"Well, you've definitely changed since last night."
Sari lifted her head and looked at Isona who was now smiling cheekily at her.
"Changed how?" she asked, tilting her head sideways.
"You seem happier than usual."
"Am I?"
"Yes, you are."
She could only raise her eyebrow at that. Then again, she did wake up feeling different since last night and with the addition of the small realizations she had at dawn. Not that she had any plans of mentioning anything to her friends at this point.
It was lunch time and they all agreed to have lunch at the cafeteria earlier than the others. So they were able to find a table where the four of them could eat and --- as Riyoung stated it --- talk about anything.
At this point, however, she was not in the mood to do both --- even if Riyoung pointed out that she looked 'happy'.
"Don't listen to her. She just didn't have anyone sensible to talk to in her department."
Sari laughed at Sejin's comment before continuing to eat. Even more so when Riyoung glared at Sejin and the latter ignored her. But she knew they were both done jokingly. As for Seoha, he was shaking his head and ate his food before smiling at her knowingly.
Then again, she couldn't help but think about her new found emotions. They weren't really new feelings at all. In fact, she'd thought about them for a while now. But this was actually the first time in a very long time when she had been completely aware of it. It was just... different.
"By the way, Sari..." Sejin started to look at her friend. "Did anyone give you an update about the man who tried to stab Professor Kang Soohoon that day?"
She shook her head as soon as she calmed herself from stiffening at the question. Even when she was able to talk to the said professor yesterday, there was never a chance for her to actually ask about that topic.
On the other hand, the topic never even crossed her mind because a different topic occupied it. And it wasn't just about her father's journal that Soohoon returned to her.
No, instead what she had wanted to discuss was... well she wasn't sure why exactly she hadn't decided on asking him about that yet.
Sari sighed before facing Sejin. "By the way, why did you ask about that?"
"I got to talk to Detective Seo about it. My father was able to convince him to tell us what he knew so far about the case."
"Why did you let your father do that?"
"Well, as you already know, my parents were rather fond of you. So they were shocked when I told them you got stabbed that day. Not to mention, really worried."
Sari didn't want to imagine the chaos that the news had brought to the couple. But Sejin wasn't joking about her parents' affection towards Sari that became even more evident when her father disappeared. Even with that, she was thankful to the couple for that.
"What did you find out from him?" Sari asked.
"He said that it wasn't the first time that someone tried to kill Professor Kang Soohoon. And this case seems to prove that. Not only that, it appeared that the man could be related to the Huijin serial killer that's been a buzz lately."
"How were they able to come up with that conclusion?" This time, it was Riyoung who inquired.
"Because of the method of killing."
The rest frowned at that. But they allowed Sejin to continue speaking.
"They were killed while the culprit was riding away. All were hacked by a machete in one full strike as the motorcycle --- or other vehicle, I don't know --- rides away."
Riyoung and Seoha, in particular, grimaced at the information they heard. But Sari remained placid about it. It was something that Sejin noticed.
"Are you okay, Sari?" Sejin queried, concern evident in her voice.
Sari nodded and smiled, even though it was forced. "If it was the same killer, why decide to use a knife to stab the professor if he was known to hack his victims with a machete?"
"It's still speculation. But even Detective Seo was aware that there could be a different reason for that change of weapon. Especially when that guy killed someone early in the morning --- the guy we found dead that day."
Sari recalled the amount of blood surrounding the corpse that she saw. If the killer's weapon of choice for finishing off his victims was a machete, and that he would strike them once in full force, then that explained it. As to why the killer would ride a motorcycle while committing his crime, it was still a question that many people would have to ponder on, as long as the case remained open and haunt a lot of people in town.
But that was another discussion that she would get into later. First thing first.
"By the way, Sejin. You never mentioned to me the reason why you knew Detective Seo," Sari reminded. "We were supposed to discuss it before. But I guess that stabbing incident pushed it in the back of my mind."
Sejin raised her hands in surrender, a smirk plastered on her face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to keep it secret. Actually, I was waiting for the right moment to mention it."
"And that right moment got interrupted. What a timing," Seoha teased and Sejin shot him a look. It only made him laugh and made a peace sign.
Sari chuckled. "Then again, he has a point."
"Okay. Back to the topic. I knew Detective Seo because... he's my fiance."
Of course, Sari, being the only one who wasn't aware of that, opened her eyes wide and gaped at Sejin for a few moments before regaining her composure. "H-how did that happen?"
"Blame our respective grandfathers for that, since they wanted to have some filial connection to each other's families even after they were gone. I don't really know the full story, but that didn't work out at first with their children. So they thought they'd have a good chance with me and Detective Seo."
"And he just accepted it?"
"There were some... terms that we were able to agree on when it was laid to us. Those terms served as our trial period. This year will be the last year of that."
"That's still amazing. And you two --- I guess --- became friends because of that, huh?" Now Sari was surprised. How was she supposed to know that the two were engaged when she barely knew him at first sight?
"Yeah. We figured that it's better if we get to know each other that way, without thinking that we're doing this because of an ancient arrangement."
"And... you said that this year is the last year for that trial period. Does that mean you're going to finally decide whether to stick with that or not?"
Sejin nodded. "We'll let our parents know about our decision by then."
Sari smiled at that. Of course she understood the reasoning. They both were young and wanted things to work out with each other. That was all.
And that made her happy for them. Even if they were still a bit unsure of how this whole thing would end. And even if they weren't sure of themselves yet. Sari found it really cute, actually.
xxxxxx
In the end, Sari didn't get to tell her friends the details about Soohoon's visit to her house yesterday. Not that they knew about it, anyway. She decided to focus on working together with Professor Geunhee who gave her an adequate amount of workload (mostly paperworks) to keep her mind busy.
Or at least, that was what she hoped would happen. But some of the documents she scanned, read, and took notes of happened to have appeared in her dreams. As much as she wanted not to get affected at the sight of it, it kept getting hard as each moment passed.
It felt like it was almost an eternity since the dream began and Sari still couldn't stop it. But it was just one of those days where everything seemed so hopeless. She just wished her life would go back to normal. To the times when everything was fine. Before everything went downhill.
"Are those documents more fascinating to you than I thought they would?"
Sari raised her head almost immediately to see Professor Geunhee looking at her with an amusing smile. Then the professor gestured to the document she was holding, which was a small circular chest box that was unearthed several miles away from Huijin a few years back.
"I-it's not that, Professor. I was thinking of something else. I'm sorry." Sari sighed after that. How many times had Professor Geunhee found her unusually focused on some of the documents that she was sorting?
It was then that she realized that the documents which would catch her attention were unrelated to the professor's lectures at all. As if... those documents were personal.
But why would the professor keep them like that? Sari could only wonder. It wouldn't make sense to put the papers with her lectures on display like that. Unless...
"Professor, are these papers related to something?" Sari suddenly exclaimed, making the professor look at her in bewilderment.
"What makes you think that?"
Sari hesitated. But she knew if she remained silent, she'd never find an answer --- any answer --- that might connect to the dreams she had for a long time.
Not to mention...
'The dying woman in Professor Soohoon's past lives vision... I'm sure she was clutching this almost similar chest box even when she was killed in front of him in his past life...'
With that in mind, Sari slowly nodded.
She hoped that she wasn't overstepping a boundary.
"Yes... There is. But I can't tell you anything about it. At least not yet."
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