Lie Again! Chapter 26

<Chapter 26. Message from an Unknown Sender> 

 

Time passed. After the lively homecoming week, Crawford returned to its calm routine. 

 

Events like Halloween and Thanksgiving were waiting for them, but they were still far off. 

 

“Jin! I heard about it. Are you okay? You’re running into all sorts of weird people!” 

 

Joy, who came into the cafeteria later than usual, rushed to the table. As the juice cup on Joy’s tray wobbled precariously, Jin couldn’t properly respond and instead watched the cup closely. 

 

“Do you know what they call weird people?” 

 

“Shut up.” 

 

Dustin, who was chewing on his hamburger, opened his mouth. Amanda immediately scolded him, but Dustin didn’t back down at all.

 

“Doctor Strange.” 

 

Dustin, talking to himself and giggling alone, had a hamburger shoved into his mouth by Ruth. For a moment, the table was filled with the noisy sound of his choking coughs. 

 

“If I had been there, I would have barked like a mad dog!” 

 

Joey looked at the scene with disdain, clenched her fist, and swung it through the air. 

 

“I’m really scared because you actually seem like you’d do that.” 

 

Ruth quietly muttered from beside her. Joey, with a crooked smile, leaned in close to Ruth’s ear and began making barking sounds. She looked just like a temperamental Maltese. 

 

As the sound of coughing and barking filled the air, attracting the attention of the other kids at the table, Jin quietly turned her head and hid her face. 

 

During the weekend, the kids had just returned from their group volunteer activities. As they had planned earlier, Jin, Ruth, and Amanda went to the nursing home, while Joy and Dustin went to the library. 

 

Before leaving, when Jin asked how the volunteer work at the nursing home was, Ruth replied like this. 

 

‘Uhm. As you know, the South here is a bit… conservative.’

 

Ruth, searching for the right words, finally spat out the word. Diehard.

 

‘Among them, older people are even more so. And with the way I look, I sometimes get into arguments. Especially Jin, it might not be easy for you.’

 

And Jin soon understood Ruth’s warning.

 

* * *

 

“What?”

 

The elderly man with white hair furrowed his brows and asked Jin. His aged, thin white hair revealed his reddish skin, worn by time. 

 

However, the old man’s voice was loud and clear enough for people around him to turn their heads, belying the age shown by the dark spots on his sagging skin and the white eyebrow hairs.

 

Jin swallowed hard as she felt eyes fixate on her from all directions. Unfortunately, because she had been assigned to a different area than Amanda and Ruth, there was no one she could turn to for help.

 

Trying not to show her embarrassment, Jin calmly continued speaking. 

 

“So, if you go to the main homepage and click on the chessboard pattern here, a tab will appear and…”

 

” I don’t understand what you’re saying. Speak clearly.”

 

Jin tried once again to explain how to open the news tab on the website, but the elderly man with the tiger-like voice interrupted her and urged her on.

 

This was already the third time her words were interrupted before she could finish. Sighing inwardly, Jin checked her English pronunciation and word choice before speaking again. 

 

“Can you see the name of the site here? If you click on it, you’ll go to the main page. Then, if you click on the third icon at the top right, you’ll find the news tab.” 

 

Jin explained each step carefully while watching his reaction. Fortunately, the old man furrowed his brow but didn’t interrupt her. 

 

It was when Jin was nervously introducing the detailed categories within the news tab. 

 

“Forget these useless articles, just show me the Wall Street Journal.” 

 

“Uh… Wall Street Journal? One moment.”  

 

Jin flustered at the sudden question. If it were a search engine commonly used in Korea, she could handle it easily, but she needed some time to figure out a site in the U.S. that she had never used before.

 

As Jin began clicking through several tabs, deep furrows started to form on the old man’s forehead. Jin hurriedly moved her hands faster.

 

‘No Item.’

 

To make matters worse, something went wrong, and the journal page that Jin had barely managed to find through the search function in the news tab displayed no entries at all. 

 

“This is why… Wait a moment.” 

 

It was when Jin had exited the site and was looking for the journal homepage. The quiet space, where the voices of other children teaching the elderly how to use the computer were quietly echoing, began to erupt with angry shouts.

