Chapter 199: Shining Star
Eileen sat in the passenger seat of the car, arms crossed, looking at me.
"So."
Her gaze, devoid of any spark, shot through me.
"That's the reason you came looking for me?"
"Correct."
"..."
Eileen let out a soft 'Hoo,' sweeping her bangs aside.
"I'm already incredibly anxious, is that normal?"
"It's perfectly normal."
"Ugh."
Eileen had answered my call not long after I'd asked her to come find me. She'd shown up quickly, too.
'Because I owe you one,' was her response.
"The other three seem to be doing well."
"..."
"..."
Song A-rin and Jang Chae-yeon looked at Eileen with uncomfortable expressions, while Yu Daon watched them with a spinning, amused smile.
The three of them were squeezed tightly into the back seat.
I checked on their condition through the rearview mirror.
They hadn't been sitting together for long, but Jang Chae-yeon and Song A-rin were already bickering.
"Hey, move over a bit."
"This is me moved over as much as possible."
"Don't be such a glutton for space."
"It's not me being a glutton, you're just too skinny."
"..."
Along with Song A-rin, my gaze drifted to a certain part of Jang Chae-yeon's body.
"...Disgusting."
Song A-rin clicked her tongue and turned her gaze toward Yu Daon.
"Huh?"
"I didn't say anything."
"Please don't fight."
"Okay~"
"Not fighting."
Yu Daon answered cheerfully while Song A-rin looked annoyed.
"You're still getting along well, as expected of the HR Team."
"Is this what you call 'well'?"
"If you're close enough to fight, then yeah, I'd say so."
Eileen nodded as she looked at the others.
"Anyway, I think I roughly understand what you're saying."
Eileen nodded at me.
"Actually, after finishing work and trying to go back, I noticed no one in the office was answering their phones."
"So you had found it strange."
"Yeah. If it weren't for this call, I might have gone to the Management Bureau too."
Eileen looked at me, letting out a sigh of relief.
"First of all, since I'm also a team leader, I've heard some things."
"What kind of things?"
"You mentioned something about the moon, right?"
Eileen raised her head to look at me.
"I heard there have been unusual phenomena occurring around the moon."
"..."
The moon.
"But that was just gossip among team leaders, and even then, the higher-ups seemed reluctant to talk about it, so we couldn't dig into it openly."
"I see."
"Still, since I'm both field personnel and on assignment, I did receive something like a guideline."
Where is it? Muttering to herself, Eileen rummaged through her pockets.
She pulled out candy wrappers, receipts, and other useless junk before going 'Ah!' and producing a small note.
<Scenario 3>
The note had those words written large on it.
"Have you not read it?"
You're really good at restraining your curiosity.
At my question, Eileen stared straight at me.
"Do you know why more capable guys than me couldn't rise to team leader?"
"Why?"
"They died because they couldn't curb their curiosity."
"That's a relatable statement."
Song A-rin, who had been listening, blurted out. Eileen just turned her head to glance at her briefly before meeting my eyes again.
"Anyway, if an incident related to the moon has broken out, this was given to me to read."
I looked at the note she had taken out.
The paper wasn't very old and was folded neatly.
What has our team leader been doing that he didn't receive something like this?
"Heo Chan is an office worker, you know."
As if sensing the meaning behind my gaze, Eileen answered in a calm voice.
What exactly is an 'office worker,' really?
I watched Eileen as she prepared to unfold the note, but a sudden curiosity made me ask her a question.
"So, are there other scenarios too?"
"There are."
"How many? What are they about?"
"..."
She stared straight at me.
"...I understand."
"Good. Thanks for understanding without me having to say it."
Nodding, Eileen opened the note, and I also peered at it from behind her.
<Go to the rooftop of the Gangseo-gu Buyeong Building, climb the water tower, and look at the stars. You must go during the day.>
There wasn't much to it.
Just an address and a seemingly meaningless instruction.
"So that's what it says."
"..."
You must go during the day. And look at the stars.
"Isn't that a contradiction?"
"That's exactly why we're not going to follow it, right?"
Eileen answered like that and slumped back against the car seat.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"Where else? Your place."
"...Alright."
Right. Where else would we go but my place?
It'd be a bit awkward to go to any of the other three's homes, and going to Eileen's place would be awkward too.
By process of elimination, the only option was my place, being the sole male.
No one spoke on the way home.
A strange tension hung in the air.
It was only after I opened the front door that Eileen naturally stepped into the living room, looking around.
"Where should I sleep?"
"Please sleep in my room."
"What about you?"
"I'll sleep on the couch."
"I'm not shameless enough to make the homeowner sleep on the couch."
"And I'm not shameless enough to make a guest sleep on the couch either."
"If the host insists, I guess I have to comply. What about the others?"
At Eileen's words, the gazes of the three women tangled in mid-air.
"I'll just sleep on the couch with him."
"Me too!"
"I, I... well... um. Um..."
"Huh? No. That won't be necessary."
I'd learned my lesson after having Jang Chae-yeon and Yu Daon stay over last time.
