Crash Landing on You - Edelweiss Diaries

Part 5 - Shadows of the past

"Tell me what's going on." Jyeong Hyuk entered the small apartment, finding all four of the Ex Company 5 battalion members assembled around the table.

"I'm sorry Ri Jyeong Hyuk Dongmu!" Eun Dong ran to him panic struck. "I was only practicing what we were learning in training."

"We are being taught to install a backdoor." Ju Mok proudly added, straightening in his chair.

"Backdoor?" Chi Soo prompted. "Is that like the backdoor we have in our village homes?"

Ri Jyeong Hyuk, took off his shoes at the door and joined them at the table, with Eun Dong in tow.

Ju Mok nodded in assent. "You can say that. Only we are doing this to enter someone's server or system." Kwang Boem showed understanding, while Chi Soo scratched his head.

"I still don't get why you accessed my game account?" Ri Jyeong Hyuk's eyes widened in confusion.

As Jyeong Hyuk sat down, Eun Dong leaned forward. "I wanted to see how long my session goes undetected, and so I used a backdoor to log into an internet cafe's computer located in Seoul." Eun Dong appeared pleased with his achievement. "To pass the time I logged into my game ID, for just a little while -" He words drawled to emphasize he wasn't slacking away.

Ju Mok placed his hand on the table and cut in. "And I saw it too. It shocked me out of my shell that Tomato.Cultivator was online."

Eun Dong, left his seat to turn the monitor to face the table. "Look here," he pointed to the left side of the screen, where friends of the gamer ID Desperate.Effort, were listed. "Tomato.Cultivator, Last login: Today."

Chi soo gasped, as he verified the claim.

Ju Mok blinked. "Obviously, we know that you don't have hacker level skills, so we thought someone had hijacked your account."

Jyeong Hyuk didn't miss the offense and his eyes narrowed with a warning.

"Ri Jyeong Hyuk Dongmu," Eun Dok called out to diffuse the friendly tease. "We only got into your ID to check if everything was ok. Instead, we found that your Inbox was nearly full with messages from Ms.Edelweiss."

Eun Dok, tabbed to another windowa and showed Tomato.Cultivator's Inbox with 237 unread notifications.

"I remember saving my credentials in her browser," Jyeong Hyuk offered to clarify. Rubbing his forehead, he momentarily disappeared into his thoughts. It infinitely ached, as he grasped that she desperately went back and forth between their IDs, in attempts to reach him. He concluded that writing to him had become a habit, one she took solace from.

"So are you going to write to her, Ri Jyeong Hyuk Dongmu?" Chi Soo, raised his eyebrows animatedly.

"In South Korean dramas," Ju Mok started with a knowing smile. "This is when the man will create a second ID and begin conversations with the woman to comfort her."

Everyone turned to face Jyeong Hyuk, awaiting his decision.

"How about Mr.Incognito for your second ID?" Kwang Boem suggested.

"I'll do no such thing." Jyeong Hyuk was dismissive and got to his feet. "Log out immediately, before Se Ri notices that someone else accessed the profile."

Eun Dong squished his face in disappointment. Ju Mok sighed and rested his head on Kwang Boem's shoulder, who patted his fellow comrade. Chi Soo, folded his arms and wiggled his nose in mock anger.

"Se Ri Dongmu is possibly hurting from sangsabyeong (love sickness.)" Ju Mok whimpered in an attempt to soften Jyeong Hyuk's resolve.

Jyeong Hyuk distracted himself from the brewing disquiet inside him and smiled. "At times, I worry that Se Ri has you all working for her and not me."