Chapter 10.12

It had gotten dark at some point. Jihye led them through the path by the College of Humanities, where light bulbs in different colors lit up the street. The colorful ribbons disturbed his eyes. There were crowded street stalls hosted by various clubs, such as an acapella singing booth, an aquarium restaurant, a puppy café, and a board game café.

“Ah! Let’s go there! There!”

Jihye, who had been walking in silence, jumped in excitement while pointing to a stall where there was a line with an unusually large crowd.

The Ghost Bar sign had a spooky vibe to it, and at the entrance to the tent, a grim reaper and a maiden ghost were scaring people passing by.

“I’m sorry, but the seats are fully occupied. Even if you put your name on the waiting list, you’ll have to wait for an hour and a half,” the girl dressed as a goblin repeatedly said while bowing.

“Oh… it looks fun, but it seems we can’t go.”

Jihye looked disappointed. Sangwoo wasn’t interested in ghosts, but since he owed Jihye, he didn’t want to stand around doing nothing. The weight of the gaming console in the shopping bag was like a sense of obligation to fulfill her wishes. Sangwoo asked Jihye to wait and squeezed into the tent through the crowd.

The cave-like dark interior was decorated with a number of bizarre decorations, and all ten tables were occupied with guests. There was a zombie, a wizard, a shaman, an angel and a demon, a vampire, and Frankenstein. The staff had thoughtfully dressed up to serve and entertain the customers. Among them, Sangwoo felt a strong sense of déjà vu while looking at the back of the vampire who was standing cross-legged.

‘It can’t be…’

The final challenger who beat him at the arcade gaming competition had also been dressed like that. At that moment, the vampire turned around and their eyes met like magnets.

“…”

Sangwoo stepped back as if he had been hit on the head, and he bumped into the goblin. The rehearsed line popped out of her mouth like an answering machine.

“I’m sorry, but there are no available seats right now.”

“Yes. I’ll leave,” Sangwoo quickly responded and turned around. He then heard the vampire’s voice behind his back.

“Can you create another seat?”

“There’s really no room to place another table on, sunbae-nim!”

“Just send away the customers who are done eating.”

Sangwoo rushed out of the tent. When he explained to Jihye that they had to find someplace else since there wasn’t any space, she nodded with a sullen look. As soon as he was about to walk away, the goblin ran out of the tent.

“Cap-wearing student? A seat just emptied, so you can come in! Hurry.”

“No. I saw that there definitely aren’t any seats just now. We’ll leave.”

“Come when you hear something pleasant.”

The voice that came from behind the mask was chilly, so Sangwoo stopped walking without realizing it. While he was hesitating, Frankenstein and the zombie, who were as big as baseball players, appeared from the tent and obstinately grabbed both of his arms.

“Okay, let’s go!”

“Let go of me. Are you gangsters?”

While Sangwoo was in a physical fight with the male students, Jihye was conversing with the goblin.

“Oppa, they said that seats just cleared up inside. How fortunate!”

She entered the tent with a grin, and Sangwoo turned into a duck egg on the Nakdong River.3 Sangwoo had nearly shaken Frankenstein’s hand off when a zombie pushed his back from behind. These men were so strong that he had no time to fight back when he was dragged into the tent.

“Welcome.”

He then faced the vampire, who was welcoming them, with a grim expression. His bangs had been pushed back with wax in order to reveal his forehead, and black makeup had been applied around his eyes, and white powder on his skin. It was bizarre how wonderful it looked despite having a bizarre appearance with dark red paint around the mouth looking just like blood. He definitely stood out among the staff dressed in odd costumes. In that moment as well, several students were hanging around him while waiting to take pictures together.

“Hello, Jaeyoung oppa!”

“It’s been a while since we met, Jihye. I’ll have to give you plenty of service.”4

“Wow! Really? Thank you! Your makeup and outfit go really well together, oppa. The best! You totally look like Count Dracula, and you look cool!”

“A date… with Sangwoo?”

“No, what do you mean, a date?! Hahahaha! Just… Sangchu oppa owes me something, so he decided to treat me to a meal.”

“Okay. Have fun,” the vampire said and went somewhere. Sangwoo didn’t eat anything, but he felt like throwing up.

“They really decorated it well. As expected, the theater club uses quality… It’s great.”

On the other hand, Jihye took a picture while looking around at the bats and pumpkin decorations on the ceiling as if she were in a good mood.

“I actually…”

Jihye lowered her voice as she put away her cell phone.

“If I had known that this was hosted by the theater department, I wouldn’t have come.”

“Why?”

She checked so there weren’t any people around them and then whispered.

“I thought that Jaeyoung oppa didn’t like me.”

“Why?”

“Just… a feeling.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any reason for that, though.”

“That’s right. After today, I feel better since I think I was mistaken. I’ve been feeling a bit uncomfortable all along.”

Sangwoo closed his mouth with an expression that he didn’t understand.

Footnote:

3. Turning into a duck egg on the Nakdong River 낙동강 오리알 신세가 되었다 is a Korean expression which basically means that one is doing nothing. The online translation for this is “he was hanging, able to do neither.”

4. 서비스 Service in Korean is giving/receiving freebies at food establishments etc.