The Ship That Was Always There

Jaeyoung stopped in front of room 307.

He reached for the doorknob, then flinched, freezing.

A sudden realization sent a chill down his spine.

“Why? What’s wrong? Is there something?”

Minta asked, his voice on the verge of tears.

“…I didn’t bring the key.”

The two, who had been waiting with tense faces for Jaeyoung’s words, exhaled in disappointment.

But then, as if they realized why Jaeyoung had hesitated, their faces hardened.

“No way…”

“Who wants to take that elevator down and find the key?”

Jaeyoung confirmed their suspicions.

“Crazy.”

Perhaps their minds had gone numb with fear, but none of them thought to simply walk down the stairs.

In that moment, just in case.

Jaeyoung pulled the doorknob.

Click.

The sound of metal interlocking in the lock echoed, and the door creaked open slightly.

“It’s open.”

Jaeyoung said, his voice filled with relief.

Like many parts of the building, the door let out an unpleasant screech of rusty metal.

“Damn. I thought we really had to go back down, I was so scared.”

“You should have tried the door first!”

Jaeyoung stepped into the room, leaving his friends’ grumbles behind.

Looking around, he saw the card key on top of the shoe rack.

Even though the key wasn’t going anywhere, Jaeyoung quickly picked it up.

“There’s a key here too.”

He then held up the card key to his friends.

Haewoon, snatching the key from Jaeyoung, inserted it into the lock next to the door.

As electricity flowed into the room, the kids screamed like chimpanzees discovering fire and rushed inside.

“Wow, it’s so spacious!”

There was a living room in the center, with a room on each side.

He remembered one side having a king-sized bed and the other having two single beds.

Jaeyoung quietly entered the room with two single beds.

“We need to air it out first.”

If there was one good thing about being here, it was the fresh air.

The room had a large floor-to-ceiling window facing outwards.

The only downside was the lack of a screen.

“Doesn’t seem to be any bugs.”

Jaeyoung leaned out the window and looked around.

He couldn’t hear any insect sounds.

Perhaps it was because it was winter.

Jaeyoung tilted his head towards the sky, and white mist escaped his lips.

It was the only cloud in the clear sky.

He stared blankly at it for a moment, then rummaged in his pocket for his smartphone.

There were no messages from Saheon.

“He came even when I begged him not to come to Gaon.”

Jaeyoung pouted and then looked around, a thought striking him.

He wondered if Saheon might be lurking nearby, just like last time, without any contact.

His gaze fell upon the large pine tree at the entrance of the resort.

A shadow stood there alone.

Jaeyoung, who had leaned out over the railing to see, flinched.

Layoon, who had said she was going home, was standing in the shade of the tree, looking directly at where Jaeyoung was.

A shiver ran down his spine.

Jaeyoung instinctively pressed the speed dial button.

Beep.

The signal tone seemed to go through for a moment, then abruptly cut off.

“What was that? Hyung? Did he receive it?”

Jaeyoung pulled the smartphone away from his ear and looked at the screen.

But all he saw was the keypad.

Upon closer inspection, the call indicator wasn’t lit.

Nor was the internet.

A chill went down his spine.

He clutched the necklace Saheon had given him and looked at the tree again, but no one was there this time.

“What are you doing there?”

Hurried footsteps sounded from behind him, and someone grabbed Jaeyoung by the waist and pulled him back.

He turned to see Dongjun.

He must have thought it was dangerous for Jaeyoung to lean out over the railing.

Jaeyoung stared at Dongjun’s face as he was pulled back into the room and opened his mouth.

“What do you mean, a letter?”

Dongjun looked at Jaeyoung as if he was talking nonsense at the sudden question.

Then, he hesitantly began to speak.

“Do you remember when my family and I went to the beach last summer?”

Jaeyoung nodded.

Originally, four families – Jaeyoung, Haewoon, Minta’s, and theirs – were supposed to go together, but they couldn’t coordinate their schedules and the plan fell apart.

“Back then, everyone said they were going to take a nap, and I felt like I would fall asleep if I stayed there, so I took my vocabulary book and went out to the sea.”

Even though they had many days off, these were high school seniors who didn’t put down their vocabulary books even while eating.

Anyway, as the tide came in, something floated in on the waves.

It was a glass bottle containing a rolled-up piece of paper.

After reading the letter, Dongjun felt it was fate.

“So, I sent a reply to the address written in the letter, and then, after sending one or two replies…”

“You really seem like you’re under a spell.”

Jaeyoung listened quietly to Dongjun and said seriously.

Whether it was a normal girl or a ghost.

It was unlike the cautious Dongjun to send a reply to a stranger.

“That’s…!”

Dongjun stopped, his face filled with confusion, about to retort.

He seemed to realize that even he himself found it strange.

“It’s already happened. Let’s get our act together from now on.”

Jaeyoung grabbed Dongjun’s cheeks with both hands and squeezed them.

Dongjun’s eyes, which had been looking at him with apologetic eyes, turned into cat-eyes.

Seeing that, Jaeyoung smiled, his eyes crinkling.

The Ppong crew roughly put down their luggage and headed towards the foot of the mountain where Dongjun had arranged to meet Layoon.

“Hey guys!”

Before they could even get there, a high-pitched voice echoed through the mountain.

