Gulp gulp!

Sowon took another sip of beer.

Then he smiled like a child imitating an adult.

- Since when? You know, my stomach hurts. Well, I can't digest. I keep having diarrhea. It's been a really long time since I had a stomach ache.

Test takers, even high school seniors, have a stomachache or headache as usual.

Stress from studying. Pressure from CSAT.

Because of those things, I live with various neurological and stress diseases as if they were natural.

The hospital deliberately prescribed painkillers that could not sleep well when examinees found them with such symptoms.

I thought that was also a wish. Like other kids. You're the same.

But one night, something was off.

I still remember it vividly. 150 days of college entrance exam! I was like this. I was taking an online lecture until 1am that day. But suddenly, my stomach hurt. I took a Tylenol because I thought it would be stressful as usual.

Until 2am and 3am. The pain has not abated.

I took two or three Tylenol pills, but it only gets worse.

Sowon felt it when she couldn't sleep. Something's going wrong.

So the next day, I went to the hospital without the first class. I just went to the general hospital in front of my house, and the teacher asked for symptoms and took an X-ray. His expression suddenly changed and he told me to bring his mother.

"If you did it in the hospital...….”

At that moment, the air in the table heaven froze.

Now that we've heard these words. Because everyone was already predicting something.

Haru and Yumi, who kept listening to Sowon's story with a smile, also had a hard time managing their facial expressions.

But my mom didn't pick up the phone because she was busy working. The doctor told me to take a taxi and go to a big hospital. I went to the university hospital as I was told.…. Oh, my God. The doctor told me after an hour or two of tests.

Even then, Sowon said she was worried about missing school today.

Oh, I should get the perfect attendance award. I need to fill in the student record.

What I learned today, won't the important mid-term test range come out? That's a very normal concern.

But the world didn't leave such a wish alone.

It's cancer. It's colon cancer. The C.T. says it's almost stage 3. I think it's spread to other places. You know, asking me to set a date for the hospitalization right away?

You'll wonder how a child gets cancer.

Of course, young children are less likely to develop cancer. Really.

But if you get one in a year.

In an active, always growing body, cancer cells grow really fast, and also spread.

That's why young people say cancer is particularly dangerous.

It happens quickly, and it gets worse quickly.

I'm a minor, so I need my mom to be hospitalized. I waited for about 10 more minutes and my mom called me. At first, I was like, 'Why aren't you going to school?' Since you said you were at the hospital, you gave up your work and ran here.

You must have been surprised.

-He wasn't surprised. Me, too. Mom. It's just. First of all, 'Oh, I see. Then, what happens now. I was very calm to the doctor. I was like, "What should I do about the college entrance exam?"

You didn't feel real, did you?I know. The funny thing is. There's a doctor, a surgery. Treatments. Considering many things, if you think about it, it's going to be hard for the moment you say that. That's when I felt real. Oh, I'm about to die.

"I see."

There was nothing more to ask, nothing more to hear.

Even though I know I shouldn't. A little thought crossed my mind that I didn't want to hear it.

You can't help yourself.

To borrow the grim reaper's words, it was inevitable to accept that it was fate, and the story behind a child who sat in front of him and told this story was painful anyway.

Yes, that's what happened.

Maybe that's why Sowon didn't talk any more.

The child who cried so well was just calm now. It hurt me more.

The same was true of the day.

In the past, we called the grim reaper to see how fate could be like this, but now we can accept it calmly.

It's the same with Yumi that her heart has become stronger.

Smiling-!

Yumi, who had been silent for a while, opened another can of beer and put it out.

Sowon, who realized that her beer glass had been emptied, took it and gulped down.

"Well, what's Hahn? The fact that I didn't take the college entrance exam? Or, not having fun after the college entrance exam?”

Well, yeah. Actually, I think it's one of the two. I don't know. I haven't taken care of myself, and I've been preparing for it for 8 years. I want to take the college entrance exam. I don't know if what I really want is the CSAT or things I didn't enjoy studying.

Sowon seemed not to know exactly what her resentment was.

But one day I was able to affirm.

"Maybe the latter. That I couldn't play."

"How do you know?"

"Just, I had a similar customer before. Sua and Seoa were sisters."

They were similar to wishes, but they certainly leaned toward studying and unfulfilled dreams.

Sister who dreamed of being a police officer. She went to Noryangjin first, but eventually she was eaten.

The younger sister who left for the place where she ate her sister to succeed her, and the older sister who suffered just looking at her suffering blood.

