West Seoul University Series

by Leigh Ban

  I stared at the screen, my mouth agape. The Unicorn-ster was a baby-blue steel rollercoaster with a steep drop followed by two loops.

  “Looks sick, right?”

  I nodded. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get inside.

  Isaac put his phone back in his pocket and let out a deep breath. “The weather is incredible. When it started raining yesterday, I was worried we’d be doomed to run around in clammy pants. Today must be our lucky day.”

  “Then can you summon the lucky spirits and ask them to cut this queue in half?” I asked, laughing.

  When we were finally inside Unicorn World, Isaac unfolded a huge illustrated map of the place. The employees, dressed as pastel-orange and pastel-yellow pumpkins, had been handing them out next to the entrance. Although the theme park had been decorated with Halloween in mind, the overly pastel, overly cutesy atmosphere hadn’t changed. I felt like any ghost or armed psycho killer here would be bleeding baby pink.

  “You know, we don’t need to carry that map around. We can just look at the map on the website,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, I know,” he said, his eyes on the map. “But isn’t it more fun and over the top to look at a fold-up map? It’s the old-school way.”

  “Can’t we be old school after we go on the Unicorn-ster?”

  “What’s the rush? Do you want us to sprint over there?”

  If I’d come to the theme park with a close friend like Dana, I would’ve actually suggested that we do so. However, I didn’t want Isaac to poke fun at me for being overeager. I took out my phone and looked up the current wait time for the Unicorn-ster.

  “Isaac, it looks like we’re going to have to stand in line for over three hours just to go on our first ride.”

  “Three hours? Wow, I thought most people were here to check out the Halloween parade and displays.”

  “To be precise, the estimated wait time is 195 minutes.”

  “I think it’s the peak waiting time for the rollercoaster right now though. Why don’t we check out something else first?” he suggested, folding his map and tucking it into his back pocket.

  “Alright,” I said. After all, we needed to take a photo for class, first and foremost.

  “Hey, check out that line.” Isaac pointed to a queue of people beside a collection of black shipping containers labeled “DANGER ZONE: Enter at Your Own Risk.”

  “I thought we were trying to avoid standing in long lines,” I muttered.

  He swung his arm around my shoulder. “Come on, Yumi, let’s go check it out. I think it’s a Halloween exclusive.”

  “Do you seriously want to line up for a… makeshift haunted house?” I said, furrowing my brow. With his face mere inches away, I could smell the fresh scent of his aftershave.

  “Why not? Unless you’re scared.”

  I shrugged his arm off. “Scared? That looks like it was made for twelve-year-old kids who are here with their parents.”

  Isaac guided us to the back of the queue. The line moved faster than I’d expected since a large group of people was let in at once. When we were within ten feet of the entrance, an employee, dressed as a yellow pumpkin, handed me a laminated piece of paper.

  “Welcome to Unicorn World, a magical world where dreams come true,” the employee said, waving his gloved hands. “You are about to enter the Danger Zone, the most intense haunted house at Unicorn World, full of heart-stopping scares. Please read this before you go inside.”

  I skimmed through the page; it was a fairly generic list of disclaimers for theme park attractions targeting adults.

  Do not enter if you suffer from heart conditions, seizures, asthma, or any type of medical/physical/mental problems. The attraction is not suitable for anyone who is pregnant or has any type of physical limitations. NO MINORS ALLOWED.

  “No minors allowed,” Isaac read. “I guess it’s part of their ‘most intense haunted house’ theme. I wonder if the employees actually ID the high schoolers who try to sneak inside.”

  “The employees would just ask for their park tickets seeing as they’d have a discounted ticket. I take it you didn’t come here when you were their age?”

  “Yeah, I never had the chance. From my first day of elementary school to the day I got into college, I never got a day off from my cram school life. Everything I did had to be educational,” he admitted.

  We were then ushered inside. Although I expected to enter a room where another employee would repeat the rules again, we found ourselves waiting in the pitch-black dark.

