CH 23

It was better not to travel with someone who didn’t get along with you. Wouldn’t it have been better for their agency to pair up people who got along within the group? Although if those two were the most popular members of the group, there was no helping that.

However, I didn’t expect to see Goyeon Lee, the actress who broke out into tears on the talk show last time.

As to why it was unexpected… She didn’t seem to be the type of person to enjoy appearing in these kinds of shows.

So I was a bit surprised to see her again. Didn’t Hyehyun say that there was a fierce casting competition? Whether she volunteered or her agency pushed her, I didn’t know, but if it were the latter, I felt sorry for her. She looked quite worn out already.

Closer to the building, there were more camellias and hydrangeas, incomparable to the numbers I saw coming up the hill. Currently, it wasn’t blooming season for camellias, so the field was practically overtaken by hydrangeas. The light gray building under the brilliant blue sky, surrounded by a sea of deep pink flowers, and among them, somebody complained, “Do I really need to see red flowers on such a hot day? And aren’t hydrangeas usually blue?”

It wasn’t just the hydrangeas. Among the flora that the people walked by, there were flowers commonly called crape myrtles. This time of year was also right for crape myrtles, and their blooms were a similar color to the hydrangeas. The grasses and the trees rippled like a sea of deep, dark pink.

I had to agree. On a day and in a place like this, the flowers were all pink, almost red.

As the flowers danced along with the sea breeze, the pale gray building looked as if it was ablaze from the field of red. It was reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe’s famous story, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The scenery was beautiful but far from peaceful.

* * *

“I know they renovated this place for filming, but what’s with this building? The entrance hall is all twisted.” It had only been five minutes since we entered the house and Hyehyun Ham was grumbling quietly.

It was understandable because, beyond the forest green doors, the floorplan inside was completely different from that of an average house. Normally, one could expect a spacious living area that led to stairs or a hallway with several rooms. At least, based on the exterior, it was easy to imagine this building having that kind of format.

However, when the front doors opened, a steep set of stairs greeted us. It was an endless staircase, leading us to one of the many floors. It didn’t seem like it had been long since they built this staircase—when I stepped on it, rather than age-old dust rising up, I could smell fresh wood.

It had a low ceiling and was like a narrow tunnel, reminiscent of the tunnels of an ant nest.

“It reminds me of a multiplex apartment from back when I stayed in Hong Kong.”

“You’ve seen a house like this in Hong Kong?” Someone replied to me as I talked to myself. I flinched and looked in the direction I heard the voice. Woorim had come close to me before I knew it. I guess I made a weird face when our eyes met because he chuckled softly. “You’re walking slow. Are you tired?”

Instead of replying, I took a deep breath in. I recalled his cold hands that I had held a week ago and his promise to tell me who dreamed about the mansion if we got closer. I felt stifled like I was choked.

“You’ve seen a house like this in Hong Kong?”

“…The upper and lower floor residents weren’t on good terms, so the first-floor residents blocked the stairway to go up to the second floor. Enraged, the second-floor residents created a stairway that directly led from the front door of the building to the second floor.” I couldn’t help but answer as I glanced behind. Behind me were Woorim’s companions. They didn’t seem to care about what Woorim did. They looked used to Woorim going off on his own and getting along with other people.

The only person who probably cared at all was Hyehyun, who was walking in front of me… He was looking straight ahead as he walked, so I could only see the back of his head, but I knew what kind of face he was making even though I couldn’t see him. I stared at Hyehyun’s back with a frown for a moment before turning my head.

Woorim continued to ask, “If they blocked the front door, how did the first-floor residents get in and out of the building?”

“There was a back door, so they used that.”

What I didn’t understand was that this happened more than 20 years ago. I couldn’t figure out why they continued to retain that troublesome layout. Moreover, the residents involved had all left the building by that time.