Chapter 96:Epilogue [2010/06/28]

June 2010  

Early morning.  

The weather in London was cool. Well, rather than cool, it was closer to gloomy… but at least it was far from the sweltering heat of early summer.  

A young woman in her early twenties was running through a park in London.  

She was jogging in tight-fitting sportswear. Even in this cool weather, she was running so intensely that her black hair was drenched in sweat.  

— Tap, tap, tap!  

Before long, she had reached her goal.  

Panting, she gradually slowed her pace.  

“Phew…!”  

She bent forward slightly, then straightened up again.  

Her name was Kang Jina.  

A former student of Hanul Comprehensive Arts School’s Theater and Film Department once known as Cola Sunbae, she was now in her final days at the London Drama School and was actively performing as a theater actress at the National Theatre.  

Jina thought about how quickly time had passed.  

“It feels like just yesterday that I graduated high school in Korea. And now I’m about to graduate from university… Has it really been that long already?”  

The teenage girls who once giggled together in the dorms were gone, replaced by a struggling, twenty-something rookie actress, trying to make her way in the world.  

Jina gazed at the scenery of London.  

An old city under a hazy morning sky, with a cool breeze blowing through.  

After living here for nearly four years, it now felt like a second home.  

There had been good things and bad things, but she had grown accustomed to it all.  

More than anything…  

She had finally come to appreciate the taste of black tea, which she had once avoided because of its bitterness. Now, she even enjoyed teatime.  

“…Tea.”  

“…”  

And whenever she looked at the London skyline, she couldn’t help but think of a certain friend one she hardly got to see anymore.  

A girl with an elegant face, someone she was always bickering with.  

—My mom is British, you know… 

—Hey, Cola! What are you doing?! 

—Fuck you!  

Na Ae-ri.  

A friend she had stuck with for almost six years at Hanul.  

…And as much as they had been inseparable, they had also fought over the pettiest things.  

Back in those reckless teenage days,  

They had shown off their childish bravado in such a small world.  

She never imagined the world was this vast,  

or that there were so many people who thought differently from her.  

“…”  

Sometimes, she regretted it.  

She wished she had been more understanding, had treated the people around her with more kindness.  

And she wished she had taken the time to enjoy the things Ae-ri liked, too.  

“…To be honest, now that I’ve lived in England, I kind of get why you were so proud of it. If it were now, we could’ve enjoyed teatime together and talked for hours.”  

“…Heh.”

Jina let out a bitter smile and turned to head back home.  

At that moment, her smartphone vibrated in her pocket.  

—  Ding!   

“!”  

Jina quickly pulled it out to check. It looked like someone had sent her an email.  

“…Huh?”  

And the moment she saw the sender’s name, her eyes widened in shock.  

It was her.  

The model student who always tried to break up her fights with tea and cola.  

Oh Yujin.  

How could she ever forget that diligent girl?  

“…Yujin?”  

【Subject: Jina, how have you been?】

“!”  

Just reading the subject line was enough to make her eyes sting with nostalgia.  

Jina hurriedly opened the email.  

“!”  

[ …So, I’ve been doing well in New York. I’ve settled down in my own way. But one day, out of nowhere… I suddenly thought of you, so I decided to send this. How about you? Are you doing well over there? ]

*

August was approaching.  

Kang Jina was on a flight to New York.  

She had been worried since it was the summer vacation season, but surprisingly, she was able to book a plane ticket without much trouble. On top of that, she was lucky enough that her trip coincided with the theater’s summer break, making it a perfect time to travel.  

After that, there were no obstacles in her way.  

She immediately called Oh Yujin.  

So, when should we meet in New York? You don’t have to worry about a hotel. I have my own workspace and a place to stay…  

-Will Aeri be coming too?  

-Yeah, she said she could come directly from Boston.  

-I’m in! I’m in!  

Just like that.  

Without worrying about accommodations or transportation, she had only booked her flight and was already on her way.

It was impulsive, but that only made the unexpected reunion even more exciting.  

