.
“Yeah, maybe,” replied Woo Jooin. Taking a deep breath, he looked thoroughly at the notes. Jooin could now do nothing about the things that disappeared out of the blue while he was being hesitant. Thus, he should just put all the remaining information as much as possible in his head.
Once he started reading everything, it was quick to grasp the facts. Woo Jooin began to speak about the most objective things.
“The person’s name is Ham Donnie; she is the same age as ours. Also goes to the same school and class, So Hyun High School Class 1-8.”
He didn’t read the information on purpose about the person showing an upper-middle level of academic performance and having a good relationship with her classmates.
Woo Jooin slightly frowned. He didn’t have to write down those trivial things since the details could be easily achieved just by flipping over the student record. However, the reason why he noted those down regardless of that would be…
Eun Jiho seemed to have had the same thought. Listening to Jooin’s briefing with his chin on his palm, Eun Jiho intervened in Jooin’s words abruptly, “And maybe we can’t find her now in So Hyun High School.”
“And that would be correct,” replied Woo Jooin. He also updated another information about Ham Donnie. Although her academic performance was upper-middle level in So Hyun High School, the school itself had a very high cut-off score, so Ham Donnie might be at the top of rank when it came to nationwide test scores.
Even though it was true, the two boys weren’t sure whether she was a model student or not. Many kids had their academic performances and usual behaviors adrift. Woo Jooin read the next information.
“Our first encounter with her was at the middle school freshmen opening ceremony. She’s a childhood friend of Ban Yeo Ryung. They have been living next-doors since they were very young.”
“Dude, do you believe that honestly?” asked Eun Jiho.
Woo Jooin raised his head. It was Eun Jiho who came over with a desperate look to find out about Ham Donnie; however, it was also Eun Jiho who had been the most doubtful about her.
Furrowing his brows, Woo Jooin tossed a question, “What do you trying to say?”
“The person called Ham Donnie. She’s a girl, right?” Pointing at the pile of notes, Eun Jiho continued speaking as if something felt frustrating, “Yeah, the girl who’s been close to Ban Yeo Ryung since their childhoods… They weren’t just close; they’ve been like a family you know.”
“What’s about that?” asked Woo Jooin.
Eun Jiho replied, “Have you ever seen anyone normal who’s said to be a close friend of Ban Yeo Ryung?”
Thinking about it shortly, Woo Jooin shook his head. He didn’t have to trace back to the past. Most recently, Choi Yuri, who had been Ban Yeo Ryung’s best friend, took Ban Yeo Ryung hostage. The reason she attempted to kidnap her was weird and awful––Choi Yuri wanted to see Eun Jiho crying because of herself.
Tapping his knee, Eun Jiho leaned his body forward. He uttered, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. The girl who’s been a childhood friend with Ban Yeo Ryung is normal… I honestly can’t believe that in the first place.”
“Even though we can’t, this is the only information we have…” Woo Jooin replied nonchalantly, but he soon slurred the end of his sentence. Looking down at the note in his hand, Jooin handed it back to Eun Jiho.
Reading it in wonder, Eun Jiho showed a slight smile. He said, “You mean, I should believe this?”
– Hates attention
– Turns pale or gets frightened when something strange––even at the smallest thing––happens. Captured her quickly murmuring something many times during this moment
– Sometimes shows a more composed reaction than others as if she has predicted everything
“I mean, then why did she become Ban Yeo Ryung’s childhood friend and also befriend us?” Eun Jiho blurted out as if he felt absurd. Woo Jooin also nodded at his remark this time.
The girl got along with them and Ban Yeo Ryung but hated other’s attention at the same time. How could someone behave so differently to his or her intention? Besides, both Ban Yeo Ryung and the boys weren’t easily approachable even though many wanted to get along with them.
