Chapter 9: Tree ears? No, three years

Three years later

            She walked into the room, her eyes keen and aware. But she couldn’t see anything, and her sharp eyes couldn’t see the tiny chair in front of her. She tripped over it.

            As she hit the hardwood floor, two lights in the darkness flickered on. She smelled something burning.

            “Seng-il chukka hamnida,” she heard.  She swiftly got off the floor and turned. She faced three grinning mouths, but that was all she could see in the dark with only two sources of light. It looked like three Chesters from Alice in Wonderland. “Seng-il chukka hamnida!”

            In the darkness of her dorm room, Hea Woo smiled at the three Chesters. Hea Woo herself forgot that it was the 17^th of November 2017, her birthday.

            As the three Chesters finished the song and Hea Woo blew out the candles that said 21, she flicked on the lights, revealing the Chesters’ real identities. Her best friend, and roommate, Jae Eun Ae held a polka-dot present with a bright pink ribbon around it. Her boyfriend Bae Jung Hee also held a present, but instead in a large heart-dotted bag. Her mother held the cake.

            Of course, like any human being, Hea Woo opened the presents first. Eun Ae giggled as Hea Woo ripped open a box of delicate cookies with her face on it. Jung Hee gave her an immense teddy bear wearing a duplicate of Hea Woo and Jung Hee’s couple tee. She tightly hugged it to the point she moved the stuffing in the neck to its chest.

            Hea Woo turned to her mother and pouted. “Where’s my present?”

            Her mother chuckled. “I’m taking you all to karaoke!”

            The three teenagers whopped and laughed and headed towards the karaoke building.

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            Young Do brushed the crumbs from his breakfast off his suit. His hands trembled and his forehead sweated; he didn’t know to feel excited or nervous. He felt both.

            Young Do got into his car and drove. He didn’t like turning on the radio. The radio was filled with only k-pop these days. Even stars like VIXX and CNBlue were still famous, even though they’re around 25-30 years old now. Crazy saesaengs still swooned over them. Young Do didn’t understand; he was only 21 years old! How come he didn’t have saesaengs following him around like a puppy, have fan cafés, or even events where he could sign miles of fan girl paper?

            So, the humming of his car and the roaring of the wind that flew by him through an open window provided him with something to distract him from the nervousness of reaching his destination.

            In a matter of minutes, Young Do arrived there. Guards stood outside and shook his hand, and then led him inside the building.

            They weaved through rows and rows or silver metallic bars. The halls reeked with rotten food, human waste, and a stale smell. They reached the end of the hall, and the guards plugged in a code on a keyboard. Then, they swung the door open with one long creeeeaaaaaakkk…

            At first sight, Young Do couldn’t recognize him. The man in the blue jumpsuit with the numbers 934 inked onto it looked nothing like the business man he knew three years ago. This man had a centimeter long beard, as a result of lack of shaving. His teeth were crooked and yellow, and his eyes bloodshot. His hair was unruly and long. He looked like a homeless guy.

            Some people would run and hug this man, others would just walk away. Young Do did neither, nor did he say anything. He just stared. It was surprising that this man was the CEO of Zeus Hotel, but more surprising that this man was supposedly was his father.

            The man smiled with his yellow crooked teeth. Through them he muttered, “Long time no see.”

            After what felt like piles and piles of paper work and cleaning his father up, Young Do somehow brought his father back again. He looked better with a suit and a clean face.

            But as Young Do and his father headed out the jail, Young Do cursed himself for wishing he had saesaengs.

            Once they got into the sun’s light, cameras, phones, and newscasters ambushed them. Reporters swung microphones in their faces asking crazy questions.

            “Why’d they let him out?” Young Do heard a man say.

            “Because his sentence was done,” another man said.

            “Well, they should’ve kept him longer. A bad man like that shouldn’t be running in our streets.”

            “Yup, a bad man…”

            He felt as if he went into a time machine and went back three years. He felt like a dangerous and fragile bomb; with one touch he could explode into pieces. So, he exploded. He punched the guy in the face, enough to make him fall on the ground. Young Do kicked him in the stomach, making the guy howl in pain. A guard wrestled Young Do’s wrists to his back, and then slammed him against a car. He attached cold, heavy, metal cuffs on his wrists and brought him back into the prison, along with his father.

            Young Do cackled scarily. What a great way to celebrate my father’s release, Young Do thought. Going back into jail! Ha! ha!

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            Hea Woo stumbled out of the karaoke building with Eun Ae and Jung Hee nearly carrying her. She smelled rotten and everytime she coughed, she spit foul liquid onto Eun Ae, who just wrinkled her nose in response. The world spun and her vision began to blur. Although she was this way, she vividly remembered what happened:

            They were singing their hearts out, even after their throats started to burn. Hea Woo sat down with her mother as her two friends fought over what song to pick next. Hea Woo looked at her mother, who was sipping out of a green bottle. She swung it around and her eyes became droopy. Soju.

            But it was November 17, Hea Woo’s birthday, her 21^st birthday. She could now legally drink alcohol. She asked for a bottle, and got one, a rare response from her mother, which only meant she was really drunk.

            It was a terrible mistake, but the juice tasted good. It relaxed her, freed her from the worries of essays, work stress, and the still-lingering pain. It was exactly 1,034 days after her dongseng Song Kwang Sun had died. They never found the murderer.

            Hea Woo sighed, and her eyes drooped. Her head rolled around and saliva dripped from the corner of .

            That’s when a policeman stopped them. She couldn’t hear him clearly, but she was pretty sure she heard him say: “Are you a monk?”

            Hea Woo loosened herself from her friend’s arms. She answered, “Why no, I am not a monk. Are you?” Eun Ae tapped Hea Woo’s shoulder.

            “He said ‘are you drunk,’” Eun Ae whispered. Hea Woo turned to the policeman and shook her head. “No.”

            “You look like it. Do you have coverage?”

            Hea Woo nodded. “Yeah, I have cell phone coverage. Do you?”

            Eun Ae, again, tapped her shoulder. “He said ‘are you underage?’”

            Hea Woo pushed Eun Ae’s hand off her shoulder. “You don’t have to tell me what he says. I’m not deaf.” She turned to the officer and put her hand on his shoulder. “Isn’t that right,” she laughed and slapped his back. “I’M NOT DEAF!”

            And then she barfed on him.

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