination earlier than expected so she could finally breathe easy, and avoid humiliating herself more. But apparently, the heavens had more in store for her today.

"Han Wool-ah..." Kang Chi began after a long silence. "Does your Nuna tell you stories about her Wangja, other than the one you heard from Abeoji?"

"Uhmm...Anieyo. I think she's forgotten about him."

"Jinjja? Then, what is that secret between you that she's talking about?"

"I can't tell you that. It's our secret. She's gonna kill me if I tell anybody that."

Kang Cheol did not answer.

Jalhaesseo, Han Wool-ah. I'm gonna buy you some fried chicken tonight.

"But...I really hope that secret comes true." Han Wool continued, to her surprise.

She once told her brother during a drunken bout with herself that she wants to get married.

But that was two years ago, when she thought she found love with a fellow police officer who showed her affection that she had not received from any man before. The exact reason why she fell for him big time. They were so perfect for each other, she told herself that she would accept if he ever proposes. So, when he asked her for dinner at a fancy restaurant, she obliged and showed up excited as a birthday girl. He did propose, the next day, to someone else. The dinner was to ask her about her opinion, as a friend, and as a woman. It turned out that their relationship for him was purely platonic, and him being affectionate was just synonymous to being kind and polite—to the literal sense of the word. How ironic.

That bitter experience taught her to be cautious. It was her first time falling in love, and turned out that it would be her last—at least for now. Since then, she had not allowed herself to be smitten by any man. Any display of affection was always considered as kindness and politeness.

So, Kang Cheol being like this, could only mean he was just being polite.

I don't have to worry then. After this, we won't be seeing each other again.

Shehoped...Or not.