When she arrived at the Cheongju Memorial Park, snowflakes were drifting down like grains of rice. The columbarium was so quiet that even the sound of footsteps echoed loudly.
“Take your time and talk.”
Hyun-ho said he would wait in the lobby and sent Tae-eun inside alone. She walked while checking the signs above, then paused to look back. In the chilly hallway, he stood there with a faint, encouraging smile.
Tae-eun entered Room 115 and immediately found Ye-jin’s urn, which was placed in the middle. It was easy to spot because the most vibrant wreath made of pink and purple flowers was attached to it.
Ye-jin had been a bit taller than Tae-eun, but now she was slightly below eye level. Tae-eun stared at the photo that Ye-jin’s mother had carefully chosen and began to speak.
“Hello.”
Her friend was beaming in her graduation cap. Remembering the moment she took that photo made Tae-eun’s heart ache.
“Park Min-seo says he’s sorry to me. Isn’t that funny?”
Tae-eun’s voice was as cold as the temperature outside. Her right hand, which had slapped Min-seo’s cheek, trembled slightly.
“I wanted to ask him if he wasn’t sorry to you… but I hated hearing him mention your name even more.”
It had been over two years since Ye-jin passed away. Her death, which had shaken the company, was quickly overshadowed by gossip about an office affair within a week.
She had endured three years of suffering before choosing to die, but to others, it was just a week’s worth of idle chatter.
“That’s why I couldn’t die.”
Every time she saw the showerhead in her bathroom, she thought of Ye-jin, but she couldn’t bring herself to hang a towel on it.
She knew that her death would only be a week-long topic of conversation. She knew that Ha Sung-joo would shamelessly laugh and carry on, like someone relieved of a toothache.
But when the urge to end it all became unbearable, she called her mom and begged for help.
Back in Hajung-ri, Tae-eun gradually regained her stability. She practiced lifting her head and looking people straight in the eye. The smile on her face grew more genuine.
She was grateful to have her family and Hyun-ho by her side.
“That…”
She recalled the face of the ghost that laughed and sang, bouncing on her chest.
“That was you, wasn’t it?”
Even as she fainted from the sudden pain, the familiar face between the strands of black hair was unmistakable.
At first, she denied it, believing it was just a figment of her weakened mind.
But the longer she stayed unconscious, the clearer the ghost’s face became. There was no way she couldn’t recognize a friend she had spent seven years with.
She realized that Ye-jin had come because she resented her selfish friend, that she was angry because Tae-eun, who had run away, was now happy. Her heart shattered.
She was terrified that she might end up blaming Ye-jin, that she might accuse her friend who had died alone of haunting her.
“But I guess that shaman was right.”
It must have been a sign to face her friend and apologize.
“Sorry for being a coward.”
Sorry for not avenging you, for not comforting you properly. Sorry for running away. Sorry for thinking only of myself.
Her tightly held voice spread low across the columbarium floor. Her large, tear-filled eyes stayed fixed on her friend’s carefree, smiling face.
“Tae-eun?”
Tae-eun turned her head towards the voice. A tall, middle-aged woman stood at the entrance of Room 115, staring blankly at her.
It was Ye-jin’s mother, Kim Hee-young.
“Hello, Auntie.”
Kim Hee-young immediately twisted her lips and approached to hug Tae-eun. A sobbing sound settled on her shoulder.
“Have you been well? Why are you so thin? Are you eating properly?”
She nodded to the woman who was cupping her cheeks with both hands and shedding tears. She also tried to lift the corners of her mouth, but she couldn’t tell if it had any effect.
“What about work? How did you come?”
“Ah… I quit at the beginning of this year.”
Kim Hee-young’s tear-filled eyes shook violently. As Tae-eun tried to avert her gaze, the woman embraced her daughter’s friend again and patted her back.
“You did well. You did well, Tae-eun.”
Tae-eun couldn’t lift her head any higher. The deep regret of the elderly woman was seeping to her. Kim Hee-young seemed to be chewing on the pain of the choices she couldn’t easily offer to her daughter.
“Are you here to see Ye-jin?”
So she said something, anything. Watching a mother who had lost her child was painful enough.
“Yes.”
Kim Hee-young wiped the moisture from her cheeks and looked down at her daughter’s urn.
“I have good news that Ye-jin would like to hear.”
“Good news?”
A faint smile spread on a face that resembled Ye-jin’s. It contained pure joy that hadn’t been seen since her friend’s passing.
“If you quit your job, you wouldn’t know, Tae-eun.”
