Chapter 17: Cha Hwa Rim(Intermission)
As the golden hues of the setting sun painted the sky, warm chatter escaped the students below as a host of them left for their homes and/or hagwons. Yet as this happened, a single student remained perched at the top of the building, conversing with death.
Dan Woo had a strange attraction that had led him to the rooftop of the main building—a feeling that was mystical and inexplicable. There, he saw her.
A teenage girl stood at the edge.
The girl seemed vacant, her brown hair messy, her clothes a tangled mess, and her mouth rumbling into the air, speaking to something unseen. Dan Woo was left surprised. Was he dealing with a crazy person? Yet there was a slight chill that permeated the air.
Dan Woo walked forward slowly.
Suddenly, the rumbling girl stopped talking, turning her head towards the creeping Dan Woo.
"Ajussi, are you here to save me?" the girl suddenly asked, her face forming a complex smile.
Dan Woo was unsure of what to say, as the girl seemed to be having strange ideas. Before he could even formulate a response, the girl had already jumped over the railing, her body facing the open air, her feet barely supporting themselves on a ten-centimeter space.
"Calm down..." Dan Woo said as he approached the girl like a cautious owner reaching for their startled cat.
"Whatever the issue is, we can figure out a solution."
The girl only smiled at Dan Woo before finally giving in to gravity.
"I have been accompanied by death all my life. It’s time to embrace it."
When Dan Woo saw this, he ran with all his might, barely reaching in time to grab one of the girl’s hands. The hand was cold, her body heavy. He struggled, fighting the weight of the world as he tried to save the dangling girl, yet the angle of the situation did him no justice. He struggled and struggled, barely holding on as he tried to placate the girl before him.
"Please, fight. Think of your parents. Think of your friends."
When those words were spoken, there was no response. Only the dead eyes of the girl looked up at Dan Woo.
Then suddenly, her lips began to move.
"Death is but inevitable, so why run from its embrace?"
Dan Woo was flabbergasted by the dead tone and vacant look of the girl. He struggled just to keep holding her up, her body seemingly becoming heavier and heavier by the moment, his own body losing to the teetering balance.
Dan Woo was fighting for two lives. He tried so hard to pull the girl up, only for his own body to struggle through the sheer pain of crushed organs and the burning friction of hanging over the edge.
At a certain point, he started to question why he was struggling to save this girl’s life as his eyes turned to the blurry, ticking timer in his own vision. After all, as the girl said, death was inevitable.
Then his eyes landed on the name tag.
Cha Hwa Rim.
It was her.
His person of interest.
Seeing the name, a wild fighting spirit engulfed him as the timer in his own eye started to become clear. Who cared if death was inevitable? If he wanted to live, he needed to save the kid in front of him.
Through gritted teeth and the conviction to fight against all odds, the weight of the girl suddenly started to become less and less of a struggle until, finally, he pulled the girl back up.
The girl now stood in front of him, her skin pale, her eyes hollow, her body gaunt, with disheveled hair and a worn-out look.
I need to do something to convince the girl the world is worth living in.
That’s what he wanted to do, even though his interest in doing so wasn’t pure in the least. After all, how could he give up a lifeline that had been provided to him?
Yet when he looked at the girl before him, he didn’t know where to begin.
"Are you the author of The Great Shaman Cha Hwa Rim?" Dan Woo began, trying to find a line of connection.
The girl only turned to look at the man before her before asking in a hoarse voice,
"Why did you save me?"
Dan Woo expected the question, yet he didn’t know what to say. He could go with the self-righteous route—because a life was on the line, or that he couldn’t bear to see such a tragic death happen before his eyes—but this wouldn’t solve anything. After all, to a person who felt abandoned, such words would sound self-serving while purporting righteousness.
Instead, it would be better to find a way to connect with Cha Hwa Rim through a different connection.
"I want to save myself."
Cha Hwa Rim, upon hearing the statement, couldn’t help but turn with a complex expression.
"What do you mean, save yourself?"
Dan Woo took a deep, slow breath before releasing a long sigh.
"Just that. I need to save myself."
Cha Hwa Rim glanced at the man before simply saying,
"Okay."
Dan Woo became startled by the detached figure before him. He already had a whole speech prepared—about how he enjoyed stories, how he wanted to be a main character in somebody’s life, his hamartia being the need to save every life before him because otherwise he would be tormented by guilt, and such—yet he was met with a hard wall.
"The Great Shaman, Cha Hwa Rim... how do you think she would go about this situation?" Dan started talking, his words loud enough for Cha Hwa Rim to hear, yet directed at no one.
"I mean, saving lives is her purpose, isn’t it?"
"Then you agree with me, ajussi, right?"
Dan Woo was confused by the sudden words.
"What?"
"As you said, the great Cha Hwa Rim saves lives. Wouldn’t you want the gift of having her grace the world? Only through my death can she rise."
Oh no... I’m dealing with an unstable person, he thought. How was he supposed to convince the girl before him to live, let alone allow him to perform?
"Why do you think the character of Cha Hwa Rim will come to life if you die?"
"Only through death can life be felt again," the girl said as she began moving once more, walking toward the same direction.
Dan Woo’s heart grew anxious as he gazed at the figure.
"Wait!" Dan Woo suddenly screamed. "I can bring her to life."
The girl suddenly stopped.
"What do you mean?"
"Cha Hwa Rim. I can bring her back to life."
"Do you mean you can save her? How?"
"Come up with a scene."
"What?"
"I said, write a scene for Cha Hwa Rim."
The girl gazed at the man, confused by the request, before turning back toward the railings.
"I have humored you enough," she said.
Seeing that the girl wasn’t giving him any attention, Dan Woo decided to use a scene from the webtoon. He wasn’t sure what would happen. After all, he was playing a female character.
Then he began reciting the lines. At first, it was with a simple rhythm, his body and voice very masculine, yet Cha Hwa Rim paid him no mind, continuing her march toward the railings.
Then, slowly, his voice and actions started to blur. The figure of Dan Woo was gone, and a girl dressed in Haesong Academy’s uniform stood in his place.
Cha Hwa Rim, hearing the echo of her own voice, quickly turned, her vacant face giving way to a softer expression filled with growing curiosity.
"She didn’t lie to me," Cha Hwa Rim began. "Only through death can life be seen again. Ajussi... are you the man of many faces, the embodiment of the mystical?"
Dan Woo was confused, yet he didn’t respond. Instead, he tried to maintain Cha Hwa Rim’s character.
"Please... save Cha Hwa Rim," the girl finally said, a tear dropping from her face.
The memory ended as Dan Woo looked back up at the red moon before lowering his gaze to the cards in front of him.
"I finally understand those words."