CHAPTER 9

Detectives

Seulgi and Wendy went down the stairs to the smell of frying eggs and sausages. Soo-Young had gotten up much earlier and had been preparing their breakfast while the insomniacs caught up on some shut-eye. Down on the dinner table, plates and bowls had already been laid out. The two then took their seats as the early bird began filling up their bowls of soup and rice. Finally, she served the plate of sunny-side-ups and sausages. “It’s breakfast time!”

“Wow, thanks a lot,” Wendy said, a bit surprised that Soo-Young was serving them breakfast. Maybe her “spoiled-brattiness” did not follow her into adulthood—which was good.

“This isn’t going to kill us, is it?” Seulgi said while rubbing her eyes with her knuckles.

“I’ll kill you if you diss it with your ungratefulness,” Soo-Young shot back. “Just eat and thank the Lord that someone thoughtfully prepared it for you.”

Ugh, I don’t understand her, Seulgi mused in her head.

“You guys agree to go searching today, right?”

“Sure.” Unlike young Son Seungwan, this newly grown-up Wendy agreed almost immediately without even questioning the practicality of Soo-Young’s plans. Seulgi, however, continued awkwardly chewing slowly. The other two stared at her.

“Oh come on,” Soo-Young suddenly raised her voice at Seulgi again. “Don’t you try to act so mature. We all know you still talk with your mouth full on a normal basis, so don’t pretend like you’re waiting for that rice to go down your throat before answering.”

Seulgi took a glass of water and washed down what she chewed in . “You guys are leaving me no choice here, huh?”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Soo-Young said with a more upbeat tone.

“What’s our plan?” Wendy asked. Soo-Young stared blankly at her. Seulgi rolled her eyes and groaned.

“Well, I’m thinking we look for the old hideout deep in the woods…,” Soo-Young stated. “But I’m not sure how we’re going to do that.”

More arguing about the theoretical existence of this said hideout and cookie jar ensued. In the thick of the arguing, Wendy—who had been quiet the entire time—suddenly spoke up. “What do you guys think of surveying the area first?”

Thirteen Years Ago: October 2005

“Here’s the proof!” With one quick toss, a bundle of polaroid photographs bounced and tumbled on Soo-Young’s bedspread until it finally settled down on the centre.

“You really went?!” she said, grabbing the photographs and undoing the rubber band holding the bundle together. With wide-eyes she swapped one photo with another and then another, scrutinizing Seulgi’s amateur shots.

“Yeah! Seungwan and I went together!”

Upon hearing Seulgi say those words, Soo-Young stopped and looked up from the photographs. Seulgi Unnie and Seungwan Unnie went together? Without me?! And survived?!

“You what?!” Soo-Young dropped the photographs on the bed. Is this the pain of jealousy? Betrayal? Do I not exist anymore?

Seulgi, on the other hand, was completely clueless of Soo-Young’s distress and shuffled through the photographs, searching for the important captures from their adventure.

When Seungwan entered the room with their snacks, Soo-Young got up from her bed and menacingly stood against the smaller unnie. “How could you have gone with her without telling me?! She was supposed to go alone!”

“Ah—I, um—” Seungwan was too caught off guard to say anything.

“Here they are!” clueless Seulgi exclaimed, waving a polaroid photo on one hand. She was too excited to talk about what happened in her expedition. “You know, when we were pretty far in the forest, we saw these half-eaten cookie crumbs. It was so weird.”

Soo-Young’s anger suddenly dissipated upon hearing what Seulgi had just said. “Cookie crumbs?” She focused her attention to Seulgi and left Seungwan alone. “Let me see that.” Back on the bed, she looked over the photographs that Seulgi wanted to show her. Seulgi had a bunch of pictures of different cookie droppings and even trails of ants on the forest floor. “What the hell…?”

Suddenly, Soo-Young remembered what she had seen the other day: Joohyun carried a pack of store-bought cookies into the forest.

“And we actually found the cabin.” Seulgi held up another photograph. Soo-Young immediately snatched it away from her. On the small polaroid was a weathered log cabin, slightly shrouded by the shadows of the towering trees. Maybe it was the old film or the bad lighting that made it seem so eerie yet tranquil. Seulgi's photos were not bad.

“Did you hear the crying child? How did you find it? Is it really that far into the forest? Does someone actually live there?” Soo-Young had so many questions. She suddenly felt that same curiosity that surged through Seulgi’s veins. Though dubious about their testimony, she wanted to know everything.

Seulgi told Soo-Young more details about their discovery of the cookie crumbs and the omnious vibe of the lonely, seemingly-abandoned cabin. She also made a few jabs at Seungwan for being a scaredy cat the whole time, to which Seungwan argued that she was simply being safe and careful.

While the two older girls argued about being a scaredy-cat and being a recklessly-curious-cat, Soo-Young suddenly muttered in a low voice, “Take me there.”

