I muttered in a deliberate whisper subsequent to Heo-sang staring into area.

“Is it a ghost?”

“Hyung. …It is a cathedral.”

“Haha, that is smart.”

I casually held out a paper bag and adjusted the topic.

“Right here.”

“What’s this?”

“Open it.”

He took the envelope, barely nervous, and untied the ribbon across the deal with. His eyes widened as quickly as he noticed the lengthy object inside.

“Hyung….”

“A dice referred to as Megaminx. Wonderful, isn’t?”

I introduced him with a dice, simply as I had once I first met him. The Megaminx dice was one thing I’d by no means have tried, but when it was Heo-sang, I’m positive he’d determine it out very quickly. He stared on the dice for a very long time, so I made up a protracted checklist of excuses for it to be cool.

“Really, I wished to get you one thing costly, however I didn’t know what you wished, so I considered it for some time, after which I bought you this. It’s not one thing I’d picked out on a whim, so…”

“I do know.”

He took a step ahead and wrapped his arms round me. I’d by no means been brazenly embarrassed in entrance of him earlier than, however I wasn’t anticipating this. I stood dumbfounded, unable to hug him again or push him away as he buried his face in my hair.

“Thanks, hyung.”

When did you get so tall? After I first met you only a 12 months in the past, you had been a foot shorter than me. Now you’re in all probability a lot taller than me. I’m glad I did, and I’m glad I used to be capable of stay a reliable instructor and large brother till the tip.

“You prefer it?”

“Sure. …It’s the perfect reward I’ve ever acquired.”

I felt a robust heartbeat towards my carefully pressed chest. There was no technique to inform who it belonged to. I didn’t need to know. I’d somewhat my coronary heart simply cease beating because it was, so I might find yourself with my true emotions, all the time masked by a mischievous smile, by no means revealed.

“What, do you even know easy methods to say good issues now?”

“It’s not an empty phrase.”

“I do know. You’ve all the time been severe.”

I used to be all the time joking with you.

“Hyung…”

“Huh?”

“Are you going to stick with me?”

I nonetheless take a look at him.

“Sure. After all.”

I lie casually.

We chatted till daybreak, after which he fell asleep. He smiled barely and seemed relaxed, as if he wasn’t having any extra nightmares. Within the meantime, I wrote a letter and put it on his bedside desk. In some way, I couldn’t assist however really feel that if I disappeared with out saying something, he would discover me.

[Sang-yi. I don’t want you to be surprised when you wake up in the morning and find me gone, so I write a few words. I’m actually moving away due to my parents’ situation, and I don’t think I can say it face to face, so a letter will have to do. Thank you for everything and take care.]

I used to be about to write down that I’d ship one other letter once I had an opportunity. It appeared like Heo-sang to maintain ready for a letter that will by no means come. If you happen to ever hear from me, it is going to be in an obituary seven years from now.

“…Goodbye.”

With these final phrases, I left the room, leaving the letter within the place of the priest to whom I had been so indebted. My steps had been simpler than I assumed. Maybe as a result of I used to be fleeing, not parting.

It’s daybreak, and the sky continues to be pale. I headed to the bus station to go to the terminal. The primary bus was extra crowded than I anticipated. I sat on the very again and stared on the fading cathedral in disbelief.

I knew I might get away that simply.

Snap – thud.

The brakes failed and the bus skidded round a curve and hit a guardrail. Unable to achieve velocity, the bus plunged off the cliff. The bus shortly turned a pandemonium. Folks had been ejected from their chairs, thrown previous me and into the windscreen, and even folks holding on to the handles for expensive life had been knocked off. Earlier than I had time to register what was taking place, I used to be slammed into the door and knocked unconscious.

“Ugh….”

I wakened coughing from the foul scent of oil. The very first thing I noticed was gray smoke all over the place. It seemed like a gasoline canister had burst and caught fireplace because it crashed to the bottom. Every thing so far as the attention might see was engulfed in flames, and it was hell.

To make issues worse, certainly one of my eyes wouldn’t open. I couldn’t even really feel my arm, which was pierced by shards of glass and damaged. The flames had been positively coming at me from the open, able to devour me at any second. Nonetheless, I stored my composure and stood up and seemed round.

