Seven years ago, I lost my parents. Then, I met a girl while I was wandering around in Gimhae to look for somewhere to go. It was a day after the murder of my parents and I ran away.

Originally, I thought she was a boy. Her hair was cut short and she dressed in plain t-shirts and pants. The moment I saw her, I knew she was like me, running into the forest to get away from reality. After all, it’s not every day you see someone with unclean clothes, eyes with no joy, and trudging instead of walking because of exhaustion.

I approached her. When she first saw me, instead of running, ignoring me, or walking away, she asked me, “Are you also here because of BHK?”

I was surprised of course, but I realized that I don’t look too different from her. That’s probably how she knew.

We walked together for a bit, near a mile.  Down a trail of rocks, through a forest of trees, running into animals, and then climbing a hill. After climbing over, a lake appeared in front of our eyes. We stopped walking.

I then asked her, “What is your name?”

She told me, “Chin.”

Her eyes were staring at the lake in front of us. I couldn’t understand what was so special about the lake, so I stared at the lake too.

“Aren’t heroes stupid?” she asked.

“What makes them stupid?”

Chin paused.

“Because their only deed is to save people. They don’t realize if they sacrifice themselves, the person they have mutual love with will suffer. Why doesn’t the hero be the one who lives with suffering for the rest of their life?”

At that time, I was still bitter that my parents left me inside the store while decoying BHK as far away as possible. I also thought heroes were stupid.

“They are stupid things.”

We watched a swan swim across the lake with its babies swimming behind.

“I’m exploring this forest. If you want, join me. If you don’t want, feel free to leave,” I proposed to her.

To my surprised, she agreed. We spent a couple of days examining trees, kicking water, climbing hills, walking through trails, sleeping on logs, eating leftovers, and getting water from water fountains or drinking lake water. 

Throughout our time together, Chin told me about herself. Her real name was Eunkyung, she looked like a boy but she was actually a girl, she likes to read books and cook, in particular, cupcakes. We made nicknames for each other, Byeong for me because it meant wall, and she felt as if I was a good wall to lean on. She didn’t want a nickname, because Chin was a nickname given to her by her dad. We shared with each other our experiences from BHK. I remembered, that what allowed me to stand up again was knowing that someone else in the world is suffering from BHK. I’m not alone.

Chin decided to return to her family, and we parted ways.

Eunkyung was right all along… and I promised her that if we met again one day, we’d become friends and not be separated again. 

To meet each other again… if she didn’t remember me, I don’t know how I’d react.