The streets were covered with immaculate snow, which was the result of last week’s snowstorm. It wasn’t exactly rare to have such events in South Korea, but that storm had been one of the worst of the decade. That night, a few snowflakes were still falling from the sky, making people hurry to wherever they were living.

But not Bang Cheol Yong.

No, Bang Cheol Yong was not going to go back home that night. Neither would he the next night or the night after. Truthfully, Cheol Yong had nowhere to go. And he was scared he would never have anywhere to go ever again.

Even if he was 21 years old, Cheol Yong, also called Mir by his friends, was still living with his parents, not having enough money to move out and too busy studying science to even search for a proper job. The problem was, he had run away from his family home the exact same morning.

When he was still a little kid, Cheol Yong’s father started beating his wife for every reason he could think of. She only needed to not agree with him and she would receive punches and kicks for hours, leaving almost every time a puddle of blood which she also had to clean herself.

As Mir grew older, he started realizing that what was going on between his parents wasn’t considered normal. He tried many times to convince his mother to leave that man, who Cheol Yong couldn’t see as his father anymore, but every single try ended up in arguments, his mother not willing to see how insane her husband was.

So, after slowly losing hope in his mother’s own sanity, Mir simply decided to accept his life the way it was. However, he wasn’t as foolish as his poor excuse of a mother. The boy had sworn to himself that if his father dared touch him, only once, he wouldn’t stay one more minute within this crazy house.

And that morning, it had happened.

Cheol Yong would always wake up early in order to go to university, making unintentional noises while preparing himself. He knew it annoyed his father but he couldn’t care less, thinking that someone like him didn’t even deserved to be treated well.

As usual, the boy’s father had woke up and gotten downstairs where Mir was peacefully taking his breakfast.

‘’You, little brat! Haven’t I told you a million times to stop making so much noise at that time of the day! I haven’t educated you that way, you ought to respect your elders, especially us!’’

‘’At least you’re right about one thing: you haven’t educated me.’’

‘’How dare you say such thing!’’

‘’What? You know I’m right. You were WAY too busy beating the out of an innocent woman to do so.’’

Cheol Yong hadn’t intended to say that, but he had felt so annoyed, so frustrated at his father’s comment that he couldn’t have control his mouth. It had just come out against his will.

‘’Oh yeah? Well, I can also beat the out of an arrogant son!’’

Before he raised his arm to defend himself, the fist of his father had already hit Cheol Yong’s nose, making it bleed instantly. When another punch was about to hit him, Mir had grabbed his father by the wrist, twisted it in order to break it, and ran away as fast as he could.

For some weird reasons, he had thought of grabbing his school bag before running away from his house. But at least, that way he could continue to attend school without being force to return taking his things, which Mir was relief for. He had no intention of ever going back there, even if after what he had done, his father’s anger would only go away by beating yet again his wife.

As cruel as it could sound, Cheol Yong didn’t care at all. He wasn’t feeling any guilt for leaving his mother there, because he knew he had tried to help her, but she was too stubborn, or maybe too stupid, to realize in what situation she was. He was telling himself that if she would ever think of going away, then, and only then, maybe he would accept to talk to her. But he had practically no hopes in that happening.

Going to school, he had act like it was a normal day. He had gone to his classes, hang out with his friends, complained about the cafeteria’s food, just like any other student. But when the last bell had ring, he realized he had nowhere to go.

Having never told his friends about his family’s problems, and not willing to do so, he couldn’t ask for someone’s hospitality. So he had just wandered within Seoul’s streets, stopping by some shops just to look at the cool clothes or to drool in front of a restaurant.

The night had come faster than Mir had expected, leaving the boy alone and lost. He still hadn’t find anywhere to stay and he knew he couldn’t just sleep on a bench, it wouldn’t be good for his health. Searching for a hotel wouldn’t be of any help either since he only had about 100$ on him and he had to save it in case of emergencies.

After thinking about it for what seemed an eternity in this cold air, Cheol Yong decided that he could go back to the university hide somewhere and sleep there. For at least that night. So he went into the direction of Seoul University, which he knew wouldn’t be close at that time, many students still probably concentrate on their studies.

Showing his student card at the gatekeeper, he easily entered the school’s ground and searched for a place to hide.

‘’Cheol Yong-sshi?’’

The latter turned to see that one of his teacher was standing there, looking weirdly at him.

‘’Well, it’s not often that I see you after class! What brings you here so late?’’ the teacher asked, suspicious of the boy’s sudden passion for studying within the school’s walls.

‘’Huh... I’m just... I... forgot a book so I came back to take it!’’ Mir managed to say, gulping as he finished his monologue.

The teacher raised a suspicious brow. Indeed, he knew about Cheol Yong’s situation, because of the school’s social worker who had heard of the boy’s mother to be too often taking to the hospital. That is why the teacher knew that something must have had happened and it was obvious for him that the boy was just searching for somewhere to stay.

But he wasn’t going to chase him of the school.

In fact, the old teacher remembered that he had a good way of helping Cheol Yong getting away from his problems.