I opened my eyes. (1)

A place where old houses are packed together to form an alley.

White snow was falling under the light of the sparsely standing street lamps.

Through the brightly lit windows, Christmas carols and children’s laughter flowed out.

A perfect white Christmas Eve with snow falling.

However, it only brought loneliness and cold to the child who was squatting in a narrow alley.

Lee Shin-hyeok, a boy who looked about 9 years old, was wearing a jumper that came down to his thighs, which did not fit his physique.

Shin Hyuk, who was breathing white, raised his head and looked at the window opposite.

“Ah, Jung Hoon, the pizza is here. Let’s eat pizza.”

“Oh yeah!”

The warm voices of family members could be heard from house to house.

at that time.

rattle. rattle.

Towards the right corner, the gate opened.

Turbuck. Turbuck.

A man who appeared to be in his late 40s came out of the gate and walked straight ahead.

Shin-hyeok kept his distance and followed him cautiously, even breathing quietly so as not to be noticed.

Could that have been the cause?

I lost track of where the man had gone, probably because I was too far away.

Shin Hyuk, who was looking around, followed the footprints in the snow.

So I entered the alley on the right.

match!

A thick palm that appeared out of nowhere hit Shin Hyuk’s face.

It was the man Shin Hyuk was chasing.

“Hey you two bastards! Did your dad do it again? Didn’t I say no? You don’t know when you see that you’ve been released from the police station!? tell your daddy If you wander around me just one more time, then I can’t stand it. you are this kid too Did you understand?”

Shin Hyuk nodded his head, caressing his reddened cheek.

“I’m sorry.”

“go away.”

The man, who had been spitting out white steam, disappeared.

Shin-hyeok stood still and started wandering around, as if he didn’t have the courage to chase him anymore.

I wandered aimlessly through alleys and alleys.

It’s 1:00 in the morning.

Shin Hyuk stood in front of a blue gate that was rusted and opened here and there.

Standing in front of the gate, Shin Hyuk was worried about not being able to enter.

But that worry didn’t last long.

After walking around outside for another 30 minutes, I came back to the front of the house.

gulp.

Shin-hyeok swallowed, carefully opened the blue gate, passed through a very small yard, and stood in front of the sliding door.

When I put my ear to it, the sound of the TV was loud and I couldn’t hear people’s voices.

Shin Hyuk carefully opened the sliding door.

at that time.

My eyes met with my dad, who was holding a soju bottle to his mouth.

Seeing two bottles rolling around, it seemed like there was a third bottle.

My father, whose face was flushed with drunkenness, frowned and wiped his lips with his hand.

“Why are you in already? What about that bastard?”

Shin Hyuk stuttered and opened his mouth.

“I went out to buy a drink and went back home.”

Dad lifted the soju bottle as if he was about to throw it.

“Hey kid! You know where that bastard is going! You should have been watching until morning!”

“I will go again.”

When Shinhyeok tried to close the door, Dad yelled out loud.

“Where are you going! come in!”

Shin Hyuk cautiously entered the living room, which was littered with clutter.

But there was something I couldn’t see.

It was an old whiteboard.

It looked like Dad had picked it up.

“Don’t write it down in your sketchbook. Now write it down there.”

“Yeah?”

Dad tossed a black water-based marker.

“Write it down there.”

Dad frowned.

“what are you doing? write it down quickly Write from the date your mother died. Don’t write it quickly, bastard!”

A box of side dishes flew and hit Shin Hyuk on the head.

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Kimchi soup dripped down his forehead.

Shin Hyuk wiped his forehead and sat down on his knees in front of the whiteboard.

Tears were dripping down, but I wiped my eyes without crying once.

And I started writing.

[estimated at 23:40 on November 21st]

A year ago, my stepmom was stabbed to death in an alleyway at night while earning money for my father’s drink.

It was shocking to Shin Hyuk, but the wounds from the incident were soon healed.

Because there was one less person to hit him.

[Kim Seong-jin (37 years old), Choi Seung-moon (46 years old), Cho Min-jae (27 years old)]

The three suspects that my father found out.

They were investigated at the police station and all were released, but Shin-hyeok continued to follow the three from a year ago.

It was something my dad made me do.

Day and night and dawn, rain or shine.

While the other children were hanging out with their friends, the boy ran after them with bated breath.

Is there anything suspicious and who is the person you meet?

Shin Hyuk then sketched out a map of the alleyway.

And the place where the stepmother died was marked with an X.

Suddenly, Shin Hyuk’s head slowly turned backwards.

Dad was lying down snoring and asleep.

Shin-hyeok got up quietly and began to clean up the side dish container and soju bottle that had hit him in the head.

Then he took out a bowl of noodles without soup from the cupboard.

The bottled water ran out, so I got tap water in a cup and went into the room.

I carefully closed the door and opened a bag of noodles in the corner.

misguided. misguided.

Put the pieces of ramen in your mouth and drink water once. Eat ramen again.

It was the first meal.

Suddenly, I remembered the face of my biological mother who cried and asked me to go with her.

