To Bang Yongguk, the world was a vast expanse of grey. He stepped out of his grey car, zipped up his grey jacket, and looked up  at the grey sky with a deep sigh. The air was buzzing with the threat of rain, he could smell it.
    "I don't see why you're in such a bad mood." Kim Himchan appeared from the other side of the car, "This is all your fault anyway."
    "You picked the punishment." Yongguk shot off, locking the car. He started walking towards the front of the building, Himchan falling into tow.
    "You're the one who got caught." Himchan shot back.
    Yongguk looked over at his friend, a frown pulling at the corner of his lips. "You didn't have to come back and get caught too."
    Himchan clapped a heavily ringed finger on Yongguk's shoulder. "What kind of friend would I be if I let you take the fall by yourself?"
    "Smart." The response caused both of them to chuckle a little. Himchan had always been the only one who could lighten Yongguk up, since they were children.
    They stopped at the revolving doors of the building. Yongguk looked up and read the big red words above the door. 'Seoul General Hospital' and again, he sighed. He thought he would never stand in front of these doors again.
    Himchan grabbed him by the strings of his hood and tugged him inside the building. Immediately, Yongguk scrunched his nose at the sterile, bleached scent of the hospital. Himchan didn't seem bothered by the smell and walked up to the front desk, still holding onto Yongguk's string.
    The lady at the front desk seemed a little taken aback by the two boys. The slighter, feminine boy in the bright pink and green top, leading the masculine, rather intimidating man around on a string as if it were a leash. Though this seemed odd for the woman, it looked to be a natural occurrence for the boys.
        Himchan gave the lady his most mesmerizing smile and leaned over the desk. "We're here from the Corrections Department for the Community Service program."
    The lady looked between the two of them again and then directed them to the waiting area, picking up her phone and dialing a number.
    Yongguk took a seat in one of the plastic covered pale periwinkle seats. Himchan took up two seats, throwing his feet over the arm of one. He had pulled out his phone and started texting on it while Yongguk just looked around the waiting room, finally settling on the TV showing an old rerun of a Drama he didn't care anything about.
    They sat there in comfortable silence until a man walked up to them and asked for them by name. Despite having to look up at the two taller boys, the man gave off a very intimidating and professional appearance in his pressed blue suit and wire-framed glasses.    
    "Mr. Kim, Mr. Bang, I just want you both to know that I disapprove of having criminals working in my hospital, however, none of us have a choice, so let's just get this over with as quietly as possible, ok?" He spoke with a tone of formality that Yongguk disliked. "While you're here, you'll be expected to follow the same code of conduct as paid employees. Any questions?"
    Both boys shook their heads. Himchan, with his lips pressed tightly together and doing his best to seem respectable and polite. Yongguk sat there, sneering at the old man. 
    "Mr. Kim, you're going to be assigned to the Psych Ward." He said, "I'll have someone show you up there."
    Himchan nodded and thanked him, then the director turned to Yongguk. "Mr. Bang, You're with the Oncology Department, wait here for someone to show you where to go."
    "Second floor, third hallway on the left." Yongguk responded, standing up. "I can find it myself, thanks."
    The Director raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing and let Yongguk walk off on his own. Finding the Oncology Department, to Yongguk, was as easy as walking around his apartment blindfolded.
    When he arrived, a nurse at the main desk stopped him. "Doctor Kwon will be here in just a moment to  talk to you." She told him. "You can just wait right here."
    Yongguk nodded and leaned against  the counter, looking around with disinterest at everything. He ignored the nurse, who - along with other members of the staff - was watching him and whispering behind their hands. 
    "Um...excuse me.." The same nurse as before came back up to him, a friend with her and both hiding behind bright red blushes. "But..um..are you..are you from the prison?"
    Yongguk looked down at the girl, one eyebrow raised, and said nothing to her. She apparently took that as a yes and squealed with her friend, both of them running back to the group they'd come from.
    Pathetic, Yongguk thought. Didn't these doctors have something better to do than ogle him all afternoon? This was the oncology department, after all, shouldn't they be fighting cancer and saving lives?
    "You must be Yongguk." A voice drew him from his reverie and made him look up. 
    The man, in his thirties, wore a white  lab coat with his name on the tag. The whole thing seemed a little big for him, and covered his black pants and bright blue shirt beneath. Yongguk stared at the man, waiting for him to continue.
    Doctor Kwon sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Tough guy, huh? Ah well, there's always one." He spoke under his breath, as if to himself, and Yongguk ignored it. "Anyway, I'm Doctor Kwon, and this is the Oncology department. You'll be expected to be here three days each week until your program ends. I'll be keeping  a record, so you'd better make sure you show up, Okay?"
    The Doctor looked at Yongguk with one eyebrow raised and waited until he finally got a response. 
    Yongguk grunted, uncrossing his arms and shifted from one foot to the other. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be here."
    Doctor Kwon nodded. "While you're here, I expect you to  be kind. Most of the people here aren't going to make it. They don't need you hanging around and making them feel even worse. So be polite, huh?"    Yongguk turned his lip up and scoffed, but in the end, he agreed. "Your main duties are going to be to help keep the department cleaned up,organize things, keep the patients company and help take them to their tests and things. It's all easy work, so you shouldn't be slacking off."
    Yongguk nodded again, watching anything but the doctor, and hardly paying attention to a word he said. He followed behind as Doctor Kwon took him on a small tour of the department. He showed him the staff room, the desk where he would do most of his working. He didn't pay attention to most of it.
    "And this is Mrs. Jeong's room. She's probably going to be able to leave soon. She's doing really well. She likes to talk about her granddaughter a lot, though." Doctor Kwon walked past another door and stopped at the last on the hall. 
    The door to this room was open, but no one was inside. A skateboard rested against one wall next to a black backpack. The Doctor's expression fell when he looked into this room.
    "This is Choi Junhong's room." He told Yongguk. He's been here for the past two years. The poor kid. He's only seventeen."
    Yongguk looked up at the Doctor with a sudden intake of air. Two years in the hospital, it must have been serious. "What's wrong with him?" He asked.
    Doctor Kwon looked around the hallway for a moment, as if he was about to divulge a huge secret. "He's got a tumor in his brain. Inoperable."
    "So, he's going to die." Yongguk responded, looking at the skateboard once more, an angry rumbling in the pit of his stomach.
    "I've got about seven or eight months." A voice answered from behind him.