The charcoal crackled as it burned. Each drop of meat grease sparked a bright red flame.

Da Jung sat at a distance, gazing at the meat. She tried to avoid looking at the fire if possible.

“How have your dreams been lately, Yoon Da Jung?”

Kyung Jun asked as he placed a well-cooked piece of meat on Da Jung’s plate.

Da Jung’s nightmares would come without warning, having no set form or omen. Though they started differently, they always ended the same.

Inevitably, she would be trapped in a rectangular space where flames would rise. She would cry out for help in a sealed room with no exit. Though it was a dream, it was terrifying every time.

It was because she couldn’t forget her elder brother’s final moments, unable to escape as the entrance was locked, engulfed by the flames. Her subconscious retained her brother, manifesting as a horrific dream as if she had experienced it herself.

When frequent, she had dreamt it for a whole week straight. In relatively stable periods, she went nearly half a year without dreaming it, but it never disappeared entirely. Da Jung felt the nightmare was always lurking, waiting for an opportunity.

“I haven’t dreamt it since deciding on the vacation. Not yet.”

“That’s good.”

Her whole body ached whenever she thought of her elder brother, who must have died in excruciating pain. It felt like a part of her dead brother lived on in her consciousness. Da Jung wanted to comfort him but didn’t know how.

That accident marked the end for Yoon Woo Jung, and the beginning of Da Jung’s unfortunate life.

Her elder brother, feeling under the weather that morning, said he didn’t want to go on the school trip. But their mother insisted he couldn’t back out on the day of, giving him cold medicine and sending him off. Their father too, smiling and waving, said he needed to grow up strong.

Her elder brother showed a slightly tired smile as he bid everyone farewell.

‘Mom, Dad, I’m off. Da Jung, bear with missing your elder brother for a few days. I’ll be back soon.’

Her elder brother, who had promised to bring back souvenirs if there were any, returned as black ashes. Da Jung’s family became victims of the , recorded as the worst event of that year.

“Yoon Da Jung! I’m sorry. Stop. Stop thinking about it.”

Kyung Jun approached, placing his hands on Da Jung’s cheeks and lifting her head. Da Jung’s head had been endlessly sinking towards the ground. Kyung Jun’s eyes mixed with apology, regret, and sympathy.

“I shouldn’t have asked. I won’t talk about dreams anymore.”

As Da Jung nodded, Kyung Jun finally let go of her face, sighing softly before opening a beer. After gulping it down, he picked up the tongs again.

“Kyung Jun.”

“Yoon Da Jung. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“For making you think of your elder brother.”

Da Jung smiled.

“I should think of him. He’s my elder brother. If I don’t, who will?”

Da Jung showed a brave expression as she shook her beer can. Kyung Jun lightly clinked his can against hers. Da Jung put her beer down without even taking a sip.

“Come to think of it, it’s been 13 years already. I wish there would be no more deaths like that… But such accidents still happen even now. Most major accidents are man-made disasters. I find those deaths so difficult.”

Her father, who lost both home and job crying out for truth, chose to follow her elder brother five years after his death. Da Jung thought that was the peak of misfortune then. But a year later, her mother collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Da Jung was barely twenty-one then. Seven years have passed since.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have become a nurse. I acted like I had some grand sense of calling then, but the truth is I just wanted comfort. I wanted to forget about death by looking at newborn babies.”

“Don’t blame yourself. Patients all know you’re an excellent nurse.”

Kyung Jun checked Da Jung’s empty plate with his eyes as he added more meat.

Not too much at once, just one or two pieces at a time. Considering Da Jung’s eating pace, it wasn’t particularly difficult for him to ensure she could keep eating warm meat.

Kyung Jun deliberately changed the subject.

“My elder sister is taking such good care of your mother at the hospital! To an excessive degree, I tell you. You know she doesn’t do that even for her own mother, right? Kyung Mi says she doesn’t even call our parents in Japan. But for your mother, there’s no more filial daughter in the world.”

“Really?”

“She visits every other day, I hear. So don’t worry too much. I hear her condition is fine these days.”

“That’s a relief.”

Da Jung smiled softly. Inwardly, her heart that couldn’t forget her mother felt a little lighter.

Taking care of her mother in the nursing home was harder than expected. She visited and cared for her mother twice a week, which took not only time but also considerable treatment costs.

For the past 7 years, she hadn’t taken a vacation while caring for her mother. This trip was her first break since becoming an adult.

“Your elder sister is really kind.”

“By the way, Da Jung. Looks like someone’s in Room 101? The light is on upstairs.”

Kyung Jun’s words trailed off to Room 101.

Da Jung thought he had deliberately made his presence known. From what she had observed over the past few days, Jae Ho had never once left the upstairs light on. The strange signal left by the man who irritated her in many ways created a tense atmosphere.

“Have you met them? The person.”

Kyung Jun asked, slightly pointing at Room 101 with his tongs. Surprisingly, the lie came easily.

“No.”

Da Jung didn’t want to talk more about this topic. But Kyung Jun seemed curious.