 

In an instant, everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing and looked at Jin and the old man.

 

“Have you ever used this before?”

 

The old man pointed a finger at Jin and let out a loud, harsh shout that echoed through the hall. The direct, piercing anger made Jin’s mind go blank. 

 

As Jin stood frozen, unable to speak, the old man seemed to grow more confident in his own thoughts, and his anger began to erupt even more fiercely.

 

“How dare a clueless Asian girl try to teach someone, making a fuss!”

 

“….”

 

“These rootless people crawling into America are the reason this country is in such a state. Always lying! This is why we shouldn’t associate with poor people.”  

 

As the old man’s words continued endlessly, Jin, unsure of what to do, turned her gaze to those around her. Among the many people in the hall, she hoped one of them could calm the old man’s anger. 

 

However, contrary to Jin’s hopes, no one stepped forward. Instead, people sat quietly, either staring at her or whispering softly among themselves. 

 

A dozen eyes watched Jin, passive and indifferent to the situation. The old man’s rage continued to shake her, and in the dizzying blur of her spinning vision, unfamiliar faces clicked their tongues.

 

The field slowly, gradually filled with breath.

 

From far away, or perhaps from very close, there seemed to be an eerie sound, like a faint beep, as if coming from hallucinations. 

 

‘It’s a hidden camera! I fooled you!’

 

As the old man’s voice, which had been ringing in her ears, began to fade, a familiar voice slowly started to become clearer. 

 

Bang!

 

The sound of something crashing against the window like a lightning strike echoed through the nursing home. The faces that had been staring at Jin turned toward the direction of the noise. 

 

Jin, who had been caught in the past, raised her blank eyes and looked out the window.

 

There, standing with a monotonous expression, was Butterfield, holding a wooden mallet. 

 

* * *

 

“By the way, it looks like Butterfield and Gwen were together during this volunteer work too! I heard they disappeared together again. You guys went to the nursing home, right? Did you see anything?” 

 

At the sudden sound of Joey’s voice, Jin snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the kids. 

 

“Well. Probably not?”

 

“Ruthy, how did you know that? What did you see?”

 

Joey, with her eyes sparkling, rushed over to Ruth, who spoke in a monotone voice. Instead of explaining, Ruth shut his mouth tightly and quickly emptied his tray. Joey grabbed Ruth’s arm and shook it wildly.

 

“No. I just think so.”

 

Joey let out a breathy sound at Ruth’s trivial answer, shrugging his shoulders.

 

As she listened to their conversation, Jin quickly wiped away the lingering afterimages in her mind.

 

Recently, a rumor had been circulating around Crawford. It was said that, thanks to the homecoming, Butterfield and Gwen had finally progressed into dating. 

 

As rumors started to spread that the two had disappeared at some point during the after party and had fallen for each other that night, testimonies from those who claimed to have seen them in secluded spots began to appear. The rumor spread like wildfire, soon becoming an undeniable fact. 

 

And when Jin heard the rumors… she accepted them calmly. 

 

As she watched the brown-haired boy’s silhouette fade away, leaving behind the garden bathed in the deep light of dawn, Jin felt a strange mix of bitterness and lightness, as if an odd emotion gently wrapped around her and vanished. 

 

As she watched the back of the brown-haired boy walking away, leaving the garden bathed in the early dawn light, Jin felt a strange mix of bitterness and lightness, a feeling that gently enveloped her and then faded away.

 

And when she turned back to Ruth, Jin felt as if she could finally stop being swayed by Butterfield.

 

But there was just one thing. Just one thing that she was curious about. 

 

‘What kind of look did he have?’ 

 

In the darkness, hidden from view, what kind of expression did Butterfield have when he was beside Gwen? What kind of look did he give? That was what Jin wondered.

 

However, that level of curiosity would likely fade away with time, as if it had never existed.

 

That night, something that had existed between Butterfield and Jin, or perhaps something that Jin alone had held onto, seemed to quietly fade away. And Jin found that she quite liked it. 

 

Yeah, it was.

 

…It must have been so.

 

[Jin. Are you free on Saturday? Evan.]

 

What does this message mean?