CHAPTER 6
Professor’s Office.
“Here is the recommendation letter you asked for.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
Seolhee politely accepted the recommendation letter.
“You have nothing to thank me for.”
“I wrote it because you were someone worth recommending.”
It sounded as though he would never have done the same for anyone else.
“Have a seat for now.”
The two sat facing each other across the long table in the center of the professor’s office.
“To be honest, I didn’t think you would readily agree to write me a recommendation letter.”
Professor Kim Seok-jun laughed aloud.
“You thought it strange that this eccentric old man was suddenly being generous?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
Seeing her face redden awkwardly, Professor Kim waved his hand.
“It’s fine.”
“You’re not wrong, after all.”
He did not seem to care much about what his students said about him.
“You haven’t changed.”
“You still worry about what other people think.”
“Pardon?”
Seeing Seolhee look surprised, Professor Kim pointed with his chin toward the drink she had brought.
“You brought that for me, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yes.”
“I remembered that you used to enjoy sweet-potato lattes, Professor.”
Seolhee quickly took out the drink.
“Huh?”
“The bottom is wet.”
There were traces of liquid that had spilled inside the plastic carrier.
She quickly pulled out a tissue, wiped the cup, and handed it to him.
As expected, her own drink had spilled even more.
“I must have spilled it when I fell earlier…”
For a moment, she worried that some of the drink might have splashed onto the man.
But that thought was soon erased by his next words.
“You still have a good sense for these little things.”
Sense?
Inok had told her every day that she was terribly slow to catch on.
Dongchan had constantly nagged her whenever he got the chance, saying that it was exhausting to have to point out how lacking she was in common sense.
“Me?”
“You remembered something this trivial, so of course you have a good sense for things.”
“Come to think of it, didn’t you help me with my thesis as well?”
“You organized the reference papers so meticulously back then that it made things much easier for me.”
Come to think of it, even while working two part-time jobs, she had spent every break reading the papers he gave her with genuine interest.
“I… I did that?”
It had been a time when studying was fun.
It was a time when she had been full of life despite how difficult things were, driven by the desire to gain more specialized knowledge in the fields that interested her.
But the light that had once shone brightly in her heart had faded away with her marriage.
“You even went to the library and borrowed reference books for me without me asking.”
She had thought no one noticed how hard she was trying.
Yet suddenly, she felt grateful to know that someone had already recognized her efforts.
“I suppose I’m in a good mood because I’ve seen so many familiar faces today.”
It seemed he had already had another visitor before her.
“If you ever need my help, feel free to contact me.”
“Even if it’s later on, if you decide you want to study more, let me know.”
“You’ll do well at anything you set your mind to.”
“Thank you.”
Her worries about imposing on him by coming all this way had been completely unfounded.
Only after leaving Professor Kim’s office did Seolhee finally let out a long breath.
She hugged the recommendation letter tightly before placing it inside her bag.
Her heart felt warm.
She left the professor’s office and descended the central staircase.
Shinwol Foundation.
She felt excited, as though she had taken one step closer to that place.
For the first time, she could see hope.
As expected, her own drink had spilled even more.
“I must have spilled it when I fell earlier…”
She still had a long way to go, but simply receiving the recommendation letter made her feel as though she had overcome one major hurdle.
For a moment, she worried that some of the drink might have splashed onto the man.
But that thought was soon erased by his next words.
“You still have a good sense for these little things.”
Seolhee left the department building with a light heart.
Sense?
Inok had told her every day that she was terribly slow to catch on.
Dongchan had constantly nagged her whenever he got the chance, saying that it was exhausting to have to point out how lacking she was in common sense.
She walked along with light footsteps.
“Me?”
Her university years had been so hectic that she had barely had time to breathe between her part-time jobs and the exams that came around like clockwork.
Ten years ago, she had never even dreamed of having enough free time to enjoy a festival.
“You remembered something this trivial, so of course you have a good sense for things.”
“Come to think of it, didn’t you help me with my thesis as well?”
“You organized the reference papers so meticulously back then that it made things much easier for me.”
Looking back, those had been things she could only have done back then.
She was happy to have been given the chance to experience them now.
Come to think of it, even while working two part-time jobs, she had spent every break reading the papers he gave her with genuine interest.
Seolhee wandered around the various department and club booths, completely absorbed in sightseeing.
“Are you here alone?”
“If you are, that’s perfect.”
“Our robotics club has a VR experience program.”
“Would you like to visit France?”
“Or Japan?”
“Come over here, we can read your fortune with tarot cards.”
“We can even check your compatibility with the person you’re interested in.”
“It’s amazingly accurate.”
“This is the manga club.”
“We can take a picture of you with your favorite two-dimensional boyfriend.”
“We have every character you could possibly want.”
The booths on either side seemed determined to grab hold of her before she could take another step.
Some were especially enthusiastic about attracting visitors, worried that the intermittent showers and sudden gusts of wind might ruin their event.
After walking for quite some time, Seolhee found herself swept along all the way to the front of a large concert venue.
According to the event flyer, performances by O.I.O, Namjachingu, and A-Star were scheduled.
“So they were already this popular back then.”
Knowing what O.I.O’s members would become ten years in the future, Seolhee smiled to herself with quiet satisfaction.
By then, darkness had fallen all around her.
People gradually began gathering around the concert venue.
It seemed better to leave before she became trapped in the crowd with nowhere to go.
“Let’s head back soon.”
There seemed to be some commotion behind the stage.
