Sheet 4

Between The Pages

          The premise of the story is typical, a prince looking for his princess. Their families are at war with each other but have to join forces to be able to rescue the princess who has been kidnapped by an enemy of both kingdoms. The path is treacherous but the prince braves it because he loves.

          Soo Jung doesn’t remember anything after that. The synopsis at the back of the story made it more appealing so she set it aside for bedtime reading. She did recall putting it inside her bag to read at home.

          “I apologize for dragging you here. I heard her music box play and assumed that it must really be her this time…”

          A prince? Soo Jung shakes her head wildly. This must be a hallucination, something that her mind has conjured from reading too much. She promises to read three books everyday instead of the five that she always does.

          “You must be confused right now. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Nam Woo Hyun of the Nam Kingdom. All that you see before you belongs to my family.” The prince (?) looks forlornly into the distance, whispering “I wish to bring her back here too.”

          What is this madness? She needs to wake up from this really…

          “Could the young lady tell me her name so I can address you properly?”

          “I’m confused… I’m really really REALLY confused right now…”

          “Confused? I haven’t heard of such a name before… From what family do you come from?”

          Soo Jung is about to explode. This young man’s whole demeanour and clothes is totally something out of the books she has read in the past. She doesn’t want to believe that she is actually inside a book. That would be crazy.

          “Have I somehow offended you?”

          “No… No… I’m Lee Soo Jung… from…” Seoul… She’s from Seoul. And she’s currently in ______ on summer vacation.

          “Lee? Are you a cousin of my beloved?”

          “Honestly, I don’t know… Who you are, where we’re at and what I’m doing here…”

          “You’re from that place, right? The one that’s full of books?”

          “You’ve been there?” A fictional character has just declared that he crosses over through the real world. So this is… This is insanity.

          The prince nods, either agreeing that this is absolutely doesn’t make any sense or “I’ve been there once or twice… The place looks different the few times that I’ve been. I have a friend from there and he has a friend bearing the same name as I…”

          “Friend?”

          At that moment a flock of birds flew from a part of the forest followed by a loud explosion from out of nowhere. Soo Jung thinks this is a book; fiction doesn’t really hurt you, right?

Just then the ground shook.

          “Run!”

          She needs to wake up now.

~0~

          Kim Sung Gyu rushes towards the bus terminal, he’s sure this is where he must’ve dropped it. Looking through and under the benches but he didn’t find what he was looking for. Of all the things to lose, why does he have to lose the most important one? The book is gone, now the necklace.

          The book is already at the second-hand shop with the music box. If someone who found the necklace accidentally goes to the second hand shop and stupidly got curious and plays the music box, it’s going to be a disaster. Kim Sung Gyu thinks no one is that stupid, coincidences like that don’t happen in real life.

          He recalls Woo Hyun mentioning a new assistant at their bookshop. Maybe he should get acquainted with that assistant. His head would really be in a platter if he doesn’t find that book. What would that prince do if he’s not able to be there to help? He’d probably get lost in the forest again. Or worst he might make his library explode again. Well, he can do both very well.

          It’s hard to rush when you’re riding a bike and everyone wants to get in your way. There’s a flock of birds heading south, there’s a lot of them. He doesn’t have a good feeling about this.

          He arrived after a few mishaps (a bruised arm from trying to avoid a couple of middle school students ogling a, what he thinks is a kpop star on a guerrilla date). The counter is empty and Auntie is nowhere to be found. He decided to just go directly to the attic. It’s a quarter to seven. The assistant must still be there. She has to be.

          He hears a familiar sound coming from the reading room. That eerie sound can only come from one source. But who would be able to make the music box play unless…

          The reading room looked empty at first glance. But there’s a pair of feet peeking near one of the lounge chairs close to the display shelf. The familiar music box is missing from its usual perch. Sung Gyu can now conclude that 1.) The new assistant is stupid 2.) She has both his grandmother’s book and his necklace.

          And most importantly she probably needs rescuing.