Chapter Text
Time stopped. Sol looked around in shock, everyone around her was completely still, suspended unnatural poses. Then everything suddenly went black.
Bok-soon ran into the hospital with her son, passing by a high school student crying, sitting on the end of a row of chairs. She didn’t perceive him: her daughter had been hit by a car and fallen into a reservoir; it was impossible for her to see or think of anything else. She found the correct room and went inside. There was Sol; dressed in a hospital gown and bandaged. Had she hit her head? A doctor was standing beside the bed.
“I’m sorry, but please do not touch her at this time,” he warned.
“Pardon?”
“Your daughter has no Babinski reflex. Her spinal cord has been nearly severed between L2 and L3. It is possible that she will lose the use of her legs, but we need to wait until she wakes up.”
Geum began to ask questions, but Bok-soon said nothing. The doctor was saying something about a clear CT scan of Sol’s head but the words meant nothing. Finding that she was unable to stand, she sank into one of the chairs near the bed. Her healthy, bright, intelligent daughter may never be able to walk again? How was that possible? How had this happened? She had barely heard what the hospital staff had told her over the phone when they called her as Sol’s guardian.
The doctor approached her and said in a kind voice, “Notify us right away when she wakes up so we can do some tests. The police will also want to speak with her as soon as possible. And that boy who came in with her.”
“What boy?” Bok-soon repeated.
“We asked him to wait outside. He came with her in the ambulance.”
Bok-soon gathered enough strength to leave the chair and stumble half-aware out the door. There was a student sitting here, his head down, clothes wet, and clutching a broken watch in one of his hands. If she had to guess, she would have thought he was about Sol’s age.
“Excuse me?” she said.
“Is Im Sol going to be alright?” he asked. She could tell that he had been crying. He knew her name; he must be one of her friends.
“The doctor said… we will know when she wakes up. You came with her?”
“I pulled her out of the water, but the paramedics said that her spine… might have been…”
Bok-soon had just enough of her wits about her to say, “Do you have a phone? Does your family know where you are?” He shook his head. He had thrown his bag before he jumped into the water and he didn’t know where it was. She took out her cellphone and handed it to him, “Call someone and get some dry clothes.” He took it and she went back into Sol’s room to wait and be miserable. In her blinding daze, she had forgotten to even say thank you or ask his name.
Sol opened her eyes in a hospital. Her head hurt, had she hit it last night? She couldn’t remember, but she thought she must have passed out in the stream. She gasped aloud. Where was her cellphone? Was it true? Had Sun-jae really died? She looked around but didn’t see her phone. Her mother was sitting in a chair, sleeping against the wall. She looked strange, very young. Sol felt tears coming to her eyes; she couldn’t bear not to know for sure. She wished she could find out, but she didn’t want to wake up her mother and there was no wheelchair near her bed. She was stuck for now.
She could see Sun-jae’s watch on the bedside table, she grabbed it and checked the screen, it said 3:00am, just like before. How strange, it was working but time was not going forward.
“Sol!”
She turned towards her mother, who had just startled awake.
“How do you feel?”
“I am fine,” she assured her. Except for the headache, she felt the same as usual.
Her mother looked so frightened and sad, what was wrong? Supportive as she was, Sol doubted that her mother cared much about Sun-jae, beyond the passing compassion for another human being. Why was she so distressed?
Sol watched her mother hit the call button and then ask, “Can you feel your feet?”
“No,” Sol said, somewhat confused.
“Can you move them at all?”
“No, of course not.”
Bok-soon started crying. Sol patted her hand in concern. What was her mother talking about? Of course she couldn’t feel her toes, she had been paralyzed for fifteen years now! Was her mother starting to forget things? Was she going to be like Grandma…
“Miss Im Sol,” said the doctor, entering the room, he introduced himself and then began to describe the tests that Sol remembered well from her stay in the hospital years ago. Did they not have her medical records? Not wanting to cause a fuss, Sol simply agreed to be examined. The results were exactly as she expected: she was still paralyzed.
“Mom, do you have my phone?” she asked, when it was over.
“They didn’t find it; even if they did it would be too wet to work.”
“Oh, I’ll have to buy a new one. Can I borrow yours?”
“I gave it to… I didn’t even ask his name,” she said absently, looking towards the door. Then taking her daughter’s hand, she said, “This must be so shocking for you. I’m so sorry, Sol.”
Sol could not think of what to say in reply, so she only nodded.
“I should see if he is still here. He might be talking to the police,” Bok-soon paused, “Do you think you can speak to the police?”
“About what?”
“Your accident, do you not remember?”
“I only fell in the water,” Sol began, but then stopped. Had something else happened? She didn’t remember hitting her head and it was still throbbing. The doctor had said she had ten stiches. What had happened last night? “I don’t remember,” she said.
Her mother nodded, “I am going to see if he is still here. I should call your brother and grandma. I should…” she trailed off as she left the room.
Sol waited as patiently as she could, desperate for any news about Sun-jae. She hoped she could go home soon and be miserable by herself. As she thought about it again, she started to sniffle. A few tears dropped from her eyes. “I just saw him,” she said to herself, “How could he be dead.”
