Side Story 7, Swamp (7-3)

What would his mother have said if she had seen him like this, not even feeling sad? Would she be unable to close her eyes even in death, as the people at the funeral had pointed out?

'But I couldn't help it. The tears just wouldn't come...'

After thinking for a long time, Yu-wan made one decision. Though he couldn't cry for his mother, he would at least never forget that she was here.

He had heard somewhere that what dead people fear most is being forgotten by others. Then perhaps if he at least tried not to forget, it could serve as some compensation for not crying today.

With these thoughts, Yu-wan finally turned around and walked out of the building, where two men with unfamiliar faces appeared before him. They were both wearing black suits and had faces that looked remarkably similar to Yu-wan's.

"Are you Jin Je-hwan?"

The man who looked much younger spoke quietly with a smile.

"It's been a while. I heard you're in high school now."

When Yu-wan just stared silently, unable to recognize who they were, the man seemed to realize that Yu-wan didn't know who he was.

"I'm your older brother. My name is Jin Seo-hwan. You probably don't remember because you were too young when we left, but this is your father."

The middle-aged man with his hair swept back glanced at Yu-wan silently before turning his gaze away. Though he emanated the strong, overwhelming aura of a beast, when looking at Yu-wan, he only gave the kind of gaze one would use to evaluate an object.

"Seeing no response, I guess you're still trapped in your own world? I had some expectations hearing you were good with computers, but well, seems I expected too much."

Yu-wan felt a strange shock internally after being evaluated in less than a minute by the man called father with a gaze like looking at a worthless object, and receiving a look from the man called brother that degraded him as a very inferior being.

The feeling of being denied by faces that resembled his own was extremely sticky and unpleasant, like a dirty stain that wouldn't easily wash away. The man who had identified himself as Jin Seo-hwan casually gave him a business card saying to contact him if needed before leaving, and there Yu-wan saw the company name "Mage Soft Co., Ltd."

It wasn't long after that when Jin Seo-hwan contacted Yu-wan.

"Hello, Jin Je-hwan."

"...Who is this?"

"Jin Seo-hwan. Your brother. Don't you remember seeing me at the funeral recently?"

After making various small talk, he asked if Yu-wan would like to try their father's company's new popular games. Though Yu-wan knew what games were, how they were made, and roughly how to play them, he had never tried them himself. Yu-wan initially meant to refuse but suddenly felt whimsically curious to try and accepted the offer.

The game that arrived at his house a few days later had a shoddier system and more boring regularity than its impressive packaging suggested. Yu-wan lost interest soon after playing it for a while. His interest had been only in the game's technical completion, not in enjoying it. When Jin Seo-hwan called again to ask why he had quit the game, he let out a strange laugh after hearing the reason.

"Haha, I see. So the rumors weren't unfounded. Thanks to you dissecting that game, we were able to catch critical bugs. If you're willing, I'd like to ask for this kind of help occasionally. Of course, you'll be properly compensated."

While Yu-wan himself thought he was just enjoying his favorite physical training and occasionally posting things about programming he had thought about online for simple feedback as a hobby, in reality, the influence of this genius programmer who had suddenly appeared online was growing stronger by the day without his knowledge. Sometimes people would come looking for him directly after seeing his programs, but Yu-wan didn't think this was anything special.

It was around that time that Yu-wan first encountered motorcycles. Motorcycle magazines that all boys that age dreamed about would occasionally be left around the classroom. Yu-wan, who happened to see one while passing by, felt great satisfaction from the sense of liberation that came with the speed after trying riding one himself.

The thrill and liberation of feeling like his body might fly off while gliding along the road felt incomparably good. When reaching a certain point, he could feel the world reaching stillness and becoming quiet like a single point, and this similarity to the feeling of the 'swamp' was the biggest reason he started riding motorcycles.

As he rode around everywhere indiscriminately, he often saw animals that had been hit by cars and abandoned, and when he took the living ones to various animal hospitals, there was nowhere to leave them after they recovered. It was around this time that small animals began taking up residence in Yu-wan's room, a few at a time.

It gave him a strange feeling how these speechless animals sensitively perceived his energy and approached him with affection, in contrast to other people who wouldn't approach him.

One day, while he was completely absorbed in motorcycles through the first half of his 18th year and had been declining requests from sports teams and staying secluded, some guys he had never seen before came to make a request while repeatedly bowing deeply.

"J-Jin Je-hwan! Please, we're begging you! The national competition is right around the corner but our captain injured his back and is in the hospital!"

"And?"

When he asked dubiously, one of the guys who had been looking at his eyes made a "heek" sound and stepped back hesitantly.

"Ah, well... that is..."

"W-w-we want you to temporarily join our kendo club and participate in the competition, Jin Je-hwan! If you want, w-w-we'll even pay you hourly wages!"

After blinking his eyes a few times at hearing the words shouted by another guy with his eyes tightly closed, Yu-wan opened his bag that he had placed next to his seat at the very back of the classroom where he sat alone. Though he sensed the guys flinching at his insignificant movement, Yu-wan paid no attention and took out his phone to check his schedule.