CHAPTER 4

Escapism

February 2018

On restless nights, sometimes alcohol might just do the trick. Escapism is a difficult rut to get out of, for it may give off the illusion of paradise by obscuring the pain of reality. Those brief moments of relief can be intoxicating—maybe even addicting. Though the crystal-clear shot of soju may burn with bitterness in the first few seconds, the airy, lightweight feeling of partial numbness afterwards can relax even the tensest muscles and the most tired of bones. And at some point, after dozens of shots, what once was bitter may even start to taste so comfortingly warm and sweet.

“One… more bottle… please…,” Seulgi slurred as she swayed from side to side with her hand raised and her lazy eyes barely opened. Soon an old lady placed another green bottle of soju in addition to the other empty bottles on the table.

It was 2:35 a.m. She had been there at a Korean barbeque house in Seoul since midnight after she came home from that trip to Yeonsan. At this point, she really should not even be out so drunk all alone if she did not want to get exploited by ill-intending creeps. That was beyond her worries, however. Right now, she was too drunk to even think of the present. Funny how she drank for the sole purpose of numbing herself from the trip to Yeonsan, but with every shot she took, the more she could not stop thinking about it.

There goes the old neighbour’s house, or should I say Joohyun Unnie’s old house. Seulgi heaved a heavy sigh as she poured herself another shot. Time really changes everything, doesn’t it?

The neighbour’s house had been abandoned in late 2008. She knew this quite well. It was the worst thing she had ever witnessed in her life. She saw it happen. She was there when the family who lived there (Joohyun's family) had completely fallen apart after a gruesome murder case that Seulgi had tried so hard to forget for the past ten years. Since then the site had been abandoned until Seulgi’s family recently decided to buy the plot of land. Now, that tragic house with the tragic story was apparently being rebuilt into a vacation house. 

“A va-ca-tion house…,” the drunk girl muttered. Then she began to chuckle to herself like a madman as tears dropped onto her tiny shot glass. The bitter soju mixed with her salty tears as she poured herself another shot. “Of all things… ha-ha... how morbid...”

Oh, the irony. Her family had officially begun making a guest lodge out of what used to be a house shrouded in stigma. It may seem like a great financial investment for her parents, but she just felt sick thinking about it. 

What am I doing here? Why didn’t I just stay in Vienna where I can be far away from all of this? She just asked a similar wishy-washy question when she was drunk on New Years’ Eve a month ago, but she does not remember that after all the soju she had drunk.

Most of her life decisions were like a night of getting drunk on alcohol. It seemed a good idea and it felt like a good rational decision at the time, but the morning after, headaches ensued. Oh well, at least she still got a little taste of fleeting pleasure in most of those experiences. But what’s the point of pleasure when it inflicted pain like a traitor afterwards?

.

.

.

A vacation house…

The world has certainly gone mad.

***

“Night shift? Really?” one of Soo-Young’s college guy friends scoffed as he placed a pack of ramen and a soda bottle on the counter. “The hundred-million-won Lexus down the block doesn’t match the outfit or the job, by the way.”

Soo-Young rolled her eyes at the customer. The main reason she took a convenience store job during the wee hours of the night was to make sure familiar blokes like him did not have to see her like this. Born to one of the most acclaimed brain surgeons in Korea, Soo-Young was no ordinary girl. She lived with her family in one of the ritsiest apartments in Gangnam, the richest district in all of Korea. Needless to say, they were rich. Working at a convenience store did not exactly complement the family reputation.

“I took this job because I wanted to, idiot, not because I want to match it with my car.” She scanned his items and read the amount on the screen. “That would be 2,700 won.”

“Wow, very professional.”

She inserted his credit card into the reader. “My .”

“I’d tap it though.”

Soo-Young’s already huge eyes had grown twice its size in shock and disgust. Then the card was slammed on the counter. “Get the hell out of here, ert!”

“Well, it was nice to see you in my part of Gangnam too.” Her friend took his items, giggling on the way out.

“Ugh… I just have to do this for the next few months,” she muttered to herself when he was finally gone.