Woo Jooin slightly lifted his eyes and glanced at Eun Jiho. This boy in front was very picky about getting along with someone as if he was confused about it with appraising the work of art. Yoo Chun Young, who looked seemingly cold, was, instead, the easiest to get close to among them. However, he still regarded the person whom he wasn’t interested in as a lifeless matter. Thus, Yoo Chun Young had a different level of difficulty with other people.
Kwon Eun Hyung? He might look nice at first; however, he was as picky as Eun Jiho too.
Lastly, Woo Jooin himself…
“Hmm…” Jooin touched the edge of the note near him nonchalantly.
– Mama
His brown eyes subdued to the dark.
‘Then…’ he murmured, ‘Was I being sarcastic?’ Considering his stepmother, ‘mama’ was the most appropriate term to embody any sarcastic purpose, but if that was true, he would not have written down so particularly about the girl Ham Donnie.
‘Who really were you? What had happened between us?’ wondered Woo Jooin. He woke up from his thoughts when Eun Jiho’s voice reached his ears.
“Okay, fine. Whether all this information makes sense or not, we can just go check it out directly and solve this out, right?” said Eun Jiho.
Lifting his head to look aside, Woo Jooin found Eun Jiho urging him with that remark with his arms crossed.
“So where is this girl; how can we find her?” asked Eun Jiho. Although he was doubtful and skeptical about the information earlier, Eun Jiho now looked quite enthusiastic.
Staring at him for a second, Woo Jooin switched his gaze back onto the memo. Looking down at the notes wordlessly, Jooin opened his mouth, at last.
“… This isn’t the first time that the girl disappeared. That’s why ‘I’ also prepared something for it although I never imagined that this would become so useless…”
Jooin, who actually wrote the notes about Ham Donnie, didn’t remember her at all. However, it was Woo San who reminded Jooin of the girl he had no encounter with. How could Woo San then recall Ham Donnie? Woo Jooin rubbed his chin with those thoughts in mind.
Woo San said that he knew nothing about ‘Ham Donnie.’ Since Woo Jooin told him nothing about that girl, Woo San wasn’t sure whether or not she existed in real life.
Was that why he was able to remember that girl? What Woo San knew about wasn’t the person ‘Ham Donnie’ but the ‘note that Woo Jooin wrote.’
Thinking to that extent, Woo Jooin shook his head. He could postpone researching the requirements to lose memory to a later date.
Jooin moved his hand to pick up the note nearest to him. Eun Jiho’s glance followed it too. A handwritten note of ‘March 2nd’ came into view in between Jooin’s fingers.
“Originally, the girl would disappear every March 2nd. ‘I,’ myself in the past, was about to stay with her during that day in preparation for that thing,” said Woo Jooin. While Eun Jiho fixed his gaze toward this side, Woo Jooin quickly continued his remark.
“I don’t know what it is but there’s something in common that connects you, Yeo Ryung, Chun Young, Eun Hyung, and I. Ham Donnie knows what that is. If the five of us are beside her, she will probably not disappear then.”
Speaking to that extent, Woo Jooin grimaced. As if himself in the past also didn’t discover what that thing in common was, which only Ham Donnie was aware of, only the big question mark on the note came into his sight.
“On last March 2nd, the five of us were all staying beside her for real. Probably, ‘I’ would have also tried to do the same thing this year. However, this time…” Jooin then heaved a sigh. The two boys directed their eyes to the calendar on the wall at the same time.
Without checking the actual date, they both knew that today was February 24th. It was a week earlier than the date on the record.
Woo Jooin bit his lips again. Eun Jiho uttered beside him as if he felt something’s not enough, “You said the five of us should stay beside the girl, so that she wouldn’t vanish away on March 2nd, right?”
As soon as Woo Jooin slightly nodded, Eun Jiho continued speaking, “How on earth can we stay next to someone who already has disappeared?”
“…”
Having the same thought, Woo Jooin had nothing to respond. However, he quickly scanned the notes again and detached his lips.
“Maybe there’s a way though.”
“What?” asked Eun Jiho.
Jooin replied, “This has happened before when it wasn’t on March 2nd.”
