GRR 100

The moment Jion saw Han Heeju’s face, he couldn’t hide his surprise. Her face showed that she had been crying her heart out.

His eyes met hers, filled with wariness. Even though it was cold outside, he felt a cold sweat running down his spine. Jion quickly began to explain.

“I’m not a weirdo…”

Fearing she might run away, Jion grew anxious and hurriedly pulled his wallet out of his bag. As he pulled out his student ID and resident registration card at once and held them out, Han Heeju’s gaze naturally fell upon them.

Han Heeju took in Jion’s IDs, then looked up at him. Noticing that the look of suspicion hadn’t faded, Jion forced a kind smile.

“Um… I’m not a weirdo, but I know what I’m about to say might sound strange. I can see ghosts, you see? So… I met Ayoung not too long ago.”

“……”

“It’s fine if you don’t believe me. But could you just pretend to believe me and listen to my story just this once? It’s about Ayoung… I really hope you’ll listen.”

As Jion clasped his hands together, his eyes filled with earnestness, Han Heeju bit her lower lip. Her gaze wandered, as if she were deliberating what to do. But since her feet remained planted on the ground, showing no sign of wanting to run away, Jion felt relieved.

He sat down on the empty swing next to Han Heeju. The creaking of the rusty metal broke the brief silence. He glanced over at the bench and saw Seon Ayoung still with her face buried between her knees. Since they were a little ways away, their conversation wouldn’t be heard as long as they didn’t speak too loudly.

Jion cleared his throat and cautiously began to speak.

“…I heard you were close with Ayoung in middle school.”

Han Heeju didn’t react. She simply lowered her head again and kept her gaze fixed on the ground. Jion took that as a sign that she was willing to listen, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“According to Ayoung… you two didn’t get along after high school. Is that right?”

A brief silence followed. Han Heeju nodded after a while. Then she bent over and buried her face in her hands. Her rapid breaths were mixed with sobs.

Jion waited silently while Han Heeju wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and took several deep breaths. Just as her breathing began to steady, Han Heeju spoke in a choked voice.

“…Ayoung… she’s been appearing in my dreams for the past few days.”

“……”

“She just stares at me without saying a word… but she’s been crying the whole time. Even when I ask her why she’s crying… she won’t tell me.”

Only now did Jion understand why Han Heeju had suddenly appeared here. If Seon Ayoung kept appearing in her dreams and doing nothing but cry, it was only natural that she would be worried.

He couldn’t tell if Seon Ayoung’s soul was influencing Han Heeju’s dreams, or if it was simply a manifestation of her subconscious. But since there was now a chance for the stagnant situation to change, it couldn’t be a bad sign.

“Since Ayoung’s house is here, [visit our site]I thought if I came here, I might figure out why she keeps appearing in my dreams… That’s why I came…”

Han Heeju trailed off and bit her lip. Jion, who had been watching her, slowly opened his mouth.

“Unless you can see ghosts like I do, coming here probably won’t help you figure out why Ayoung keeps appearing in your dreams.”

“……”

“But you came anyway because you just couldn’t stop thinking about it, right?”

Han Heeju must know that coming here wouldn’t reveal why Seon Ayoung keeps appearing in her dreams. Yet she had no choice but to come, perhaps because she was too desperate to know the reason. Or maybe there was something weighing on her mind.

Just as expected, Han Heeju nodded. Either she wanted to hear something from Seon Ayoung, or she had something she absolutely needed to say. She must have been thinking one of those two things.

Jion decided to tell her what Seon Ayoung wanted first.

“Ayoung wants an apology.”

Han Heeju flinched, and then she covered her mouth with her hands.

“She’s been thinking all this time that the bullying she endured was her fault. That she must have done something wrong to deserve it.”

“……”

“But… I don’t think that’s the case.”

Jion recalled Kwon Chasa, who had told Seon Ayoung it wasn’t her fault. Jion felt a stinging pain spread through his heart as he recalled Kwon Chasa’s story he had calmly shared.