Although being a cashier at a convenience store was not in the list of most respectable jobs, the spoiled Princess Soo-Young was willing to sell her soul to it even just for a little while. She was an adult, and she had every right to get whatever job she wanted, whether it was a convenience store job or an actual profession that had something to do with her bachelor’s degree in pre-med biology. For now, the former seemed more appealing for many reasons, not just as an act of rebellion against her snotty parents. Her plan was to earn her own money by her own means in a setting that gave her full control over her own life. Four years of her life had already been sold for that bachelor’s degree her parents forced on her. The least she deserved was to regain her life back and the convenience store was a good place to start: hourly pay, no one-year contracts, and best of all, her parents had nothing to do with it.

However, the convenience store job was just step-one in her grand scheme of things. A calculated plan was already in the works. For 8 hours every night for the next six or so months she planned on continuing with this job (while still living with her parents) and by the end of those six tedious months, she would have enough money for cheap lodging, food, and other items. By then she can leave her family and officially proceed with her main plan: head back to Yeonsan and search for the time capsule.

There was a total of four letters and a bunch of other items in a time capsule that she and her three friends buried ten years ago. Those letters were all addressed to their future selves ten years later, and this year was the tenth year. She knew she had to go find it.

However, Soo-Young had been to Yeonsan a few times last year, and she knew very well the effects of urbanization in that place. Searching for the letters might not be easy—or even possible—for they had buried it somewhere in the deep part of woods near the lake. Even with her powerful memory, she could not remember exactly where. Ten years was a long time. Lord knows the place where they buried those letters could have been cemented over or an apartment complex could have been built over it already, but she was willing to take a gamble. This could possibly be the most difficult scavenger hunt yet. She might have to spend more than just a few days in that place if she wanted to find them. In short, having enough money to establish herself there would give her a better chance of finding it.

After a long night, at 3 a.m., her shift was over. When the next employee came around, Soo-Young zipped up her parka and left to go back home.

On the way to her brand-new luxury SUV that dark night, a listless girl tottering on the sidewalk had caught her attention. She seemed to be drunk out of her mind, yet with still enough energy to be limping on the street. After almost ungracefully tripping over a trash bag, the girl clung onto a lamppost, crying like a toddler while spitting unflattering curse words into the dark.

“아으으… 씨… 씨발,” the drunk girl slurred. A gust of cold winter wind blew in her direction, making her shiver. “It’s… c-cold…”

Soo-Young tried to avoid the girl with the “colourful” language and get to her car as quickly as possible, but she was stopped. The drunk tottered and slouched before her. With no warning, the girl poured out the half-digested contents of her late-night snacks with no warning.

“Ugh, gross!” Soo-Young squealed like a total brat. It wasn’t the first time she had experienced this though. Drunk humans and puking fests were a common sight in the nightlife of the bustling city streets of Seoul. It was part of the country’s messed-up drinking culture. Nothing new.

“I’m… sorry…,” the drunk girl apologised.  

When the girl lifted her face to her, Soo-Young’s mouth gaped in surprise. Round cheeks, slit eyes, and a defined bear-like nose—they were familiar features that never changed all through the years. Wait… “Seulgi Unnie?”

She looked even closer at the girl’s rosy face and swore it could not have been anyone else despite the straightened hair, the choppy bangs, and traces of the “mess” dripping from her chapped red lips. Seulgi was one of those close friends who buried the time capsule with her when they lived in Yeonsan. It seemed over the years, she had grown womanlier with a more cosmopolitan look—sporting all-black clothes, leather boots, and heavy make-up that made her seem so chic under flickering neon signboards.

Am I dreaming? Or is this a hallucination? When Soo-Young moved to Seoul a year after Seulgi left, Soo-Young expected to run into her but never did. Now here she was, completely drunk at 3 a.m., the most unexpected of time of the day (or night) to have a reunion. “Seulgi Unnie? Kang Seulgi? Is that you?”

 “Who… are you…?” Seulgi uttered in her drunk state. “How… do… Do you no…? You know me…?”

“Oh my gosh, this can’t be happening, right now.” Exhausted Soo-Young never expected this and wanted to leave and to go home immediately. However, if this truly was the Kang Seulgi she used to know, what now? She had no idea what to do. Without overthinking, Soo-Young tried to steady the tottering girl. Soo-Young was taller and bigger than her, so she made Seulgi put her arm around her to properly support her. Then she said, “I can take you to your house, but you’re gonna have to tell me where that is.”

“Who arrrgh… you and where…  you taking me…?” The drunk asked.

“It’s me, Park Soo-Young! Your neighbour from across the street in Yeonsan back then!”