A brief sound, almost like a scream, passed through the air.
She was certain she had heard something, but she could not be sure.
Seolhee felt strangely bothered by it, but after checking her wristwatch, she turned and began walking in the opposite direction.
That was when it happened.
Fwish—Pababak!
With a burst of noise, a cluster of lights brightly illuminated the surroundings, swallowing the sunset-colored sky.
Seolhee stopped walking and looked up at the sky.
Fiiii—
Along with the sound of the fireworks, a sharp ringing pierced her eardrums.
The fireworks reflected in puddles filled with rainwater completely paralyzed her thoughts.
“Ha…”
The pungent smell of fuel leaking from the tanker truck.
The explosions going off one after another.
The lifeless fingertips of a helmeted person lying on the ground.
Those images overwhelmed her vision.
The terror she had felt just before death came rushing back to life with the fireworks.
In contrast, the people looking up at the sky were lost in admiration, repeatedly marveling at the sight.
But that did not last long.
The fireworks began exploding at irregular intervals and with no discernible rhythm, making them seem strangely unstable.
The people watching them began murmuring among themselves.
“Hey, doesn’t something seem strange?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t they always set off the fireworks at the end of the concert every year?”
“The concert hasn’t even started yet.”
“Huh?”
“Hey, look!”
“There’s smoke coming from behind the stage.”
“Is something on fire?”
The murmuring voices of the crowd grew louder and louder.
One by one, people began backing away.
Soon, they were screaming and running in the opposite direction from the stage.
At that moment, Seolhee was struggling to catch her breath.
Thump, thump—
Her pulse raced.
A pain swept through her chest as though someone were squeezing her heart.
Her legs lost their strength and pushed backward of their own accord, sending her stumbling into a rain-filled puddle.
As she frantically tried to retreat in her wet shoes, her foot stepped on something.
She must have stepped on someone’s foot.
She flinched and hunched her shoulders, about to turn around, when—
A warm hand caught her bent shoulder.
It firmly supported her so she would not fall again, helping her regain her balance.
A low whisper reached her ear like a warm breeze.
“Shh, calm down.”
His calm voice gently brought her thoughts back from the state of panic she had fallen into.
Seolhee turned over her shoulder and met the eyes of the man holding her.
Standing beneath the fireworks exploding chaotically overhead, he was the only person in the midst of the pandemonium whose face remained calm.
“Is that the man from earlier?”
It was the same man who had saved her at the threshold of death.
“Look.”
“They’re only fireworks.”
The man lifted his gaze from Seolhee and looked up at the sky.
Naturally, her gaze followed his upward.
While everyone else was frantically fleeing in the opposite direction from the stage, only the two of them remained standing there.
“…Beautiful, isn’t it?”
The warmth in his voice reached her through the noise, and the tension clinging to her shoulders slowly melted away.
Her ragged breathing calmed as if by magic, and her blurred vision gradually cleared.
Just as he had said, the fireworks were even more beautiful because they were irregular and uncontrolled.
Only the two of them stood there, taking in the fireworks all to themselves.
—
“Here’s some water.”
“Thank you.”
Seolhee, sitting on a bench, accepted the bottled water the man had just handed her and drank.
As the water flowed down her parched throat, she finally felt as though the breath trapped inside her had been released.
She glanced sideways at the man sitting beside her.
His clear, composed face was turned toward a single point in the distance.
Only then did Seolhee realize that she had not even properly introduced herself or thanked him.
“I…”
She had barely begun when his next words stopped her.
“It looks like nothing happened.”
Seolhee followed his gaze.
The lights being fired from the outdoor concert venue were painting the night sky in dazzling colors.
An announcement came over the speakers saying that a small fire had broken out and the flames had spread toward the area where the fireworks were stored, but fortunately, it had been extinguished without causing a major accident.
The concert had started as scheduled, though slightly later than planned.
The cheers and singing from the venue reached all the way to where they were sitting.
The ground beneath their feet on the grass even seemed to thump along with the beat.
Then Seolhee noticed the man’s black dress shoes.
“Huh?”
When she had seen him in the main building, his shoes had been smoothly polished.
But beneath the streetlights, they were stained as though someone had thrown mud all over them.
Even the shape of a footprint had dried clearly across one of them.
Remembering the chaos from earlier, Seolhee abruptly stood up.
“Could that be my… footprint?”
She was so startled that she did not even realize the cap of the water bottle was still open.
The water sloshed over with the momentum of her sudden movement and dampened her hand.
“Probably.”
I-hyuk did not even look at his shoes.
He took the bottle from Seolhee’s hand and set it down, then pulled out a handkerchief and placed it in her hand.
Every movement was natural, as though he had done it countless times before.
“What should I do?”
“I’m so sorry.”
The handkerchief in her hand was the last thing on her mind as Seolhee continued staring at his shoes.
Only then did I-hyuk lower his head and look at his own shoes.
The mud had dried and hardened into a distinct footprint.
The moment he had seen her stumbling as though she were about to fall amid the chaotic crowd, his body had moved before he had even had time to think.
A sigh escaped him for no reason.
He knew that a single momentary choice could change far more than one might expect.
Yet in situations like the one moments ago, his resolve became frighteningly easy to shake.
Even so, he kept giving himself the pitiful excuse that it was only this once.
Just this one time.
I-hyuk watched Seolhee repeatedly clasp her hands and apologize.
In the end, as though acknowledging his own helplessness, he let out a short laugh.
