Summer Night's Dream
Episode 12 - Unusual

Earlier. In Samcheongdong.

Around Ji-Ho is like stopping moving as he witnesses what is happening in front of him. It felt like time stopped turning. The voices around him instantly disappeared, everyone seemed speechless. He did not expect his act of stalking Nara and Chul Goo would end up like this. It ended up breaking her heart.

Maybe he really likes this girl. It sounds crazy because he just knew her. Even he was quite saw her. Just once they had met, the rest was only through text conversations, but why did his heart act like this?

Compared to her crumbling heart from seeing Chul Goo hug Nara, her heart was even more crushed to see Nara crying like that. Even Nara's body trembled violently with tears that kept falling. He hopes he's the one there to calm Nara down, not Chul Goo. But wait...what if it turns out that Chul Goo is the reason Nara cried? The thought took hold of him, making him clench an indignant hand. He had to teach Chul Goo a lesson if it was such a case.

Again Ji-Ho experiences a struggle between her heart and mind. His heart said he should come to them, but his mind did not allow him to do so. 'Damn, I hate this kind of heart and mind struggle, ' Ji-Ho complained in her heart.

A few seconds later he finally set his heart. Just as he was about to take a step to walk up to them, Chul Goo stood up and helped Nara to stand up. Then they both left. Ji-Ho speeds up her steps to chase after them and minimizes the distance. After the distance with the two people was already about 6 meters, he slowed his pace and slowly followed behind.

They finally reached where Chul Goo parked the car. Nara and Chul Goo get on top of the car while Ji-Ho is still stalking them from behind a tree not far from Chul Goo's car. Ji-Ho just wishes she wasn't too eye-catching with sunglasses, a hat, and a mask that covers her mouth and nose. Fortunately, the clothes he was wearing were not so flashy, just a t-shirt and regular sports pants.

Sweaty sweat starts falling off Ji-Ho's face. It is summer, and the air temperature is high. Meanwhile Ji-Ho is still hiding behind a tree as there is no movement from Nara and Chul Goo. "What are they doing in the car?" Ji-Ho talks to herself while kicking the tree in front of her desperately. He still doesn't believe himself to do all this. Stalking, hiding, and stalking because of a woman. If the members of his group knew, they would definitely mock him for life.

After 30 minutes, Chul Goo's car suddenly moved out of his parking lot. Ji-Ho is shocked and hurriedly runs in search of a taxi. Fortunately, there was a taxi that was speeding towards him, so he immediately waved to stop the taxi and immediately jumped in when it stopped in front of him. "Ahjussi, please follow that car! That car, that black hyundai!" Ji-Ho points to Chul Goo's car which is several tens of meters away from the taxi. The taxi driver looks confused, but still follows Ji-Ho's orders.

Chul Goo's car pulled over in front of the karaoke place, and Ji-Ho's taxi did the same thing, the difference was that the taxi pulled over before arriving in front of the karaoke place. Ji-Ho can see Chul Goo and Nara getting out of the car and entering the building where the karaoke is. Without wasting any time, Ji-Ho also comes down, pays her taxi fee and immediately follows them again from behind. When he entered, he turned to sit on the sofa near the booking table, while Chul Goo and Nara immediately booked a place. His sitting position turned his back to the 2 people, so they could not see him. However Ji-Ho can still hear the sneaking as they finish ordering and the waiter tells them the number of the room to be occupied, Room 215.

After another waiter comes to lead them and show them the room they ordered, Ji-Ho moves towards the booking table.

"Annyeongghaseyo," the waiter bowed politely. "You want to book a room for how many people?"

"It's just me, one guy,"

"That means you can use a self-karaoke room..."

"I want room 214 or 216. Whichever one is right next to room 215," Ji-Ho gives the order.

"Yes?"

Ji-Ho doesn't respond. He just looked at the waiter in front of him with a sharp look, trying to intimidate to be immediately given the room he asked for.

"Sorry sir, but why are you asking for a room next to 215?" the waiter threw the question in as polite a tone as possible, starting to be really intimidated with that gaze.