Just then she looked up at the sound of footsteps and a very tired, dishevelled Ryu Sun-jae walked into her room.
“Sun-jae-ya!” she shouted in excitement, before remembering that she was in a hospital. She covered her mouth.
He looked startled. “Im Sol, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Are you okay? You aren’t hurt at all?” She wished he would come closer, she wanted to be absolutely sure that he was alright. He was standing near the bottom of her bed.
“They said my head was fine,” he said. He had been hit with a wrench, he still felt nauseous, but he was only worried about her. Why was she asking about him? She’s the one who had been hit by a car. As he thought about it, the scene came to his head again and he had to fight back tears.
“I’m so glad,” she said.
“What?”
“That you are here.”
He looked at her in confusion. How could she be smiling so brightly right now? He had thought she was going to die. Was she really okay? “I have to talk to the police, but you mother said I could see you.”
Sol nodded, though she wasn’t entirely sure why she, or him, needed to speak with the police. Then she wondered, “How do you know my name? I didn’t think I introduced myself properly last night.”
“I know because we’re neighbours.”
“Really? How did I not know that?”
“I used to go to school early for swimming.”
“School?” Sol repeated. She hadn’t gone to school for years. What was he talking about?
Just then, her mother came back in the room, holding a very dated flip phone. “Sol, this is Ryu Sun-jae, he lives just across from us. He pulled you out of the water last night. He saved your life.”
“Oh!” Sol exclaimed. He had? “Thank you, thank you so much!”
“They want you,” Bok-soon said, “Your father is outside.”
Sun-jae nodded wearily. “Can I come visit you again?” he asked.
“Of course!” Sol said happily. She couldn’t believe she had seen him, alive and breathing. The reports of his death must have been a rumour or a cruel joke. But she thought he looked very young somehow. “Thank you so much for saving me!”
He was gone and she was happy. Too happy to really listen to the worries of her mother and the strange fact that her mother was acting like she had only just be paralyzed.
“But mom, where is your phone?” she finally asked.
Her mother held up her flip phone in confusion.
“No, your smartphone. Where did you even find that old thing? I need to check the news.”
“What are you saying? Do you feel dizzy or nauseous?”
“A little, but I want to check the news either way. Those things they said about Sun-jae, they were all a strange rumour. I need to login to the fan club.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. What fan club? What are you a fan of anyway?”
“Of him!”
Her mother frowned. She handed Sol her phone, “I’m going to look for a doctor. They told me to watch for confusion.”
Once she was gone, Sol opened the phone absently. On it was a very old picture of her family and… the date September 2, 2008.
“2008?” Was she dreaming? How could it be 2008? That would mean… she had just been in the car accident. She had just been paralyzed. “That’s impossible. It must just be broken this ancient thing,” she said laughing.
Her mother came back in with the doctor, whose very first question was, “Can you tell me what year it is?”
“2023.”
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-four.”
“Who is the president of Korea?”
“Yoon Suk-yeol.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“Hanguk University Hospital.”
“And who is this?” he indicated towards her mother.
“My mother.”
The doctor turned towards her mother and Sol earned herself a second CT scan. As her bed was wheeled down the hall, she saw a television screen playing the news.
“Wait a minute!” she said. She wanted to see if there was anything about Sun-jae. However, it was only the weather. Sol’s eyes widened as she read the date clearly across the screen, “September 2, 2008.”
“2008?” she thought to herself. Her mother did look so young. And Sun-jae too, he had been dressed like a student. She suddenly realized that she had bangs. She hadn’t had bangs since… it had been years. They wouldn’t have cut her hair, not like that even if she had a head injury. She looked at the badge of the nurse beside her, she was not at Hanguk University Hospital. Was she dreaming?
“Why would I dream of this? This was the worst moment of my life,” she thought to herself. Then again, Sun-jae was here. Why was she imagining that he had saved her? She had no idea who had saved her; she didn’t remember and she had never asked about it. Had it really been Sun-jae? Was she recovering a memory or something like that?
“Am I dead too?” she wondered, before dismissing the idea. If she was dead her head wouldn’t hurt so much. This must be a dream. As she completed her scan and was taken back to her room, she settled on dreaming. That seemed to be the only explanation.
When she returned, her mother, brother, grandmother, and Hyun-joo were all waiting for her. Sol was determined to stay awake, despite her splitting headache. If she fell asleep, she felt sure that she would be back in the future. Her suspicions seemed fully confirmed by her grandma having her memories intact. Sol nearly cried with joy at this discovery. This had been the most difficult part of her life, but now it had a touch of brightness. Her grandmother remembered her name.
They were not able to stay above thirty minutes. The doctor had prescribed rest for Sol’s “condition of confusion”. Sol found herself obliged to admit that her head hurt too much to stay awake any longer. There was a small general discussion about who would spend the night where Sol succeeded in sending her mother home. Guem stayed, everyone else left, and Sol, after a few minutes’ struggle, fell into a dreamless sleep.