Vivasvat.

Or Chan-hee: Brilliantly sparkling, beautifully happy.

It was the Buddhist nickname my maternal grandfather had given me.

 ***

‘Why are all the lights still off? Has Jae-won not arrived yet?’ Seo Eun-young opened the front door and entered the living room, but she soon tilted her head as she sensed that something was off. Originally, at this time of day, either her son or husband would have arrived home first and turned on all the lights. Moreover, she had a school reunion meeting today, so she had already told both of them that she would be arriving early in the morning.

While telling herself that she needed to call her husband and son later, Seo Eun-young crossed the living room and turned on the lights. “Goodness! Jae-won, have you been here all along?” She found her son seated with his face down on the dinner table. However, there was something unusual about her son’s mood.

“Is something wrong?” So, Seo Eun-young approached Jae-won cautiously and asked, but her son did not answer. “Did something happen at school?”

However, her son offered no response.

***

Son Jae-won did not attend school for three days after that day. He just locked himself up in his room. He pulled the curtains, turned off all the lights, and stayed in bed. Although his mother brought him meals and outwardly voiced her concerns about her son’s health, Son Jae-won just stated that...