4 Chapter 3

Kim Jeong Hoon awoke slowly and discovered himself in a pitch dark room- with no window and no furniture, just a bed. The room was tiny, and no ventilation for the oxygen to flow in and out. It was like a cage with no escape point.

Kim Jeong Hoon stood up and walked along the wall. He took a round of the room while feeling the side walls to identify the door.

While doing the sidewalk, he discovered a small door— height and breadth like one meter. Disappointedly the door was sealed, and the oxygen level was low. It was hard to breathe.

He sat down on the floor, leaning on the door. His eyes started tearing, and he started breathing loudly.

Suddenly light approached the darkroom. His surroundings became fully white, and his loud breathing noise became louder and louder and started echoing.

He closed his eyes and welcomed death, as there was nothing else to do. After a few seconds, he faints down on the floor

...…

A voice—

"Kim, wake up..."--

"Are you alright?"--

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself on a hospital bed. He became anxious and climbed up on his pillow to sit straight.

"Wait, Kim, let me help you." Ji Hoon with a scared face.

Kim stretched his back and his neck and asked, "Was that all a dream?"

"After the book signing event, the owner felt sick and suffered a heart attack." Ji Hoon stated, "I was helping him in wrapping things up, and suddenly he got a heart attack. I called 119 as soon as possible, but he couldn't survive. He died on my arms."

"As the owner doesn't have any family. I wanted to inform you about his death as you were very close to him, but you were not picking up the call. Hence, I asked Mr Lee to check on you. After that, he found out your condition, so we brought you to the hospital."

Ji Hoon broke down while explaining the story and started crying. Kim became sad and felt awful for what happened.

While listening to Ji Hoon, someone knocked three times on the door, "Knock, Knock, Knock." Kim Jeong Hoon called out whoever was to come in.

The door opened, and Ji Hoon called out, "Ms Nurse."

The nurse entered with a smile on her face to look friendly. "Mr Kim, your diabetic level suddenly went too low today, which resulted in you losing consciousness. When you fainted, you injured your forehead with a deep cut. There are no major problems to be scared about; you may leave by tomorrow morning," She stated.

The nurse instantly left after informing.

Kim Jeong Hoon came back to the topic with Ji Hoon and tried to console him with his smooth talk.

Kim was unbreakable from inside. He had experienced a lot in his life, which fortified him from the inside. After his parents' death, he became alone. He was a ten years old boy, had no one left in the world to seek help from, so he had to register himself in an orphanage. But, after a few years, the orphanage had to close down because of low funds, and he was asked to move out. Subsequently, he debuted as a writer and become independent. His first novel, which he wrote relating to his life, "The Hard World", became world-famous in a few years. He became one of the most diligent writers in Korea with that.

After consoling Ji Hoon, Kim Jeong Hoon wanted to start working on the story. He took Ji Hoon's phone and dialled Mr Lee-

"Hello Mr Lee, it is me, Kim-"

Mr Lee replied, "Oh hello, how are you doing? Are you feeling fine? Sorry, I could not stay at the hospital. I had an urgent business to deal with."

Kim asked Mr Lee to bring his grandfathers typewriter from his house, as he wanted to work on the typewriter. Mr Lee brought the typewriter straight to the hospital.

Seeing the typewriter brought back the missing smile to Kim's face. It looked even prettier than before in his eyes— the glossy metals were shining in the yellow light of the hospital room.

Mr Lee handed over the typewriter in Kim's hand. Holding the typewriter made him feel close to his grandfather, and it replayed the old rusted memories he had of his grandfather. Kim was very close to his grandfather, broke down a lot when his grandfather had passed away. He was six back then.

His eyes started tearing out, and he adored the typewriter with his hand.

After handing it over, Mr Lee and Ji Hoon left the hospital. It was 10:50 and already overspent for home-leaving. Leaving Kim alone made him focused on work.

The nurse allowed him a small table across his lying to keep the typewriter and write comfortably on the bed. The nurse was a fan of his amazing work in Hard World, hence helped him with all her care.

It was Kim's first time writing on a typewriter as he was raised in the age of computers. He was very excited to write something about it.

When he landed his fingers on her beautiful metallic keys, he visualised himself on a broken road. The area was old, and people were moving around on horse-carts. He turned around and observed his surroundings and found a beautiful lady being chased by a handful of people. They were all armed. The lady had a small pistol in her hand and a knife belted in her waist. The people running behind her were speaking Japanese. He didn't want to interfere in some kind-of-a mess; he was confused with what he was seeing.

He looked around himself and found many shops alongside the road. He was anxious. He was unable to understand what was happening to him and how he came here. The last thing he remembered was he was in the hospital. To analyse what was happening, he went inside a shoe shop beside.

The shop owner was a young gentleman and looked to be of the same age as Kim. As he went inside, the owner greeted him with some warm words.

"Eotteohge dowa deulilkkayo." The owner asked, "How may I help you?"

"Will you please tell me today's date?" Kim replied.

The owner looked at him suspiciously and said, "15 December 1929."