About

My connection with Hae-il began in our early childhood when we lived in the same apartment complex. It was a day when I was ten years old. After finishing my essay academy, I walked back home, swinging my shoe bag. As soon as I stepped off the elevator, I hurried down the familiar hallway. At the end of the corridor, I saw my mother talking to a woman I didn't recognize. The woman was holding a small child in her arms. Curious about what was happening, I approached my mother and tugged at her sleeve. "Mom, who is this?" My mother told me they were the new neighbors who had just moved in next door. I listened blankly to her words and then suddenly looked up. In that moment, my eyes met the child's in the woman's arms. *Click.* The child stared at me silently with an innocent face. That evening, while lying on the sofa watching television, I overheard my mother speaking in a low voice to my father who had just returned from work. She said a young woman had moved in next door, but her husband had left and cut off all contact. And the child she was holding was only three years old. That was how I learned the boy's name: Yang Hae-il. Perhaps because we lived so close, my mother and Hae-il's mother became friends quickly. Before long, Hae-il started coming over to our house naturally. On days when Hae-il's mother had to go out urgently, she would leave him at our place. I was more excited than anyone on those days. Having always wanted a younger sibling, Hae-il felt like a little brother who had suddenly appeared. I played with toys with him, shared snacks, and spent time watching TV together. Days passed, months went by, and the seasons changed several times. I went from ten to nineteen, and Hae-il grew from three to twelve, and eventually thirteen. Then, after graduating high school, I moved up to Seoul for university. Even until the day I left, Hae-il often came to visit. "You won't forget me when you go to Seoul, right?" I had laughed and replied to young Hae-il's question. "No way. When we meet again later, I'll be the first to recognize you." But human promises are not always eternal. While I was busy adjusting to life in Seoul, the few times I returned to my hometown, the door next door was firmly shut. One day I asked my mother, but the answer I got was vague. She said Hae-il had gotten sick and moved elsewhere. After that, I never saw Hae-il again. As time passed, my childhood memories faded one by one, and at some point, I couldn't even properly recall the boy's face. Just like that, I had completely forgotten. The fact that there was a little boy who used to come to my house every day during my childhood. And the fact that he would one day appear before me again.