Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 378

378

“……”

Park Min-seok was speechless after hearing Hyun-sung’s explanation. He was dumbfounded because Hyun-sung had told him something utterly absurd.

Hyun-sung’s explanation was simple: there would be a traffic accident during this graduation trip. A major accident would occur when the bus, traveling along the coastal road, plunged off the cliff. Naturally, such a significant accident would result in casualties, and some people would even die.

But the absurd part was that it was a dream. Hyun-sung claimed he had witnessed the accident in a dream. How could Park Min-seok not be dumbfounded?

Park Min-seok looked at Hyun-sung and asked,

“You’re telling me to believe that?”

“I’m just as dumbfounded. When I first had that dream, I thought a lot about it. I wondered if I should really tell you about it. But after seeing the general election results a little while ago, I felt I had to say something somehow. Because if a real accident happens, it’ll be a disaster.”

Hyun-sung felt he had no choice but to lie about having a dream, as there was no other way to convey this information.

However, Park Min-seok still looked at Hyun-sung as if he were crazy. Then he spoke again.

“Okay, whether I believe it or not is a problem for later. Let me just ask one thing first.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“When did you have that dream?”

“A week ago.”

“A week ago?”

“Yes, it was the day before I had *makgeolli* [Korean rice wine] with you on a rainy day. I had the general election dream and your graduation trip dream together that night.”

Hyun-sung’s lies continued. Then Park Min-seok asked again, still looking incredulous.

“You’re saying you had both dreams on the same day?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But why did you talk about the general election then and not the graduation trip?”

“Because I needed confirmation.”

“Confirmation?”

“Yes, of course. To be honest, even as I said it myself, I doubted whether such a thing would really happen.”

“So you didn’t even believe your own dream?”

Park Min-seok’s expression now showed intense curiosity as he stared intently at Hyun-sung. He was clearly focused on the conversation.

Hyun-sung looked at Park Min-seok and continued speaking with an intentionally exaggerated expression.

“Of course! Would you believe it if you were me? Of course, it’s only part of it, but it’s a general election where the ruling party said 150 seats were possible. In that situation, how can 90 seats make sense? So I wanted to confirm my dream even more.”

“So you deliberately pretended that it wasn’t a dream?”

“That’s right. I hoped my dream was wrong. And of course, I thought it would be. That way, it would prove that the dream I had was meaningless.”

“If that happens, then me having an accident on the graduation trip would also be a ‘dog dream’ [a meaningless dream].”

Park Min-seok was getting drawn into the dream story. Hyun-sung nodded and immediately continued.

“That’s exactly it. That way, I wouldn’t have to talk about the dream itself. But that…….”

“That ridiculous general election result became a reality?”

“……Yes.”

Hyun-sung deliberately lowered his head as if he was serious, trying to convey the appropriate emotion. He felt he had created the right atmosphere after talking this much.

As expected.

A sigh escaped Park Min-seok’s mouth.

“Hoo……! This is so absurd. What on earth…….”

“That’s what I’m saying. I don’t know how scared I was when I saw the general election results a little while ago. I never thought such a result would really come out.”

“Hoo…….”

“Hyung, Min-seok!” [Hyung is a Korean term used by males to address older brothers or close older male friends.]

Hyun-sung deliberately called Park Min-seok by name to set the mood one more time. Then Park Min-seok looked at Hyun-sung with a serious expression.

“Huh!”

“Hyung, I’m sorry.”

People tend to resist when forced. So, Hyun-sung chose a roundabout method, hoping that Park Min-seok would come to the right conclusion himself, rather than being forced.

Was that why?

Park Min-seok’s reaction was immediate.

“What do you have to be sorry about? It’s not like you had such a dream on purpose.”

“No, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and it’s all because of me…….”

“That’s not it. But when did you say it started?”

“What?”

“I mean the precognitive dreams. When did you start having those dreams?”

Precognitive dreams. Hyun-sung almost laughed without realizing it. But at that moment, Hyun-sung’s expression became even more serious.

“As I said earlier, it started when I was just going into the third grade of middle school. I had a dream the day before then too…….”

