Chapter 222: Waking Up

It appeared that Su-Jin's visit to Eunpyeong Hanok Village that day had quite a strange effect on her mind. Seeing that place again after all these years sparked her memory, and she remembered things that had been long forgotten.

The events she had just witnessed while in a dream state had actually happened. And just like in her dream, that time too, she tripped and fell. This small incident forced the entire procession to stop and should have caused an inconvenience to her partner as well. 

But when he saw her lying on the ground, the boy didn't falter in his steps. Instead, he raced towards Su-Jin, helping her up. That's when they noticed Su-Jin had sprained her ankle due to the harsh fall. 

Seeing that they couldn't carry on with their task, the two children were eventually ushered from the bridge together. 

In the end, Su-Jin and the boy hadn't been able to exchange knots made of red thread, nor could they finish the traditional 'crossing of the magpie bridge'. 

With this new memory back in place, Su-Jin became even more eager to return to that place. 

"To think that something like this really happened and I forgot about it." She chuckled to herself. "Now I really wonder what happened to that boy. I wish I could see him all grown up."

~~~

At the same time Su-Jin was making such a wish, far away from her room, another person was just waking up from a dream. But compared to Su-Jin's rather light and amusing experience, this person was trying to shake off the reminisces of a nightmare. 

Kang Ji-Won opened his eyes and realized with relief that he was in his own bed. There were no scattered pieces of glass, nor any car body parts lying around on the ground. He was no longer on that street, staring at his mother's destroyed car. 

In his nightmare, Ji-Won tried to walk towards his mother's remains. He stepped onto the ground littered with glass shards. But not even a couple of steps later, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the soles of his feet. 

Looking down, Ji-Won realized with shock that, for some reason, he wasn't wearing shoes. Also, his body seemed to be smaller, like he was around twelve years old. 

Quickly leaving aside that discovery, though, Ji-Won continued to advance along the road. His feet were stinging and burning as the glass shards cut even deeper through his skin. Yet, in spite of everything he felt, Ji-Won didn't stop walking. 

With every step he took, smudges of blood were left behind, but he didn't stop until he finally reached his mother's car. 

Once there, he was startled to see her still alive. 

This was the first time such a thing happened. Every time he dreamt of this night she was always dead, and he would always wake himself up while crying.

But this time, things were different. His mother was still breathing. As impossible as he knew it was, Ji-Won couldn't stop hoping the inevitable would never come. With a pained heart, he kept wishing for her to stay with him a little longer.

"Mother!" Ji-Won suddenly shouted. 

He expected to hear the reverberating sound of his voice but, to his surprise, Ji-Won couldn't hear anything. 

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He moved his lips again and again in a desperate attempt to shout, hoping to hear something. However, every time he opened his mouth to speak, no sound came out. 

Just when Ji-Won was beginning to feel frightened out of his wits, he heard a small noise, like a soft groan. Then, a voice began speaking from inside the car. It sounded very hoarse, like the grazing of sandpaper against the wall. But, even so, there was no way Ji-Won couldn't recognize his mother's voice. 

Feeling even more hopeful than before, Ji-Won perked his ears, trying to listen to those words with the zeal of an extremely pious man during a sermon. 

Yet, what Ji-Won heard, caused his blood to instantly turn cold. 

"Kang Ji-Hwan, I will always hate you! Forever… I curse you to bear this sin!"

After saying that, the woman let out a bloodcurdling laugh that caused all the hairs on Ji-Won's body to stand on end.

A second later, he woke up with a start. After choking and coughing through the panic, he eventually managed to ease his breathing into a series of light pants. 

He could feel the pool of sweat under him, and the pajama top sticking to his back like a second skin. All his muscles were tensed and, with every movement, he could feel his stomach churning. 

Reaching out a shaky hand, he picked up his phone from the nightstand and looked at the time. 

Barely 5 in the morning.

Under normal circumstances, he could have tried to sleep for another hour. But considering his current state of mind, Ji-Won doubted that he would be able to fall asleep any time soon. 

As such, he ultimately decided to get up and take a shower. He hoped that by washing his body clean he might also help his mind to ease a bit more. 

For some reason, his throat felt extremely parched. So, after walking out of the bedroom he stopped by the kitchen counter first. 

Just as he was about to place the phone down, Ji-Won unexpectedly caught sight of the calendar. 

4th of July. 

One day from now there was a date circled with a red marker. 

Ji-Won stared fixedly at that red circle for a few moments.

"It's already that time of the year." he whispered, then reached out a hand to touch the circled date. "No wonder I had such a terrible nightmare tonight. Sure enough, you must still be angry with him, aren't you? Will you really hate him from the afterlife? Will you keep cursing him forever, just like you threatened in my nightmare?" 

After spending another few seconds pondering quietly in front of the calendar, Ji-Won eventually drank his water, then went to take a shower.

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