In Search of Our Destiny - Chapter 203

It was now Min-Jun’s turn to feel stumped.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if I found out I was sick and only had a few more months to live, I wouldn’t want the person I love to stick around and suffer alongside me. I’d prefer him to be happy, so I’d let him go.”

“But what if he doesn’t want to leave? What if he wants to stay with the woman he loves for the little time they have left?”

Su-Jin fell silent.

It wasn’t her brother’s words that surprised her, but his expression.

The young man’s eyes were filled with so much sadness that Su-Jin was currently at a loss for words. It almost never happened for Min-Jun to appear so overwhelmed with emotions. But, for some reason, it was happening now and Su-Jin felt confused and unable to understand the underlying reason behind it.

Just then, Mi-Suk’s voice broke the silence.

“What about the age difference then? People usually frown upon a woman being together with a much younger man. If it were you, how would you handle that?” She asked, drilling holes into Min-Jun’s face with her eyes.

“Childish.” Min-Jun bit out resolutely.

“Indeed you are.” Mi-Suk immediately retorted and clicked her tongue.

Su-Jin felt like laughing at them.

A few chuckles escaped through her lips when, all of a sudden, she stopped.

“Star-Crossed lovers. Star… Crossed… Star…star… and childish… child…” Su-Jin kept mumbling to herself, staring at the empty space like she was in a trance.

Seeing her friend spacing out like that, Mi-Suk grew worried.

“Su-Jin, what’s wrong?” she asked.

By this time, both Mi-Suk and Min-Jun had completely forgotten about their argument and were now staring fixedly at Su-Jin. A look of apprehension flitted through their eyes as they waited for her to say something.

“I think I got it!” Su-Jin suddenly exclaimed.

Next, she sprung to her feet, almost toppling the table over in her haste.

Before either Mi-Suk or Min-Jun could stop her, Su-Jin turned on her heels and dashed towards the second floor, heading straight for her room.

At this moment, the other two finally snapped out of their shock and proceeded to call out to her.

But it was in vain. Right now Su-Jin couldn’t hear anything. And all because she was suddenly stricken by an idea.

As she entered her room and began rummaging through her desk drawers, Su-Jin continued mumbling to herself, repeating the same words over and over again like a chant.

“Star-crossed… Lovers … Childish… Child … ”

Not even five minutes later, Su-Jin’s room looked like it had been ravaged by a tornado. There were empty cardboard boxes scattered all over the floor, along with big and small plastic containers used for storage. Half of their contents was piled up on the bed, while the other half was spilled on the floor at her feet.

“Su-Jin? What happened?” Mi-Suk’s voice came from the hallway.

A split second later, the woman’s voice was followed by Min-Jun’s.

“Sis, have you lost anything, apart from your mind that is?”

Completely disregarding Mi-Suk’s worried tone, as well as her brother’s mocking words, Su-Jin continued to rummage through her things.

Barely a few seconds later, though, she finally stopped and let out a loud cheer.

“YES! I finally found it!”

The next moment, she raised both hands above her head, showing the other two the object she was holding.

It was a small cardboard box filled with an untidy collection of old and new knick-knacks.

After carefully securing the box in her arms, Su-Jin struggled to move around the mess she had made on the floor. She took one step at a time, slowly advancing towards the bed. Once there, she sat on the corner and began pulling out a few objects from inside the box.

First, it was an old photo album. The leather covers were tattered, with blotches of discolored brown mixed with the original darker color. It wasn’t particularly large in size, but it looked rather thick.

Su-Jin browsed the album for a moment, then let out another shout.

“Ah, found it!”

Hearing his sister’s second victory cry, Min-Jun finally peeked inside the room.

“Is this what you were looking for?” he asked, gesturing with his chin towards the album.

“Min-Jun, do you still remember the last place we visited with our parents?” Su-Jin asked instead.

“I only remember it was somewhere in the mountains.”

“Ah, yes.” Su-Jin smacked her forehead, giving her brother a sheepish smile. “You were very young back then, only five or six years old, so it’s natural that you don’t remember much. But it’s true that it was located near a mountainous area. More specifically, it was Eunpyeong District.”

After browsing through the album for a few moments, Su-Jin’s eyes finally caught the familiar image she was looking for.

The photograph she singled out showed a young girl and a small boy standing in front of a young couple. The two little kids were Su-Jin and Min-Jun when they were ten, respectively six years old. The two adults were their parents, looking young and beautiful together.

Behind the four of them was the front of a Buddhist temple main hall. Two stone pagodas stood erect on either side of the door. The vibrant green color of the door panels still stood out even though the picture looked old.

“Oh, this is…” Min-Jun cried out in surprise.

By this time he had already advanced through the warzone that his sister left behind in the middle of the room and was now standing next to the bed. He stared down at the album, pointing at the picture while looking surprised.

“This is… That temple…”

“Mn, the picture was taken at Jingwansa Temple in Eunpyeong District.”

Su-Jin took the photo out of its place and raised it so Min-Jun could see it better. Then she continued to speak with fondness in her voice.

“You may not remember all that well, but the day we took this picture we were visiting the Eunpyeong Hanok Village1. Mom had taken me to the bathroom, while dad was answering a phone call from work. You were left alone in the courtyard for a couple of minutes. By the time everyone came back, you had gone missing.”