4. Thawing (4) Teleportation

After a short while, Do-Hyeon spoke.

"Is this it?"

Surprised, I quickly moved closer to him. In Do-Hyeon's hand were my jacket and the teleporter.

"Yes, that's it!" I exclaimed as he handed it to me.

"It was in the small pocket on the side of your jacket, not the big one."

He was right. I usually used the smaller pocket with a zipper for my things. Ah... It seemed I had hurriedly put the teleporter in the pocket when Do-Hyeon knocked on the door, and then forgot about it when I took off the jacket. My legs felt weak as if they could give out any moment.

"Thank you, Coach. I thought I had looked everywhere and didn't realize it was there."

"I do that sometimes too," he said gently, his words piercing the end of my heartstrings. Do-Hyeon, unaware that he had been suspected of theft, was comforting me instead. What kind of person was I, standing shamelessly before him?

My anxiety had led to paranoid delusions. I suspected an innocent person, assumed theft, believed in a runaway, and judged all kindness as malicious intent... Why am I always like this? My past mistakes with Sun-woo and now with Do-Hyeon weren't different.

"But what is this, Hee-jae?" Do-Hyeon asked, pointing at the teleporter.

I decided to reveal the secret of this device to him. Not just out of guilt for suspecting him, but because if something happened while I was looking for Sun-woo, someone else needed to be responsible for this device. I hoped that person would be Do-Hyeon, a wish that had just formed.

As with all guests at my house, Do-Hyeon and I sat back against the living room wall. When Sun-woo first told me about the teleporter, I felt nauseous and dizzy. I hoped Do-Hyeon would take it more easily.

"There's a friend of mine, Sun-woo. This originally belonged to him. It's like, well, instant teleportation... We can go wherever we want, just 'whoosh', and we're there. We called it the teleporter."

Did I just say 'whoosh', 'poof'? I wished I could rewind time. Do-Hyeon nodded seriously, and I thought I understood his expression.

"You don't believe what I'm saying, do you?"

"I believe you. But where did Sun-woo get something like this?"

Do-Hyeon asked, looking down at the teleporter in my hand. I was surprised. I thought he would immediately want to try teleporting.

"Well... there's a purple gas station next to Yeongin High School across the river. If you go up the back road, there's a pyramid-shaped abandoned building. I don't know how long it's been there, but it has no windows, no entrance, just weeds growing creepily through the cement bricks... In high school, Sun-woo wanted to go inside. So, we went, but it was fenced off, and the gate was rusted and too high to climb. We couldn't get in, and when we were about to leave, we saw a group of cats huddled in the middle of the road. It was so strange that Sun-woo went closer and found this among them. The weird thing is, the teleporter is always warm like human skin. Touch it. So, the cats were sitting on it because they were cold. But it was dangerous because it was right at the entrance of the gas station. Sun-woo took out all the hot packs he had and spread them for the cats in the bushes, and took this because it was so intriguing."

I remembered when Sun-woo told me this story, his excited voice echoing in the abandoned car.

"But if he found it, it means someone else owned it, right?"

I was taken aback. It was strange, but I hadn't thought of that.

"Well, I guess so?"

"Shouldn't we have tried to find the owner?"

"How?"

I really wondered. How do you return an item like this? Do-Hyeon didn't have an answer either. He didn't have any better ideas.

"We were scared at that time. It seemed like something that shouldn't be known to the world. Sun-woo said that new discoveries always bring great tragedies. Many people die, get hurt, or become sad. So, it wasn't that we didn't try to find the owner, we just decided to keep it a secret. And, as you can see, this isn't something that could be made with human technology or materials. It's more likely that an alien lost it."

Do-Hyeon took the teleporter from my hand, examining it closely and touching it. His lips moved slightly, whispering, "It really is. Amazingly..."

"But why did Sun-woo go into such an abandoned building?"

He asked, still fixated on the teleporter.

"In our neighborhood, no one knew what that building was used for. There was said to be an owner, but no one ever went in or out. It didn't even look like a normal building... So, I guess he was curious. What it looked like inside. Sun-woo was always interested in buildings. That's why he majored in architectural engineering in college."

Just when I thought the conversation was drifting to an unexpected place, he said:

"Then, show me how it works, Hee-jae. This teleportation."

He handed the teleporter back to me.

"I'd love to show you, but it's best to use it only when absolutely necessary."

"Why?"

"I don't know if it's inherent to the machine, but every time you teleport, something unfortunate happens. The first time Sun-woo used it, a thief broke into his house. Nothing was stolen, but they couldn't catch the thief... And in high school, there was an abandoned car at Yeongin High. It was like a hideout for us, and Sun-woo used this there to show me. The next day, the car was set on fire and completely burned. Sun-woo said someone was following him. So, we haven't used it since then, neither Sun-woo nor I. We never needed to teleport badly enough to risk that kind of misfortune."

"So, you've used it three times? Till now?"

"Yes."

I nodded. Do-Hyeon looked at my face and laughed openly, showing his teeth. I couldn't understand what he meant.

"I'll tell you how it works. When you press this button in the top left corner, it turns on."

The word 'adios' appeared when I turned on the teleporter. I was about to explain further when I felt a vibration from Do-Hyeon.

"Do-Hyeon, your phone seems to be ringing."

He checked his phone and then put it back in his coat.

"It's just a spam text. What's next?"

"You put two thumbs on the screen here, and think of the place you want to go to. If it's a place you've never seen or been to, looking at a picture helps. When the teleporter recognizes it, numbers appear in the middle of the screen. It counts down from 5 to 1, and then you teleport."

I just mimed placing my fingers on the teleporter.

"Telling me this means you trust me, right, Hee-jae?"

"Yes, like you said, it's a lost item. Someone should always keep an eye on it, so I wanted to tell someone I can trust."

"Thank you for trusting me."

His words made time flow peacefully without ripples. I was amazed at how easily he accepted difficult stories, and I was grateful too. His emotions seemed more stirred by the fact that I trusted him than by the existence of the teleporter or Sun-woo's story. Therefore, I decided to delicately crush and blow away the doubts I had about Do-Hyeon. He should never remember, nor should I, that I ever had such thoughts.

"What was Sun-woo to you?" he asked, turning to me.

"Sun-woo... Well, you know, there are friends like this. For example, we're adrift in the vast sea, and a rescue boat comes, but they can only save Sun-woo. So, Sun-woo would live, and I would have to die. In that situation, Sun-woo wouldn't hesitate to stay with me."

"I envy you for having such a friend... So, where is Sun-woo now?"

Do-Hyeon kept asking about Sun-woo. It was becoming somewhat odd.

"We lost contact a few years ago. I haven't seen him since he sent me the teleporter. I think he's in the United States, so I'm going to look for him."

"Are you going to use the teleporter?"

"Yes."

"Then it's something you're desperate enough to face the misfortune for."

"Right."

"Will I see you at the swimming pool tomorrow, then?"

"I'll try."

"Good."

Do-Hyeon stood up, and I followed suit. I could see beads of sweat on his curly hair, even in this chilling weather. Perhaps his heart had also been trembling with unspeakable vibrations.

"I'll call you, Hee-jae. Be careful."

Leaving those words, Do-Hyeon left my house.

As time passed, dawn approached in Chicago. I waited until midnight, then geared up with my jacket, shoes, and a dust mask.

I turned on the teleporter. It was 9 a.m. in Chicago. I took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and finally placed my thumbs on the teleporter, thinking of the rooftop of the building I had seen during the day.