CHAPTER 2

The Neighbours

February 2018

Here it comes.

“Park Soo-Young.”

A strange feeling crept over her as she heard her name announced through those speakers. Every inch of her body still could not comprehend it all. A mess of mixed emotions made her heart pound louder than the music and applause. It was surreal. With confident steps, she solemnly walked up to the platform and greeted the old man waiting up there for her. She stood tall as she stepped into the limelight. An exchange of smiles proceeded after a respectful bow. He proudly beamed at her. Now she could not help but smile even wider. Then he held out his right hand.

“Congratulations, Soo-Young.”

“Thank you so much, Professor.” She then took his hand for a handshake. Then the man handed her a rolled-up parchment held together with a little red ribbon. Goosebumps covered her skin the moment it touched her fingertips. All she worked hard for—all the busy days and sleepless nights’ fruit was finally laid on the palm of her hands.

I can’t believe it, she thought as she faced the crowd and smiled in front of the camera while holding this important document in her hands. I’m finally done with university!

“Congratulations, class of 2018!”

With a quick toss, thousands of black caps flew up and covered the blue sky like black ravens on that sunny winter day. It was the end of a long arduous ordeal and the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of the many graduates of 2018. From here on out, anything seemed possible. An endless world of possibilities awaits.

Now that university is done, it's time to execute my plan. It's time I prepare to head back to Yeonsan.

***

A month passed since Seulgi came back from Europe. Through that time, she continued smiling for her family's sake and for her sake, thinking it would rid her of the dreadful images she saw in the night. To some degree, it worked. Brainwashing herself into thinking everything was fine had become second-nature to her that even her conscious brain was gullible enough to be convinced. Besides, she truly was happy to be around her family. She loved them very much. She just never expected these nightmares to come attacking her with worse blows once she had finally been reunited with them. It was like something inside her did not want her to have a happy ending, whatever it was.

It was not a long time until she also found a way to make use of her time in Korea by doing jobs and taking clients through the internet. Since she already had plenty of connections in Europe, she continued doing graphic design and digital art for her clients from across the globe. During her free time, she often went out and about in the bustling city of Seoul, taking photographs for leisure. She kept herself busy again as an unbreakable habit to keep herself from lingering on negative thoughts. Sometimes focusing so hard on work can be a powerful form of escapism.

During one of her excursions, she ended up wandering into a university. On that day in mid-February, the university was holding its semestrial graduation ceremony. Jackpot. On celebrated days such as this, there were plenty of happy and rejoicing people, which means she could potentially take plenty of good candid shots of people. She walked through the crowds and the overwhelming jubilant atmosphere and knew she was at the right place.

“Congratulations, class of 2018!”

However, there in that very graduation, she saw someone she did not expect to see.

There in the midst of the crowd of people was a young graduate, cradling her black graduation cap and diploma while conversing with some of her fellow graduates. Tall, bright-eyed, and sophisticatedly pretty and smart—she carried herself with a confidence that exudes power. The future seemed bright for her. But most importantly, on camera, she was a photogenic goddess. Seulgi brought her DSLR camera to her eye, zoomed and focused the lens on the lady in black. Seulgi took shot after shot as the ecstatic graduate threw her graduation cap high up in the air.

She seems awfully familiar...

Thirteen Years Ago: August 2005

“Seulgi, my princess!” Little Seulgi heard her father’s voice through the telephone. It has been a week since he left her there at her grandparents’ house. “How are you my little Seulgi bear? I miss you!”

“I’m doing fine. I miss you too, Daddy. And Mom and Oppa too,” Seulgi said, twisting her finger around the springy telephone cord.

“Have you made any new friends? Are there other kids in your neighbourhood?”

“I think I made a friend… maybe.”

For the past few days, Seulgi had gone out to the lake every day but had not seen Joohyun since. Each day, she would wait at the same place with the hope that Joohyun would come, but nobody showed up. It was rather disappointing, and it bothered her a little, but she still found a way to entertain herself by herself. (That involved plucking wild roses and catching dragonflies.) And yet, whenever she came home to pass by Joohyun's house, her thoughts would end up lingering on her again. Right by the tall black gates of Joohyun's little house was a weather-beaten doorbell button. She had contemplated ringing the doorbell, but she was afraid of causing trouble. Joohyun did warn her against it.

