"Juho Woo, that oddball," Sun Hwa thought out loud about the person in her mind .

Whenever she thought of him, the first thing that came to mind was his droopy face . Whatever happened, he'd always be the only calm person . He was weird . It was hard to picture him being startled by something . Whenever she looked at him, she felt sorry for her cowardly self .

Sun Hwa held back her smirk .

The way he spoke was very much like his character - calm and unfazed, and their recent conversation had left her feeling vulnerable .

As she looked out the window, she saw Bom walking toward the cafe . 'What if she doesn't like me?' she thought anxiously . It would have been a lie to say that she wasn't afraid .

Still, there was nothing to regret .

As Sun Hwa greeted her, she found herself smiling before she even realized . No matter the result, Sun Hwa was able to smile .

*

Juho visited Sun Hwa in her cla.s.s to return the comic book he had borrowed from her some time ago .

"Hey, this one's good too . I love his ill.u.s.tration . I really dig it"

"Oh, yeah! I've read that one . I'm a fan too . "

He hesitated as he was about to call for her . She was in the middle of a conversation with someone he had never met before . However, he had seen her once when he had come to visit Sun Hwa . She had been sitting in the corner, on her own .

She had been reading her comic books then, so it made sense that they were talking to each other .

"I actually didn't like it that much . I think this one's closer to my preferences," Bom said as she picked out one of the comic books . At that, Sun Hwa and the girl objected to her, "You'll change your mind once you read it . I feel sorry that you can't truly appreciate a masterpiece like this . Later, you're going to think back and regret saying what you just said . "

Together, the three were laughing and joking around with one another .

'If I chimed in now, I'd be interrupting . '

They were doing well, so he turned back light-footed .

Sun Hwa and Bom had been close with one another as in the past . As always, Bom was the first person to start cleaning while Sun Hwa was the first person to act on something .

Also, they had agreed to partic.i.p.ate in different compet.i.tions .

According to Bom, after meeting with Sun Hwa at the cafe, she had received a written reply from her . Aside from the two, n.o.body else knew what was written in that response .

Juho took out his notepad as he walked down the hallway . One by one, he wrote down his newly aroused inspiration for a couple of characters for his story .

'Spring and flower gently fell into a world where there was no one but parents and children . '

Juho leaned against the side of the subway doors and saw a rather large body of water among views that quickly pa.s.sed by . He stared out the window at the Han River, which resembled a large, gaping hole . He thought as he watched the wavelets breaking, 'Was that around where I drowned?'

"The doors will open on your right . "

People got in and out of the subway, and Juho moved aside to let people through .

It was his first time seeing the Han River since he had drowned . He wasn't afraid of the water necessarily, but he didn't want to go out of his way to look at it either .

'Why am I here when I've drowned already?' He didn't want to know the answer to that question . If he found out, he wouldn't be able to imagine, and if he couldn't imagine, he wouldn't be able to write .

He reminisced about the experience on that day . Starting from his head, his body grew colder and colder . He had started to suffocate and he couldn't see anything . His limbs grew heavier as the current coiled around his entire body . It felt like he was being pulled down .

"Next stop is…"

It was his stop . He checked the time . There was still some time left until his appointment . After he walked out of the subway station and pa.s.sed the bike rentals, a field of gra.s.s met his eyes .

While walking through the lawn, he made his way toward the water . There were people fis.h.i.+ng, riding their bicycles and walking casually with their dogs . He saw the water . He walked toward it with his eyes transfixed .

He went down to the rock where the ground met the water .

A wave was breaking, and the wind was blowing gently . The water smelled slightly fishy .

He sat on the rock and reached for the water . Its coldness clung to his hand .

"I guess it's because it's still daytime . "

Strangely, he didn't feel anything . Because he didn't know how to swim, he had a natural wariness toward rivers and oceans and would normally feel uneasy whenever he saw deep bodies of water .

Now, things were different . He still didn't know how to swim, but he was not afraid, even as he stared into the dark depths of the river . If anything, he felt more adventurous .

He dipped his hand deeper into the water . Better yet, he wanted to try going into the water . He felt like there was something violent at the end of death and rebirth .

He dipped his hand even deeper .

"Watch out!"

Somebody pulled him back from behind . Juho's wet hand had been dragged out of the water, and he looked up to see a rigid face .

"Dong Gil . "

"I don't think this is where we agreed to meet . "

"I got here early, so I was killing some time . "

"Were you looking to dive or something?"

"No way . "

Juho slowly got up, shaking off his hands . As he looked at Juho intently, Dong Gil asked, "Did you want to ride on the duck boat?"

"Duck boat? That's random . What made you want to get on that?"

He slowly lifted his hand and pointed at something .

"You seemed like you really wanted to go in that direction . "

It was the center of the river . After staring intently at the water, Juho shook his head .

