Extending his hand, Minho greeted Nuri cheerfully. “Hi! You must be Nuri. I’m Choi Minho. Just call me Minho. It says here in your portfolio that you are a highly skilled expert in rifle marksmanship, earning the ‘expert’ title in just three years of training and also highly qualified to be a sniper! Impressive!”

Hiding his bewilderment as to how Minho got the data, Nuri questioned, “How did you know so much about me?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t properly introduced myself yet, I’m assigned to be the Supreme Echelon’s technology specialist, so naturally, I get to safe-keep any Supreme Echelon related data plus unlimited excess to The Echelon’s database and network. I got the info about you from the database, look.” Turning his laptop to face Nuri, Minho added, “It also states here that your name is just Nuri. There might be a glitch in the system, tell me your full name, I’ll update your portfolio.”

“It’s Nuri.”

“No, I mean your full name.”

“It’s just Nuri.”

“That’s it?”

_______

At a high school located in Ulsan, a 15-year old boy sprinted alongside other runners on a running track framing the lush, green soccer field of the school, while being spurred on by his ever supportive friends.

“KANG IN-OH! KANG IN-OH! KANG IN-OH! Yes!!!! He won the sprint!!!”

Beaming happily on the podium, Kang In-oh received his 3^rd gold medal in his school’s annual sporting event for the year.

I can’t wait to go home. Mum and dad would be so proud of me!

The boy named Kang In-oh literally skipped happily home after school, greeting every single neighbour he met on his way home, ignoring the scorching afternoon heat, all the while thinking how to break the good news to his family.

Do I fake a sad face or just tell them the truth? Ah, I can’t wait!

Kang In-oh saw his house just around the corner, and tried hard to hide his smile, he decided to pretend that he lost the event. He arrived at the front gate of his house and proceeded to open the front door. It was locked from the inside. He called out to his mother, but no one came to open the door. He knocked, shouted, called, and even kicked the door, but to his frustration, no one came. He walked around the house and spotted an open window, and climbed into the kitchen. It was empty.

“I’m home! Mum! Dad! Inyong! Injung! Where are you?” Now frantic, Kang In-oh rushed upstairs, and to his horror, he saw his sister Injung hanging from the ceiling, her whole body drenched in a viscous red liquid, blood. He rushed to his parent’s room and saw his mother lying face down on the floor, and his father in bed, both drowned in their own blood, Kang In-oh could not bear the smell and sight and threw up on the floor. His only hope to find anyone alive is Inyong, his 13 year old brother. He rushed into his brother’s room, only to find it empty. He yelled for Inyong, “Inyong! Inyong! Where are you!” Suddenly, he heard a soft grumble coming from the toilet. He opened the toilet door to find Inyong lying down on the floor, bloodied, just like the others, the only difference is that Inyong was still conscious and alive, a glimmer of hope for In-oh.

“Inyong! I’m here, I’ll call the ambulance! Wait here!” Just then, Inyong grabbed In-oh’s arm, and breathed, “They did it, they, they...shot at us...” Shocked, In-oh stammered, “Who are they Inyong? Who did this? Talk to me! Inyong!” Before Inyong could reply, he breathed his last breath. Kang In-oh was lost for words, he was thrown down from cloud nine into the deepest of hell in just a few moments. He lost his whole family.

He ran out of the house and told his neighbour about the grotesque scene he saw in his house, and went back sitting on the doorsteps of his house. He was so shocked that he couldn’t cry. He felt that he should, but the tears wouldn’t come. What he saw was too much for a naive 15-year old. Mrs. Park next door accompanied him on the doorsteps until the police came. The police took Kang In-oh to the police station. They took down his statement and released him after finding no evidence of him being a suspect in the murder of his family, although they found it quite strange that a young boy who just lost his whole family could stay so calm.

The story about the murdered family made headlines on all major newspapers and news programmes in Korea. All mentioned that the only surviving member was Kang In-oh. Everywhere he went, Kang In-oh received sympathising words and condolences from his teachers, his friends and  the public who saw the news. “Kang In-oh is the only survivor, poor boy,” they would say. Kang In-oh this, Kang In-oh that, Kang In-oh felt sick and tired of being labelled as ‘the boy whose family was murdered’ wherever he went.

A certain Mr. Kang, a senior middle-aged Echelon operative, approached Kang In-oh who was walking from school back to Mrs. Park’s house, a temporary home for him until the semester ends. Mr. Kang uttered an invite for In-oh to have lunch with him, “Why don’t I drive you to the fast food restaurant there for lunch, we could talk, my treat.”

“Who are you?”

“You can just call me Mr. Kang.” Mr. Kang handed what looks like a business card to In-oh.

“Why do you want to talk to me?”

“Just follow me and we’ll talk.”

In-oh hesitates for awhile but gave in as he couldn’t care less who takes him where, anyway he wouldn’t have a family to go home to.

 At lunch, Mr. Kang invited In-oh to train under The Echelon over a cheeseburger and fries. 

“Where will I stay?”

“You can stay at the dorm for trainees in Seoul near The Echelon headquarters. Of course all the trainees will be older than you but I think you’ll fit in just fine. How about that?”

“What am I training for?”

“You are training to be an Echelon, boy.”

 “All right, but I have a request, I would like to change my name.”

“What for? Kang In-oh, that’s a nice name.”

“That’s a name that I never want to hear again. When my family died, Kang In-oh died too. You have no idea how much I hate being In-oh, how much I hate being a Kang even. Everyone is so sympathetic, everyone says that they understand what I’m going through, everything that they say is bull! Have they ever lost their entire family in one day?! No! Kang In-oh just reminds me of the day I won three gold medals just to find my family dead! Please Mr. Kang, I don’t wanna move to Seoul just to be reminded of that day over and over again. Please, let me move on.”

Mr. Kang, surprised by the request from the young teenager, amazed not by the request to change his name, but by the request to let him move on, smiled, “Are you sure? Do you want to keep the Kang in your name, Nuri? You are still a Kang no matter what you know.”

“I’m sure, I just want to be a Kang on the inside. What did you call me? Nuri? What does it mean?”

“Nuri literally means ‘world’. You yourself have to give meaning to it, what does the world mean to you?”

_______

“Yes. And that’s all you should know.” With that, Nuri left.