Hyunwoo had just gotten into the bar, hardly had even sat down long enough to take a sip of his drink, when he suddenly lost all nerve to do so. Usually, he came here to unwind, to rid himself of the tears that weighed heavily on his shoulders. But tonight, he felt so heavy and all that was coming from his lips were sighs, the tears drawing him down as he sat at the bar perched lightly on his stool. He sat on the edge of his seat, just as he always did, ready to jump at any moment’s notice to escape.

As he raised his beer bottle to his lips, he spotted something from the corner of his eye. A man sat next to him, hunched over a bottle of beer, and his shoulders were shaking. After taking a long sip from the bottle, Hyunwoo gently placed it on the counter before turning his attention fully to the man beside him.

Looking him over, Hyunwoo saw the dark chestnut brown hair that swept across his face. He was bowing his head, his legs just dangling in the air, his toes not even touching the bar that connected two legs of the stool. He brought his gaze up to look at the counter, seeing that this man had already downed six or seven bottles of beer. Hyunwoo’s lips parted slightly, a small intake of breath slipping past his lips, and then let it back out in a soft sigh.

Then the man looked up. His dull eyes met Hyunwoo’s, a few tears slipping down his cheeks. That was the last straw for Hyunwoo; he hated seeing anyone cry, and though he didn’t particularly have any, he wouldn’t even wish it on his enemies. Then the man slid away, his feet just barely touching the ground before he took off, stumbling blindly towards the exit. Hyunwoo sat, watching him, then pulled out his wallet. In his generosity, he placed money by his beer bottle to pay for his unfinished drink, then slipped money to where the six empty bottles sat, sliding off his stool and gliding towards the exit, following the drunken man.

As Hyunwoo approached the man, he watched his actions carefully. The man brought his hand up, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand that held the beer bottle, a sob just barely escaping his lips. The sound was soft, vulnerable, and weak, and it left Hyunwoo wondering if he even heard it. The man clung to the wall with his free hand, and after a moment of silence, Hyunwoo watched as he began to wobble, then tip backwards.

“Oh no you don’t,” Hyunwoo huffed, instantly catching the man in his arms, snaking them easily around his waist. Hyunwoo pushed him back into an upright position, puffing his cheeks as he helped him to lean against the wall. He rubbed the back of his head lightly, eyeing the man, who looked up with bleak eyes, mumbling a name that didn’t sound familiar at all.

“Uh, no,” Hyunwoo said softly, pointing to himself and offering him a small smile. “Hyunwoo. Now, let’s get you to my house, you aren’t stable enough to go home yet.”

The man looked at him with some sort of longing in his eyes, distance suddenly filling them. “Where are we?” He said, and suddenly the beer bottle slipped from his hand, crashing loudly on the ground as it shattered into many tiny pieces of glass. It startled him, making him swoop forward, falling into Hyunwoo’s waiting arms as his forehead plainly rested on his shoulder.

“We’re at the bar, and you need to get somewhere safe,” Hyunwoo sighed softly, pulling the man into an upright position once again, this time wrapping his arm around the other’s waist and casting the man’s arm around his shoulder. “Now, what’s your name?”

“Byunghyun,” The man muttered, leaning heavily on Hyunwoo as they began to walk, Hyunwoo leading the way. “Hyunwoo-ssi, I think you need glasses. You look very foggy.”

At first, Hyunwoo didn’t understand. He looked at the man as they walked at a very slow pace, then as he watched his head loll to each side, he finally understood. “Don’t worry,” Hyunwoo said, offering the man a soft smile. “I won’t be foggy anymore once we get you some water and you lie down.”

He was definitely drunk out of his mind. Hyunwoo walked with him, answering all the little questions that made absolutely no sense, smiling softly as he did so. He lead Byunghyun towards his house, each step like a mile walked, and as he approached his house he began to think to himself... Why was this man like this? What hurt him so much that he wanted to drown his sorrow in alcohol? Hyunwoo always loved hearing these kinds of stories. As a child, he would listen intently, then watched as the people around him solved the problems. He developed his own ways to help someone in different situations, and he began to collect tears. And this man had plenty of tears for him to collect.

Once they got in his house, Hyunwoo brought Byunghyun to the bathroom where he threw up. He came back out as pale as a ghost, his eyes half-lidded as he stumbled unstably into the kitchen. There, on the table, a cup of water was waiting for him, along with a bag of ice and a blanket. Byunghyun blinked at them, then sat down in the chair, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, holding the bag of ice to his head, and sipping at the water.

“Hyunwoo-ssi,” Byunghyun started, very softly, his eyes locked and set firmly as he stared at the table. “What do you do when your wife leaves you and your son to fend for yourself?”

And with that, Hyunwoo sat down and began to collect his tears, listening to the man’s story, gently patting his hand as he sat with him. He let Byunghyun cry, the tears mixing with the water that Hyunwoo prepared for him. Hyunwoo just sat and listened, nodding and making small sounds of agreement as Byunghyun spoke. Soon, the sadness and grief in Byunghyun’s tone turned to anger, and Hyunwoo let him continue. He began to cry hot tears, ones that washed away the pain inside of him. 

At the end of his story, Byunghyun looked up at Hyunwoo with wet eyes, his cheeks red and soaked from the tears that escaped. “Hyunwoo-ssi, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so inconsiderate and cry like this.”

But Hyunwoo was shaking his head before the sentence was finished, a small smile playing on his lips. “You see, Byunghyun, it’s good to cry. But never cry alone. Because when you cry alone, the tears don’t go anywhere. They stay there, bottled up inside of you, always waiting for the time to come out. But you have to let them out at the right time, otherwise you’ll be burdened with all this weight of your tears, never having someone to lean on in your time of need.”

Hyunwoo leaned forward, gently patting Byunghyun’s cheek, wiping the tears with his thumb. “It’s my job to be that someone. It’s my job to collect your tears.”

⎛ end ⎠