Woohyun nervously drummed his fingers on his leg. He had been sitting in the living room for 5 minutes already. Yes, not a very long period of time, but for someone who came to the certain house for a job interview – it felt like hours. He took his time looking around the place – the room was spacious with creamy colored walls and a wooden floor. There was a fireplace, which somehow made the room look cozy in his opinion. Most of the furniture was white and there was nothing out of place. He was sure the other rooms would give off the same vibe as well. The house itself wasn’t all too big, but it was obvious that a wealthy family owned it, judging by how expensive everything looked. But Woohyun’s mind pointed something else out – there were no photos, anywhere. Usually there should be at least one family picture or something, right? His thoughts were disturbed when the door in front of him opened and a middle-aged woman came into view. He quickly got up and bowed his head.

“Ah, you must be Woohyun. Nice to meet you. My name is Kim Jooyeon, I’m Sunggyu’s mother.” The woman extended her hand and Woohyun instantly shook it. She laughed at his eagerness and told him to sit down. “I’m sorry for making you wait, I had to take care of something.” She apologized, as she sat across of him.

“No, it’s fine. Do not worry about it.”

The woman hummed a response and flipped the papers in her hand. “So, I see that you have worked only with children until now, is that right?”

“Y-yes! The center I was working at suddenly closed down and I had to look for another job. I-is that a problem?”

“No, it’s fine. I guess you can treat Sunggyu as a child too.” The woman answered, placing the documents in her hands, on the table in front of her.

“A child? But I thought that he is-”

“Yes, yes. He is an adult, but he acts like a child sometimes.” The woman slightly chuckled. “I’m not saying this, because he is my son.” Mrs. Kim noticed the absent-minded look on the boy’s face, so she decided to further explain her words. “He was not affected mentally by the accident, rest assured. But he is quite defensive around people, especially in front of strangers. He puts up a wall between him and the others, he just wants to protect himself. That is why he doesn’t get close to anyone either, so he is like a child, afraid of getting hurt.”

Woohyun bobbed his head up and down in understanding. “I see. So he just can’t move his legs? It was written in the advertisement.”

The woman nodded. “There are many cases, worse than his. For example people who lose the ability to move their whole body, to speak or even have trouble breathing on their own. Some of them have to take medication every day, to ease the physical pain or visit a doctor every month. Sunggyu’s case is not like that. The doctors said he was lucky, but he never liked that term. After all, he led a normal life until a certain point and things drastically changed since then.”

“It must be really tough on him, I can only imagine what he must be going through.”

“Yes, I can only imagine as well, but I guess that will never be enough.” Mrs. Kim clasped her hands, when she remembered something. “Ah, you must have read the ad carefully.” Woohyun nodded. “So you must have taken notice of the working hours as well. Every day from 11am to 9pm. Don’t you think that’s a bit too much?”

The boy vigorously shook his head. “No, ma’am! I understand the responsibility and I am aware that I have to be completely devoted to my job. Besides, I live close by, so it’s totally not a problem. But isn’t 11am a bit late?”

“Sunggyu never wakes up before 10am, that boy enjoys sleeping too much. When he’s up he calls our housekeeper Eunah on the phone and she brings him breakfast, so I don’t think the caretaker’s presence should be required earlier than 11am.”

Woohyun was taking in the information, when suddenly Mrs. Kim burst into laughter. Eh? Did I do something?

The woman tried to calm down herself and waved her hand in the air. “I’m sorry, Woohyun-ah. You are just such an interesting person.”

“I am?”

“Yes. For a boy, even younger than my son, you take this so seriously. I’m surprised in a good way, of course. I like you, I think you just got the job. Congratulations!”

“R-really? That fast? But I barely said a thing…” Maybe I’m the first person who comes for an interview?

“It’s not fast. You are actually the 7th person to come today.”

7th?!

“But the previous people seemed kind of careless and the first question they had was about the pay. Aren’t you curious about that as well?”

