“Oppa, oppa.” The voice of a young girl calling out wakes him.

He rubs his eyes in an attempt to clear the fatigue. “Yes, Mihyun-yah? What is it?”

Mihyun smiles at her elder brother and places the manhwa which she had received earlier onto the bedside table. “I finished reading already.”

The male nods. “I’ll be going home then.”

“No, wait! Oppa, sit down.” The girl pouts and tugs on her brother’s shirt.

He sighs and sits back down. “You know you should go to sleep soon as well.”

“Oppa,” she whines.

He rolls his eyes. “What is it?”

She smiles sadly and grips at the white blanket covering her. “Is school fun?”

There is a dismissive shrug in response and a reply, “It might be if I went.”

“Then why don’t you go?” Mihyun asks.

The older of the two pats the younger on the head and pushes her gently onto the bed. He tucks her in and sighs again. “There is no place for someone like me.”

“Someone like you?” she meekly repeats.

“Someone with bad grades.”

Mihyun ponders this for a while. “Why do you have bad grades, oppa? Isn’t studying fun?”

“No,” he deadpans. “Not at all.”

Mihyun yawns. “Really? It sounds fun to me …” Her voice trails off as her eyelids flutter close and she falls asleep. The male only stares at his sleeping sister with lifeless eyes.

“She’s different,” a voice says from behind him and it startles the brother.

He takes a look back and sees the doctor of Mihyun. “Yeah, you’re right, Minsoo-hyung. She has hope … she has a future.”

A reassuring hand clamps on the younger’s shoulder and the doctor speaks. “Her condition is worsening.”

“What, why?!” The hand is slapped away and the mere high schooler lashes out. “Why is she becoming more sick?!”

Minsoo shakes his head. “I’m sorry; I can’t do anything about it.”

With quivering fists, the Mihyun’s brother attempts to calm down. “At least … at least … can I take her out on Christmas?”

“About that … it’ll be too cold to take her out. Right now, she needs rest,” Minsoo reasons.

“Rest?!” Crazed laughter fills the hospital. “She’s rested for five years! She’s been sitting in that damned hospital bed for more than half of her life! Why?! She’s not getting any better!”

“Stop it!” Minsoo’s firm hands clamp onto the boy.

With a final scoff and a shove to the doctor, the high schooler makes his leave.

-

“Mihyun-yah.” The said girl perks up at her name being called and looks towards the door, never failing to greet her brother with a bright grin.

“Oppa, you’re finally here!” Her small hands reach out and are met with a wrapped parcel. “You got it, huh?”

As she opens it happily, her older brother sits down. “Yeah, though I’m not sure if that’s the right one.”

She shakes her head and beams. “It doesn’t matter as long as oppa buys it for me, I love it!” She hugs the manhwa to her chest. “Thank you, oppa.”

As Mihyun immerses herself in the book, the brother immerses himself in his thoughts. It is true that he had no clue whether the manhwa is from the same series or is continuing on. With what little money he had, he bought just enough food for himself, paid bills and then, if there was enough, wandered into a bookstore and picked up whatever was on the counter to buy for Mihyun. The manhwas probably weren’t from the same series so Mihyun would be unable to follow the story.

Yet, the brother thinks, she always says ‘thank you’ with a big smile.

While wallowing in thoughts about his somewhat adequate lifestyle, he does not notice the girl hug her older brother. “Oppa, are you okay?”

“What?” he asks.

Mihyun frowns. “You look sad. Why are you sad?”

“I was just thinking, Mihyun-yah …”

“About what?” she innocently asks and for a moment he is tempted to answer ‘about how the world is a cruel and horrible place’, but he doesn’t.

Instead, he changes the topic. “Do you think you’ll get better?”

Mihyun shrugs. “I might get better … if I had a donor.”

“A donor?” the brother repeats.

Mihyun only nods.

-

“It’s nearly Christmas!” Mihyun joyfully shouts as she sees the snow fall onto the ground.

Her brother doesn’t understand why she is so happy. It was bad enough working in the summer when the heat scorches down onto his face and body as he worked at the construction site. Now he has frostbite on his fingers.

“Mihyun-yah,” he gently calls out, “don’t get too close to the window. You might fall.”

“Silly oppa. I won’t fall,” she says, but nether less obeys.

“Mihyun-yah?”

The said girl smiles. “Yes?”

