My name was Jae-won.

However, I never wanted to be anywhere.

***

“Is that really true?”

“It’s true, hear me out. My mother said she saw… She said there were police and ambulances all around. The scene was chaotic.”

Son Jae-won never really listened to anyone other than his parents. Even if he overheard something, it would go into one ear and flow out the other. So, even if his classmates got together and talked about something, he never paid much attention to their words. Even if he happened to overhear something, it was easy for Jae-won to pass the news off as just ‘something funny or weird must be happening’. But strangely, at that time, Jae-won heard his classmates’ conversations very clearly.

“Ugh, that sucks. No matter how you look at it, it’s suicide…” 

“She probably met the wrong parents.”

‘Suicide.’ The moment Jae-won overheard the girls’ conversation, his surroundings became eerily quiet. All he could hear were the words of the two female students in the distance. It was as if they were whispering next to his ear. Their voices were very clear.

“To be honest, I thought she was a bit… You know. She didn’t even say anything. Even when I tried speaking to her, she’d avoid eye contact. And she always made a gloomy face. Who would want such a gloomy person next to them all the time?...