Seulgi and Seungwan stopped arguing and stared at Soo-Young in disbelief. “What?”

“I said, ‘Take me there.’”

***

“This is nuts! I can’t believe I’m willingly getting dragged here again!” 12-year-old Seungwan complained as she traversed through thorny bushes near the bank.

“You aren’t really getting dragged if you’re the one leading,” Soo-Young said following closely behind Seungwan. Since the oh-so-clever Son Seungwan was the one who cleverly dropped the marbles, she ended up leading the pack this time with the other two on her tail.

“The weather is getting chillier too,” Seungwan continued mumbling to herself as she hiked up a sloped path. “I won’t be surprised if we end up catching a cold by staying out and venturing into the wilderness like this.”

After hours of arguing, complaining, trudging, and wandering deeper into the middle of woody nowhere, the huge rock—the one that stuck out like a sore grey thumb amidst the tall trees finally came into view. They were getting closer—very close.

“My legs hurt so bad!” Soo-Young wailed. Squirrels and chipmunks scurried off in fear due to the noise she was making. To ease her pain, she sat by the rock and twisted off her water bottle cap.

“Maybe we should rest for a while,” Seungwan decided as she sat beside Soo-Young. She had been acting as their leader for this whole expedition. “We’re really close though.”

While the other two rested, Seulgi blithely fluttered around the place like an overly blissful butterfly, collecting random things off the ground like irregularly shaped rocks, colourful flowers, fallen leaves, and pinecones. She’s so dumb, Soo-Young internally scoffed. I bet she looks at every stupid inanimate object and names them all and makes them her friends. Ridiculous.

“Was it not scary at all?” Soo-Young asked Seungwan while watching the carefree little butterfly go around picking up all the useless things nature had to offer.

“The cabin?”

“A little bit?”

After a few minutes of more walking, they had finally reached their destination. There in the middle of the woods was a bizarre, seemingly-unnatural clearing. And at the centre of this clearing was an old, weathered log cabin, standing like an unwanted loner amid an unamused crowd. The trees seemed to have distanced themselves from the shack as if these brainless, senseless, gigantic plants were afraid to approach the relic within a 5-metre radius. But not everything—dead or alive—was apprehensive about this. Despite the trees distancing themselves, shadows and overgrown vines crept over the shack as though magnetized by a daring attraction. Winds from different directions picked up lifeless dead leaves, swished and fluttered in tornado-like circles as if a pulling a weak attempt on attacking its weathered roof shingles and windows. Just as was printed on the photograph, the scene was eerie yet somehow unusually tranquil. Was it because it was far away from the noise and disturbances of civilisation? Maybe.

“What in the world…,” Soo-Young whispered as they approached the cabin. “This is such a weird—” She stopped in her tracks. Down below her rubber soles was a squished mash of—

“There are cookie crumbs here again,” said Seulgi, also looking down on the ground.

“I wonder who’s littering cookie crumbs here?”

Ignoring the cookies, Soo-Young walked faster toward the house and began banging on the door.

“No one’s there. We tried yesterday,” Seungwan told her.

Soo-young stopped and looked around the area. “No. Whoever lives here is just trying to make it seem like this old house is abandoned somehow.” Then she began to yell. “Come out! Whoever you are!”

“Um, Soo, even if there is someone, what if it’s one scary person? Maybe we shouldn’t be making so much of a ruckus…”

Then there was a loud squawk of a raven from high up in the trees. Soo-Young stopped making a fuss and glanced at Seungwan. Clearly, some force did not want them around. Or maybe it was just a preteen's wild imagination.

“This place is honestly creepy. Let’s go back so we can make it home before sundown,” Seungwan reasoned. "There might be other wild and dangerous creatures here, and I'm not going to stay to find out."

Meanwhile, Seulgi was crouching down on the ground again and fumbling with whatever she had randomly spotted on the ground. When Soo-Young spotted her, she furled her brows even more. Gosh, that stupid Kang Seulgi with the low attention spa—

“Guys, I think I found something,” they heard Seulgi call out. Now she was on all fours… digging up something from within a tree stump with her bare (bear) claws.

Seungwan squealed. “Seulgi, don’t be so dirty!”

However, upon seeing what Seulgi had somehow uncovered, the other two gasped. Down in the dirt was a light-pink ceramic lid with a chipped handle. Seulgi had cleared off the pile of leaves that seemed to have been purposely thrown over it for cover.

“I think it’s a vase. Or a pot?” the curious cat said while carefully pulling it out. With the help of her two friends, they managed to take the ceramic jar out of the tree stump without clumsily breaking it into pieces.

Then Soo-Young pulled the lid off. Upon seeing what was inside, they all glanced at each other.

“What is this?”

Inside, was a clear Ziplock bag filled with assorted cookies.

“A cookie jar?” Seungwan shook her head in confusion. “Why would anyone hide cookies in a tree stump in the middle of the forest?”

