It was a Friday and Choi Young Do was busy getting through his schedule. Nothing special but he worked longer hours on Fridays so that he did not have to work too many hours on Saturdays. Saturdays were mostly reserved for spending time with his mother, even if Saturdays were especially heavy traffic days at the café. But that did not deter the mother and son duo. He hung around in the small apartment above the café, which was his mom’s home. His mom would come up every hour or so to check on him, spend 5 or 10 minutes, always bringing him food from the café kitchen. So, while Choi Young Do straightened out the week’s accounts, he also sampled new items on the menu, experimental recipes and beverages.

After the café closed and the employees left, his mother and he shared the most awaited meal of the week……Saturday dinner. His mom lavished all her culinary skills on him and Choi Young Do ate to his heart’s content. Gone were the days of convenience store and ready to eat meals. His mom had prevailed upon him to give those up. Alone or not, he had to have proper meals. So they came to an understanding. Every Sunday, Choi Young Do left with a cooler full of side dishes, which kept his body and soul together through the week.  His mom had also given him a rice cooker and taught him to cook rice in it. She had taken the pity card out of his hand. He was no different than any other bachelor son, living away from his mom due to a job. No reason to squander his health away on high sodium, preservative filled food for that, is there?

His thoughts were interrupted by the insistent ringing of his personal phone. Choi Young Do picked up the phone but his dark and thick eyebrows knitted together in annoyance as the phone number was unidentified. He greeted the caller rather tersely. At first, all he could hear was noises…..cars zipping by, wind whipping about and a faint but heavy breathing. He was about to hang up on the prank call (of course, which would have to be investigated by his security people), when he heard a male voice almost rasp out his name, barely.

Choi Young Do cocked his head to the right as he repeated his greeting and asked, “Who is this?” The caller mumbled something and he tried to guess whom did he know, whose name sounded even vaguely like that mumble. What was it? Ki Ahn? Kim Ban? Kim Tan??!! Kim Won? His brows untangled and shot up on his broad forehead instead. He had to confirm.

“Is that Kim Won? Hyung, is that you? I cannot hear you clearly. I am sorry but can you speak a little loudly please?”

His request did not yield any significant better result as he still strained to pick up words from the other side of the phone. All he could gather was it was indeed Kim Won and he wanted to see Choi Young Do. He was unusually casual in his manners for someone who knew Choi Young Do merely as an acquaintance and when their connection was tenuous at best.

After repeating himself and getting no coherent answer, something else occurred to Choi Young Do, especially given Kim Won’s lack of formality in speech. Is he drunk? Where is he? Outside? On the streets? Where is his car? Is he alone? Is he in danger? Choi Young Do was vaguely worried and irritated at the same time. What is wrong with him? And then immediately corrected himself and unknown to himself a sigh escaped his lips. Should he call his family? Have his secretary call his home? But is there anybody there? His wife? Call Cha Eun Sang? Can a woman handle this? What if she does not live there anymore? How can he call her out of the blue, only to worry her more? Can she drive these days? It’s dark and cold outside. What if …?

Young Do’s efficiency at crisis management kicked in, even before he could think it through. He got up from his desk and briskly walked out of his office, still talking to Kim Won…. slowly, patiently and focused on getting just a single answer from him. Where was he? He managed to get some vague directions in broken sentences. His years of zipping about the city on his bike led him to believe that this place was a little out of the city limits. He was finally able to assure Kim Won that he was on his way and that he should absolutely wait for him. In his mind he was praying to avoid a situation where he would end up looking for him throughout the night. He hurriedly got into his car and gave the directions that he had gleaned from Kim Won’s conversation, as best as he could. His chauffeur bodyguard, David, was a man of few words. As they sped out of the city limits, Choi Young Do kept repeating the phone call in his head, trying to make sense of this bizarre conversation.

He glanced at his watch and it was already 8 PM. He had a hunch and he wanted to be prepared for the worst. So he asked David, “What’s out there? I have not been to that side before.”

David cast him a slightly confused look in the rearview mirror and said, “Some nature parks, hiking trails and a cemetery.”

Choi Young Do visibly tensed up as his eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened. He threw his head back over the head rest with a groan. He thought, “I Do Not want to do this now…ever.”

David and he noticed the car at the same time, a luxury sedan, with its hazard lights on, parked carelessly on the shoulder of the road. A slight incline rose from where the shoulder ended. Choi Young Do could spy a silhouette, sitting on the incline. Even from the dark profile, he could discern a troubled and defeated man. Kim Won was sitting with his knees drawn up, his arms around his knees and his head hung forward. Choi Young Do cast a cursory glance about and noticed that about 50 feet away was an ornate metal gate breaking the monotony of a man high mason wall, lit up by two powerful flood lights. With a deep sigh, Choi Young Do got out of the backseat. In a quiet voice he said to David, “Stay in the car. I might need your assistance”.

He approached Kim Won but his slow gait showed his reluctance. He intentionally kept his voice neutral as he called out to the dark figure, “Hyung, is that you?”

A slightly slurred voice answered back, rather longingly, “You came?”

Choi Young Do walked up to him and just stopped short of intruding on Kim Won’s personal space. He calmly waited to see just how bad the situation really was. Kim Won looked up but could only see a part of the younger man’s face, lit up by the distant floodlights . He patted the grass next to him and invited, “Sit down. I want to talk to you. We can talk at length here.”

For a second, Choi Young Do hesitated, utterly uncomfortable and yet somehow drawn to the older man. Right now, he was not the ambitious, ruthless and at times, utterly heartless businessman but a broken man, absolutely lost. He ed his jacket and gracefully brought himself down to Kim Won’s side. A ghost of a smile crossed Kim Won’s face. Young Do heard a muted rustle of plastic bag and tinkling of metal against metal as Kim Won fished out a can of beer from the darkness that rested on his other side and held it out to him.

Young Do awkwardly reached out and accepted it. He did