Pitter. Patter.
The steady drumming of rain echoed against the window as it filled the quiet room with its rhythmic sound.
Chae Eun-woo stood frozen in place. His eyes were locked on the small figure before him. His breath hitched as his chest rose and fell unevenly.
“Eun-ah.…” he whispered.
His heart pounded. His fingers trembled at his sides.
She was there.
A little girl, no older than six, stood a few feet away, tilting her head in confusion. Her round eyes blinked slowly.
“Oppa?”
His mind blanked. His throat tightened as a surge of indescribable emotions hit him like a tidal wave.
“Eun-ah…!” His voice cracked, and he stumbled forward.
His feet moved before he could think.
“Eun-ah…!”
Tak. Tak. Tak.
His hurried steps echoed across the room. He reached her, falling to his knees as he pulled her into his arms.
His body shook as he held her. His arms wrapped tightly around her small frame.
“Oppa…?” Her small hands pressed against his chest, confused by the sudden embrace.
Tears streamed down his face. His chest heaved, and his breath hitched with every sob. His heart felt like it would burst.
“Eun-ah….” he gasped.
His grip around her tightened, as though afraid she would vanish at any moment.
“Eun-ah…! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
Her small hands tugged on his shirt, still confused. “….Oppa, why are you crying?”
He choked on his breath. He couldn’t stop. He didn’t want to stop.
Nineteen years. It had been nineteen long years since that day.
The rain outside had been just as heavy that day. He could still hear the sound of it if he closed his eyes.
But it wasn’t the rain that haunted him.
“….”
It was the silence that followed.
***
On that day, two men appeared in their small rented apartment.
Loan sharks.
They said his aunt’s debt had been long overdue. It wasn’t their problem, it was their aunts.
Yet…. as a collateral…. they asked for Eun–ah….
Chae Eun–woo was furious. There was no way he would allow that. His aunt, however, thought differently.
——….Eun–woo, listen to me. It’s only a collateral, we’ll get her back, okay? Okay!?
——Ahjumma, are you insane!? How could you just let them take Eun–ah like that!?
——It’s just collateral! We’ll get her back! They promised me they wouldn’t hurt her! Trust me! Just three days!? Okay!? I’ll definitely pay them back in three days!
——Bullshit!
His aunt had clearly been on drugs that day. No, it was more accurate to say she had been on drugs nearly every day.
The loan sharks pressured them. What? Will you do it!?
——Fuck no!
With that curse alone from Eun–woo, the loan sharks grew furious. Forcibly, they took Eun–ah away.
——Oppa!
She screamed desperately, and Eun–woo mustered all the strength a fourteen year–old boy could to get her back.
The situation quickly escalated as his body moved before he could think.
His hand shot out, grabbing the bottle of soju from the table. The man reacted quickly, kicking Eun–woo’s abdomen.
But gritting his teeth, without hesitation, he smashed it against the man’s head.
Crash!
——You little…!
——Oppa!
At that moment, Eun–woo saw it. The flash of metal.
A knife.
The other man was groggily recovering from the shattered bottle. The man holding Eun–ah, however, let her go for a brief moment and lunged toward Eun–woo.
He didn’t hesitate. His life didn’t matter, Eun–ah’s did.
——Eun–ah, run!
But before both siblings could even move….
Slash—!
The world stopped.
He heard it. The wet sound of something sharp piercing flesh. His eyes widened, and his breath caught in his throat.
——….
It wasn’t him.
It wasn’t Eun-ah either.
It was her.
His aunt blocked the attack just in time. Even the man seemed stunned, as if it wasn’t on purpose.
——….Ahjumma?
Her body swayed like a broken doll before she crumpled to the floor with a resounding thud.
——No! No, no, no, no…!
He screamed, not out of worry, but out of betrayal. Their aunt, the cause of everything, would leave them just like this?
——Let me go! Oppa, help me!
——Eun–ah!
Eun–woo screamed desperately as fear took hold of him, immediately jumping up and sprinting toward him.
However, something heavy landed squarely in his abdomen as the other man kicked him.
——Let her go! Please! Please! Please!
He screamed in desperation, but his pleading went to deaf ears.
They took her, and Eun–woo desperately gave chase. His already broken world was slowly shattering apart once more.