“That weirdo,” Soo-Young scoffed. She already had her suspicions. It’s definitely her. Yet Soo-Young still could not figure out the reasons this suspicious individual might have in doing something so outlandish.

“Hey, look, there’s a key here as well,” Seulgi said, noticing an old, slightly rusty key in the tree stump.

“Give me that!” Soo-Young took the key from Seulgi and approached the cabin door.

“Oh my god.” Seungwan tried to cover her gaping mouth. Seulgi let her jaw hang loose without covering it.

The key fit perfectly in the small doorknob slot. With one twist, the lock clicked.

“What are you all doing here?”

“AHHH!!” The three of them screamed like a bunch of sissies upon hearing a low, feminine voice from behind. When they turned around, their pupils dilated as if they had seen a ghost. However, instead of a ghost, they were met with a familiar pale-skinned neighbour.

“J-Joohyun Unnie?” Seulgi was still trembling in fear. Seungwan, on the other hand, exhaled a sigh of relief.

“YOU!” Soo-Young yelled with her finger rudely directed at the teenager. She marched furiously toward Joohyun and looked her in the face as if they stood on equal ground. (At this point, fifteen-year-old Joohyun and eleven-year-old Soo-Young were the same height.) “I KNEW IT!”

Instead of reacting violently to Soo-Young’s insulting gestures, Joohyun simply slightly tilted her head and cocked a brow. “You knew…?” Knew what exactly?

Then a small voice from below reached Soo-Young’s ears. When she looked down, she saw tiny hands tightly gripping Joohyun’s loose jogging pants. “Unnie, I’m scared,” the little voice cried.

Joohyun gently tapped something or someone hiding from behind her legs. “It’s okay, Yeri. Don’t be scared.” Soon the little human peeked from behind Joohyun’s waist to get a glance at the towering bully.

“What are you both doing here?” Seungwan asked, cautiously approaching from behind Soo-Young. Seulgi walked toward them as well.

Although she seemed rather calm at first, Joohyun’s eyes slowly turned into menacing dark orbs that shot from Soo-Young to Seungwan to Seulgi and back again. “I asked you first,” she said firmly.

In frustration, Soo-Young turned to her two friends and raised her voice even more. “Don’t you see, they’ve been coming here all this time! Those cookies couldn’t have been scattered around for no reason! It’s them! They’re the culprit!” Then she faced Joohyun again. “What the heck are you doing here being all suspicious? Is this your hideout or something? What are you hiding here for?”

“Soo-Young…,” Seulgi whined, trying to make Soo-Young stop talking harshly at Joohyun. By the tone of Soo-Young’s voice, it seemed like she was accusing her of something horrible.

“Yes, this is our hideout!” For the very first time, everyone here—including Yeri—had heard Joohyun display an outburst. “And since it is completely none of your businesses why we’re here, I suggest you all leave. Now.”

The three adventurers stood aghast before her. Joohyun displayed fury: her fists were trembling and her breathing was rhythmic and steady; her once beautiful eyes pierced through them like daggers. She stood her ground unmoving, and even with her petite figure, she intimidated them just by her presence. Maybe she had every right to be mad; they had unrightfully breached her privacy and trespassed on her turf. Plus, there was this one rude grade-schooler who kept yelling at her in front of her sensitive little sister…

But… why?

Why is she so secretive? Seulgi thought as she speechlessly stood there before her. She did not want to see this—to see Joohyun so distressed—because of them—and she had no idea why. Seulgi wanted to make it right immediately. But right now, Bae Joohyun—that same girl who was so kind to her and her friends several times before—was intimidating, terrifying. It’s scary how one very strong emotion such as anger can easily change what used to be a peaceful soul.

“Well, what are you all standing around for?! I said leave!” Joohyun repeated. The little girl standing behind her tightly hung onto her pants even more.

“Why?! What are you keeping in there?!” Soo-Young continued. “You’re doing something illegal aren’t you? Shoplifting? Experimenting on stray cats? Rats? What?”

Joohyun displayed a face of disgust. Those accusations were far from accurate.

“Let’s go, guys,” Seungwan softly said. She knew she had to be the wise one and take Seulgi's and Soo-Young’s arms to pull them out of there. “It’s none of our business.”

“Weirdo. I don’t even know if I want to know whatever the hell their business is,” Soo-Young muttered as she went along with Seungwan. Joohyun heard it.

“Wait, I—” Seulgi still tried to fight Seungwan’s grip, but Seungwan only tightened her hold on her.

And so, the three of them left Joohyun and Yeri there.

October 2018

On that cloudy grey autumn morning, all three jobless adults surveyed the long road of the lakeside park. Unlike their previous lakeside explorations, they no longer had to go through itchy grass and prickly thistles. Most of the woody areas surrounding the lake were no longer a threat to little children’s safety. Cars, families, joggers, cyclers, and people of all ages conveniently pass through that road, either to get to where they were going or for simple leisure.

