From: 821014892764

You know you will die soon, just wait a bit longer.

She got goosebumps as she opened the new message.

It came again, the prank message.

What should she do now? It was getting serious more than she had expected. And she couldn’t call it as prank anymore. It was really a terror.

This is scary.

“Hey, aren’t you listening?”

“Huh?” she looked up and found all her colleagues were looking at her curiously. Well, it was only Seungyoon who was looking at her annoyingly. She blinked that she realized she wasn’t that focused on their meeting today. Oh, crap. She put her phone inside her jacket pocket. Jinwoo was looking at her intently, waiting her to answer his question. She cleared . “I’m sorry, I missed what you’ve said, Director-nim.”

Jinwoo smiled a little, but not that pleased. “That’s okay. You just need to talk to me later.”

She gulped. Jinwoo said it with such serious tone, that she was sure they would have a serious talk after this meeting ended. That was not a good sign.

“You all know this webtoon writer Nam Taehyun, right?” Jinwoo stared at all his colleagues. All the people in the room nodded in response and looked excited. His stare stopped at her before he continued,”he has made a special request for our company that he wants his new webtoon that would be soon adapted into an animation series to be voiced by us.”

Her colleagues sounded so excited. She heard they said

“Nam Taehyun is a really famous writer! It’ll be great!”

“Oh, he’s my favourite webtoon author!”

“I’ve read this new webtoon and the story is so awesome!”

She just smiled at the compliment made for her little brother. Taehyun was that talented, no wonder why he got many fans. And also hardcore fans who like to give him calls. She laughed silently at that thought. She stopped laughing as she caught Seungyoon staring at him with an irritated look. He must be thinking she was crazy to laugh by herself. Well, she didn’t care what he thought of her anyways.

Jinwoo then spoke again as the colleagues stopped spazzing. “The production staff of the series will come to our office the day after tomorrow. Nam Taehyun is said to come along with them. He will pick by himself the voices of his characters.”

Wait, what? Is Taehyun really going to do that? She blinked in confusion. He didn’t tell anything to her this morning. He just said he and his staff would hold a meeting this early morning, and she really didn’t know anything about this special request and all.

Nam Taehyun is really surprising.

“We should do our best.” Jinwoo told all the people and smiled. “We’re finished for the day. You can go.” All the people collected their stuffs and left the room already. She was still in the room since Jinwoo said he needed to talk to her. But then he looked up at her and said,”why are you still here?”

“You said you would talk to me.” She protested. Jinwoo just laughed to hear her answer.

“You should listen to me in our meeting earlier.” He patted her head slowly. He grinned. “Something bothers you? You really didn’t listen to me and kept looking at your phone. Why? That friend of yours?” he nudged her.

“Not him, sunbae.” She didn’t know she should tell Jinwoo about the messages or not. No, by telling this to many people would make her worried even more. What if there was really someone who wanted to kill her? She was still not sure about this so she shouldn’t tell everyone. She was too much, she knew. Even Minho and Taehyun didn’t believe such pranks.

“So?” Jinwoo looked curious. “Is that your little brother? Did he say he could come today?” he sounded worried suddenly.

In this office, the only person who knew about her relation with Taehyun was just Jinwoo. She didn’t think she should reveal their relation since she thought it was not that important. Who would believe her, anyways? There were so many people in this country who had the family name Nam.  And, she looked nothing like Taehyun. They were really different.

“He didn’t tell me anything about this, sunbae. Can you believe that? What’s with that special request? Aigoo, this is just surprising.” She massaged her temples. Jinwoo laughed.

“He’s such a cute little brother, isn’t he? He just tries to keep it as a surprise.” She just massaged her temples again. Jinwoo laughed happily.

“I really can’t wait the day the staff and Taehyun come here.” He added

She just smiled slightly, glancing at her phone in her pocket worriedly. Should she wait until the day she was killed? Did someone really want to kill her?

“Don’t you think you have something to tell me, little brother?” that was the question she said when they were having their dinner in mom’s restaurant. Taehyun who was chewing the meat stared at her. After he swallowed the meat, he said

“What?” he asked coldly as if he didn’t know anything.

She gritted her teeth. Why does he pretend not to know anything? “Your new webtoon animation series, my dear brother.”

“Ah, about that special request?” Suddenly Taehyun laughed evilly. “You’re surprised, weren’t you?” he laughed even happily.

“No, I’m not.” She replied firmly. It was annoying to see his happy laugh right now. “Did you do it on purpose? Why should you pick our company?”