“Have you been eating lots of fruits and vegetables? I hope you’re having fun even without your Game Cube.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m doing fine, Dad. You don’t need to worry.” She kind of lied. It was true that she was eating so much healthier than she used to, but she missed playing video games. As much as playing outside in nature was fun in its own right, old habits die hard. She actually missed playing Luigi’s Mansion on the Game Cube so badly. She used to spend hours on that bulky console. It to know that her brother actually got to keep it even though he already had a Playstation2. She was not a complainer though, and just trusted that her parents knew what they were doing by letting her stay here. So far, she does feel healthier without video games. Staring at a screen for hours on end gave her headaches anyway. Now she used all that spare time playing all alone at the lake. If only Joohyun Unnie showed up at the lake again...

One morning, her grandfather called her after she just finished watering all the plants in the garden. She hurriedly went to him, hoping she had not caused any trouble. “What is it, Grandpa?”

“You work really hard, little one,” he said to her as he ruffled her hair. Then he pulled out a 10,000 won bill and handed it to her. “It’s a little gift from me and your grandma since you’ve been a really good girl so far.”

“Whoa…” Money. She couldn’t believe it.

Since her grandparents needed help around the house, she had taken up the responsibility of watering the plants every morning. At night, strange flying insects she never knew existed made their way into the house as if looking for company so she took up responsibility to get rid of them too. When flies and moths died into the fluorescent lights, little Seulgi had the assignment of picking up their burnt bodies for disposal. Sometimes, she caught and released the beetles that would occasionally invite themselves in the house. As disgusting as that may seem, it never bothered her too much actually. She thought the critters were fascinating.            

Since all she did was look after plants and get rid of bugs, she did not think she deserved the money. But if it was being given to her then she thought she shouldn't refuse such a great prize. With two palms open, she politely and happily received it.

“Spend it wisely.”

That day, Seulgi could not wait to spend her money on something. Of course, she had no plans on spending all of it all at once, but she did have an idea of what to buy. For a while, she had been craving a popsicle and Chocopie a lot. Her grandparents did not feed her any junk food at all besides bingsoo, but even that was filled with nothing but healthy fruits and red beans. It was about time she had her dose of sugary, teeth-rotting goodness. Just a bit wouldn’t hurt, right?

Young excited Seulgi ran out and headed straight to the small store at the corner of their street. In the small store was a variety of items messily stacked all over each other in shelves that were too crowded and close to each other. Among the stock were a disarray of snacks, clumps of household items, and stacks of canned goods and boxes. Right outside was an overflow of cheaper deals, water bottles, and one big ice cream bunker. She had been wanting to go there for a while, but she had no money, and she was too shy to ask her grandparents to buy her junk food.

When she slid the ice cream bunker open, she was disappointed. “B-B-Big?” B-B-Big was one of Korea’s classic popsicles made of none other than red bean. “What? That’s it? That can’t be it!”

Now B-B-Big wasn't at all that bad. It was sweet, creamy, a bit earthy, and a lot of older generation Koreans love it. Seulgi could eat it if she has to, but it wasn't exactly her number one choice when it came to ice cream. Besides, how much red bean has she had in the past few days? Let’s see… red bean on bingsoo, red bean on rice cakes, red bean on bread… She was absolutely sick of it.

She searched through the pile of B-B-Big to make sure. And luckily, she found an odd one in the small pile of black B-B-Big wrappers. As soon as she saw the only green wrapper in the pile, she gasped. “Melona!” It was a sweet melon flavoured ice cream bar, guaranteed zero-per cent red bean.

Suddenly, a hand swooped down and swiftly snatched the melon bar. Before Seulgi knew it, the ice cream bar she was so happy to see had disappeared before her very eyes. “Huh?” When she looked up, she saw this kid who was about her age but was much bigger and taller than her scrawny little frame.

“Hey, I wanted that!” Seulgi argued.