“It’s so urbanized already. I can’t believe all of this used to be overgrown with trees and plants. Imagine how much easier that would have been for us back then,” Wendy remarked as she watched the joggers and cyclers through the car window.

“I kinda want to check out the restaurants over there,” Seulgi said, pointing her thumb behind her, toward the curve of the lake with the lakeside restaurants and the boardwalk, just a few kilometres behind them. The classy area. She was after the picturesque view. Too bad they were driving in the opposite direction.

“We can check that out later. For now, stick with the plan, please,” Soo-Young said as she drove the pack down the road.

After a few minutes or so, Soo-Young parked on the side and all three stepped out of the car and onto the rubber cycling/pedestrian lane.

“There.” Seulgi pointed to the faraway cliff that was visible from the cycling path. Then she looked down her DSLR camera. On the display screen of her camera was the same scene that she had just pointed to—that photograph of the girl who looked eerily similar to Joohyun, standing on the same cliff.

Moments later, Wendy showed her phone screen to the other two. “According to the satellite map, this entire area is still forest,” she said pointing to the steeply raised area on the right side of the road. It was so steep that it was almost a rock wall with trees at the top. “If you look down the road to the north, this gets higher and higher and probably turns into a high cliff until you reach that part where faux Joohyun is standing.”

“Faux Joohyun?” Seulgi raised her brows.

“Whoever that girl is.” Wendy winked.

“That’s because the land was originally raised that way,” said Soo-Young, thinking about the original lay of the land. “They just carved this flat area to accommodate a road that connects the new business district in the north of town to the lake and fancy area south of the lake. Man, the things people do to ruin nature…”

“If they only developed the lakeside and the forest is still intact, then maybe the hideout is still there.” Wendy then took a peek on Seulgi’s photograph once more. “And if that girl found a way to get to that cliff, then the forest may still be accessible. I have a feeling… I just have this feeling…”

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tapping sensations on their head came out of nowhere.

“Huh?” Another distraction.

All three looked up at the thickening rain clouds gathering high above their heads. Across the lake, the blue mountains slowly blurred with the grey sky until they were barely visible. The chilly wind began to blow stronger, making them all hold on to their coats. Soon, more drops of rain began tapping their heads, telling them to take cover.

“Quick, get back in the car,” Soo-Young said after pressing a button on her car key.

When the triad finally locked themselves in the car, Seulgi asked, “Now what?”

Since none of them could do anything about the uncooperating weather, they went to a Japanese-style souffle pancake restaurant south of the lake. While they were eating together, Soo-Young audibly sighed and placed her fork down on the table. Looking out the window, she said, “I hate this weather.”

Outside, the low clouds had completely shrouded the mountains on the northside of the lake. Although Keoul Lake was known for its placid mirror-like waters, on rainy days such as this, small ripples of waves formed by the wind and rain blurred the reflections on the water. The lake water had turned into a grey blob, reflecting nothing but blurred images and the depressingly colourless sky.

“Nobody likes it,” Wendy said, not even looking out the windows and only focusing on the pancake before her. Then she glanced at Seulgi, whose melancholic eyes had not left the scene at all. “Except maybe her.”

Realising that her friends had brought her into the conversation, Seulgi turned away from the glass window beside her and looked at them from across the dining table.

“You’ve really turned into her, huh? Staring into the lake like you're in some trance,” Soo-Young said, throwing Seulgi off guard.

The girl with the distracted monolid eyes blinked. “What?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Seulgi picked up her glass of coke. “Stop saying that. I’m nothing like Joohyun Unnie.”

Here they go again… Wendy rolled her eyes as she watched her two old friends grumble and bicker over insignificant things. It was getting kind of irritating.

“Speaking of Joohyun Unnie, I think I might have an idea to who the girl in the photo is,” Wendy spoke up, hushing the other two. “Bae Yeri. Joohyun Unnie’s little sister.”

“Oh my god.” Soo-Young’s eyes dilated and gaped. Her face had gone pale. She slowly placed her fork down on the table and swallowed the mashed pancake she had been chewing in .

“I know, right? Think about it! She was just ten when Joohyu—”

Suddenly, Soo-Young forcefully cupped Wendy’s loud mouth with her hand. “Shush!”

Seulgi twisted her neck to look behind her and immediately saw what Soo-Young had just seen.

While they were eating, someone had just entered the pancake house. From the side—in that angle where they were sitting at the restaurant—she looked incredibly similar to Joohyun. Soo-Young could not believe it at all. As ludicrous as it was to hear her friends talk about seeing some dead person, experiencing it herself was even more out of this world. The girl had walked up to the counter and placed an order before walking toward the empty table just behind Seulgi. From there Soo-Young and Wendy could see her backside, while Seulgi was too nervous to turn around to look now. All of them trembled in their seats as if they had unintentionally summoned the dead to a pancake restaurant.

“Psst, moron, give me your camera,” Soo-Young whispered to Seulgi. With a bit of instruction on how to use the DSLR camera, she managed to secretly take a photo of this person.

