The last thing he remembered was giving his mom a hug before he walked out of his house, a large duffel bag in one hand and his car keys in the other.

"Wait, Myungsoo!" he heard his mom as he unlocked his car. He turned around and found his mom running out of the house with a bag. "Eat this on your trip, okay? Call us whenever you get the chance, and please be careful."

He took the food from her and reassured her that he would call and be safe. Unwillingly, she waved her older son off as he took off on a journey to who-knows-where.

And that's where everything was fuzzy.

---//---

"Where am I?" he asked, eyes half-opened. He lifted his right hand and tried to scratch his face, only to have his hand (wrapped in a hard cast) cone crashing down on his cheek. He winced and suspected thata bruisewouldslowly form.

He pushed himself up so that he was sitting, but an intense and sudden pain in his head had him slowly lying back down again. Slowly, he realized everything about him hurt. Every inch of his body ached and cried out for some painkillers.

A nurse walked in, smiling when she realized Myungsoo was awake. “How’s your body feeling?”

“Not good,” he groaned.

“Well, I have some medicine for that.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m just going to call the doctor so she can check up on you. I’ll be right back, sweetie.”

He laid there as he waited for the painkillers to kick in. He wondered if the dosage was enough to get rid of all the pain he was feeling. Probably not, he thought doubtfully.

“Are you feeling any better,” –slight pause here as the doctor checked for his name- “Myungsoo?”

“Kind of.”

“Do you remember what happened?” the doctor asked as she did basic check-ups.

“How I got here? No, not really.”

“It was an accident. A car accident actually. Still nothing?”

Myungsoo closed his eyes. Oh yes. Now he remembered. After he got in the car, munching on the bread his mother had packed for him, he went up to the mountains, certain he was going to find—find who?

“I was in the mountains. I was looking for something or someone.”

“We’ve contacted your family. They should be here soon, but keep trying to remember. There were some minor damages to your head, so your memory should come back. If it doesn’t, make sure to let me know.” And with that she and the nurse left him alone in the room again.

He found it odd he couldn’t remember why he left his home. He remembered he had a hard time persuading his parents to let him go on this trip, and he was adamant about doing so. He was actually going to leave even if his parents wouldn’t let him, but luckily they did.

So where was he headed to?

He closed his eyes, replaying the accident in his head.

---//---

Mountains outlined Korea. They were everywhere. It didn’t matter where you turned, whether you were in the country or in the city; you could see mountains from anywhere in the country.

He was very deliberate about which mountain he would drive up in search for his special… whatever.

Having been so nervous about the trip, he had not gotten enough sleep the night before, so he was dangerously close to dozing off at the wheel. He blasted his music, singing and dancing along as he could, to keep himself awake, but despite it only being noon, he was still sleepy. He wanted to pull over and try to get some sleep or something. He didn’t realize his eyes were already half-closed, and when his eyes shot open he was already on the other lane, a large truck honking as it came closer and closer.

Myungsoo pushed on the brake as he swerved, trying to avoid the truck. Only he fell off the edge and soon he found himself out of control of his car while he saw the world spinning before him. (Or maybe he was the one spinning. He couldn’t tell.)

---//---

“So where were you headed to?”

Myungsoo opened his eyes. His mother and younger brother had arrived at the hospital, and he was telling them what he could remember from the accident. His younger brother’s eyes twinkled with curiosity. He liked these kinds of stuff and liked asking a lot of questions, since he wanted to be a journalist when he grew up.

“I don’t know. I was looking for something. Or someone. I honestly can’t remember.”

“A girl maybe?” Their mother pulled Moonsoo, his brother, away from him, telling the younger one to stop asking stupid questions.

“Girl?” Myungsoo thought about it.  Hmm. Maybe.

“Is there anything you want to eat? Or watch? Anything. I’ll get it for you,” his mother said.

“Hey, mom. Was there a girl I liked?”

He watched as his mother and his brother shared a quick look. So there was a girl.

---//---

“Myungsoo!” he heard his favorite voice in the world call out to him. He watched as she waved at him and then ran towards him, arms out in preparation for a hug.

He spread his arms out, catching her as she jumped into his arms. He gave her a quick kiss before he placed her down.

“How was your day, Haemi?”

“It was good.” She grabbed his arm, pulling him saying she wanted to take him somewhere.

They walked up a mountain trail for hours. She refused to tell him where she was taking him, and he was getting restless. “Haemi, I’m getting really tired. Can’t we take a rest?”

“We’re almost there!”

“You said that thirty minutes ago. And an hour before. And the hour before.”

“But this time, we’re really almost there.”

“Fine.” He grabbed her hand and let her pull him along.

Soon, they were at the top of the mountain, looking down at their small town. They had grown up together and were best friends before they became the town’s most enviable couple.

