Time Mansour - Chapter 55



Only Noblemtl

Episode 55 So maybe

In a quiet room.

The monitor screen darkened. Night had fallen on the world inside the monitor.

Long enough for a forest to form. Wooden chopsticks that have grown lushly on the desk. A forest growing in the cup ramen containers stacked on top of each other. The tips of the bare branches have turned red with maple leaves. The old ramen broth has dried up, leaving only a faint trace.

Looking at the cup ramen containers stacked up like a tower.

“I really did my best.”

I muttered without realizing it. The thoughts came out as a voice.

Name. Date of birth. Middle school attended. And even a blurry photo.

I searched the internet with just four keywords, but I couldn’t find anything.

If it’s my search skills that have been honed while searching through codes.

Honestly, I thought I could find it somehow.

however.

I guess it was just my pride.

Even though it’s been taking quite some time, we’re still at a standstill.

I couldn’t find even the slightest trace.

‘How can there be nothing like this?’

Born in 1997. Same age as Mina. At this age, it’s normal for something to come out on SNS.

Jinsu Lee. Yi jin su. Lee jin su.

Macbook. Ricktok. Instagram.

No matter what keyword you search for on which site, no trace is left.

Since the name is so common and there are many people with the same name, it took quite a while.

This is not it. This won’t work. I’m sorry, but I have to say that I can’t find it. Thinking that way, I got up from my chair.

moment.

ping.

The world turned white. I felt dizzy.

Oh.

I couldn’t even eat properly and only ate ramen for meals, staring at the monitor for days on end.

Yeah. I’ve reached my limit. If I try to find more, my body will break.

With that thought in mind, I picked up my cell phone and went out to the living room.

While I was fiddling with my cell phone to call the manager.

Just in time.

I got a call from this manager.

-Youngjun. You won’t be able to find it, right? If you don’t have anything else to do these days, do you want to go out and get some fresh air?

But then I got a rather strange message.

**

Daecheon. No, Boryeong City.

It was called Daecheon-si until 1995, and was later integrated into Boryeong-si.

In the 80s and 90s, Daecheon Beach was the most famous beach in Korea.

The name Daecheon is still vivid in the memories of people from the past.

‘Well. It’s a bit ambiguous to say that I lived in that era, though.’

In 1999, he was only about ten years old.

It must have definitely existed at that time.

The child was so small that he was invisible to the eye.

.

If my mother hadn’t told me about it often, it would probably have been an unfamiliar name to me.

My mother had never been to Daecheon either. She had only seen the white sandy beach on TV.

It was my mother’s dream to travel with my sister and me.

We promised each other that we would go later, as if it were a habit.

In the end, they broke their promise and went on a trip to different places.

The West Coast Expressway, which was said to be jam-packed during the 90s vacation season, is now empty. The sea breeze blows across the road instead of the cars. Every time he changes lanes, this manager glances at the wind passing by through his rearview mirror.

Only after I changed lanes like that did I turn my head to look at this manager.

“Aren’t you busy these days?”

“Yes. I have free time.”

“But this is what I mean. The two of us going down to Daecheon… doesn’t that look a bit like the picture?”

“It’s a business trip. A business trip.”

The manager looks into the distance as if nothing is going on and responds.

“Aren’t there any other employees in the company? Feel free to bring anyone.”

“There are a lot of people. It’s because I can’t go anywhere and talk.”

I nodded my head without realizing it at those words.

Well, I kind of expected it.

If Ive had set his mind to finding someone, there was no way he wouldn’t have found one.

No. Even if you can’t, you probably found it better than me.

It seems that there were some restrictions.

“Is this your boyfriend?”

“It’s my first love.”

I guess it still lingers in my mind. The director looks straight ahead and smiles. Isn’t it cute? Oh my. If it weren’t for our kids, it would be so cute. He adds something that doesn’t really need to be said.

“Wait a minute. But, Mr. Director, can you tell me all this? I’m a complete outsider.”

“I don’t know. It’s already ruined. I think you probably expected it anyway. Don’t go around talking about it.”

I frown as I turn the steering wheel. Actually, from the moment Mina asked me, it was a situation I couldn’t help but know about.

Because the photo of the binary you sent me was a CCTV footage that I recovered.

It was a bit suspicious that he was looking for a friend so desperately. It was obvious enough that even I, a dull person, could tell.

Well, I can understand other situations to some extent.

There’s just one piece of the puzzle that doesn’t fit.

I asked the director again cautiously.

“But why did you recover the hard disk so hastily? If you’re looking for someone, you can take your time looking for them, right?”

“··· Youngjun, you’re a fake Red Blue fan. I thought you would know that.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you remember what happened at that time?”

As soon as the director finished speaking, I started to recall my memories.

“···”

Honestly, I don’t remember at all. In fact, although I like Red Blue’s songs, I’m not the type to look up the group’s issues in detail.

Besides, I don’t have a very good memory.

I just looked at the director with a dumb expression.

The manager glanced at me like that.

He answers with a short sigh.

“Last year, the Red Blue members renewed their contracts, right?”

ah!

“It was a condition of Mina’s contract renewal.”

That’s why I was more grateful to Youngjun. We had a fight about that back then. So our main vocalist was upset and was about to leave. I barely managed to recover the video and showed my sincerity while leaving. Director Lee holds the steering wheel tightly and smiles bitterly.

Wow, that world is complicated too.

Finding a past first love, what’s the big deal?

There were many things we didn’t understand about each other, so I couldn’t answer carelessly.