Taehyun was still laughing. “Isn’t that a good chance for your company?” he asked. “Your company is actually full of talented dubbers, but it’s just not recognized by people.”

She snorted. “Who told you so?”

“It’s you, noona. Don’t you remember?” he chewed the meat again, knitting his eyebrows together. She rolled her eyes.

“And why are you going to pick the dubber by yourself?” she asked.

It was Taehyun’s turn to roll his eyes at her. “Why not? I just want my characters voiced by the best dubbers.”

She sneered at him. “You make it sound complicated.”

He stuck his tongue at her. “I’m the author, I can do whatever I want.”

“Oh, yeah?” she took the last meat on the plate, making Taehyun frowning. “And you’re going to pick me as one of the dubbers, aren’t you?” she chuckled.

“Who says so?” Taehyun raised an eyebrow. “Of course I won’t choose you. You’re not good enough to voice my characters.” He added coldly.

This little brother is really...

“Yah, what are you saying?!” she yelled at him. Taehyun just laughed. At that time, their mom came with a plate full of meat. Taehyun squalled happily like a little kid, leaving her who was full of dark aura. Her little brother was indeed annoying.

“Thank you so much, mom.” He said sincerely. Their mom just nodded and ruffled his hair.

“This is for celebrating your new webtoon.” Mom said and smiled widely. “Congrats, my son. You’ve done well.” Mom gave a kiss on his head. Taehyun giggled happily like 5 year old boy. She rolled her eyes. What an annoying view.

“Ah, mom.” Taehyun started to speak. He glanced at her. “Noona said she doesn’t want to eat the meat. She’s already full. So, the meat is all for me, is it okay?” She widened her eyes in shock. How can this kid lie like that?!

Mom looked at her. “Oh, really? You said you’re really hungry.”

Before she could protest, Taehyun already said,”it’s okay, mom. I will eat it all.”

Nam Taehyun, you’ll die.

“Okay, you can eat it.” Mom answered sweetly.

“But, mom,—“

Their mom left them as there were many other costumers came. She looked at her little brother, clearly mad. Taehyun just ate his meat happily, after stuck his tongue once again at her.

Taehyun was all acting like a boss. He was really aware that he was famous and almost all people in this office knew and admired him. Even there were so many staffs who asked for signatures, they even brought his latest comics with them. Taehyun gladly gave his signatures for them, before he went to the important part of his visit today.

Taehyun asked Jinwoo to let all the dubbers to do a short dubbing, that he wanted to listen all of them. It was like an audition. Taehyun listened to the dubbers in the office and saw them through the glass wall. He then made some note that she couldn’t read, simply because she was far from him. Anyway, Taehyun’s writing wasn’t that nice and tidy. No wonder she couldn’t read it.

Her little brother had listened to Seungyoon for the second last dubbers left. The very last one was her. But, before she came to the recording room, Taehyun asked the dubbers to gather in the office. Heck, Nam Taehyun is really serious about what he had said last night, she thought.

“We still have one dubber left, Nam Taehyun ssi.” Jinwoo told Taehyun as he pointed at her. She rolled her eyes at her little brother, annoyed. Taehyun just smiled slightly.

“No need to do that, Jinwoo ssi. I’ve been listening to her all the time.” Taehyun said, but when people stared at him in confused look, he coughed and added,”I’ve watched some animation she voiced before.” He laughed. All the people in the room started to laugh as well.

She rolled her eyes. You’re really good at making excuses, Nam Taehyun.

After that, Taehyun started to announce the dubbers he chose for his characters. Everyone looked so curious and most of them looked so worried. Everyone wanted to be chosen anyways.

“The lead male will be voiced by Kang Seungyoon ssi.” Taehyun said. Everyone clapped happily and so did she. Seungyoon just nodded and bowed politely, without saying any single word. And then everyone attention was back to Taehyun again.

“I chose Seungyoon ssi because his voice matches with my imagination. I’ve imagined the voice of this character and I think Seungyoon ssi’s deep voice fits it well.” Taehyun explained. Everyone started to clap their hands once again.

She glanced at Taehyun. Well, she didn’t tell anything about other dubbers in her company and she didn’t expect that he would choose Seungyoon. But, Seungyoon was one of the best dubbers here so she shouldn’t be that surprised. She shouldn’t also be surprised if Taehyun didn’t choose her either.

All of sudden, she felt an arm flinging around her shoulder. She was dead surprised to know that it was Taehyun’s. What is this kid going to do?

Taehyun looked at her and smiled. “And, the lead female will be voice by this noona.”

