Chapter=1 (Interactions)

A white crooked paper flew from nowhere slaying and swirling into the air, laying down on the surface of muddy, wet, and leftover packages of potato chips.

With the sound of 'crunch', In no time the empty cover of potato chips got crushed right away shoes imprinting the paper onto its shoe heel. Being glued in his shoes, he stops,

"...?"

An unremarkable and unnoticeable dark circle was the first thing that attracts the glance of people of him.

Without sparring any sec to look at it, He casually snatched it from his shoes and dashed it over in the other direction tiredly.

Not a single second had passed out and instantly a lot more familiar type of multiple 'crunch' sounds followed the path as he walks away towards the exit door as if there was barely a space.

On the other hand, the wrinkled and dirty paper flew and swirled all over one side of the heap of clothes on the right side of the room. Flies were flying from every corner as if it were their territory instead. No wonder his footsteps made a sound whenever his feet fall upon the ground fact the entire place was hagged by the unpleasant odor, dirty clothes, unwashed utensils, and the waste particles living all together on the same roof in harmony.

The owner was fine and so were the flies too.

Strange enough right?

As it turned out the situation would be the same for the paper no matter which direction or the level of effort he put into it? However, it doesn't a concern now.

But if looked thoroughly despite the dirt and bad condition looking almost near to tore down any second, something was scrabbled in it.

"Was the world always this wicked?"

"Were people always this evil?"

"Was I always this forlorn?"

"Was being happy always this arduous?"

"Was being alive always this much harder?"

"Was having a kind heart always a curse?"

"Was 'love yourself' word always a chore?"

"Was I always this depressed?"

"Was Air always this burdensome?"

"Was breathing always this much suffocating?"

"Was I always this fragile?"

"Was my mind always this chaotic?"

"Was fear always this menacing?"

"Were things always this sturdy?"

"Was 'everything will be fine' always a hope?

"Was hope always this illusion?"

Unfortunately, only trivial living beings witnessed it that night.

...

That boy silently and tirelessly entered the department store.

Without wandering around, he casually grabbed out a few soju bottles and several evening snacks along with it too. Then, he straightly went to the cashier. Right there he saw a lady receptionist talking to the stranger boy so passionately. It wasn't much of a strange thing for a receptionist to talk with a customer but somehow He waits patiently and listened attentively until they were done.

"OH!! Look who we've got here...?"

A young average looking woman who seemed like she was in her late 20's asked enthusiastically with her eyes both widened.

"Newmoon., KIM NEWMOON"

Newmoon slightly bowed his head to warm her gestures while the customer exits the store.

Not bothering with the formalities she quickly jumped into her direct points.

She questioned, "Where have you been all this time. Newmoon?" "Is everything all right?"

"it's been a while since I last saw you here.!"

She continued as she begins to make his payment check.

"I almost thought you've returned to your town. The fact college still has some time left.!"

or perhaps you.?"

She scrunched her eyes.

Newmoon handled the money in her hands and responds in a carefree tone finally speaking a while later," Rest assured noona., everything is fine."

"I wasn't in my best shape. That's all!"

"However, I'm now.! So, nothing to be worried about!"

Newmoon concluded with his wide smile and immediately inquired,

"By the way, does noona knows the boy from earlier?

Lady raised her brows, "A boy...??"

" Um..the one before me! the one with whom you were so passionately chitchatting. I guess you two knew each other."

Upon hearing the sentences if she realized some sort of funny thoughts in her head. She burst into laughter," Ha-ha. Of course not. What exactly made you think so?"

Newmoon questioned in a puzzled tone,

"Is that so?"

"But it seemed so!"

Indeed he wasn't wrong. Who gives their valuable time to a random stranger customer. Newmoon too had a little to an average common sense about it and he wasn't completely blinded enough though he was undoubtedly half.

Lady mumbled in a dreamy eye, slightly highlighted with a blush, "Sigh. If only what you said would be true."

"He indeed was my ideal type!"

There she confessed her interior motive way sooner than one would have expected.

As she falls into his fantasy world, she supported her cheeks with her hand, "Hot, handsome, tall, has a good manly voice and most importantly his personality...like the way of talking to me. I wonder if he'll ever visit here just like how some dramas portrayed such scenes..you know. I would've then asked for his phone number."

Once again, Not a second had passed out, and a small whispering tone was heard,

"Those people who seem naïve on the outside are the most crooked ones on the inside!"

Lady," …?"

Not even bothering to give the second thought to arouse possibilities of her, the newmoon instantly bowed,

"Have a good evening noona!"

Then, he left swiftly leaving noona with a dazed expression.