“Soo-Young…? I’m not good… at swim-ming…” (Soo-Young can mean “swimming” in Korean.)

“Seriously? Kang Seulgi or not, I’m doing you a favour here. The least you can do is come to your damn senses and tell me where you live.”

“Ha… ha…,” Seulgi giggled. “They… wreck-ked… ze… house… It’s gone… I one… wonder… what duzz… hwut does… Un-nie think…?”

“What the hell are you even saying? Give me your address.”

“My… fing-gers… c-cold… Yours too…”

“I know! That’s why we need to go home, moron! Just tell me where you live already!”

But Seulgi said nothing but random useless burbles. “I… like you... Don’t get… ang-gree… any-m-more, okay? Oh-kay… yeah…?”

“Ugh, this is so stupid. I’m better off talking to a brick… Come to your senses, you ! Why the hell did you drink so much anyway?” And just like that, Soo-Young began yelling at Seulgi and calling her many different versions of “dumb” as if they had not been separated from each other in the past ten years.

Since Seulgi was not cooperating, Soo-Young devised a back-up plan. She checked Seulgi into one of the cheaper motels outside Gangnam and threw her down on the twin-sized bed. By then, Seulgi was barely awake. She was still slurring indecipherable mumblings, but her eyes were already closed. God knows whether she was actually trying to say things or was simply sleep talking.

Soo-Young sat on the bed, watching the fellow she just became a Good Samaritan to. Is this really Seulgi Unnie? She could be wrong, and this girl could just be a drunk doppelganger. With no ill intentions, Soo-Young went through the pockets of the girl’s black padded parka and found a wallet. There she found Seulgi’s journalist ID card from Austria. So, it really is Seulgi Kang … And she’s been abroad, huh? Interesting… After her identity was confirmed, the wallet was soon returned to its rightful place.

For the next few minutes, Soo-Young fixed up the drunken Seulgi so she could rest well. She took off Seulgi’s parka, cleaned up her face, fixed her sleeping position… She tucked the poor girl in bed, thinking, this is so damn weird. It was weird seeing an old friend like this. It was just so unexpected. I really can’t freaking believe this.

If she could remember clearly, their friendship never ended in good terms. For the longest time, teenage Soo-Young carried a grudge against her. She hated Seulgi for leaving town back then—for leaving them all behind without saying goodbye immediately after the tragedy that happened in Joohyun’s house. It seemed so cruel... to suddenly throw away their friendship like that. Nevertheless, it has been many years since then. The grudge was still there; Soo-Young just could not make herself leave this lone drunk girl in the cold streets.

When she was getting ready to leave, she saw on the clock that it was already 3:58 a.m. At this point, she would rather stay in a crappy motel with a drunk traitor than go back to her parents’ ritzy apartment in Korea’s version of Beverly Hills. It had been a long night, and neither did she want to drive anymore. Giving absolutely zero s, Soo-Young took off her parka and tossed it on the floorboards. After stretching her arms, the exhausted part-timer lay down beside the peacefully sleeping old friend. Sleepovers. How fun. Goodnight, Seulgi Unnie.

***

“Ha! I found another key!” 12-year-old Seulgi exclaimed while playing Luigi’s Mansion on Soo-Young’s Game Cube.

“You’ve been ghosts with a vacuum cleaner in a virtual haunted house all day. Aren’t you bored with that game?” Soo-Young asked as she watched Seulgi play as Luigi on the TV.

“No way! This is so much fun!” Luigi, under the command of Seulgi’s button-pressing expertise, continued walking through the creepy old mansion with his all-powerful vacuum cleaner, defeating ghosts and collecting money.

Soo-Young looked at the pink wall clock. It was more than a quarter past 7. The sun had already gone down and dusk had settled. “Wouldn’t your grandma want you home for dinner by now?”

“Oh, right,” Seulgi paused the game and saved. “Can't we just have a sleepover here? Don't you think that would be fun?”

“Trust me, I'd want that. But my mother won't like it one bit.”

Seulgi pouted like a sad little puppy. “What's so wrong with a sleepover though?”

“Everything that isn't my mother's idea is wrong according to her. You better leave before she comes.”  

As Seulgi was getting ready to leave, Soo-Young looked out the window from her bedroom. There she could see the house with the flowerpots lit up by fluorescent lights, while the house beside it—Joohyun’s house—was still dark.

“What’cha lookin’ at? Is your mom coming soon?” Seulgi went over to Soo-Young’s side and took a peek at the window too.

