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Chapter 229

"But lately, he\'s been..."

In-Ah quietly listened to her friends\' conversation. These were the friends that she had gathered to eat and play bowling with. Since they played together once, they always stuck together at school.

It wasn’t that they did anything special together. They basically ate, sat, and chatted with each other during break time.

The topic of their conversations was always the same. They were either praising or gossiping about other people. In-Ah only played along and didn\'t get deeply involved in the conversation. She didn\'t like talking about other people\'s stories. It was fun, but listening to them talk made her feel uneasy and guilty.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, one of the students said, “But why isn\'t Sun-Woo coming to school?”

In-Ah only half-listened when the others were talking about other people, but she raised her head slightly at the mention of Sun-Woo. However, when she raised her head, she realized that all her friends\' eyes were on her. It was no longer unusual for her friends\' attention to be focused on In-Ah when someone mentioned Sun-Woo.

"I don\'t know either. Why are you all looking at me?" In-Ah said, bewildered.

Her friends chimed in one by one.

"Um... because you\'re the only one who might know?"

"I heard from somewhere that he sometimes comes to the dormitory."

"Right, I still don\'t know his number. Isn’t he not on any form of social media?"

"Really? How does he live like that?"

"It is possible. I don\'t use it either."

"But seriously, don\'t you know? Hasn\'t it been a whole week since he disappeared?"

"Has it been that long already? I didn\'t know it had been that long."

"Show some love. He\'s our classmate, after all."

The topic of the conversation shifted from social media, then returned to talking about Sun-Woo. The attention of the friends once again focused on In-Ah.

In-Ah raised her head with a bitter smile. "I don\'t know. We haven\'t been in contact lately..."

Wooong!

In-Ah\'s phone vibrated on the desk. In-Ah stopped talking and picked up her phone. She was receiving a call. In-Ah abruptly got up from her seat after checking the caller ID.

Her hand trembled slightly as she tightly gripped the phone. The friends who were in the middle of a conversation looked at In-Ah with curious eyes.

"...Wait, I need to take this call."

"Huh? Uh, okay."

In-Ah walked out into the hallway, leaving her friends nodding with a sense of unease behind. She stared silently at the name displayed on her phone. It was Sun-Woo.

Normally, she would have answered the call without a second thought, but today, she didn’t feel like it. Although In-Ah had called Sun-Woo several times and sent him several texts after he returned from his mission trip, Sun-Woo had never replied once.

Unaware that he had decided to take a break from school for a few weeks, In-Ah secretly worried as she looked at his empty seat. She wondered if something had happened. Unfortunately, she heard occasional testimonies among the students that they had seen Sun-Woo. From that moment on, In-Ah decided not to worry about him anymore.

School life was enjoyable even without him. The classes were a bit difficult but manageable, and she had friends to hang out with during break time and lunch.

So, she wouldn\'t answer the call.

She found it reprehensible for him to expect her to answer after not responding to her usual messages. She found it annoying. She was not going to answer. No way...

"...Hello?" In-Ah finally answered the call.

However, there was no sound from the phone. Had the line disconnected? She checked, but that wasn\'t the case. In-Ah went down the stairs with the phone pressed to her ear as silence flowed through it. It was still far from the end of break time.

Even if the break ended during the call, it didn\'t matter. It wouldn\'t be a big problem if she entered the class a little late. In-Ah stepped outside the building.

"Hello? What\'s up? Why did you call and not say anything...!"

—Can you come out for a moment? I’m in front of your house.

"..."

As soon as she heard the voice, she couldn’t dare to speak. She had answered the call to get angry, but now that she heard the voice, she couldn\'t get angry at him at all.

In-Ah closed her eyes tightly and sighed. "What are you talking about? I\'m at school right now."

—Oh, I see. Then maybe we can meet after school.

"...Stop talking nonsense," In-Ah replied sharply.

In-Ah recalled what Sun-Woo had told her before his mission trip. He had said that nothing would happen and that he would come back. But something had happened during the mission trip, and Sun-Woo hadn’t returned to school. He hadn’t kept any of his promises. She wouldn\'t have been this angry if he had at least been in contact, but he hadn’t contacted her at all.

This wasn’t something she should be so bent up about. Sun-Woo must have had his reasons, but she didn\'t like that he didn\'t tell her what those reasons were. She didn\'t necessarily need to know. Sun-Woo didn\'t have to tell her. Maybe she was angry because their relationship was now at the point where they wouldn’t speak to each other unless necessary.

"I can\'t do it after school either. I\'m busy. I have to start studying soon."

—It\'ll only take a moment.

"...Why are you suddenly calling me to tell me this? Do you think I\'ll go out just because you say so?"

—I told you back then.

"What?" In-Ah asked bluntly.

There was a moment of silence through the phone.

—I thought I mentioned that we should meet after school and grab something to eat.

"..."

—I\'ll wait for you at the café in front of the school.

"Don\'t bother. I’m not coming out."

—Well, I\'ll wait until 7 o\'clock then.

Click.

