The Secret We Left Behind

Chapter 3

The photograph stayed in my hands for several seconds.

I couldn't move.

I couldn't speak.

All I could see was the little boy standing beside my mother.

The silver pendant around his neck.

The same pendant I had worn since I was a child.

“For Ha-eun, when she remembers.”

I looked at my mother.

“What does this mean?”

She didn't answer.

“Mom.”

She reached for the photograph.

I pulled it away.

“No.”

Her eyes widened.

“You can't keep hiding things from me.”

“Ha-eun, please.”

“Who is he?”

She looked at the boy in the photograph.

Then she looked at me.

“I don't know.”

“You're lying.”

“I’m not.”

“You said you knew the people from Haneul.”

“I knew them.”

“Then who is he?”

She closed her eyes.

“I don't remember.”

I stared at her.

“You don't remember?”

She shook her head.

“Some memories are difficult.”

“What happened to you?”

She didn't answer.

I felt something inside me c***k.

“You keep telling me to stay away from Haneul, but you won't tell me why.”

“Because I want to protect you.”

“From what?”

Her voice became quiet.

“From the same thing that ruined everything.”

“What ruined everything?”

She looked at me.

“I can't tell you.”

I wanted to argue.

I wanted to demand answers.

But something in her expression stopped me.

She looked genuinely afraid.

So I took the photograph and went upstairs.

I didn't sleep.

Again.

By morning, I had made a decision.

If my mother wouldn't tell me the truth, I would find it myself.

But I promised myself I wouldn't do anything reckless.

I would start small.

Names.

Dates.

Records.

Anything I could find.

The next day at Haneul, I went straight to the library.

The yearbook was still missing.

I searched the shelves anyway.

Nothing.

I checked the school computers.

The archives.

Old student records.

Most of the files from twelve years ago were unavailable.

Then I found something.

A school festival program.

October 14, 2014.

My fingers tightened around the paper.

The date.

The same date from the photograph.

I opened it.

There were pictures of students performing onstage.

Clubs.

Teachers.

Class officers.

And near the bottom of one page were four names.

Yoon Soo-jin.

Kang Min-jae.

Lee Dong-wook.

The fourth name had been covered with black ink.

I stared at it.

Someone had deliberately erased it.

Why?

I took a picture with my phone.

Then I heard a voice behind me.

“Looking for something?”

I nearly dropped the program.

I turned.

It was the librarian.

“No.”

She looked at the paper in my hands.

“That's from the old festival archives.”

“Oh.”

“You're interested in school history?”

“A little.”

She smiled.

“Your mother must have been a student here.”

My heart stopped.

“You know her?”

The librarian looked surprised.

“Yoon Soo-jin?”

I nodded.

“I've seen the name.”

She thought for a moment.

“She was here a long time ago.”

“Do you remember her?”

“Not personally.”

My shoulders dropped.

“But…”

She looked at the program again.

“I remember something about that festival.”

“What?”

“There was an incident.”

“What kind of incident?”

She hesitated.

“I'm not sure I should tell you.”

“Please.”

She sighed.

“There was an accident.”

My stomach tightened.

“Someone got hurt?”

“I don't remember.”

“Who?”

She shook her head.

“The records were changed afterward.”

“Changed?”

“Yes.”

Before she could say more, the library door opened.

A student entered.

The librarian immediately stopped talking.

I turned.

A tall boy walked inside.

He wore the Haneul uniform perfectly.

His dark hair was neatly styled, and he carried several folders against his chest.

He didn't look like someone who needed to ask permission to be anywhere.

The librarian straightened.

“Ji-hyun.”

My eyes moved toward him.

Kang Ji-hyun.

For the first time, I saw him.

He didn't look like the rumors.

Or maybe he looked exactly like them.

Calm.

Untouchable.

The kind of person who seemed completely comfortable wherever he stood.

His eyes moved across the room.

Then they stopped on me.

For one brief second, we stared at each other.

I looked away first.

The librarian cleared her throat.

“Student council work?”

He nodded.

“I need the festival archives.”

My heart skipped.

The same archives.

The librarian looked between us.

Then she handed him a key.

“Second cabinet.”

He thanked her.

His voice was quieter than I expected.

I stepped away from the table.

I didn't want to be there when he started looking through the records.

Especially after everything my mother had said.

As I walked past him, one of the folders in his arms slipped.

Papers fell onto the floor.

