Do you want to live with me?

2003
 

That day, rain fell down so hard. Rain had poured in a few days since the beginning of spring. A man, age probably around 30, was seen standing in front of the lobby of a big building named Han Corporation, waited for the rain to slow down. He put his cane by his side and looked to the sky. Messed up his hair, he sighed.

“Huff... Why do I always forget to bring my umbrella?"

He stared at the empty street in front of him and decided to just wait until the rain stopped. People passed by, his colleague started to leave the building with their own umbrellas. After about an hour, rain started to slow down and finally stopped. He then walked by to the nearest bus station, about 5 minutes walk from the building entrance.

After saying his goodbye to the security who happened to be really busy with dramas in his TV, he walked by and saw only an old woman there waited for a taxi. He looked at his watch and cursed because he forgot what time it is now. It's almost 1am in the morning.

"No wonder there's no bus..."

He unwillingly sat beside that old lady and sighed deeply.

"Waiting for a taxi too, young man?”

The man nodded and smiled.

The lady seemed nice. She asked questions but in a way that didn’t look like investigating him. The man nodded, sometimes replying with short answers.

"Your company is Han Corporation? You must've been really genius that you get to work to the best company in Korea."

The man forced a smile.

"Not really…”

"Still, it's really good. I wish my son is just as smart as you do. But he's only a high school graduate, can't expect much from him."

After about 15 minutes waited, a taxi finally arrived at the stop.

"Here, let me help bring your stuff ma'am."

"No... No need to, considering your legs like that. I'm fine."

The man just smiled bitterly but still tried to help opening the taxi door. It was not as if he couldn’t use his left leg at all. He could still walk without his cane, but not when he was tired. He could also drive his automatic car perfectly. But he preferred not saying anything. The lady bowed slightly and that man returned it.

"Maybe I'll see you again, eehh..."

"Dong Won, ma'am. My name is Kang Dongwon."

"Ah yee, Dongwon ssi... Thank you."

"You're welcome, Ma'am."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a group of boys around 15-16 years old appeared. They ran towards Dongwon and the lady then with a quick act one of the kid grabbed the lady's purse roughly until the lady stumbled and fell down. Dongwon managed to catch the lady so that she wouldn't land in hard asphalt. He saw that group of kids ran so fast to a dark alley not far away from there.

“Oh... Oh my god, my purse!!! Please... Help me!!!”

The taxi driver just sat in his taxi, just clicked on his tongue, obvious about the unwillingness to get into trouble. Dongwon cursed in his heart and said to the lady to wait there. He then ran as fast as he could to that dark alley. He vaguely heard a noise from that dark alley. And then there was a hard noise, like a fight was happened.

"Aishh... Those little bastards. Did they fight with each other over that purse?!!!"

He ran faster and finally arrived at the alley. The alley was dark but he could still see because of one light came from a lamp faraway in the corner of the alley.

Dong won adjusted his eyes and saw a shadow of a kid stood there.

"Yaa... Little punk, stay where you are and give that purse nicely. If you don't, I'm gonna have to call the police."
The silhouette of that kid just stood still. Suddenly there was a screaming heard from the back of that silhouette and Dong Won saw a taller boy, raised a thick wooden stick and tried to hit that kid. But that kid managed to dodge it.

"You . You're trying to steal that purse from us huh? Haaaa...!!!!"

He ran fast to that kid but with one nice swift that kid managed to dodge again and put a hard punch on his stomach. The kid fell down and passed out.

Dongwon confused.

Why were they fighting? Were they trying to claim the purse each other and this kid didn't want to share?

That kid bowed down to grab something and Dong Won raised his awareness. He prepared to attack the kid who moved forward to him. That kid walked forwards until light from the lamp illuminated that kid's face. Dongwon shocked when he saw the kid.

“You... You're a girl?!”

He saw a young girl in her early 10s, maybe 13, just wearing a worn-out shirt and shabby jeans that had been torned out in many places. Her long hair tied like a messy pony tail and her face looked really awful. Her body was skinny, and looked like she hasn't eaten for several days. Fresh blood flowed down from her cheek, maybe resulted from her previous fight. She looked at Dongwon intensely and managed to make Dongwon shivered.

To Dongwon's surprised, that girl threw the purse towards him. He jolted a bit but managed to catch the purse. He observed the purse and it looked like the purse hadn't been opened.
He looked to the girl in front of him. He didn't realize until now that she brought a weapon with her. A bow and a few arrows hung across her back.

Suddenly she shuddered, probably because of the cold weather. But her eyes still stared sharply to Dongwon and full of awareness.

“I'll return this to its owner.” Said Dong Won.

What? Why did you say that? You don't need to report to her. He quietly cursed to himself.

“Hey little girl... Where do you...”

But before Dong Won finished his sentence, the girl suddenly ran into the dark alley so fast.

“Y-yaaa.. Where are you going? Yaa!!!”

But it's useless. She's already vanished into the dark.

He took one look back before he went to the outside of the alley to the taxi stop where he also left his stuff there.

For 3 days, he couldn't stop thinking about the kid. He thought about it, how could she be in that place? Why did she help him and the lady? Why not took all of the money in it and ran away?

“Professor Kang... Prof. Kang!!!”

He jolted a bit and realized that his head of department called him with impatience in his eyes.

“To my office. Now.”

This is not gonna be good, thought Dongwon.

He walked with his crook to the head's office.

“I called you to ask you about your research.”

“Yes, well... It's been 60% done sir. Maybe in about... 4-5 months it can be completed perfectly.”

“Prof. Kang, I told you many times that we don't have enough time. Our investors are already screaming at me to know whether their investment in this project have benefit for them. I've already promised them that they can see it at the end of this month.”

Dong Won couldn't believe what his superior just said.

“But Sir... It's not done yet. I've already sent the report on that. It's impossible for me to present it to our stakeholders.”
“Then you better finished it. Quickly!!!”

“With all due respect Sir.. My research as been said in the contract are for 5 years. It's only been 3 years, so you can't expect me to finish it in a hurry. I can't guarantee the result on that. And I think it's your responsibility for what you've said to the investors.”

“Then I'll find someone who can.”

“Be my guest. I'm sure there are other investors who can sponsor me besides Han Corp.”

His superior laughed hard and made Dong Won disgusted by it.

“Ah.. hahahaha.... You? Getting a sponsor? With what? You're gonna walk with that crippled leg from office to office and beg them to take you? Don't you ever dream. And do you know how many innovations that you made? None. You're not that capable as an inventor like you think you are!!!”

Dongwon gritted his teeth. It's true, though, about what that old hag just said. Painful, but it was true. He was just a fresh graduate from top university in Korea majoring in biotechnology when one of Han Corp's men came to him and offered him a position as a junior researcher. He knew he was recruited because of his research about anti cancer medicine and he wasn't going to pretend that it didn't make him proud. But during 6 years he worked at that place, he never even got to finish one single invention.

“You better go and reflect yourself in the mirror before you decide to turn your back on me, you little peasant!! Now go and finish that project, I don't care with what!!!”

He went out before his superior finished his blabbering. He went home with slumped shoulder, as if all of his energy had been drowned out. He looked at the street, where there were still people crowding the street. Economy wasn't going too well in his country, proved by so many poor people wandering around. He saw a few people sold street food; some were full, some where almost empty. There were beggars, in many different ages, sat down besides an entrance of a restaurant or public entertainment with their hands stretched out to people passing by.

He found the bus shelter and sat down while waiting for his bus. Living in the street sure is a rough life, he thought. So many people were chasing them, not only the police officers but also from gangster who demanded nothing but money. He once saw a helpless old man just stood doing nothi