.
When I suddenly checked the time, it was already nine in the evening. My mom and dad would return home at ten o’clock no matter how late they were, so I didn’t have time to even read each post one after another.
Bringing up six windows at once on the computer, I quickly skimmed through the posts to compare the information at the same time. The more I got to note the similarities or dissimilarities among them, the bigger the confidence grew in my head. It seemed that I finally found the answer this time.
All the posts I looked through on the blog were describing the novel, ‘Hae-garim.’
‘Hae-garim…’ I repeated the title in my head. It sounded attractive; however, the meaning didn’t reach me immediately. After quickly browsing it online, I found that it was a pure Korean word for ‘eclipse of the sun,’ which was suggested by a scholar during the Saving Our Language Movement.
Perhaps it wouldn’t mean ‘Japanese cuisine,’ which had the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings with the word, ‘solar eclipse,’ in Korean. Thus, the term, ‘hae-garim,’ would indicate the phenomenon of the moon getting between Earth and the Sun, casting a shadow over Earth, and, eventually, blocking the sunlight.
Amid the serious situation, I sorted out my thoughts that way and quickly brought back the blog posts on the screen. The original novel was found nowhere in any of those blog posts. Since publishers wouldn’t allow their novels online or offline without permission due to the copyright, probably this ‘Hae-garim’ would also belong to that case. Instead, there was a brief explanation of the characters and an outline of the story in terms of introducing web novels.
The very first part of that introduction was about the female main character as most of the web novel introduction posts had been. Shortly after taking a deep breath, I scrolled down the window; there I found a familiar name that I was looking for.
Ban Yeo Ryung.
I heaved a sigh of relief while thinking, ‘Yes, it’s ridiculous, of course, if Ban Yeo Ryung isn’t the female main character.’
Her outstanding appearance could beat the hell out of most of the actresses or celebrities; her brain was like that of a genius which made her always win the nationwide Number 1 student in college admission mock exam while only taking classes in school. Besides, she had no idea how captivating she looked and who the Four Heavenly Kings were when she always heard that term every single day. In these aspects, I was almost feeling hopeless about where else I could find another female main character if Ban Yeo Ryung wasn’t assigned for that position.
That was when I, eventually, became a little calmed down and was able to sit down comfortably. Resting my chin on my palm, I kept on reading the rest of the introduction.
Most of the information was what I already knew about––her silky black hair flowing with a purplish glow, the pair of her jet-black eyes, and her flawless white skin… smart, intelligent, warmhearted, open-minded, and positive personality––. Every little thing about her illustrated the same as the Ban Yeo Ryung I knew.
While reading that part, I showed a slight grin on my lips. At that moment, I was able to dismiss the anxious feelings I had against this different universe and smile warmly while looking at the screen.
I missed Ban Yeo Ryung out of the blue. If I could see her face, hold her hands, and listen to her positive words again, nothing seemed to be a better remedy for me right now.
When I first heard her positive words, I thought those were only available since she was the female main character. She could speak that way because she had everything. Nothing was impossible to her efforts; she could, therefore, always stay so positive. That was how I considered Ban Yeo Ryung and her overall demeanor.
‘It was such a perverse thought,’ I smiled bitterly.
Even though she talked positively, Ban Yeo Ryung might have had challenging times too. However, if she broke down, I would have nowhere to rely on; that was why she kept her smile at me till the end while she was still suffering in pain.
When I recalled the moment when Ban Yeo Ryung grabbed my hand in the hallway and asked me, ‘Do you think I can’t trust you?’ with tears falling down her eyes, the smile on my face grew bigger.
‘I really miss you, Ban Yeo Ryung,’ I murmured to myself. That was when I kept reading the following explanation of her. My face quickly stiffened.
Blinking swiftly for quite a while, I put my nose close to the monitor and said to myself, “… What the heck is this talking about?”
[… She went to the same middle school with the Four Heavenly Kings; however, Ban Yeo Ryung was too shy and extremely against drawing people’s attention. Thus, she never shared any conversation with them.
