Friday’s Time Traveler

Chapter 1 : Prologue

Friday, December 23rd. Just two days before Christmas, Seoul’s downtown area was bustling with the atmosphere of the end of the year. A giant tree with hanging lanterns, a few dressed as Santa Claus, and a sea of people walking on the street. It was a boring scene that has been repeated every year, but the exotic scenery that can only be felt for 15 days a year has attracted people who were tired of the same old daily life at once. Even more so, it was natural for the busy Friday night to become crowded.

Cha Seonwoo, a hardworking office worker for three years, hated Christmas so badly. As he always crosses the downtown area from home to work, it was noisy and crowded, and the end of the year, where he encountered even more people every step of the way, was not a pleasure. The colorful light bulbs hanging over his head and the cheerful carols sang from all over the place were no joy to him.

As he wandered through the crowd without power, he suddenly sighed with a tired face like a stray cat in the rain. Even the simple wish to be peaceful on the way home from work was too much of a desire these days. He would rather catch a taxi, but when he saw the roadway where only the sound of the elongation horn was ringing because it was clogged up, that thought disappeared.

“Yeah, even if it’s a little far away, let’s go around here from tomorrow.”

Seonwoo decided to do so and slowly put on his earphones. As to comfort his troubled mind, he touched his cell phone, and the soft guitar sound captured the troubled spirit at once. The voices of the male vocalist that followed were also rustling. Probably a band in England across the water. He tried hard to think of the name of the song with a hazy memory, but his head, tired of the night shift, was a little bit slow. The only thing he barely came up with was the first letter c.

It was almost 10 o’clock at night. The downtown area, full of diverse people, was brighter and busier than during the day. Even though there were already a lot of bars waiting in line, there was no end to the crowds from outside. Like a balloon that swelled up as if it would burst at any moment, the streets were gradually filling up with people. In the meantime, Seonwoo struggled against the surging crowds, hit one shoulder after another, trampled on the back of one’s feet. When he finally reached the crosswalk at the end of the downtown area, he already felt like pickled cabbage.

He neglected the cold wind coming and going through the scattered shawl, and the traffic signal was changing quickly, and he waited endlessly. So, what was after letter c? He stared at the traffic lights blankly, focusing just as much on the song that became familiar the more he heard it.

A crosswalk at night without a car. At a distance not far or near, the traffic lights soon turned green, and he set foot on the crosswalk with a still poor spirit. As if swimming in the dark night sea, regular but slow steps gradually entered the darkness. As the colorful light bulbs covering the downtown sky got farther away, the roadway got darker, and the freezing night breeze got stronger. And the crowded noise and the sweet carols also had long gone. With only letter c was remembered, the song with a forgotten title was constantly lingering in his ears.

All sorts of English words come to his mind and disappear. Although it was too many letters to look at one by one, this was where people tend to be indifferent and obsessed with strange things. His head, exhausted from the repeated overtime work these days, began to spin with a handful of remaining power. He wasn’t even sure if that was the reason.

Seonwoo, who turned his head reflexively at the loud horn that came out of nowhere, froze in place. An enormous dump truck rushed hard at him. The thought that he should avoid it quickly flashed in his mind, but strangely, his limbs were numbed. His legs were dull, as if they were in water. Was it because it didn’t feel real, his mind was hazy like a dream? Closer and closer. Gradually rising sound of the song hit his ears. Closer and closer. Interestingly, as he watched the truck get closer, and magically came up with the title of the song. Closer still. It was a ridiculous title that would make anyone laugh at the situation.

The truck was already a short distance. Maybe he could die. He didn’t like being sick. In the midst of such thoughts, someone suddenly pushed him. He rolled down the road as if he was falling apart. There was no time to feel pain, and all sorts of noises penetrated his ears. His mind woke up in an instant, as if he had been hit by cold water.

“Hey, you crazy! Keep your eyes open! Tsk, tsk!”