I stopped.

He crouched to pick them up.

I instinctively helped.

Our hands reached for the same paper.

I pulled mine back.

“Sorry.”

He looked at me.

“You're new.”

It wasn't really a question.

“Yeah.”

He glanced at my school ID.

“Yoon Ha-eun.”

I nodded.

“You're the scholarship student.”

I didn't like the way those words sounded.

“That's what everyone calls me.”

His expression didn't change.

“People talk.”

“So I've noticed.”

He picked up the last paper.

For a moment, neither of us said anything.

Then he looked toward the old program in my hand.

“What are you looking for?”

“Nothing.”

His eyes moved to the date.

October 14.

Something changed in his expression.

Barely.

But I noticed.

“Why that date?”

I held the paper closer.

“Why do you care?”

He looked at me.

“I don't.”

Then he walked toward the archives.

I watched him disappear between the shelves.

Something about him bothered me.

Not because he had been rude.

He hadn't.

It was the opposite.

He seemed too controlled.

Like he was hiding something.

I left the library.

As I walked down the hallway, I couldn't stop thinking about his reaction.

He had recognized the date.

I was sure of it.

At lunch, Soo-ah noticed immediately.

“You met him.”

I almost choked on my drink.

“Who?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Kang Ji-hyun.”

I looked around.

“How did you know?”

“You're looking at the student council office.”

I quickly looked away.

“I saw him in the library.”

“You actually talked to him?”

“For maybe thirty seconds.”

Soo-ah stared at me.

“That's already more than most people get.”

“Why?”

“Because Ji-hyun doesn't talk unless he has a reason.”

I remembered his question.

Why that date?

I pushed my food around my plate.

“What's he like?”

Soo-ah shrugged.

“Smart. Quiet. Serious.”

“That's it?”

“And intimidating.”

I laughed.

“He wasn't intimidating.”

She stared at me.

“Give it time.”

Before I could answer, several students suddenly looked toward the cafeteria entrance.

A few whispers spread across the room.

“Isn't that Tae-jun?”

“He's back?”

“Didn't he skip yesterday?”

I looked up.

A boy stood near the entrance.

His uniform was slightly untidy, his tie loose, and his dark hair fell messily over his forehead.

He looked completely different from the students around him.

While everyone else seemed careful about how they looked, he seemed not to care at all.

He glanced around the cafeteria.

Then his eyes briefly moved in my direction.

I immediately looked down.

Soo-ah leaned toward me.

“Don't.”

“Don't what?”

“Look.”

“I'm not.”

“You already did.”

“I was just curious.”

She sighed.

“That curiosity is going to get you in trouble.”

I smiled.

“Maybe.”

The boy walked away without coming any closer.

I didn't know his story.

I didn't know why people were afraid of him.

And I didn't know that he would eventually become impossible to ignore.

For now, he was just another name at Haneul.

Just like Kang Ji-hyun had been yesterday.

Just another stranger.

After classes, I returned to the library.

I wasn't looking for anyone.

I was looking for answers.

The librarian wasn't there.

The old program was still on the table where I'd left it.

I picked it up.

Something was different.

The black ink covering the fourth student's name had been scratched away slightly.

I could see part of the first letter.

S.

My heart began beating faster.

I took out my phone.

Then I heard a voice.

“You shouldn't be here.”

I turned.

Kang Ji-hyun stood near the doorway.

I froze.

He looked at the program in my hands.

“Why?”

He didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he walked toward me.

“You're looking for your mother.”

It wasn't a question.

I swallowed.

“How do you know?”

His expression became unreadable.

“Because you're asking questions nobody has asked in years.”

“Maybe someone should.”

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then he said quietly—

“Some questions have consequences.”

I stared at him.

“Are you threatening me?”

“No.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Warning you.”

“Why?”

He didn't answer.

He simply turned and walked away.

I watched him disappear down the hallway.

Then I looked back at the old program.

The missing name.

The erased records.

The date my mother refused to discuss.

And the boy who seemed to know more than he was willing to say.

I folded the program carefully and placed it inside my notebook.

As I closed it, something slipped from between the pages.

A small piece of paper.

I picked it up.

There were only four words written on it.

Ask Ji-hyun about her.

I stared at the message.

Then I looked toward the empty hallway.

For the first time, I wondered who the girl in the photograph really was.

And why everyone seemed so determined to make sure I never remembered her.