The gaunt and dry woman’s face blossomed. Tae-eun unconsciously clenched her fists and waited for the next words.
“Ha Sung-joo is dead.”
“…What?”
“Ye-jin, did you hear? That bastard is dead.”
Kim Hee-young whispered as she stroked her daughter’s smiling photo with her fingertips. The woman’s voice trembled with bitter joy.
“He hanged himself with a showerhead and committed suicide.”
Tae-eun couldn’t even breathe freely. It took some time for Kim Hee-young’s voice to reach her brain.
“His mother found him, just like I did.”
She couldn’t understand why half-crazed Park Min-seo, who had begged for her forgiveness, came to mind at that moment. She couldn’t hold back and asked Kim Hee-young.
“When… when did he die?”
“Yesterday.”
The woman answered with a bright smile.
“The new team leader, not Kim Kyung-tae, somehow found my contact and called me. Said he thought I should know.”
The woman’s dry eyes sparkled. She looked just like Ye-jin when they first met in college.
“So now I’m going to Chuncheon to pay my respects.”
Tae-eun took in the sight of Kim Hee-young dressed in a deep purple dress. The woman, even with a coat in a similar tone, looked more suited for a glamorous year-end party than a funeral.
“I’m going to make sure that bastard’s last journey is filthy. That would make our Ye-jin feel better, wouldn’t it?”
Kim Hee-young applied red lipstick one more time, left a farewell to Tae-eun, and departed. The sound of the woman’s heels, with her back straight, faded away.
Tae-eun’s trembling gaze turned to Ye-jin’s photo. She traced the much younger face than she remembered for a long time before taking out her phone.
Although she had deleted all work-related contacts after quitting, she had kept one. The person who had discreetly shown consideration to an ostracized employee. The person who had noticed when other employees tried to blame her for their mistakes.
The person who had informed Ye-jin’s mother about Ha Sung-joo’s death.
“Hello, Team Leader. This is Song Tae-eun.”
Team Leader Eom Jun-ho answered the call faster than she had expected.
－Oh, Tae-eun. How are you? How’s your health?
“I’m fine. I heard some news…”
－Ah… you heard too? I was going to tell you, but I didn’t want to disturb someone who had quit.
The noisy surroundings of the team leader soon quieted down. His heavy sigh covered her ears.
－He had been acting strange for the past few days. Coming to work without properly washing, mumbling to himself, and looking unwell.
While listening to the team leader’s story, Tae-eun’s gaze remained fixed on her friend’s photo.
－But that day, everyone was acting strange. People suddenly took leaves, those who came to work were all late, and Deputy Park Min-seo even collapsed during lunch.
“What?”
－So I thought they might have had a reckless gathering without me. But even after the weekend, everyone seemed out of it, not responding when called, just staring blankly into space.
A chill ran down her spine. Her vision blurred, and Ye-jin’s face became a haze.
－Deputy Director Ha didn’t show up for two days, so I contacted his family, and… sigh…
So the team leader continued, saying he was now at the funeral. Tae-eun felt nauseous and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
－Whether it’s because of Deputy Director Ha’s situation or something else I don’t know… Deputy Park Min-seo suddenly got admitted to a mental hospital today, and Assistant Manager Oh Won-jae is causing a fuss about quitting, it’s just…
A voice full of bewilderment came through. Tae-eun’s hand holding the phone trembled. Ye-jin’s bright face came into focus again.
Without even saying goodbye to her friend, she hurriedly left Room 115. Her vision began to blur with moisture as she walked quickly.
－Do you remember Team Leader Kim Kyung-tae, who moved to the financial management team?
Frozen white, Tae-eun couldn’t answer out loud and just listened. He was the team leader who had moved to the neighboring team early last year. Before that, he had been the team leader of the financial planning team and had ignored Ha Sung-joo’s misdeeds.
－He hasn’t been coming to work either.
She realized that Team Leader Eom Jun-ho was not only informing her of the recent news but also asking her something. The names he mentioned all had one thing in common.
They were the people who had driven Lee Ye-jin to her death and made Song Tae-eun leave the company on her own.
－The deputy team leader of that team was worried and visited his home, but he kept saying strange things.
Turning a corner, she saw Hyun-ho standing alone in the lobby. Snowflakes were swirling outside the window.
－He kept saying he saw a man.
Hearing her footsteps, Hyun-ho slowly turned around.
－A man with blonde hair and a single earring watching him, saying such strange things.
🍉🍉🍉
