Ephphatha Chapter 1

Seul-ah was running somewhere. The incredible speed and upright posture felt like they didn’t belong to her. She wasn’t even out of breath. Since she could barely walk for long without exhaustion, she realized it was a dream.  

 

The place she rushed to in a daze was a riverside along the Han River. The moment she spotted her mother stepping into the water, she bolted like lightning and yanked her back. The strength to lift her mother with both hands was also an impossible feat in reality—a wish that could never come true.  

 

Just as she turned away triumphantly, as if she had become some kind of hero, her breath suddenly caught.  

 

“Hhk…!”  

 

Cough!  

 

In an instant, Seul-ah snapped back to consciousness. She clutched her chest, unable to control the violent coughing that erupted from her. Her heart pounded wildly, and the taste of blood rose in her throat. It felt like the aftereffects of running in her dream were still lingering.  

 

Cough! Cough!  

 

With her eyes tightly shut, she instinctively groped around. She was searching for her inhaler, but nothing came to hand. She stretched her arm in every direction before finally remembering it was in her pocket. Her hand dropped to her thigh, but instead, she felt the broad fabric of her skirt.  

 

A skirt…  

 

Ah, funeral attire. She realized she had layered the mourning clothes over her own outfit and grasped at the fabric to lift it.  

 

“Oh my, lifting your skirt in front of a stranger?”  

 

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice abruptly interrupted, making her shoulders flinch. Her hand, which had been reaching for her back pocket, also froze.  

 

Haa… ha… She exhaled in ragged breaths and barely managed to open her eyes—only to be met with the sight of black socks.  

 

A strange sense of déjà vu made her blink several times before she lifted her gaze. The moment their eyes met,  

 

“Go on. It’s fine.”  

 

“……”  

 

A man she had never seen before was looking down at her. He was crouched with one arm resting on his knee and his chin propped up, while his other hand tossed something into the air and caught it repeatedly.  

 

It took her a moment to realize that the object was her inhaler.  

 

Without thinking, she reached out her hand.  

 

“G-give it… to me.”  

 

“What?”  

 

The man smirked as he mimicked her gasping breaths. The inhaler continued to hover in the air. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes from all the coughing, but she had no time to wipe them. Instead, she frantically waved her hand again.  

 

“Give it… It’s mine.”  

 

“That’s not very polite.”  

 

“Hh… ngh.”  

 

Thud.  

 

Her hand landed weakly on the man’s thigh. With her breaths growing shorter and shorter, she fumbled desperately. Something blunt and firm met her grasp, and before she even processed what it was, she clenched her fingers tightly.  

 

A crushing fear gripped her—if she delayed any longer, she might not be able to breathe at all.  

 

“Please… Hhk, please give it to me.”  

 

As if finally taking pity on her, the man lowered the inhaler to her lips. She instinctively stretched her neck forward and bit down on it.  

 

At the same time as Seul-ah took a deep breath, a sharp hiss sounded—the medication spraying into her mouth. The man had pressed the canister for her.  

 

Her eyes lifted to meet his dark gaze, which was staring at her intently.  

 

“……”  

 

“……”  

 

It was only after her breathing steadied that Seul-ah spat out the inhaler. A thin thread of saliva stretched between her tongue and the mouthpiece before snapping. At the same time, strength drained from her body.  

 

Her clenched hand loosened as well.  

 

“That was nice. Why did you stop?”  

 

The man spoke sarcastically. Unable to understand what he meant, Seul-ah focused on catching her breath, her chest rising and falling. Then, she suddenly felt something twitch in her palm.  

 

What is this?  

 

Her gaze shifted to where the sensation came from, and she blankly stared at her own left hand.  

 

A small, pale hand, utterly insignificant, rested atop an unfamiliar pair of jet-black pants. The thigh beneath it was strikingly thick. Hard. And broad.  

 

But there was a slight asymmetry between the two sides.  

 

Why is that?  

 

She was pondering the difference when she realized that where her hand rested, the outline was distinctly different from the other side.  

 

“So now you’re taking it by hand.”  

 

“…….”  

 

“How very indecent.”  

 

She blinked. As she closed and opened her eyes, another tear trickled down the corner of her eye.  

 

“Ah.”  

 

The moment she realized what her hand was touching, she recoiled in an instant. Scrambling for balance, she planted her hands on the floor, but the strength had yet to return to her body. The sheer shock of having grabbed a stranger’s manhood left her teetering several times before she barely managed to sit up.  

 

What the hell just happened?  

 

With dazed eyes, she faced the man. He was casually rubbing the damp mouthpiece of the inhaler with his thumb.  

 

Seul-ah wasn’t sure what was going on, but she swiftly snatched the device from him.  

 

“W-Who are you?”  

 

She wiped the inhaler’s spout with the hem of her skirt before tucking it behind her back. The man only shrugged and looked up at her with an indifferent gaze.  

 

“Who are you, and why are you here?”  

 

“…….”  

 

“Are you… a staff member here?”  

 

It was unlikely that a stranger like him was a mourner, so she assumed he might be a funeral home employee. But somehow, that didn’t seem right either.  

 

At least, every staff member she had encountered had maintained a solemn and respectful demeanor toward the bereaved family.  

 

By contrast, this man’s attire alone was far from respectable. Her gaze flicked to his garishly patterned shirt, which was unbuttoned all the way down to his chest. The faint scent of cigarette smoke suddenly hit her nose, making her instinctively pinch it shut.  

 

Cigarette smoke was one of the things Seul-ah couldn’t tolerate—just as much as running.  

 

The man only quirked his brow in response, as if amused by her reaction.  

 

“How did you even get here?”  

 

“I rode in the car Jin-ah was driving.”  

 

“What?”  

 

“Seems like a lot of people died today. The parking lot was so full that my guy had to drive in circles for a while.”  

 

“What are you talking about?”  

 

A faint chuckle drifted through the air.  

 

“Seriously, who are you?”  

 

“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. The name’s Kwak Chi-gyeom.”  

 

It was a name she had never heard before.  

 

She was about to tell him he must have entered the wrong funeral hall when he spoke again.  

 

“You can call me whatever you like—oppa, sweetheart, darling, honey.”  

 

“What? What are you—”  

 

“Not sure if I should be offering my condolences or not.”  

 

“…….”  

 

“But we have something to discuss.”