Blue Summer

Chapter 28: Hope as it shines

The Seoul facility was in commotion. Ibuki had finally been brought out of solitary confinement. As he entered the mess, he saw a group gathered around a table talking about something. There were no guards to disperse them. Ibuki went to his chair and found his roommates eating, heads down. Ibuki sat down slowly and began eating. After a few bites, he cleared his throat and, in a low voice, asked, "What is with the crowd?"

Miyon lifted his head and turned his gaze to the crowd, "They say following this week, we will be off to Germany."

Jo-Hyun put his chopsticks down, "I wonder if it is only a rumour."

O-Jin responded, "Who gets such news anyways and from where?"

Ibuki gave it a thought. "So what if it is a rumour? It should appear out of somewhere. Something should provoke such a rumour."

Looking at the puzzled face of Ibuki, Miyon said, "Even if it is true, what are we going to do? It is not like things will change once we go there."

The rest of the group nodded. There was a moment of silence as the group ate their food.

After a moment, Ibuki noticed that Ji-Bok wasn't there and inquired about his whereabouts from the rest of the group.

Miyon replied with a straight face, "Couldn't make it."

Ibuki gave him a perplexed look, to which Jo-Hyun responded, "He died."

Ibuki dropped his spoon in shock. Miyon got up to pick it up and, handing it back to Ibuki, said, "We thought you died too. You have nerves that you made it so far."

Ibuki did not reply to it. Miyon went back to his seat and went on with his food. The rest of the group also went on, but Ibuki remained still.

To see death yourself is one thing, but to see people around you perish while you breathe is another horror in itself. First, it was Woshi, and now Ji-Bok. Who knows what will happen to the rest of them by the time they arrive in Germany?

It was the first week of September. The weather had taken a pleasant turn. This week was also Ibuki's birthday. He hadn't celebrated it in a long time. Not at least since his father passed away. His mother used to tell him that he was born with the brightest smile on his face. She had never seen such a smile in her entire life. His father would tell him he was the calmest child he had known, and many of his relatives were jealous that Ibuki did not pester his parents much. His grandmother told him that his first word was 'grandma' and that he also spoke on his birthday. Before he could celebrate his 12th birthday, his father committed suicide. Since then, he has given up on celebrating his life. He remembered that he never told Misao when his birthday was. She never asked him either, and neither did he know when her birthday was. It was 4 September, and yes, that was the day Ibuki was born.

This very month in Germany, however, was rather cold. Misao had added a layer of clothing to herself. It would rain heavily. Misao sat in her room under a blanket, counting on her fingers. She had counted so many times that she had forgotten what she was counting to begin with.

"Maybe I was counting how much time I have to live," Misao thought. But then she quickly recalled that she had been counting her days left before beginning college. "Makes sense."

She got out of her bed and checked the calendar. She had kept her phone on silent and did not want to open it. Somehow, she was scared to get some horrifying news on it, which she did not want to see. So she refrained from using it, even to the extent of searching general knowledge through books in Yun-Ji's library rather than googling them. Least to say she had gone full medieval.

Looking through the calendar, she realised that today was the second of the month. She paused and thought, "My birthday. It is the day after tomorrow. Yeah!"