Chapter Text
One day without warning, Lee Junho could see thousands of strings crisscrossing in front of him. He had simply blinked and brilliant red sliced through the air, the strings tangling before him.
He had reached out, thinking he was delusional, as his fingers slipped right through them, as if they didn’t exist.
Junho knew about the myths and the stories of wonder about soulmates across different lives and universes that were linked through a single thread, determined by the past, present, and future. He had quickly looked down at his own hands, only to find them bare, simply untouched by any string.
The first few weeks, Junho had been delighted and greeted his friends as he felt happy for them, seeing the vibrant strings linking them to someone who would understand them. Someone just for them.
After a month had passed, Junho began to feel the downsides of seeing everyone’s string. Everyone around him had a string. While he didn’t. It bothered him, but he shrugged it off, as he met new people and moved around. He was popular and friendly. Surely there was someone out there whose string he couldn’t see. Or maybe, because he could see the strings, he had to touch the person to see his string. He grabbed at excuses, as loneliness seemed to creep on him, seeing all his friends meet their other halves, while he sat back and watched.
He pressed on, however, making friends, meeting new people, and even going on random dates in hopes of finding the one without a string. He was always left disappointed as he declined further dates and rejected confessions, seeing their finger wrapped in red and knowing they had someone better for them. Someone that would never be him.
Frustration started to become a common emotion for Junho, as a year passed and he had found no one and could still see the strings, taunting him. What was the point of seeing the strings of fate if one did not have a string?
A few more years passed and Junho finally got a job at a top law firm. It felt familiar as he moved away from his friends in college and met new people. It had been a pattern for him when he joined new groups, joined new hobbies in an effort to find someone without a string. This time was different though. He had given up. Resigned to the fact that he didn't have a soulmate. He focused his energy on his job and his colleagues were nice. He was more than willing to help. He couldn’t help the occasional reflex to look at their hands when he spoke with them, but he smiled all the same.
He managed to find a place close by and even found a roommate that worked at the same place. Life was fine and if Junho concentrated, he could almost pretend he didn’t see red everywhere he went.
He sighed as he got ready for work, brushing his teeth, as Kwon Minwoo yelled from the door, “I’m going on ahead! A new attorney is coming in today and I have to get there earlier.”
Toothpaste still in his mouth he shouted over his shoulder, “Okay!”
He heard the door shut and spat out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. He went over to his room and grabbed his backpack, making sure he had everything and put on a jacket. Looking at the clock, he still had ten minutes before he needed to leave, so he tidied up the kitchen and made sure they still had a good amount of food in the fridge.
Heading over to Hanbada in the crisp fall air was pleasant, as Junho made his way over to the entrance. Right in front of it, he saw a woman, possibly around his age struggling with the doors.
He immediately walked up to her, reached out his hand, and held the door.
“You can step in now.”
She followed his suggestion and entered the doorway, with him right behind her. The two of them went around the spinning glass frames and stepped into the building.
Safely out of the way of the doors, Junho looked back at them and smiled to himself, remembering the amount of times he had jammed the door on accident when he had to haul boxes and paperwork to the office.
“The door is so confusing, right?” he said, speaking his thoughts out loud.
“Thank you,” the woman replied.
He turned to her, still smiling, “Where are you headed?”
She seemed to consider for a moment and Junho found himself truly looking at her. She had pretty eyes.
“Attorney Jung Myeong-seok’s office.”
He brightened, “I’m headed that way too. Let’s go together.”
They boarded the elevator and got off at their floor. Junho paused for a split second as he saw all the strings in front of him, coming from the people on the floor, but he blinked his eyes and did his best to ignore them.
He passed by a few of his colleagues and high-fived one of his friends, a flash of red as his hand made contact. He no longer flinched as dozens of strings passed through him and guided the woman to a separate shorter hallway.
He gestured to the glass doors, “This is Attorney Jung Myeong-seok’s office. Do you want me to knock for you?”
“No. I will do it.”
Junho smiled. She seemed a bit nervous as she stared ahead at the doors. She must be new.
“Sure, I’ll get going then.”
He bowed his head and walked back toward his desk. It was sort of a slow day as he placed down his backpack. Taking out some files and setting them on his desk, he turned on his computer. Sifting through his emails, he replied to some of them and ignored others, making sure he wasn't behind on any paperwork.
A few hours later, a drink was suddenly put on his desk. Confused, Junho looked up.
“It’s around the time you usually feel sleepy. The chocolate will help you feel energized,” one of his colleagues said, looking at him in a way that made him uncomfortable.
He laughed nervously as he picked up the drink, “Thank you.”
She leaned in closer, “I noticed you seem to like it dark. So I got the dark kind. 82 percent cacao.”
Feeling unnerved that she had noticed, he looked back down at the drink, “Oh, 82 percent. Thank you, I appreciate it.”
One of his supervisors came over to his desk from the other side, saying, “Junho, are you busy?”
