After the deaths of her 5 friends, Heesoo goes through her videocamera to rewatch videos she's taken of them, only to find out that somehow she can still see them through her camera.
୨୧┊𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒
#2 in ditto:: 24.01.23
#27 in camera:...
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── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──
❝ 𝐢 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 ❞
— Ditto (eng translation)
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I wake up in the middle of Social Studies to my teacher, Mr. Baek, shouting my name, his booming voice ringing through the class like a gunshot. Although every part of me wants to rest for longer, my head begrudgingly lifts off of my wooden desk. I spent all of last night was spent chatting to my friends through my camcorder. It wasn't until morning rays of sunlight shone through my blinds, that I fell asleep.
"Ban Heesoo, are you listening to me?" Mr. Baek snaps, his voice rising with anger.
I rub my eyes with the back of my hand and blink slowly. "Yes."
Mr. Baek's face softens slightly as he looks at me with pity. "Look, I know it's your first day back at school but that doesn't mean you can treat my class as nap time." He says sternly.
I feel my cheeks burn with shame. "Sorry, Mr. Baek."
He sighs. "Just don't do it again. Since you weren't listening, the class is working on a group assignment. You are with..." he takes out a folded piece of paper, peering at it through his thick rectangular glasses, "Park Minkyu and Yoon Eunbi."
I nod and stand up, looking around the class for my group members. From the across the room, Minkyu locks eyes with me and waves me over, smiling warmly. I couldn't help but smile back, feeling the ends of my lips curving up in response. I had almost forgotten about my little crush on him due to the accident weighing on my mind. But now, after seeing him again it seems as though my feelings have grown stronger. His hair is longer now, the strands sitting on his head like a soft billowy cloud. I wonder what it would be like to run my hands through it, feeling the softness of each strand. If I had previously thought Minkyu couldn't possibly look any better, my assumption was completely mistaken.
I scurry over to the table at the back of class where Minkyu and Eunbi are sitting. I lower my head, trying to hide how flushed my cheeks are. Just be confident, Heesoo.
"Hey guys!" I exclaim, my voice unnaturally high. Not like that. My face pulls back into a grimace.
"Hi," Eunbi replies. I've never had a proper conversation with her before but she seems pretty nice. She's the type of person parents always compare their children to – always ranked in the top 3 and the class president.
My group and I spend the rest of class working on our project, a poster on the effects of globalisation. Although I try my best to help, I don't know much about the topic due to missing around a month of school. Eunbi ends up doing most of the research, flipping through multiple books and jotting down notes with lightning speed.
✩
When the lunch bell rings my heart begins to race with anticipation, finally I can talk to my friends again. As I bend down, grabbing my camcorder from my backpack, I feel a light tap on my shoulder. I turn around to face Eunbi.
"Uh just saying, you can eat lunch with me," She says tentatively. "I- if you want to, that is." Eunbi adds, stumbling a bit over her words.
"No thanks. I'm meeting my friends." I respond, sounding harsher than I intended.
Eunbi's face contorts into a quizzical expression: her eyebrows raised and lips pursed. Her reaction is understandable, everyone in my class knew the only people I hung out with were the ones who had died in a car accident.
Her face returns to a neutral expression. "Oh, I see." Eunbi says. She turns and rushes off to her friends.
✩
The scent of old books fills my nose as I pass by the shelves in the school library. It's so quiet and peaceful. The few students here are either studying or reading, their heads facing down in deep focus. I make my way to a secluded corner with shelves on either side and switch my camcorder on. The image on the other side comes into focus - it's Haerin, sitting with her back against the wall, her head buried in a book.
"Kitty Kang!" I call, using the nickname our group has given her.
Haerin looks up at me. With her large eyes slightly tilted upwards, sharp nose, and protruding ears, she really does resemble a cat - the reason why she has earned that nickname.
"I am not a cat." She huffs even though there's a smile on her face.
"Yes you are," I argue playfully. "By the way, where are the others?" I ask.
Haerin points her finger to a location behind me. Before I get a chance to turn around, my friends have walked into my view of sight.
"Sorry for taking a long time to come," I apologise, "Eunbi, you know, the class president, she came up to me and asked if I wanted to sit with her," my nose scrunches up, "But of course I told her no." I hurriedly explain, tugging at my skirt.
Danielle raises her eyebrows. "Why do you sound so annoyed? Eunbi's pretty nice, isn't she?"
"Yea..." I admit, my voice tralling off. "But I would much rather spend time with you all. Don't worry, I'd never replace you with Eunbi, or anyone at all. You guys are my best friends. You'll always be." I add, the words rushing out of me as I try to justify my actions.
"Heesoo," Hanni says, "as much as I appreciate how much you care about us. I'm a little worried about you. Making more friends doesn't mean you've replaced us. Why would you think that? You should at least try to make some friends whether it's Eunbi or someone else. You need friends to rely on, stop trying to get through everything by yourself."
"But I do have friends!" I protest, "You are my friends. I don't need anyone else."
Hyein sighs. "Are you hearing yourself right now? Heesoo, we're dead. Are you going to keep refusing to socialise with other people for the rest of your life? I don't want you to be 20 in university studying in a corner alone while people around you laugh and chat. I don't want you to have no one show up at your funeral." Hyein's voice cracks as her tears start to form in her eyes.
Minji looks me dead in the eye. "We just want you to be happy, Heesoo. Live your life for yourself, not to cling to our memory."
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CHAPTER END
A/N:
im so sorry i posted late again 😭 i was super busy last week + i wrote this chapter twice bc i wasnt happy with how it was the first time i wrote it. hope u enjoyed and have a great day/night !!
at this point i dont think i should say a date when the next chapter will be uploaded cause my upload schedule is so inconsistent 💀 should be sometime within the next week to the week after that (~25 march - 1 april) at the very latest it should be posted by 8 april. btw there will be abt 1-2 more chapters before the story ends and also an epilogue.
once again if u liked it pls consider voting, adding to your reading list, or commenting bc it would mean so much to me <33
