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[Chapter 27 — The Sea Turns Blue When the Flowers Fall]
Ju Muru’s ex-boyfriend called in the middle of the night.
She hastily hung up.
Talim, trying so hard to hold back laughter that the muscles in her jaw were bulging, turned her back completely. Not even ten seconds after hanging up, a message came in. Talim asked in a trembling voice, still facing away:
“Who could possibly call… at this hour… heh…”
“Oh, just laugh already!”
“Puhaha!”
Talim burst out laughing, and Muru opened the chat with Kim Bongpal. She wasn’t even curious about what nonsense he had sent, but to block him, she had to open the window first.
The message her ex sent at 1 a.m. sounded like the title of a cheesy web novel:
[The Day I Left You Was Spring]
It was so shocking her finger froze mid-block. Buzz. Buzz. Buzzzzz. The messages kept attacking her phone.
[I didn’t know I’d miss you once the flowers fell]
[It’s May, Muru]
[The wound I gave you probably hasn’t healed yet]
[But will you meet this trash one last time?]
The word “healed” was spelled incorrectly, like giving birth. Muru froze with her phone in hand and showed the screen to Talim, who had been laughing.
Now Talim started crying.
“Bwahaha… ‘Healed’…! Bwahaha!”
After the final message — “Why aren’t you replying, Muru, even though you read it?” — she thoroughly blocked him.
Calls, messages — everything.
Talim was crying into her pillow, biting the corner. Muru shoved her phone far across the floor.
“Khhhaaaaah…”
Gu Baekmo let out a sound like a baby dinosaur as he slurped Talim’s special asparagus essence.
Hosik and Igyeom, who’d been half-dead from their hangovers, revived dramatically after downing some dried pollack bean sprout soup. Talim shook her head.
“I made a big pot. Eat as much as you want.”
The soup pot was sitting right in the middle of the dining table with a ladle stuck in it. Baekmo, Igyeom, and Hosik each emptied a bowl and rushed to refill it.
Muru just chewed on the dried pollack. She hadn’t drunk much the night before, so she wasn’t feeling rough.
While Baekmo was mixing rice into his soup, he said to Hosik:
“Hey, if you’re gonna drink like that again, lose some weight.”
“Mm, hyung, I love you too.”
Everyone thought Talim would scold Igyeom, but instead, Igyeom went after Talim.
“Why are you so fine, you traitor?”
“I was cooking, so I couldn’t drink.”
“Haha, I see. That must’ve been lonely.”
“Do you at least remember I carried you home?”
“I must be getting old. I don’t remember anything after drinking these days.”
“If you pass out again, I’m leaving you on the street.”
The usual banter. Classic hangover breakfast table scene.
Seeing Baekmo on his third bowl, it was obvious he slept over just for the soup.
“There’s a psych hospital going up where Vivaru used to be, right?”
Muru picked up some marinated perilla leaves. Talim quickly held down the leaf underneath.
Hosik answered.
“Yeah, can you believe our country’s construction speed? I saw it when you were carrying me yesterday — it’s almost done!”
“You liar. You said you didn’t remember anything.”
Talim rolled her eyes, but Igyeom ignored her. Baekmo, who lived right next to the Vivaru building, grumbled.
“Don’t get me started. For days they were hammering, cutting, and gluing day and night… I even turned off my cochlear implant.”
“Why the rush?”
“No idea. I only saw the construction workers, never saw the actual doctors or whatever.”
Muru briefly considered going there if the clinic was nearby. But who knew how long she’d stay in Junsan? Her apartment in Seoul was probably still just as she had left it.
She was planning to visit Seoul for her next regular psych appointment anyway — maybe grab a few more clothes while she was at it.
Then suddenly, Talim scolded Baekmo.
“You really kicked Muru out and slept like a baby?”
“That mattress is amazing. I slept like a log.”
Muru giggled and said:
“It’s fine. You’re not in great health anyway.”