Hyun-sung began to tell ridiculous lies. As Hyun-sung’s explanation grew longer, Park Min-seok’s expression began to darken. Hyun-sung, having confirmed his expression, finished his story after talking about a few more cases.

Then he glanced at Park Min-seok’s expression.

He saw him with his mouth tightly shut, as if he was contemplating.

After a while.

A deep sigh flowed from Park Min-seok’s mouth, who had been contemplating.

“Hoo……!”

“…….”

Hyun-sung didn’t say anything and waited for Park Min-seok’s next reaction, giving him enough time to think. He knew that Park Min-seok was the most confused right now.

About five minutes passed.

Finally, his closed mouth began to open. But the words that came out of his mouth were different from what Hyun-sung had expected.

“I don’t know.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know. It’s too absurd to believe, but it’s unsettling not to believe…….”

Park Min-seok shook his head violently. He looked utterly confused.

Maybe this is a normal reaction. No matter how much he used the general election results as an excuse, it wouldn’t be easy to believe that an accident would happen on a trip that he hadn’t even gone on yet.

Park Min-seok, who was shaking his head, suddenly looked at Hyun-sung and asked.

“Where is it?”

“Where? What do you mean…….”

“I mean the place where the accident will happen. You said it was a bus accident, right? Then you must know the location too, right?”

“But that’s…….”

“Why? You know that an accident will happen, but you don’t know the location?”

“That’s a bit…….”

Hyun-sung was also frustrated. In his previous life, Han Soo-jin, Park Min-seok’s mother, hadn’t mentioned the exact location when talking about the accident. She just said it was a coastal road in Jeju Island, and she didn’t say anything more than that. He couldn’t ask for more details in that situation, so he just let it go. But how could he have known that this would make things difficult now?

Hyun-sung had no choice but to say what he remembered.

“I don’t know the exact location, just that it’s a coastal road…….”

“Coastal road?”

“Yes, it was right next to the sea.”

“What time? What time did the accident happen?”

“Well, I don’t know that…….”

That was all Hyun-sung knew: that he went on a graduation trip to Jeju Island and the bus fell into the sea on the coastal road.

Park Min-seok seemed to think again for a moment, then sighed and jumped up from his seat.

“Ah! I’m really going crazy…….”

With those words, Park Min-seok left Hyun-sung’s room.

Hyun-sung was also frustrated, so he had nothing more to say. He brought up the general election results to inform him of the accident in advance, but he couldn’t do anything more himself.

From now on, it’s up to Park Min-seok whether he believes it or not. Of course, it won’t be easy, but he will think about it and make a decision. Hyun-sung thought that all he could do now was watch.

***

Park Min-seok returned to his room.

“What do you want me to do…….”

As soon as Park Min-seok entered his room, he grabbed his head as if he was confused.

Does this make sense? He was surprised by the general election results and went to check what happened, but instead, he heard strange words.

An accident, an accident on a graduation trip that he hasn’t even left for yet.

It’s ridiculous. He can just ignore it.

But…….

He can’t. He doesn’t know if he hadn’t heard it, but once he heard it, the price of ignoring it is too high. A personal accident, a matter of human life.

“What are you doing? Why don’t you answer when I call you?”

Han Soo-jin came into the room and said to Park Min-seok.

A little while ago, Han Soo-jin had called him several times to eat breakfast. But there was no answer, so she came into Park Min-seok’s room.

“Yes? Did you call me?”

“Yes, I came in because you didn’t answer even after calling you three times. But what’s wrong? Why is your face like that?”

“That’s…… Ah, it’s nothing.”

Park Min-seok closed his mouth after trying to say something, because he thought it didn’t make sense to tell his mother about it in this situation. And if he told her, his mother would definitely stop him from going on the graduation trip. He judged that it would be better to talk about it later after things had settled down to some extent.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go, let’s go eat breakfast.”

Park Min-seok left the room with his mother and headed to the kitchen.

30 minutes later.

After eating breakfast, Park Min-seok returned to his room and stood in front of the phone.

He decided while eating breakfast that he couldn’t make a decision alone anyway. If Hyun-sung’s dream is true, it’s not just one person’s problem.