'I want to live for now . '

"It'd be pus.h.i.+ng it with a duck boat . "

"Don't you underestimate my legs . "

With those confident words, Dong Gil turned around and walked further away from the water . Juho followed . He felt his hand getting stiffer as it dried up .

It wasn't a special occasion . Since their meeting, the two had been texting one another frequently . One day, one of them suggested that they meet up to talk and kill some time together, and Juho had no reason to say no .

The two walked up to the observatory where the entire field of gra.s.s could be seen .

Although it was slightly windy, a screen was there to protect them from it . The sound of a clumsily played piano was coming from afar . There must have been a piano that was open to the public use .

"Do you play?"

Dong Gil had written a book about music once, and he gave off the impression that he knew how to play an instrument .

"Nope," a quick answer . "Instead, I listened to it day and night . I turned the music on the moment I opened my eyes and then turned it off when I was about to go to sleep . I kept it playing while I was eating or showering . The entire writing process took me about eight months, and I listened to cla.s.sical music the entire time . It felt like I had listened to my entire life's worth of music . Whenever I had a dream, the sound of violin came out instead of my voice . "

Despite the content, he sounded quite calm . Unlike him, Juho asked with a disturbed look on his face, "What did that feel like?"

"It felt like I had been eating the same thing for a year . "

"I've never tried that myself, but I think I get the gist . "

In other words, he was sick of it .

Every author had a character that was similar to Dong Gil's . No matter what people told them, they had to see things for themselves . They wouldn't start writing unless they had identified things with their own eyes and understood what they had seen .

Dong Gil was especially unique even among authors .

Usually, an author would gather just enough information for his book . No one went to the lengths of making themselves feel like they had been eating the same food for the entire year .

He really didn't know his limits .

"I think that was when I was the biggest jerk in my life . "

"I'm surprised you're still sane . "

"I wanted to write well . "

He sounded like a student who had just started writing . In reality, that was also something frequently said by the Literature Club members: "I want to write well . "

'Coming to think of it, that must have been why I went up to the bridge in the middle of winter before I fell into the water . I wanted to write well,' Juho thought .

"Look," Dong Gil called for Juho as he was lost in thought .

"What is it?"

At his voice, he walked toward the handrail . When he was one step away from reaching the rail, he was met with the wide, open view of the gra.s.s .

People about the size of the joints on his finger were sitting beside one another . Some had brought a mat while some had brought something to s.h.i.+eld themselves from the wind . Some sat on flyers . There were all sorts of people .

"This . "

It was like a painting, but it wasn't because of its beauty .

"There's no movement . "

n.o.body was moving . As if time had stopped, everything stayed completely still in its place . It was as if somebody had frozen them . Maybe they had all agreed with one another to be that way . If it weren't for the leaves blowing about in the wind, one could've believed that something was seriously wrong with the world .

"This is unusual . "

"I know . It's incredibly lifeless . "

It would've been nice to have people around playing badminton or kindergarten students on their cla.s.s picnic .

Everyone was motionless and exhausted .

Juho looked to his side . Dong Gil was watching the motionless scenery as if that wasn't his first time .

"When did you first see this?"

To answer his question, Dong Gil slowly parted his lips, "I was out for a walk to see if I could find anything interesting in amid the average, boring everyday life . I was looking for some inspiration . "

"Is there a 'but' coming?"

"But then this was all I saw instead of finding anything interesting . Well, it has become a form of inspiration in its own right since, but I wasn't exactly thrilled about what I saw . It's almost as if these people have been told to stay completely still . "

He was right . It wasn't a pleasing sight . Despite the number of people around, the lawn was almost too quiet . The silence in the lawn brought Juho a sense of physiological fear . It was unsettling, and Dong Gil added, "If I were G.o.d himself, I'd pour water onto these people . "

"On these people?"

"At least it'd make them jump from their places . Besides, it'd look much more entertaining . "

Juho imagined it . 'There's a natural disaster . Water levels rise, and it floods over to the people . Still… I can't really picture these people running and screaming . Wouldn't they just be swept away quietly?'

"The water bill would be monstrous . "

"Well, I'd just have to reimburse them . "

As they joked around, a sound came from behind . When Juho glanced over his shoulder, he saw a foreigner . His blue eyes were fixated in Juho's direction . They were as blue as the East Sea .

As their eyes met, the foreigner approached him .

"I ask for direction," he said in awkward Korean, with a guide book in his hands .

"Where were you going?" Juho responded in Korean .

"Um, uh… Here . "

He opened his guide book and showed it to Juho . It was a picture of the duck boats, and Juho explained to him how he could get there, but he didn't seem to understand .

"Would you like for me to explain in English?" Juho asked in English . His face brightened up at the sound of his native tongue .

