WIRHIHWS 06

Episode 6

“Uh, what’s this?”

As I opened the door, the first things I saw were bookshelves.
Three large bookshelves lined up together.
They were things I’d never seen in the country house before.

“Right, this is the room Grandpa said not to enter and locked.”

Cough!

Sure enough, it was the same—no ventilation, full of dust.
Turning my gaze to the wall to open the window…

“Huh, only this room has no window?”

Old houses have many windows.
Air conditioners weren’t widely available back then, and
due to the room-within-a-room structure, many windows were usually made for ventilation.
This room uniquely had no windows.
Honestly, just three large bookshelves lined up.

“…That’s strange.”

But something felt off.

“I can faintly hear the sound of wind…?”

Whoosh!

The sound of wind escaping through a narrow crack.

Where is it coming from?
Thinking that, I took about three wet wipes from my saddlebag, covered my mouth and nose, and closed the room door.

And tap tap!
I brushed off the dust on the bookshelves with my hand.

Sigh!
Like a dragon breathing fire, the dust whooshed! spread out.

“Huh!”

Feeling this was beyond wet wipes, I held my breath.
Grrk!
But I didn’t anticipate what would get in my eyes.
Frantically closing my eyes, I peeled off the dust stuck to my eyelids.
Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to make me collapse in pain, but I received a dust shower that brought tears to my eyes.

“As I thought… there’s something.”

Even with the door closed, I could faintly hear the wind sound.
And the dust swayed slightly with the wind.
It seemed there was something behind the bookshelves.

“I’m sorry, Grandpa. I’ll clean up first.”

The books on the shelves all had covers on them.
They must have been books Grandpa cherished.
Touching them made me feel sorry towards Grandpa.
Just in case he appeared in my dream calling me “You rascal!”, I showed an apologetic gesture.

Grr!

I closed my eyes briefly and said a prayer to Grandpa.
Then, I immediately started moving the bookshelf.

Creak!

The bookshelf, heavy with piles of books.
Still, having done all sorts of work at the factory, I wasn’t lacking in strength.
I was just afraid the old bookshelf might break.

“Ugh!”

Grr!
The bookshelf scraped against the wooden floor.

‘I shouldn’t walk barefoot there…!’

Like the wooden floors in elementary school, walking barefoot might get splinters in my toes and cause trouble.

Putting in moderate strength like that, the bookshelf was pushed aside.

Huff, huff.

Wiping off the sweat and dust-covered mess with a wet wipe, I looked at the wall.
But, huh?

“What? There’s no window in the wall?”

Strange? I’m sure the wind was blowing…

“What, this house has a basement?”

What’s this? Puzzled, I looked at the floor and saw a door leading to a basement.
What could possibly be there that they blocked it with a bookshelf?
I was incredibly curious.

Ugh!

Unfortunately, only half was visible, so I moved the other bookshelf aside.
Thus, the door to the basement became visible.

That door wasn’t made of wood, the same material as the floor.
It was an iron door that felt strangely alien, covered in peculiar patterns.
And a faint breeze could be felt, just like the dust swaying earlier.

“Ugh surely it’s not a bug hell, is it?”

Being an old house, it probably wasn’t maintained.
I worried that when I opened the door, bugs might come swarming out.
Huh, ha, cough!
Forgetting about the dust, I took a deep breath and my throat itched, making me cough.
At the same time, strength entered my hand touching the handle.

“Huh? Huh?!”

Suddenly, the door was pushed open and Yoon Yeonwoo fell inside.
No matter how I looked, it seemed like a door to pull…!

Crash!
Yoon Yeonwoo fell.
With the sound of his whole body hitting the floor, he came to his senses.

Ugh!
His elbow hurt from the impact of the fall.
But thankfully, he felt no pain in his face or head.

‘This place…’

He hurriedly looked around.
A very large door, reminiscent of a boss room entrance in a game, came into view.
The pattern on that door closely resembled the one on the door Yoon Yeonwoo had just pushed.
He lifted his head.

“What in the world…”

If he fell, there should be an entrance above.
But there was nothing on the ceiling.
It was an entirely unfamiliar space.

Hmmm—!
The door emitted a low hum.

“Is it telling me to open it…?”

Hmmm——!
As if answering Yoon Yeonwoo’s words, the door began to hum even more roughly.

Damn, what should I do?
Looking around, there was no space to escape.
I tried digging into the ground with my hands, but the floor wasn’t ordinary dirt.
Ultimately, there were only two choices.

Open that door and go out.
Or not open the door and starve to death here without eating anything.

Only two options.

‘I’ll have to try opening it first.’

A room I can’t leave unless I open the door.
Nothing can be done.
Yoon Yeon-woo placed his hand on the door handle.
Just as his skin touched it…

• Welcome to the Spirit Realm.

A familiar voice was heard.

[Dozens of years after being severed, the Spirit Realm reconnects with the real world.]
[Spirits can return to their places.]

Along with the unfamiliar voice, a bright light spread before Yoon Yeon-woo’s eyes.
The light was incredibly bright but didn’t hurt his eyes.
For some reason, it felt very warm and soft.
Simultaneously, how should I put it, it felt familiar.

[The customer is in an area with no reception, or the phone is turned off, so we cannot connect.]

“What?”

Jang Hoe-cheon tilted his head as Yoon Yeonwoo didn’t answer his call.

“Where on earth is he and what is he doing to be in an area with no reception?”

