The orphanage always smelled of damp wood and mildew, its creaking walls echoing with the laughter of children who had long since learned to ignore the pain of their world. But for Jin Mo, the laughter only deepened his isolation.
He sat on the edge of his creaky bed, the springs groaning beneath him. The tattered mattress was thin, no better than sleeping on a pile of hay, and the cold air seeped through the cracked windows, biting at his skin. His oversized, hand-me-down clothes barely kept him warm.
Jin Mo was the smallest of the boys in the orphanage, and that alone made him an easy target. Every day, he bore bruises, reminders of Taeyoon and his gang's cruel games.
"You'll never be anything, Jin Mo!" Taeyoon sneered as he shoved Jin against the wall one evening. His friends cackled as Jin fell, clutching his ribs. "You don't even have parents! Nobody cares if you're here or not."
The sting of the words cut deeper than the pain in his body. Jin Mo said nothing—he never did. He knew fighting back would only make things worse. He endured it in silence, retreating into his thoughts to survive another day.
But school was no refuge. The classroom offered the same torment, just with different faces. Teachers ignored his presence, and his classmates took every chance to remind him of his place at the bottom of the social ladder.
Except for Yoon Ha.
She was the only one who saw him. Her kindness was the only warmth in Jin Mo's life. A simple smile from her felt like a ray of sunlight piercing through the storm clouds that always hung over him.
"Jin Mo, are you okay?" she would ask, her voice soft and filled with concern.
He always nodded, too shy to speak. But her presence gave him a fleeting sense of hope, a tiny ember in the otherwise cold and dark world he inhabited.
Yoon Ha was his light.
But even her kindness couldn't drown out the thoughts that plagued him.
At night, lying on his thin mattress, Jin Mo stared at the cracked ceiling above him, the cold seeping into his bones. A question lingered in his mind: Why am I even alive?
The weight of loneliness crushed him, and each day it grew heavier. There were no answers to his pain, only the unrelenting reminder that the world was cruel and uncaring.
If not for Yoon Ha's occasional smiles and kind words, Jin Mo might have let the darkness consume him entirely.
Still, the ember of hope she gave him burned weakly. And deep down, Jin Mo wished for something more. A reason to live. A purpose that went beyond enduring another day.
But wishes rarely came true in a world as unforgiving as his.