“Where would you like to go on Christmas?”

“Where I would go on Christmas …?” she repeats the question unsurely.

The older nods. “This oppa will take you out on Christmas. Even if they don’t let you, I’ll sneak you out.”

“Really?!” Mihyun’s face lights up with the biggest grin he has ever seen. “In that case, I want to go to Seoul Plaza!”

He grins. “Okay! I’ll take you there!”

“Thank you, oppa! Thank you!” And that was the biggest ‘thank you’ he had ever received from his sister.

-

From that day on, Mihyun’s brother worked hard. For that whole week until Christmas, he got multiple jobs and at home he only slept. Soon he saved up a lot of money.

True to his word, late Christmas night, when visiting hours were over he sneaks Mihyun out of the hospital. They arrive at Seoul Plaza and he marvels at the wonderful sight of Christmas trees lined up against each other with lights hanging and snow covering the floor, making it seem majestic.

“Mihyun-yah?”  he says to the girl who he was piggy-backing.

“Yes?” Her voice is muffed as she is pressing up against her brother’s back.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

There’s a pause before another answer. “Yes.”

He smiles. “It’s thanks to you that I can see such a beautiful sight.”

“…No, oppa,” she says after a while.

“Hm?”

He feels her hug on his back tightening. “It’s because of you. Thank you, oppa. Thank you.”

He smiles again. “Don’t thank me yet. You know, this oppa worked really hard this past week and saved us a lot of money! We’ll go into a shop and buy you whatever you want for Christmas! I have a lot of money, so it doesn’t matter if it’s expensive. Maybe we can go ice-skating! So where do you want to go, Mihyun-yah?”

“…Thank you, oppa.”

“Well, after shopping, we’ll have dinner! I don’t know much about those sort of things, but I saw a fancy restaurant in a magazine and made a reservation. They’ll be serving us in courses! Courses! It’ll be my first time too!”

“Thank you, oppa.”

-

“Are you sure this will be alright?” the landlord, a nice ahjumma, asks.

He could only nod.

She sighs. “Living by yourself again …”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” he replies.

She nods, finally giving in and letting the boy she considered her own son move out. “But if anything happens, don’t hesitate to call me. And if you’re hungry, come over and I’ll cook you food.”

He bows respectfully. “I will. Thank you.”

As he exits the small apartment, his feet carry him to the hospital where his younger sister used to reside. He clenches his jaw when he sees a scene of a small girl, probably the same age as Mihyun, receiving a bouquet and being congratulated on her discharge.

The teenager determinedly fists his hands and nods before turning around and making a mad dash.

I can’t believe I continued to question the reason for my existence, when the reason was beside me all along, he thinks as he kneels in front of a grave.

Mihyun-yah... He traces the name carved into the stone. Why did you disappear as soon as I figured it out?

-

“You’re first in the school again? I can’t believe it!” the boy beside him whines.

Mihyun’s brother chuckles good-naturedly. “Don’t worry too much about it, Chanhee. You did well.”

Chanhee only pouts. “You did better.”

He smiles gently. “You’ll find your purpose in life soon, and when you do, you’ll be the best at it.”

-

Mihyun’s brother stands on the train, the acceptance letter of the medical school he applied to. He smiles happily.

Mihyun-yah, he says in his thoughts, can you see me now? Are you happy? I am.

A sudden jolt on the train makes him lurch forward and he loses his grip on the letter. His head collides with a train seat and he collapses on the floor. The window shatters above him and the shard fall onto his body. He fights to stay conscious, but everything around him is a blur. Eventually, everything turns black.

-

The sound of a door opening is what wakes him up. Mihyun’s brother opens his eyes and sees the source of the sound. Another high schooler is leaning against the carriage door.

Still in a bit of a dazed state, he manages to take out his phone from his pocket which is fortunately not broken. His eyes lazily read over the time. I’m late for the orientation assembly…

The student resting on the doorframe slumps to the floor and immediately, Mihyun’s brother reacts.

He gets up, careful of the glass and helps the man up.

“You’re bleeding …” Mihyun’s brother rips off a piece of cloth from a nearby passenger and wraps it around the male’s head.

Supporting the injured man, he forces the train door open and leads them both outside.

“Are … are you a doctor?” the injured man speaks for the first time.

Mihyun’s brother shakes his head. “I wish. I’m just a student.”