“You ever wonder what’s in there?” Soo-Young asked, pointing at Joohyun’s unlit house. “It’s like a mini-version of Luigi’s mansion, don’t you think?”

It was the first time Seulgi was actually seeing the neighbours’ house at night. The tall black gates and brick walls enclosing the whole thing, the weathered dark brown roof, the dark windows sealed shut… it was impossible to see what was in there. From the aerial view of Soo-Young’s window, it did seem to have an eerily foreboding atmosphere compared to the flowery house beside it. “Well, I’m sure there must be a reason why they don’t turn their lights on.”

“And what kind of reason would that be?”

“I don’t know…”

.

.

*%^#////??***       

(;_;)

On her way home, the streetlights suddenly flickered out. Everything went black. The houses were gone, the street was gone—everything was gone. It was like she was standing in nothingness. What the…

“Seulgi…”

Down at the far end, Seulgi noticed someone. She could hear faint cries of a girl’s low, raspy voice echoing in the darkness. Seulgi walked closer.

“S-Seulgi…”

The cries echoed louder with every apprehensive step she took. When she was close enough, Seulgi saw the girl within the dark empty room. Her pitiful eyes were wide-open with fear as tears of thick, murky blood were slowly inching down the girl’s face.

J-Joohyun Unnie…?

With a flash of bright light, the tears and the fear were dispelled. Joohyun stood still staring into Seulgi from afar. She used to be a beautiful mystery—a petite, fragile thing. Her skin was of a smooth ivory white; her hair was of glossy ebony. But within her brown eyes was a misguided longing—a view of the lake and the mountains, a beautiful scenery which never existed.

All of a sudden, the scene glitched like an old video game. Now the pixels were all wrong and it was dark once again. Sounds melted into an off-key dissonance of sharps and flats that don’t belong. The dark room was getting smaller and smaller. With deep red tears dripping from her cheeks, the girl who used to be beautiful stared deep into Seulgi’s soul and whispered, “Seulgi.”

How could this happen?

An0Ther gㄴ!+C#.

.

*

(ㅜ.ㅜ)

The girl’s beaten and bruised body lay there crying and calling out to her. An outstretched hand dipped in red and dark purplish blue trembled and twitched with the last bit of energy it could muster. “Seulgi, help me…”

Joohyun Unnie!

With no warning, a huge wrecking ball struck the invisible walls and the entire room collapsed, burying the girl in shattered debris.

NO!

.

.

.

“No!”

25-year-old Seulgi opened her eyes. Now it was just an unfamiliar ceiling dimly lit by a light seeping through heavy curtains. What…? What just happened? When her breathing had subsided, she turned her head to the side and found someone else sleeping beside her.

“Aaaaackk!” She screeched as she got up from the bed. Within a split second, pain shot through her temples like a bullet. She held her forehead and moaned in pain while trying to remember what happened last night and why she was sleeping in an unfamiliar room with some stranger. “Oh gosh, how much did I drink?!”

Upon hearing the ruckus Seulgi was making, Soo-Young groaned and buried her face deeper into the pillow she was hugging. “Can you keep it down… I’m sleeping.”

“Who the heck are you?!” Seulgi asked with only one eye half open. The headache from her hangover throbbed like a ringing New Year’s gong on steroids. “And where in the world am I?!”

“Can we talk about this later? I need my beauty sleep or I’ll get dark circles…,” Soo-Young muttered. “You have no idea what I went through last night…”

“Enlighten me.”

“Name’s Park Soo-Young, childhood friend. Saw you drunk and took you here to a motel. You’re welcome. Let’s talk later…” She yawned. “I’m tired.”

“Park Soo-Young?” Seulgi calmed down and slowly opened her eyes. Without her contact lenses, everything was blurry. She crept up to Soo-Young and hovered over her. She brushed the strands of hair from the girl’s face and squinted her eyes to take a better look. How did I even end up spending the night with her of all people?! Suddenly, Soo-Young’s eyes shot wide open. Seulgi recoiled from the intimidating eye and went back to her side of the bed.

“You really don’t remember anything, do you?” Soo-Young sat up and stretched her arms.

“I’m guessing I ran into you… again.” How she ended up bumping into Soo-Young when she was drunk was beyond her. Seulgi really could not remember a thing. It's ironic how the alcohol only made her forget about that night and completely left all her bad memories intact. The world has certainly gone mad.