Slowly and steadily, following the path wherever it leads, newmoon wandered. Sometimes as if the imbalance road caused him to lose balance or out of habit he walked sluggishly, he almost tripped over countless times before even his throat could gulp the drops of the soju. The swift sounds of various vehicles passing through the near footpath, switching their lights back and forth exposing the slender thin body of the newmoon. He was around 175cm with a wrinkled sweater, pants, and simple almost worn type of shoes. However, his head was laid low, eyes down towards the black pitch of the road.

Seeing him, anybody would have given an illusion as if he was searching for his lost things instead. Tickling and tackling sounds of bottles collided coming from his one side of hands downwards, while the other one was inside his pockets. At first glance, he gave an impression of a typical normal person.

Oh not like that certain typical fellow person! But like an alcoholic's rusty person who simply found aimlessness wandering around at night time when the sun has eventually set down.

After losing a certain track of time, a moment later, he was found at the Han bridge by himself. For some unknown reason, this time he froze and turned around towards the empty howled of winds from behind.

"…."

A strong breeze flapped his front hair leaving a cold chill sensation in his body. By the time he reached there, the sky was already fully swallowed by the thick abyss. If it's not for the artificial lights on the bridge, then it would be the same as the condition of the sky.

He blankly stared down at the blur, glittery reflection of the moon over the surface of the river, totally speechless.

The place was non-other than the Han River. He was at the Han river bridge.

Soon after, he gradually closed his eyes and in an instant another blow of breeze hit him. But this time he relaxes his shoulders and inhales a long calm breath.

From a few miles away the sound of the heavily slamming door of a cab could be heard. Immediately afterward the sound of a sharp piercing high pitched tone got clearer along with approaching footsteps.

" ASSHOLE, why did you betray me.?"

Girl curses right passing through the newmoon clenching her phone.

He quickly opened his eyes as if he got disturbed,

"?"

That girl tune rose to a higher towards the end,

" You know how much I loved you..!"

"You were my everything.!!."

"So, why..??"

Aftermath newmoon couldn't hear anymore, no one knew if it was because of the distance or if she stopped somewhere else. The fact her presence evaporated just like that into the thin air or as if she got gulped up by the darkness, nobody knew about her whereabouts. It wasn't like he intended to eavesdrop in the first place but somehow he ended up listening to a few words.

"Sigh"

Newmoon exhaled a long deep sigh with his eyelids drooping down almost touching the lower eyelashes, he mumbled to himself,

"It's been a while since I last came here!"

"Time indeed has changed but-

He paused for a quick bit and upfront his head towards the lonely moon,

"..nothing has changed yet!" It's all same!"

"Sometimes I wonder if I am the one who is running slower or the world is pacing forward?"

He slightly turned around and began to move forward, "either way..one thing is for sure;

" When I was walking faster, the world moved barely!"

"And now when I am walking barely, the world is sprinting crazily!"

"Probably the reason why life is so imbalanced!!!"

"Makes sense-

Suddenly his steps froze in a midway, a puzzled expression clouded his eyes. He quickly realized he was in the wrong direction.

Just when he was about to turn around and continued to walk, his eyes got stuck somewhere across the darkness a few miles away.

As he squinted his eyes, he saw someone's human-like figure standing behind the big pillar in front of the steel bar. Head somehow gazing down the river.

"..."

Exactly having no sense from where the feelings of empathy busted out into his veins..for the first time he decided to intertwine there.

By the time he gets closer to that unknown person..some immediate thoughts surrounded his mind.

Naturally, he walked towards him, in the same lane and phase, and stood right a few meters away steadily, relaxed posture, and looked towards the same moon as he was staring into before. He thought for a bit..before opening his mouth!

In a loud, clear, and masculine voice, newmoon asked firmly,

" Going to jump off..???"

"…"

Heavy silence flew all over the environment.

Newmoon pretty much predicted the silence over the answers already over his head..almost to a point where it would seem more strange if he received them instead, so he retreated his body towards the other person, and just when he was about to speak again- A small voice sounded straightly from the opposite direction.

"No!!"

"??"

It was unexpected!

Quickly afterward, Newmoon questioned in a curious tone, his eyebrows more directed.

"Then what..? you here for fishing at this hour? In that position?

"…"

Once more, Heaviness swirled around the environment.

A moment later, Suddenly, as if the breeze responds instead of the unknown person, the only sound heard was the whistling of howling wind passing through the ear, gently tickling cold cheeks, eventually brushing down towards the soft eyelashes.

As the vehicle approached from the same side of the bridge emitting a spectrum of light over their side revealing some description of that person. A long wavy hair was being flown into the midair by an instant strong force. Powerful indeed. Only a sec lasted but Newmoon was able to catch a blissful sight in a second in that darkness.

A voice in his mind said," It indeed is her!!"

The girl from earlier! The one who was talking on the phone. No wonder newmoon felt some uneasy emotions about where she vanished in a blink of an eye before. So, all this time she had been there. Silence and fallen in deep thoughts.

