CH 11.1

The summer sun that had heated up the asphalt road had not yet set and still had the power to shine. However, the shadows of night would soon take over and cover the earth.

When Geon Hyeong’s car arrived at the house, Jung Won was already greeting him at the door with a big smile. Her younger siblings were ready to go and waiting for him to arrive.

“Where are we going?”

“A secret.”

Jung Won shook her head with a cheerful face and extended her palm to Geon Hyeong. Then, she said patiently to Geon Hyeong whose face seemed to say ‘what do you want?’.

“The key.”

“What?”

“Give me the car keys.”

Jung Won said firmly to Geon Hyeong who didn’t seem to understand what she was saying.

“What for?”

“For what? Of course to drive to that place.”

“In my car?”

“I don’t have a car.”

Jung Won nodded as if to say ‘of course’, while the face of the man who glanced at his car looked worried and scared. One of Geon Hyeong’s favorite things was his car, especially that kind of car. But now this woman wants to borrow his car?

“Not allowed.”

“Why?”

“How could I trust this car to a woman. Besides, do you know that this car is very sensitive?”

“No, I don’t. No matter how sensitive it is, it’s just a car, right?”

Even though Geon Hyeong brought up the issue of discrimination between men and women, Jung Won remained patient and did not withdraw her hand from Geon Hyeong’s presence.

Meanwhile, Hee Won, Sung Won, and So Hee, who were hot and had been sitting on the back seat of the car while waiting for the air conditioner to start, watched the two people’s ‘fight’ with interested faces.

“Just don’t.”

“You promised to grant my request. This is my request.”

Jung Won smiled a little as if telling Geon Hyeong to obey her words. Geon Hyeong glanced back at his favorite car and shook his head.

“How about I drive? Or I better call a driver.”

“I told you, this is my request.”

Geon Hyeong again hesitated in the face of the woman’s request whose gaze looked happy. This woman’s request and promise. Looking at her gaze, it seemed like it would be dangerous if he refused her request.

However, he also couldn’t immediately trust this car and hand over the car keys to this woman. Unlike Geon Hyeong who looks confused and anxious, Jung Won still looks relaxed and calm. Why is it like this?

Despite Geon Hyeong’s adamant refusal and protests to her, Jung Won finally sat in the car’s driver’s seat. Regardless of Geon Hyeong’s worried and anxious face, Jung Won immediately stepped on the gas pedal and started the car.

The woman turned out to be quite a reliable driver. Although his heart sometimes pounded every time she stepped on the brake pedal, it turned out that she drove the car quite comfortably. However, if Geon Hyeong had another choice, of course he wouldn’t let her drive the car.

“When did you learn to drive?”

“About four or five years ago.”

Jung Won replied while remembering. As soon as she entered university, she rushed to get her driver’s license so she could work on the side as a flower delivery person. Although she only practiced for a few days, luckily she managed to get her license easily.

“You said you don’t have a car?”

“But this driving skill is necessary for my side job.”

“Side job? What kind of work?”

Geon Hyeong flipped through the documents about Jung Won in his brain again. It seemed like he had read about the driver’s license. But there doesn’t seem to be any side jobs that require a car.

“Being a flower delivery person. It’s hard to deliver on a motorcycle because the flowers are sometimes large and easily damaged by the wind.”

“What a unique job you have.”

“I have to earn money to live.”

“She was going to be a driver, but I decided against it. Because it’s dangerous for women.”

Sung Won, who was sitting in the back seat and had been very interested in the car, suddenly leaned over and stretched his body to the front seat.

“That’s great. Seriously, do you want to be a driver?”

“There are many women who work as drivers nowadays.”

“Even so, you can’t.”

Geon Hyeong hurriedly replied while shaking his head with a surprised face. In this increasingly dangerous world, she wanted to be a chauffeur? Geon Hyeong wondered why this woman seemed to be fearless.

Regardless of Geon Hyeong and Sung Won’s worried faces, Jung Won continues to drive the car at a steady pace. After passing several rest stops, the car finally drove out of Seoul.

“Where are we going anyway? If there’s nothing to see there, it’s better to go somewhere else.”

“See it later, feel free to wish all you want. There’s so much to see in that place.”

Jung Won replied confidently followed by the sound of giggling from the back seat.

Wish…… Geon Hyeong couldn’t even remember the last time he wished for something. However, even though he himself didn’t realize it, he felt calmer now. That  woman’s smile somehow seemed to have affected him.

The sun began to set and the sky in the western horizon slowly seemed to dim and darken. Only the lights of the cars that seemed to be lined up illuminated the night world.

After passing through the hilly road, they finally arrived at a place that just as Jung Won said earlier had many things to see.

As if they were familiar with the place, Jung Won’s younger siblings immediately ran away from them and entered an observatory. Geon Hyeong walked slowly, matching Jung Won’s pace and looking around.

Perhaps because it was a weekday, the atmosphere around the observatory looked quite quiet. The crescent moon and stars that began to fill the night sky made the sky look much different from the sky they passed through three hours ago.

“Looks like a Van Gogh painting, doesn’t it?”

“Starry Night?”

“I thought you could only make money, but it turns out you know about things like that too.”

Jung Won, who felt happy just because she and Geon Hyeong were thinking about the same thing, nodded with satisfaction.

“That’s an expensive painting. I should at least know about such valuable things.”

“Is there anything worthless in this world?”

Hearing Geon Hyeong’s quite serious joke, Jung Won glanced at him gently. Her gaze was as beautiful as the night’s starlight.

“Every time I come to this place, I always remember the night sky that I used to see with my father on the terrace of the house in the village.”

“When was that?”

“Before the accident happened, probably when I was about 12 years old. The Big Dipper, and Ursa Major…… I always looked for those two constellations in the sky.”

Jung Won’s eyes that were remembering her childhood that she missed were shining. Geon Hyeong’s eyes that were looking at Jung Won were also shining brightly.

The sky above the mountain peak was full of twinkling starlight, while the village at the foot of the mountain was also seen flickering with lights. There was also starlight in the eyes of the two people who looked at each other.

Inside the fairly quiet observatory, there were some interesting programs and performances. Once through the spacious lobby with artificial marble floors, the other people walked into an observation room to listen to the explanation of the constellations that were just about to begin.

Hee Won, Sung Won, and So Hee had arrived first and sat quietly in their seats. When the program started, the door would be closed and the room would be pitch black.

“You’re not going in?”

“No,” Geon Hyeong replied quickly at Jung Won’s invitation.

Then what did this person come to this place for, Jung Won thought.

“It turns out you really don’t like dark places. Do you have a phobia?”

“It’s not that I don’t like dark places, but I don’t like closed places like that.”

Hearing that confession, Jung Won looked at Geon Hyeong in surprise.

“Phobia about closed places?”

“Maybe.”

Geon Hyeong agreed casually. The man who looked scary like a demon at night was actually afraid of dark and closed spaces.

No, to be more precise, this man named Kim Geon Hyeong looks like a person who is not afraid of anything in this world at all. He’s even said to not like elevators much.

“Have you ever been locked up in an elevator?”

“I’ve been locked up in the basement,” Geon Hyeong responded to Jung Won’s joke seriously and calmly.

‘Just don’t lock him up in the basement.’

Jung Won recalled the contents of Jason’s e-mail back then. However, Jung Won didn’t dare to ask why and how he got locked up in the basement. The man was silent and did not continue his speech.