——Oppa!
Eun–ah kicked the air and flailed around, trying to budge her way out of the man’s hold. But with her small frame, there was only so much she could do.
Eun–woo ran.
Under the rain, he ran desperately.
Under the rain, he took a relentless beating.
But the desperate look of his little sister gnawed at his mind, tearing him away from the inside, making the beating pale in comparison.
Thwack!
He could reach her.
Thwack!
She was close.
Thwack!
So close.
Thwack!
Yet so far from his grasp.
“Ukh…!”
Under the cold rain, Eun–woo’s battered body sprawled on the cold wet ground as blood pooled from his mouth, nose, with bruises all over his body.
And as if that wasn’t enough, she was gone.
Eun–ah was taken away.
The red taillights of the car vanished into the distance, swallowed by the storm.
His heart felt like it had been ripped from his chest.
For nineteen long years, he regretted his entire life. The choices he made that led to that moment.
Everything.
But now, Eun-ah was here in his arms. Her small, fragile frame pressed against his chest. She was smaller than he remembered. Her hair was shorter, and her voice was softer.
Of course, she was younger now.
Much younger than she had been that day.
That terrible, unforgivable day.
Because this wasn’t then. This wasn’t that day.
This was four years before it.
His heart pounded harder in his chest as a creeping realization dawned on him. Slowly, he raised his eyes to the wall calendar hanging by the wall.
A red circle was drawn around a single date.
February 12, 2001.
“….”
His chest tightened. He knew this date. He knew it too well.
He could still hear the distant echoes of sirens. The blaring honk of a car horn. The gut-wrenching screech of tires skidding on wet pavement.
The metallic crunch of steel twisting and crumpling.
He didn’t want to believe it, but he knew it.
This wasn’t just any day.
This was that day.
The day his entire world collapsed.
The day his parents died in a traffic accident.
Instinctively, he looked at the clock above the table near his bed.
[8:09 P.M.]
‘There’s still time.’
“….”
His breath quickened as a sudden surge of panic overtook him. His fingers dug into his palms as his mind whirled with urgency.
“Oppa…. it hurts….”
Her soft voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Eun-woo’s eyes widened, and his gaze shifted to the little girl in his arms.
“Oh, sorry, Eun–ah.” He quickly loosened his grip on her. But even so, he didn’t let go.
His body refused to release her.
He didn’t want to let go.
Not again.
Never again.
Eun-ah, still oblivious to his state, wriggled in his arms before pointing to the small table beneath them.
“Oppa, look! Eomma and Appa!”
Her small hand eagerly pointed to a crumpled sheet of paper lying on the table.
Eun-woo shifted his gaze.
On the paper were two childishly drawn figures, one with long hair wearing a bright red dress, the other in a green suit with stick-like arms.
A small girl and boy stood beside them. Above them, a bright blue sun sat in the corner of the page.
He recognized it immediately.
It was their family.
Their father, Chae Seo–joon.
Their mother, Kim Min–jeong.
His sister, Chae Eun–ah.
And him, Chae Eun–woo.
His breath hitched, and a sharp ache settled in his chest. His hands shook as he reached for the paper.
The crayon lines were uneven, and the shapes were awkward.
But it was perfect.
“Eomma and Appa will be back soon, right?”
Eun–ah’s voice was so innocent that he felt like something tugged at his heart.
If he failed to change anything….
If everything played out the same way it did before….
He wasn’t sure if his heart could bear it.
He forced a smile, even if it was faint and cracked.
“Yeah,” he muttered, his voice hoarse.
“They’ll be back soon.”
He lied.
He hated himself for it.
But if there was one thing he knew for certain—this time, he would change it.
His eyes darted to the clock once more.
[8:11 P.M.]
‘They’ll leave at 9:00 P.M.’
He remembered it clearly. Their parents worked for a video game company that went bankrupt in 2014. They had always clocked out 9:00.
He wiped his eyes quickly, inhaling deeply through his nose as he steadied his breath.
49 minutes.
He still had time.
He gently pulled away from Eun-ah and gave her a reassuring smile.
“Eun-ah, stay right here, okay?” he said softly, wiping away the tear stains on his cheeks. “Oppa has to do something really quick.”