  “What’s going on?” I said to Isaac. I reached out to grab his shoulder but felt the back of someone’s head instead.

  A woman shrieked. “Oh my gosh! Who touched me? Have we started?”

  “No, it’s just me. I’m sorry. I was trying to find my friend,” I explained after drawing my hand back.

  “I’m here, Yumi,” Isaac said, then squeezed my arm.

  A couple of seconds later, a gust of white steam billowed down from the ceiling. The woman in front of me screeched even louder than before, causing a few other people to freak out as well—including me. A siren rang and a door lit up in red-tinted lights. There was a sign above the door that read, “Enter If You Dare.” When people shuffled toward the door, Isaac and I trailed behind.

  As soon as we entered, an unsettling melody played in the background, and a bleeding mummy charged toward us with a chainsaw. Though I didn’t scream, I jumped back, flinging my arms in the air. Isaac broke into a fit of laughter.

  “Do you want me to take the lead?” he asked.

  “No,” I squeaked.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” I insisted, taking brisk steps.

  Under the dim lights, I could scarcely make out the shape of the people in front of me, so I stuck as close as possible without touching them.

  We experienced a variety of intricate jump scares; I’d vastly underestimated what a haunted house at Unicorn World would be like. An empty wooden box popped out from the side as we went down the hallway, followed by a bigger box farther down, which a headless person ran out from. Then we went through a maze-like path. For a minute or so, we were blinded by long pieces of tattered fabric hanging from the ceiling. At the end of the path, a hand extended down from the ceiling and clutched my shoulder.

  “Argh! What was that?” I screamed. When I looked at my shoulder, I realized the hand was a fake rubber one.

  The moment I turned my head back to the front, I realized the path split into two.

  “Which one should we follow?” I asked.

  “The path on the right,” Isaac said.

  I nodded, my heart thumping like crazy. When we entered a pitch-black room, I wondered if we’d made a mistake.

  “There’s nobody in front of us,” I murmured, taking slow, cautious steps.

  “Kind of makes it more fun,” he whispered into my ear.

  “Why don’t you take the lead then?” I said as I pushed him to the front.

  I heard an eerie whistle. White smoke poured out from the ceiling, making Isaac cough. The whistle grew louder. It was coming from behind me. When I turned around, the room suddenly lit up. A woman in a white nightgown stared back at me, her bloody mouth ripped up to her cheekbones. I screamed and wrapped my arms around his muscled back, clinging onto him like a baby koala.

  Isaac flinched. “Oh my—”

  “Let’s get out of here!” I cried out, shoving his back to make him hurry up.

  Luckily, the exit sign was right in front of us. The moment I saw the sunlight, I snatched my hands back.

  “You got a little touchy in there, didn’t you?” Isaac commented, his eyes crescent-shaped as he chortled.

  “No I didn’t. You must’ve gotten confused. It was dark in there,” I argued, though I knew I wasn’t fooling anyone.

  “Hey, check that out.” He pointed to a booth with a small television screen. “There must’ve been a camera in there at the end.”

  “Why would anyone b
uy a photo of themselves inside a haunted house? Look, it seems like the photo was taken when the light turned on at the end,” I said as a photo of a group of guys appeared on the screen. They must’ve chosen the other path; they clutched onto each other in fear while a masked man with a missing arm charged at them.

  “For the same reasons people want photos of themselves on a log flume. Besides, it’s entertaining to see the funny faces people make.” As he walked over to the booth, he added, “I’m buying one.”

  “No,” I called out, chasing after him.

  “Oh look,” he said as our photo appeared on the screen. My arms were wrapped around him, and one side of my face was pressed against his back. I not only looked petrified, but I looked like a petrified dumpling with my face all mushed up.

  “I look hideous,” I muttered.

  “Oh, relax. We didn’t go into a haunted house to shoot a modeling campaign. If it’s any consolation, I look like a doofus.”

  While I laughed at the look of alarm on his face, Isaac purchased a printed photograph. It came in a black cardboard photo frame labeled “Halloween at Unicorn World.”