Relieved, Junho turned his head, making sure to keep a polite smile. He looked back toward his colleague, making sure she wasn’t looking, as the red of her string stretched in the opposite direction, and opened his bottom drawer, placing the drink inside.
“Woah, is that everything you’ve received?” his supervisor said, looking over his desk. “I’m so envious. I don’t even have anyone who offers to share gum with me.”
Wanting to change the subject, Junho simply smiled again, “I’m not busy. What’s up?”
“I need you to visit the hospital for work. The attorney you’ll be accompanying is a rookie.”
“Oh really?
“But they say she’s a handful.” his supervisor said, shrugging, starting to walk away.
Wondering what that could possibly mean, Junho looked back at his computer, making sure to shut it off. Gathering his things, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and rode the elevator down to the lobby. As the revolving doors came into view, he noticed the woman from the morning standing in front of them.
Walking up to her, he asked, “Do you want me to get the door for you?”
She glanced at him, shaking her head, “No, I’m not leaving yet. I’m waiting for someone.”
“Oh, okay.”
It was an interesting coincidence how they were both waiting for someone. He looked around the lobby, checking to see if anyone was waving at him. There were so few strings though, which meant not a lot of people.
The woman glanced at him again. Feeling awkward, he said, “I’m also waiting for someone.”
She nodded then glanced away.
He checked his watch. The attorney should be down by now. Was tardiness the reason why they were a handful?
“An advantage of revolving doors is that it allows people to access the building while completely blocking off the flow of air between the outside and the inside. It’s beneficial for both cooling and thermal insulation,” the woman suddenly said, the words coming out of her rapid fire.
Looking from the doors to the woman, he crossed his arms, not knowing exactly what to say to that.
“I see.”
“But it’s slower in handling traffic than the average door, and children and the elderly might get caught.”
Realizing she wasn't done talking, he turned to her, giving her his attention, and looked back at the doors again.
“Also it’s difficult to use for wheelchair users. There's one advantage but three disadvantages. Maybe we can get rid of it if we can persuade the landlord,” she added, squinting at the doors.
He grinned. She seemed to have a shared frustration with the doors like Junho when he first worked here.
“Well,” he started, “What if you think of it as dancing the waltz?”
“What?”
“It’s easy to go through it if you get into a rhythm.”
She seemed at loss on what to say and Junho felt the need to prove his point. It felt kind of silly to dance through doors, but keeping rhythm had helped him when he had first encountered them.
He started to count out beats, “One, two, three. One, two, three.” Habitually moving with his own beat as he repeated the words. She started to move with him and he laughed.
“Let’s do it together when we head out.”
Glancing at his watch again, he excused himself, turning away and taking out his phone.
He wouldn’t be able to leave the building without the attorney. It’d be annoying if this attorney was always late. Quite a handful.
He held his phone to his ear, waiting until he heard, “Hello.”
He turned around, confused, hearing the word from two different places. “Hello?”
The woman turned to look at him, her own phone by her ear, and he immediately felt stupid. The attorney had been waiting the whole time. Who else could they have been waiting for?
He introduced himself, feeling that it was overdue, extending his hand out, “Hi, I’m Lee Junho from the litigation team. I’m the one accompanying you to the hospital.”
“Oh, I see. I’m Woo Youngwoo,” she replied, hesitantly reaching her hand out to slightly grip his for a brief moment. His skin tingled at the light contact as he smiled thoughtfully at her name, “Attorney Woo Youngwoo. Your name is quite interesting. It’s still Woo Youngwoo backward.”
Attorney Woo Youngwoo seemed to panic at that, looking at the lobby around them before whispering, “You’re not supposed to say things like that at work.”
Slightly puzzled, he answered, “Oh, is that so?” He considered for a moment. “Then should we take it outside?”
He strode over to the doors, looking back at her. She seemed hesitant again, so he resumed his earlier tip, repeating, “One, two, three. One, two, three.”
They both tapped their feet in time as he led her through the door. It felt like magic for a moment with the light reflecting off the glass as they spun together. He felt like his face had split in half with how wide he was smiling. It was the first time the doors were fun to go through.
He peered at her, wondering if she had enjoyed it and he watched her as she bounced in place, still chanting the rhythm.
Cute.
…
They arrived at the hospital. Standing in front of the entrance, Junho braced himself for all the strings he was going to see. There were always many strings, making it hard to tell which string came from who unless he was directly looking at their hand, but his office floor and the hospital were the two places where he felt as if he had a red wool sweater covering his face. He had spotted no glimpses of red on the way here, which had never happened before, but he supposed he was improving on ignoring them. However, they'd be impossible to ignore at a hospital where new life was brought into the world. He shut his eyes for a moment and opened them, expecting the red to flash in his face.
Instead, he saw nothing. Shocked and disconcerted, he darted his eyes around in search of anything red, only seeing red on the emergency signs. He stood there in bewilderment before jogging to catch up with Attorney Woo, who had already walked ahead of him.
