Chapter 405
However, most unfortunately, Dawon found the DM Kiseok-ie sent. One day, Dawon, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring intently at my phone, suddenly spoke up.
‘Who's that?'
I never thought Dawon-ie would read the DM Kiseok had sent. So, I was taken aback–flustered. I had no defenses to hide my agitation.
At the time, Dawon-ie looked at my startled face and smiled cynically. ‘Is he perhaps… an ex-boyfriend?'
‘What? No!'
‘What's wrong with your expression, though?'
I wanted to hide what had happened as much as possible, but Dawon was too quick-witted for that. Eventually, after a persistent interrogation that lasted until dawn, my high-school days were all laid bare.
However, Dawon didn't stop there and continued to pry into my thoughts. While he seemed to believe that I hadn't dated Kiseok, he was extremely sensitive to the fact that I had once liked him. Even though he was the one to pry, my honesty made his expression incredibly fierce.
Then, looking at Han Kiseok's profile picture, he said reproachfully–
‘He kinda looks like me. Or, actually, do I look like him?'
‘…I-I-It's not like th-that…'
At that moment, I wondered if I should tell Dawon that he was more handsome, but my mouth wouldn't open. I was afraid anything I said would becan excuse.
‘P-Please don't get it wrong, he's… he's… A dark blot on my high school history…'
Much later, I mumbled to Dawon about the true nature of our relationship, but he tuned out more than half of my explanation.
‘Honestly, we haven't had any contact ever since we left school…'
Our lack of contact wasn't all; Han Kiseok had stopped being sweet toever since I had developed feelings for him.
Sometimes the man mocked me; other times, he acted like he felt sorry for me–sympathetic to my plight, makingfeel utterly miserable. Could I even call these dreadful feelings my ‘first love'? No matter how I thought about it, my first love was definitely Dawon.
In any case, Dawon only released his sharp attitude after I, sweating profusely, professed an oath that I would never meet with Han Kiseok. Of course, I was inwardly dumbfounded when I considered Dawon's glamorous, colorful past, but…
"He was super cute when he was jealous." I was seriously off in the head as well. Honestly, Dawon's jealous moments weren't always just bewildering. Before, I had been anxious about the future and direction of our relationship, but those feelings disappeared with his shows of possessiveness.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"…Haah. He's too cute." I closed my eyes and chuckled. However, before the sounds of my chuckle disappeared, my cell phone rang loudly.
My eyes flew open, surprised by the vibrating sound. An unfamiliar number was stamped on the screen.
"Hello?" I asked.
[Choi Lee-kyung…]
The voice through the phone seemed familiar. I adjusted my posture and brought my cheek close to the receiver. "Yes? Who is it?"
[….Look.]
"What?"
[Before it's too late… you have to realize.]
"Yes…? Excuse me…I'm sorry but, I can't really hear you. What did you say?"
[…….]
However, the buzzing noise was too loud, and the other person's words kept getting cut off. Their persistent words were mostly obscured by the noise. Then, a sharp, beeping noise grew louder until I finally couldn't bear it and pulled the phone away from my cheek.
"Nngh…!"
[…It's the opposite.]
The other person's voice didn't connect properly until the end. I frowned and looked at the disconnected call before calling it back.
[This number doesn't exist…]
"…What?"
However, in less than 20 seconds, the call was disconnected again with an automated message stating that the number was not in service. I couldn't understand, but even when I called again, the result was the same. I felt very uneasy, but for sreason, I didn't want to dig any further.
Bzzzz—!
[Dawon-ie]
Furthermore, Dawon-ie immediately calledafterwards, which cut my unease short. Startled, I hurriedly answered the phone.
"Uh… What… Aren't you busy?"
[I was just curious if you were doing well.]
When I heard his voice, my heart, which had been pounding a little while ago, beccalm. I breathed a sigh of relief and told Dawon that I had just received a strange phone call, "I'm doing well… Ah, that's not the issue. I just got a strange call right now."