  “I can carry the picture in my purse,” I offered, gesturing to the crossbody bag I was carrying.

  “Thanks.” He grinned, passing me the photo. “You better not lose it accidentally-on-purpose.”

  “I see you’ve got me all figured out,” I said dryly.

  “Where should we go next? Want to get some churros?” he asked, pointing to a food stand.

  I shook my head. “But first, let’s go on the Unicorn-ster.”

  “But first, let me go to the bathroom,” he said, mimicking my voice.

  I snorted. “Why? Are you scared you’re going to wet yourself on the rollercoaster?”

  “I’ll use the bathroom over there. You don’t need to go, do you? I think the ladies’ room is on the opposite side.” Isaac pointed to a men’s bathroom sign.

  “I’ll wait here.”

  After he left, I stood by the food stand and watched the crowd walk past. There were small children dressed as dinosaurs, mothers pushing prams, and couples in matching Unicorn World hoodies—the same one as Professor Lim’s. When I inhaled the crisp air, I practically salivated at the sugary cinnamon smell wafting from the food stand. I decided to ask Isaac if he wanted some churros once he returned from the bathroom.

  “Babe, we’ve got to hurry! The parade starts in two minutes,” a woman exclaimed in a shrill voice.

  I turned around to check out where the annoyingly cutesy, squeaky voice was coming from. But just as I turned, a burly skinhead slammed into me, causing me to lose balance. I felt like the world was spinning as I landed on my butt. My hands and black sweatshirt were soaking wet.

  “What the…” I said as I pushed myself off the ground. I shot the man a dirty look. He was holding two hotdogs with one hand and a large plastic cup of beer with his other. The cup was half empty.

  “Come on, baby, let’s go,” the woman with the grating voice called out, tugging on the skinhead’s arm.

  “Excuse me?” I growled. “You’re just going to go?”

  “What’s it to you?” the skinhead said, scowling at me as he passed the hotdogs to his girlfriend.

  I gathered he was trying to intimidate me, so I kept my eyes fixed on him, determined to receive a proper apology. “You bumped into me and now I’m drenched in beer.”

  “So?”

  “So you might want to apologize.”

  “Apologize?”

  I sighed. “Look, I know it was a mistake. But you could at least say sorry.”

  “Say I’m sorry? For what? I hardly spilled my drink on you,” he sneered, gesturing toward my sweatshirt. “I don’t see a stain. Do you see a stain, babe?”

  “No,” the woman said distractedly.

  My sweatshirt felt sticky against my skin as I crossed my arms. “Because my sweatshirt is black, smartass. Why is your cup half empty then?”

  “Because I drank it, smartass,” barked the skinhead, his hands trembling. For a moment, I expected him to empty the rest of his drink on me.

  I cleared my throat. “You’re telling me you drank half of your beer when you just purchased it from the food cart three feet away from us? Are you and your girlfriend having a drinking contest at Unicorn World? I don’t believe you.”

  While I spoke, his bulging eyes grew round. He then handed his cup to his girlfriend and grabbed the collar of my sweatshirt. “Listen, you brat. You should be the one apologizing to us. I suggest you shut your annoying little mouth and walk away before I—”

  “What do you think you’re doing? Let go of her,” Isaac called out, his left hand wrapped around the skinhead’s stout neck.

  “Who the hell are you?” the skinhead choked out, still clutching my sweatshirt.

  Isaac tightened his grip. “I told you to let go of her.”

  “No, I don’t want to,” the skinhead said, giving a gummy smirk.

  Within seconds, Isaac swung his fist at the skinhead, striking him in the jaw. The skinhead immediately released his grip, so I stepped a few feet away from him. Then the skinhead attempted to throw a punch at Isaac but slipped on the beer-soaked floor instead. When he landed on his belly with a thud, both his girlfriend and I shrieked. The skinhead extended his arms and grabbed Isaac’s calf.

  “Isaac!” I screamed out as the skinhead bit Isaac’s shin.