After safely propping the wounded against the wall, he jumps back into the train.

“Wait!” he calls out. “Where are you going?”

Mihyun’s brother looks back. “I’m going to check if there is anyone else alive.”

The injured man nods and shakily stands up. “I’ll help.”

“Can you handle it?”

He nods. “Since I’m not just bleeding now, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

The other male nods and helps him up. “Alright then.”

“I’m Lee Byunghun,” the injured man introduces himself.

Mihyun’s brother nods and tells him his name.

“Does that work?” Byunghun nods at the phone in his hand.

He shakes his head. “There’s no signal here.”

“Alright,” Byunghun says. “Let’s help the people now.”

-

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” he reassures the girl as he wraps her arm in a shirt and ties it around her neck, creating a makeshift arm cast. She nods.

“Byunghun-hyung!” he calls out.

“Yes?” Byunghun pops out of the train.

“How are the food and water supplies?”

Byunghun drops a bag of water onto the floor and the others behind him does the same. “So far, we’ve found nineteen bottles of water and six bottles of tea.”

Mihyun’s brother nods. “And the food?”

“We have snacks and homemade lunches,” Byunghun informs.

“Okay,” he says and creeps up next to his friend. “That’ll last all of us at most three days.”

“That’s fine,” the older says.

“Leader-nim!” a student calls from inside the train. “We found someone!”

“Okay!” Mihyun’s brother rushes into the train. “Jonghyun-ssi, grab a few boys who aren’t injured to help us carry him out.”

Jonghyun nods and leaves the train and returns a while after. They carry the severely wounded man out the train.

“Byunghun! Go in and pull out a train seat!” Byunghun nods and does as he is commanded to.

The man writhes in pain as he is placed onto the floor, but that does not faze the med-student. He grabs a bottle of the water and cleans the wound. Using some hand sanitiser Byunghun had found in a student’s bag, Mihyun’s brother disinfects the cut and wraps the man’s head with a jacket. He proceeds to clean the rest of the wounds in a similar fashion; the one on the eye, his arm, his leg and stomach.

“You have a lot of damages to your body,” he points out the obvious.

Byunghun comes out with the train seat and places it next to the injured man.

“Jonghyun, come help us lift him.”

Jonghyun rushes over to help.

Once the panic had died down and everyone was tended to, Byunghun handed out cups of water.

“If you are thirsty, do not hesitate to ask for more water, okay?” Mihyun’s brother yells out.

Byunghun places a hand on his shoulder. “And if you’re feeling hurt somehow, don’t be afraid to call this guy.”

The crowd of around thirty people cheered.

-

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Byunghun says as they walked around the tunnel.

Mihyun’s brother shakes his head. “Not really.”

“You managed to give hope to everyone. I think that’s amazing.”

There was a shrug in response. “I’m going to go and find a way out. I’ll have to borrow the flashlight you found on the train.”

Byunghun nods and hands it over.

“I hope I find a way out …”

Byunghun shakes his head. “You will find a way out, I just know it.”

-

Mihyun’s older brother shakes his head in disbelief. Rocks and large boulder were covering the exit. He brings out his phone and waves it around, hoping to find some sort of signal in this area. But there is none.

A sharp pain jolts through him and he falls down. What …? he thinks and lifts up his shirt. There is a nasty gash on his stomach and by the looks of it, it is infected.

He sighs and pulls his shirt down.

-

“Well?” The eager eyes of Byunghun are the first thing to greet him when he arrives back at the campsite.

He shakes his head disappointedly and everyone else watching groans.

“Listen up, everyone!” he yells, successfully grabbing the attention of all. “The tunnel is blocked on both ends and there’s no signal.” He puts a hand up to stop the people from groaning. “But I’m sure that there’s help coming, so right now we need to focus on preserving life long enough for them. So from now on, we need to-”

“Who made you in charge?!” Jonghyun yells.

Byunghun defensively stands forward. “Is there anyone else that can treat wounds? Are you suggesting that we just let those people die? Listen to him! He’s more knowledgeable about what to do in this situation better than any of us!”

“Yeah!” a girl shouts. “He treated my sister’s arm and made sure she wasn’t in pain! Don’t you think we should give him more respect!”

“Yeah! Yeah!” the people cheered and Jonghyun nodded dismissively.