As expected, I once again felt that the world we live in is different from mine.

**

Arrived in Daecheon.

After the driver aligns the wheels, he turns off the engine.

Bang. The door closes, and only then does the smell of blood waft up.

An endless beach next to the parking lot.

Looking at the beach.

“What? Where is the white sand beach?”

I feel disappointed without even knowing it

“Huh? What kind of white sand beach?”

“No. It’s definitely not Mom.”

I was talking, but then I closed my mouth again. I felt a bit awkward bringing up the topic of my mother.

Anyway, Daecheon Beach was no different from any other ordinary beach.

The beautiful white sandy beach seems to have been swept away by the waves over time.

After thinking about it like that, I walk down the gravel road with a slightly disappointed expression.

This director walks side by side with me.

As I walked, I spoke to the manager in a casual manner.

“You tried to find out on your own before, right?”

“Yes. There is no one I can trust in the company. But the Personal Information Protection Act was strengthened around that time. I had a hard time finding things on my own.”

I tilted my head at the director’s words.

It’s understandable that there’s no one you can trust inside.

Because I haven’t been working at Ive for very long.

however.

This director was the younger brother of CEO Ive.

“Don’t rich families usually have at least one trustworthy detective agency?”

“I’m some kind of tycoon. And you’ve seen too many movies. What’s wrong with you?”

He looked at me with a bewildered expression. He shook his head from side to side and hurried his steps.

So I went to the middle school that Mina went to. In the first place, I didn’t have any information other than the fact that we were in the same middle school. Since I didn’t have any classmates that I could contact, I just came here.

I’ve been stuck in a wall since I entered school.

“Huh. Huh. How did you get here?”

As we walked onto the playground, a man who looked like a security guard came running out of breath.

“I wanted to ask you something. I’m trying to find a student.”

“··· Are you really from this school? You don’t seem to be a parent either.”

He looks at us and squints his eyes. He looks at us with suspicion.

“That… we’re trying to find some people. Friends who graduated from this school….”

“No. No.”

Before I could finish my words, he shook his head violently from side to side. Every time he shook his head, the sea breeze blew.

Still, I hesitate because I have a feeling that this director and I might be in trouble.

“These days, not just anyone can enter the school.”

Oh no. Oh no. He keeps shaking his head as he says this.

‘This won’t work.’

I glanced at the director.

He gestures to leave without saying a word.

Yeah. Well, it’s not like this is the only way.

‘I have no choice. I have to go with Plan B.’

Thinking so, I turned around and walked away.

Overhead, seagulls were flying freely in and out of the school.

**

What is Erai Plan B?

Plan Z was all useless.

I thought real estate was the most likely option, but unfortunately there was no income.

‘First of all, there is too little information.’

The biggest problem was that I didn’t know the exact address of the house I lived in before. If I had known which house it was, I would have asked around.

Mina only vaguely remembered the area around there. She had said she had never been to that house in the first place.

However, I couldn’t give up hope and continued to walk around the area and ask the residents several times.

Perhaps because so much time had passed, no one remembered Jinsoo.

“What do we do now?”

“That’s right. We came without any plan.”

I sit casually on the stairs overlooking the beach and watch the sunset.

The sea spreads out so refreshingly, but my heart feels suffocated.

I followed the setting sun with my eyes.

I got up from my seat first.

“Let’s eat. It’s late.”

“Yes. We all do this to survive.”

So, I got up from my seat with a thud. Thud. Thud. I dusted off my pants with both hands.

“Do you know where it is?”

“No. Would you like some grilled clams?”

“Okay.”

I nodded like that. I walked towards the clam restaurant, leaving the sound of the waves behind me behind.

Knock knock.

I push the door aside and go inside the clam restaurant.

Occasionally I see an empty table, so I go to any of them and grab a seat.

There weren’t many guests.

Instead, a bloody smell filled the restaurant.

“Please give me grilled clams for two.

“What should I do about the alcohol?”

The manager looks at me at the owner’s question.

I shook my head.

“Alcohol is okay.”

The manager folded the menu. After waiting for a while, a plate of grilled clams was placed on the table.

Towards the master who returned after finishing his work.

“Excuse me. Do you know Lee Jin-su? He was a friend of mine who went to Daecheon First Middle School.”

He raised his hands and grabbed the air as if he was grabbing the last rope.

“Who? Oh! It’s Jinsoo. It’s been over 10 years since the kids moved.”

“Yes, that’s right. Do you happen to know where he moved to?”

“I don’t know. That family wasn’t originally from here. They probably went to Seoul. Even the locals are going to Seoul.”

You’ve found the wrong place. It doesn’t seem like you’ve lived here for very long in the first place.

But since it was my first time meeting someone who knew Jinsoo, I wanted to ask a few more questions and ask a few more words.

“It’s not Seoul. I said I wouldn’t see you again.”

Instead, a reply was heard from the table next to me. The owner seemed to know me and spoke informally to me.

“Really? Then it can’t be Seoul. It only takes two hours to get there by highway.”

Suddenly, the owner and the man next to him start talking to each other.

So, Director Lee and I listened quietly.

Wait a minute. You went far?

At that moment.

Director Lee and I made eye contact.

“Chief Lee? No way?”

“No, of course not.”

Looks like you had the same thoughts as me.

This is just a guess, though.

It seems like the situation has become more painful.

‘This is a disaster. This seems like a more dizzying situation.’

It felt like the world had turned white.

I felt really dizzy.