"Ah, that'd be great . I've been lost for a while now . I've gone straight and then turned left like how it is in the guide book, but as you can see, I'm still lost . "

"You have to turn right here . "

"Oh my, I've gone the opposite direction . "

"It's not too far from here . When you walk down from here, walk toward the water . You'll get there in no time . "

Translated by: ShawnSuh. Edited by: SootyOwl Juho Woo, that oddball, Sun Hwa thought out loud about the person in her mind . Whenever she thought of him, the first thing that came to mind was his droopy face . Whatever happened, hed always be the only calm person . He was weird . It was hard to picture him being startled by something . Whenever she looked at him, she felt sorry for her cowardly self . Sun Hwa held back her smirk . The way he spoke was very much like his character - calm and unfazed, and their recent conversation had left her feeling vulnerable . As she looked out the window, she saw Bom walking toward the cafe . What if she doesnt like me? she thought anxiously . It would have been a lie to say that she wasnt afraid . Still, there was nothing to regret . As Sun Hwa greeted her, she found herself smiling before she even realized . No matter the result, Sun Hwa was able to smile . * Juho visited Sun Hwa in her cla.s.s to return the comic book he had borrowed from her some time ago . Hey, this ones good too . I love his ill.u.s.tration . I really dig it Oh, yeah! Ive read that one . Im a fan too . He hesitated as he was about to call for her . She was in the middle of a conversation with someone he had never met before . However, he had seen her once when he had come to visit Sun Hwa . She had been sitting in the corner, on her own . She had been reading her comic books then, so it made sense that they were talking to each other . I actually didnt like it that much . I think this ones closer to my preferences, Bom said as she picked out one of the comic books . At that, Sun Hwa and the girl objected to her, Youll change your mind once you read it . I feel sorry that you cant truly appreciate a masterpiece like this . Later, youre going to think back and regret saying what you just said . Together, the three were laughing and joking around with one another . If I chimed in now, Id be interrupting . They were doing well, so he turned back light-footed . Sun Hwa and Bom had been close with one another as in the past . As always, Bom was the first person to start cleaning while Sun Hwa was the first person to act on something . Also, they had agreed to partic.i.p.ate in different compet.i.tions . According to Bom, after meeting with Sun Hwa at the cafe, she had received a written reply from her . Aside from the two, n.o.body else knew what was written in that response . Juho took out his notepad as he walked down the hallway . One by one, he wrote down his newly aroused inspiration for a couple of characters for his story . Spring and flower gently fell into a world where there was no one but parents and children . Juho leaned against the side of the subway doors and saw a rather large body of water among views that quickly pa.s.sed by . He stared out the window at the Han River, which resembled a large, gaping hole . He thought as he watched the wavelets breaking, Was that around where I drowned? The doors will open on your right . People got in and out of the subway, and Juho moved aside to let people through . It was his first time seeing the Han River since he had drowned . He wasnt afraid of the water necessarily, but he didnt want to go out of his way to look at it either . Why am I here when Ive drowned already? He didnt want to know the answer to that question . If he found out, he wouldnt be able to imagine, and if he couldnt imagine, he wouldnt be able to write . He reminisced about the experience on that day . Starting from his head, his body grew colder and colder . He had started to suffocate and he couldnt see anything . His limbs grew heavier as the current coiled around his entire body . It felt like he was being pulled down . Next stop is… It was his stop . He checked the time . There was still some time left until his appointment . After he walked out of the subway station and pa.s.sed the bike rentals, a field of gra.s.s met his eyes . While walking through the lawn, he made his way toward the water . There were people fis.h.i.+ng, riding their bicycles and walking casually with their dogs . He saw the water . He walked toward it with his eyes transfixed . He went down to the rock where the ground met the water . A wave was breaking, and the wind was blowing gently . The water smelled slightly fishy . He sat on the rock and reached for the water . Its coldness clung to his hand . I guess its because its still daytime . Strangely, he didnt feel anything . Because he didnt know how to swim, he had a natural wariness toward rivers and oceans and would normally feel uneasy whenever he saw deep bodies of water . Now, things were different . He still didnt know how to swim, but he was not afraid, even as he stared into the dark depths of the river . If anything, he felt more adventurous . He dipped his hand deeper into the water . Better yet, he wanted to try going into the water . He felt like there was something violent at the end of death and rebirth . He dipped his hand even deeper . Watch out! Somebody pulled him back from behind . Juhos wet hand had been dragged out of the water, and he looked up to see a rigid face . Dong Gil . I dont think this is where we agreed to meet . I got here early, so I was killing some time . Were you looking to dive or something? No way . Juho slowly got up, shaking off his hands . As he looked at Juho intently, Dong Gil asked, Did you want to ride on the duck boat? Duck boat? Thats random . What made you want to get on that? He slowly lifted his hand and pointed at something . You seemed like you really wanted to go in that direction . It was the center of the river . After staring intently at the water, Juho shook his head . I want to live for now . Itd be pus.h.i.