“S-she didn’t recognize us…?” Wendy whispered.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” Seulgi nervously uttered in a low voice.

Soo-Young shook her head and mouthed out a “NO.” Then she pulled Seulgi closer, “We’re staying here until she leaves.”

“Should we say hi?” Wendy asked.

“No! What are we even going to say to her?” Seulgi argued.

“So, what do we do? Just watch her?”

For the next twenty minutes or so, the triad sat there in their seats, being inconspicuous and trying not to squirm in nervousness—all while debating on whether to approach this girl or not. Eventually, the Joohyun doppelganger finished eating, stood up from her seat, and left the restaurant.

“Quick losers, let’s go after her!” Soo-Young said, slapping Wendy’s hip and trying to push her off the seat. “And Seulgi Unnie, ready your camera!”

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Wendy stood up and slung her bag strap over her shoulder.

“No time to question it!”

With Soo-Young’s insistence, the squad quickly scrambled down the stairs and out of the building—under the drizzling weather. Soo-Young pulled up her hoodie over her head while looking around the glossy wet asphalt street. “Crap, where’d she go?”

“That way!” Seulgi said, pointing to a small alley between two of the low restaurant buildings lining the lakeside road. The girl with the purple umbrella just turned a corner and disappeared, but she could not have gone far.

“Quick!” Soo-Young and Seulgi immediately went through the same alley. Soon they had disappeared at the corner as well.

“Hey! Wait!” Wendy called out as she hastily ran after them while trying to protect her head from the light rain with her leather handbag. Now was not the time to question the morality and legality of spying, especially when her buddies have gone off and left her with her thoughts already.

After turning left in the corner and following the alley exit, Wendy found herself in a brick sidewalk of a street intersection that led to the main highway. There in that small area lined with coffee shops and quaint fashion boutiques, she looked around and tried to find where the other two had headed off to.

“Wendy Unnie!” She heard Soo-Young yell out. When she looked to her right, she found Soo-Young waving at her from a pedestrian crossing. Wendy quickly ran to catch up with them.

“Gosh, guys!” Wendy said, almost about to reprimand them for almost ditching her, but then Soo-Young shushed her again. Beside Soo-Young was Seulgi—busy with her camera. She had taken off her trench coat and wrapped it around her camera and lens to keep it from getting wet with rain.

Through the lens, rain-drenched Seulgi spied on faux Joohyun from across the highway and took too many unwarranted shots of the girl as if all of this was for a dirty tabloid journalism piece. “She’s walking down the street…”

Wendy threw her hand up in the air. “I can’t believe we’re actually stalking this girl!”

“Shush!” Soo-Young grabbed her by the forearm and whispered in her ear, “You don’t want passersby to think you’re a ert, do you?!”

Wendy gulped. “Because of you two, I feel like a ert anyway!”

“Um, she’s entering an internet café (PC bang),” Seulgi mumbled while looking through her finder.

Just then, the pedestrian lights turned green.

“Let’s go,” Soo-Young said, dragging them across the highway.

Upon entering the internet café with their wet clothes and heavy breaths, they awkwardly craned their necks to check the stalls for any sign of their target. And they did find her… playing a computer game. Looking at the automated kiosk by the reception area, the triad began scratching their heads.

“I can’t believe this,” Wendy said in frustration. “We’re literally like evil erts snooping around and stalking some innocent girl! Like those three bad guys from Pokemon...”

“Like Team Rocket?” 

"Yeah whatever they're called."

“How long do you think she'll stay here for?” Seulgi said while staring at the options on the kiosk’s screen.

 Soo-Young grabbed one of the numbered user cards on the counter. “Who knows.”

“You’re going to play?” Seulgi was rather dumbfounded.

“We can’t just loiter around here until she comes out,” Soo-Young stated the obvious.

At this point, Wendy too at a loss for words. In the end, all three of them grabbed a card and took their places where they could easily notice the girl’s movements.

While sitting around looking through computer games and other content, Soo-Young peeked past the stall partitions asked Wendy, “Do you really think she’s Bae Yeri?” (They were still speaking in hushed tones.)

“Maybe?”

“Guys, look at this,” Seulgi interrupted. “Oh, wait, I’ll send the files through Kakaotalk and you can check it there on your PCs.”

While Seulgi was sending whatever files she had procured, Wendy and Soo-Young logged into their respective SNS accounts through the PC. Upon opening their messages, they saw the photographs that Seulgi had recently taken with her DSLR camera. She had her camera connected to the PC and had the files transferred. Now all three of them could see the photographs on the high-definition screens.

Seulgi inched her chair back to look at Wendy and Soo-Young. “It’s not Joohyun Unnie.”

“Yeah…” The other two commented as they looked through the photographs. In the well-zoomed pictures, the girls’ features were now more evident. “It’s just someone who looks like her.”