The driver, who barely stopped the truck over the lane, opened the window and began shouting at him. Seonwoo, looking up at the truck blankly, not knowing what the driver was talking about with a foolish figure who didn’t even realize what just happened. The driver, who poured his swearing, groaned and put his hands on the steering wheel after a while. The truck roared in the quiet night, spewing out loud fumes.

Seonwoo, who watched the back of the truck slowly moving away, got up from the lingering spot. Now being aware, he was still in the middle of the road. He realized that he was almost got hit by that heavy truck only after he found the dark tire marks left clearly in the place where the truck had passed.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Seonwoo looked around without contempt, and hurriedly approached a woman lying nearby. He wasn’t sure, but thanks to this person, he was okay. If she hadn’t pushed him, it was all over. The future would be terrible to imagine.

“What are you doing on the road? Get out of the way.”

“Yeah? Oh, wait a minute.”

As he slowed down, there was a noise from the car approaching. Seonwoo, who frowned at the headlights emitting bright lights in front of his eyes, apologized for his confused mind, and quickly raised the woman up. Then he grabbed her and barely crossed the crosswalk in an almost dragging shape.

When they touched the sidewalk, a sense of relief came in like anger. From the other side to here, it was unbelievable that he had crossed the street not too far away, and once passed the point of death. He felt the cold breeze in the middle of winter because his mind returned a little, and the Christmas carols that came from far away were heard again.

A long breath like a sigh bloomed white in the middle of the night. Seonwoo glanced at what was out of his ears, busy arranging the earphones fluttering in his pocket. The gracious woman who rescued him from a dangerous accident was silent, still bowing her head. On the outside, there was no particular injury, but he wasn’t so sure. He looked at the woman’s face at first glance with an expression of gratitude and apologization.

“Excuse me? Where did you get hurt?”

He looked embarrassedly at the woman’s gaze, then quietly raised his hand.

“Hey, can you talk to me….?”

Seonwoo, who carefully lifted the woman’s face, was shocked when he felt his fingertips got wet. However, without even having time to recognize the water, the woman’s face, pale and tired under the dim streetlight, gradually emerged. The first thing he noticed was the lips that were sturdy. The gaze, which stayed for a while at the reddish color like blood was oozing out, slowly climbed along her face line. Cheeks shining white like plaster, and brown hair fluttering like threads in the cold winter breeze. The gaze, which was infinitely scattered along the floating baby hair, immediately touched the eyelashes where tears were entangled like cobwebs. The woman was crying.

“What a relief….I’m so glad that you’re safe.”

The woman, who was gasping and barely talking, burst into tears as if she had been enduring it for a long time. Both hands trembled by her sides, and tears dropped one after another without even thinking of wiping her cheeks. Seonwoo didn’t know what to do, so it was pretty pitiful to see her shed tears.

However, Seonwoo was more embarrassed than her. He wasn’t thinking and jumped in front of the truck and was scared. Or, as he did, was it a belated feeling of relief that she was safe? But none of them fit. What was so sad? What was so painful? Seonwoo, who didn’t know the circumstances, couldn’t say anything and hesitated. What kind of comfort should be given to a person who cries as if she was vomiting out of her stomach? He has never learned or heard of anything like that. At first glance through the tears, the woman cried out in an indescribable look.

Around that time, a group of people came up to the ground from a nearby subway station. Everyone was in the midst of burning Friday night in the downtown area, covering the crosswalks one by one across the sidewalk. Seonwoo, who was involuntarily pushed by the crowd in the wind, missed the woman in sight.

“Wait, hey!”

Dozens of crowds that covered the sidewalk quickly crossed the road and disappeared into the dazzling streets. And as if there was nothing left on the sandy beach where the strong waves had passed, Seonwoo stood alone on the sidewalk, where the flashing, broken streetlights loomed. There was no trace of the woman who cried sadly anywhere. Like a mirage, she disappeared for a moment. The roadside where only silence flowed. He stared into the dark air and muttered in vain.

“What just happened…?”