Chapter 9:The Time Capsule
707 Words
Ji-ah couldn't stop thinking about the note.
Stay away from him.
She had read those three words so many times that they seemed burned into her memory.
She wanted to believe it was just another cruel prank.
But something about it felt... different.
Someone wasn't just trying to scare her.
Someone knew exactly who she was.
---
The next morning, Ji-ah arrived at school carrying the folded note inside her notebook.
She had decided not to tell her mother.
There was no point worrying her over something that might be nothing.
As she changed her shoes in the entrance hall, a familiar voice spoke behind her.
"Good morning."
She turned.
Seo-jun smiled, holding two warm cups of hot chocolate.
"I figured you skipped breakfast again."
Ji-ah laughed.
"You're starting to know me too well."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
He handed her one of the cups.
She hesitated.
"You really don't have to keep buying me things."
"It's just hot chocolate."
She smiled.
"Thank you."
For the first time since receiving the threatening note, she felt herself relax.
---
That afternoon, Mrs. Kim entered the classroom with a small wooden box.
"Everyone, today's lesson is a little different."
The students exchanged curious glances.
"As part of this year's Spring Festival tradition, each student will write a letter to their future self."
Excited whispers filled the room.
Mrs. Kim continued.
"You'll seal your letters inside a time capsule. Five years from now, when you graduate from university, you'll come back and open them."
Ji-ah's eyes lit up.
"I love this idea," she whispered to Ha-neul.
"So do I."
Mrs. Kim smiled.
"And because this is a partner activity..."
She looked around the room.
"...you'll also write one promise to your partner."
The class erupted.
"No fair!"
"That's embarrassing!"
Mrs. Kim laughed.
"Consider it a memory you'll treasure someday."
---
An hour later...
Ji-ah and Seo-jun sat beneath the old cherry blossom tree behind the school.
Sheets of paper rested on their laps.
"What are you writing?" Seo-jun asked.
"If I tell you, it won't be a secret."
He chuckled.
"Fair enough."
They spent several minutes writing in silence.
When they finished, Mrs. Kim collected the letters.
"Now," she said, "write one promise to each other."
Ji-ah looked at Seo-jun.
"What kind of promise?"
He thought for a moment.
Then he smiled.
"How about this?"
He wrote something on a small card and handed it to her.
Ji-ah read the words quietly.
No matter where life takes us, let's meet here beneath this tree five years from today... together.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She looked up.
"Do you really think we'll still remember?"
"I know I will."
Ji-ah smiled.
She picked up the pen and signed beneath his name.
"So will I."
Together, they placed the card inside the small wooden time capsule.
Mrs. Kim buried it beneath the cherry blossom tree while the entire class watched.
"Five years from today," she said with a smile.
"Don't forget your promise."
Neither Ji-ah nor Seo-jun knew just how impossible that promise would soon become.
---
As the students returned to the school building, Ji-ah noticed someone standing beyond the school fence.
A man wearing a black cap.
He wasn't looking at the other students.
He was looking directly at her.
The moment their eyes met...
He turned and walked away.
A strange chill crept down her spine.
"Ji-ah?"
Seo-jun's voice pulled her back.
"What are you looking at?"
She glanced toward the fence again.
The man was gone.
"...Nothing."
But she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen him somewhere before.
---
Across the street, inside a black sedan, the same man removed his cap.
He placed a photograph of Ji-ah into a brown envelope.
On top of the envelope was a single name.
Kang Ji-ah.
He picked up his phone.
"The girl is becoming closer to Han Seo-jun than expected."
The voice on the other end remained calm.
"Then we don't have much time."
"What are your orders?"
There was a long silence.
Finally, the voice answered.
"Prepare for Phase One."
The call ended.
The man looked toward Haneul High one last time.
A cold smile spread across his face.
"This spring..."
"...will be her last."
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