“It’s possible that it could be Yeri,” Wendy said as she stared at one of the photographs. “I remember that even back then, she looked a lot like a mini version of Joohyun Unnie. If you think about it, she’s probably 20 years old now, which is pretty close to Joohyun Unnie’s age when we last saw her.”

“If that girl really is Yeri, do you think she even remembers us at all?” Soo-Young started again.

“Who knows.”

Thirteen Years Ago: October 2005

A pull of the blanket here, and another deliberate twist in this direction, but sleep never came. 12-year-old Seulgi tossed and turned all through the night with obnoxious thoughts and questions that could not be silenced. Why did Joohyun Unnie get angry? Did we do something wrong? Did she just decide to hate us all of a sudden? Should I apologise on behalf of Soo-Young’s rudeness? Why can’t I sleep tonight? I still have an exam tomorrow! What was the date of Yi Sun-Shin’s legendary naval battle again? I’m so going to fail…

As terrible as her sleep was on that night, her exam day was even worse. She forgot most of the historical dates, so she just guessed most of it and just slept on her desk through the rest of the period until she felt this odd tapping on her head. When her haggard eyes opened to the bright sun-lit classroom, she found her teacher glaring down at her, asking for her test paper. Everyone else in class may have giggled, but she had too many things running through her mind to be embarrassed. 

“Want to go get some street food downtown?” Soo-Young asked as they walked out of the school gates that noon. Since school ended earlier on exam days, they had plenty of time to rest before diving into the next set of exam subjects waiting for them tomorrow.

“Sure,” Seungwan said with a nod. “I’ve been craving some tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) lately.”

“Let’s go then.”

“Um…,” Seulgi hesitated. “You guys can go on by yourselves.” After the outburst of Soo-Young and Seungwan's insistence of leaving Joohyun's cabin alone, Seulgi thought that it might be best to go find Joohyun and apologise on her own.

“You’re not coming?” Both Soo-Young and Seungwan were surprised. Seulgi usually never refused any opportunity that involved food.

“I, uh, need to go do something,” she awkwardly replied. “Like, erm… my grandma wanted me to help her do some things.”

"Ew, you're such a filial kid..." Soo-Young made some gagging noises. Seungwan just thought Seulgi was acting strange.

"Well, you can't really go against your grandma so..."  

“Ha-ha,” Seulgi awkwardly chuckled and sighed in relief. She almost thought that Seungwan would see through her lies and not let her go. “Thanks.”

Seulgi sped through the road and down between yellowing rice fields to make it to their house as fast as possible. Upon entering their gate, she briefly greeted her grandparents and went straight into her room. There on the bed, she quickly poured out all the contents of her school backpack. Her notebooks, her books, her pencil case—all fell out and were messily sprawled on the bed. Then she stuffed her bag with things that were completely not school-related—the polaroid shots they took in the woods, the map she and Seungwan created, a flashlight, a bottle of water, and some hot packs—in case the weather gets chillier later in the day—because she only had one thing in mind: I need to go see Joohyun Unnie. After changing into more comfortable clothes and flatly refusing the lunch her grandparents prepared, Seulgi ventured into the woods. Joohyun may not even be there, but she was not a pessimist as a child. She just went into the forest thinking she would see Joohyun anyway.

When she got to the hidden cabin, she knocked on the door but there was no answer. It was quiet in that deep part of the forest as usual. Nobody seemed to be there, except the chipmunks and the occasional raven high up in the pine trees.

Soon her stomach began to rumble. In the stillness of the undisturbed forest, the growls of her hungry belly were magnified. She sure regretted refusing her grandmother’s lunch now. She also forgot to pack some snacks. Now all she could do was look at the ground covered in red, orange, and yellow leaves and squint her eyes, pretending she was in the middle of a large ramen pot. In this cool autumn weather, a warm bowl of spicy instant noodles would hit the spot…

After what seemed to be an eternity in that forest (actually it was just 15 minutes), Seulgi, who was sitting down on the dirt and leaning against the cabin door, began hearing crunching noises—noises made by stepping on dried leaves. When she looked up, she saw a taller girl and a smaller child walking toward her. Realising who they were, Seulgi quickly got up and dusted off the dirt from her pants.

“Seulgi…” Joohyun stopped walking and stared at her, obviously confused. This time her voice lost all hostility and was soft and gentle again. “What are you doing here again? Didn’t I tell you and your friends not to come back?”

“I’m sorry.” Seulgi bowed more than 90 degrees. “We didn’t mean to bother you the other day.”

While Seulgi’s head was bowed all the way down there, Joohyun and her sister Yeri looked at each other, unsure of how to respond.

“I hope you don’t get mad anymore. Soo-Young just isn’t very good with people, you know?” Seulgi then raised her head and stood up straight.

Looking at Seulgi with the slightest bit of pity, Joohyun gently said, “Go home, Seulgi. You don't want your grandparents and your friends to worry.”