“Too bad. You gotta be faster next time.” The kid had this intimidating expression on her face as she looked down on poor little Seulgi. She reminded Seulgi of all the scary bullies she ever had to deal with in grade school. No, there was no way she could stand up to this girl. Troubled Seulgi did not know what to do. She did not want to get into a fight, so she just stood there like a petrified weakling. So off went her Melona to the counter, bought by some other kid. Not soon after that, the scary girl just left. Now, no matter how much she dug through the small pile of B-B-Big, she found nothing else. Maybe the world was just so against her having excess sugar in her bloodstream. Dejected and feeling sorry for herself, she just went to the basket of ‘情(정) Chocopie’ from the basket by the counter of the store and grabbed three pieces worth 700 won.

While she was counting her change after paying for the Chocopie, someone else came to pay at the counter. “Seulgi?” It was the person she had been looking for in the past week. Bae Joohyun.

“Unnie! It’s you!” Seulgi was ever so happy to see her that she even forgot about her disappointment about the Melona. She immediately put her change in her pocket and stepped aside so Joohyun could pay. “I haven’t seen you in a while. You haven't been to the lake?”

“You bought Chocopie?” Joohyun said, noting the three pieces of Chocopie Seulgi was hugging and completely ignoring the fact that they haven’t seen each other in a while.

“Yeah. I haven’t had some in a while so I wanted to get some.”

Then she noticed the items that Joohyun just placed on the counter—a pack of chocolate chip cookies and B-B-Big.

Joohyun Unnie likes B-B-Big? She did not really want to question other people’s preferences, but she just found it hilarious. In her opinion, B-B-Big is like the popsicle for old people’s tastebuds. “You like B-B-Big?”

“Yeah.” For the first time, Seulgi saw Joohyun smile so widely. She looked genuinely happy as she took her items with her out of the store. Seulgi walked out with her.

“And you like cookies too?”

The light in her eyes disappeared. Her voice became unsteady. “Oh, these are for my little sister,” said Joohyun. “S-she likes cookies.”

“Where is your sister? Is she at home?”

“Yes.”

The two of them sat together on the small bench under the shade right outside the store for a while. Joohyun took out her B-B-Big from the plastic bag and began to pull the popsicle out of the wrapper. Seulgi took a piece of Chocopie and tore the foil wrapper open. Mmm… The soft chocolate-coated cake and marshmallow filling could never disappoint.

Still curious, light-hearted Seulgi then began to ask more questions even with full. “How old is she?”

Joohyun took a bite out of her frozen popsicle and swallowed before answering in an oddly inattentive manner. “Who?”

“Your sister.”

Joohyun’s eyes shot to Seulgi. Now Joohyun’s previously adorable bunny eyes were looking slightly menacing. She paused for a few seconds like she was studying Seulgi’s face right on the spot. Then she answered in a deadpan tone, “Seven.”

 “Oh... so she's really young.” Seulgi broke off the eye contact and bit on her Chocopie. Then to break the silence, she looked back to Joohyun and asked, “What’s her name?”

Focusing on her popsicle, Joohyun simply answered, “Yeri.” She did not look at Seulgi this time.

예리. In Korean, it meant being “sharp” or “keen.”

“That’s a nice name,” Seulgi told her. In many ways, it was definitely a nice name.

Joohyun did not really say anything after that until she was finished with her B-B-Big. Seulgi sensed that Joohyun did not feel like talking while eating, so she stopped asking more questions even though she was still curious about a lot of things. What’s your sister like? Why haven’t you been to the lake recently? Why do you like B-B-Big? Those questions remain unanswered.

After they were done, Joohyun glanced at her and gave a blithe giggle, changing the atmosphere. “You got chocolate all over your face.”

The twelve-year-old was a childishly messy eater, but that was what made her so cute. “I do?”

Joohyun Unnie, with her sweet, gentle touch, began wiping off the chocolate from young Seulgi’s plump cheeks. “There.”

“Thank you,” Seulgi said awkwardly.

“Seulgi?”

“Hm?” She folded her trash and got up to place it in the bin.

“How come I don’t hear you singing anymore?”