 All the people in the room clapped for her but she was still that surprised. She didn’t know why this little brother liked to surprise her. Taehyun just giggled at her before he said

“I just think it’ll be good if she voices this female character. It really matches her voice. Besides,” he glanced at her,”it looks like she’s one of my fans, so, yeah.” He laughed even happily, everyone then laughed with him.

Aish, this kid... Fan, omona.

“Oh, eonni, you never say you’re Nam Taehyun’s fan.” Hanbyul whispered excitedly to her as she got back to Hanbyul’s side.

She tried to explain. “It’s just—“

Hanbyul cut her off. “Me too, me too, eonni! I’m his fan, too!” Hanbyul squalled happily, making her surprised even more. “OMG, it’s hard to believe he came here and worked with us! Isn’t it great?”

Yeah, well, it’s great.

Taehyun finished mentioning the dubbers he chose for this project, and then he decided to leave the office. People went outside the room one by one. She was grateful that finally his visit was ended and she would meet him later at home. She would ask him everything later. He just needed to wait. But, it seemed like she didn’t need to wait later to talk to him. Out of the blue, Taehyun walked up to her and smirked.

“You like it, huh? Being the female lead.”

Darn it.

“Don’t make fun of me.” She gritted her teeth. “You said you wouldn’t choose me.” She snorted.

“Changing plan.” He stuck his tongue out. “It’s up to me anyways. Right, Jinwoo hyung?” he looked at Jinwoo. Jinwoo just laughed to see this interaction between her and Taehyun.

“Yes, it’s up to the author.” Jinwoo said, not helping.

“Sunbae!” her face dropped to hear that. Why wasn’t Jinwoo on her side? Jinwoo and Taehyun chuckled.

Taehyun then cleared his throat and looked at Jinwoo,”Well, Jinwoo hyung, I hope you take care of this, and get ready for this weekend.” He said. “I really need your help.” He bowed. She was confused. Really, there were many things that Taehyun didn’t tell her.

“Yah Nam Taehyun, what are you planning to do?” she asked her brother.

Taehyun smiled widely. “A press conference on Saturday, my noona.” He said. Then he looked behind her,”you should come along, Kang Seungyoon ssi.”

She turned around and just realized that Seungyoon was still there all the time.

She was walking alone in the park. She had a promise with Minho to meet here an hour ago. But, that guy had called her, saying he couldn’t come because he had many designs to take care of. Well, it was okay. She didn’t feel that sad because they couldn’t go to this park together. They just planned to walk around and then had a dinner together. It was just that simple. But, she did feel that empty. She laughed to herself. Why should she feel that empty? She couldn’t always have dinner with Minho, could she? She could have dinner with her mom, or her little brother. But, mom is busy in the restaurant, and Taehyun is probably having dinner with his staff and assistants.

She sighed. She looked a bit pathetic to walk around this park alone. Everyone in this park was with their friends and lovers. Even a kid was there with his friend, playing bicycles. And, she? She just looked at everyone, not knowing what to do. At last she stopped walking and sat on a wooden bench. She was sitting there alone. She turned around and saw the empty spot beside her. Her imagination made a trick for her eyes. Suddenly she felt like someone sitting there. That guy smiled at her with his tiny eyes.

“Yah, what happened to you?”

It felt so real.

She blinked her eyes for many times and that guy was gone. That guy was really just her imagination.

What did she expect? Did she expect that guy is really here?

That guy, he wouldn’t come. Lee Seunghoon wouldn’t come for her. Why did she think of that guy all of sudden? She must be crazy.

She must be really crazy as she remembered their memory in this park.

“Yah, Lee Seunghoon, why did you do this? Get up! It’s embarrassing.” She mumbled as she looked around. Everyone in this park was looking at them curiously. The day was over and it was getting dark. But, they were still here, on a wooden bench.

Lee Seunghoon just kept sleeping on her lap. “Why not? It’s nice.” He giggled.

“Get up, will you?”

“No, it’s really nice!” he said excitedly. “I can see the beautiful night sky.” He pointed at the sky that looked so beautiful because it was full of stars. “And you know what, I also can see what’s between the sky and the atmosphere.” He sounded so happy.

She rolled her eyes. How could he see things between the sky and the atmosphere? He was really weird sometimes. But, she asked him anyways. “What did you see there?”

“Your name and mine.” He joked around.

“Yah, Lee Seunghoon! You better get up!”

Seunghoon just rolled his body and then he put his elbows on the bench to support his chin. He looked at her and smiled. “Do you want me to look at you like this?” he pouted.

