Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Chapter 78

“Geomancy doesn’t take effect even if you are in a hurry. When it’s due, spring or summer comes to us. Everything will work out smoothly when the right time comes.”

“What are you talking about, Chief? If everything works out well in due course, why is everybody crazy about geomancy?”

“Because it’s about time. For example, they feel it’s about time to pay attention to their houses and spaces.”

“Dang it. This is sheer deception! It looks like there is a real solution, but there isn’t.”

“So, are you going to go back to Seoul?”

“I don’t care even if it’s deception. I’m going to buy it anyway so I won’t have any regrets later. Let me do whatever I can do. Only that way can I separate with Konsu once and for all, which I have realized only now. Oh, I see a rest area over there.”

Confirming the signpost, she drove to the right lane and pulled over.

As it was late at night, there were very few customers at the rest area.

Both of them sat on a bench, each with a cup of coffee in hand. The wind in the early summer was cool. Though they felt a bit chilly as they only had T-shirts on, they could feel warmth instantly while drinking coffee.

“Is this our first trip together?” he asked, sipping coffee. She smelled the coffee fragrance from his mouth.

“You bet! First trip .”

“Are you excited?”

“Nope. Not yet. I think I can get excited after I obtain the crystal mandrian ducks.”

“What about your frame of mind now, Arum?”

“Well, I feel like I’m a strong-willed general charging toward the enemies courageously.”

“What a great woman!”

“You’re teasing me, aren’t you?” She looked sharply at him.

“How come we met at the police station for the first time, when we are not gangsters?”

“Precisely speaking, it’s not at the police station. It’s right at your house.”

“Nope, let’s rule it out because you were unconscious at that time.”

“I just don’t know why we have had an extraordinary series of incidents until now.”

“Well, you know, chickens come home to roost.”

“I’m a woman, Hojoon!”

“Yeah, you’re a woman,” he chimed in.

She asked back, “What the heck? Did you ask to date a man in the past?”

“I was kidding. Let me ask you this. What kind of date do you want?”

He was really curious.

“Well, I want one. A completely romantic dating.”

His ears got tempted right away.

“Are you curious? But it’s a secret! When I meet a man whom I really love, I’m going to practice it.”

As if she already imagined it, she was smiling.

“Why are you happy about?” he asked in a sullen voice. He went on, “I envy that guy, though I don’t know who he is.”

“You bet.”

“What is the secret? Is it such a big deal?” he complained now.

“Well, the most important is the date of dating.”

He felt jealous, so he scooted closer to her to hear what she wanted to say.

“On December 31, I’m going to see the setting sun with him at the west coast. Isn’t it fantastic? There, he and I will be looking back at what we went through during the year. Watching the last sun of the year, we will both hold hands together. And we are going to pat ourselves on the back, expressing thanks to each other for having been together and spending the year well.”

“Is that all?”

“Nope. And then we’ll be driving to Jongdongjin. It will be awfully cold because it’s before sunrise. Holding a canned coffee like this, we will be staying up all night, leaning on each other for warmth, and looking at the sea.”

“Don’t you know how cold it is at the winter sea before sunrise? So, are you going to see the sunrise?”

Hojoon once felt dumbfounded at the dating course, which could be commonly seen on a TV soap opera.

On the other hand, she felt as if she were already at the sea in front of Jongdongjin.

“Of course, it’s extremely cold out there. We’re going to hug more tightly and then see the first sunrise of the New Year. Looking at the sun rising gloriously, we’ll kiss each other. How about it? I would like to have a date like that. The kind of dating that we spend together, spending the last day of the year and the first day of the New Year. That’s my date bucket list.”

While imagining such a date, she seemed to be tasting its sweet moment.

“How about it?”

She called him in an excited voice, “Hojoon, isn’t it wonderful?”

At that moment, he came to his senses while imagining the sunset of the west coast.

“Yeah, it looks wonderful, but…”

“Isn’t it a fantastic dating course?”

But he made a rather confusing expression.

“That dating course might be problematic.”

In fact, something like the news ‘there is a heavy traffic congestion in the direction of the west coast’ was hovering in his mind while he was imagining about the dating course she mentioned.

“Do you know how severe the traffic congestion will be on that day?”

“Right!” she clapped her hands.

And she continued, “I didn’t think of it at all. Nonetheless, isn’t it fantastic when you think about it? Dating course from the west coast to the east coast.”

“But realistically, you can’t make it come true. Come to your senses, and go back quickly. It’s pretty chilly at night.”

Standing up, he hugged her shoulders.

He acted just instinctively. There was no hesitation or thinking in his action. As he acted so naturally, she didn’t curl up, nor disengage herself from his embrace.

She felt the warmth of his body, along with his sound heartbeat.

While she was walking up to her car, she looked up at his face.

‘Can I take his considerate act as something that happens between a couple?’

She had a series of misfortunes and incidents from the moment she dated Konsu in the past. So, Hojoon’s way of treating her was rather new to her, who only experienced a painful love with Konsu.

“Take a nap. You worked too much today,” he said, pushing her to the passenger’s seat.

“I’m alright. I insisted we come her, so let me take responsibility.”

Though she answered vigorously, she was already seated on the passenger’s seat.

“Let’s take turns driving for safety. Since you drove up here, let me drive the rest of the way to Kangrung.”

He hastily started the car.

***

“I should stay awake, I should not doze off.’

Seated in the passenger’s seat, Arum kept reciting this in her heart as if she were praying. She listened to the radio sometimes, asked him about geomancy a moment ago, and tried asking him about something now.

‘Hojoon, Hojoon…’

She felt his name echoing distantly.

A little later, Hojoon heard her breathing smoothen out.

While he focused on driving on the highway, Hojoon looked at her slightly. She was fast asleep. While she took pains not to doze off, she fell asleep in the end. He felt rather relieved to see her asleep.

She was overly ambitious after she heard from his father a secret geomancy method to reunite Konsu and Yuyoung.

‘She’s sleeping so soundly'”

He yawned. Come to think of it, it was already past 1AM. As it was quite dark outside, he felt that the car was a bit empty. He felt like he would feel stuffy if he turned on the heat.

‘Do I have anything to cover her?’

It looked like she felt chilly she was wearing on a T-shirt as her top.

When she drove away from the house, she threw her handbag and jacket in the rear seat. He needed to stop to cover her with her jacket.

Fortunately, he could arrive at the nearby rest stop about 4km away.

“Oh my god!”

Suddenly, she woke up.

“Did I fall asleep?”

“Oh!” Hojoon was really surprised.

“I’m sorry. When did I fall asleep?”

“Not that long. You can sleep for longer.”

“You might feel sleepy, too. I feel more sleepy here on this passenger’s seat.”

“I think I have to take a nap at the next rest area.”

“Good. It looks like we’re going to arrive in Kangrung at an awkward time. What time is it?”

She tried to confirm the time on the dashboard on the driver’s seat, and noticed a red gas light flickering.

“Gosh, when did it start flickering?”

Hojoon hastily checked it. The gas light was on.

“When did you fill the gas?” he said sharply.

“I don’t know exactly.”

“Did you start the car even without checking how much gas you had in the car?”

“No problem. I could drive at least 30 km with the gas light on.”

“Let’s fill the gas at the next rest area.”

“Sounds good.”

Though she said this cheerfully, she saw a red light deep inside when she noticed the red gas light.

Hojoon also realized it was his mistake.

He didn’t check when the gas light came on. So, he decided to drive at the same speed as much as possible. That way he could drive a little longer.