When Minji reached the hospital, her Umma ran to her and led her toward Dae's room.

“He doesn't have much longer. His insides are giving out on him.” her Umma managed to say.

“What do you mean, he doesn't have long? Why is this happening, Umma?” Minji asked, near tears.

Her Umma paused, looking at Minji. “At birth, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. We never told you because you were too young at the time. When we decided to tell you, you met Mi-Cha, and we didn't want to burden you.”

She pointed to Dae's room. Minji rushed forward, passing her Umma, and ran right into the hospital room. Dae looked up weakly and smiled at Minji. Tears slipped down Minji's face as she went to join Dae, brushing his hair out of his face and his hair. Dae reached up and petted her hair, which made her cry even more.

“Noona, please don't leave me.” Dae whispered.

“I won't ever leave you again, Dae. I'm going to stay here with you until we can both walk out of here together.” Minji murmured.

She sat down on his bed beside Dae and hugged him. He rested his head on her shoulder and stayed there. They sat in silence for a moment, their Umma watching sadly from the door. Dae seemed to forget his pain in the presence of his Noona.

Minji placed her cheek on the top of his head. “Dae, I'm sorry. I never should have left you. I was selfish to leave you to pursue my dreams. But... I want to keep being selfish, because I want you to fight through this so we can stay together.”

Dae sobbed quietly. “Noona, can you sing for me one more time? I want to listen to you sing Run. Please? If anything, I want that to be one of the last things I listen to.”
 

I'll sing it one last time for you

Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done
 

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak, I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak, I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear
 

Minji's voice was soft, and Dae had closed his eyes. When she finished singing, she rocked Dae slowly. Her tears wouldn't stop, nor slow down.

Noona...” Dae breathed out. “Minji Noona, I want you to know that you are the main reason that I kept fighting. You make me so much stronger. I love you. Thank you for everything that you've done for me. Promise me that you'll keep being strong, for anyone else that is inspired by you. And live well with that Hyung you like.”

“I promise.” Minji whispered.

He hugged Minji and kissed her forehead before leaning his head on her shoulder again. His breaths became laboured until they stopped altogether. Closing her eyes, Minji sobbed and held onto Dae's lifeless body, praying that he would wake up and smile brightly at her again. Nothing happened. Her Umma came in, also crying, and led Minji out of the room so the doctors could take care of the body. Once in the hallway, they held onto each other and cried.

“He was the baby. He should have lived longer than me.” Minji sobbed.

“Dae knew he wouldn't live as long as any of you. He was happy with listening to your stories while you were gone and watching anything about you. He said that as long as you were happy, he was able to fight to his last breath, and die happily.” her Umma admitted quietly.

Minji bit her lip. “Where's Appa? Shouldn't he be here with you?”

The older woman shook her head. “He's at home.”

Angered, Minji stood straight and walked to her car. She drove to her Umma and Appa's house and, without knocking, slammed the door open. The strong smell of alcohol reached her nose and made her flinch slightly. Minji gritted her teeth and walked on, into the living room where her Appa was drinking a can of beer, with several empty cans around him. His glazed eyes met her teary ones and Minji saw emptiness in them. They stared. Finally he got to his feet and made his way over to her.

He raised his hand to strike at her. “What are you doing here, you stupid girl?”

Minji grabbed his arm and twisted it. “I'm the one who should be asking you that! Dae just died in the hospital, and you weren't there to say goodbye! You weren't even there to give Umma any support!”

He pulled his arm away, glaring. “That boy was an ungrateful good for nothing! He was weak!”

She felt tears falling again as she snapped angrily. “He was not weak! Dae was strong enough to endure pain for so long! You're weak! You go to the bottle all the time! You're nothing but a heartless drunk!” He stared blankly at her while she continued. “If you loved Dae, or Shin-Hee and Chung-Hee, or Jan, or Rin and Jung, or Umma, or me, you would put the bottle down and you wouldn't ever pick it up again!”

“Who are you to run my life?” he spat.

“Don't you remember that I'm your baby girl? I'm you only daughter! If you cared about me at all, you would stop drinking!” Minji shouted. “If you can't stop, then you're not a part of my family anymore! You'll never be able to come to my house ever again!”

Her Appa threw his now empty can at her, then spun around and opened another one. Disgusted, Minji spun around and stormed out of the house, slamming the door closed, and drove to the SM building, which was closer than her house. She parked and ran into the building to avoid people. The secretary looked up at her boredly, then jumped out of her seat to go to Minji as she dissolved into tears and fell to her knees. The secretary seemed to recognize Minji, as she led her into the elevator and up to the third floor. They went to the staff room and Minji was sat on the couch before the secretary left. A few minutes later she came back with the members of SHINee.

“Minji!” the five shouted, running to her side.

“What happened?” Minho asked.

“Why are you crying?” Onew questioned.

Jonghyun frowned. “Do you need anything?”

Key petted her hair. “Calm down and tell us what's wrong, Minji-ya.”

Taemin hugged her. “Why are you crying, Minji-ya?”

Minji leaned against Taemin for support. “D-Dae... he... he's dead. He died in m-my arms.”

“Ssh, breathe, Minji-ya. Calm down a little bit.” Taemin soothed, holding her as she shook violently. She ended up passing out in his arms, tears drying on her cheeks.