“I…”

I attempted calling the particular person sitting throughout from me, however there was no response. I attempted calling the particular person seated instantly behind me and the motive force. However the entire bus was silent. My imaginative and prescient was obscured by gray smoke, however I might inform. There was no approach a standard particular person might have survived such a horrible accident.

All I wished to do was collapse and fall asleep, however I needed to transfer. I’ll survive being consumed by these flames, however I don’t need to be discovered on the scene of the accident and brought to the hospital. I didn’t need the world to know in regards to the curse on my physique. Perhaps my mum, who had the curse, did too. If I had been significantly injured, I’d by no means go to a hospital, however would search medical consideration from a fellow awakener, however I’ve no such good friend.

I dragged my aching physique out by the damaged window. A banner studying “Watch out for wildfires” was burning in items. I walked and walked, avoiding the flames. My damaged ribs screamed with each step I took on my left foot, however I couldn’t cease. I have to discover a quiet place to cover, the place there are not any folks.

I limped down the mountain street and noticed a small village. I used to be delighted to see the phrase “inn” on an indication within the distance. I grabbed one thing from the previous garments bin, coated up the mess, and walked into the inn.

A rattle.

The bell rang clearly because the door opened. The boss, who was popping out of his room at nightfall, stiffened as quickly as he noticed me. He will need to have thought I used to be a beggar wrapped up in some previous garments. He seemed me up and down, his gaze cautious.

“Identify, what number of days are you staying?”

“Choi… for…”

My voice didn’t fairly come out proper. Sensing one thing was amiss, the boss tossed me a key and slammed the facet door, leaving me within the dilapidated room on the finish of the hallway in the interim.

I slept for 3 days straight on a tattered futon on a moldy ground. Typically I wakened with starvation, however I didn’t have the power to carry a finger. The ache of burning pores and skin and crushing bones took a again seat.

I didn’t discover out precisely what occurred till 5 days after the accident.

I walked into the toilet to clean my face and stood transfixed within the mirror. Shards of glass had been lodged in my neck, damaged ribs poked by charred flesh, and my arms hung limp like snapped reeds. Worst of all, my face, crushed to the ground of the bus, was contorted as if in mourning.

To be alive on this situation, I’m a monster.

I needed to go residence to deal with myself and I left the room in my previous garments. The boss swallowed laborious when he noticed me after nearly per week. He didn’t even ask for lease as a result of he was so afraid of Moore.

I took out all the cash I had in my hand, slammed it down on the counter, and scribbled on my notepad.

[Taxi]

Recognising the squiggles, the boss hurriedly picked up the cellphone. As he hailed a cab, the morning information was in full swing on the tv. Behind the intense face of the anchor, he noticed a well-recognized sight.

A charred bus. The ashes fluttering by the mangled bushes.

[Bus crash in Jeongdong-eup. Driver and all 6 passengers confirmed dead.]

All useless. As quickly as I noticed the subtitle, I ran out of the inn like a fugitive.

As quickly as I bought residence in a taxi, I frantically searched the neighborhood. I had one aim: a remedy, and I purchased each single remedy I might discover, whether or not it was a Class C, Class B, or a Hunter with therapeutic skills.

Naturally, I used up some huge cash. In the long run, I even dipped into my mother and father’ life insurance coverage cash, which I didn’t need to spend for the remainder of my life, however I had no alternative. With my ribs poking by my flesh and my pores and skin disfigured by burns, I couldn’t recognise my form, however what else mattered?

After that, I took medicines flown in from everywhere in the nation, each single day. As the times glided by, my darkish home turned a mountain of unlabeled bottles. It seemed like an alcoholic’s room. No, I’d somewhat drink myself right into a stupor, however that doesn’t describe the ache of bones snapping again into place. Each time a brand new piece of burned pores and skin appeared, I wished to chop it off with a knife.

Each day was hell. However I endured. I couldn’t die, so I needed to endure. And at last, at precisely one month, I used to be absolutely recovered, nonetheless there was no hint of my previous self.

“Haha, you seem like a unique particular person.”

His facial bones had reattached and his options had modified. His voice was decrease on account of the injury to his vocal cords, and one way or the other his hair and pores and skin color had turn into lighter. He seemed like a snake that had molted. It could take some getting used to, however one way or the other, I couldn’t assist however chortle.

“Higher late than by no means….”

The accident that day killed John and reborn Shin Ha-jae. So, let’s neglect all the pieces and begin over. This time, we’ll find yourself with nobody left behind.