“Are you not mad anymore?” Seulgi honestly could not tell. Joohyun was a difficult person to read, and Seulgi was not the best at reading others either.

“No. Just go. And don’t come back, okay?”

“Oh… Okay...” Seulgi then awkwardly took some steps to the side. (She was blocking the door to the cabin.) It was good to know that Joohyun was not mad anymore, but she still wanted to ask why this and why that… She just did not want to seem like she was prying too much.

As Seulgi was about to leave, she suddenly heard the smaller human speak to her in a tiny, squeaky voice.

“Where’s Seungwan Unnie?”

Seulgi looked at the little kid beside Joohyun. This baby’s brown eyes were round and shiny—like that of an affectionate tabby cat. It seemed like she was pleading for the answer with those sweet eyes.

“Seungwan is not with me,” Seulgi answered. Joohyun looked back at Seulgi with this sharply ambiguous gaze.

“Oh…” The light in Yeri's eyes seemed to have disappeared. Even with the mask covering her face, her eyes were expressive enough to show what she was feeling. Then she looked up at her older sister, pointed her finger toward Seulgi, and said, “Can’t we play with this unnie today?”

“Me?” The uninvited guest was dumbfounded.

“Yeri…,” Joohyun said in a soft, slightly troubled tone.

“Unnie please? Pleaaase?” Then Yeri looked at Seulgi and asked, “You’re not busy, right?” This kid was too cute to refuse. Even Seulgi felt touched that some little girl wanted to play with her. It was too adorable.

“Well, not really,” Seulgi said, completely forgetting that she needed to study for her next set of exams.

The girl turned to Joohyun and begged again. “Please unnie?”

Joohyun sighed and hesitantly said in defeat, “Okay, fine.” Nomatter how firmly she tried to refuse, Joohyun seemed to have a weakness—Yeri. Seulgi saw how Joohyun's shap gaze softened almost immediately, as if she was defeated. She then walked past Seulgi and opened the cabin door with her key.

Seulgi’s jaw dropped. The cabin door has officially unlocked like some new advancement to a video game. Joohyun was right there, inviting her in, even after she just told her to leave a few seconds ago.

“Wait, what?” Seulgi did not know what to do. Before she knew it, this little girl about two-thirds of her height had wrapped a hand around her finger and led her into the cabin.

Hopping and skipping into the wooden cabin, Yeri excitedly squealed. "Yay! We're all playing together!"

The cabin—though horribly portrayed by Soo-Young's story and their wild imaginations—was actually a homey, rustic little space. There were no animal experiments or spooky spiders, nor cursed farm tools, nor rotting human body parts. What Seulgi found there upon entering was a spread-out mat with worn-out playthings scattered on the floor—legos, dinosaur toys, stuffed toys and dolls. In one corner of the small one-room cabin were a neatly arranged desk and three bookshelves filled with books and notebooks. On the walls were colourful images roughly drawn by crayon and unskilled hands—childish artworks on paper of varying sizes stuck to the walls with scotch tape.

"Welcome to our hideout!" Yeri exclaimed. "This is where I play, and this is where Joohyun Unnie studies!"

"Wow, this place is actually quite nice," Seulgi said, admiring the drawings on the walls and forgetting about her hunger.

"I drew this one, and this one, and this one..." The little tyke was just too excited to show her new friend everything. 

Joohyun, on the other hand, just watched Yeri and Seulgi while picking up the scattered toys and placing them into the box in one corner of the room.

When she turned from the wall and saw how quiet Joohyun was, Seulgi began to wonder why was this place such a secret? Why did she ask them all to leave? In Seulgi's mind, if she had a hideout like this, she would want to show all her friends. Or did Joohyun not consider her a friend until a few minutes ago?

Going to the other side of the room with the bookshelves, Seulgi asked Joohyun, "Do you read all of these?" 

"Not all." That was when Seulgi realised that some of the "books" were actually photo albums, scrapbooks, sketchbooks, and really thick planners.

"Unnie likes to make stories!" Yeri said. Joohyun frowned at her as if she was embarrassed.

"Really?" Seulgi almost tried to grab one notebook from the bookshelf but stopped herself. Then she looked to Joohyun and asked, "Can I look?"

Joohyun just stared at her and did not answer. Fearing the ambiguity in Joohyun's eyes, Seulgi decided to let it go and went back to the mat to sit with Yeri. By then, Joohyun had already cleared up the mess of toys, but Yeri began taking out a few stuffed toys again. Her older sister did not stop her though and just continued watching her.

"Here, this is you," Yeri said, handing Seulgi a furry teddy bear.

"This is me? Alright." Seulgi chuckled.

"I'll be this one," Yeri said, showing Seulgi a stuffed Squirtle doll.

Then, as if she was uncomfortable and a bit itchy, the little girl had taken off the black mask on her face. When Seulgi saw her small round face, it was like her heart melted. She was the cutest little girl she had ever seen. And she looked a lot like her pretty older sister—like Joohyun's mini-me. However, Seulgi also noticed something else. There on the girl's plump cheek was a very noticeable slash of discolouration—like a  scar... maybe a birthmark? 