Was Kwon Chasa still convinced that everything was his fault? Jion decided that once this matter was resolved, he would have to tell him one more time that he wasn’t to blame. That he’d suffered long enough, and now it was time for him to find peace.

“I don’t really know what happened between you two. Whether there were misunderstandings, or if there were circumstances you couldn’t talk about… If you ask me why it’s any of my business, I wouldn’t have an answer. Because I really am an outsider.”

“……”

“But once I found out this had happened, I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t know. I guess I’m just a bit nosy.”

He could see the hand resting on Han Heeju’s thigh clench tightly. Before he knew it, her shoulders started trembling. But Jion continued speaking gently, yet firmly.

“Hurting others and making their lives difficult is wrong, it’s something you shouldn’t do… I think you know that too.”

Kwon Chasa had said that Han Heeju had also been bullied by those three students who had since transferred schools. Naturally, Han Heeju must have suffered an indelible wound from that incident, and it must have been difficult for her, more than he could ever imagine. But that didn’t erase the fact that Han Heeju bullied Seon Ayoung.

Jion fell silent for a moment. He neither scolded nor comforted Han Heeju, who was crying. He simply waited in silence.

It felt like some time had passed, yet Han Heeju still ​visit our site​couldn’t compose herself. Her voice trembled so pitifully.

“…If I apologize, what difference would it make if Ayoung accepted my apology now?”

“……”

“‘I was just joking, but I’m sorry I hurt you,’ or ‘I didn’t really bully you that much, but since you say it was hard for you, I’ll say I’m sorry’ – what kind of meaning does an apology like that have? That’s all I ever heard from them. I just wanted an apology from them, but all I got were apologies that didn’t even feel like apologies. What’s the point of that?”

The bitter question was directed at Jion. The “them” Han Heeju was referring to was the three who had already left school, and it seemed Han Heeju had also hoped to hear a sincere apology from them. But she had only heard empty words without any acknowledgment of their wrongdoing.

Someone had been in so much pain that they chose death, yet it was all just a joke for them. They must have tormented not only Han Heeju but also Seon Ayoung with that same mindset. That was why they didn’t feel a shred of guilt and could say such words.

Jion took a deep breath to swallow the rage welling up inside him. He felt like writing a letter – to Kwon Chasa, or even to Yeomra herself – begging that the three who had tormented Seon Ayoung and Han Heeju be properly punished.

But Kwon Chasa had said that if someone did wrong, they would be punished one way or another. Would the day ever come when those three would suffer in their lives? He didn’t wish for anyone’s unhappiness, but he wanted them to pay the price. He also hoped the day would come when they admitted their mistakes and repented.

Jion slowly composed himself and continued in a calm voice.

“You couldn’t ignore Ayoung appearing in your dream until the very end, so you came here. I think if you’d been thinking the same way as those kids who called that ‘an apology,’ you wouldn’t have come here. You would’ve ignored it, whether Ayoung was crying in your dream or not. Thinking, ‘It was just a joke, I was just having fun,’ and all that.”

“……”

“Dreams aside, you also want to apologize to Ayoung? Ayoung [unauthorized copy]is already dead, and there’s no one left who can hear it… You came all the way here knowing that.”

“……”

“You know that a sincere apology means something, so even though it’s late… you came here because you wanted to apologize.”

Han Heeju took a deep breath, then closed her eyes. Jion, feeling heavy-hearted in turn, let out a sigh.

It would have been better if things had been resolved before they escalated like this. It was bitterly disappointing that Seon Ayoung had to appear in Han Heeju’s dreams to move her to action, and that it took Seon Ayoung’s death for someone to finally realize something.

After hearing Jion’s words, Han Heeju soon began to cry. Jion, who had been biting his lip in distress, suddenly felt a gaze and looked toward the bench where Seon Ayoung was. Seon Ayoung was staring at the swing, or more precisely, at Han Heeju.