No matter how rural Haenam is, there are almost no areas with no phone reception.
Unless he took his phone underwater or went into a cave, that shouldn’t happen.
Or maybe his phone is off and he’s taking a nap without realizing?

“I was hoping to have lunch together for the first time in a while.”

A new tonkatsu restaurant had opened a few days ago, and I wanted to try it.
Unfortunately, Yoon Yeonwoo wasn’t answering.
Well, nothing to be done, I’ll have to go eat alone.

Jingle!
Just as I was dressed and about to grab my car keys to go out,
a customer opened the salon door and entered.

“Oppa, hi.”
“Oh, it’s Yuna?”

A woman with disheveled hair, as if she just woke up.
Jo Yuna waved her hand, greeting Jang Hoe-cheon.

“What, why are you down here? Don’t tell me you quit your job and came down too?”
“Huh? Yeah, why? Is there another oppa who came down besides me?”

Jo Yuna is Jo Hyun-jun’s younger sister.
So we’ve been close since childhood.

“What, don’t tell me Yeonwoo oppa came down? He’s the only one among your friends who stayed up there.”
“Yeah, that’s right? He said he lives in Haenam now.”
“What?! No way, you’re only telling me this news now? Good thing I came down!”

Hearing that Yoon Yeonwoo had come down, Jo Yoon-ah smiled brightly.

“Where is he? At home? I should go find him right away.”

Suddenly rolling up her sleeves to go outside, I grabbed Jo Yoon-ah.

“You, going like that with that hair?”
“Huh? Ah, is this hair a bit like that?”

Her completely disheveled hair.
With a charismatic hairstyle like a lion’s mane, Sigh! Jang Hoe-cheon burst out laughing.
Seeing her look more like a man than a woman, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“A lion? Yeonwoo might have a heart attack seeing you.”
“No, well… I have my looks, you know. Wouldn’t this hair be okay too?”
“Goodness.”
“What’s with that reaction?”

Jo Yuna made a face.

“Anyway, get it done and then go. Ah, and Yeonwoo isn’t answering his phone. Even if you go now, you might not see him.”
“Really? Hmm, then it’s okay to get it done first. It’s not that urgent anyway.”

Naturally sitting in the salon chair, Jo Yuna.
Jang Hoe-cheon adjusted the height, raising her to the end of the chair.

“Oppa, lower it a bit. Isn’t it too high? Your feet aren’t touching the ground. And that hair color, what is that, did you miss someone’s liver?”
“You should have grown taller then. Not even 150 cm. And isn’t this color pretty? It’s like ruby.”
“What?! I’m 152 cm, you know?!”

And so, the two began bickering like old times.

“You really haven’t changed at all since you were little.”
“What? You’re not talking about height, are you?”
“Height, and your personality is still fierce. Sometimes you seem like a tough guy.”
“It’s because I played with you guys. Sometimes I think if I jump from the second floor, as long as I do a break fall, I’d survive.”

Recently, things like ‘Egenyeo’ or ‘Tetonyeo’ were trending.
Jo Yoon-ah was a ‘Tetonyo’ type.
Yet, her looks were as pretty as an idol’s.

Even Jang Hoecheon, who attended beauty school in the city and worked in a shop for years, could count on one hand those with looks like Jo Yuna.
It was her own fault for ruining that advantage with a tomboyish personality.

“So, why did you come?”

Swoosh, swoosh.
Combing her hair with a brush.
Her hair formed long lines following the brush.
Despite his thug-like large build, Jang Hoe-cheon’s touch was incredibly gentle.
Feeling that touch, Jo Yuna smiled.

“I wanted to rest a bit, and we used to have a band together, remember? I was reminded of that. So I thought maybe I’d sing again after so long~. Maybe even do YouTube with it?”
“What would you have done if Yeon-woo hadn’t come down?”

A band needs drums, guitars, lots of things, but the most essential is a vocalist.
Yoon Yeon-woo was that vocalist.
He was the best singer among us.
Jo Hyunjun did sub-vocals, but he seemed very busy these days.

“But I’m not sure if he’ll do it. The band wasn’t something Yeon-woo desperately wanted to do either. In the end, Yeon-woo left the band and we haven’t gathered for the band due to various things.”

Yoon Yeonwoo was a strange and somewhat pitiful guy.
Usually, by high school, you have some outline of dreams and things you want to do.
He had nothing.
He just did things because his friends wanted to, out of necessity.

“Hmm, that’s true too. If not, well, I’ll have to sing.”
“There’s no vocal academy here, man. Where are you planning to burst our eardrums from? Hey, you need a root touch-up too.”
“Yeah? Then, do it for me.”

Under the yellow hair, quite a bit of black hair had grown out.
Even while busy, she always took care of her appearance.
How hard must it have been for her not to do what she liked?

“You had a hard time too, huh?”
“Is it that obvious? It was a bit hard. That damn department head bastard…!”

At Jang Hoe-cheon’s words, a barrage of curses flowed out like a burst dam.
A stream of profanity thick enough to make blood flow from the ears.
Listening to it all, cursing along, he trimmed Jo Yoon-ah’s hair.

While receiving his friends’ worries, Yoon Yeon-woo couldn’t help but doubt his own eyes.

“Woah~! It’s Yeonwoo~! Yeonwoo!”
“Yeonwoo-ham! Just as you said, Yeonwoo has come-ham!”

Because when he opened the door with the mysterious pattern, the scene he saw in his dream unfolded before Yoon Yeonwoo.