I had to key in the numbers that correspond to our door's lock code a few times before I heard the unlock sound. I always had troubles memorizing sequences of numbers, and my mom would change the code from time to time as a safety precaution, so it was just natural for me to get the numbers mixed up, if not forget them.

My mom was standing by the door with her arms crossed, when I swung it open. I stepped back in surprise. "You're late," she said, her index finger pointed at me. She waited for me to take off my shoes and slip on a pair of slippers before she put her hand around my arm, then led me to the living room.

The visitors sat on the couch facing against the hallway, so, I could only see the back of their heads. I was sure they are girls, though. One had her hair tied back in a knot, while the other let it hang loose past her shoulders.

I did not catch what the woman in a bun was saying, but I figured it was pretty funny since my dad was laughing as she spoke. My mom led me to the center of the living room as she announced my arrival. I felt sudden embarrassment because it was as if I was the man of the hour—an heir to Korea's most successful company—who was being introduced to the public for the first time. My dad and the two visitors rose up from their seats, like the spectating public, for that matter.

That was the time I got a good look at the visitors' faces. My mom introduced the woman in a bun as Jung Ji Hye. She was our school nurse, our neighbor, and my mom's good friend.

When we moved to Busan ten years ago, I was bullied a lot because I was the newest boy in school. One day, I was sitting still on the swing of our school's playground, waiting for my mom to pick me up, when the swing suddenly moved. I tried to get down but it just kept swinging higher and higher, until I lost momentum then fell. For a moment, I got too excited because I was literally flying like a bird. Except that instead of flying forward, I landed face first on the ground.

The kids who saw me gathered around and laughed. I did not know what was worse, falling on the ground or becoming a laughing stock. Either way, they're both embarrassing, so I stayed lying on my stomach and hoping that help would come soon.

And it did. "Move! Move!" A voice came from the crowd. Then I realized I was being helped up by a little girl, then she brushed off the dirt on my clothes.

"Are you alright?" The little girl asked as she examined my face, my bare skin. I did not answer, but there was actually a burning sensation on my face.

"Come on, I'll bring you to my mom," she said as she took my hand. I followed suit.

We walked a few steps, then let go of my hand. She slighly leaned then said, "Wait here," sounding annoyed. She turned around and walked back with heavy footsteps to the crowd of kids. 

She stopped  in front of a tall, fat kid clutching a big bag of chips. She said to him, glaring, "Hey, Jang Youngjae! Do that again to him," nodding toward my direction, "or to any kid at all, I'll make sure these big legs of yours will get find its way to the lion's stomach." Then, she turned her back to him.

She brought me to the school clinic. The woman, her mom, called my mom, and introduced herself as the school nurse. She tended to my wounds with the little girl's assistance. 

From that moment on, the woman became friends with my mom, and the little girl with me.

"And you still remember Soojung," my mom continued with the introduction. Hearing the name, I felt like an electric current just flowed throughout my whole body, which knocked me unconscious, and when I woke up, the voices all sounded muffled in my ears.

I realized my mouth was gaping the whole time, so I closed it right away. The girl, Soojung, probably noticed too because she was looking at me, grinning as if saying, Oh, yeah, I'm that girl, and you just met the biggest nightmare you would ever have.