They made it just in time to watch the sun set, casting down rays of gold and bronze upon the tree tops and the town. It was just breathtaking.

“This place has been my secret place. I didn’t even tell you about it because I always wanted to bring that special person up here. But now you’re that special person.” She intertwined her fingers with his, head resting on his shoulder.

He wished the moment would last for infinity and that time would just stop for the two of them, so they could spend the rest of their time together.

But he soon realized time was never that kind.

---//---

When they were in their last year of high school, Myungsoo asked Haemi where she wanted to go for college. She was a smart girl, top in their class, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when she said she was applying to Seoul University, the most prestigious and competitive school in all of South Korea. Myungsoo knew he had no chance at getting in that school, so he was just going to go to a university close to home. They talked about their future together, but it upset them too much to think that they wouldn’t be able to see each other every day, so they set that conversation for a different day.

She had been studying so much the few months before the big test, he was getting worried. He finally persuaded her to get out of her room and take a quick break, so they were sitting in a coffee shop.

She pulled out a stack of notecards and continued to study. Myungsoo got mad and snatched the cards away. “I brought you out so that you would stop studying!”

“I need to get into Seoul University. You know I can’t waste too much time.” She held her hand out, indicating she wanted the cards back. Myungsoo shook his head and stuck them in his pocket. He gave her a ‘low-five’ and continued to sip on his drink. “Myungsoo!”

“No. We are now on a date. You will focus on me.” He poked her cheeks, which she puffed out in defeat.

“Fine.”

A few months later, the ringing of his phone woke him up from his nap. “Hello?” he answered, clearly sleepy.

No one answered, but he could hear soft sobs from the other line. “Hello? Haemi?” He started getting worried. She was not the one to cry over small things.

“Myungsoo,” she said softly. “I got in. I got into Seoul University!”

He asked where she was and in a few minutes he was standing in front of her, congratulating her. He was so happy for her, but the thoughts of them having to separate were bothering him. He forced them out of his mind, trying to focus on Haemi only.

---//---

He knew she would have a lot of schoolwork, so he refrained from calling her too often. But sometimes he couldn’t stop himself from seeking her, just wanting to hear her voice. The tone of her voice usually told him everything he had to know about her mood or stress level.

Except the problem was that she never picked up. He always hung up to the sound of the machine warning him Haemi was too busy to pick her boyfriend’s phone calls up. He wasn’t too worried about it, until one day he got a text from her.

Can you come up to Seoul? We need to talk.

Something about the text foreshadowed the worst case scenario.

And he was right when he left home and met Haemi as a guy with a girlfriend and came back home single. The break-up was very typical. She said something about being too busy to meet and go on dates and that she was really and truly sorry.

He really wished for her happiness, so he decided to let her go, reminding her not to be sorry. He secretly wished she had turned around, saying it was all a joke, and that she made time to go out for dinner. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen when she coldly left him alone in unfamiliar Seoul.

---//---

“Oh yeah. Haemi noona,” Moonsoo mumbled, twiddling his fingers while he sat on the edge of his brother’s bed.

His mother tried to slap him away from the bed. “You’re brother can’t stretch out his legs properly. Go sit somewhere else.”

Myungsoo chuckled softly. “It’s okay, Mom.”

“No, you need to get plenty of rest. The doctor said it was a serious accident, and the only way to heal faster is to rest a lot.”

“I was trying to chase after her. I went to the mountains because that’s where she liked to go whenever she had time especially if she felt stressed out. I wanted to win her heart back.”

His mom nodded her head. “You would call out her name in your sleep sometimes,” she said softly. She held one of his hands in hers.

“I did?”

Moonsoo nodded, almost too violently.

“Was it that bad?”

“Yup! Oh man, hyung. You were crazy about her.”

“How come I don’t remember everything?”

“Son, the doctor said it’s just something about the human mind. Part of the phenomenon of how intricate the brain is. Maybe you didn’t want to remember the painful memories of her, so you forgot about her.”

“That’s…insane.”

“I know, son. I know.”

“So when do I get to leave the hospital?”

“Soon. Why?”

“Well, even if I don’t remember everything about Haemi and me, if I was determined to chase after her to the point I got into such an accident, I shouldn’t let myself down. I should keep chasing after her.”

“I don’t think that’s the best idea, hyung. What if you get in an accident again?”

“Don’t worry. This time for sure I’ll get her back. For sure. You can call me ‘Chaser Myungsoo’ from now on.”

He threw a smile at his mother and brother, and they knew they wouldn’t be able to stop him from chasing her. They would wait at home, hoping one day Myungsoo will come hand-in-hand with Haemi.

But until that day, Myungsoo will just continue chasing.