<6>

Professor’s Office

“I have the recommendation letter you asked for.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

Seol-hee politely accepted the recommendation letter.

“You don’t need to thank me. I wrote it because I thought you were worth recommending.”

It sounded like he would not have done this for just anyone.

“Sit down first.”

The two of them sat across from each other at the long table in the middle of the professor’s office.

“To be honest, I didn’t think you would agree to write me a recommendation letter so easily.”

Professor Kim Seok-jun laughed out loud.

“You thought, ‘Why is this strange old man suddenly being so generous?’”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

Seeing her face turn red with embarrassment, Professor Kim waved his hand.

“It’s okay. You’re not wrong.”

He did not seem to care much about what his students thought of him.

“You haven’t changed. You still worry too much about what other people think.”

“Excuse me?”

Seol-hee looked at him in surprise.

Professor Kim pointed with his chin toward the drinks she had brought.

“You brought those for me, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yes. I remembered that you used to like sweet-potato lattes.”

Seol-hee quickly took the drinks out.

Huh? The bottom is wet.

There were signs that some of the drinks had spilled inside the plastic carrier.

She quickly pulled out some tissues, wiped the cups, and handed one to him.

As expected, her own drink had spilled much more.

It must have happened when I fell earlier…

Suddenly, she worried that some of the drink might have splashed onto the man who had saved her.

But that thought quickly disappeared when Professor Kim spoke.

“You still have good sense.”

Good sense?

Yeo In-ok had always told her that she was slow and had no sense.

Dong-chan also constantly complained that she had no sense.

“Me?”

“Of course. Remembering little things like this means you have good sense. Come to think of it, didn’t you also help me with my research paper?”

“You organized the reference papers very carefully. It made things much easier for me.”

Come to think of it, even while working two part-time jobs, Seol-hee had spent her breaks reading the papers he gave her because she found them interesting.

“I… really did that?”

Those had been the days when studying was fun.

She had been tired, but she was full of energy because she wanted to learn more about the subjects she was interested in.

But after she got married, that light inside her had slowly disappeared.

“You even went to the library and borrowed reference books for me without me asking.”

She had thought that nobody noticed how hard she was trying.

But knowing that someone had noticed her efforts all along suddenly made her feel grateful.

“I feel good today. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many familiar faces.”

It seemed that Professor Kim had already had another visitor before her.

“If you ever need my help, feel free to contact me. Even later, if you want to study more, let me know. If it’s you, I’m sure you’ll do well at anything.”

“Thank you.”

She had worried that coming here would only trouble him.

But after meeting Professor Kim, Seol-hee finally let out a long breath.

She carefully held the recommendation letter against her chest and put it inside her bag.

Her heart felt warm.

She left the professor’s office and walked down the central stairs.

Shinwol Foundation.

She felt as if she had taken one step closer to it.

She was excited.

She could finally see some hope.

There was still a long way to go, but simply getting the recommendation letter felt like she had already passed one difficult obstacle.

Just as she passed the raised part in the middle of the lobby, she suddenly remembered what had happened a few minutes earlier.

But she quickly pushed the thought away.

With a lighter heart, Seol-hee left the department building.

“Should I look around before I go?”

She walked around the campus with light steps.

During university, she had been so busy with part-time jobs and exams that she never had time to enjoy the school festivals.

Ten years ago, she had never even dreamed of having enough time to enjoy one.

But now that she had returned to this time, she realized that there were things she could only experience during university.

She was happy that she finally had the chance to experience them.

Seol-hee happily walked around, looking at the booths set up by different departments and clubs.

“Are you here alone? That’s perfect! Our robotics club has a VR experience. Want to visit France? Or maybe Japan?”

“Come here! We can read your tarot cards. We can even check your compatibility with your crush. It’s amazing!”

“We’re the comic club! Take a picture with your favorite 2D boyfriend! We have every character you can think of!”

People on both sides were desperately trying to pull her toward their booths.

Some booths were especially eager to attract people because sudden rain showers and strong winds could ruin the festival.

After walking around for a long time, Seol-hee eventually found herself in front of the large concert hall.

She looked at the event flyer.

There were performances scheduled by O.I.O, Boyfriend, and A-Star.

“They were already this popular back then?”

Seol-hee knew what would happen to the members of O.I.O ten years later.

She smiled to herself.

By now, it had become dark.

People slowly began gathering around the concert hall.

Before she became trapped in the crowd and could not move, she decided it would be better to leave.

“I should go home soon.”

There seemed to be some noise behind the stage.

She heard something that sounded like a short scream.

She was sure she had heard it, but she wasn’t completely certain.

It bothered her a little, but after checking her watch, she turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Then it happened.

Fwish—! Bang-bang-bang!