“Well, I read that since I would have to stay here during the day, you would provide me lunch and dinner, so I don’t have to worry about that. The pay, I’m sure I will be able to cover my other expenses, no matter how much you offer and I thought it’s inappropriate to ask anyway.”

“You are a very thoughtful boy. But yes, you are right. The pay will be more than enough for you to cover your expenses, so no need to worry about that. I assume you can start right away?”

“Yes!”

“Good, you can begin on Monday. In the next two days you can just come and read more information about Sunggyu’s case. There is a folder, which contains everything you need to know. Eunah will give it to you and she will also give you more details about what you will be doing. Oh, you will also get a spare key. You won’t be a prisoner or something in this house. Yes, your working hours are from 11am to 9pm, but you will barely be working even half of the time. When there’s nothing to do you can go out or watch a movie in the living room, anything you want. We want you to feel comfortable, while you’re working here. Do you have any questions?”

“Um, actually yes. Maybe my question will be too personal but...” Woohyun gnawed on his bottom lip, wondering if he could ask that, but he was really curious. “Why aren’t there any photos around?”

The woman was a bit surprised by the question, certainly she did not see that coming. “Oh, you think it’s weird?”

Woohyun bowed his head. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you! I just-”

“It’s okay. I would love to have some family photos in the rooms as well, but Sunggyu doesn’t like them. He said they remind him of the person he was before the accident. When he was normal, he would say. So we removed them, we didn’t want to cause him any unnecessary pain.”

She says accident, accident. I wonder what really happened? But I guess I would be crossing the line with such a question. “Thank you for answering and I’m sorry once again for asking you.”

“No, really. It’s fine.” Mrs. Kim smiled and got up from her spot. “Now, would you like to meet Sunggyu? You can just greet him and tell him your name, I doubt he will be very talkative, so you can take your time in getting to know each other. What do you think?”

Woohyun returned the smile and got up as well. “I would love to meet him!”



They took the stairs and walked for a minute, before stopping in front of a big wooden door. 

“Well, here it is. I would just like to warn you, Woohyun. Sunggyu can get quite violent sometimes.”

A person in his situation? Violent?

“I see my words confused you. When he doesn’t want to be disturbed, he tends to throws things. He really likes flowers, so there was always a vase with fresh flowers on the nightstand next to his bed, but the person who worked here before you, must have annoyed with something. So Sunggyu threw the vase at him. As you can guess, his aim is not very good, but it was still an ugly scene. And the person quit right away, saying that he can’t put up with Sunggyu’s behavior anymore. He’s really not a bad boy, Woohyun. You just have to be patient with him, it takes time until he opens up.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not the kind of person, who would give up after trying just a few times!”

“I’m glad to hear that. Well, if you need me, I will be downstairs.” The woman said, as she excused herself.

Woohyun took a deep breath and knocked on the door twice. “I’m coming in.” He announced and walked in. When he opened the door, his nostrils were attacked by the fresh air, because the windows were widely open. It was a rather windy day and the white curtains were lively dancing to the rhythm of the wind. The floor was wooden again, as in the rest of the house, but aside from that almost everything was white in the room – the walls, the wardrobe, the table, the nightstand, the blankets, the sheets, the pillows and ah, there he was – Kim Sunggyu. He was in a sitting position, wearing a plain white shirt (of course), with 2 pillows behind his back, blanket covering his lower half. He had a rather shocked expression on his face during the first few seconds, but it soon changed to a non-expressionless one. Still, Woohyun was able to catch that. Well, he probably knew they were looking for a new caretaker, but he didn’t expect to see one so soon. Woohyun stepped closer to the bed and bowed his head 90 degrees. “Hello, my name is Nam Woohyun and I will be taking care of you from Monday.” He stayed like that for a while, he was young yes, but his back started hurting after a minute, so he lifted up his head. Maybe he didn’t hear me? Sunggyu was looking at him, still no expression on his face. Well, he definitely did. Now that Woohyun was a bit closer he inspected the man before him – he was sitting, so he couldn’t really figure out if he was taller than him or not, he had a similar build as him, but of course the boy in the bed was much slimmer, not as slim as Woohyun had imagined though. He thought that the person he will be taking care of will be skin and bones, with hollow cheeks and dark circles under his eyes. But Kim Sunggyu was anything, but that – he had round cheeks and no dark circles (hooray to the beauty sleep) and Woohyun couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the other’s eyes. They were rather small, but portrayed a lot of emotions. Sunggyu’s  skin was almost perfect and his hair was neatly done (Well, probably someone did it for him.), but overall he looked rather normal? He doesn’t look like a sick person at all. They must be taking really good care of him. He looks healthy. Woohyun smiled to himself, but then his eyes stopped on Sunggyu’s legs. Ah, except for this. He must have been staring at the older for quite the long time, because when he looked at Sunggyu’s face again he received a glare as a response. “Um, I just came to say ‘Hello’, so I guess I should be going now.” Woohyun stepped back a little and bowed again, before rushing out of the room.