Even in high school, she thought that the Four Heavenly Kings and herself would remain as strangers. However, her expectation utterly missed the mark. On the first day of school, she and Eun Jiho were…]
“… What the heck is this talking about?” I repeated the same words I said earlier. With my eyes widened to the max, I fixed my gaze at the monitor and murmured, ‘So that means Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings didn’t know each other in middle school… What kind of bullshit is that?’
I recalled Eun Jiho and Ban Yeo Ryung quarreling on the first day of school back then. Eun Jiho sneering at Ban Yeo Ryung that day…
‘Uh, no. No matter how urgent the situation is right now, let’s just not think about that,’ I thought while shaking my head to remove that reminiscence from my head, then I continued thinking further.
Anyway, Eun Jiho and Ban Yeo Ryung had conducted huge psychological warfare on the first day of our middle school freshmen year. That was their relationship back then, so Ban Yeo Ryung could never become a nobody to the Four Heavenly Kings. However, what did the explanation of her on the blog post say? Ban Yeo Ryung was too shy and extremely against drawing people’s attention…?
I frowned. I was sure that there was no sign of those passive things in Ban Yeo Ryung’s demeanor, not even a bit… Thinking that way, I, however, slowly took off my hands from the desk out of the blue.
No, now I had come to think of it, she did show a little bit of an introverted character at the very beginning though. Ban Yeo Ryung looked around quite often, especially when she had conversations with the Four Heavenly Kings. She observed the look on others’ faces then stealthily lowered her head while biting her lips in a darkened face.
Then at some point, she began to no longer read other’s countenance. When was it? Thinking about that period, I gaped at the sudden enlightenment.
It was exactly after Ban Yeo Ryung and I got back together again. The moment I quit to get along with Baek Yeo Min and gave up not to befriend Ban Yeo Ryung, she became bold.
Thinking to that extent, I turned pale. Lowering my head, I murmured, “Hold on, then does it mean the story has developed to a different path from the moment I’ve got back together again with Ban Yeo Ryung? And, was it a huge and irreversible change?”
According to what I just read, Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings had to become close, originally, during high school, not in middle school. Without having a chance to pull myself together from the shock, I realized that I didn’t have enough time to do the computer comfortably since my parents were gonna get back home soon. I quickly read along the rest of the description.
The character introduction of a web novel usually took the pattern of introducing the female main character’s friend or the male main character after the heroine; it seemed the former in here.
However, Ban Yeo Ryung was followed by none other than…
“… Choi Yuri,” I mumbled with subdued eyes. She was tied with me in a persistent, ill-fated relationship that I could never think positively about her at all. Thus, I was unable to understand why the introduction mentioned her after Ban Yeo Ryung.
Reading the next lines, I was, again, struck dumb. As if I was suddenly hammered on the back of my head, that part was stinging along with a headache.
[Choi Yuri: A thankful friend who first approached Ban Yeo Ryung, who felt difficult to befriend girls ever since she ended her friendship with her childhood friend. At first, Choi Yuri had a crush on the male main character, but once she noticed that Ban Yeo Ryung had the same feelings toward him, Choi Yuri admitted that Ban Yeo Ryung looked better with him as a couple, so she backed down from having a crush on him. She isn’t outstandingly pretty or good at something; however, a loyal and faithful friend.]
‘A loyal and faithful friend???’ I shouted to myself. Dwelling on those words, which were often used as a keyword to describe the female main character’s best friend in popular web novels of my generation, I let out a hollow smile.
Loyal and faithful… no words could become that unsuitable to Choi Yuri than those.
Anyway, what was going on here? I buried my head onto my hands and repeated the phrase I just read in my head.
‘Ban Yeo Ryung, who felt difficult to befriend girls ever since she ended her friendship with her childhood friend…’
Was the childhood friend indicating me? It would be true since Ban Yeo Ryung and I actually had a big fight before entering middle school that even both of our parents remembered that incident.
Tracking back Ban Yeo Ryung’s weird attitude the day after we fought, which was reading my countenance so many times, and her careful approach toward me while asking if I would like to return home together as always after school, I came up with something in mind.
I murmured, “… So, originally, we should have ended our relationship around that time… Is that where the story began to take a different direction?”
