The car slowed down as the road began to approach Mokpo. Seina noticed the change before she could even see the city: the road was no longer surrounded only by trees and empty stretches of land, the streetlights began appearing at regular intervals, and in the distance, the first buildings emerged from behind the morning mist. After so many days traveling through places she didn't know, there was something almost comforting about the scenery. She recognized it. She knew where she was.
Ju-sung drove for a few more minutes before pulling over near a road that led directly into one of the city's districts. The engine remained running as he looked at her through the rearview mirror.
"Is this where you're getting off?"
Seina raised her eyes.
"Yes. I can go on my own from here."
Ju-sung remained silent for a few seconds, as if he still wasn't completely convinced. Na-ri, sitting beside him, looked back.
"Are you sure? We can take you closer."
"You don't have to." Seina gave a faint smile. "I know the city."
And it was true. For the first time since she had run away from home, she didn't need to rely on signs, maps, or someone telling her where to go. Mokpo wasn't an unfamiliar place. She knew these streets, the shortcuts, the avenues, and, most importantly, she knew where she needed to go.
Eun-byul leaned forward slightly.
"So... you'll be okay?"
Seina took a moment to answer.
She wanted to say yes.
She wanted to say that everything would be fine as soon as she found Thalya.
But after everything that had happened, that promise felt too big to say out loud.
"I will."
Eun-byul smiled.
"Then, good luck."
Seina opened the door and stepped out.
The cold air of Mokpo touched her face. She closed the door and walked around to the trunk. Ju-sung opened it from the dashboard, and Seina took out her backpack, placing it over one shoulder.
"Thank you, Ju-sung."
He gave a simple nod.
"Take care, Seina."
She looked at Na-ri and Eun-byul.
"Thank you for everything."
"You don't have to thank us so much," Na-ri said with a smile. "Just don't get lost again."
The words were said jokingly, but Seina felt something tighten inside her chest.
She simply smiled.
"I'll try."
She closed the trunk and took a few steps away from the car. Before she began walking, she turned around one last time. Ju-sung waved through the window, Na-ri raised her hand, and Eun-byul did the same.
Seina returned the gesture.
Then the car drove away.
She stood there for a few seconds, watching it disappear down the road until the rear lights were swallowed by the distance.
When she finally turned around, Mokpo was standing before her.
Seina adjusted the backpack on her shoulders and began walking.
The city didn't look as different as she had imagined.
Perhaps it was because, despite everything, Mokpo was still Mokpo.
The buildings were still in the same places. The stores were opening their doors at that time of the morning, some people were walking along the sidewalks carrying bags, buses passed along the avenue, and cars continued on their way as if the world had never suffered any interruption.
Seina walked along the asphalt road, following the shoulder. Every now and then, she looked at a business and recognized the place. A small bakery she had visited a few times. A convenience store where she had once bought a drink while waiting for Thalya. A crosswalk where the two of them had argued because Thalya insisted on crossing before the light turned green.
Small things.
Things that normally wouldn't mean anything.
At that moment, however, they seemed like proof that she had really come back.
Seina took a deep breath.
She had spent so much time imagining her return that now that it was finally happening, it was difficult to believe.
In her head, she had repeated countless times what she would do when she found Thalya.
Maybe she would run to her.
Maybe she would hug her without saying anything.
Maybe she would cry.
Maybe she would laugh at her own inability to explain everything.
Maybe Thalya would be confused.
Maybe she would ask why Seina was acting like that.
And Seina would answer that it was a long story.
She even smiled to herself.
Then she saw the bench.
It was exactly where she remembered it.
Beside the road, slightly away from the passing cars, there was a simple wooden bench fixed to the ground beside a tall streetlight. The paint was a little more worn than she remembered, but there was no way she could mistake it.
Seina slowed her steps.
She stopped.
For a few seconds, she couldn't continue.
That place seemed far too small to carry so much.
It was there that she and Thalya had met for the first time, on one of the occasions that would eventually change her life. At the time, it had been nothing more than a bench beside a road. A place where two people had stopped to talk without knowing that, some time later, they would remember that moment as something far greater than it had seemed.
Seina approached.
She ran her fingers across the wood.
The gesture brought back a memory so vivid that she could almost feel the temperature of that day again.
She sat down.
Traffic continued passing behind her.
Seina stared at the road.
And then she imagined Thalya.
She was sitting on the other side of the bench, her silver hair falling over her shoulders and wearing that smile Seina knew so well. Thalya looked exactly as she did in her memories, calm, as if there were nothing wrong with the world.
She raised her hand and waved.
Seina smiled.
For a moment, the rest of the city disappeared.
"Hi..."
The word escaped her lips.
She almost raised her hand to wave back.
Then she blinked.
The bench was empty.
Seina stared at the empty space beside her.
Reality returned all at once, but not like a shock. It was quieter than that. The image simply faded away, leaving behind nothing but the weathered wood and the road.
Seina lowered her eyes.
A small smile remained on her face for a few seconds.
"Idiot..."
She said it softly, almost laughing at herself.