It was a day when I made the two people who had twisted resentments cross the line, so I could talk with confidence.

"Sowon, why did you say you studied?"

Actually, I don't know now that I think about it. People around me told me to do it and complimented me for doing it well. Then let's aim for a good university! I think I did it while doing it.

"I went to a certain university and a certain department. I'll do something. What about that?

It's kind of weird to say this myself. I wanted to major in business administration at Seoul National University.

"What were you going to do after you graduated from Business Administration?”

-Well, actually, it's not decided. Since college is four years old. It'll be decided in there. I just thought about it vaguely.

"Then maybe I'm right. Trust me."

In fact, when I first saw Sowon, I thought of Su-ah and Seo-ah.

It was the same that he was a student of a similar age, and that his resentment was related to studying.

But the two were essentially different.

I heard you wrote down what you wanted to do on your bucket list. Do you remember that?

Oh, not all of them, but I remember some of them. What I wanted to do after the college entrance exam."Then let's go do it. Let's do it as much as we can. Somehow."

- But how can I...….

Tell me first. He's doing that for a day, because he's thinking.

I didn't have much time today.

The fried chicken and fried food were almost sold out, and the beer I thought I had bought enough was almost empty.

Even the ghosts who drank a lot because they liked the atmosphere were half-asleep because they were so drunk.

Then. Well. I.

It's 3 a.m. in the middle of the night.

Sowon said, looking up carefully at Haru and Yumi.

I want to go to an amusement park. I've always envied my kids hanging out.

Your very small wish.

* * *

And very naturally.

A few days later, Haru and Yumi were at an amusement park.

When it comes to amusement parks in Korea, I basically think of two things.

Where it's outdoors, where it's indoors.

After thinking about where to go, I came to an outdoor place where there are many rides even if it is a little far away.

XX Land in Yongin.

Even though it was early on weekdays, the amusement park was extremely crowded from the entrance.

Even a situation where buses are coming in continuously.

I wondered what day it was today, but come to think of it, all the students got off the bus.

High school students dressed up in plain clothes, not school uniforms.

At the end of the CSAT, the school seemed to send a lot of amusement parks.

Whether the timing is good or bad...…. I couldn't figure it out.

"When was the last time you were at an amusement park?"

"Well, I think my last time was in elementary school. I came on a school trip. I don't play much after that."

Choi Han-seok didn't come asking why old people were involved in the play of young adults, so now there were only two people, Haru and Yumi.

Yumi told me to prepare like a high school student who really did my best, so I stood still and looked around the closet the night before departure, but I didn't have clothes to look cool.

It was a day when I wasn't interested in decorating or other people's eyes.

Therefore, I thought about it for a long time and came back wearing jeans and a hoodie, which are the most student-like ones.

It's been a while since I put gel on my hair. I thought this was pretty well decorated.

"But Yumi, didn't you say you only slept when you were a student? It makes me feel sorry for myself.

"Come on, come on. I didn't even dress up like that's all.

As soon as I met Yumi today, such thoughts melted away.

Is it Yumi that I see every day? To the point where it seemed, Yumi cared properly.

Of course, I put on makeup smoothly.

Similar to Haru, he wore a black hoodie and a pink cardigan, which was different from Haru even though he was dressed similarly.

When I untied my ponytail hair at the restaurant, I felt very humble.

Nevertheless, when I saw the black hood written [WALK HARD!!!], I thought Yumi was indeed Yumi.

"You look so different without any makeup. People."

"What's that? Are you saying you like it?”

"I'm talking in a good way.”

"Oh, okay. Then I'll have to dress up well in the future.”

"Suddenly?"

"It doesn't hurt to look good on you, does it?”

"That's... that's true."Strangely, I couldn't refute what Yumi said.

That's true, but it feels weird.

But there was no time to think deeply about the day.

I didn't come to the amusement park today.

Although today is a day off from heaven for meals, Haru and Yumi are here to work anyway.

Besides cooking. It was also their job to release the ghosts.

Once again, he was pushed into the amusement park by the crowd of students.

"Well, I'll call you.”

After going to a place where it was a little deserted, he grabbed the talisman he had put in the back of his cell phone.

"Cha So Won. Cha So Won. Cha So Won."

The talisman trembled very lightly when I called his name three times.

And when I opened my eyes.

What?

"Hi, Sowon."

Huh? This is.

"You said you wanted to come to the amusement park. That's why I called you."

As usual, Sowon, wearing a summer uniform, opened her eyes wide.