[What kind of call?]
"Someone called me, but I couldn't hear them well. Perhaps the connection was bad… Anyway, I called right back, and apparently the number didn't exist."
[……]
"Is that even possible?"
Dawon thought hard about my question before answering–
[What if the call wasn't made from a phone? Like a laptop?]
"Ah… Is that so?" I was a little relieved to learn that this was possible. As if to soothe me, Dawon whispered calmly–
[Anyway, did you eat yet? What about your medicine?]
"Hm? Ah… I forgot."
[Make sure to eat. I'm worried about you.]
"I got it." I headed out to the living room, nodding though Dawon couldn't even see. As usual, I filled a glass with water, and then retrieved my medicine from the far end of the table.
However, because I was holding the phone with one hand to my face, when I tried to tear open the medicine packet, my hand slipped in an awkward direction.
Plop–!
As a result, one of the round, white pills in the individually packaged bags fell to the floor instead of into my hand.
"…Ah."
[What is it?]
"Ah–nothing," I was a little anxious about my clumsy mistake. Nevertheless, since I could just pick it up and eat it, I quickly swallowed the other pills in my palm and then crouched down to search the floor.
‘Did it roll off somewhere?'
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHowever, the pill, which I thought would be easy to spot, was nowhere to be seen. My gaze then coincidentally fell on the underside of the adjacent sink, and indeed, there the pill was. I reached out to pick it up.
"Huh?"
Then, I saw something shadowy moving strangely under there. At first, I frowned, thinking it was just a bug; but, even as I tried to look closer, I couldn't really see what it was. Thinking that I wasn’t looking at it from the right angle, I nearly stuck my ear to the ground to look through the gap.
"……!" And there, through the gap, I clearly met eyes with something. My skin crawled, and I recoiled. Pale and Speechless, I was unable to scream.
Wriggle Wriggle–!
Then, afterwards, as if to make sure I wasn't mistaken… the shadow moved gently, like strands of hair in a breeze, through the gap. Then, it gently nudged the white pill I had failed to pick up.
I watched the pill slowly roll, until finally, I saw it slip into the gap.
"D-Dawon-ah…" I barely managed to move my frozen lips and called for Dawon on the phone.
[What is it, Lee-kyung-ah?]
"Th-There's…" As I spoke, I opened my eyes wide to get a better look at that eerie, grotesque thing, but I saw no more movement. However, I couldn't rest easy. "S-Something strange in the house…"
A terrifying fear–enough to makefaint–crept over me.
* * *
Eventually, Dawon-ie canceled all his afternoon meetings and chome. We checked the kitchen sink together, but as expected, there was neither a person nor a monster inside. The gap wasn't big enough for something to enter in the first place.
"I-I must have been mistaken. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Dawon-ie said everything was fine without showing any irritation on his face, but I still felt like I was possessed by ssort of spirit 1 earlier in the day. The moment seemed far too long and dragged out that I didn't think I had seen wrong…
"There really was something there though…" I muttered to myself, feeling embarrassed and wronged.
Dawon kindly replied, "I'm sure there really was something there."
"Really? You felt it too?"
"I haven't found it yet, but… I'm getting sgoosebumps."
"……" At that point, I was so sorry to Dawon-ie, that I had nothing left to say.
The tension left my shoulders; I leaned against the Mage and sighed, "I guess my anxiety has worsened again."
"……" Dawon wordlessly pressed his lips to my forehead.
Beca member!
TL: Ahhhh >.< This hasgripped. Who was calling Lee-kyung-ie? What's Dawon's plan? Will Lee-kyung wake from this sweet nightmare?
The readers in my discord channel have also remindedto Periodically inform you guys about the existence of my discord server for all my translated s >.< The link is in the summary page/table of contents page if you'd like to join in on unhinged theorizing.
- Originally, the said 도깨비, or goblin. Goblins are more akin to spirits than green minions in Korean mythology though.