“Well, yeah, you did and you—” Soo-Young stopped stretching and looked straight into Seulgi’s eyes. “Wait, what do you mean ‘again’?”

“Ugh... I can't believe this... Must be fate trying to tell me things,” Seulgi answered vaguely as she lay back down on the bed. The hangover was not being easy on her at all. “I was taking photos in this graduation ceremony and you were there.”

Soo-Young gasped. “And you didn’t say hi?”

“I didn’t know who you were at that time, okay?” Seulgi sighed as she stared at the ceiling. “I never thought you would grow up to be so intimidatingly pretty either. Like a model…”

Soo-Young raised a brow. “You’re saying I was ugly back then?”

Seulgi’s eyes shot to Soo-Young and she saw how this ex-bully still looked bigger and stronger than her. Those guns hiding underneath that sweater might not be friendly. “No, no, no! Of course not. Besides, what was I supposed to say to you? I haven’t seen you in ten ye—”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Soo-Young rolled her eyes. “You and I used to be friends once. I think that deserved some merit. A ‘congratulations on your graduation’ or a ‘hi’ would have been appropriate, don’t you think? At least I didn’t leave you for dead out on the streets when you were ridiculously drunk last night.”

Seulgi grew quiet. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled out her feelings of shame. She knew that even if she did recognise Soo-Young immediately, she wouldn't have the courage to initiate conversation herself. In the most heartfelt whisper, Seulgi said, “I’m sorry.”

Soo-Young noticed the sudden melancholic tone in Seulgi’s voice. Not wanting to continue this topic further, she also sighed and lay back down on the bed to calm herself down. “Look, whatever. Just forget it. It’s not important now.”

“And thank you for last night, Soo-Young.”

 Soo-Young rolled to her side and studied Seulgi’s 25-year-old face. “You know, you look exactly the same.”

The girl with the headache chuckled as she massaged her forehead with two hands. “My brother thinks I’m still ‘ugly as hell’ as he so delicately put it.”

“I wouldn’t say ugly, but your features are still the same. The only difference is…” Soo-Young paused.

Seulgi stopped massaging her head and glanced at her friend. “The only difference is what?”

Soo-Young pursed her lips before answering. She seemed to be hesitating. Then she finally answered, “You’ve started to look more like her.”

Seulgi blinked. “Like who?”

“Joohyun Unnie.”

Seulgi lay there in silence. She did not know what to say.

So Soo-Young continued on a nostalgic note, “You have that sad look in your eyes… I don’t know what I’m saying. Since you’re here, I’m just reminded of her right now. Of her and you and everyone else from back then.”

“I think she rubbed off on all of us.” Seulgi breathed out. It was true though. The sadness in Joohyun's eyes—it might as well be contagious. That's probably what happens when people grow up.

For a while, they just lay there, taking turns sighing and yawning awkwardly to fill the uncomfortable silence. Then Seulgi turned to Soo-Young. “What do you say we get some hangover soup? I kinda need it. Badly.”

“I think there’s one restaurant across the street from this motel.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Soo-Young and Seulgi walked to the Haejang-guk (해장국, hangover soup) restaurant for their very-late brunch (it was past 1 p.m.) and took their places at one of the low restaurant tables. There on the heated floor, they made themselves comfortable and took off their winter parkas. The older folk running the restaurant began placing kimchi and other side-dishes while the main meal was still being prepared for the two of them. While they waited, the two of them made light conversation about Seulgi and her life in Austria. After a while, the restaurant folk quickly came back with their boiling hot pig-spine Haejang-guk. The bubbling red soup and the mouth-watering slab of pork easily chased Seulgi’s hangover just by the sight of it.

When the old lady left, Soo-Young grabbed her spoon and took a sip of her spicy soup. “So, why’d you come back after all that time in Europe? It’s because of the time capsule, isn’t it?”

Seulgi stopped chewing her mouthful of rice. Then she uttered, “What time capsule?”

Soo-Young held her soup-filled spoon steady and stared at the person in front of her in disbelief. “What do you mean ‘what time capsule?’?” She placed her spoon back into the black earthen bowl.

“Ah- I don’t know…,” Seulgi drank some water to help herself swallow. “I came back to Korea on a whim after I saw this painting—”

“Dude, the time capsule!” Soo-Young shamelessly raised her voice. “We buried letters to ourselves, remember? To our future selves? You don’t remember that?”

