Chapter 1: Interview Day 1
Translator: - - Editor: - -
As he looked into a mirror, Junhyuk Lee took a deep breath and fixed his tie.
"Whew, Junhyuk Lee. You will do well."
As if he were about to hypnotize himself, he talked to his image and closed the closet door. He paced around his bedroom looking at how clean it was. Looking at his tidy room calmed him down.
"OK."
He felt like everything would work out just fine that day. Junhyuk put on his shiny, clean shoes and went out the door. On his way to the bus stop, he took out his smartphone.
As he was listening to questions related to his coming interview, he saw a grocery store and walked toward it. When he saw the woman standing in front of the checkout counter, Junhyuk opened the door with gusto.
Ding dong!
"Welcome," the woman said, bowing her head in response to the bell. She looked at Junhyuk and smiled. "You must be going to an interview."
"Ha-ha-ha! That's about it. Do you have any banana milk?"
"Yes."
Junhyuk got two milk boxes and set them on the checkout counter. Soyeon Shin worked part-time at the grocery store. She stared at him and started to ring him up for the milk.
Junhyuk handed her one of the boxes and said:
"Have a nice day!"
Soyeon smiled, showing deep dimples on her cheeks, and made a fist with one of her hands toward him.
"Have a nice day!"
"I will get the job for sure this time," he said as he left the grocery store.
Soyeon watched him go and took out a straw, stabbing the milk box with it, and began to drink the milk.
"This time everything will go well," Soyeon said. This was the fifth time she witnessed this situation, and he had failed to get the job every time before.
As Soyeon drank her banana milk, she heard some news from the radio.
"Today is Friday. In the past four months, there have been abnormal narcolepsy and mass coma cases on Fridays. As a precaution, you should limit trips outside to a minimum today. We will say it again. Today is Friday. In the past…."
The newscast surprised her, and she whispered:
"He won't take the bus, right?."
At the bus stop, Junhyuk listened to possible job interview questions on his smartphone. As a bus approached, he put away his smartphone.
Contrary to what he thought, there were not many people on this bus. Without hesitation, he sat right behind the driver. The seat was uncomfortable because it was directly above a wheel, but it was still a good spot for him to continue practicing for the interview.
The doors closed. As the bus prepared to leave, someone knocked on the front door. It was an old lady. The bus door opened, and, as he watched her get on the bus, he stood up.
"Please, sit here."
The old lady looked around the bus and took the seat he offered. With the exception of Junhyuk, everyone around that seat looked old.
The old lady took her seat without thanking him, but he paid no attention and stood beside her listening to his smartphone.
While he focused on the bus leaving the stop, he could hear the radio:
"Today is Friday. So far, abnormal narcolepsy and mass coma cases have taken place on Fridays. Miss Gahee, how did you come to the studio today?"
As the radio echoed the name Gahee, Junhyuk paid more attention. Ga Hee was his favorite actress. Despite her great looks, she wasn't very popular. However, she gained some popularity by going to radio shows.
"Today is Friday, so I took the subway. Because of the incidents two months ago, the subway now has three drivers, so it must be safe."
Junhyuk felt slightly worried by listening to her. It had to be worrying. Right now, he was riding a bus. Looking around, most passengers were very old. They didn't seem concerned about safety.
"Every Friday, people are afflicted by abnormal narcolepsy. Patients numbers now exceed 6000, and, within an hour, those people fall under a group coma with numbers exceeding 100,000."
Gahee's voice quivered a little.
"I wish everyone would wake up safely."
"Around the world, scholars are working to explain this phenomenon, so good news will come soon. Now, should we listen to today's episode?"
Junhyuk took a deep breath.
Abnormal narcolepsy made one fall asleep suddenly. It was different from normal narcolepsy in that while in the abnormal narcolepsy state, the person could not get hurt. For instance, if one experienced narcolepsy while driving, there would be an accident. However, even after accidents, those afflicted by abnormal narcolepsy did not suffer any wounds. After that, they fell in a coma and had yet to wake up.
As they became afflicted by abnormal narcolepsy, the people were safe from the accidents they caused, but those accidents also caused many deaths. The biggest accident involved a plane. The pilot and copilot fell asleep and crashed into a hotel. Over 400 people died. Because of that, the world's attention focused on this matter. Until then, people just thought other people were falling asleep. However, since then, they had been able to discover many other things.
One of the discoveries was that abnormal narcolepsy happened on Fridays. Most of the people who experienced it were under forty years old, and both males and females were included. The people who experienced narcolepsy could endure any physical shock. After just one hour, they would fall in a coma, and their bodies would become normal again.
Junhyuk tensed up and looked at the expression on the driver's face. The driver looked to be in his fifties, so he felt safe again and tried to concentrate on his smartphone.
He listened to possible interview questions, but had already lost his focus. He sighed and went back to the radio broadcast.
He could hear the Gahee's voice.
"I wish you well on everything you do today. Have a nice day! I will be back on next week."
Hearing her speak, Junhyuk felt as though his interview that day would go well, so put his smartphone in his pocket. The old lady who took his seat called for him:
"Mister."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Did this bus cross the yellow lane?" She spoke, looking out the window.