“Who could it be? A traveler? The pension owner’s family?”

“Don’t know.”

“Seems quiet, so probably not multiple people.”

Da Jung didn’t answer. She just suddenly wondered how much he was concerned about her. She wanted to ask if the size of that concern was the same as hers.

**

The autumn night deepened quickly. The temperature dropped sharply after sunset, turning chilly. They cleaned up, unable to sit for even two full hours.

Kyung Jun got up first, separating cans and bottles in one place and stacking plates. Da Jung gathered disposable cups and chopsticks while looking at the charcoal still glowing red.

It’s scary. But it was just dying embers.

While Kyung Jun went inside the lodging with a stack of plates, Da Jung poured water from a bottle onto the charcoal. She just wanted to extinguish it quickly, but the charcoal, still holding intense heat, belched out black smoke as if in violent protest.

Startled, Da Jung stepped back two paces. White smoke erupted explosively, momentarily obscuring her vision. Judging by the smoke alone, it looked as if the entire lodging was on fire.

“Hey! What are you doing? Get out of there.”

A shocked Kyung Jun rushed out of the lodging towards Da Jung. Knowing her trauma better than anyone, he quickly pushed her to the farthest point. Though it wasn’t a raging fire, even smoke was a great terror for Da Jung. She retreated obediently.

“Sorry. I just wanted to put it out quickly…”

“I’ll do it.”

“I shouldn’t have poured water. I should have waited for it to go out on its own.”

“I’ll finish up here. You go inside and clean up the dishes. Go quickly.”

Pushing Da Jung away with a stern expression, Kyung Jun was probably recalling that day.

The day when the three of them, including Kyung Mi, were eating at a quiet garden restaurant on the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do. As they were leaving after the meal without thinking, there was a large bonfire lit in the yard. Da Jung, upon seeing those flames, vomited everything she had eaten and eventually fainted.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, just go inside.”

In the end, Kyung Jun grabbed Da Jung’s shoulder and physically pushed her into the lodging.

Da Jung watched Kyung Jun through the glass window for a moment before taking a deep breath. Once she had calmed down somewhat, she turned to tidy up the sink. She washed her hands first, moved the dishes to the sink, and cleared away the empty beer cans. Then she reached for the phone on the sofa, where a strand of her nerves had been constantly connected.

It felt like she was in a real romance. Though she had never experienced it before and couldn’t express it accurately, it felt like a pen made of thin feathers was gently scratching her heart.

An hour ago, a reply had come from Lee Jae Ho.

The moment she confirmed the text, she realized she had already sunk waist-deep into Lee Jae Ho’s swamp.

Could she just casually flirt and end it? That swamp wasn’t dark and damp gray, but soft and warm pink. In fact, this was too absurd a situation, but amazingly, it was reality.

Was the place casting some sort of spell?

It seemed plausible for a fantasy to unfold in a remote seaside village like this.

She thought about acting on her feelings while here, without complicated thoughts. While scared of her heart racing towards him, she also wanted to let go of the tightly held reins.

As she became aware of her feelings, reality became more frightening.

She looked at the man’s message again.

[Are you still eating? I have something to say.] [We held hands and hugged earlier.] [If I can be a bit more courageous] [I want to kiss you now.]

An unidentified man, either a prince on a white horse or a devil from hell, was casting a spell on her. Da Jung covered her mouth with one hand and held her breath for a moment.

Crazy.

She glanced at Kyung Jun cleaning up the grill outside on the terrace. After tidying up the charcoal, he was wiping down the table last. Da Jung scanned the cleaned terrace with her eyes, then thought about when Kyung Jun might come in to wash up.

She also wondered if she could open the front door without making a sound.

Everything had gone mad.

Lee Jae Ho, this lodging, the sea, no, in fact, Yoon Da Jung herself was the craziest of all.

**

Kyung Jun, having finished the dishes, tidied up the sink and came to the living room. Da Jung pretended to watch TV while eating snacks.

[I want to kiss you now.]

She couldn’t understand how he could send such a blunt message, and she felt pathetic for looking at Kyung Jun the moment she saw that message.

With her unsettled heart, she picked up her phone, opened the app, and entered Lee Jae Ho’s fan cafe, aimlessly scrolling. Most posts were about missing him, with occasional news about his movie set to release in the first half of next year.

Someone speculated that Lee Jae Ho might be abroad. There was also a new member who had just joined after finishing their “entering fandom uncertainty period”.

She had vowed not to enter the fan cafe for a month, but everything was falling apart.

“Why the sigh?”

Kyung Jun approached and said while opening a beer. Da Jung, seeing this, said one thing.

“…You’re drinking more? Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“What do you mean sleep? It’s still early evening.”

“Still. You drove for a long time. Aren’t you tired?”

“Hm.”

Kyung Jun frowned slightly.

“You know my drinking capacity, why are you suddenly like this?”

Kyung Jun, who had been gulping down beer, leaned slightly towards Da Jung and picked up the remote. Da Jung gathered courage and spoke.

“You smell. Stop drinking and go wash up.”