"What's that on your face?" Seulgi asked.

Yeri stopped playing with her Squirtle plushie and turned to Joohyun. So Joohyun then answered for her. "I-it's just a... a scar."

"A scar? That big? What happened?"

"S-she's a very active and energetic thing," Joohyun nervously said. "That's why you have to be careful when you run around."

"Let's play monster fight!!!" Yeri then moved her stuffed toy and pretended to slap the teddy bear Seulgi was holding. Seulgi laughed and played along, retaliating some attacks.

"You lose, Bear Unnie!"

While Yeri and Seulgi were enjoying themselves and laughing together, they heard suddenly Joohyun say, "Yeri, you're playing with her, but you don't even know her name."

"I'm Seulgi Unnie," Seulgi said, introducing herself to the kid.

Yeri pouted. "But I like Bear Unnie better."

"Okay, you can call me that too."

While they were playing, Seulgi took a few glances at Joohyun, who was comfortably against sitting the wall of artworks. Although she may have acted cold earlier, Joohyun now had this motherly smile on her face while staring at Yeri. She looked at Yeri as if she was the most precious child on Earth. 

Then Yeri asked Seulgi, "Can you bring Seungwan Unnie next time? She promised me she will play with me."

Seulgi looked at Joohyun, whose expression had suddenly turned dark.

"Um... maybe?" Seulgi nervously replied. Joohyun softened again and sighed. She sat there looking defeated for whatever reason.

"Yay!" Yeri rejoiced. "I can't wait."

October 2018

Seulgi scooted back into her stall and positioned herself properly in front of her PC desk. Craning her neck a bit, she could see the crown of Yeri’s head (assuming it was her) from a distance. To her right, she can hear Wendy and Soo-Young mumbling to each other, but at this point, she was too distracted by her own thoughts to bother understanding them anymore.

 I can’t believe I’m actually with this bunch..., Seulgi thought to herself. All those years of trying to forget, and now I back here with them, trying to dig out every horrible memory from back then. But what is the point of all of this?

Seulgi clicked the x button of the slideshow window and unplugged her camera from the CPU’s USB port.

“Acceptance,” she remembered Wendy say last night.

What does acceptance even mean?

As much as she was apprehensive about this, in reality, she was badly, painfully curious. She wanted to continue following this girl. She wanted to keep watching her. She wanted to keep taking all these bad paparazzi photos of her. She was just drawn to her with this thrill and fear that she could not comprehend. Maybe it was because part of her still wanted to believe that this girl truly was Joohyun—that Joohyun was somehow miraculously still alive. But she knew very well that was not true.

“I’m kind of hoping Yeri doesn’t remember anything,” Seulgi overheard Wendy say. Seulgi then propped herself up and pushed her chair back to get a peek of her two friends again. From her seat, she could see that Soo-Young’s expression had grown dim.

“She used to be such a cute little kid,” Wendy said, still referring to Yeri. “I hope she grew up well.”

“Judging by these photos, maybe… maybe she turned out alright,” Soo-Young tried to reassure Wendy in a not-so-reassuring and slightly doubting voice.

“Maybe.” 

The triad spent almost two hours at the internet café. They may not have the slightest clue as to what this stalking mission might benefit them, but keeping the “Yeri Theory” in mind, they continued watching this unknown Joohyun lookalike anyway.

“Gosh, how long is this kid going to play PUBG?” Soo-Young mumbled.

Wendy rolled her eyes. “It was your idea to stalk her from in here.”

"Now that I think about it, if she is around 20 years old, shouldn't she be in college? What is she doing wasting her time during a weekday?" 

Seulgi rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Maybe you should ask yourself that same question..."

"Not everyone goes to college, Soo-Young," Seungwan answered.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard from the lounge. “Yah! KIM YERIM!” Someone had barged into the internet café and began peeking through the rows of desks in the dark computer room.

“Oh my god,” Soo-Young held her chest in surprise. “That loud voice… isn’t she the same woman in the Chinese restaurant?”

“Taeyeon…?”

Immediately after that outburst, the girl they were stalking quickly stood up from her desk without logging out of the PC. Seulgi also stood up as a reflex and saw the girl trying to run the other direction, avoiding the woman from the Chinese restaurant. Soo-Young and Seungwan saw it too but was too surprised to react. “What the…”

“HEY, YOU LITTLE BRAT, GET BACK HERE!”

Since she was young and quite agile, the girl had immediately left the internet café, and the Chinese restaurant lady also ran out to go after her. Meanwhile, the triad sat there completely dumbfounded. It was like a tornado suddenly swept over the room for about 3 seconds, and now it was gone as if it never happened.

“Kim Yerim…?” Seulgi repeated the name.

“Well, that was kinda messed up…”