+ng it with a duck boat . Dont you underestimate my legs . With those confident words, Dong Gil turned around and walked further away from the water . Juho followed . He felt his hand getting stiffer as it dried up . It wasnt a special occasion . Since their meeting, the two had been texting one another frequently . One day, one of them suggested that they meet up to talk and kill some time together, and Juho had no reason to say no . The two walked up to the observatory where the entire field of gra.s.s could be seen . Although it was slightly windy, a screen was there to protect them from it . The sound of a clumsily played piano was coming from afar . There must have been a piano that was open to the public use . Do you play? Dong Gil had written a book about music once, and he gave off the impression that he knew how to play an instrument . Nope, a quick answer . Instead, I listened to it day and night . I turned the music on the moment I opened my eyes and then turned it off when I was about to go to sleep . I kept it playing while I was eating or showering . The entire writing process took me about eight months, and I listened to cla.s.sical music the entire time . It felt like I had listened to my entire lifes worth of music . Whenever I had a dream, the sound of violin came out instead of my voice . Despite the content, he sounded quite calm . Unlike him, Juho asked with a disturbed look on his face, What did that feel like? It felt like I had been eating the same thing for a year . Ive never tried that myself, but I think I get the gist . In other words, he was sick of it . Every author had a character that was similar to Dong Gils . No matter what people told them, they had to see things for themselves . They wouldnt start writing unless they had identified things with their own eyes and understood what they had seen . Dong Gil was especially unique even among authors . Usually, an author would gather just enough information for his book . No one went to the lengths of making themselves feel like they had been eating the same food for the entire year . He really didnt know his limits . I think that was when I was the biggest jerk in my life . Im surprised youre still sane . I wanted to write well . He sounded like a student who had just started writing . In reality, that was also something frequently said by the Literature Club members: I want to write well . Coming to think of it, that must have been why I went up to the bridge in the middle of winter before I fell into the water . I wanted to write well, Juho thought . Look, Dong Gil called for Juho as he was lost in thought . What is it? At his voice, he walked toward the handrail . When he was one step away from reaching the rail, he was met with the wide, open view of the gra.s.s . People about the size of the joints on his finger were sitting beside one another . Some had brought a mat while some had brought something to s.h.i.+eld themselves from the wind . Some sat on flyers . There were all sorts of people . This . It was like a painting, but it wasnt because of its beauty . Theres no movement . n.o.body was moving . As if time had stopped, everything stayed completely still in its place . It was as if somebody had frozen them . Maybe they had all agreed with one another to be that way . If it werent for the leaves blowing about in the wind, one couldve believed that something was seriously wrong with the world . This is unusual . I know . Its incredibly lifeless . It wouldve been nice to have people around playing badminton or kindergarten students on their cla.s.s picnic . Everyone was motionless and exhausted . Juho looked to his side . Dong Gil was watching the motionless scenery as if that wasnt his first time . When did you first see this? To answer his question, Dong Gil slowly parted his lips, I was out for a walk to see if I could find anything interesting in amid the average, boring everyday life . I was looking for some inspiration . Is there a but coming? But then this was all I saw instead of finding anything interesting . Well, it has become a form of inspiration in its own right since, but I wasnt exactly thrilled about what I saw . Its almost as if these people have been told to stay completely still . He was right . It wasnt a pleasing sight . Despite the number of people around, the lawn was almost too quiet . The silence in the lawn brought Juho a sense of physiological fear . It was unsettling, and Dong Gil added, If I were G.o.d himself, Id pour water onto these people . On these people? At least itd make them jump from their places . Besides, itd look much more entertaining . Juho imagined it . Theres a natural disaster . Water levels rise, and it floods over to the people . Still… I cant really picture these people running and screaming . Wouldnt they just be swept away quietly? The water bill would be monstrous . Well, Id just have to reimburse them . As they joked around, a sound came from behind . When Juho glanced over his shoulder, he saw a foreigner . His blue eyes were fixated in Juhos direction . They were as blue as the East Sea . As their eyes met, the foreigner approached him . I ask for direction, he said in awkward Korean, with a guide book in his hands . Where were you going? Juho responded in Korean . Um, uh… Here . He opened his guide book and showed it to Juho . It was a picture of the duck boats, and Juho explained to him how he could get there, but he didnt seem to understand . Would you like for me to explain in English? Juho asked in English . His face brightened up at the sound of his native tongue . Ah, thatd be great . Ive been lost for a while now . Ive gone straight and then turned left like how it is in the guide book, but as you can see, Im still lost . You have to turn right here . Oh my, Ive gone the opposite direction . Its not too far from here . When you walk down from here, walk toward the water . Youll get there in no time .