  While Isaac grimaced and wiggled his leg, several security guards came and separated Isaac and the skinhead. Although I thought the worst was over, the security guards proceeded to take Isaac and the skinhead by the arms. Then they marched away.

  “What’s going on?” I said, trailing behind them.

  A security guard with a stubble beard turned around. “Miss, I’m afraid your friends have to be escorted out for disorderly behavior.”

  I gasped. “What? You’re making a mistake.” I pointed to the skinhead. “That guy spilled his beer on me and threatened me, so Isaac was trying to help me out.”

  “You got in my way,” the skinhead yelled out, leering at me.

  The bearded security guard gave me a stern look without saying anything.

  “Oh my, oh my,” the skinhead’s girlfriend repeated in her grating voice.

  After we passed the exit, the security guards stopped and released Isaac and the skinhead.

  “I’m sorry, Miss,” the spectacled security guard said.

  I just stood and watched as the security guards went back into the theme park. The chaos had played out so quickly I couldn’t wrap my head around the entire situation. I turned to look at the skinhead and his girlfriend. He stared at me with his jaw clenched. Although I expected him to lash out at me again, when his girlfriend tugged his arm, he simply walked away. When I turned around to look at Isaac, he gave me a weak smile.

  “Did you really have to punch him?” I snarled.

  “Yumi, a man twice your size was grabbing you by the collar. I wasn’t going to just stand there and let him do that to you.”

  “How chivalrous of you. Thanks for helping me out and getting us kicked out,” I muttered.

  Isaac pointed at my bag. “At least we have a photo.”

  I sighed. As much as I hated how I looked in that photo, I was glad we had something to set as our profile picture. “Alright. I’ll give you credit for that. I don’t think they would’ve let us back inside, even if we got on our knees and explained that we desperately needed to take a photo for a college course.”

  “So our work here is done.”

  “I really wanted to go on that rollercoaster though.”

  Isaac chuckled. “Let’s come back to Unicorn World another time. I guess today wasn’t our lucky day after all.”

  “When did I tell you I’m coming back here with you?” I said, though I wasn’t sure if I meant it.

  Chapter Seven

  Was I warming up to Isaac Bong? If warming up to him meant agreeing to have Korean barbecue with him, then I was, in fact,
beginning to warm up to him.

  “I’ve got good news,” Isaac proclaimed as he grabbed the tongs.

  “Good news?” I said, lifting an eyebrow.

  He beamed with pride. “You’re in the presence of the nation’s best nonprofessional barbecue cook.”

  “Show me what you’ve got then.” I laughed and poured us each a glass of water. “You better not disappoint me.”

  “Don’t you worry, Miss Fussy Pants,” he replied, putting a thick slab of pork belly on the grill.

  A while later, Isaac expertly used the tongs to flip the pork belly. I was a little amazed; the meat was perfectly cooked—whenever I had barbecue with my family, my dad insisted on flipping the meat as little as possible. He then grabbed the kitchen shears and sliced the slab into bite-sized pieces. My mouth watered as I watched the meat sizzle.

  “Cheers!” a group of middle-aged men yelled out as they clinked their little shot glasses. They sat at the table next to us, all of them in brightly colored activewear.

  Isaac flashed me a wicked grin. “Do you know what pairs well with pork belly?”

  “A four-letter word that starts with an S?” I joked.

  “Come on, let’s order a bottle,” he said. “It’s the end of midterms after all.”

  “Alright.” I called out to the server, “Could we have a bottle of soju?”

  A minute later, the server came to our table with a green bottle and two shot glasses.

  “Thank you,” I said as I swiftly took the bottle from him and twisted it open.

  Isaac chuckled. “You’re not going to wait for the meat to cook?”

  “Oh, it’s almost ready, isn’t it?” I filled both glasses to the brim and handed one to him. “Let’s just have a glass before we eat. We had such a crazy day today.”

  After we clinked our little glasses together, I emptied my drink in one gulp. I stuck my tongue out because of the bitter aftertaste.

  “What are you waiting for?” I said, gesturing for him to have a drink.