The wind cut sharply through the night. Stars hung scattered and cold across the sky, and the road lay silent beneath them. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. Only the hollow echo of my own thoughts.
It was past one. I had been here for nearly an hour. Perfect. Alone. At ease. At peace. Or at least as close to peace as I could get.
"엄마 (Eomma), do saviors exist?"
"네 (Ne), 아들 (adeul). They do."
"Then… can they save us?"
"Yes. Not now… maybe someday."
Words meant nothing. When she died, the world revealed its true shape: cold, cruel, and indifferent. Perhaps it had been this way since I was born. I had no home, no protection, no one brave enough to care. A name, yes, but meaningless. A stranger to the world. A shadow wandering in silence.
The metal pressed against my palm. A final act was simple. Easy. Necessary. Nothing mattered. I was nothing.
And then—
"You okay, miss?"
I froze. A presence behind me, real and warm, cutting through the emptiness. A male voice. Hesitant, cautious, human.
I looked up. A young man stood there, a large bag slung over his shoulder. His eyes lingered on me, curious, unsure. A runaway? How considerate, arriving here at this hour…
"I… don't have a home," I whispered.
He tilted his head, confusion flickering across his face. Of course. People always look at me like that.
"Well, I guess everyone has a home, miss," he said softly.
"You thought the wrong guy," I murmured. Slowly, deliberately, I rose and began walking.
I didn't look back. "I guess I have to start finding that home. Farewell, stranger."
I left him standing there beneath the faint glow of the streetlight. When I waved—a small, casual motion—it was a lie. Inside, I trembled. At last… my savior has arrived.
We parted without names. Names were meaningless. What mattered was the presence—the warmth, the spark of life intruding into my hollow world. Even now, I could sense it: his eyes, hesitant yet watching. And yet, he did not understand. How could he?
Still… I knew, somehow, that he was meant to be here. That he had appeared when I needed him most, though he might never realize it.
The night stretched, vast and silent. My steps echoed on the empty road, my mind tangled with relief and lingering sorrow. I felt the pull of something strange, fragile, and dangerous—an unfamiliar hope that I wasn't ready to name.
The world was vast. Empty. And yet… he had arrived.
Something had begun.