Seulgi stared back into Soo-Young’s eyes, trying to remember what she was trying to say, but nothing came to mind. “No…”

“I can’t believe this.” Soo-Young held her forehead. Now it looked like she was the one getting a headache.

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember a lot of things from that specific year,” Seulgi said in a low, disappointed tone. “I must have forgotten that one too... I only remember the worst memories for some reason.”

“Well, anyway, I’m going to look for it,” Soo-Young stated with determination. “Since you’re here, you should help me! Even though you’re worse than I am and don’t remember it at all. At least I don't have to do it alone. We all promised each other we'd dig it up again, and it seems I found you at the right time.”

Seulgi’s eyes dilated. “What? No, I, uh, I can’t. I’m busy,” her lips quivered as she forced a lie out.

“You’re hungover on a Monday morning. You can’t possibly be busy.” Soo-Young saw through her as if she was transparent glass. “Besides, I’m not saying we go now. We can plan it. We can make a compromise that works for both of us.”

“No... I... I can't.” By the grim look on Seulgi’s face, it was obvious that she did not want to join forces with her old partner in crime.

“Why not?”

Seulgi took her time to come up with a viable excuse to get away from this. “I... I'm not staying long. I... might leave. Soon. Probably.” Another lie.

By then Soo-Young's intimidating poker face turned into an even more intimidating frown. It was obvious that Seulgi was terrible at lying.

Not able to put up with the charade anymore, Seulgi shamefully looked down on her soup. “I… I’m sorry,” she apologised again. All the shame and all the guilt she had been trying to run away from were all coming back to her, and they were not letting her escape. “Sorry. I don’t want to go find the letters with you. So please, don't drag me into this.”

“What do you mean 'drag' you into this? You've been involved from the start. We all promised to find it together. You're not even going to do your childhood self a favour by keeping that promise?"

"Well, things change. That kid Seulgi is gone. I don't even remember that time capsule," she said in a matter-of-fact way. "Besides, if they're just letters, what's the point? It could have been destroyed after all the construction they've done in that town, just like the rest of the other memories we all once had. And even if you did find it, so what? You could be opening Pandora's box or just a box filled with rotten remains of whatever we put in there. I can't be bothered, okay?"

There were so many things in what Seulgi had just said that made Soo-Young angry; she had to take a few seconds to breathe to keep herself from exploding. What Seulgi said had some truth in it, but they had stumbled on a highly sensitive topic for Soo-Young. Seulgi was doing it again: she was abandoning Soo-Young again, just like how everyone else in Soo-Young's life emotionally abandoned her. And here she thought finding Seulgi was the silver lining to the impossible mission she set for herself. Maybe she was wrong.

“You know, for the longest time, I was angry at you,” Soo-Young said in a softer yet still hostile-sounding voice. “'We'll stay friends no matter what,'” she scoffed. “'What a big fat lie.' How could you leave us like that? Just when we lost Joohyun Unnie, you left us too and you didn't even say goodbye!"

Seulgi could not speak. What Soo-Young said felt like daggers to her guilty heart.

"That's what I thought for a long time until I started to feel sorry for you last night. Tch... sympathy... I never knew I had it in me," Soo-Young continued. “We both had a rough childhood. I thought somewhere along the line you must have been so screwed up that you ended up getting yourself totally wasted last night. I don't know if that's a regular thing; it isn't my place to judge. I don't know what it's like to be you, Seulgi Unnie. Maybe you don't want to come back; maybe you don't want to remember any of our past. But isn't it ironic how you’re here now, having hangover soup with me? You and I, we're both pathetic. No matter how much I swear to myself that I still hate you, I still took you to that motel, and I even slept beside you instead of heading back home and leaving you there. Now I'm eating with you. Apparently, I still care about you and everyone and the past we buried years ago. That's why I'm going to look for that time capsule. Call me delusional for having hope that I'll find it, but whatever. If you don’t want to search for the letters with me, then fine. It’s your call. I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you say you want. But I'd also like to believe that deep down you still care about our past friendship too.”

Then Soo-Young pulled out a piece of napkin and wrote something on it with a pen. "Here."

When Seulgi looked down on it, she saw an 11-digit phone number.

"Call me when you change your mind. I'll be waiting. Or even if you don't change your mind, call me anyway, in case you get totally wasted again."