Do In-ho Side Story 2
The people outside were bundled in thick jackets and proper shoes. My clothes looked similar to theirs—except for one glaring issue: my footwear. I was the only one wearing slippers. If I went out like this, would I get strange looks?
The air was filled with a mix of smells and sounds, but for this moment, none of it felt suffocating. I looked around, taking it all in like it was my first time seeing the world, and slowly started walking.
White breath puffed out from my mouth. Thanks to the storefront signs and lights, the street was dazzlingly bright.
I watched the people. Everything felt surreal. There was no trace of darkness on their faces—they were all smiling, as if everything in life was just fine.
I awkwardly touched the corners of my mouth. They were set in a flat line. I tried forcing a smile, but it didn’t last. My lips dropped back down in seconds, and I gave up trying to look cheerful.
Wandering aimlessly, I eventually came to a stop.
Inside a store with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, I could see people eating. One man was devouring his food with incredible intensity.
How can someone eat that much food…?
I stared at the man, full of curiosity.
After emptying a giant bowl, he picked up a timer and called over the owner. “I did it.” The man received a white envelope from the person who appeared to be the owner, then smiled brightly—just like the others I’d seen outside.
And then, our eyes met.
He stood up, strode over, and opened the door.
“You hungry?”
“……”
I couldn’t speak. Hardly anyone ever talked to me first. And this guy—he wasn’t an Esper or a Guide. Just a regular person… What was I supposed to do with regular people again? My mind went completely blank.
The man, seeing me frozen in place, opened the door wider and gestured for me to come in.
“What do you want to eat? They make a great pork cutlet here.”
He was at least a head taller than me and asked in a warm voice. I wasn’t actually hungry, but with nowhere else to go, I nodded cautiously. He handed the envelope he’d received to the owner and placed an order. I’d just seen him finish a huge meal, and now he was ordering more?
“Got anywhere to go after eating?”
I shook my head in response.
He accepted the plate of pork cutlet the staff brought over, cut it up neatly, and handed me a piece. I took a bite. The sweet sauce covered up the other flavors enough that it wasn’t too hard to eat.
“I ditched my class today. Just couldn’t deal with going.”
The man grinned playfully as he spoke, asking if I’d done the same. I hadn’t run away—I’d been forcibly thrown out. Still, I nodded.
After we finished eating and stepped outside, it started snowing. I held out my hand, fascinated by how it felt against my skin. The man wrapped his dark blue scarf around my neck.
“Wait here for just a second!”
I watched, puzzled, as he rushed off. Looking down, I noticed how cold my toes felt. Hoo. I exhaled a white breath, wondering where to go next, when the man returned, breathing hard and holding out a shopping bag.
“……?”
“Bare feet in this weather? That’s way too cold.”
He pulled socks out of the bag and handed them to me. I sat on the steps, putting them on, and heard the rustle of a bag again. This time, black sneakers.
The man knelt down on the grimy pavement without hesitation and helped me into them.
“They’re a bit big. But hey, better than slippers, right?”
“……Thank you.”
“If you’re thankful, go home. Your parents are probably worried.”
“……”
“Did… something happen at home?”
He scratched the back of his neck and gave an awkward smile.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that.”Â
His voice sounded regretful, but also filled with concern.
There was nothing wrong at home. But it wasn’t my home. I didn’t know what to say.
Even if I went back, no one there would care that I was barefoot. No one would drape a scarf over me just because it was freezing out. It’s not that my body was cold—it was that my heart wasn’t warm.
“Where do you live? Want me to walk you?”
Maybe worried by my silence, the man asked gently. He kept calling himself hyung, and I quietly repeated the word in my head.
Hyung…
He was so kind to someone he’d just met. He didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. He didn’t command me to hurt anyone. He kept asking me things—not ordering me, but trying to have a conversation.
“Hmm. You must be shy. Still, you can tell me your name, right?”
My name… After I came to the Esper Corporation, I stopped using it. They told me I didn’t need one. Said there was no point in remembering a name for someone who’d eventually be forgotten. But I did have a nickname.
Shifok. I wasn’t sure what it meant. Would he remember me if I told him my name?
“Do……”
Just as I was about to answer, a man in a suit from the Corporation appeared at the top of the steps. They’d thrown me out earlier—and now they wanted to drag me back.
“Are you family?”
“……”
I shook my head. The man—hyung—gently held my hand, like he was trying to protect me. It felt strange. He was still young himself. Did he really think he could stand up to an adult?
He didn’t seem to care whether the other guy was an adult or not. He shielded me with his body.
“Who are you?”
“I’m his guardian.”
“He said you’re not family.”
“I’m his legal guardian from the facility.”
He turned around and asked me if it was true. I didn’t want to let go of his hand, but I also didn’t want to get him in trouble, so I carefully released it.
“I’ll make good use of the shoes.”
As I walked over to the Corporation employee, hyung called out to me.
“Hey, kid! If anything happens, come back to that restaurant. I’ll help you.”
“……”
“Promise, okay?”
“…Yeah.”
