Eun Gyeol’s POV (Hope Orphange)

“Sulli? Sulli?” Sulli was behaving strangely today. She kept spacing out in the middle of our conversations, but I was not complaining. Whenever she drifted off into her own world, I had a chance to admire her lovely face secretly.

“Eh? Ah, I’m sorry, I’m a little out of sort today.”

“That’s ok. I am no better,” I pointed to my wounded nose, and we laughed together. “Oh, yes. Your umma told us to gather at the field.”

As an effort to encourage the children to eat their greens, the orphanage started a farm at the back of the orphanage. The orphanage was fortunate to have a nice plot of arable land. Today, they were harvesting the sweet potatoes they had sown months ago. Activities as such brought back nostalgic memories. When I was in kindergarten, we had farming activities too. Root vegetables were the most fun to harvest as it was like digging for treasure in a treasure hunt.

“Tada! I have found another one,” Sulli announced triumphantly and added the newly found vegetable to her collection. She was the one who suggested that we had a competition among ourselves to see which team dug up the most sweet potatoes. Sulli teamed up with Hye Ji whereas I teamed up with Tae Seung, another child from the orphanage.

“Unnie, can you help me? I can’t pull out this one,” Hye Ji nudged Sulli for assistance. Together, they struggled in a tug-of-war fashion and finally pulled out the giant.

“Whoa! That’s a huge one! Great job, Hye Ji!” they high-fived each other, “Now we are leading!”

“Hey, Tae Seung! We need to put in more effort! It is very shameful for us boys to lose to the girls,” on hearing that, Sulli pulled down her lower eyelid and stuck out her tongue at us. Oh my… She looked cute even when she’s taunting me. I turned my head away shyly and focused on digging the soil instead. Soon a sweet potato emerged from the area I was digging.

“Jjang! I got one too!” Now it’s my turn to show off.



“Hyung, your sweet potato has y legs,” Tae Seung then pointed at the tiny outgrowth from the middle, “Is yours like this too?”

“Yah! Mine is not that small!” I flicked that mischievous imp’s forehead. No males liked to be called small, especially when a certain anatomy was concerned.

“Which thing of oppa is not small?” Hye Ji’s curiosity made me and Sulli jump.

“Erm… oppa’s head is not small, because he is no longer a child-like you,” Sulli then shot us an angry glare for polluting a child’s mind. But hey, wasn’t the joke started by another child? Nevertheless, I decided to take a selca with this obscene-looking potato. After all, it was not like every day you see a sweet potato shaped like a human body floating around.

“Come, let’s take a picture with this rude little fellow,” I gathered Sulli, Hye Ji and Tae Seung to pose for my mobile phone. After the picture was taken, my phone rang.

“It’s your soccer coach,” Sulli said.

“Oh no! I skipped today’s training, but I forgot to inform my coach,” my coach was a nice man in general, but when he exerted his authority over disciplinary issues, he’s a force to be reckoned with.

“Don’t worry. I shall turn this into an auspicious call,” Sulli took the byuntae potato from my hand, waved it around like a magic wand and pointed it on my mobile phone. “Eeeeeeeeee………. Yap! This is a good call.”

I smiled back at her with gratitude and answered confidently, “Yeoboseyo…”

“Yah! Eun Gyeol ah! Song Jung Min was involved in a car accident yesterday, so he can no longer play for the Nationals. The National team coach decides that you shall replace him. So keep yourself in tip-top condition. Beware of even a seemingly harmless thing like a leaf. Did you hear me? Hello? Say something!” yes, coach, I did hear you. However, I was too shocked to respond.

“Are you ok? Did you get an extremely bad scolding from your coach?” Sulli looked at me worriedly.

“Sulli, can you pinch my face really hard?” I needed confirmation that I was not in my fantasy mode.

“Nyapppppppppp! Is this hard enough?” Sulli gave me a questioning look.

“Yes, yes…” I rubbed my face, and regretted adding “really hard”, “Sulli, my coach says I qualify for the Nationals because someone drops out.”

“Jeongmal?” Sulli’s beamed with her signature eye smile.

I nodded my head vigorously and stood up to announce to everyone present, “I qualify for Korea’s National Soccer Team!”