Against the backdrop of the snow-covered back mountain, Layoon was waving her hands enthusiastically.

“I made some for you guys too.”

“What is this?”

Inside the fertilizer bag that Minta took, there was a thin layer of straw.

Layoon handed one to each of her friends without a word.

“You can ride on it if you go up there.”

And then she told them to go up the mountain.

Jaeyoung followed Layoon’s finger upwards.

So, the fertilizer bags were apparently for sledding.

As he took his first step, looking at it with unfamiliar eyes, he saw something round and raised right next to where Layoon was climbing.

“What’s that?”

“Ah. It’s a grave.”

Layoon answered without hesitation to Jaeyoung’s surprise.

There were not just one or two graves, but several, yet she didn’t seem particularly concerned.

Dongjun, glancing at his friends, followed Layoon first.

As even Jaeyoung followed behind him, Minta ran ahead.

“You know your phone doesn’t work, right?”

Haewoon stretched his long legs and came up beside Jaeyoung.

Walking in sync, he said in a low voice.

“It’s a pretty remote place…”

Jaeyoung awkwardly chuckled and conveyed that he already knew, in a roundabout way.

“It’s good that you know.”

Haewoon let out a small sigh and nodded.

It seemed to be a relief that he wasn’t the only one who found it strange.

“Anyway, Jin Saheon never shows up when he’s needed.”

Haewoon, seemingly quite scared, grumbled as he looked for Saheon, whose number he usually blocked.

Jaeyoung habitually fiddled with his necklace.

‘Is he in a dungeon right now?’

He recalled the broadcast footage he had seen and tried to estimate Saheon’s current location.

“It looks like the sun will set soon, let’s head back to the accommodation.”

Jaeyoung took the lead and broke the silence.

He had heard that wild animals came out in the countryside after dark.

Hearing Jaeyoung’s words, Dongjun was the first to rush towards him.

In exchange for choosing this place as their travel destination, he had promised to follow Jaeyoung’s words unconditionally.

“Are we leaving already?”

Layoon, who didn’t seem tired even after playing together all day, showed her disappointment.

Then Dongjun, with a face close to tears, became restless.

“Donggeul, do you owe her something?”

By then, even Minta, who was exceptionally clueless, sensed something was wrong.

“I still have something to show you guys…”

“What is it?”

“Over there.”

When asked inevitably, Layoon pointed towards the sea.

“What’s there?”

“There’s a cruise ship.”

“A cruise ship?”

Jaeyoung tilted his head at the word, which didn’t fit in with such a small rural village.

It wasn’t like he could mistake a wooden boat for a cruise ship.

“It’s real.”

Layoon’s eyes narrowed as if she knew even Dongjun didn’t believe her.

“I don’t know when it got there, but as far as I know, it’s always been in that spot.”

“In that spot?”

When asked again, Layoon nodded.

Jaeyoung recalled the turtle ship he had seen when he went to Tongyeong.

Was it a model of some sort?

If so, it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible that there was a resort in such a rural area.

“There aren’t even adults in our village with the skills to handle such a large ship, so it’s just a piece of junk now.”

Although it was curious, as it wasn’t a common place to play, no one stepped forward to go, hesitating.

Then Layoon’s eyes sharpened.

“You guys won’t have anything to eat when you go back anyway, right?”

“Right. So are we going to starve until tomorrow?”

Minta pouted as Layoon pointed out the reality in a mischievous tone.

“If we dig around the resort, we’ll find a barbecue area.”

Haewoon said indifferently.

He hadn’t put the meat they bought in the refrigerator, but it had been on the balcony in this weather, so it shouldn’t have spoiled yet.

“If not, we can ask to use the fire at a house that’s lit up.”

It wasn’t difficult for Jaeyoung to gain favor with adults.

“So, you’re not going?”

Layoon pouted and stared intently at Dongjun.

Finally, Dongjun showed his weak side.

“It’s over there.”

The cruise ship Layoon mentioned was half on the sea and half on the beach.

The sea was calm without any waves, so it seemed it couldn’t drift away even if it wasn’t tied down.

As they got closer, the ship was breathtakingly large and magnificent.

It had been there for as long as anyone could remember, so the facilities seemed to be in good condition.

Lights were on in every room, making it look like a giant apartment building.

“Hey. Let’s just sleep here instead.”

Haewoon, who had been serious the whole time, said playfully.

The cruise ship’s condition was that good.

“Since it’s a cruise ship, there should be rooms and places to wash.”

Minta also looked at the cruise ship with anticipation.

“I knew you’d like it.”

Layoon, who had already circled the ship, stood on the metal stairs and looked back at her friends, saying.

“It’s even more amazing inside! Come in quickly!”

Layoon’s face was more animated than when they first met.

Then she suddenly started running up the stairs.

“Layoon! Go a little slower!”

Dongjun, looking back at his friends, kicked off his spot with resignation.

Layoon had already become as small as a bean.

Thump, thump, thump.

Dongjun’s footsteps echoed heavily.

“Why don’t you ever listen when I tell you not to go alone?”

It was a spiral staircase, so Dongjun’s figure was no longer visible.

Haewoon grumbled and took the stairs two at a time.

Minta and Jaeyoung hurried to follow him.