As time went by, Sari's life continued progressing smoothly. She didn't see many new faces every day. Or at least, she tried not to. She spent her time working diligently as the assistant of the only female archaeology professor of that university since she didn't feel like leaving her room much.
While working in Gangbeodeul University, Sari met up with a few different teachers and also students that, for some reason, would bother her while she was reading in the library or block her way as she headed to the professor's office.
Some of them seemed nice, although they were always asking stupid questions such as: "How did you manage to get into the Archaeology Department? Do you have a boyfriend here?"
Ignoring them doesn't seem to be enough to get her message across that she had no plans of entertaining any of them. Only when Professor Geunhee would give them a stern look that the inquiry would stop --- at least for the time being.
She couldn't trouble her friends with her predicament as they were working hard on their own, as well. But even when they would see each other after school, there was never a time she mentioned anything to them at all.
"I'm sorry about all that trouble, Professor," Sari said one day as the last class was over and Professor Geunhee entered her office.
She had just finished the last task of sorting documents when the woman entered.
"Don't mind it. I am your employer. So I should be responsible for you, as well. Or at least, that's how I do things. Other teachers here don't think the same way as I do, though."
Well, she did notice that from time to time.
"And those students felt like they were privileged to do things like that. Well, it won't work on me."
At that point, Sari frowned. "But Professor, wasn't that enough to put you in trouble? I mean, with the other teachers appearing to be tolerating those behaviors..."
Professor Geunhee looked at her and motioned to hand the sorted documents to her before speaking. "That's true. I'm not going to deny that. But Gangbeodeul University's president is not someone who would tolerate those behaviors. It's just that there are staff and teachers who are sneaky enough to fool him and get away with it. That's why some of us thought that in order to make sure we teach those suspicious people a lesson, we would gather incriminating evidence against them. Those that would prove them guilty that they would lose face in this university."
"That's a long process, isn't it?"
The professor smiled before nodding. "True, but this is just one way to do things drastically. Of course, only a few people knew this particular rule. The president didn't inform everybody about this for reasons that I'm sure you're already aware of."
Sari nodded and proceeded to do the rest of her work. As soon as she sat, however, the strong gust of wind blew several of the papers on top of her table away and she had to scatter around to get them back and secure them. The professor stood up and closed the window as soon as she could.
"Woah! That's one strong wind. We might be having a storm coming today, huh?"
However, those words didn't reach Sari's ears as her attention fixated on a certain sketch drawn on one of the blown papers. It was the sketch of a clay pot with a plum blossom design and of a phoenix on its lid. She frowned at the sight of it.
It wasn't the first time that happened but still, it bothered her in a way. Something inside her felt a sense of familiarity with the drawing on that paper because she'd seen this drawing somewhere else...
'Have I?'
"Is there something wrong with that drawing?" the professor asked, snapping her out of her reverie.
She looked up and stood after. "Where... Where did you find this clay pot, Professor? Has it been excavated?"
To her confusion, Professor Geunhee shook her head. "No. We haven't found anything like that at all ever since I started learning about archaeology and I had my first excavation. I did try to learn more about it, but nothing came up."
'A clay pot that hadn't been found yet...' If so, how come there was such a sketch among the professor's documents?
"It was my brother's sketch, in case you're wondering where I got that. He said that a dream made him decide to put the image into paper to the best of his abilities."
Her brother? Does she mean Professor Kang Soohoon? Did the image come from his past life visions?
Sari wouldn't be bothered if it was just that. But the fact that the woman in her dreams possessed such an item made her think that there was some sort of connection that she was missing.
Was that even possible, though?
She shook her thoughts away. It was a possibility and she mustn't jump the gun. There might be nothing to find at all. Even if there was something to find, she would have never dreamed of having the exact same vision.
But what if...?
"It seems that sketch has truly caught your attention, huh?"
Sari smiled sheepishly and fixed the other scattered papers that got scattered and returned to the table she was using. "Well, there might be something interesting there after all."
She heard the woman chuckle softly as she handed her the papers and took the chance to ask another question, "Professor, may I ask a question?"
"Of course you can."
"Did Professor Kang Soohoon mention anything more about the incident back then?"
"You mean the one time when you got stabbed?"
She nodded and continued. "Is there any other new information after that? I mean, I did see at the time that the perpetrator's target was your brother."
It took a while for the professor to say anything. In fact, she just looked at Sarina for a while before sighing.
"To be honest, he didn't say much to me. Only the fact that you were the one who ended up getting stabbed instead of him. He really felt bad about it and even offered to pay for your hospital expenses in full. But your friends declined. As for any suspicions on who could have done it, I think he's the only one who knows that. And he doesn't have any plans of mentioning anything to me at the moment until he finally has solid proof on the identity of the culprit."
That surprised Sari quite a bit and she opened her mouth to speak but closed it again when she realized that she couldn't exactly express her doubts.
Not now, anyway. Maybe later.
"Forgive me for asking such questions to you, Professor," she said and bowed.
"There's nothing for you to apologize for. I can understand your curiosity. Here's the deal. If I have any other information about that case, I'll let you know. Okay?"
She nodded and it was enough to make her smile even for a little. "Thank you, Professor. I appreciate that."
xxxxxx
Several more days passed. Sari and her friends were getting used to their respective jobs at Gangbeodeul University. Her job as the assistant of an archaeology professor also allowed her to have glimpses of the artifacts that she knew were related to the visions she kept seeing since she was a child.
Visions that now... she knew could possibly be related to the ones she saw in Professor Soohoon's eyes that day. Visions that, for some reason, she wanted to see from those eyes again, if given the chance.
'Now why would I think of that?' As much as Sari wanted answers to the question, nothing came up to provide an answer for her.
She was able to finish her task at around 8:30 PM. A little later than usual, if one would ask her. It was a good thing there were still people within the campus, especially in the faculty building. She said goodbye to the history professor who was still in that room before leaving.
Professor Geunhee left early that day because of a family matter that needed to be taken care of. Sari told the professor that it was okay and she could finish sorting and compiling more of the documents needed for the next lecture. But it didn't come to her that she'd be finishing late.
"Great... Now I won't be able to catch the last bus."
As if to dampen her mood further and frustrate her, she noticed the rain poured in torrent as she stepped outside the building.
"Urgh! Talk about bad luck today..." Then again, has she ever had some good luck after her father disappeared?
The rain continued pouring down from above. It was dark already and not even street lights were enough to illuminate the path as clearly as she hoped they would. Honestly, she didn't want to take her chances by walking home alone in such weather. Especially when the rain would soak her wet. Not to mention that she had to walk through the streets that were filled with people rushing to get somewhere shelter, either.
It didn't take her long before she found a shed about a hundred meters away from the bus stop. But it was better than running some more just to reach the bus stop.
"Maybe I can still wait here."
Upon looking up to the sky, she groaned at the sight of rain that kept falling as she rubbed off droplets from her hair and her coat. Of course, she knew it wasn't enough.
The moment she turned to her right side, however, her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her.
A familiar man stood there, looking at her in curiosity. It took a while before one of them spoke to break the silence.
"Miss Yoon? You're Miss Yoon Sari, right?"
How did Professor Kang Soohoon know her name? And why did hearing him say it... sound painful?
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