”We can’t find anything wrong with you, Mr. Kim” The doctor shuffled through the papers on his desk and glanced at the PC screen.

Jinwoo felt a sinking feeling in his gut.

“But I’m going to recommend that we do some more tests…” He pause and looked at the papers again.

“When?” Jinwoo leaned forward a little, his eye brow arched at the Doctor.

“Well since you aren’t that bothered, it might be in three to five weeks.” The doctor looked at his PC again, he grabbed the mouse and started clicking it while moving it around.

“I was thinking of going home and visit my family.” Jinwoo said calmly and eyed the doctor to see his response.

“I don’t see why not. If you feel any worse you go to the hospital, your medical journal is all up to date.” The doctor smiled at Jinwoo who felt the knot in his stomach become a bit looser.

“Thank you, I’ll do that” Jinwoo said in a raspy voice and took his jacket.

“We’ll call you to schedule the tests, and have a nice trip home.” The doctor looked at him over the top of his glasses.

“Thank you, Doctor.” Jinwoo said and got to his feet.

He left for the front desk so that he could pay. The lady asked him if the number they had registered was still the one used before he was allowed to pay for the appointment.

As he left the hospital, the was engulfed by the warmth that was late spring. He pulled his clothes tighter around himself and started on his way to the subway.

Once he was on the subway he found a seat to sit on, some people eyed him, silently judging him for sitting down.

He felt a little annoyed thay these people judged him simply because he wasn’t visibly in need of it.4

Jinwoo sighed and dug his hand into his pocket and pulled his phone out.

For the past three months Jinwoo had experienced short moments of him losing his eye sight. Naturally he’d felt worried because it happened rather frequently and the doctors had no explanation either.

He reached home without an incident and called his father to tell him that he was coming home to visit.

He booked all the tickets and sighed to himself, he needed to figure it all out soon so that he could return to school, work and the rest of his life.

A few days later he stood in front of the door to his parents’ home. He sighed and lifted his hand.

“It’s me!” he said loudly before knocking twice.

“Ah, Jinwoo-ah!” His mother called from within and soon the door opened and his mother stood before him.

She hugged him as soon as he was within reach.

He had the wind knocked out of him by the force.

“Relax, mum. I can’t breathe” he said into her shoulder but she wouldn’t budge.

“Let the boy get inside before you throw yourself at him.” His father called from the living room.

His mother let him go, holding onto his shoulders and looking at her son as if studying to see if he’d been eating well without asking.

He smiled with a sigh.

“Mum, I’m fine.” He said and smiled brightly at his mother.

“Liar” she said and nudged him slightly before letting him go so that he could undress himself.

“I’ll go put my stuff away” He called just as he’d gotten his shoes off.

“Dinners ready in a minute” His mother called from the kitchen.

“OK” He called back as he grabbed his bag and marched to the back of the house and opened the door to his room and placed his bag inside.

He looked into the darkness; the window was open, probably opened by his mother to air out the room. His eyes glided over to his bed where he paused and squinted, he tried to focus but his eyes wouldn’t adjust.

He reached his arm out and over to the wall where he found the light switch. He pressed it and the light came on, but nothing was there.

He blinked. Confused.

He shook his head and left the room.

“What’s wrong?” His mother asked as he walked into the kitchen. His father looked up from his news paper where he was sitting at the dinner table.

Jinwoo realized he must still look confused.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” He stopped himself from saying anything about what he thought he’d seen in his room. If he told them that he thought he’d seen a person in his room, and especially a person who wasn’t there when the lights came on, they’d surly worry much more than what was necessary.

He couldn’t really make any sense of it either, so he just pushed it aside as a side effect of his eyes acting up.

After dinner he was interrogated by his mother as to what the doctor had said and he told her about the upcoming tests and she looked oddly relieved.

Jinwoo thought it might be because she saw some hope in that and that it meant the doctors were taking an otherwise small symptom seriously.

Jinwoo excused himself early complaining of being tired after the long journey. 7

He retired to his room and changed out of his clothes and into more comfortable clothes.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and took out his phone.

He’d received some texts and some other notifications, but nothing really interesting.

He sighed and put his phone down.

He looked about the room; it was pretty much the same as when he lived there. Go figure that his mother hadn’t changed anything in the hopes of him coming home permanently.

He leaned back and relaxed, he felt his eyes drop but tried to force himself to stay awake.

The next morning Jinwoo groaned to himself and stretched in bed before getting up.

He sat up, his feet touching the ice cold floor and his hair a birds nest.

He went to the kitchen to drink some water and found his mother already making breakfast.

“Morning, sweet heart.” She said and came over to kiss his cheek.

“Mum” He protested sleepily, but his mother patted his back as if saying that she didn’t care about his “adult pride and independence”.

He ate breakfast and then got ready to face the day.

He got dressed and decided to take a walk about.

“Bring your phone!” His mother insisted and nagged him until he went and got his phone and showed her that it was charged and then put it in his pocket.

He rolled his eyes as his mother insisted he put a jacket on before going out.

Jinwoo walked leisurely along the road next to the beach.

He reminisced about playing on the beach when he was younger and he smiled to himself as he went.

He greeted some old family friends and some of his own childhood friends who he arranged to spend some time with later.

He kept walking and once he was at the bottom of the hill he decided to walk up to one of the shrines.

He didn’t know why, but just felt compelled to go up and pay it a visit.

Once he cleared the hill he saw the shrine; it rested comfortably between some trees and a large boulder.

Jinwoo felt winded as he stopped a few meters away, he looked up and through his bangs he saw movement.

He stood bolt upright and stared, but again, like last night he saw nothing and no-one.  

He frowned and decided that yet again his eyes were playing tricks on him.

He walked to stand in front of the small shrine.

He gave it his respect and took a step back and as he did his phone rang.

He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen where he saw that it was his mum calling him.

“Hi, mum” He said as he answered.

“Son, where are you now?” She asked clearly trying to sound calm.

“I’m on the top of the hill with the little shrine.” He said and stared back down the hill where he could see some roofs amongst the tree tops.

“Why are you there?” His mum asked, he frowned as she had a strange tone as if trying to stop herself.

“I just walked this way. Why did you call?” He asked casually, but his mother continued to ask him without answering his question.

“But why did you go to the shrine?!” She seemed flustered and almost a bit scared.

“I’m not going to be hurt by the shrine, mum.” He said feeling like he had all the logic in the world on his side.

“I want you to come home. Now!” She was demanding it, he tone stiff and monotonous before she hung up on him.

“Jesus, if I was a teen I know I would be grounded when that tone came out” He mumbled to himself as he started back down the hill.