After Story 261

“You are going to choose strawberry milk and then this bread. Aside from that, it’ll be either this chocolate bar or this caramel. So? I’m right, aren’t I?”

I pushed aside Han Maru who was talking shamelessly in front of me and grabbed a piece of bread. I also grabbed a chocolate bar.

“I’d recommend you go for the one next to that rather than that one. The sticker of the character you want is probably in there.”

“How would you know that?”

“I do. Because I’m a time traveler.”

“You lunatic. You should hold back on watching those movies!”

I headed to the counter with the items in my hand.

Please let there be one today. I bought the chocolate bar every single day hoping for the character I wanted, but I seem to have had no luck over the past few weeks as I didn’t get what I wanted.

“That will be 3,000 won.”

Just as I was about to hand over my card, a hand cut in. It was Han Maru’s hand holding strawberry milk and a chocolate bar.

“What are you doing?”

“You should buy these as well.”

I looked at the strawberry milk and the chocolate bar before sighing. I’ll pay for that as well: I said to the clerk.

“If you want to eat it, then buy it for yourself. Don’t shamelessly ask other people to buy it for you.”

“I’m not buying them because I need them, but because you might need them.”

The way he followed me reminded me of our puppy at home. The way he kept asking for attention was the same too. Maru was the most peculiar guy I met in college. I can still remember what he said to me during the college orientation: This may be your first time seeing me, but I have been watching over you for a long time.

Who would not call him crazy after he said all that? He looked totally fine on the outside too.

“Open it quickly. Let’s see if it comes out or not,” Maru said.

“Don’t you have any friends? Why do you keep following me every day?”

“I have friends. A lot of friends, in fact. But I’m putting them all behind so that I can cling to you. How is it? Isn’t that romantic?”

“Forget it. You aren’t my type. You don’t seem like a man to me in the slightest. Give it up already.”

“I hear that every time, but it still manages to break my heart every time.”

“When did I ever say that? Are you going to bring up time travel again? Geez, that’s a weird shtick you have.”

There was bound to be one crazy fellow in a group of friends, and even among them, Maru was the craziest one of them all. Of course, aside from his unfunny jokes, his character was decent. No, he was actually pretty good. Many people looked for him when something came up.

I had yet to see a senior who hated Han Maru after all. Even the picky professor in the department was very generous to Han Maru.

That made me wonder even more: Why was he so obsessed with me?

“It didn’t come out,” I muttered as I looked at the picture of a white cow. What I wanted was a round piggy.

Just as I was feeling disappointed, Maru handed me his chocolate bar.

“Open it.”

“I don’t want to eat two.”

“I’ll eat it so just take the sticker inside. You want the piggy, don’t you?”

“There’s no way this is the one.”

I opened the packaging with the faintest of hopes. I gave the chocolate bar inside to Maru and took out the sticker hidden inside.

“...It came out.”

It was the piggy sticker I wanted so much. The round piggy wearing a fedora and holding a cane.

I looked at the sticker and Maru alternately. It actually came out?

“Wow, it really came out,” Maru said as though he found it curious.

I smiled and looked at him.

“You were so sure about the piggy sticker being in here, but you’re actually surprised that it is?”

Maru just smiled without saying a word. I took out my diary from my bag. I flipped through the pages to where I put all the stickers. I saw a blank on the rows of neat stickers. It was the space for the piggy.

I took off the sticker and plastered it on the empty spot. The row of characters made me feel good. Now, I had finished all the characters and the diary felt like it had become slightly heavier.

“You happy?” Maru asked.

My lips twitched, but I eventually smiled. I was happy and not in the mood to grumble.

“I am.”

“That’s good then.”

Maru stood up, saying that they should get going quickly. The classroom for the next lecture was halfway up the mountain.

“How much of the assignment did you do?” I asked as I opened the packaging for the bread.

Maru said that he had finished it without a moment of hesitation.

“You did all of it? All of that? One of the seniors told me it would take over a week to prepare for that assignment without help from them.”

“There are methods around it. I’ve seen numerous pasts. That kind of assignment is nothing for me.”

Did he really do all of it? It didn’t sound like he was joking. Oh yeah, this guy was quite smart too. He was at the top of the major with a full scholarship, so I had to admit he was pretty good. A smart guy could finish assignments in no time, noted.

“Do you want me to show you?” he said.

The assignment of the top student. I did feel quite greedy. I would be able to finish every annoying thing in an instant and go hang out with my friends or spend that time rolling around in bed. If I told that smiling guy ‘show me,’ then he would show me his work, without wanting anything or any compensation. It just felt like that.

“No, I’m going to do it myself.”

I took a big bite of the bread after saying that. It would be easy if I copied the assignment off him, but I wouldn’t have anything left that way. Also, it would hurt my pride. I would probably rip my hair out and swear at the professor while suffering by myself as I saw the approaching deadline, but that was for the better.

“You never changed that answer even once,” he said again.

Just as I was about to say that he was saying nonsense again, the thick corn cream got stuck in my throat. When I got momentarily startled and coughed, Maru held something out in front of him. It was the strawberry milk he bought in the convenience store. There was a straw in it as well.

I bit on the straw and started drinking. The stuffy bread and cream went down my throat. I felt like I could breathe again, and my coughing stopped as well.

“I told you, didn’t I? That I bought it because you needed it, not me,” Maru said as he tapped on my back.

That was absurd, but that series of coincidences was pretty funny.

I pulled the straw out and drank the rest in one go.

“Did it go down now?”

“Yeah.”

“What would you have done without me? Now notice my importance?”

“Stop saying something so cheesy. If you keep saying things like that, I’ll ignore you.”