“Thanks,” Mihyun’s brother says to Byunghun. “As I was saying, we need to start rationing our food and water so it can last us as long as possible. Find clean clothing to put on as well from inside the train. If you aren’t injured, please help with taking care of those who are. I don’t want anyone to think that they can be a lone survivor. We are all in this together, so everyone help out each other!”

-

Two days passed since the incident and there was still no sign of help.

“We’re not going to be saved!” Jonghyun yells and grabs the bag of water and tries to run, but he’s tackled by two other boys. “Let me go! I don’t want to die here!” He thrashes about.

“He wasted our precious water,” a girl exclaims, pointing at the bottle that opened up after being tackled.

“He did!” Another one shouts.

A boy stands up. “How dare he?! Beat him up!”

“Stop,” Mihyun’s brother orders and walks up to Jonghyun with a disapproving stare.

Jonghyun quivers. “Leader-nim … what are you going to do to me? Tie me up and not let me escape?”

“Beat him up!” One of the men that tackled him suggested.

“No,” he says and shakes his head.

Outraged, the crowd riots. “Why? He wasted our water!” “I won’t be satisfied until a see a punch on him!”

Mihyun’s brother smiles at the crowd. “It’s okay … because that wasted water is my portion.” Everyone silences and he continues. “From today on, I won’t be drinking any water.”

“I’ll share my water with you,” Byunghun whispers.

He smiles. “Thank you.”

“But, but, but! Our leader-nim shouldn’t have to suffer because of that jerk!” The girl presses on and Jonghyun lowers his head.

Byunghun stops the upcoming yelling. “Don’t worry. Jonghyun will be punished under my hand.”

-

“Wake up! Wake up!” The med-student opens his eyes groggily only to find Byunghun shaking him frantically.

“What is it?”

Byunghun hauls him up and hurries him to the brutally injured man from before.

Mihyun’s brother’s eyes widen as he quickly checks the man’s pulse. “No … no!”

Panicked, he performs CPR. “Don’t die!” Two breaths, thirty compressions. “DON’T DIE!”

It was too late. The man had died.

He fell to the floor and yelled out in frustration.

What was it? What was I protecting? I thought I could save people, yet … yet one died in front of me. His hands shook and his vision blurred with tears. I couldn’t even protect you, Mihyun-yah.

-

“It’s been a week,” Byunghun weakly informs.

Everyone is simply lying on the cold hard ground to conserve their energy. “Yeah…”

“We ran out of food three days ago and water yesterday,” Byunghun rambles on.

“Yeah … Do you have a pen?”

“A pen?” Byunghun opens his pocket and gives one to him. “Here.”

“Thank you.”

“What do you need that for?” he asks.

Mihyun’s brother pulls out a card from his pocket as he remembers the words of his deceased sister. I might get better if I had a donor.

On the card he circles what he wishes to donate if he were to die; eyes, lungs, heart, liver, everything. He signs it and hands the pen back.

Everyone notices this gesture and begins to pull out their own pens and donor cards. Byunghun cracks a grin as he sees this. “You’re amazing. Despite being in this situation, you still manage to give someone else hope.”

Mihyun’s brother’s hands pull up his own shirt and finger the cut that is infected. “Yeah …” His eyes slowly close and his breathing slowly stops. His hand weakly reaches out to his eyes and shield them from the sun that was filtering in. His ears hurt from the sound of people chattering and rocks being moved.

The med-student dies with his hands still holding his donor card.

-

The man bolts up from his lying position on the bed and breathes heavily.

“That dream again?” the doctor asks sympathetically.

The patient begins to cry as he nods and remembers it. “Minsoo-hyung …”

“Yes?” the doctor, Minsoo, says.

“Can you bring Chanhee-hyung in?”

Minsoo nods. “Of course.”

He leaves and another man enters instead. “Why it is, Daniel?”

“Chanhee-hyung …” Daniel lies back down on his bed.

Chanhee seats himself in the chair beside the bed. “It’s normal to be scared, Daniel. Your dream seems real enough that you feel you are the one that experienced it.”

The patient nods, trusting the words of his psychologist, and cries. He cries grateful tears for the man who saved his life and he cries painful tears for the man whom he’ll never meet. Daniel’s hand reaches out for the heart that beats within him … not his heart, but that man’s. He cries in the arms of Chanhee. “Thank you, Yoo Changhyun! Thank you!”