Was it when you were seven years old?

‘Shin Hyuk. huh? let’s go with mom Let’s go together with mom.’

Hearing his mother’s pleading words, he shook his head.

‘I do not like it.’

Saying that, I grabbed my father’s collar.

Like someone who doesn’t want to follow their mother.

Mom, I’ll hold on to Dad like this.

mom runs away

Mom runs far, far away.

I’ll hold on tight so that I don’t chase after you.

But he said the opposite.

‘I want to live with my dad.’

Even after that, Mom came to visit her several times without Dad’s knowledge.

But I didn’t go with my mother.

Because Dad is the person Mom can find wherever she goes.

Because the person my dad wants isn’t my mom, it’s me.

Later, when I grow up a lot, I can visit.

And I moved here.

For a moment, Shin Hyuk flinched and looked at the door.

“F*ck…”

I heard Dad swear and open the bathroom door.

It wasn’t even 3 minutes.

The door where Shin Hyuk was was suddenly opened.

Seeing Shin Hyuk holding the ramen with both hands, Dad spat out the words.

“Hey kid. Your mother is dead and it’s going down your throat!? A baby like this invalid person ···. ”

Dad, who seemed like he was going to run at any moment, swept his head.

“come out.”

“Oh, Dad?”

“Is this bastard’s ears clogged? come out.”

Dad grabbed Shin-hyeok by the back and dragged him out.

Shin Hyuk walked down a cold alleyway with his father.

Dad, who was staggering drunk, continued to mutter.

“I’m sure it’s Choi Seung-moon. f*ck. The cops and that bastard could be cheating on each other.”

Dad arrived at the 1-ton truck and opened the passenger side door.

“get on.”

“Dad···. You shouldn’t be drinking and driving right now.”

“Who is this bastard teaching now? Do you think I’m drunk!? Aren’t you riding fast!?”

When Dad raised his hand, Shin-hyeok flinched and got into the car.

Dad got into the driver’s seat and started the car right away.

“Hey, listen carefully to Lee Shin-hyeok’s father. the day your mom dies You were at the scene of the incident. I saw who killed him. okay?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me you saw Choi Seung-moon stab him. What I haven’t been able to say in a while. Choi Seung-moon said that he couldn’t say anything because he was afraid that he would kill you too or retaliate. Did you understand?”

Vroom!

Dad started driving the 1-ton truck terribly.

“Tell me so. Otherwise you will die and I will die too. Okay!?”

“Daddy daddy. Go slow. The road is slippery… Dad!”

Shin Hyuk shouted loudly.

It was because there was a person passing by.

“Dad!”

“What the f*ck!”

Dad turned the steering wheel.

Driving like that, sliding on the snowy road to the high stairway.

bang! bang! bang!

It rolled down with a roar.

To Shin Hyuk’s eyes, who were in the car, the scenes of the car windows exploding looked like slow-playing videos.

bang!

However, Shin Hyuk’s vision soon turned black.

* * *

Lee Shin-hyeok, wearing an old jumper, opened his eyes to a strange feeling.

The ceiling is white white.

‘Where is it?’

I···

Apparently I had an accident…

Simultaneously with that thought, Shinhyeok raised his upper body.

It was an incredible sight.

It was a white, white space all around.

Shin Hyuk looked around with surprised eyes.

There were no doors, no chairs, no beds, no furniture.

“Hey, hey…? excuse me!”

I shouted, but there was no answer.

no then

The wall, which could never be considered a door, opened like a door and a person came inside.

As Shin-hyeok hesitated and became wary, the middle-aged man who appeared to be in his late 50s opened his mouth with a friendly smile.

“You don’t have to be so surprised. Oh, let’s start with my introduction. I am a psychologist…”

After that, more people came to find Lee Shin-hyeok.

They described themselves as psychologists, brain scientists, cryptographers, forensic scientists, and doctors.

Shin Hyuk spent a year, two years, three years, no, an incalculable amount of time in that space, talking with them.

Then one day.

A voice came from outside the white space.

[There… eyes…]

Never before had a voice come from outside the space like this.

As Shin-hyeok looked around as if to find the source of the voice, he, who was sitting across from him, put his hand on the table and pinched it.

And smiled.

“Looks like the time has come.”

“Yeah? What do you mean?”

[mental···. Snow… Cranes…]

“Can you hear that sound?”

Shin Hyuk stood up from his seat and looked at the ceiling.

“Yeah. What is this…? It sounds like a human voice…”

The middle-aged man rose from his seat with a more benevolent smile.

“Shin Hyuk, shall we shake hands?”

“Yeah? Suddenly?”

Shin Hyuk took the middle-aged man’s outstretched hand.

The middle-aged man said as if he felt Shin Hyuk’s warmth.

“It’s warm. live like this in the future warmly.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Shin Hyuk.”

“Yeah?”

“Now open your eyes.”

* * *

“student! student! open your eyes student!?”

Shin Hyuk’s eyes opened in an instant.

“yes! My eyes are open. Do you know where this is? What is your name?”

I saw doctors and nurses.