1/13
Ever since the sun started laughing, Wonwoo wanted to consult his grandmother about what had happened the first time the sun laughed. When she had told him the story when he was a little boy, he knew for a fact that she didn't tell him the whole story because his mother kept interrupting her. He was sure his grandmother would tell him the full story now if she were alive.
"Hey mom," Wonwoo figured that he should ask his mother since he didn't really have any other choice and he wanted to know what was going on. "Do you know why the sun is laughing?"
"Um, let's see," his mother pondered out loud. "Well, your grandma did say that the sun didn't laugh for two hundred years or so, right?"
Wonwoo could hear the gears rotating in his mother's head as she tried her best to remember what his grandmother had told them. After waiting for about five minutes, both he and his mother gave up. Dejected, Wonwoo was about to give up when his mother said, "Oh, wait! Her diary should be around here somewhere. I know that she definitely would have written about the sun story in there."
So, Wonwoo searched. He searched everywhere— he searched her old room, the basement, the attic, his parents' room, his own room, but nothing. He couldn't find the diary. Heck, he didn't even know what the diary looked like. He was just searching like a mad man at that point. As he was searching, his father entered the room.
"What are you doing, son?" he asked.
"Oh, dad, do you know what grandma's diary looked like?"
"Well, I know that the cover was brown and leather, but that's pretty much it. I don't think it's in the house, though."
"What?"
"Well, when she died, we donated a bunch of her books to the bookstore... I think we accidentally put the diary in there," his father answered sheepishly.
"Dad..."
"We donated them recently, so maybe it'll still be there?"
Wonwoo did his best to remain optimistic and left his house to go the bookstore. He wished and prayed that he would find the notebook in time so that he could return home before the sun set. As he walked briskly to the bookstore, the sun started to laugh, sending shivers down his spine. He looked up hesitantly and locked eyes with the sun. He stopped moving, and the sun's eyes stopped moving as well.
"I'm next, aren't I?" Wonwoo asked the sun.
The sun responded with a louder laugh. With a new resolve, Wonwoo sprinted to the bookstore.
"Hi, Mr. Wen," Wonwoo greeted the bookstore owner.
"Oh, hi. Say, do you know where Junnie is?"
"No... Did he not come home last night?"
Silence. Both Wonwoo and Junhui's father knew what must've happened to the boy, but neither of them wanted to say it out loud. Clearing his throat, Wonwoo asked, "Do you know if you have a journal or diary with a brown leather cover?"
"Rings a bell, but I have no idea where it is." Junhui's father gestured to the piles and piles of books around the dingy store. "You're going to have to search. Sorry, kid."
Wonwoo sighed and nodded. He combed through all of the stacks of books and through the shelves. Finally, after what felt like hours, Wonwoo found a brown leather book. He opened it to see his grandmother's handwriting. He couldn't help but smile. He went back to Junhui's father to pay him, but he refused to accept his payment.
"That was your grandmother's, right? I feel weird taking money for something so personal. Don't worry about it, kid. Make sure you get home fast. The sun is setting."
Eyes wide with fear, Wonwoo immediately exited the store. Sure enough, the sun was setting, and it was still laughing. Wonwoo and the sun stared at each other for a good couple of seconds before Wonwoo began running back to his home.
What Wonwoo failed to consider was how freakishly far the bookstore was from his own house. He should've taken a bike or his father's scooter or something, but he wasn't thinking. Wonwoo sprinted down the dusty path with the diary hugged tightly to his chest.
Unfortunately, the sun completely set, and the moon was in the sky and laughing in place of the sun. Wonwoo cursed himself for not asking Mr. Wen if he could just camp out in the bookstore for the night and extend his life by just one more day. He tried to find another house or building to seek refuge, but he also didn't want to stop and wait in front of someone's door. Also, due to the disappearances, no one in the neighborhood trusted anyone anymore, and they sure as hell were not going to open up their home to anyone that was not family. Wonwoo kept running. His glasses kept slipping off his face the sweatier his face got, and he had to keep pushing them up, thus slowing him down.
Then, he heard the wind howl in his ears. He dropped his grandmother's diary and stopped running, but the howling was louder than ever. He debated leaving the diary, but the whole point of him leaving the house was to get the stupid thing, so he stupidly went back for it. The moon laughed louder, and Wonwoo knew that he was the next to disappear when he saw the phantom's shifting body hovering before the diary. Wonwoo disappeared, and his glasses fell alongside the diary.