"What?" Junhyuk turned his head and looked straight ahead. At that moment, they were crossing the yellow lane slowly. He quickly went over to the driver, who was already fast asleep. "Shit!"
Abnormal narcolepsy was only supposed to affect those younger than 40.
Junhyuk turned the steering wheel quickly and crossed over to the inside of the yellow lane, but the driver was stepping on the accelerator, and the distance with the car ahead was closing quickly.
Junhyuk sounded the horn.
Honk!
At the sound of the horn, the car's window opened, and the driver gave him the middle finger.
"Move over!"
Despite his shouting, the car continued on straight. So, Junhyuk steered the wheel and tried to avoid it. However, the bus kept speeding up and hit the back bumper of the car, slightly.
Bump!
The man wasn't expecting to be hit, and put his mean-looking face outside the window and shouted:
"THIS ASSHOLE! NOW, WHOSE CAR…."
As he was about to curse some more, he saw the driver asleep and Junhyuk holding the wheel. At that sight, he became surprised and stopped cursing. Abnormal narcolepsy was already a worldwide issue. He knew all about it.
"Move over!"
The guy moved over and calmed himself.
"Everything could have been fucked up!" Junhyuk took the steering wheel and shouted at the other passengers. "Please, help me!"
"What's going on?"
Most of the passengers were old, but one of them looked to be in his forties. He came over and started to slap the driver.
"Hey, wake up!"
Slap, slap!
Even though he was being slapped, the driver did not wake up. It was obviously a case of abnormal narcolepsy. Junhyuk refocused.
"We have to step on the brake at once. Please, take the wheel."
"OK."
The guy took the wheel while Junhyuk pushed the driver's foot from the accelerator, and, to step on the brake, he stretched his leg deep inside the panel. He was just barely able to step on the brake.
Screeeeech!
The speedometer was at 120km/h, but it was beginning to slow down. The speed came down, and the bus stopped. Junhyuk let out a deep sigh of relief.
It had been a scary moment.
Crash!
A loud noise came from outside, through the bus windows. Junhyuk turned to look and became stiff. The driver of a car in the opposite lane must've also had abnormal narcolepsy. The car hit another car, and it was flying toward the bus. The car bounced off from the ground, and it was flying toward the driver's seat of the bus. Looking at all of this, Junhyuk felt time was passing slowly.
He hastily pushed the guy who was holding the wheel to the side and realized there was no time for him to escape.
The flying car was already at the window.
At that moment, Junhyuk thought about the symptoms of abnormal narcolepsy. When one fell asleep, that person could withstand any physical shock. If he hadn't heard the radio a moment ago, he would not have remembered that fact.
Junhyuk hid quickly behind the driver's seat. Then, the flying car from the opposite lane hit the window.
Crash!
The window shattered into little shards, and, because of the impact, the bus shook from side to side. Hiding behind the driver's seat, Junhyuk felt the shock of the impact and became disoriented.
In a stroke of luck, the flying car hit the window and bounced upward and went over the bus. If the car had broken through the window and struck the driver's seat, Junhyuk would surely have been dead.
With all his might, Junhyuk pushed the driver's seat off himself and stood up. At that moment, he felt his head spin and staggered. He held onto a pole and was able to stand up.
Looking behind him, everyone looked scared, but no one had died. The guy who had held the steering wheel did not look like he needed emergency care even though he was bleeding a little because of scratch from the broken glass. He seemed OK because Junhyuk had pushed him out of the way.
"Is everyone OK?"
"Young man, more importantly, are you OK?"
"I am fine."
The old lady who sat in his seat pulled out a handkerchief and said:
"Your forehead is bleeding heavily."
No wonder he was feeling dizzy! His body was in terrible shape. Junhyuk took the handkerchief from the old lady and applied pressure to his forehead.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank us! You saved us! We should thank you!"
Junhyuk spoke through a smile:.
"Anyway, we should take another bus. Why don't we get off first."
Everyone got up from their seats carefully.
Creeeaaak!
Maybe it was because of the car's weight on the top of the bus, but the roof of the bus was coming down quickly. He could see an old man who got up from his seat awkwardly and was holding a bag.
Junhyuk ran over to him, hugged him and rolled.
Crash!
The roof of the bus tore open, and the car that had been atop the bus crashed down, striking the seat from which the old man stood. Junhyuk let out a sigh of relief and the old man said:
"Young man, are you okay?"
"Yes, I am fine. Are you okay?"
"Your leg."
Junhyuk looked down at his leg and found his pants torn, and his left shin was cut open and bleeding.
The old man pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around Junhyuk's shin.
"I can do it."
"In my younger days, I used to be a medic in the army. Rest easy." The old man wrapped it tight around the wound. "We are in a big trouble. How do we get off?"
Junhyuk got up and took the emergency hammer to break open the windows.
"Please, step aside. I will break open the window."
"Young man, do you think you can do it?"
When the car fell from the roof it split the bus into two parts, front and back. There were five people in the back. He decided to take those five out of the bus first, and then go to the front.
"I can," Junhyuk whispered as if talking to himself and hit the window hard with the hammer in his hand.