A burst of noise filled the air.

Bright lights suddenly spread across the sky and swallowed the sunset.

Seol-hee stopped walking and looked up.

Boom—!

Along with the sound of fireworks, a sharp ringing suddenly pierced her ears.

The reflection of the fireworks in the puddles on the ground completely froze her thoughts.

“Ha…”

The strong smell of oil coming from the fuel truck.

The explosions going off one after another.

The cold fingertips of a person wearing a helmet, lying on the ground without any warmth left in them.

The fear she had felt just before her death suddenly came back to her with the fireworks.

Meanwhile, the people around her looked up at the sky in wonder.

But that did not last long.

The fireworks exploded at irregular times and at uneven intervals.

The people watching them began to whisper.

“Hey, doesn’t something seem strange?”

“Yeah. Fireworks are usually set off at the end of the performance every year.”

“The concert hasn’t even started yet.”

“Huh? Hey! Look over there! There’s smoke behind the stage. Is there a fire?”

The voices of the people grew louder.

One by one, they began stepping backward.

Then people started screaming and running away from the stage.

At that moment, Seol-hee was breathing heavily.

Thump, thump—

Her heart was beating extremely fast.

Pain spread through her chest, as if someone were squeezing her heart.

Her legs suddenly lost their strength.

She stumbled backward and stepped into a puddle filled with rainwater.

As she struggled to move backward in her wet shoes, her foot stepped on something.

She had apparently stepped on someone’s foot.

She pulled her shoulders in and was about to turn around.

Then—

A warm hand grabbed her bent shoulder.

The hand firmly supported her so that she would not fall and helped her regain her balance.

A quiet whisper reached her ear like a warm breeze.

“Shh. Calm down.”

The calm voice gently brought her mind back from her panic.

Seol-hee looked over her shoulder and met the eyes of the man holding her.

Under the fireworks exploding wildly above them, he was the only person who looked calm in the middle of the chaos.

The man from earlier?

It was the same man who had saved her when she nearly crossed the threshold of death.

“Look. They’re only fireworks.”

The man looked up at the sky.

Seol-hee naturally followed his gaze.

While everyone else was desperately running away from the stage, only the two of them remained standing there.

“…Beautiful, isn’t it?”

His warm voice reached her through the noise.

The tension that had been gripping her shoulders slowly disappeared.

Her rapid breathing calmed down as if by magic.

Her blurry vision slowly became clear again.

Just as he said, the fireworks were beautiful precisely because they were irregular and uncontrolled.

Only the two of them stood there, watching the fireworks.

“Here. Have some water.”

“Thank you.”

Seol-hee was sitting on a bench.

She took the bottle of water the man had given her and drank.

As the water passed through her painfully dry throat, she finally felt like she could breathe again.

She glanced at the man sitting beside her.

His clean, calm face was turned toward one place.

Only then did Seol-hee realize that she had not even properly introduced herself or thanked him.

“I…”

She was about to speak.

But his next words stopped her.

“It looks like nothing serious happened.”

Seol-hee followed his gaze.

Lights from the outdoor concert were beautifully lighting up the night sky.

An announcement said that a small fire had started and the flames had spread toward the fireworks.

Fortunately, it had been put out without causing a major accident.

Although the concert started a little later than planned, it continued as scheduled.

The cheers and singing from the concert reached them.

The ground beneath their feet shook with the beat.

Then Seol-hee noticed the man’s black shoes.

“Huh?”

When she had seen him in the main department building, his shoes had been perfectly polished.

But under the streetlights, they were now covered in mud.

The mud had even dried in the shape of a footprint.

Remembering what had happened during the chaos, Seol-hee suddenly stood up.

“Is that… my footprint?”

She was so surprised that she didn’t even realize the cap of her water bottle was open.

The movement caused some water to spill onto her hand.

“Probably.”

Yi-hyeok didn’t even look at his shoes.

He took the water bottle from Seol-hee’s hand and placed it down.

Then he took out a handkerchief and placed it in her hand.

He did everything so naturally, as if it were nothing unusual.

“What should I do? I’m really sorry.”

Seol-hee didn’t even pay attention to the handkerchief in her hand.

Her eyes were still fixed on his shoes.

Only then did Yi-hyeok lower his head and look at them.

The mud had dried into a clear footprint.

When he had seen Seol-hee stumbling and about to fall in the middle of the confused crowd, his body had moved before he even had time to think.

A small sigh escaped him.

He knew that even a brief decision could change many things.

But in a situation like the one before, his heart had become weak far too easily.

Even so, he kept giving himself the excuse:

Just this once.

Only this one time.

Yi-hyeok looked at Seol-hee, who kept folding her hands and apologizing.

In the end, as if admitting his own helplessness, he let out a short laugh.