At Grandpa's house…
Mr. Jin-sol stood at the doorway, his eyes like two drawn swords scanning the workers carrying luggage. Despite the wrinkles of time etched across his face, his stance was like an unshakable mountain. His scars were like lines from an ancient book, recounting wars that no one but him had known.
When Hyun-soo and her daughter Emma entered, no words were necessary. The embrace between father and daughter said it all—hot tears streaming down his shoulders, while Hyun-soo swayed like a leaf in the wind. Even Emma, who tried to remain strong, couldn't hold back the tears as she watched her mother melt like a candle in Grandpa's embrace.
Jin-sol whispered in his hoarse voice,
"Sang-Hwan was a man who deserved more than this... Don't let lies tarnish his memory."
Then he added, his eyes shining like coal under the ashes:
"Sorry I couldn't make it to the funeral... but you know these legs can't stand any longer."
Hyun-soo answered, wiping away her tears:
"You were there in my heart, Dad. Thank you for standing with us at this time."
Grandpa turned to Emma, who looked pale and her eyes were weary from crying.
"Emma, I don't want to see you so sad. How about you rest a little, then we can go for a walk so I can show you around the neighborhood? It's a beautiful neighborhood, and I think you'll feel comfortable there."
Emma nodded quietly, lacking the energy to protest. She went upstairs to the room her grandfather had allocated for her and lay down on the bed, but sleep proved difficult.
Downstairs, Jin-sol stood by the window, looking out at the street lit by the evening lights, contemplating the transformation of the neighborhood where he had lived for so many years.
He muttered to himself with a faint smile,
"This place is strange... Years ago, this neighborhood was home to squalor, poverty, and despair. Now, it's one of the nicest and safest neighborhoods in Seoul."
At that moment, a tall, calm-looking young man passed by the window, his eyes telling a different story. Grandpa watched him for a moment before whispering,
"It seems the guardian angel of this neighborhood is doing a great job."
At the park family home…
Johan, stood in front of his front door, admiring its small facade, then said in a low voice,
"A small house... but it makes me feel safe. Is it because the people I love are there, or because my heart rests here, free from worry?"
He walked inside, and his younger sister, Sohin, greeted him with a warm smile. She was a kind, twenty-year-old girl, a hard-working law student with a talent for cooking.
"Hello, brother. You're back just in time, as usual," she said with a smile as she set the table. Then she added, "Don't you know when Daehyun will be back? Dinner will be ready soon."
Johan laughed as he took off his jacket.
"I'm looking forward to your delicious food."
He sat on the couch, his feet propped up on the small table, contemplating the strange contradiction between his two brothers.
"Daehyun, is violent and reckless in his decisions, while Sohin is gentle and thinks a lot before taking any action... I don't understand how these two personalities came together in one house."
Then he whispered to himself with a faint smile,
"It seems that contradiction is the essence of life, and perhaps his heart holds the secret to balance."
In one alleys of Awar neighbourhood…
Park Daehyun sat on a wooden bench under the light of a street lamp. Beside him was Yoon-hee, his love who was like a knife, fiercely beautiful and stubborn as winter.
She was gentle and very pretty, with shiny black hair and wide, black eyes.
She loved adventure and travel, was in her final year of a hotel and tourism college, and dreamed of seeing the world.
She looked at him worriedly, then said seriously,
"When will you stop these dangerous activities, Daehyun? Every day I see you tired, covered in wounds and blood. Is that what you want for your life?"
Daehyun tried to change the subject.
But Yoon-hee angrily rose from the bench and looked at him with eyes filled with sadness:
"If you don't want to talk about it, then there's no need to talk at all. You need to think about your life seriously, Daehyun . If you don't give up fighting, don't talk to me again!"
Then she turned and walked away, leaving him sitting there, in heavy silence.
Daehyun looked down at the ground, then felt the heat of tears escaping his eyes. He didn't cry easily, but this time, he felt as if he'd lost something that couldn't be recovered.
She left him alone in the dark, his tears falling onto his scarred hands.
He stood up slowly, his steps heavy as if he were walking on soft ground. There was only one question in his mind: Love or fight?
But he muttered in a low voice,
"I know it's like choosing between heaven and hell... but what would a boy like me choose, born from the ashes of fire and raised in hell? I truly don't know what peace is."
At park door…
"Tick tick..."
Dinner was finished, and Sohin came out to see who was there, smiling,
"Welcome back, Daehyun."
But when she opened the door fully, she froze.
Daehyun stood there, his eyes red, his face a mixture of anger and deep sadness.
He didn't say anything, just quickly entered the house and headed straight to his room.
Sohin stared at him worriedly, then whispered to herself,
"No one could have made him this way but her..."
She leaned against the wall, took a deep breath, and then silently thought,
"Daehyun ... the boy who was a human war machine. The boy who knew how to fight like it was a part of his soul. No one could defeat him or make him weak... but her."
In the dining room, Johan noticed Sohin's nervousness and asked,
"Where is Dae-hyun?"
She answered in a low voice,
"He's a little tired... He went to get some rest."
Then she quickly got up and headed to her room, leaving Johan alone.
He sat at the dining table, contemplating the dishes his sister had prepared, before whispering in a low voice,
"Dinner looks good... but it's suddenly gone out of style."
In Daehyun's room, he sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling with weary eyes, silent as if he carried the entire world on his shoulders.
A few heavy moments passed before he exhaled slowly, then ran his hand over his face, trying to wipe away the remnants of tears that refused to dry.
With a trembling hand, he took out his phone and opened his conversation with Yoon -hee. He looked at the last message she had sent him hours earlier. It contained nothing but
"Goodbye, Daehyun"
He read it over and over, as if his mind refused to believe it, then turned off the phone and tossed it aside, only to fall back into silence.
On the other side, Emma stood in front of her window on the top floor of her grandfather's house, looking out at the neighborhood she was not yet familiar with.
The twinkling streetlights gave the place a sense of warmth, but her heart was cold, burdened with an indescribable sadness.
She closed her eyes for a moment, recalling her father's voice, his laughter, his warm gaze... but found only silence to answer her.
"Dad... why did you leave so soon?"
She whispered her words into the night, but she didn't expect an answer.
Not far away, Johan stood by his window, looking out at the same neighborhood, but he wasn't thinking about the beauty Grandpa Jin-sol had seen.
He was seeing something else—stories yet to end, hearts aching, and lives about to change forever.
"It's just the beginning... but which way will this beginning take us?"
A question he didn't know the answer to, but he was certain of one thing—that night, there was someone saying goodbye to love, someone saying goodbye to the past, and someone saying goodbye to a part of themselves that would never return.
Another morning lurched amidst the setting sun. Sohin emerged from the front door, her teeth bared in angry grit.
Her delayed car made her count the time with anxious eyes.
And suddenly…
It was as if the ground opened up beneath her feet! Her eyes widened, her blood froze in her veins.
Something pulled her like a magnet toward... a corpse!
She bent down slowly, her fingers trembling like a wounded butterfly... then... the world turned upside down.
The dead girl's face... was her own!
A deafening scream rips through the sky, as if trying to convince itself that this is all a nightmare... but the bloody spot under the corpse's head silently repeats:
"This is you... and you just died!"