She hissed. “No. You better sit down.”

“Don’t want to.” He rolled again and put his head on her lap once again. Before he closed his eyes and enjoyed the night’s wind, he took her hand and held it tight on his chest. She just giggled to see what he was doing. “Ah, it’s really nice!” he smiled happily on her lap.

“If you’re sleepy, we can just go home.” She told him. “We’ve walked around this park anyways.” She looked around and found people walking passing them and giggled. They two really took much attention. Since she never did something like this before, being stared like this was so embarrassing. But, this Lee Seunghoon looked really enjoyed it. He didn’t know about people’s stares anyways, he was busy closing his eyes, pretending to sleep. She wondered if Seunghoon was so tired because of many works he got in his office. To her surprise, suddenly he opened his eyes. He smiled, even his eyes were smiling.

“I’m tired.” He mumbled. “Let me sleep for a bit.”

She just smiled in understanding. “Okay, then.”

He stared at her. “Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

She looked a bit surprised to get this sudden question. She shook her head. “I don’t know. Tell me.”

He chuckled. He held her hand more tightly. “I’m thinking about our wedding.”

“O-our w-wedding?” she was sure she sounded too surprised this time.

“Right.”

“B-but,” she got nervous,”w-why a-are you thinking a-about it? I m-mean, we never talked about wedding b-before.” Yes, why did Seunghoon suddenly talk about wedding?

“I know.” Seunghoon replied. His eyes were still smiling. “But, don’t you think it’s a good idea? I can imagine how our wedding party will be like. And I will have you in a beautiful wedding dress, and you’ll be my wife.” He giggled. She got her cheeks warmer. She was sure her cheeks turning red. Oh my, what to do? Talking about this kind of thing sure made her nervous. Her heart beat faster and she didn’t know how to make it beat normally. Why did Seunghoon bring about wedding all of sudden? She knew they had dated for almost 4 years, but she didn’t know if it was the right time for them to get married. Their parents had given their approval, she knew. But, really, she never expected Seunghoon to talk about it now.

“What do you think?” she heard him asking. She spaced out for some seconds. She looked down and stared at Seunghoon who looked like waiting for her reply. She couldn’t say a word, she was really confused. Seunghoon smiled to see her expression. He then said,”Aigoo, what I have here?” he took something from his pocket. “Ta-da!”

She was surprised even more to see a velvet box. As he opened it, she could see a beautiful ring. It was so beautiful that it was shining.

Seunghoon who was still sleeping on her lap stared at her. He plastered a serious expression. “Will you marry me?”

She blinked. Is he proposing right now? Her eyes got teary. Is this a dream? Seeing her tears, Seunghoon just smiled.

“What’s the answer?”

She tried so hard not to make her tears falling, but she couldn’t help it. She just nodded. Smiling, Seunghoon put the ring on her finger. After that, finally, he got up from her lap and embraced her tightly.

Such a good memory, wasn’t it?

Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out as sweet as what she had imagined at that time. She thought everything would turn like what she had imagined. If everything turned like whatever she wanted, probably Seunghoon was with her right now, they had been married. But, the fact was they had to break up before the wedding. Everything they had prepared were useless, the wedding hall, the cake, everything. They were useless. That was not an easy decision to make at that time, but that was what Seunghoon had chosen. Seunghoon decided not to marry her.

She tried to not to be sad over that cancelled wedding. But, what could she do? It really hurt her, until today. It had been a year.

And it had been a year she hasn’t seen Seunghoon again. He really disappeared from her life.

Did she miss him? She must be really crazy.

She rose from her seat. She had decided to forget everything about Seunghoon so that she could start a new life. But, had she had a new life? She herself didn’t even know. She always thought about Seunghoon every time she was alone. She just couldn’t get over him. That was her biggest problem.

But, well, she had another problem.

Her phone vibrated. There was a new message.

From: 821014892764

D-3.

D-3?

What would happen in three days? What would happen? Was she really going to die?

She was frightened that she couldn’t breathe normally. But, she tried so hard to call the number. Her hands were shaky as she touched her phone screen. But at last, the number couldn’t be reached.

This was really frustrating.

Should she tell this to police? These messages were all creepy and she couldn’t stand them. But, something in her prevented her of doing so, to call the police. She really wanted to see what would happen in three days. She really wanted to just think of the messages as a prank, not a terror. She knew she would regret this decision if something would really happen to her in three days. But, this was what she wanted to do for now. With that thought in mind, she walked herself home.