My heart felt like it was tearing from a promise I knew I couldn’t keep. What was this feeling? It was like snow falling inside my chest, leaving it cold and aching.
Every time a snowflake touched my heart, it hurt.
Even as I got into the car parked outside, hyung never took his eyes off me. I kept my gaze fixed on the window. Beside me, someone let out a mocking laugh.
“So? How was it—your brief taste of freedom?”
The car pulled away. I stuck my head out the window, but hyung was no longer in sight.
Snow still fell from the sky. It was cold against my skin, but disappeared without a trace. It had started piling up on the sidewalk. By tomorrow, it would melt and be gone, leaving nothing behind—but for now, it slowly blanketed the world in white.
After standing in the cold wind for so long, my nose stung. I buried my face in the scarf.
“First and last taste of freedom. You’d better savor it.”
From tomorrow, life would return to the same routine—from morning till night. The fact that my death was already scheduled made everything feel a bit more unfair. Were normal people always this kind? Were they always curious about your name?
I wanted it. That life. That kindness.
Even now, I still didn’t understand why the man had sent me downtown that day. Maybe he wanted to show me what freedom was. Or maybe, knowing his temper, he wanted me to taste something I could never have—just to watch me fall into despair.
But after tasting a different kind of freedom, death didn’t seem quite so welcome anymore.
***
Time passed quickly. Now I knew what Shifok meant: time bomb. That’s what they called someone like me, who could die at any moment.
After years of this dull routine, even the boredom itself faded. The man who came to guide me—the one who finally matched Hosoo in height—that was last year.
I’m twenty now. As the day marking the end of this tiresome life draws closer, my body must’ve sensed it, because I had an old dream. I don’t think I ever went out as a kid, but there I was, eating pork cutlet.
The memory was so vague I couldn’t tell if it was real or a dream. Still, it brought me back to that restaurant.
I stood in front of it again. And then returned to my monotonous routine, just like before.
“Hey, Shifok!”
“……”
“Well, look at this guy ignoring us.”
“If I were Shifok, I’d be on my knees begging for guiding. Who knows? Maybe they’d extend your lifespan.”
“……”
At this point, it was routine for intern Guides with yellow ID badges to insult me. I felt nothing. I dipped my head slightly for one of the shorter ones—last time I kept it up, and they attacked me for that. Better to lower it preemptively.
“Hey, Shifok. You ignoring us? Huh? Too good for us interns?”
“Aw, come on. Like he’d dare. We’re gonna be full-timers soon.”
Their act was stale. I quietly sighed and raised my head—and in that moment, I made eye contact with someone new.
A yellow ID badge I’d never seen before. Now that I thought about it, there had been talk of new interns coming in. The man started walking toward me. Was he part of their group?
“Hello.”
But he wasn’t talking to me—he was addressing the interns.
“I don’t know what happened earlier, but isn’t ganging up on one person a bit much?”
His kind voice carried a sharp undertone directed at the others.
He introduced himself as Kwon Ho-eun and proceeded to shove one of the interns aside. The guy fell to the floor and cried out in pain, like he’d been seriously hit. Chaos broke out—but Kwon Ho-eun stood calm and composed in front of me.
“Are you okay?”
“Next time, just ignore them.”
“Hey, I helped you. You could at least say thanks.”
“I didn’t ask for help.”
“…Huh?”
“I’m used to this. I don’t need anyone’s help.”
“Nobody gets used to being hurt.”
Someone thinking about my pain… this intern Guide was weird.
“In moments like this, you’re supposed to say thanks and shake hands.”
“Let go!”
I shouted instinctively as I felt guiding begin—but the moment our hands separated, he grabbed me again. As his guiding reached me, pain exploded in my head like it was being split in two.
“Want some pork cutlet?”
The image of Kwon Ho-eun’s gentle face flashed in my mind. The side effects from guiding deprivation made memories hazy, but oddly, when our hands touched, the moment I met Kwon Ho-eun came back to me.
“My name’s Kwon Ho-eun. What’s yours?”
When he asked for my name, I felt a jolt of déjà vu. Like it had happened before. But when? The headache wouldn’t stop—like there were more memories I still hadn’t remembered.
“Still, you can tell me your name, right?”
A blurry figure from the past took shape in my mind.
“Do In-ho……”
Kwon Ho-eun murmured my name and gently held my hand in his warm grasp.
A long time ago, someone else with warmth like this held my hand. Why did he make me think of that man? Kwon Ho-eun looked at my puzzled face and smiled.
***
“Ah…”
The truth I’d tried to deny flashed through my mind like a flood of memories. One by one, they connected, proving who Kwon Ho-eun really was. The pounding in my head eased as the long-lost memories returned.
I opened my eyes. Like a paused film, the scene froze.
Cold wind blew through the 63 Square building. Smoke still hung heavy in the air from the fire’s remains. And there he was—Kwon Ho-eun, here to save me once again.
How could I not have known?
There was only one person whose hands were ever this warm.
“Hyung… I’m sorry I realized it so late.”