The entire senior class of the Department of Economics, a total of 40 people, including himself, are going on the graduation trip. The safety of all those people is at stake.

Park Min-seok immediately picked up the receiver and started making a call.

-Hello.

“Sang-woo, it’s Min-seok.”

-There are no classes today, what’s going on from the morning?

“I have something to discuss with you. I think I should talk to you first because you’re the class representative. If you have time, can I see you at school in an hour?”

-What’s going on? Is it something you can’t talk about on the phone?

“It’s not something I can talk about on the phone. If it’s hard for you to come out, I can go to your house.”

-There’s no need for that. I was going to go to the library anyway. I’ll see you in an hour at the Haeramji next to the library.”

Park Mik-seok hung up the phone and sighed as he thought about meeting Lee Sang-woo and telling him about Hyun-sung’s dream.

***

“What? Is that true?”

Lee Sang-woo jumped up from his seat as soon as Park Min-seok’s explanation was over and asked immediately.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”

“Hey, does that make sense?”

“I’m going crazy too. I wish I hadn’t heard it. But once I heard it, I feel too uneasy to just ignore it.”

“No, what…….”

Lee Sang-woo was dumbfounded.

Does this make sense? Of course, he had seen such cases on TV or in movies. But that was just a staged scene. He had never heard of such a thing actually happening. But it was also true that he felt uneasy about ignoring it completely.

Then Park Min-seok asked.

“Have you already finished booking the charter bus and the lodging?”

“Of course. Not only that, but we’ve already finished booking the plane tickets too.”

“If we cancel, the loss won’t be small, right?”

“No way. It’s not just about the money, but how are we going to persuade our classmates? Furthermore, you don’t know the accident location or the time, so how can you tell the kids that? If we did, the atmosphere would be ruined, the money would be wasted, and it would be the worst graduation trip ever.”

“That’s what I’m saying. This is really a headache.”

The two were unable to do anything.

Then Lee Sang-woo asked.

“Did you say that Kim Hyun-sung was the one who had that dream?”

“Yeah, he’s a freshman in the Department of Business Administration who’s living in my house. You must have heard of his name too, right?”

“Me?”

“Why, don’t you remember? He’s the friend who was the top student in our entire school this time. Kim Hyun-sung, a freshman in the Department of Business Administration. He scored 330 points.”

“Ah, now that you mention it, I think I remember. I think he was the one who led the creation of the *Gosi Class* [study group for civil service exams] this time?”

“That’s right. Anyway, he’s no match for us. But he’s not just good at studying, he’s also got a good personality, and most of all, he’s sociable. How else would he have had *makgeolli* with me for a whole week?”

Smack.

Lee Sang-woo, who had smacked his lips, immediately continued.

“That’s all good, but why did he have such a dream and make people so difficult?”

“That’s what I’m saying. By the way, what should we do about this?”

“It’s unsettling to ignore it, but it’s ridiculous to believe it, this is…….”

The two were still unable to make a decision.

How much time had passed?

Lee Sang-woo, who had been contemplating, raised his head and looked at Park Min-seok as if he had made a decision and opened his mouth.

“No matter how I think about it, this doesn’t seem right.”

“That means…….”

“This doesn’t make sense. I don’t know if he happened to guess the general election results, but saying that an accident will happen on a trip that’s still half a month away, I can’t believe it. It’s not like he’s a shaman.”

“Did you just say shaman?”

It was the moment when Park Min-seok showed particular interest in the word ‘shaman’.

Then Lee Sang-woo asked immediately.

“Why, do you happen to know a famous shaman?”

“Have you ever heard of the Park Su-mudang in Ponam-dong?”

“If you don’t know him in Gangneung, you’re a spy. He’s a male shaman, but his voice is completely female. You happen to…….”

“How is it?”

Park Min-seok nodded and asked. Lee Sang-woo couldn’t have not known the meaning. His eyes sparkled at that moment.

The two’s eyes met in the air, and the two jumped up from their seats as if they had made a promise.

Shortly after.

The two, unable to believe Hyun-sung, were in a taxi heading to Ponam-dong.