GRR 13

Then it doesn’t seem like he’s staying in this world out of resentment…Jion thought to himself.

“Did you come here because you know me?”

“Yes. Do you remember Jung Bomi? She said you would know if I mentioned the name.”

Jion searched through his memory. If it was Jung Bomi, she was the ghost he had met at the hospital where they had gone for his grandfather’s health checkup during summer vacation.

She passed away at the age of twenty-eight after battling cancer. She was a soul who could not accept her own death, feeling wronged for leaving this world so meaninglessly after living her life looking only forward.

Unfortunately, she was left alone due to her parents’ divorce and had lived by herself since childhood, and she vented her anger, saying that her father, who had gone abroad, probably didn’t even know that she was dead.

Those filled with sorrow were dangerous because they could easily become vengeful spirits if things went wrong. Unlike ordinary ghosts that had no power, vengeful spirits could cause harm to humans. Thinking that this had to be prevented at all costs, Jion had suggested that she follow the natural order and go to the underworld, offering to grant her one last wish.

Fortunately, she accepted Jion’s proposal. She wanted only two things: for her father to find out about her death, and for him to come find her and beg for forgiveness.

Jion informed her father of his daughter’s death on her behalf. Although it was very difficult to find his contact information, he managed to reach him before the summer vacation ended. Jung Bomi’s father arrived in Korea exactly five days later and visited the columbarium where her ashes were kept.

She looked down indifferently at her father, who was shedding tears and repeating apologies, and shortly after, she departed for the afterlife, never to be seen again.

“Yes, I know her. Are you acquainted with Bomi-noona?”

“I was briefly at the hospital where she was admitted. I was rushed to the emergency room. Well, I didn’t last even a day before dying, though.”

The man laughed. He didn’t show the slightest sign of becoming a vengeful spirit, and looked relieved, as if he had accepted his own death with equanimity. Although his face was covered in soot and grime, his expression was bright.

“Noona cursed at me, telling me to stop wandering around and just follow the grim reaper. She warned that if I continued like this, I would end up in hell. Then she told me that if I had a reason not to leave, I should go find Jion and talk to him. She told me that she had received help from you too. And then, a few days later, she just suddenly left all by herself.”

“Ah….”

It was not a common occurrence, perhaps once or twice a year, if at all, for the deceased who had not yet left this world to find him through word of mouth. However, since these ghosts had already come to terms with their situation to some extent, he could send them to the afterlife without any trouble as long as they did not make unreasonable demands that he could not fulfill.

“Oh, I’m sorry for the late introduction. My name is Yoo Kanghyun. By the way, this place looks really nice. Is this a cafe run by Jion-ssi? I heard you’re still a high school student.”

“It’s my grandfather’s cafe. I just came out to help out.”

As Jion answered with a smile, Yoo Kanghyun let out an exclamation of admiration, nodded, and began looking around the cafe again.

“You even help your grandfather with his work; you’re so well-behaved, unlike kids these days. My younger brother is a high schooler too, but his personality is really… he never loses a word to his older brother.”

Yoo Kanghyun frowned and shook his head, but Jion could tell from his gentle voice how much he cherished his younger sibling.

Jion waited patiently for him as he was lost in thought for a moment. The silent Suho was a special case; usually, the souls with regrets had no qualms about sharing their stories. Even without prying, they would slowly unfold their narratives once they were ready.

As expected, Jion smiled as his eyes met Yoo Kanghyun’s and made a suggestion first to make the atmosphere more comfortable.

“Hyung, you can speak informally.”

“Uh… really? Then… I’ll do that.”

Studying was out of the question today. Jion closed his workbook while looking at Yoo Kanghyun, who was speaking to him in a friendly manner, with a smiling face. Yoo Kanghyun walked right into the counter area, sat down on an extra chair, stared at the tea set with curiosity, and turned his gaze to Jion.

“…Can I talk now?”

He scratched the back of his head, seemingly feeling a little shy as he was about to speak. After taking a sip of lemonade, Jion nodded vigorously and smiled. Yoo Kanghyun tapped his thigh with his index finger and slowly opened his mouth.

