With the never-ending hope of Jongdae returning, Minseok went to preschool every day. Ill or well, he did not let a school day skip. What if Jongdae went to school on the day of my nonattendance?

School was a great deal less interesting without Jongdae around. Kids had started to bully him now that his guardian angel was no longer beside him. He tried not to mind the bullies. They only threw rude words at him for being foolish. He could face it – he must not allow such trivial words affect him, so he rolled with the punches. Someday they will get tired of tormenting him.

He would go to the same spot – the bench in the playground – during lunch. Nobody approached that seat, it being named “idiot Minseok’s bench,” and a story revolved around it that if anyone sat upon it, they would become stupid. Kids who sat on it got poked fun at. He actually appreciated the name and story; because of it, the bench would remain as his and Jongdae’s for as long as possible.

When he would be back in his home, he would, for the most part, stay in Minseo’s room. He would do his homework there, play with her, look after her, read to her, babble with her (though he did not understand a single thing she said). He had become fond of her. He would even cuddle her and fall asleep in her crib at night, and the next morning when he would wake, he would somehow have been transported to his room, in his bed. 

Days stretched into weeks, weeks stretched into months. A year passed, then another. Seasons came and went, and all along, Minseok watched his sister grow. He saw her first tooth appear; he heard her speak her first word (“mamamamamamam”); he was there to guard her while she would crawl around, protecting her from bumping into walls and furniture, preventing her from putting various things into ; he was there to listen to her first coherent phrases, there to applaud in encouragement when she was able to eat by herself; he was there to keep an eye on and help her walk, there to be her crutch when her legs would wobble, there to be her cushion when she would fall; he was there to cut her first birthday cake and blow the candle with her.

He became conscious of the fact that he was growing old, too. He co