Chapter 2: Please Comeback

Jihyo was sitting on a bench at the rooftop, waiting for Jinyoung to come back. She looked at the sky. She thought that at least a dazzling sky full of stars could ease her sadness, but she could only wish for it. The sky was unusually dark tonight and there was no single star to comfort her.

When Jihyo lose herself at the thought of dark sky, she heard light footsteps coming. She turned to see Jaebum walking towards her. She quickly straightened her back, correcting her sitting position, and hid her face behind her long bangs.

“Still waiting for your brother?” Jaebum asked as he sat next to her.

She nodded, shifting a bit further from Jaebum.

Jaebum sighed. “Ah, really. It’s hard to tell your brother not to work that hard.. But don’t worry, Jihyo-ya, he’ll come back soon.”

Jihyo nodded.

“By the way, how’s your school? You must be busy preparing for the SAT?” Jaebum asked trying to loosen the mood.

But Jihyo took quite a long time to come up with answer. She simply said, “Yes, right. It’s been.. busy.”

It made Jaebum chuckled. “Don’t stress over it, Jihyo-ya. The world’s not gonna end because of SAT exam. You just need to study hard and do your best. Don’t think about the result. No matter what the result is, you could always come up with something to bring the best out of it. This too shall pass with time.”

Jihyo stole a glance to Jaebum and responded softly, “Yes.”

And like every other meeting they encountered before, it ended up in an awkward silence. Just like this mood.

“Ah, why isn’t Jinyoung coming yet?” Jaebum muttered to himself, trying to break the ice between them.

Jihyo sensed that the older was trying to losen the mood and Jihyo felt the need to do the same, so she started, “Jaebum-ssi..”

“Yes?” Jaebum turned his head to focus on Jihyo, but it only made Jihyo turned her face and hid her face even more behind her hair.

“I-is your mom asleep?” Jihyo stuttered.

“Yeah, she just did. Have you met her?”

Jihyo nodded, making the older boy smiled. His eyes disappeared into a beautiful crescent moon.

“She gave me a kimchi stew, and, and it was really delicious,” Jihyo said softly.

“Really? I figured, I learned cooking from my mother. So, of course, her cooking is delicious. I can make way more delicious food for you, too, Jihyo-ya, that is if you want.”

Jihyo was flustered and tried hard to hide her smile.

“Tell me, what’s your favorite food?” Jaebum asked.

But before Jihyo could answer, her phone was ringing, it was from Jinyoung.

She picked up, “Yoboseyo Oppa..”

But the voice from the other line was not her brother’s.

“Is this Park Jinyoung’s relatives?” Said someone from over the phone.

“Y-yes, I’m his sister,” Jihyo stuttered, worry filled her voice.

“I want to inform you that Park Jinyoung-ssi was involved in a car accident and is currently in SNU hospital.”

“W-what?” Jihyo’s face turned white as she heard the man’s words. Panicked, she made her way downstairs, running as fast as she can.

Jaebum who was confused, tried to ask Jihyo, while following the girl. “What’s wrong, Jihyo-ya? What’s happened?”

But Jihyo didn’t answer and continued running to the hospital.

-00-

Jihyo quickly ran to the ER’s receptionist wanting to ask where his brother was, but words just didn’t come out of . It’s like her brain stopped functioning altogether. Jaebum, noticed this and asked on her behalf. “Excuse me. Can you tell me where patient Park Jinyoung is? We’re his relatives.”

“Wait a second,” the receptionist said, checking on her computer and informed “Patient Park Jinyoung is at the ER’s Resuscitation Room on your left side.”

“Thank you,” Jaebum said and both of him and Jihyo rushed to the room the woman said.

And there, they looked for Jinyoung. But all they saw were patients with oxygen tubes and IV lines and beeping machines. But no sign of Jinyoung. Jihyo looked around the room, checking each patient. But Jinyoung wasn’t there. The only bed left was at the end of the room. But it was covered with white cloth. Jihyo hesitated, but her feet brought her closer to that bed. Then Jihyo looked at the identity board at the front of the bed and there was written “Park Jinyoung”.

Jihyo’s jaw dropped in shock. Slowly, she shook her head in disbelief. Jaebum, who was keeping his distance close to Jihyo was left dumbfounded.

“N-no.. That’s not my brother,” she said it, slowly walking to one of the side of the bed.

Her hands were trembling so hard, but she thought she should see it for herself. So she reached out, uncovering the cloth. And when she did, she finally saw him, her brother. His face pale, lips grazed, cheeks bruised and lacerated. What was once a face everyone adored turned into a lifeless broken meat.

She lost the strength on her knees and Jaebum was quick enough to catch her before Jihyo dropped to the floor.

“No...” Jihyo shook her head. “No!! This couldn’t be! NOOOOO!”

-00-

“Jihyo-ya, can you see me? Oppa is here, Jihyo-ya,” Jinyoung tried to talk to Jihyo from across the bed.

But Jihyo couldn’t see or hear him. The girl was still sobbing, as she looked at Jinyoung’s dead body.

“Jaebum-hyung, please, can you see me Jaebum-hyung? Tell Jihyo that I’m here,” Jinyoung begged.

But Jaebum couldn’t see and hear him too. Jaebum was as miserable as Jihyo. Tears couldn’t stop coming out of his bloodshot eyes. The only thing preventing him from collapsing was the thought that he needed to take care of Jihyo.

“Oppa, why? Why’d you leave me like this?” Jihyo asked in tears.

“Oppa won’t leave you Jihyo ya. Oppa is here. Wait,” Jinyoung then tried to get into his body, but he failed.

He tried it again and failed again. Until the scheduler showed up and stopped him. “What are you doing?”

“I want to go back to my body. I don’t want to die!” Jinyoung yelled at him.

The Scheduler sighed. “You can’t do that.”

“Why can’t I? I’ve heard stories about dead person coming back to life.”

“Your case is different.”

“Different how??!!” Jinyoung yelled out loud.

“Your spirit was completely separated from your body. Look at your body, it was totally wrecked. So, it has been locked. You can never go back to your body.”

“But why?? Why ME??? I don’t wanna die...” Jinyoung cried so hard. “Look at my sister, she will live alone if I’m not by her side. Why did you do this to me and my sister???”

The Scheduler tried to calm Jinyoung. “Listen, I don’t have the say about someone’s life or death. But from my experience, you couldn’t change this fact, so what you need to do is accept this fate. Your sister won’t be happy if you’re like this.”

“SHE COULDN’T EVEN SEE ME, YOU BASTARD!”

Hearing Jinyoung’s respond, the Scheduler could only sigh and comforted himself. “Yup, it’s okay. It’s completely okay. Calm down Jin-ah, it’s not like this is the first time some spirit cursed at you. It’s okay.”

-00-

The nurse offered to give Jihyo and Jaebum an empty room to settle for a moment. They said it should help calming her down if she didn’t look at Jinyoung’s body. Jaebum wanted to stay beside Jihyo, but the doctor and the police called for him to inform the details of the accident.

“We are sorry to inform you that patient Park Jinyoung passed away right at the crime scene due to massive bleeding and multiple organ rupture, including his head. By the time the patient arrived at the hospital it was already too late,” the doctor said. Jaebum could only lower his head. He started crying again.

Why