When he rang on the doorbell on the next morning, an unknown woman opened the door for him.

“Hello, my name is Nam Woohyun and-”

“Oh, you are here early. It’s barely 11pm. I thought you were starting on Monday? Why did you come so early, you could have just dropped by in the afternoon.”

“Ah, yes. But I thought there will be a lot to learn and I don’t really have anything else to do.” He mumbled an answer, suddenly feeling awkward for coming so early. But he just received a laugh as a response with the words ‘What an interesting person.’ This again? But I haven’t done anything and we barely spoke.

“I can see why Mrs. Kim chose you. She has an eye for people, the previous people she chose – well, let’s just say we were desperate. Anyway, my name is Park Eunah and let’s go, we can’t stay at the front door the whole day.” Woohyun followed after the woman and she led him towards the kitchen. She opened a cupboard and handed him over a folder and a spare key. “Read everything in there and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Ah, Mrs. Kim left the contract for you to sign, it’s on the table.”

Woohyun sat on one of the chairs at the table and read the contract, everything was the same as it was explained to him yesterday and indeed the pay was quite good. He signed it and was about to hand it over to Eunah, but he noticed that the woman was busy. “You’re making breakfast?”

“Yes, Sunggyu just woke up 20 minutes ago and he’s hungry. Would you like something to eat as well?”

“Oh, no. Thank you, I grabbed something on my way here. So can you tell me what exactly I will be doing?”

“Ah, right I was supposed to explain that to you. Well, Sunggyu is completely able to eat on his own, you just have to help him to get in a sitting position. Mostly, you have to change his clothes and bath him. His father used to do all of that, but he is already quite old, so he started having problems coping with everything. He’s a judge and he has many cases, but he always found time to take care of Sunggyu. He moved most of his work here, so he rarely has to go to his office, well he still visits the court a few times a week. Mrs. Kim noticed it was getting hard for him, so 2 months ago she started looking for a caretaker, someone to replace him. We didn’t have much luck so far though, everyone she hired quit after a few days. But I have the feeling that you are quite different from the others.” The woman smiled at him and Woohyun’s mood was lifted up. “And as a whole, I guess you just have to keep him company most of the time. He won’t admit it, but I’m sure Sunggyu is lonely, staying in his room, all by himself.”

“Doesn’t he have any friends who visit?” Woohyun wondered out loud.

The woman shook her head. “He had a few, but after they graduated from university, they moved to other cities, so they couldn’t visit him anymore. He still talks on the phone with a few people, but he knows that they are not as close as before, not exactly friends anymore, more like acquaintances. And in Sunggyu’s case, he can’t exactly go out and make new friends. Even if he had the chance to, I doubt he would want to.”

“I see. What about physiotherapy?”

“He doesn’t do that anymore. He tried really hard during the first 2 years. Mostly, because of his parents I think, he himself must have always known the truth.”

“That he won’t be able to walk again?”