"Do you need to ask?" Ji-Ho frowned.

"Umm," the waiter felt unsure. But he finds it strange at Ji-Ho's request that he wants a room next to 215.

"Do I have to call your boss?" perhaps Ji-Ho's second greatness after creating the song was her sharp gaze.

The waiter became shriveled and stroked the neck awkwardly. "No need, sir. I'll process your room right away," he immediately types something on the computer screen to mark the room Ji-Ho will use. After handing over the proof-of-order paper, he heads straight down, afraid to make eye contact with Ji-Ho.

Ji-Ho picks up the paper and follows another waiter who will lead her to the room she ordered. But as he walked into his room, he could still hear another servant talking to the servant earlier. "Yes! Wasn't that guy Ji-Ho? Ji-Ho from the 7Seasons!"

"Aish~ I don't know! He just looks weird and scary,"

Ji-Ho sighed. To be honest he felt guilty towards the servant earlier, he should not have done that, intimidating the servant earlier. But he was also confused as to what to do. All he wanted was to keep his eyes and ears in the lurking of Nara and Chul goo, therefore he wanted to be in the room next to them. Another breath came out of his mouth. Only this time again did he feel this unsettling since the day of his debut.

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“Karaoke with Chul Goo is really fun. He was really excited when he sang and danced. Not even shameless in my opinion,” Nara typed in a reply to Zaza's message asking how her karaoke event was with Chul Goo. Nara is currently sitting on the front swing of an elementary school while Chul Goo goes to buy them a cold drink.

After an insane karaoke with Chul Goo, they decide not to go home soon. They chose to take a walk around where Nara and the other participants lived. They go around and take pictures with a diverse background that does not mean anything, even good is not, but what makes good is their funny style. They also found an old toy store and an old candy store, playing around there for a while, trying out the undressed toys and buying various kinds of candy and eating them while going back around. Then they go to an elementary school to sit down to rest on the field, but Chul Goo instead plays ball with the kids there, making him look like a kid too. Well, overall, the day was a lot of fun for Nara.

Suddenly Nara felt a cold radiating from her forehead towards the nerves of her body. Nara grimaced reacting to that coldness. Apparently from behind Nara's body, Chul Goo put a cold drink he bought on the girl's forehead. "Hmm.the weather is good, yes" said Chul Goo while giving a drink that was placed on Nara's forehead. Then he takes his place on the swing beside Nara.

Chul Goo stared from the corner of her eyes and then smiled slightly. He drank the drink he held. His mind again floated to the questions he had piled on his head. Maybe now is the right time to get that question out of his head. But he doesn't know how to start.

"I want to apologize," from the various words available, Chul Goo finally chose those words to begin with.

"Hm?" Nara turned her head to the side, looking at him in confusion. "I'm sorry about what?"

"I'm sorry I made you have to deal with your panic attacks up to 2 times today. I didn't mean to..."

Chul Goo's words came to a halt as she saw Nara's expression change. Nara was stunned for a moment, then her expression turned into a flat expression. "Do you know where I'm going to have a panic attack?" nara's voice sounded like a whisper. He could not believe what he heard. Did Chul Goo know about it from the start? But how can it be? Did it look so obvious when the attack came?

"I'm just guessing. From what I saw today.your reaction when you were in the crowd, in the crowd. So, you're a crowd phobia?" Chul Goo asked carefully but on target while assessing Nara's reaction and expression.

Nara did not answer. He swung himself back and forth slowly. Many things raged in his mind, and he needed to sort out which ones he needed to say and which ones he didn't.

Chul Goo also made no attempt to restart the conversation. He would not say anything or ask anything if Nara also did not want to say anything. He returned to drink his soda. A warm summer afternoon breeze began to blow, making a rustling sound from the sands of the field that were flown behind them, filling the eaves between them.

"Agoraphobia" Nara said after a long silence.

Chul Goo nodded. He remembered the phobia. He had heard of the phobia before from a lecturer. In short, people with this phobia will find it difficult to feel safe in public places, especially in crowds. The symptoms will be similar to a panic attack. When in a crowd or when being the center of attention, sufferers can suddenly feel tightness, dizziness, palpitations, blurred vision, and even fainting.