Sun-Woo hung up after leaving that message. In-Ah sighed as she stared at her phone. She couldn\'t believe it.

"...Crazy bastard."

It was now 3 o\'clock.

* * *

As soon as I stepped outside, I realized the weather was quite chilly. Not long ago, even wearing short sleeves was hot, but now it was too cool to wear just a T-shirt. I ordered a drink at the café. I had told In-Ah I would wait for her and sit down to read a book.

I picked reading up as a hobby when I wasn’t using the Staff of Reversal to practice the reverse spell technique. At first, I started reading to gain any clues about the reverse spell technique, but later on, I found it enjoyable.

To acquire knowledge, one had to go through several trials and errors, but through reading, I could skip or shorten that process.

Buzz.

Right then, my phone rang. I thought it was a text from In-Ah, but it was from Ha-Yeon. I closed the book and checked the message.

[I have something I want to ask you about. It’s about what we talked about earlier. Can we meet this weekend?]

[Can\'t we talk through text?] I replied immediately.

[It\'s not something that can be discussed through text.] Ha-Yeon quickly responded as well.

I nodded. Ha-Yeon was acting exactly as I had expected.

[Okay, then let me know the time and place.] I sent that reply and placed my phone upside down on the table.

\'What we had talked about earlier\' and ‘it’s not something that can be discussed through text’ were incredibly meaningful expressions. I was already starting to get excited, wondering what Joseph would think when he saw this. The truth was that Ha-Yeon was using these expressions because I had instructed her to do so. I had advised her to avoid using direct speech and talking in person about important matters since Joseph might be intercepting my texts or calls.

Anyway, Ha-Yeon was doing as I had intended. The important things now were Joseph and Sung Yu-Da. The success of this plan depended on how those two reacted.

Ding!

Just then, the door of the café opened and In-Ah walked in. She looked around and spotted me. I waved my hand, but she didn\'t acknowledge my greeting. Instead, she approached me silently and sat across from me.

I checked the time on my phone. "You\'re early.”

It was a little past five o\'clock, even though I said I would wait until seven. Judging by the fact that she was still wearing her school uniform, it seemed like she had come straight here after school.

“I didn’t think you’d be here waiting for me.”

"I didn\'t wait. I just arrived as well."

"What? This doesn\'t make any sense." In-Ah chuckled at my casual lie.

She ordered a drink at the counter and came back, staring at me in silence for a while. She later went up to the counter to get her prepared drink, and she brought back a strawberry smoothie and placed it on the table.

"You haven\'t been coming to school lately," she said.

I nodded.

"Yeah, I have been preparing for something," I replied.

"Preparing? What for?"

“You know, things here and there."

"...I see. It seems like you don\'t want to talk about it."

"It\'s not that I don\'t want to, but I just can\'t. For now," I said, looking at her. "I will tell you soon. I think I’ll be able to talk to you about it in no time."

"..."

In-Ah glared at me with her mouth shut. Her brown eyes looked familiar as they bore into me. They reminded me of Yoon-Ah\'s gaze in the underground chapel. In-Ah and Yoon-Ah looked so similar that they could be mistaken for twins. That was why I had called In-Ah and not anyone else.

Yoon-Ah could speak now. If things continued on this trajectory, she might fully regain her ability to speak, and In-Ah would be able to meet her soon. I wanted to share that joy with someone. While thinking about who I should meet, In-Ah was the first to pop up in my head.

"...You didn’t say anything, and you haven’t even come to school. What on earth are you preparing for?"

"Something truly amazing," I said casually. "You should look forward to it."

"If it\'s not something spectacular after all of this, I’m going to smack you, okay?"

I nodded. "Sure."

We chatted for a while. Most of it was about school, but it was hard for me to keep up with her because I hadn\'t been to school for a while. School had changed a lot, even during my short absence. New events and rumors that I’d never heard about had sprung up every day.

After about ten minutes, In-Ah finished her drink. I returned the two empty cups to the counter and put the book I had placed on the table into my bag. Then I packed up the rest of my miscellaneous belongings and stood up from my seat.

In-Ah looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Are you leaving already?"

"I feel like I\'m taking up your time. Didn’t you say you were busy?"

"...No, uh, it\'s okay if you stay a little longer... If you want to, I mean."

"I\'m fine. Let\'s go. I gave you a call because I wanted to see your face."

"..."

In-Ah seemed disappointed as she got up from her seat. Judging from her expression, her excuse of being busy was probably a lie. Nevertheless, I got up from my seat and left the café. I wanted to return to the underground chapel as quickly as possible so that I could turn Yoon-Ah back into a human as fast as possible.

In-Ah looked pretty in her school uniform. She beamed with vitality and energy. I wanted to see Yoon-Ah in that state, truly alive.

I was the reason why Yoon-Ah wasn’t able to wear her school uniform like In-Ah. I was the reason why she looked lifeless and void of energy.

Seeing In-Ah added to the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. However, I wasn\'t as discouraged, sad, or powerless as before. There was a way to heal Yoon-Ah, and there was no time to be discouraged or sad.