“Congratulations on your scholarship in Seoul.” He says with a sad expression, mine like a mirror reflects his. “I suppose you’ll forget all about us here in little Damyang?”

I shake my head. “How could I forget about home…”

He smiles, I’m pulled back to when we first met. Our first day of Middle school, we were in the same class, he sat behind me and often joked about getting out of the small town where the only one thing we were commended for was our abundant amount of Bamboo. I smile back to him thinking of how carefree and smart he was… the reason I got this amazing opportunity to study my High School days in Seoul was because I studied hard to keep up with him. He, who wished to break free of the wood-smelling air and rolling hills, didn’t take the opportunity to study in Seoul.

“I’ll miss you.” I say waving goodbye as I get into the long black car my ‘sponsors’ sent me. I suppose I’m lucky to have these ‘sponsors’… you see rich families in Seoul take on kids from the countryside and pay for their education and living quarters until they graduate university and can stand on their own two feet, this started about 4 years ago when the richest family in Seoul, known for their mean attitude and unsociable nature, adopted a young boy from the countryside, why? Just to change their image and let investors and partners on their billion won company think they’re people to invest money and time into. Within months it had become a trend, kind of like celebrities adopting African children… except now they became sponsors, they would give you an allowance and pay for you to live alone in a nice apartment, aswell as pay for your school tuition and travel. I hear you meet your sponsors twice whilst being sponsored, once when you first arrive in Seoul and then the second and last time when you finish university and tear yourself away from their money. It sounds terrible, I know. But when you’re attending a school that’s 10 miles away from home and live in a pitiful wooden home with no air-con in the summer or heater in the winter… you’ll accept anything! It’s my mother and father at home, they won’t miss me, they barely acknowledge my existence now… that’s why I got so close to him… he who was an orphan, alone and like me, looking for some kind of comfort or care.

The car pulls away and I look out the back window… “Good-bye, Kim Myungsoo.”