“Where are you going?” she asked, clutching his sleeve.
“Just stay here, okay? I’ll be right back.”
He slowly pried her little fingers off his sleeve. His heart ached as her small hands struggled to hold on.
Her lips pursed, but she nodded. “Okay…. but you have to come back!”
“I will,” he promised, ruffling her hair.
With one last look at her, he turned on his heel and ran, looking for the housemaid.
“Call my parents, please, it’s urgent!” he said.
The housemaid stared at him in confusion. It took about five minutes to fully convince her. However, when they tried connecting to the company’s landline number, the call wouldn’t connect.
They were wasting time.
Bang!
The moment Eun–woo left their house, the housemaid called for him, surprised by his sudden departure. Her duty was to look out for them. Yet, Eun–woo left the house under her watch.
“Eun–woo?!”
Tak. Tak. Tak.
Under the pouring rain, his legs carried him faster than he ever thought possible.
Splash—!
His feet splashed against puddles. But he didn’t care.
He didn’t have to think twice.
He ran, and ran, ran, ignoring every red light in the pedestrian lane as cars beeped.
Splash—!
He gritted his teeth, ignoring the cold that seeped into his bones. His legs burned, and his lungs ached.
But he didn’t stop.
He couldn’t stop.
He counted the seconds in his head. By his estimation, his parents would clock out in about four minutes.
The company building was just ahead.
Eun-woo pushed through the crowd, shoving past every civilian in his way.
“Hey!”
“Watch it, brat!”
But he didn’t care.
He was close.
So close.
His legs moved before his mind could catch up.
Tak. Tak. Tak.
But no matter how fast he ran, the distance didn’t seem to shrink. It felt like the world itself was stretching endlessly before him.
One minute left.
“Move! Damn it! Move!”
He screamed, more to himself than anyone else.
The crowd in front of him began to thin as he pushed forward with everything he had.
For a split second, he glanced back.
“….!”
His heart dropped.
The street behind him was empty. Not a single person in sight.
He flicked his head forward, breath hitching in his throat.
“What…?”
His steps slowed.
“….”
Everyone was gone.
His eyes locked onto the company building ahead.
It was supposed to be closer. He was sure of it.
But it wasn’t.
It hadn’t moved.
It stood there, like a mirage, as if it were unreachable.
Tak. Tak. Tak.
But no matter how much he ran, no matter how hard he pushed his legs to move, the distance remained the same.
“No.… no, no, no!”
He ran harder.
Faster.
But it was no use.
The company building remained where it was, unmoving like the sun on the horizon.
His eyes darted around, searching for something, anything that made sense.
But there was nothing.
Silence.
Just as he was about to scream….
Crash——!
His heart jumped into his throat.
The sickening sound of metal bending, glass shattering, and the dull thud of something heavy hitting the pavement filled his ears.
His eyes widened, darting left and right. The sound echoed as if it had happened right beside him.
“….Huh?”
But there was no car.
No crash.
No wreckage.
Nothing.
“What the fuck…?”
Another sound echoed.
Screech!
Tires skidding.
Honk!
A car horn blared loudly in his ears, making him flinch.
“…!”
He clutched his head with his eyes shut tight as the noise grew louder.
“No, no, no!” he shouted, crouching to the ground.
The cold rain poured down on him. But all he could hear were the sounds of the crash.
The sound of the accident.
The memory of that day.
His heart pounded in sync with the noise. Louder. Louder. Louder. Louder!
He felt like he was going crazy.
Suddenly….
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“Haakh!”
“Hieeek—!”
His eyes shot wide open, and he quickly realized he was no longer on the street.
Instead, he was in a bed.
His head felt heavy, and his body felt numb.
“….?”
His eyes shifted, adjusting to the light, only for something else to enter his view.
No, someone.
Sniff. Sniff.
Two bright royal blue eyes stared directly at him with her nostrils perked up. Their gaze was so close he nearly jumped.
“Ah—!”
“You scared me for a second….”
The woman took out a small handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to him.
“….?”
Eun–woo tilted his head, confused.
The woman merely pointed at her eyes, and Eun–woo realized the gesture.
“Ah….”
….Tears were streaming down his face.