Si Woo walked out into the bitter cold.

He didn’t want to think so he counted his steps. One. Two. Three… When he reached three hundred, only then did he notice the bitter cold permeating his body. He turned back and gazed at the house in the distance. He had forgotten his jacket.

He shivered and wondered briefly if they would worry if he froze to death.

Served them right if they did. The thought came tumbling out of his mind, but he forced it to disappear as soon as it did. But still the bitter truth intruded into this mind. The only one who would lose in that scenario would be him.

He continued to walk, wrapping his arms about his body to stave off the cold, until he came across the park outside of his immediate neighborhood. He gazed at the empty swing set and suddenly remembered Dae-Ho.

Despite meeting with the boy almost everyday after school since the time with the buns, he had forgotten about the kid in just these past couple of days. It wasn’t as though they made any plans to meet, Si Woo told himself, the boy simply found him and followed him all on his own. Like his own little stalker.

For a strange moment that idea pleased him. Someone wanted him to be with him enough to stalk him. But would he want him still? Si Woo had forgotten to notify him, and it had been a few days already. Was a few days enough for the kid to lose interest in him?

He paused then irritatingly pushed the thought aside as he sat down on the swing seat.

What did he care? Why was he even bothering about it? He was just a boy, a nameless, penniless boy from a broken household. He was no use to him or his plans, just another bother, another hindrance. Did it matter if such a useless thing pushed him aside?

He gazed out onto the rest of the park, it was empty and it looked as though it had been hours since it had last seen a living soul.

He twiddled with the chain as he dragged his feet across the soft floor beneath him. Forward and back. Forward and back. The third iteration just a little higher than its predecessors. 

For a while he continued his aimless swinging until he felt something touch his back. He froze.

He turned quickly but it was too late and he felt himself being pushed forward until he fell, face forward into the soft floor beneath him.

He sputtered angrily and turned even as his heart began to beat fearfully in his chest. Who could it be? The park had been empty just moments before.

He looked up and his gaze fell on a large man, his sex distinguishable only by the breadth of his shoulders and his height. He wore a hoodie, and the hood was hiding his face.

Si Woo’s eyes widened and before he could stop himself, he felt the fear manifest onto his face.

He opened his mouth to shout but no sound came and the man lifted his hand behind his head and struck down diagonally without a sound.

The sound of flesh upon flesh reverberated loudly in the empty, darkened park.

Si Woo’s head whipped to the side painfully and he groaned, feeling a burning heat on his cheek.

Why? He didn’t even know this man… right? But he couldn’t be sure, he couldn’t see his face, hidden beneath the darkness of the hoodie.

Instinctively, out of pure terror, Si Woo turned and began to quickly crawl away from his assailant, but large hands grabbed at his pants and dragged him back.

Si Woo tried to swallow a whimper, but his body wasn’t listening. And again the back of a palm came down and struck him hard on the face.

He grabbed at the hand that lifted him up onto his feet. The smell hit him first—the unmistakable scent of a body long unwashed. He recoiled as his body reacted in a visceral rejection.

His left eye was nearly swollen shut, the last hit had fallen across it. He tried to peer into the hood and he could vaguely make out a disheveled face—unshaven beard, uncut hair, skin ravaged by time. He was an older man, that much Si Woo could make out, but the features he didn’t recognize. He didn’t know him at all.

“S-Stop,” Si Woo ground out. “Why–why are you doing this?”

The man sighed as though he hesitated, but he did not say a word. He then lifted his hand up again and struck him once more, but this time, his hand had balled up into a fist, knocking into Si Woo’s teeth.

Si Woo yelled in pain then coughed as he felt something loose within his mouth. To his horror, he watched as he spit out blood and a small, white tooth.

Si Woo began to wail as his struggle increased, kicking his feet into the air. And unbeknownst to him, words he would have never thought to say came tumbling from his trembling lips, “M-Mom! M-Mom! H-Help, mom!”

The man paused and looked around before he struck him once more, his hand open once again, the back of it making contact with Si Woo’s face before dropping him onto the ground.

Si Woo rolled himself up into a ball and began to sob.

The man stood over him for a moment but he did not move. Si Woo heard a sigh emit from his mouth once again before the man crouched beside him and grabbed Si Woo’s chin, lifting his head up to peer at his face.

Both his eyes were swollen now from both the beating and the tears.

Si Woo flinched and tried to curl back up into a ball but the man held his chin firmly. A moment later, he saw a light flash in his face and the clicking of a photo being taken by the man’s cell phone.

“It was nothing against you, kid,” the man said with a heavy tone and released. “It’s just business.”

Si Woo felt something small fall onto his shoulder and he looked down to see a crumpled up napkin that the man had thrown at him. He crawled up into himself again as he watched the man disappear back into the darkness.

He cried silently, clutching his face. He felt droplets of saliva and blood drop onto his hand and blindly he felt around for the napkin. And when his hand wrapped around the crumpled up paper, he pressed it against his mouth as he stood onto trembling legs.

“Hyung?” came a soft voice from behind him.

Si Woo turned. Tears were still falling as he continued clutched the napkin to his mouth.

Dae-Ho stared at him with wide eyes. Despite how late it was he was still wearing his school uniform and carrying a small plastic black bag. As soon as their eyes met, Dae-Ho dropped the bag and came bounding toward him, his small frame faster than Si Woo thought possible. 

In a matter of seconds, Dae-Ho was beside him, his small child sized hand on the arm that clutched the napkin to his face.

“Hyung? Hyung, what happened?” Dae-Ho asked. Si Woo could hear the concern clearly in his voice and his tears immediately stopped.

“I uh–” he stuttered, stumbling over his words. He didn’t care what this nobody boy thought of him and yet, at the same time, Si Woo didn’t want him to see him in such a state.

“I’ll take you home.”

Any other time, Si Woo would have rejected the offer but his body was still trembling, the fear deeply seated within him. He didn’t want to be alone and so he nodded.

Without hesitation and without asking any questions, Dae-Ho took his hand and led him out of the park.

As they walked, Dae-Ho remained respectfully quiet, not asking any questions despite the curiosity almost buzzing through his small frame.

When the trembling in his limbs finally stopped, Si Woo’s eyes landed on their clasped hands. He didn’t feel even the slightest desire to let go of it. He looked up and stared at the boy’s back. It was small. Dae-Ho was still a foot shorter than him and many pounds lighter and yet… and yet, he felt incredibly, inexplicably safe.

A moment later, he felt shame fill him at the thought of relying on such a young kid but still he did not retract his hand.

When they arrived at Si Woo’s home, Dae-Ho turned to look at him.

Si Woo flinched and quickly released Dae-Ho’s hand.

“Hyung,” he said hesitantly, “I don’t have a phone so um… can I come visit you to make sure you’re okay tomorrow?”

Si Woo met his gaze. Dae-Ho’s eyes were as straightforward as they always were.

But he suddenly caught sight of the bloodied napkin; it was trembling slightly, pressed against his mouth. He was still scared, terrified, he wasn’t sure if he would even leave the house tomorrow, he didn’t want to see anyone and yet…

“Okay,” he said, nodding, his voice small, unlike the voice he often used with the kid or anybody else. And at that moment, he felt as though he was the younger of the two, his age made moot by the reliability of the boy before him.

Discomfited by the thought, feeling unbalanced, Si Woo pushed past him toward the front door of his family’s large home and without another word, closed the door, leaving the boy behind and alone on his front doorstep.