▬ Final Chapter: Fulfillment - Part 2 ▬

Although Sungyeol arrived in England two days ago, due to the continuous nauseating feeling of jet lag, he decided to start his search for Minkyung’s time capsule just today. Hence at present, he has been walking aimlessly for the past two hours trying to decipher what his friend drew for him.

“This girl is going to drive me nuts,” Sungyeol sighed as he flipped the map a couple of times to see if any of the drawings that she made would look vaguely similar to where he’s currently standing. In his other hand was a shovel in case he had to dig out the time capsule just like what he saw in movies. “What’s that circle supposed to be, a cat? That cat probably doesn’t even have anything to do with this map.”

He continued to walk for a few minutes, not minding the path that he took seeing as he somehow ended up in an alley where cars or any other means of transportation weren’t allowed in that area. With that in mind, he kept looking at the map while his long and slender legs took him wherever they decided to.

That is, until his right leg hit something hard which broke his momentum and ended up making him tumble to the ground with a loud thud.

“Ow! What the heck?!”

He wriggled on the ground for a few minutes, eyes closed, and kept rubbing the spot where he was just hit. The map became crumpled when his hand reflexively formed into a fist to distract him from the pain. Once the sore spot eased a little, Sungyeol slowly stretched out his leg then folded it back towards him. He then made circles with his ankle to test for range of motion and continued doing so until he felt satisfied.

Finally standing up and dusting himself off the ground, he turned around to look at what got him and stared at the small statue glued to the ground.

“A cat,” he scoffed. He then bent down to grab the shovel by his feet. “Of course.” Having a newfound light, he took the map once again and nodded. “Find a big tree that looks like it came from a horror movie.” He scanned the vicinity but a tree fitting that description didn’t come into view. He did, however, saw a huge old stump right by a park. “Good enough.”

He didn’t want to seem like he was hiding something or look suspicious in any way so before he could begin, he looked around to make sure that there were no people in sight. Once that was out of the way, he positioned the shovel and began to dig as fast as he could. Sungyeol dug for what seemed like five hours to him. He ended up digging all around the tree but there was nothing, not even what dogs would bury under trees.

“Oh my goodness,” he let out a tired sigh. “Please don’t tell me I got the wrong freaking tree.”

“You got the wrong freaking tree,” a small voice cooed.

Sungyeol turned around in surprise to find a young boy an ice cream. “You know Korean?” The boy nodded. “So, uh, please don’t report me. I’m just looking for something my friend buried long ago. I think she said it was here.”

“Does it look like a really old box that has the letters K and M on it?”

Sungyeol narrowed his eyes on the innocent face staring right back at him. “How do you know that? Do you have it?”

“If you give me ten pounds, I can tell you where it is,” he smiled.

Not having much of a choice, Sungyeol begrudgingly gave him what he wanted. “Now tell me where it is.”

“There were people who worked here for a whole year,” he explained. “They destroyed that old creepy house since no one lived there anymore after that grandma died two years ago. She said that they can turn her house into a park but the tree stays.”

“They chopped it down though,” he raised an eyebrow and pointed to the stump.

“Yeah, it was too big to be in the park is what mommy said. The grandma wanted to keep the tree standing because it’s been there since long, long ago before she was even born.”

“So that their family tree lives on,” Sungyeol slowly nodded. He then remembered about the box. “So, where is it?”

“Oh,” the boy smiled again. “It’s in the library for now. They said they’ll put it in a museum because it’s old if no one claims it.”

“Thank you, little boy!” Sungyeol hurriedly shoveled back the dirt by the foot of the tree. “Remember not to report me, okay?”

The boy nodded and ran back towards where he came from. “Mommy!” He shrieked. “There’s a weird man by the park!”

Sungyeol tensed for a minute before continuing to shovel at twice the speed. His heart was racing at the betrayal from a little kid. “What the heck?!”

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“Mrs. Kang couldn’t remember any relatives since she had Alzheimer's so we’ve been trying to find the next of kin to give this box.” The librarian was walking towards the back archival room with Sungyeol following closely behind. “She hasn't had contact with relatives in Korea for so long so we didn’t think a descendant from Korea would come by and pick this up.”

“I’m actually not related to her,” he shyly scratched the back of his neck.

The librarian eyed him and stopped her reach midway before Sungyeol could claim the box. “Then I’m sorry, sir, but we can’t give this to you.”

“Wait!” He held out an arm to stop her from putting it back in one of the secure cases. “I was a friend of Minkyung’s.”

“E-Excuse me?” She looked at him with wide eyes. The box was centuries old so her response wasn’t unexpected.

“A friend of Minkyung’s great great great… great descendant’s grandfather’s grandma’s descendant…”

She cleared and straightened out. “Look, I’m not sure where you heard that name but it seems as if you’re just making this up.” She turned around and locked the box back to where it belonged. “If you’re thinking of selling what’s inside because they’re antiques, you might as well try a different route.”

“Now who would want to sell some old love letters, a diary with how she was a rebel and was like as a teen before going to Hankyung High, and some really old accessories and a pen that might not even work anymore? Oh, and not to mention her first baby tooth that is probably fossilized by now.”

“How did you know that?” A shiver went down the librarian’s back. “We never disclosed the contents of the box.”

“Like I said,” Sungyeol responded rather proudly. “I’m her friend.” When the librarian stiffe