“Fine, fine. Close friends can’t even take a joke.”

We went inside the classroom and sat down. Some of my friends who had arrived first, waved their hands at me to come.

“Hey, don’t you need to admit to being a couple at this point?” one of them said.

I took out my textbook and looked at her.

“How many times do I have to say it? He’s not my type.”

“Yet you’re always walking around together?”

“He’s the one following me. I find it curious too. I never tell him where I am, but he just pops out of nowhere,” I said as I looked at Maru who was sitting with the other boys.

When we made eye contact, he warmly smiled and waved his hand.

There he goes again.

“You’re still denying it? After seeing what he’s doing?”

“He’s just teasing me. This isn’t his first or second day doing something strange, is it?” I said as I thought back to all the things he did.

He was one eccentric fellow who introduced himself as a time traveler from the past to tease her.

“But he only does that to you.”

“That’s what drives me even crazier. He looks totally fine, but he speaks nonsense.”

“So you know that he looks fine?”

“Who says I hate him? I just don’t want to hear that we’re a couple or anything. He’s just playing around as well. It’s something he would stop once he gets a girlfriend.”

“Well, true. What Maru is doing is not really trying to date you. When I look at him, he looks like he has an interest in Eunyoung. I can see a strange air between the two.”

Eunyoung, who had been listening, smiled in embarrassment.

Oh, you aren’t denying it, huh?: I said with a giggle.

“So please stop making people tired. I’m one thing, but I’m sure he doesn’t like it either.”

“You think so?”

Her friend nodded and opened the book. The professor came in and a boring lecture began. The lecture being boring was one thing, but she had to be attentive. She had paid a lot of money to come to college, so she didn’t want to waste it.

“Don’t just copy and paste from the internet. You’re way past that age. The assignment is due next week, so prepare it well. It’ll replace the exams so don’t just do it half-assedly.”

The lecture ended. I woke myself up from a drowsy state by stretching my arms out.

“You have an empty period, don’t you?” asked a friend.

“Yes.”

“Some soju and sweet’n’sour pork, wanna go?”

“I like that combo.”

“I saw people looking for people to go bowling with, so let’s go after we eat.”

“Sounds good. Rolling a bowling ball while tipsy is really fun. But hey, did you guys finish the assignment?”

“I don’t think anyone has at this point in time. Everyone is grabbing their favorite seniors and asking for help.”

“Maru said he was done though.”

“Really? Smart kids are different alright. Should we ask him to show us? He’s at the top of the department. If we can copy his assignment without making it too obvious, we’d get a B at least.”

As she said so, she tapped on my shoulder before pointing behind me. I turned around to look behind me to see Maru standing there.

“Take this with you.”

It was a cuboidal cardboard box the size of a palm. When I had a closer look at it, it was a box of band-aids. I accepted it without thinking. I tried to ask what he meant by giving this to me, but Maru had already turned around.

“Hey, what do you think this means?” I asked as I showed it to my friends.

This was a complete mystery to me.

“Are you injured?”

“Do I look injured? I told you he’s strange.”

awread.com .

I stood up while putting the band-aids in my bag. One of them looked at me and said,

“But you’re taking them with you, huh?”

“It’s a waste to throw them away. Also… there’s something weird today. There was the piggy too.”

“Piggy?”

“Something like that.”

I gestured to my friends who were looking at me in puzzlement before leaving the classroom.

* * *

Na Baekhoon flipped over to the last page.

“It started off as a high teen movie, then sci-fi, but it ends in a romance, huh?”

“Looking at your expression, you seem to like the script,” Haneul said.

While her confident expression looked quite cocky today, Baekhoon had no choice but to nod.

“I like how the female protagonist goes over each of the male protagonist’s actions one by one and eventually comes to a realization. A man and a woman meeting each other after numerous repeated lives is actually quite classic and there’s a sense of catharsis to it. But are you really not planning to use any CG?”

“Other than some tone corrections, I don’t plan on using any. Are you uneasy?”

“No, in fact, I like it this way. With you two acting, it should be better than any graphical post process. But are you going to go with the names like this?”

“Yes. Han Maru and Han Haneul.”

“It’s not bad, but it might give the audience a sense of disparity. As you know, the audience does not consider the actors and the character the same.”

“I know that, but I don’t want to change it.”

“There must be some special meaning, I assume?” Baekhoon asked as he looked into Haneul’s eyes.

If she was insistent on pushing forward with what could become a downside, there should be a reason for it.

“Is it okay that I say that it’s an extremely personal matter?”

“If you say so, Miss Haneul, I don’t plan on prying you further. My only hope is to see this script in its true form.”

“It might not have good results.”

“I wouldn’t have asked you to do this if I started it for money. This is for my own pleasure. You should know that well, but the fact that you bring it up…”

“I’m just saying it so that you can’t say otherwise later,” Haneul said with a smile

Baekhoon returned the script.

“When are you going to start the shoot? I’m ready to give you my full support so just decide on the date.”

“I’ll tell you later. There’s something we had to prepare for all of a sudden.”

“Marriage is definitely important. Please tell me if you need anything.”

“I’m not that shameless.”

Haneul stood up with the script. Baekhoon walked over to the door and saw Haneul out.

“Miss Haneul. I haven’t asked the important question. This film, have you decided on a title?”

“It’s not decided yet, but I do have a tentative title.”

“What is it?”

Haneul faintly smiled. It was the most complex and most wonderful expression that he had seen from Han Haneul until now.

“Thank You For Finding Me. That’s the tentative title.”

“Sounds good.”

“You’re going to say that even if I screw this film up, aren’t you?”

“Probably.”

Baekhoon told her to watch out on her way home as he saw her out.