Seulgi stood there a bit surprised. After she met Joohyun at the lake that day, she has kept her singing volume to a low. Something about what Joohyun said bothered her—that her sister was sleeping. That ringing the doorbell might wake her up. Joohyun did say that she heard her singing. Seulgi did not want to sing too loud, fearing the neighbours—Joohyun’s sister—might hear. She did not think Joohyun would bother noticing that though.

“I just didn’t want to be too noisy,” she replied.

“Did your grandparents scold you?”

“No. They love it when I sing, actually.”

“I hope you don’t stop. You have a pretty voice.” Joohyun seemed truly sincere about that. Her expressive eyes could really relay a message. It was rather flattering.

“You think so?”

“Of course.”

Feeling a little confused, Seulgi then told her the truth. “I still sing. I just don’t sing too loud. I thought maybe if I sang too loud it would reach the neighbour’s house and it would bother you or your family.”

After Joohyun heard Seulgi’s explanation, she gave a highly amused chortle. Seulgi could not help but smile at the sound of this peculiar unnie's loud, vibrant laughter, although she was not quite sure what was so funny.

“It doesn’t bother anyone, Seulgi.” Joohyun got up from her seat too and prepared to head back with her. After Seulgi had thrown away her wrapper, Joohyun said to her, “Do whatever you want. If you like singing, do that. If your grandparents enjoy it, then don't stop. You're lucky to have them, and they're lucky to have you.”

Maybe it was the heat from the mid-noon sun, but Seulgi blushed red at the compliment. It sure was encouraging to hear that people like her singing.

On the way back home, before Joohyun opened the gate to their house, Seulgi stopped her. With two bony hands, she held out two pieces of Chocopie before the raven-like girl.

“What is this for?” There was a befuddled look on her benign bunny eyes.

“It’s for you and your sister,” Seulgi said, sincerely insisting that Joohyun take it. “I want us to be friends, Unnie. I hope we can get closer. We are neighbours after all.”

Joohyun smiled and accepted Seulgi’s heartfelt gift. “Thank you, Seulgi. You’re a very kind kid. I’ll be sure to give the other one to my sister. I’m sure she will love it. See you next time, Seulgi.”

The next day, Seulgi went to the same spot of lakeside again, but Joohyun did not show up. Again. Finally, the day after that, she got so antsy that she stood in front of Joohyun’s house staring straight at the wired doorbell button. Back in Seoul, she never had a problem ringing the neighbours’ doorbell whenever she wanted to play with the other kids in her neighbourhood. Besides, other people like mailmen do it all the time. But Joohyun specifically told her not to do it for some unknown reason. If she could not contact her this way, then what else was she supposed to do? Consult a phone book? Nah…

To push the doorbell, or not to push? She secretly plucked one cosmos flower from her grandmother's flowerpots and picked on the petals one by one.

…To push.

Not to push.

To push.

Not to push.

…Push.

There were no more petals.

Well, it can’t be that bad, she thought. I’m just going to ring the doorbell anyway. I can’t possibly end up in a crazy big mess just by pushing a button, right?

And so she stood there and took a deep breath to gather all her courage. “Here goes nothing…”

Push.

Nothing happened.

She tried it again. Nothing’s happening. Shouldn't it have made at least a faint noise from outside? The doorbell did not seem to be working. If it did, she would have at least heard a faint noise. The doorbell was broken.

So, is that why Joohyun Unnie told me not to ring the doorbell? Because the doorbell was broken all along?

Suddenly, someone yelled at her from behind. “Hey, kid! What are you doing?”

When she turned around, she saw someone familiar. It was the tall, intimidating girl from the store the other day—the girl who stole her Melona. The girl grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the doorbell.

“Do you have a death wish?” the girl asked Seulgi.

“I was just—,” Seulgi tried to explain.

“Gosh, newbie…” The girl rolled her eyes. She had such an infuriatingly cocky tone. “Whatever it is, just don’t, okay? Don’t go near that house.”

Seulgi broke free from the bigger girl’s grip. “What? Why?”

“It’s bad. My parents told me not to.”

Seulgi was skeptical. The girl did not really state her case in the most convincing manner. “So what if your parents said not to? They’re not my parents.”