But her eyes were already wet.
She wiped her face with her hand and took a deep breath.
There was no reason to cry yet.
Thalya was close.
The house was only a few minutes away.
Seina knew the way.
She stood up.
Before leaving, she looked at the bench one more time.
This time, there was no one there.
She continued on.
The way to Thalya's house was familiar enough that Seina didn't have to think about it. She turned onto one street, then another, crossed a small square, and continued in the same direction she had traveled so many times before.
Little by little, the city's movement faded behind her.
The houses were more spread out in that area. There were larger trees along the sidewalks and small gardens between the walls. Seina felt her heart beating faster as she recognized more and more details.
She was close.
Very close.
And for the first time since leaving Seoul, a genuine sense of hope began to take hold of her.
Maybe it had all been worth it.
Maybe, after so many days, she could finally breathe.
That was when she heard water.
Seina stopped.
The sound was coming from somewhere ahead.
It wasn't a faucet.
It was more continuous.
More open.
She recognized it before she even arrived.
The swimming pool.
Her heart beat faster.
Seina quickened her pace.
The house appeared after the bend.
She stopped in front of the gate.
The facade was exactly as she remembered it.
The garden too.
For a few seconds, everything seemed normal.
Then the sound of the water came again.
Seina stepped inside.
The gate creaked softly as she pushed it open, and her footsteps crossed the stone path toward the side of the house.
That was when she saw the pool.
It was covered by a large blue tarp stretched across the entire surface.
Seina stared at it.
There was nothing strange about it.
It was just a covered pool.
But the sound continued.
She moved a little closer.
The wind had begun to blow, making the tarp move gently. The blue plastic made a low, irregular rustling sound while a few dry leaves dragged across the garden.
Seina looked at the house.
"Thalya?"
There was no answer.
She walked a few more steps.
Then she realized something was wrong.
Not with the pool.
With everything else.
The windows were dark.
None of the curtains moved.
No light came from inside.
Seina approached the first window and looked into the living room.
She stopped.
The sofa wasn't there.
Neither was the table.
Nor the bookshelves.
The living room was empty.
She frowned.
"No..."
Seina went to another window.
The same.
Empty.
She returned to the front door and knocked.
"Thalya?"
She waited.
Nothing.
She knocked again, this time harder.
"Thalya, it's me."
Silence.
Seina grasped the doorknob.
Locked.
She looked at the house again, trying to find something that could explain it. Maybe she had entered the wrong house. Maybe Thalya had temporarily moved somewhere else. Maybe...
No.
This was the house.
She knew this house.
She knew the bedroom.
She knew the living room.
She knew the garden.
And now everything looked as though it had been emptied in a hurry.
Seina returned to the window.
The marks left by the furniture were still visible on the floor. There were small, lighter patches on the walls where pictures had been removed. One corner of the living room had a small dust mark, as if something had remained there for years and had only recently been taken away.
She placed her hand against the glass.
"Where are you?"
There was no answer.
The sound of the pool continued behind her.
Seina turned around.
For some reason, that sound now seemed distant.
She stared at the blue tarp.
Then she closed her eyes.
For a moment, she remembered the image of Thalya on the bench.
The smile.
The wave.
The feeling that all she had to do was walk a few more minutes to find her.
Seina opened her eyes.
The house was still empty.
She took out her phone.
She searched for Thalya's contact.
Her finger hesitated over the name before touching the screen.
She called.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Nothing.
Seina hung up.
She tried again.
This time, she waited until the call ended on its own.
Nothing.
She lowered the phone.
"You can't have left..."
Her voice came out quietly.
She looked at the door.
"Not after everything."
The sentence itself seemed absurd.
After everything what?
Seina had crossed that entire distance because she needed to find her. Because she believed Thalya would be there. Because that was the only certainty she had managed to hold on to when the rest of her life had become incomprehensible.
Now even that certainty was gone.
Seina knocked on the door one last time.
Not hard.
She simply closed her hand and touched the wood, as if she still expected someone to open it.
"Thalya..."
Nothing.
She remained there.
The wind passed through the garden, making the blue pool tarp tremble behind her.
Seina looked at the imaginary bench she still carried in her mind, at the road she had just walked along, and finally at that empty house.
Tears began falling without her realizing it.
She tried to wipe them away.
Then another came.
And another.
Seina took a deep breath, but the air seemed unable to reach her lungs.
"I came back..."
Her voice disappeared into the garden.
She rested her forehead against the door.
"I came back for you."
And that was when the hope that had sustained her throughout the entire journey began to crumble.
Seina slowly slid down the door until she reached the ground, hugging her knees as she cried in silence.
The city continued living on the other side of the wall.
Cars passed by.
People talked.
The wind blew.
The blue tarp continued covering the pool.
Everything was exactly where it was supposed to be.
Except Thalya.
And sitting there in front of that door, after finally managing to return to the only place where she believed she could still find her, Seina felt a loneliness far greater than the one she had experienced in the forest.
Because being lost was different from reaching your destination and discovering that no one had been waiting for you.