“Could you write a letter for me?”

“A letter?”

Yoo Kanghyun nodded. It was a simpler request than expected, considering how long he had been unable to leave this world.

“I started visiting my family every now and then after I was able to move around following my death. Since the past cannot be undone, I hoped my family would still live well… but things didn’t go the way I wanted. It seems like everyone is still having a very hard time.”

“…….”

“Mom still thinks that if I had acted selfishly, I might have at least saved my life. Dad and my younger sibling feel the same way.”

Yoo Kanghyun’s voice was calm, but for some reason, Jion felt a lump in his throat and could not say anything.

“There was a huge fire at the apartment where my family lived. Fortunately, Mom and Dad weren’t home because they were out working, and my younger sibling was at school. I was getting ready to leave for my part-time job in the afternoon. That’s when the fire started.”

“…….”

“There were an unusually large number of elderly people living in the apartment building. Just in the apartment right in front of us, there was an elderly woman living alone. I evacuated her first, then went to the apartment above ours, and then the one further up, and as I did that, I ended up….”

Unable to finish his sentence, he smiled awkwardly. Jion knew without needing to hear any more. Faced with the fire, Yoo Kanghyun had sacrificed his own life to save others. He understood why his family had wished for him to act selfishly. If he had turned his back on others, he could have quickly escaped the scene and survived.

“I want to tell them not to think that way and that I’m okay, but no matter how much I tell them, my family won’t be able to hear me. So, Jion, I’d like you to write a letter and give it to my family. Oh, of course, I’ll tell you what to write.”

Yoo Kanghyun smiled as he concluded the story, which felt both long and short. He could not leave this world because he felt sorry for his family, who were still immersed in grief, and because he was worried about them. Since it did not seem like he would cause him any harm, and there was no reason to refuse such a simple request, Jion nodded vigorously.

“Of course I can do it for you. It’s not a difficult task.”

Jion took out his phone. Since he only had workbooks and lined notebooks with him right now, he planned to write it down in his phone’s memo app for now. Thinking he would stop by a store to buy stationery on his way home, Jion hurriedly opened the memo app.

“Please tell me first. I will write it down.”

Jion smiled as he held his phone in both hands, and looked at Yoo Kanghyun. He, who had remained calm while speaking about himself, finally teared up and vigorously wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand. Yoo Kanghyun nodded and began to speak very slowly and carefully.

Tap tap, the sound of Jion tapping the phone screen with both thumbs echoed through the quiet cafe.

* * *

The rain, which had started drizzling late the previous afternoon, continued into the next day. The weather forecast called it autumn rain that would wash away the late summer heat, it predicted that temperatures would drop to average levels once the rain stopped.

Jion looked out the window at the falling rain and put the envelope from the desk into his bag. They had said it would rain until tonight, but there was still no sign of it stopping.

Grandfather, who had gone to open the cafe early despite the rain, earnestly urged Jion to study at home. Although Jion nodded obediently, pretending to be a good grandson, he ended up spending more time writing the letter than studying. Besides, he also had to deliver the completed letter to Yoo Kanghyun’s family, so it was impossible for him to concentrate on his studies today.

Yoo Kanghyun’s house was in a neighborhood quite far from Jion’s, requiring more than an hour’s ride by subway and bus. Jion left home with plenty of time to spare to avoid being late for his appointment with Yoo Kanghyun. He had set the time around 5:30 to 6:00, as his parents, who ran a side dish shop, usually returned home on Sundays.

After transferring once on the subway and getting off at his destination, he had to take a local bus from a nearby bus stop. About ten minutes after boarding, the apartment Yoo Kanghyun had mentioned came into view. Jion, who belatedly pressed the bell and got off only after hearing the name of the stop, hurriedly unfolded his umbrella.

“Building 103….”

Jion checked the address written on his phone one last time and started walking. Fortunately, Yoo Kanghyun knew where his family had moved after the fire. If he hadn’t even known their whereabouts, finding them would have been a tremendous challenge.