"Since when?"

"Since.eventahlah.i was also confused when exactly," Nara's face showed a cynical smile, which was actually intended for herself. Unpreventable, his brain is now flushing through parts of his past, and he is upset about it.

Chul Goo lowered his head staring at his foot that was treading on the ground. Behind Nara's cynical smile earlier, she could see the emotion of sadness. So he refrained from asking further. He was afraid that if he asked more, Nara would become even more sad.

"Not so serious now. I've had this phobia for a long time, and it used to be quite severe. But not anymore," Nara finally began to tell her story to Chul Goo without being asked. Chul Goo raised her face and began to give her full attention. "I can't even get a step out of my house alone. When I get out, I'll start having panic disorder. I've been on medication and the doctor advised me to slowly go out and overcome my phobia. So I tried to get out with my friends, or my family, but still the panic disorder appeared, although not as bad as when I was alone. I kept trying and trying to deal with my phobia, but instead repeatedly ended up in the hospital due to fainting," he paused for a heavy sigh and returned a cynical smile. "After some time, slowly, I was finally able to overcome that phobia. Well not all of it, I mean I can get out of it now, and can even perform in front of people for presentations of campus assignments or such even though sometimes my panic disorder still appears in a mild degree because of it. But for the crowd, I still always have panic disorder if I'm stuck in the middle of a crowd, or in a very crowded and noisy place," Nara ended her explanation by swinging back and forth.

"So.this explains your reaction to the crowd. And during the welcome event..." Chul Goo muttered. More for himself.

"Welcome ceremony?" nara's eyebrows shot up.

"At the welcoming ceremony that time, when you were performing with Juno, you suddenly came out of the hall not because you were in a hurry to go to the toilet right? It must be when your panic disorder pops up,"

Nara's thoughts go back to last week when the welcoming event was held. Then he nodded his head, allowing.

"OK then!" Chul Goo stood up from his swing. Nara stared in bewilderment, inwardly wondering what else Chul Goo would do.

"From now on, I'll choose our date spot by heart-day. Not so crowded and not so noisy," Chul Goo winked one eye at Nara as she finished her speech.

Nara gave a small laugh as she got up and patted her pants. "Who said I'd go on a date with you again?" he's kidding.

"I'll send you back to Indonesia if you refuse," Chul Goo's response made Nara turn the eyeball.

Chul Goo reached out in front of Nara. "Then, how about we continue our date to a deserted place?" he tried to be romantic, but unfortunately failed miserably because Nara's laughter immediately exploded. Fortunately, Nara still welcomed Chul Goo's hand earlier, so Chul Goo's romantic attitude was not in vain.

"I know you're trying to be romantic and consider my phobia. But it sounds really awkward when you say 'lonely place', like we're going to go to some weird place and do some weird stuff" Nara said on the sidelines. This time it was Chul Goo who rolled her eyes.

Nara pulls her hand from Chul Goo's grasp and turns to wrap her arm around Chul Goo's arm as they walk out of the school. Slowly the sun began to let out a tinge of orange in front of them, adorning the path they passed by as well as their faces filled with laughter.

Telling Chul Goo about his hobby is like lifting a burden from Nara's heart. For a long time he had not found any confiding friends other than Zaza in his life. And even though Nara had not told Chul Goo the full story, at least what she said was enough to explain the situation. Since Zaza is not in Korea, he now knows who to contact when his panic disorder breaks out. He wanted to think of Chul Goo as a brother he never had. Zaza as his sister, and now Chul Goo as his brother.

Maybe people will think they have a romantic relationship, as Juno thought when 2 days ago he came to Nara and asked if someone who approached him was Chul Goo. Butno. The presence of Chul Goo is really like a brother. A warm and kind existence who is close to her. And Nara doesn't expect more than that. When he saw Chul Goo, he felt like he was looking at his grandparents, who reached out in the middle of his slump. And make her feel safe.

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