I'm still alive

[Come on, come on!]

The urgent noise that hastened us burst out of the radio that began to melt away.

However, the fire that overflows around burns the oxygen that makes up the life and blows away the sound that rings in the ears.

And now I don't hear anything in my ears.

This is a place of fire, where even human paths become ashes.

"Dong-yoon! Cover the baby!!!"

And my brother's voice broke through the silentness and the tinnitus that was hovering in my ears, and I breathed out at a moment and instinctively embraced the child.

Then in the corridor on the side, the waves of fire that swelled up, swallowing oxygen, hit us in an instant.

It's hot, I think my mind is going to fly like ash.

However, thanks to his brother, who was reading the flow of fire, he was able to escape from the scene of life and death.

"Get a hold of yourself!"

And with a roar of my ears, I lift up my brother's fallen me.

The field of view is reversed.

I looked at the child, who was still in his arms despite his blurred hair, and re-stuck the oxygen respirator, which was still intact, with trembling hands.

It is a situation where only instinct remains.

The idea of saving each other's lives, and that they have to survive also dominates the body.

No more words are needed.

Raised up by my brother, I held the child back in my arms and began to run toward the end of that far-sighted extension.

The heat coming through thick black smoke and fire suits.

We were walking across the middle of the hell that the fire had created, and my steps were slowly slowing down against the backlash of wind and sneezing from all sides.

A little more, a little more! The lungs whip my mind, demanding breath, but I was running from my apnea, looking only at the end of the road ahead.

A second looks at the place where it feels like an hour, and the man's back with all his nerves and eyes.

I can now remember the short story of the past, which is shaking like a haze, missing and forgotten.

The ceiling above my head collapses and my vision is distorted.

Boom!

At the sound of the gas, I instinctively fell down and hugged the child.

The collapsed ceiling then splashes shrapnel on its back and head, splashing it with a violent splash of fire.

Die, die. I'm going to die in this flame.

He who shakes his limbs and clenches loses his strength.

And by the time the lights fall on the road I have to go from afar, the vision is pushed forward by someone.

“ !!!”

As soon as I'm pulled forward out of the corridor, the ceiling completely collapses.

My brother's scream hits my eardrums.

Flames that seemed to burn everything fluttered from all sides, and the flaming flames that flew with the ashes fluttered in front of their eyes in a hot flames.

The pupils of the eyes move busily.

The hand holding the child shook relentlessly, and it was as heavy as glue on the feet that were supposed to rush out immediately.

There's my brother over that fire.

But you can't save it.

Lee Myeong, Lee Myeong, and Fire burn even Lee Myeong.

I could see my brother's face through the falling ceiling, and I could see that the face was distorted and something was shouting at me.

If you hesitate, me and the child die.

But if you run away like this, your brother will die.

With everything hesitating, and in anguish, I did my best to read the shape of my brother's mouth in front of the cliff of life.

And at the same time, my feet and tears, which were tied tightly, burst out.

'Get her out of here.'

The world is inverted and hell is gone.

Once again I felt my mind fading as I sank into the abyss.

The filament, which was being held, snapped at the end of the dark.

* * *

a square angle

Silent dawns and silence fade as snow melts.

And so peaceful noise tickled my ears between the melted stillness.

I took a breath, feeling the lingering sensation of waking from a deep sleep, and soon lift up my heavy eyelids like a thunderbolt.

The night air coming through the open windows wraps around the face.

Good condition, but when a longing like me lingers in my mouth and slowly goes into my throat.

I stared at the dark ceiling for a while and soon turned my head and looked at the old man through the tiny twinkling candle.

The old man was sitting in his chair, grinding the arrowheads that had pierced their heads, asking me.

"Did you have a dream? You've been tossing and turning."

Turn your head to check the clock on the desk.

It's 5 a.m., too early to wake up, but too late to sleep.

I slowly get up from the sofa and tidy up the blanket I was covering and press down on the hat I put on the desk.

and answered the old man lightly, washing his face dry.