“Trust me. I know you’re new to this town so I’m doing you a favour by warning you with this one.”

“Why should I trust you? You just stole my popsicle the other day!” Seulgi made a pretty good comeback, or so she thought.

“Fine, I’m sorry then.” Suddenly, she took puny little Seulgi’s skinny arm and began to drag her down to the corner of the block.

“Hey! Let go!” Seulgi squirmed and wiggled, trying to get away from the potential bully. She had seen plenty of them in her grade school in Seoul. Unfortunately because of her frailness, she was always the victim of these kinds of horrible kids.

When they reached the store, the girl slid open the ice cream bunker and as if it was magic, the bunker was filled with assorted cones, ice cream sandwiches, and popsicles—not just B-B-Big. Seulgi could not believe her eyes.

“What do you want? World Cone? Samanco? Dwaeji Bar?”

“H-how? The other day it was all just B-B-Big!”

The girl looked at Seulgi as if she was the dumbest human being on Earth. “You don’t know anything, do you? The shop restocks every Thursday. They just filled it in yesterday. Learn it now if you want to survive. Now choose one before my offer expires.”

“A-are you... treating me?” Her suspicions rose to an all-time high. She had never faced a bully that tried to treat her to ice cream.

“Do you want ice cream or not? Choose one now before I change my mind.”

In the end, they both got their own ice cream and ate together by the bench outside. It was all this mean girl's idea. But was she really mean if she treated her victim to ice cream?

“So, what’s your name?” The girl asked her. “Or should I just call you ‘new kid’?”

“I’m Kang Seulgi.”

“I’m Park Soo-Young. You just moved to the house with the plants, right? I live in the two-storey right across your house.”

The mint-painted house with the brown roof right across Seulgi’s was also an eye-catcher. It was the only two-storey home in the entire block. Needless to say, it was the biggest house in that street. Oftentimes, a huge 4x4 could be seen parked right in front of their house. In Seulgi’s eyes, they were rich.

“How old are you?” Soo-Young asked her.

“I’m 12.”

“Oh my god.” Soo-Young cupped in shock.

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” Soo-Young apologised.

“Why?”

“I’m 11.”

Seulgi’s jaw dropped. This huge girl was actually younger than her, but the entire time, this younger girl had been disrespectfully talking down on her. “So, I’m your unnie.”

“So it seems. But I’m still your sunbae (senior) when it comes to this town. I was born here after all.” Soo-Young did not want to lose to this argument—if there ever was an argument in the first place.

Ignoring the slight age difference, Seulgi went back to the main topic. “What do you mean that house is bad? I met the girl who lives there and she wasn’t—”

“Look,” the bigger girl turned to her side to face her, “Haven't you seen the house? It's quiet, dark, and creepy. At night, you never see a single light from it at all. Not even a little bit. They say the man who lives there isn't in his right mind, and that's just one of the rumours.”

At first, this information made no sense to Seulgi whatsoever. She has not exactly noticed what the house looked like at night because she was always in her grandparents' house before sunset to eat dinner. Besides, this was Joohyun's house. Joohyun Unnie—nice, pretty, and caring. Now here was this big rude kid, who apparently lived across the street, telling her that a crazy person was living in the house of her lovely unnie? Why in the world should she believe this crap? This Soo-Young girl might just be trying to scare her or pull off some dumb bullying tactic on her. This ice cream might even be a bribe! (But she continued eating anyway. She didn't want to waste the ice cream.)

“But I've met the unnie who lives there. She's pretty and nice!”

“Oh, her? I've seen her around, but I don’t really know much about her. As I said, I’m not allowed to go near that house, much less make friends with whoever lives in it. It’s just common sense to stay away, I mean, that house looks haunted anyway.”

Seulgi grew quiet. The melting ice cream suddenly did not taste so sweet (but she finished it all anyway). What was this unsettling feeling creeping over her? If Soo-Young’s goal was to frighten the new girl, she very well achieved it. Innocent Seulgi was slightly perturbed. She had no idea what to do with this new information. And now that she thought about it, Joohyun’s house did seem too quiet and lifeless even during daylight. And the doorbell didn’t even work.