Under the holistic and dearly shadow of the glittery moon being reflected above the sea. For a moment on a starry night, it almost seems to appear like a mysterious person with a majestic glimpse. Surely, one couldn't take their eyes off that sight.

"…."

A quick moment later newmoon laid his carefree hands slightly up and rubbed his temples softly,

His voice was lower yet clear, " So, you two guys broke up..?"

"Can't bear the pain? And now you want to end your life?, Just for that simple reason huh?"

"…"

As expected she answered with silence once more!

Having not received any response for a long while the fact he had little hope about the reply comparing the amount of time he would take before. Newmoon exhaled a deep sigh, his eyebrows knitted a bit.

" This is the problem of the youth nowadays."

"They think they're the only one!!"

He continued with a serious tone as his gaze fixed on the lonely abyss.

" However, They aren't the only one who thinks that way though. Can't blame them. Life is a jerk you know, life is unfair too! But we are hopeless, helpless in front of that. We gonna live it somehow. Life goes on and on!"

To talk about newmoon, himself, he had never shared his opinions about such critical subjects beforehand. so he was somewhat lacking a matter of sense in those sorts of fields. Despite his lacking direction and knowledge, he gave his best to took a control of the situation.

" Neither I know your life in detail nor I know about life itself.., however all I can say for now is,

The phase you're going through right now;

"..is the same phase elders had already faced too!!"

"..is the same phase we're currently facing along with you too!!"

"..is the same phase youngsters will be facing tomorrow too!!

"We just think we're alone but not actually. that's why don't ever think, you're alone in this!"

"..."

Newmoon blankly blinked twice as he snapped,

"I know. I know! I am not in a place to give an earful of so-called life ramblings to a person I just encountered and you are understandable in your position as a stranger too. I know what am I saying now doesn't make sense at all like bluffing? perhaps like pouring water into the soil? But it is what it is!"

" As time passes you'll naturally know about what I am trying to emphasize."

Once more, A light hit the pillar where that girl was standing. A shadow reflected that her head was turned towards the newmoon's direction. It was pretty much clarified that though she wasn't uttering any words he was still looking after newmoon. Only God knew whether she was only listening or paying attention to his words too!

Whereas newmoon gave up on getting any follow-up expectation, while he continuously carried on his explanation,

He lazily crisscrossed his arms, tuning worry less, " but despite my saying if you are still caught up in your illusion thoughts then, Go ahead!! I don't have anything to say. In the end. It's your life, anyway. It's not like you'll listen to any random stranger's words. but-"

All of sudden newmoon turned his face in that girl's direction, and the tone changed drastically into a more deep and careful one, " As a human, I want you to live-"

He hadn't even finished his last word yet and once again a powerful force of air slammed onto the area. That girl's long wavy hair got flickered twice leaving an extremely rich aura.

Other than a tint, blurred, quick shadow of her hair being fluttered, it was all newmoon could see from the other side. And to be more honest, Newmoon's eyesight was super weak to a point where even figuring out the basic body of that person's appearance was harder for him.

Newmoon didn't even bother to squint his eyes cause he knew all of his efforts will be in the vain cause of the fact he wasn't going to see a single thing at all. So almost all the time he looked rather in front facing down the river or simply lost in the soulless sky.

Now, the heavy wind had come and gone in a blink of an eye, he turned his head around,

"Who knows if you've got a beautiful life ahead..waiting for you, only for you! There must be your beloved person at home as well as somewhere out there."

"Everything happens for a reason-!"

For some reason as soon as he blurted out the last sentences his eyes flashed with familiar darkness.

"..."

His countenance got slightly shadowed too. with a pause, he continued,

"Now that we came to this point you know what?"

Everybody keeps on saying, "Everything happens for a reason..everything happens for a reason."

I know there must be a divine reason for everything but the funny part is,

"why everything happens for a reason?" I don't know.

"The true meaning behind this quote. Maybe one day, I would know the reasons too..just like them, and try to fit the puzzle into the picture, making sense of why life unfolded like that? However, one thing is for sure, I know time definitely wouldn't be there same for me..but still in the end. I'll get the reasons, the answers to the questions that I've been searching for my whole life."

"Maybe one day, I can die peacefully afterward like normal people 'cause I know, as I grow older, heaps of questions would grow older together along with me too throughout the journey!"

He tilted his head upwards and takes his time for further explanations,

"So, for best, I can only give you suggestions about it. Nothing more.! Aha- To think deeply I can't give you the best of best advice cause the fact I lack in that area too. More or less like the 'I can't teach you unless or until I learned and mastered it first' kind of thing.

At that moment as though breeze agreed with his point it passed through them flapping their hair.

"So-!!"

Strangely enough, a wave of anticipated expression floated in his words. At least in the first time hearing. But if one would listen to it more carefully perking their ears, it sounded more like bittersweet, foreboding feelings.