"I guess I did it because I thought of them."

The old man grinned at the answer and lifted up the arrowhead he had carefully changed.

The faint glistening arrowheads under a small candle light were sporting a seasoned spleen in harmony with the hair of an old man who had turned completely white.

Then the old man wipes the arrowhead quietly with a cloth and ties it to a bag he has prepared beforehand.

"Yes, it's worth it.

Eden cleared himself of the charge, and the world regained the truth.

As we listened to the news from the radio, we could realize that the moment of reunion that would break our loneliness with longing was just around the corner like a spring breeze.

Sitting still on the bed, he looks at an old man who is servicing his weapons.

Four years...….

The old man, struck by the storm of the long years, was old enough to be visibly compared to the first time he met.

And I naturally turn my head and look at the small side mirror next to the bed.

There are only vivid scars and rough skin left on the face, and the heterogeneous eyes twinkling in the light of the candlelight still seem unfamiliar.

The city has changed, the seasons have changed, and I think everything has changed except for the three names of Kwak Dong-yoon.

I asked the old man who lifted the arrow bag, putting on his clothes and equipment one by one beside the bed.

"What about them yesterday?”

This is a city of death with a deep grayish glow.

I'm sure this space I'm treading on is also a civilization made by people.

Years later, it has become a filthy mudslide that only lives on the garbage from hell.

And it was less than a day ago that we found an outsider attacked by strains in this uninhabited city.

Of course, I've heard outside news from time to time on a small radio.

The appearance of outsiders, who might have known other stories, came like a fresh breeze for us, who were continuing our dry lives.

And the old man, who saw me, slightly excited like a frog that looked out of the well, answered with a simple smile.

"The man who fainted and fell down had a slight cut, so I disinfected it first and only bandaged it.

But I think there's a slight concussion, so I have to wait and see, and another one...….”

Boom, boom!

And it was the heavy sound of something falling on the floor that cut off the old man who began to explain quietly.

At the heavy sound our eyes naturally turned toward the door, and soon we could hear the sound of the deafening man's hundred million words with the sound of rolling the floor.

The place where the sound was heard was clearly a place where two outsiders met in the city were laid down.

Judging from the sound of only one footstep, one of them must have woken up.

The old man, who had opened his mouth for a long time to explain, quietly put down his bag with a giggle, and I slowly approached forward and opened the door out into the hall.

But a man who ran out of the room before I could tell them he was fine, that he was relieved, starts stuttering his arms and legs in the hallway.

"Well, well... ...there...….”

When I made eye contact with the man, I raised my hands as if to calm down.

I don't know what the intentions and thoughts of these outsiders who were found outside were to enter this dangerous place.

It is not wise to continue the conversation in this panic.

And the man, looking at my face with trembling eyes at the gesture that he had no intention of hurting you, gulped and swallowed his saliva.

"Kwak Dong-yoon..."

And at that moment, the first word out of the man's mouth was unexpectedly three letters of my name.

Huh? At the start of an unexpected conversation I took a close look at his face calling my name.

And I checked if you knew him or if you had met him, but the face of the man I saw for the first time today was only unfamiliar.

I once asked questions about the three names, waiting for him to calm down.

"Have you ever met me?"

At my question, the man shook his head with a limp and came this way.

His face was filled with incredible feelings and curiosity as if he had found something novel.

A subtle eye with mixed feelings of being afraid and welcoming.

As I looked at the man and thought, "What a strange man," he answered in a calmer voice than before.

"Books, I've seen illustrations from books. I mean, it's...….”

Books? What books? My diary?

I began to confront the gibberish man with a subtle look.

But that too, for a moment, the door that I opened opened opened once again, and the old man showed up.

The old man, who came out of the door and walked down the hall, yawned coolly and passed us carelessly.

Then, touching my shoulder standing in a dim position, pointed to the hallway window, just before dawn.

The dawn is already past and the morning is coming.

"Sign for me, or take a picture for me. If you're not going to do both, let's go eat. You're hungry, aren't you? Let's let your party rest more and talk about it over dinner. You look like you have a lot to talk about."