“Anyway, if you went out of your way to ring the doorbell of some creepy old house, you must have been bored out of your mind," Soo-Young said, deviating from the topic. "I don't blame you though. The flowerpot-house is probably the most boring place on Earth anyway.”

"Hey, my grandparents' house isn't that bad."

Then Soo-Young stood from the bench and looked down on Seulgi. “Come with me to my house. Don’t worry, my parents are not home.”

Did she just order me to play with her? Here was Seulgi, asking for a friend for the past week. Now, this intimidating girl shows up on a silver platter, and she was honestly not sure if she should accept the offer. (Not that she was even given an offer, for it sounded more like a command.) Soo-Young was probably just going to bully her in her house while her parents are apparently not around.

“Well, are you going to get up from that bench or what?”

Seulgi gulped in fear and eventually stood up.

When they got to Soo-Young’s house, she was amazed. Soo-Young’s family had a spacious living room, with a big comfy couch and a huge plasma-screen TV seated in the middle of the built-in shelves that covered the entire wall. In the built-in glass shelves on the sides of the television were a myriad or CDs and DVDs—music, movies, and more. On the shelf above the television were stereos for their surround-sound system, and below the television was a compartment for the satellite receiver and the DVD player. They had the latest gadgets, the latest movie titles, the best air conditioning system, modern furniture, the comfiest couch... Seulgi’s grandparents had none of these. And even in Seulgi’s house in Seoul, the television and CD/DVD collection were not this big. Their house appliances were not this high-tech either.

But as Soo-Young said, her parents were not home. In fact, there seemed to be nobody there but the two of them. Do Soo-Young's parents just leave her alone with all of these gadgets? Must be awesome!

Soo-Young dragged her to the stairs that led to a corridor on the second floor. They passed by an open room which Seulgi noticed to be a toddler's room with blue curtains and other blue baby items and toys. "What's that room?"

"It's my brother's."

"Oh. You have a brother?"

Soo-Young pulled her into the next room. "Let's just play here in my room."

Soo-Young's room was large and filled with too many amazing things. She had a study desk and a personal desktop computer, and even a television set. On the pastel-red wall were band posters and photo cards, and a shelf filled with books. On her bed were fluffy throw pillows and dozens of tiny stuffed animals all lined up neatly on the headboard. Clearly, this girl was very spoiled.

As Seulgi looked around, she noticed something near the TV that almost made her cry tears of joy and made her forget everything else that happened earlier in the day.

“Oh my gosh!” Seulgi exclaimed. “A Game Cube!" And right on top of the boxy console was a familiar CD case. "And you also have Luigi's Mansion!”

“I’ve had that for a while. It’s getting kind of old and boring,” Soo-Young said with a shrug.

“And you have a Playstation2 also! And an Xbox?!”

“I also have a Gameboy Advance SP.” Soo-Young took the small boxy hand-held console from underneath her one of the pillows of her bed and handed it to Seulgi. "I've been playing Pokémon LeafGreen lately."

Seulgi flipped open the screen and flicked the power switch on. “What do your parents do for a living?!”

“My dad is a surgeon in Japan. My mom is an accountant in the next city about an hour from here.” She said that as if there was absolutely nothing special about her parents. She actually even sounded rather spiteful of them.

“Wow. Must be cool,” Seulgi said, not even taking her eyes off the game console. 

“I wouldn’t describe them as ‘cool,’ but whatever.” Then Soo-Young shifted to another topic while Seulgi was busy checking out Soo-Young's Pokémon in LeafGreen. "So since you're new around here, I think I should teach you all I know, so you shouldn't have to make dumb mistakes again like trying to ring that doorbell earlier. We should meet up again tomorrow. Although it's Saturday tomorrow, my mom won't be home either so we can do whatever we want. I'll show you around downtown on my bicycle, and maybe we can go to the dog shelter..."

"Your starter Pokemon is Bulbasaur!" Seulgi exclaimed, totally off topic.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?!"

"Yeah, yeah, hang out again tomorrow. I got it," Seulgi said, completely focused on the game. Then she looked up from the screen and said, "Gosh, I'm glad I met you! Let's be good friends from now on!"