September, 1999.

Little Mark had been a week staying in Seoul. The five years old boy came to that capital city of South Korea together with his dad. It was actually a business trip that brought his dad to this city and his dad  was totally no intention to bring Mark with him. But the little boy couldn't stop whining, fussing and  sulking when his dad said no to him and tried to explain that he went to Seoul because he had a business meeting with his partner not a holiday trip. Being a kid who was old enough to understand that business meeting didn't mean to play around , Mark still wanted to come along with his dad.

When Mr. Tuan asked why he should bring Mark to Seoul with him, Mark reasoned that he didn't want to spend his birthday in California when his dad wasn't around. He heard that Grace, his older sister, already set a plan to give a birthday prank for him and he didn't want to get pranked by her, so he persuaded his dad if he could join the trip to avoid the prank. Because he knew only his dad could protect him from his sister's nosiness. He would never let his sister to make a bad memory for his fifth birthday.

Mr. Tuan could only sigh hearing his son's reason. He agreed eventually, because his little boy would never stop if his wish didn't come true. And Mr. Tuan made him to promise to be a good boy during their stay in Seoul. And Mark beeing a good boy like he had promised, he obeyed as he was told.

To be very honest, Mark already expected that his stay in Seoul would be boring because like what his dad had explained, it was a business trip not a holiday. But Mark could bear with it as long as he didn't get his sister's prank. Beside, Mark never went to visit Asia's country before, he even never visit his dad   and mum's family in Taiwan yet. So, this was really his first time to travel across the continent. Even though his dad would be so busy with his business stuff, Mark was okay if he just stayed in the hotel room all day long. It was better that got pranked by your sister, wasn't it?

Since day one of his stay in Seoul, he always spent his time in their hotel room, the hotel building was standing beside the office building where his dad always conducted the meeting with his partner. So, his  dad never felt worried to leave his son alone at there. And Mark himself proved to his dad that he could be a good boy like his dad's wish.

In the morning, he and his dad had breakfast together in their room before his dad went to work. In hotel  room, if not watching his favorite channel who aired non-stop cartoons all day, he would spend his time reading a dozen superhero comics that he brought from California, Mark was a fan of Marvel comics, especially Spiderman. In midday, a bellboy would come to deliver his lunch. After finishing his lunch, he would continue his routine like he did after breakfast until his dad was back from work in evening and they would have dinner together, again, in the hotel room because his dad was too tired to go anywhere. And that was all about his schedule in this week during his stay in Seoul.

Mark never went outside, except for one night on September 4th and it was when he celebrated his fifth  birthday, his dad asked him out to get dinner in Chinese restaurant across the hotel building. Mark felt so excited. He even got a birthday cake from his dad and Mark blown his candle with wishes, at least, he could have a good unforgettable memory or go around in Seoul city with his dad before they got back to California. It was just a simple birthday celebration, but Mark felt so grateful because his dad wanted to take his time on his special day.

Mark woke up this morning with a great news. Because he had been a good boy this whole week, his dad wanted to bring him to Lotte World. They would spend their last day in Seoul, before tomorrow morning flight back to their hometown in LA, with having fun in that famous amusement park in Seoul.

Mark couldn't hide his excitement when he was hearing the news. He run around the hotel room, jumped on the bed, and finally gave a tight hug to his dad.

"But, Mark. I still have one last meeting this morning, not will take long time though, about fifty or sixty minutes. If you want, you can come with me to the office and wait there. You can sit on the couch in the   lobby and I will ask the security to look after you. After I finish my meeting, we'll go to Lotte World from there. How is it? Wanna come along?" his dad asked while preparing his outfit for his last meeting. He   decided to wear more casual outfit, because today was Saturday, no need to be so formal.

"Sounds good, Dad!" Mark agreed.

"Great! Now, go to take a shower first! I have a meeting in forty five minutes and I don't want to be late."

Mark jumped off from the bed, gave two tumbs up to his dad and hurriedly went to the bathroom. Mr. Tuan could only chuckle and shake his head seeing his son's behavior.

Forty minutes later, both father and son arrived in the office's lobby. Mr. Tuan had asked for help from the security to look after his son, and the security gladly took Mark's hand from his dad.

"The meeting wasn't take long, Mark. So, don't make any problem and be a good boy. You don't know the language in here, so don't go anywhere. Just stay close to Mr. Security, okay?" Mr. Tuan advised and  Mark nodded.

"I'll comeback soon." His dad said before walked away to the elevator. Mark waved to his dad, before the elevator door closed.

"So, what's your name, young boy?" The security asked Mark in English. The tall man dropped to his knees in order to be the same eye-level with Mark.

"My name is Mark, sir!" He answered politely.

"Ok, Mark. Do you want to wait here or do you want me to bring you to the playground in the backyard? We have a playground here, not that big but we have few slides, seesaws, merry-go-round and swings." The security offered.

"Playground?" Mark widened his eyes, smiling and feeling excited. But at the same time he felt a little bit hesitant, not sure if it was okay for him to go there while he promised to his dad to stay in the lobby.

"It's okay, kid. It was safe at there and I'll be check on you in every minute. You will be having fun there playing around, it was so boring in here." The older guy smiled at him.

"But, what if my dad comes back and he doesn't find me in here?" Mark bit his lower lip.

"I'll tell your dad, of course. You don't need to worry. Believe me!" The security man pat Mark's shoulder to reassure the little boy that he would be okay.

After thinking for a while, Mark finally agreed and together with the security man, they made their way to the playground where placed in the backyard of the office building.

Mark felt no regret when he decided to go to the playground. It was not that large, but the equipments were pretty much and colorful. Mark released his hand from the security's hold and went straight to the swing. He took off his bag from his shoulder and sat on the swing chair, but before he started to rock the swing. The security man said, "It's okay if I leave you for a while, I'll be at there if you need any help from me?" Mark's eyes followed the direction that was pointed by the security man. Mark nodded and  smiled. He was old enough though to play by himself in the playground. Not forget the security said to Mark to be careful while playing.

When the security left him, Mark started to rock the swing. He enjoyed the swing forward and backward, let his body to feel the wind. He felt so free after a week just staying in his hotel room, how he missed to  feel the fresh air.

Mark decided to stop playing with swing and wanted to try the slide. He took his bag that he just laid on the ground and made his way to the slide.

When he almost closed to the slide, suddenly he heard soft sobs. Mark immediately sharpened his sense of hearing, listening carefully. And the soft sobs was heard again. Mark's heart started to pound fastly. He looked around and found no one except him on the playground. So, whose voice was that?

It was impossible if the sobs were from a ghost, because according to Mark's innocent thought ghost only existed in the night or in the dark. And this was still morning and the weather was also so fine, so it was impossible if there was ghost around there.

Mark braced himself and tried to find the source of the sobs. His ears followed the sound and sensed that  the sobs came from the big tree near to the slide. Mark creeped out. His sister ever told him that ghost loved to stay