The rest of the day was a blur as Junho tried to process why, after all these years, the strings had disappeared. He had tried bargaining with whoever had given him the ability in the first place to just take it away. He’d never asked for it and he didn’t want anything to do with it. All it did was remind him that he was never first for anyone. That everyone had a special someone except for him. He wasn't special enough it seems.
As soon as he got home, he collapsed onto his bed, shutting the door and simply staring at the ceiling. No red at all. It was freeing. Freeing and terrifying. What had made it all go away? How would he be able to tell who his soulmate was now? All the worries that he had long since buried sprang to life. What if there was still someone out there who didn't have a string? What if his soulmate was abroad in some other country? Why hadn't he thought of traveling more? Questions filled his head as he began to doubt. He still had much of his life left at the age of 29. He still had time to meet so many more people.
He dragged a hand over his face. This was what it was like to know the grass was greener on the other side. He sighed. He already accepted his lack of a soulmate. There was probably no point in thinking otherwise. Not seeing the strings didn't truly change anything. He knew they existed and he knew he didn't have one.
A knock sounded on his bedroom door.
"Hey Junho, do you want dinner or not?"
Junho rolled over on his bed, "I'm not hungry, Minwoo. Eat without me."
"Alright, more for me," his roommate replied.
Junho sat up, sighing again.
Sleep was out of the equation for tonight.
…
Life, despite his initial doubts, got better without the strings. Everything was less cluttered and constantly red. His vision wasn't blocked by hundreds of strings every time he went to his desk. He could finally see like a normal person after so many years.
It was ultimately a nice change and he also found himself spending more time with the new Attorney Woo on her case. It was an intriguing one though he felt much aggrieved at the passing of Mr. Park on behalf of Mrs. Park.
Still in his funeral clothes, he entered Attorney Woo's office.
"I brought Mr. Park Gyusik's autopsy report," he said, handing her the file folder.
She took it and made her way over to her desk. He sat down opposite her.
"The cause of death is brain hemorrhage as we expected. There was a reoccurrence of the subdural hematoma that he got surgery for."
As she started to flip through the report, Junho let out a sigh. It was unfortunate, the whole situation. He looked around as the sound of paper rustled. He took note of her whiteboard, filled with photos and detailed descriptions of the case. They were all logical and good observations, half of them he wasn't completely sure of their meaning. He kept reading until he saw a note that mentioned the iron resembling a sperm whale.
He glanced at Woo Youngwoo, wondering why she would have written it.
Wanting to find out, he said, "That iron," he paused, smiling, "resembles something. The thing in Moby-Dick-"
Looking up from the report, her eyes wide, Woo Youngwoo asked, "The sperm whale?"
He felt the corners of his mouth pulling higher at her reaction, "Yeah, the sperm whale," he said, pointing at her. "She really beat a person with that scary-looking thing. I guess he's lucky not to have died on the spot."
Junho expected her to say something and glanced at her, only to find her staring at him in shock.
Nervous, he asked, "What's the matter?"
She moved her chair slightly forward, a bit closer to him, and spoke in a quiet but urgent tone, "There are a lot of things that you can't do at work. Repeating after others and saying weird things. Kayak, deed, rotator, noon, racecar. And being blunt."
A little lost at where these rules were coming from, he said haltingly, "Is that so? I didn't know."
"Especially," she added, "Talking about whales. Unless absolutely necessary."
He scratched his neck, confused about what whales could have possibly done wrong to be so specifically addressed, "But, if it's just you and me, wouldn't it be okay?"
She looked as if she had never considered the possibility.
"If it's just you and me, just the two of us, we can talk about whales?"
Beginning to be concerned about the whale slander, he answered, "Yes, of course."
Youngwoo seemed so satisfied with his answer that Junho couldn't help but laugh a little. He was about to say something else when she abruptly stood up and walked over toward her whiteboard.
"Do you think it seemed that way to Mr. Park's doctor? Do you think he might have missed the fact that whales don't lay eggs because the iron looked as strong as a sperm whale?" she questioned.
"What?"
"You can't only look at criminal law in this case. You have to look at civil law to solve it. We can't focus on only the iron," she stated, her voice slowly increasing in volume.
His initial bewilderment fading, he slowly started to follow her reasoning. Mr. Park's skull hadn't been fractured, and that had confused him, given that an iron had supposedly made contact with his head.
"The…the police statement!" she exclaimed, walking back towards her desk, her hand in the air.
Junho immediately jumped up and grabbed the packet, starting to flip through the pages.
"Line 7 of page 24. 'A package arrived when I was lying down on the couch because of a headache,'" she said, quoting the statement perfectly, as he found the exact line.
"He had a headache from the beginning. Even before he was hit with the iron," the conclusion hitting him like a lightning bolt.
"It might be that the brain hemorrhage isn't because of the iron," she finished.
He stared at her, in shock with the revelation and the fact that she had connected the dots. The signs had been there, but nobody had considered looking deeper…except for Youngwoo.