CHAPTER 8 – Back Alley (Part 1)

“So, today is not possible?”

— The deadline is on Monday, but I haven’t finished even half of it yet. Sorry.

Seo-yeon slid her phone onto her shoulder as she listened to Dan-mi’s voice. With her hand still up, she entered the password on the door lock.

In her other hand, she clutched a tote bag and a plastic bag with two bottles of soju, raindrops dripping from her hair and shoulders.

“It’s difficult to drink with you, Danmi.”

Seo-yeon expressed her regret. Danmi, a freelance webtoon artist, was Seo-yeon’s friend since high school. They used to compete for the top spots in their class, flipping between first and second place.

If there was any injustice, it was that Danmi would sleep through classes, get caught skipping to go to karaoke rooms, and skip remedial classes, yet still managed to fluctuate between first and second place.

Unlike Seo-yeon, who was always diligent in class and never indulged in drinking, not even in the usual karaoke rooms, and only traveled back and forth between home and school.

— I’ll call you after the deadline passes.

“Okay.”

Originally, Seo-yeon and Danmi spent two years without exchanging a single word. They had never been in the same class due to their constant competition for first and second place. They were aware of each other but pretended not to be, spending two years like that.

The only time they shared a classroom was during the summer vacation of their third year. It was when they were supposed to attend a special class called “Preparation Class” enthusiastically planned by the school. When the bell rang for lunch, Danmi approached Seo-yeon first.

‘I’m going to skip class.’

Seo-yeon looked at her with a blank stare. Then Danmi smiled and said to Seo-yeon,

‘Do you want to go?’

She still wondered why she agreed that day. She wondered what made her say yes.

Nothing unusual had happened that day. Danmi shoved her hands in her pockets and headed to the comic shop across the street, where they sat across from each other and read comics for an hour. For lunch, they ate the comic shop’s steaming bowl of ramen noodles and then went back to class.

The homeroom teacher didn’t doubt Seo-yeon’s story that she had asked Danmi to go to the hospital with her because her stomach was hurting so badly, and they went out two more times without talking until the day of the college entrance exam. 

Going to medical school. Dropping out. Repeating the year. Going to art school. Long periods of unemployment. A successful webtoon artist. Seo-yeon didn’t know all the details of Pyo Danmi’s life.

All she knew was that when Danmi ran out of money or was hungry, she came to Seo-yeon, and when Seo-yeon was frustrated with her life, she came to Danmi. That’s how much time Seo-yeon spent with Dan-mi, drinking soju for an hour or so without saying much and then parting ways.

— I’ll finish the deadline as soon as possible and contact you.

“Okay.”

Danmi hung up before she could open the front door. Seo-yeon also ended the call and entered the hallway. It was dark inside with the lights off, and the floor was cold after being unheated all day.

Seo-yeon first turned on the kitchen light. She placed both the tote bag and the plastic bag on the dining table, casually put her phone on top, then pulled out a dining chair and sat down.

As she entered the house, tension eased and fatigue overwhelmed her. Seo-yeon raised both hands and rubbed her temples, pressing them firmly, then massaged her neck a few times. She took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then lowered her arms. And so, she sat there blankly.

After sitting there for a while, she opened her eyes like a man who had suddenly woken up. A green bottle peeked out from the black plastic bag. It seemed to ask, “You’ve brought me, what are you going to do now?” Seo-yeon smiled sheepishly and reached for the bottle of soju.

Thud.

The tote bag hit Seo-yeon’s arm as she pulled out the bottle of soju, causing it to fall under the table. The contents of the bag scattered to the floor.

A red bean bun left over from the tea party. A scarf she had loosened on her way home. Lip gloss. Hand cream. A small notebook and a pen. A crumpled receipt. And underneath, a small flash drive.

Seo-yeon glanced at the scattered items on the floor. It felt like looking into the mess inside herself. As her gaze rested on the USB, a faint ringing began in her ears.

There are moments when life suddenly feels exhausting.

When everything is chaotic, and your friend happens to be busy. When your ears ring and your bag falls to the ground. When you have to stoop to pick up scattered items. When you just want to leave everything as it is. Even then, you take a deep breath and bend down to pick them up.

One by one, Seo-yeon calmly put each item into her bag. 

A red bean bun with soju? Sure, why not? 

Because life wasn’t anything special.

* * *

It was just a little after 10 o’clock when her mobile phone vibrated. Seo-yeon stretched her arm towards the buzzing phone on the other side of the sofa table.

The TV was showing a scene of people hiding from a horde of zombies. Unable to take her eyes off the screen, she fumbled for her phone.

After watching the hiding people roll their eyes and hope the zombie horde would pass by, she glanced at her phone to check the caller ID, thinking it was Danmi. She checked her phone’s screen and saw an unexpected name.

[CEO Hwang Dojun]

It was a name that poured cold water over her momentarily relaxed mind, which had been loosened by a bottle of soju. She had thought he might contact her someday, but she hadn’t expected it to be on a day like this, at this hour.

Seo-yeon wiped her flushed face with both hands. 

Should I answer or not? Would the call be cut off if I just left it like this?

As she hesitated, the call ended. And immediately rang again. Seo-yeon turned down the volume on the TV and picked up the phone.

“Yes, this is Yoon Seo-yeon.”

— This is Hwang Dojun.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

There was a moment of silence. Seo-yeon’s gaze fell on the soju glass on the table. When her eyes caught sight of the half-eaten sweet red bean bread and a few almonds she had taken out of the freezer as a snack, Dojun spoke.

— The back alley of the apartment.

This time, it was Seo-yeon who fell silent. She wondered if he was referring to her apartment. Doubting whether she should believe that he had come all the way here at this hour to pick up the files himself, Dojun continued.

— You can see the Gyeongui-sun forest road.

Behind her apartment was a road leading to the Gyeongui-sun forest road. It was a narrow street where only parallel parking was possible.

— Come down…

Is he asking me to come? 

Seo-yeon swallowed her question and finished her answer.

“I’ll go. It’ll take me about five minutes. There’s a café nearby called ‘Sarang.’ If you wait there…”

— Let’s meet in the car.

As if he didn’t need any further comment, Dojun hung up the phone.

Anyone would think he’s come to retrieve something he left behind. 

Why is he so confident? 

Seo-yeon looked down at her phone in disbelief.