warning: language and violence

The old man sat on the bench beneath the old willow tree, soaked with the sun and wind of the lonely days. He was withered, like the tree itself, no life sparked his eyes lingered a fragment of the past. Perhaps it was fate, fate forced upon by him. It had been 50 years since his departure. The old man took out a cigarette placing in between his dark sombre lips; the wisp of smoke caught the air.

Here he sat and reminisce, of past that he had hoped so hard was just an extremely long dream. Perhaps if he woke up after the long dream, he would find himself back inside the old rustic village, he would wake up to the warm smell of his mum's food, and the flustering curtains opening the world above him flooding the heaven's light into his bedroom. His best friend would rampage up the stairs, yelling and calling him to go to school. They would fight, hitting each other with pillows, their laughter would fill the house with its warmth as they fall down the stairs to the door, the tenderness of each morning still etched his heart, deep into his craving souls.

Tears began to leak from the corner of his wrinkled eyes, aging with the rough flow of time.

He sat and reconcile the scattered memories of the past...

50 years ago: .1950.

-Interlude-

“KIM BUM AH!” the voice echoed through the corridors of the dimly lit house, the voice undeniable of his best friend. Kim Bum rolled lazily inside his warm bed, waiting for the sunlight to leak its way through the transparent curtains. He stared at the ceiling, paints peeling like snake skin. He gazed at his school uniform hung neatly on against his dark timbre cupboard. He smiled; his mother had probably done so. 

“WON BIN AH! STOP SCREAMING!” His mother’s voice yelling from downstairs, the aroma of the freshly baked bread was wisping the house tempting his buds. He remembered his raw stomach hardly eating any food since yesterday morning, it was croaking, he listened to the footsteps emerging up the stairs and his own stomach croaking like a small frog.

“Kim Bum shi wake up, time for school!” Won Bin walked into the bedroom, his face already smudged with charcoal.

Kim Bum pretended to close his eyes, covering himself with the soft blanket. Won Bin laughed, jumping onto Kim Bum nudging down at his ribs cage which made him giggle.

"WON BIN AH! Stop it!"

“You little brat wake up!” Won Bin yelled throwing a pillow at Kim Bum’s head. Kim Bum squirmed through the blankets, and wriggled into his uniform which was too oversized for his skinny body. Though neatly ironed the stains from over the years still imprinted, reminding him of the memories that would never disperse.

“Kim bum ah...”Won Bin said, still sitting on the bed. He smiled; his smile flooded the room with its soft radiance. Won Bin was lightly tanned from the years of working in the crops field; nourished by the sun and soil. His family was poorer then Kim Bum’s yet Won Bin never gave up on studying. He went to school and rushed back to the crop field working for an old man named Mr Kim.

He had strikingly rigid features, yet eludes a sensuality that never ceased to mesmerize girls. His face harmonised with his kind eyes that embraces a tenderness that was softly washed with his modest intellectual.  He was extremely bright and it showed through the long supple fingers, he was born to be a scholar; even the rough days of working could not weather down the skin on his fingers which were born for writing.

Won Bin reached inside his old tattered bag, ripped and sown over many cycles.  He pulled out a white school shirt and black school trousers. He handed it to Kim Bum, still smiling yet not saying a word.

“No, I can’t take it.” Kim Bum pushed the folded uniform back.

“Your uniform is crazily big, you’re losing all your baby fat, and you need new ones. I know you won’t ask you mom, so I used just a small part of my fortune to buy this for you. Take it,” Won Bin shoved it into Kim Bum’s chest.

Kim Bum was about to reject when suddenly they heard a loud bang from downstairs.

“KIM BUM! KIM BUM!” a voice roared, tearing the small house with his sound.

Kim Bum and Won Bin rushed downstairs to see a group of soldiers standing at their door, all armed with heavy weapons. Kim Bum stared at Won Bin, both pulsating with fear, swallowing down the hard lump they were both baffled by the sudden intruders.

“Which one of you is Kim Bum?!” the soldier asked.

“No you can’t take my son!” Kim Bum’s mother pleaded, grabbing at their shoes, tears flowed down her eyes blood red her face stretched with fear, the soldier knocked her down with the of a rifle.

“MOTHER!” Kim Bum yelled, grabbing onto his mother’s frail body. She scrambled onto her knees, still tugging hard at the soldier’s uniform, pleading and crying.

“Don’t take my son, please!” The soldier stared at her in disgust, he reached for his rifle, puling at the trigger he fired it straight into her head.

Kim Bum felt the world freeze, his mother fell slowly to the ground, her fingers still clutching onto the soldier’s pants on her last breathe.

“MOTHER!!!” Kim Bum cried, hugging onto her dead body. His face was wet from tear, his body pulsating with the black anger, igniting inside his hot blood. His small body shivering under as his mother’s blood soaked onto his uniform.

Won Bin brought his hand, smashing it hard against the soldier’s face out of rage.

“YOU EN MONSTER!!!” Won Bin yelled tears trickling down his chin, as two soldiers from the back pinned him down.

He struggled hard, twisting his body giving both another hard blows on the face.

“RUN!” Won Bin cried to Kim Bum, as he jumped onto the soldier which was pointing his gun towards Kim Bum.

“RUN! RUN!” Won Bin yelled, as he tackled the soldier down, grabbing onto a flower vase on the table, he brought it down smashing it against the soldier’s head; blood seeped through his skin, oozing down onto his face.

" get the brat!” The bleeding soldier yelled holding onto one side of his face, smashing Won Bin across the face, bringing him to hit hard onto the cold ground. He was about to fire the bullet straight into Won Bin’s head when Kim Bum jumped onto the soldier, punching him onto the face while Won Bin tried tackling the other two down onto the ground.

“Don’t you en touch him!” Kim Bum yelled, smashing the soldier hard onto the face. He brought his full rage into the soldier, pounding him hard with his fist. Tears were trickling from his eyes, his mother’s frail body laid dead cold, her blood still thick and warm flooding the vividness of vengeance inside his heart. 

“YOU MORON! YOU EN MORON!!!” Kim Bum cried, his fury enticing with vice to kill the bastard. He continued smashing, battering up the face of the soldier that had killed his mother...