Oh Yujin.  

Na Aeri.  

And Kang Jina.  

Three best friends who had been scattered across different parts of the world were finally coming together again.  

Just the thought of it made Kang Jina’s heart race.  

“…I wonder how everyone’s been doing?”

*

The Arrival at the Airport.  

Jina spotted her two long-missed friends the moment she arrived. One of them, in particular, looked almost exactly the same as she had in her teenage years, making her instantly recognizable.  

Jina called out to Yujin.  

“Yujin! How do you still look so young?!”  

“Ahaha, is that really the first thing you say when you see me?”  

The girl with glasses (who still looked every bit like a teenager) shyly tucked her hair behind her ear and laughed. Even that small gesture carried an innocence that made her seem even younger.  

“I mean, Aeri and I have totally aged! I seriously thought I had traveled back in time!”  

“Hey, Kang Jina. That’s what you’re going with?”  

“Come on, weren’t you surprised too?”  

“…I was. For a second, I thought maybe she had gotten some crazy skincare treatments.”  

Oh Yujin waved her hand dismissively.  

“Ugh, do you know how expensive everything is in New York? Like I could afford plastic surgery right now.”  

Aeri made a sorrowful face.  

“Yeah, American healthcare is insane. Back in my sophomore year, I broke my leg after a competition, and when I saw the hospital bill, I almost passed out.”  

Jina’s eyes widened.  

“Wait, really?! Are you okay now?”  

“…Jina, it’s been two years. Of course, I’ve healed. If I hadn’t, that’d mean I really am old.”  

“You and I both, Aeri. Unlike Yujin, we’ve taken the full hit of aging, so we need to be careful.”  

“Sigh… I don’t even know if we’re being mature right now or just totally ridiculous.”  

“…Are we?”  

And then, the three of them burst into laughter, wrapping their arms around each other.  

“Pfft.”  

“Snrk.”  

“Huhu…!”  

“Ahahaha—!”   

Despite being in their early twenties, they jumped up and down, squealing with excitement like kids. They didn’t care about the curious glances from passersby.  

For a moment, it felt just like four years ago.

*

The three of them left the airport and headed straight to Yujin’s house. Sitting side by side in the neatly organized room, they cracked open some beers and caught up.  

Jina’s eyes widened.  

“Huh? You met up with Hana the day before the college entrance exam?”  

“Yeah, in front of the dorm. She and I cheered you on.”  

“Ahh~ I should’ve come out a little later too.”  

“Hehe…”  

“By the way, Hana… Go Hana… It’s been so long since I heard that name. Can you believe we actually lived with her for three years? I heard she got invited as a judge for some huge art competition last year.”  

“…It’s really amazing.”  

Aeri had a nostalgic look on her face.  

“Jina, remember how you used to wake her up every day before she got a roommate? During that prep semester or whatever?”  

“I used to plant kisses on those soft, chubby cheeks, haha. And now that same kid is showing up in those patriotic flag-waving videos. It’s hilarious.”  

“You watch those national pride videos?”  

“Every now and then, when I feel like it. What do you usually watch?”  

“Virtual idol competitions in the U.S.”  

“What? You’re into idols? Everyone around me seems to love them, but I still don’t really get it.”  

“They’re surprisingly fun. The top VTubers from each streaming platform serve as judges, and there’s this massive arena where they do popularity votes…”  

She took a sip of her drink as she spoke.  

Eventually, Aeri clutched her flushed face.  

“Ugh, I drank too much.”  

“Yujin’s place is nice and spacious. You can sleep anywhere you want.”  

Yujin held her beer glass neatly and chuckled.  

“Haha, it’s not that big. Plus, I’m just renting, so it’s not really my place.”  

“So what? If you live in London long enough, you start lowering your standards for housing. Right, Aeri?”  

“…Yeah, pretty much. That place is damp and cramped.”  

Aeri wobbled as she got up and staggered toward the bathroom.  

Jina was slightly surprised.  