“Really? Congratulations!” Tifanny-si hugged me, “To celebrate this joyous occasion, I shall make Matang (Candied sweet potato snack) with these sweet potatoes for everybody!”

“Yay!” everyone cheered. I went around hugging every child and orphanage staff present. Of course, I saved my last bear hug for Sulli, whose arms were wide open and ready to receive me. “Thank you for your wonderful magic. I’m going to score many goals to repay you.”

“Hyung!” Tae Seung chipped in, “You must play like Park Ji Sung so that Sulli noona will fall in love with you.”

“Tae Seung,” Sulli pulled away and picked up a random sweet potato from her pile, “You are full of nonsense today!”

Then she chased the poor boy around, threatening to hit him with the sweet potato. I laughed to myself at her child-like persona. Suddenly I remembered my coach on the line.

“Ah, yes. Coach-nim, I heard you.”

“Good. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so you must really put your best foot forward, no pun intended. Oh, and one more thing,” my coach paused for a while, “WHY AREN’T YOU AT TRAINING TODAY?!”

Krystal’s POV

My close encounter with the paranormal kind was indeed an eye-opener. It totally defied the ghastly long hair white robe stereotype painted by urban legends. The fact that these residents from the other dimension looked just like you and me brought the fear factor to another level.

“Are you still scared?” Jae Hee broke my chain of thoughts.

“A little I guess. I didn’t expect the supernatural beings to look so much like us. Now I can’t help but wonder if the strangers that brush past us every day, or even now, are really one of us,” goosebumps started to erupt on my skin as I looked around at the crowd of people swarming by. According to the ahjussi, there was a bazaar this evening. Since a bazaar in this area was rare, and we happened to coincide with one, we should take a look. Of course, he did not forget to add that it was popular among the couples living here.

“It doesn’t just apply to strangers. Even the ones we are familiar with may not be what they seem. Krystal, the more I look at you, the more suspicious you look. If you brush your long fringe forward to cover your face like a curtain, you look like a certain female ghost that crawls out of the TV,” Jae Hee bent forward and moved his arms back and forth in mid-air to mimic the crawling motion, “Just like this.”



“Hey! Stop it! That’s not funny,” I hit his body continuously to halt his silliness. Jae Hee ran away laughing to avoid the strikes while I chased after him.

“What a sweet bickering couple. It’s nice to be young, isn’t it?” we stopped on our track and turned our heads to the source of the voice. It belonged to an old lady selling an assortment of accessories.

“This is interesting,” an LED flash blinking bangle captured my attention. I knelt down to pick it up for a closer look.

“Young man, why don’t you get a pair for your girlfriend and yourself? This is my hottest selling item,” the old lady passed the bangles to Jae Hee. At that moment, we noticed that she had only one leg.



“It’s ok, I can pay…” I rummaged for my wallet.

“No problem. Give me 2 of the bangles then,” Jae Hee took out a 10,000 won note from his wallet.

“Wait a while, I prepare the change.”

“It’s okay. You may keep the change.”

On our way to the bus stop, Jae Hee took my hand, slipped one of the bangles through it, and the flashing lights, “It looks really good on you.”

“Thank you. Let me return you 5000 won.”

“You don’t have to. The bangle only costs 1300 won. Besides, you have been a great help today. Let this be my way of thanking you.”

“Then I shan’t stand on ceremony and accept your gift,” I caressed the bangle fondly, “It would be nice if we get to meet Jin Ri. She must be a very pretty girl. Just like you.”

“Eh? I am a guy. I don’t fancy being compared to a girl,” Jae Hee pouted.

“That’s for comparing me to Sadako just now,” I pouted back

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Hell hath no fury for woman scorn,” Jae Hee shook his head. Then he turned serious, “Actually you aren’t too far from the truth. As a matter of fact, Jin Ri is my twin sister. Although we look identical, it isn’t hard to tell us apart. She has buck teeth, whereas I don’t. Do you happen to know of anyone in Serin Girls’ High that fits this description?”

“Offhandedly, I can’t recall anyone.”

“I don’t blame you. This is akin to hunting for a needle in the haystack, isn’t it? Nevertheless, I really appreciate your company today. Kumawo, Krystal,” there he goes again, that killer eye smile of his. Like Sulli’s smile, it sent my pulse racing to the ends of the world. Like Sulli’s smile… hmm… that needle might not be that hard to find.