The old man's sly exhortation embarrassed the man but refused.

And I nod, too, confirming that the morning is coming with a clock on my left wrist.

As we were busy for a day, we used to start our work earlier than others with a strong breakfast.

I just remembered the potatoes and warm soybean paste soup that I had buried in the ground.

I first beckoned the man still standing, following the old man walking towards the outside.

Let's do it after we eat. It's hard to skip meals as you get older.

* * *

All those many inhabitants were gone, and now there are only me and the old man left in Eden.

Sometimes walking along empty streets and walls brings loneliness and loneliness, but the four years have made even the emotions wear out slowly.

And we prepared a delicious breakfast today using all the ingredients we have for our guest who has been visiting for a long time.

Of course, soybean paste soup with small piles floating around and potatoes were nothing but potatoes.

"Bam, a man with a family is fearless.”

And the old man, who heard about the rough situation from the man while preparing the meal, looked disapprovingly at him, who was putting potatoes in his mouth.

However, the man who introduced himself as Kim Joong-won (Assistant Manager) seemed busy eating potatoes in front of his eyes, whether the old man looked at him or not.

Hoo. Hoo.

Blow hot potatoes well.

The old man, who was nagging at the sight for a while, and I, who was eating quietly, looked at the man without saying a word.

A man who eats hot potatoes with a grubby face.

The figure somehow seemed to see us in the past, and a subtle feeling came.

And I said, putting a piece of boiled potato on his plate that began to perk up for me.

"Your companion will be up soon, so don't worry."

The middle-aged man who was with Kim Joong-won was stunned by the stab wounds and shock he suffered.

But when he was told that his life was not a serious injury, the man sighed with relief and pushed the remaining potatoes into his throat.

And he seems to have forgotten his courtesy even in the midst of his absence, and he suddenly stands up and bows to me and the old man.

"Thank you very much. Whoo......."

Kim Joong-won collapsed on the chair helplessly after the thank-you.

The boiled potatoes and soybean paste soup that went to his share have long been emptied.

You'll be in your right mind when you're full, and when you're in your right mind, you'll begin to understand what you're up against.

And he sighs as if he's leaving his soul as evidence, and laments whether he thinks of his family outside.

"I was crazy......, I'm crazy. Mr. Choi, you son of a...….”

The old man giggles.

Maybe a middle-aged man lying on the bed is Choi.

I slowly rose from my seat and began to clean up the dishes after the meal while the man lamented himself in the past.

If you've had breakfast, it's time to do what we've been doing for four years.

But Kim Joong-won, who came to his senses at the sound of me cleaning up the dishes, raises his head painfully and starts begging us with a face that is about to die.

"Really... ...really, I regret it. And I'm sorry I can't be ashamed to ask you this, but......... Can you help me get out of here just once? What?"

My hand, which was clearing the plate at the request, stood still, and the behavior of the old man, who was quietly smoking, stopped.

And a kitchen where the by-productivity receded and silence was enveloped for a while.

Surprised by the sudden atmosphere, Kim Joong-won began to notice, and I put down my plate again with a bitter smile.

It's a bit of a drag.

The old man answered by rubbing his cigarette out of the ashtray.

"I can't go out yet."

And to that determined voice, Kim Joong-won answers with a puzzled look.

"What?"

The complex eyes that he couldn't believe the answers he heard, and the face, which demanded a detailed explanation, rose from the seat and began to wear the equipment he had taken off. And the old man also made eye contact with the man for a while and tied his hard-working arrow bag behind his back.

On the morning when the sun is fully up, another boring day is about to begin.

The old man told the man again.

"I can't go out yet."

The answer was also a reply to a man, a pledge we had stuck in our hearts for four years.

The reason we haven't gotten out of the containment area yet.

I slowly walked out the door planting the reason in the sun shining through the windows.

And the old man beckons to the man still sitting and moves towards the door that faces out of Eden.

I still have a lot to tell you.