"I cleared out the storage room and turned it into a guest room, so you can sleep there."
"..."
The three women rolled their eyes around,
"I'll go wash up first, then."
Eileen said bluntly, heading to the bathroom, and the matter was settled for the moment.
*
"..."
Lying on the couch, I looked out the window.
The moon itself wasn't visible, but moonlight was streaming through the window.
It was an eerily bright moonlight.
"..."
Why can't I sleep?
As I tossed and turned, someone quietly walked out of the guest room.
-Thud... thud...
"..."
Her purple hair shone beautifully in the light.
"A-rin."
"Can't sleep?"
Song A-rin perched on the edge of the couch where I was lying and looked down at me.
"I can't sleep either."
"Could it be that we slept while we were inside the dream-within-a-dream?"
"Maybe. I guess I slept too well."
She stared intently out the window.
"Be careful not to look at the moon."
"Even if you told me to, I wouldn't."
She answered like that and leaned back, resting against the couch.
Her back touched my legs.
"Should I get up if it's uncomfortable?"
"No. Stay lying down."
At her oddly firm words, I shrugged my shoulders and stayed put.
"It doesn't feel right."
Song A-rin said that while looking at me.
"What kind of feeling?"
"Just. Clearly, just a while ago... No, what's 'a while ago'? It was just this afternoon that we had our encounter with Aestheticism."
Song A-rin sighed and looked at me.
Uncharacteristically, her eyes were full of worry.
"I have no idea what's going to happen."
"You seem worried."
"Extremely."
She answered honestly and looked out the window.
"I don't know if it will help, but I'm always ready to help you."
Song A-rin said that, looked at me, and then...
"..."
...gave a slight smile with her eyes.
"...I receive a lot of help from you too, A-rin."
"Yeah. Thanks."
Song A-rin waved her hand.
Soon, a nearby newspaper rolled itself up, transformed into a man and a woman, and began to dance.
Under the eerily bright moonlight, the princess danced following the man's lead.
Bathed in the brilliant moonlight, the two bowed to us before returning to their newspaper form.
"A-rin, when did you learn to do that?"
"...Just, you know. Out of boredom."
Song A-rin muttered, glancing at me.
"What, was it not good?"
"No, it was nice?"
"Really?"
Song A-rin smiled faintly and nodded.
"Then I'll make something prettier next time."
"Alright."
"..."
"..."
Silence flowed between us. Song A-rin fiddled with the hem of her clothes, glancing at me furtively.
Why isn't she going?
"Aren't you going to sleep?"
"I am, I am going to sleep."
Song A-rin stammered as she looked at me.
"Sleeping with them makes me feel a bit uneasy."
"With Chae-yeon and Daon?"
Song A-rin nodded.
"Do they snore?"
Frankly, it's hard to imagine Jang Chae-yeon and Yu Daon snoring.
"I-it's not that kind of thing."
Song A-rin muttered, glancing at me.
"Just. I think I'd feel more at ease sleeping here."
"..."
There was a couch opposite large enough for one person to lie on. Song A-rin looked at me for a moment, then averted her gaze.
"W-well... it might be burdensome, so I'll just—"
"Let's sleep."
"...Huh?"
Song A-rin looked at me.
Her eyes were wide open as she stared.
Frankly, I thought I should be the one feeling burdened.
"Are you really okay with this?"
"Yes. We have important matters again tomorrow, don't we?"
We had a hard time yesterday... no, today.
"W-well then... okay."
Song A-rin crawled sluggishly over to the opposite couch and lay down.
"..."
"..."
Our eyes met.
"...Aren't you sleeping?"
"I should be sleeping."
"..."
"..."
Even as she said that, her eyes were glued to me, so I had nothing to say either.
"...Why do you keep looking at me?"
"Ah, that. ...I'm going to sleep now."
She squeezed her eyes shut.
I looked at her with her eyes closed, then closed my own.
Just before falling asleep, I faintly felt as if someone was brushing my bangs aside.
The next morning, there was an incident where Jang Chae-yeon rolled Song A-rin off the couch while she was sleeping, but other than that, nothing much happened.
Even Song A-rin, who had been rolled off, didn't seem that upset.
If it were the her I knew, she probably would have thrown a huge fit.
*
During the day, we stood on the rooftop of the building in Gangseo-gu.
"It said to climb the water tower."
"But where are the stars in the middle of the day?"
Jang Chae-yeon muttered.
"About the stars..."
Stars shining in broad daylight.
We climbed the ladder attached to the water tower.
-Clang... clang...
An unpleasant sound echoed from the old ladder.
-Thud...
We reached the top of the water tower and looked at the brilliantly shining star.
I brought the shining sun into my view.
"You know. The brightest star in the daytime."
I muttered, and simultaneously, the world changed.
"..."
The sound of cars disappeared.
The sounds of countless people, everything, vanished.
Before we knew it, we were standing under a sky filled with clouds.
I raised my head and looked up at the sky.
An ancient staircase stretched out, leading toward the moon.