3:07 PM Seoul, Korea. It’s 26 degrees Celsius right now, roughly 80 degrees Fahrenheit. By the dampness on my skin, I can tell a thunderstorm had just passed. I looked around to the new environment and felt a sense of anxiety come upon like a wave of hot air. A new name, a new passport, and a fake permanent residence card I started to make my way to the taxi line.

After waiting for more than 20 min, I finally got myself a cab. The driver is an old man probably in his early 60’s. He looked at me and smiled “ Agassi where would you like to go?”

I looked back at him with my youthful eyes and said “ Asan medical center please.”

“Going to the hospital? I hope everything is okay.” he said with worried eyes.

I tired to comfort him by not shifting my smile or gaze “ things weren’t okay before, but now that I’m here I think my luck is going to change. Haha”

He laughed at me “ It’s good to be young huh? It’s good that you are very positive. Cherish these short youthful years with much happiness and no grievances.”

“I will try hard ahjussi! I wasted too much time in the past, now it’s the time to turn my life around.” I laughed. I didn’t know a stranger could make me feel so warm and happy inside. We don’t know anything about each other yet I felt like I knew this old man my whole life.

“Here we are! I hope you only have good news to hear from now on.”

“Thank you ahjussi, and keep the change. You have been a great lift in spirit for me today. Please accept my gratitude.”

I waved good-bye to the ahjussi cab driver before going inside. He’s already in his senile stages yet he still needs to drive a cab day and night. I wonder what his family is doing to allow him to work like this.

Avoiding my sudden sadness towards the old man, I made myself shake away the sad thoughts. I took the elevator to the 12^th floor and slowly started to approach the front desk.

I wonder if I’m doing the right thing, if approaching him would only make myself look bad. So much has happened to him, what else can I do make things even worse?

“Hello, how may I help you miss?”

“Hi, I would like to visit patient Choi Subin. I was wondering which room he’s in.”

“Okay, let me check. Ahh, Mr. Choi Subin is in the critical condition section, only family members are allowed to visit. May I ask what relations you have with him?”

“ Oh yes of course, I’m his grand-daughter.” I whispered.

She looked at me with apologetic eyes and said in a gentle voice “ Thank you, I just need you to sign a form stating your relations to him and the time and date you visited!”

I grabbed the form and put in my name and the time. Suddenly the idea of visiting Seunghyun’s grandfather finally hit me. I have no right to see haraboji. His only daughter died because of uncle Chen, Seunghyun is missing and I don’t know whether if he’s alive or dead. But deep down I knew that haraboji is my only hope, the only way I can find out about the truth is to go through him.

“ Here you go.”

“Thank you very much Ms. Park, here is the room card. He’s in room 1276, so just walk all the way down to the very end of this hallway and make a right turn. It’s a suite so you can’t miss it.”

I smiled one last time at her and started to walk down the hallway. Passing each room I saw the patients lying inside. Uncertain of what condition haraboji is in, I started to become nervous and scared.

It’s ok Xinxin, you can do this. You must do this. There is no other way. Be brave and Aunt Chen will be watching over you.

Room 1276, I stared at the room number. Okay, I’m here….not sure whether I should knock or not I decided to slowly turn the doorknob. The room is dimed so I turned the lights on and in the middle of the suite is haraboji. He laid in bed lifeless and motionless. I slowly walked over to him with tears swelling up in my eyes. I grabbed his free hand and kneeled.

“I am so sorry for everything. Mianhe, mianhe, mianhe………

I didn’t know what else there was to say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I slept in the suite overnight on the couch next to haraboji’s bed. I washed his face, hands and feet. Made something for myself to eat in the kitchen built into the suite. I was starving, the last time I ate was on the flight here and I didn’t have much since Coach offered only the grossest edible contents possible.

I can’t help but think that without Seunghyun to visit haraboji, no one else will come to the hospital. I’m pretty sure Seunghyun is the one paying for the treatment and hospital suite, which makes him the only possible candidate for visiting haraboji. I sighed out loud and open the curtains for the first time in awhile. Aunt Chen always to me to embrace the sunshine and fear the dark. I figure some light will be good for haraboji. Right now I really need him to wake up from his coma. I really need to find out the truth behind everything and save everyone around me because as each day goes on, more and more people are dying.

I slowly sneaked out of the room because according to the piece of paper I signed, I was only allowed to stay till 10 pm and haraboji’s daily checkup is at 11 am so I left so I can avoid the doctors finding out that I had stayed overnight.

So Park Tambi, it’s time to find a place to stay. You’re going to be in Korea for a while.