At that moment, the three guys munching bean sprouts all looked up. Baekmo, who had just polished off two bowls, calmly sipped his scorched rice water.
The eyes of the Hwaran House members grew so big that Muru flinched.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Hyung’s not in good health?”
Talim asked cautiously. Baekmo made a show of gathering nonexistent things with his empty hands and got up.
“Thanks for the meal, guys. I’ll be going now.”
“Sit down.”
Hosik yanked Baekmo back down.
“His heart’s weak… I scared him and it got worse… he even took out pills…”
Talim sighed, and Igyeom and Hosik’s lips started twitching. Any second now, they were going to burst.
Baekmo let out a long sigh.
“I knew this day would come… but not this soon…”
Bwahahahaha.
Igyeom and Hosik couldn’t hold it anymore. Only Talim scolded them.
“Stop laughing!”
What was going on? Why were they laughing?
Hosik choked on his rice, and Igyeom had bean sprouts coming out of his nose.
“Pfft—ahaha! His health? His heart? Are you serious?”
“Why are you laughing?!”
Hosik wiped tears from his eyes.
“This is seriously the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. Baekmo hyung is insane.”
“Talim, why are they laughing?”
But Talim clamped her lips and looked at the ceiling, clearly trying to think of something sad to stop herself from laughing.
Igyeom wiped his tears and spilled the truth about the “Great Baekmo Scam.”
“This guy’s the striker for the Bongnimdong morning soccer club. Also the treasurer for a badminton group. Remember when he clutched his chest and took out some pills? That was mint candy. Everyone in Bongnimdong knows. He only pulls that when things aren’t going his way—huhuhu—oh man, poor Ju Muru.”
It flashed through Muru’s mind like a photo.
The first day at Bibari Supermarket. The day Baekmo bought her black bean noodles. Him gasping, clutching his chest…
He had been grabbing the left side.
It was a Usual Suspects level twist.
Muru got chills.
“Muru, he’s just crazy. He doesn’t mean any harm—”
“Shut it, Park Talim.”
“I didn’t even say it loud…”
Talim shrank down. Baekmo was already leaving the kitchen, walking through the living room.
Furious Ju Muru stood up, slamming the table.
“You scammer!!!”
Only Talim tried to stop her.
Muru, please. Calm down.
The rescheduled shoot day came. The location was a tidal flat two hours from Junsan.
Talim suggested Muru come along if she had nothing else to do. Technically, Muru did — writing her novel. But she also wanted to escape reality.
Her courage to visit her mom at the Hanggyeol nursing home hadn’t grown an inch, no matter how many days or nights passed. Visiting her aunt at Bibari Felice felt even harder.
When she sat at her laptop to write, only words like “missing,” “abduction,” “kidnap” swirled through her head.
Still, work was work. After careful thought, she agreed.
—Muru, wanna come if you’re free?
—Yes!
She didn’t know why, but she’d thought hard about it. Really.
At breakfast, Hosik and Igyeom whined like preschoolers about not being invited. Luckily, it was a weekday. Talim’s “What a shame you can’t come” had zero sincerity.
After exiting the highway, the coastal road began to snake along the sea.
“Wow!”
A blue-gray sea spread out, smelling fresh and clean. Talim quickly rolled down the window on her side. Her short, curly hair whipped in the sea breeze.
She shouted,
“It’s beautiful!”
And Muru laughed beside her.
Their laughter and the sound of the waves scattered together.
They still had time before the shoot.
Talim parked the Jeep by a quiet beach.
“Wanna walk a bit?”
Muru nodded so hard her whole head moved. The sun-warmed sand felt soft.
She took off her shoes and socks, left them in the car, and stepped barefoot onto the sand.
It had been ages since she left Gangneung for college. The sea’s color may differ, but it always flowed the same.
She took a deep breath of the salty air.
Talim, holding a camera, snapped a photo of Muru standing with her eyes closed.
Click.
“Hey! What the heck!”
Muru turned and glared, but Talim just smiled at the photo.