“Yes. The doctors gave the family false hope, his parents grabbed onto the words with all their might. But after 2 years of fruitless trying, Sunggyu said he wanted to stop all physiotherapy. His parents were not happy, but they decided to respect his decision.”

Woohyun hummed in understanding and waited the woman to finish cooking. When she was done, he took the tray from her hands and offered to take the breakfast to Sunggyu himself, she didn’t mind at all.



Sunggyu was starting to wonder what in the world was keeping Eunah so long. I’m hungry, hungry!! Suddenly the face of the boy from yesterday flashed in Sunggyu’s mind. What was with that guy? My mom surely found a new one quickly. He stared at me for quite long. What? Was it his first time seeing a cripple?? He inspected me with his eyes like I’m some piece of meat in the supermarket, the kind of meat you wonder whether you should buy or not, because it’s too cheap and there must be something wrong with it. But he ran away pretty quickly, I guess this plan must be working. In all honestly, Sunggyu was a bit surprised when the new caretaker had entered his room, but that’s not why he said nothing. Last time, he actually got scared of himself. When he threw that vase about 10 days ago, he meant no real harm, he was never aiming at the person, he just wanted to make him shut up and yes, that man was annoying as hell. Which normal person would brag about his athletic abilities to someone, who couldn’t even walk?? Sunggyu had said he wasn’t interested in listening to that, but what could he do? He couldn’t run away or something. He tried to bear with it, he really did. But after 20 minutes of constant blabbering, he couldn’t stand it anymore, so he grabbed the vase and threw it on the floor, almost hitting the guy’s leg with it. It wasn’t his first time throwing things. People took advantage of the fact that he couldn’t move and he had to stay and listen to them. Like that guy a month ago, he couldn’t stop complaining about his problems with his girlfriend. Well, at least he had one! Sunggyu was jealous of course, as a man in his 20s he wanted to have a lover as well, but love was only for those who were normal, not for people like him. It was lunch time and while that guy was whining, Sunggyu threw a plate on the floor, to gain his attention and he managed. But now he realized that by randomly throwing things, he could hurt someone and his mother was rather disappointed in him as well, so he decided to try a different tactic with the next person – ignore him completely. That would probably be a good way to get on someone’s nerves, he thought. It was worth the try and he had not other options anyway. There was a knock on his door and Sunggyu his lips. Finally, food!! “Eunah, why did you-” He froze and put a hand over his mouth when he saw the guy from yesterday entering the room, with a tray in his hands. W-what is he doing here??? He said he would start working on Monday, didn’t he?? God, did he hear me?? Did my plan fail, before I even put it into action?? The guy smiled at him, but he seemed clueless, so he must have not heard him.

“Good morning, Sunggyu-shi! I brought you your breakfast.” Woohyun saw the overbed table in the corner of the room and he put the tray on the nightstand, which was now empty since there was no vase there. The table had wheels, so he pushed it next to Sunggyu’s bed and placed the tray on it. He’s already sitting up. Eunah-shi must have helped him. Woohyun sat on the chair next to Sunggyu’s bed, he was going to stay there until the elder had eaten his food. But Sunggyu was just staring at the tray in front of him. Maybe he’s not hungry? Suddenly a loud growling sound echoed in the room and Sunggyu’s face reddened in an instant. Woohyun on his side, tried really hard but he couldn’t suppress his laugher. Phaha, what was that?? So cute!

Sunggyu just wanted to die out of embarrassment. Why do I have to be starving now of all times?! Great, now he’s laughing at me!  Why did he sit down anyway?? What? He’s going to watch me eat?? I’m not some animal in the zoo! He could have left the food and ran away like yesterday, guh. Whatever, food comes first! I don’t have the time to worry about him. Sunggyu grabbed the chopsticks and started stuffing his mouth with food. He assumed that the sooner he was done, the earlier that guy would leave.

Oh, he’s finally eating. He must have been really hungry, the food is disappearing in the speed of light. No wonder he looks healthy,