‘Back in the day, she would’ve snapped every time someone badmouthed England…’  

Maybe.  

After living in the U.S. for so long, she must have had her own thoughts about it.  

Jina was looking forward to hearing them.  

“…”  

“…”  

Yujin and Jina enjoyed the brief silence together. As they sipped their beers, the faint sound of car horns echoed through the window.  

Tearing open a piece of jerky, Jina spoke.  

“…So?”  

“Hm?”  

“What should we do starting tomorrow?”  

“Ahh~ well…”  

Yujin smiled.  

“I was thinking… maybe we could check out the exhibition of our genius junior who just opened their show.”  

“!”

*

A museum in New York.  

An exhibition of paintings was taking place.  

<Artist Hanmari: Solitude, At the End of the Road>  

Jina and Aeri were stunned by the massive painting standing before them.  

“!”  

“!”  

A single, enormous painting—at least 20 meters in both width and height—stood alone, dominating the space. Within the vast canvas, countless living beings were depicted through bold, untamed brushstrokes.  

Despair, death, and ugliness coexisted… yet it was beautiful.  

And at the very center—where all life converged—was a single, piercing beam of light.  

Everyone passing by was staring at it in a daze.  

The three of them unconsciously murmured.  

“Wow, it’s huge…”  

“Ah… It feels like it’s pulling me in. But I can’t look away. It’s really well done.”  

“…Hehe, it’s our brilliant junior’s work.”  

Then, Yujin suddenly spoke.  

“…It’s a shame.”

“What?”  

“Going to school with Mari… in the end, it was only for a year.”  

“That’s true. With the accident and all… there were a lot of circumstances.”  

“…”  

Yujin opened up honestly to her close friends.  

“And… honestly, when I first saw Mari enter middle school, she was kind of scary to me. It felt like that genius was completely denying all my efforts and time. But looking back… that was just… something I imagined all on my own.”  

“…Yujin.”  

“And then Hana, who came in after, seemed so much like a little kid that I couldn’t help but cheer her on. But it turned out… she was cheering me on too. She called me a genius of effort.”  

A memory surfaced in her mind.  

“That’s when I realized. If I’m confident in myself, there’s no need to feel inferior.”  

“…”  

“And right after that, I thought, ‘Ah, it would’ve been great if I could have honestly cheered for Mari and become close with her too…’”  

“…”  

At that moment, a voice unfamiliar yet recognizable came from behind them.  

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”  

“?”  

“?”  

“?”  

All three of them turned around.  

“!”  

“!”  

“!”  

And there, they saw her.  

Mari, wearing sunglasses, was approaching with a sly smile.

That face one they could never forget.  

But the relaxed, human warmth in her expression was something they had never seen before.  

Because of that, Yujin spoke in a trembling voice.  

“You! Mari…!”  

“Mm, hold on a second.”  

Mari paused for a moment, then took out a small notepad from her pocket and began writing something down. It was as if she were organizing her thoughts, carefully choosing the right words…  

– Scratch, scratch…  

“W-well… Have… um… I’ll leave that part out…”  

She mumbled while reading over the sentence a few times, then finally looked up and beamed.  

“Have you been well? I’ve been here the whole time during the exhibition. And realizing that… makes me happy.”  

“…!”  

“I also wanted to stay friends with all of you.”  

“…Yeah!”  

Yujin, on the verge of tears, stepped toward Mari.  

“I really wanted to be close with you too.”  

The feelings she had once ignored and buried deep inside…

Mari approached the younger version of her past self.  

And in one corner of the art museum, memories overflowed.  

“What? Hana is a senior in high school this year?”  

“Yes, and she’s still incredibly cute.”  

No way.  

That little kid… is already a senior?  

It was hard to believe.  

Mari beamed and lifted her phone. On the screen was a lock screen photo—Hana, still with her youthful face, smiling brightly.  

“!”  

“!”  

“!”  

Seeing that, all three friends burst into laughter.  

“Hahaha! She hasn’t changed at all—!”