(For mature readers — emotional and psychological themes)
The house was silent.
Too silent.
Only the echo of muffled voices seeped through the thin walls.
MK stirred in his sleep, his heartbeat steady but fragile — like a candle's flame in a storm.
Then the shouting began.
> "You don't understand, Jin!"
"No, Hanaya — you're the one who doesn't!"
His dream cracked open like glass.
MK's breathing hitched; a sharp pulse of pain pierced his chest.
He felt it — that same suffocating pressure — the one that came whenever fear met memory.
In the dream, he was small again.
A little boy, hiding behind a door.
The room on the other side was dark, full of shouting, breaking sounds… crying.
His mother's voice.
Soft.
Broken.
Begging.
> "Please… stop. Not in front of him…"
And then — the sound.
A heavy thud.
A scream cut short.
MK's eyes flew open.
Sweat drenched his hair. His heart pounded wildly, as if trying to escape his chest.
He gasped for air, but it wouldn't come.
> "No… not again… mommy…"
From the next room, the voices grew louder.
Hanaya: "I can't abandon him, Jin! He's sick — I saw his condition!"
Jin: "You think he's your responsibility? He's ruining our lives, Hanaya!"
A crash — glass shattering.
The sound jolted MK fully awake.
He tried to stand, but his body wouldn't move. His vision swam in fragments —
white walls, trembling hands, a shadow by the door.
Hanaya: "You don't understand! If you hurt him, you'll have to—"
The blow landed before she could finish.
A dull crack.
Then silence.
Hanaya fell to the floor, blood seeping from her forehead.
Her eyes fluttered open just long enough to see Jin walking past her — toward MK's room.
She reached for her phone, her fingers trembling.
"Malaa…" she whispered, "help him… please…"
And then, darkness.
MK didn't scream when Jin entered.
He couldn't.
His heart had turned against him — every beat sharper than a knife.
"Come on, kid," Jin muttered, lifting him roughly. "We're going for a drive."
MK's lips trembled. "W-where… are we going…?"
Jin didn't answer.
The car engine roared to life, slicing through the night.
Outside, snow began to fall — soft at first, then heavy, blinding.
MK tried to move, but his arms were weak, his chest burning.
He thought he saw something in the window reflection —
a woman, crying, calling his name.
> Mommy…?
They stopped in the middle of nowhere.
White hills. No lights. Only the wind.
Jin stepped out, opened the door, and dragged MK onto the snow.
The cold bit into his skin like needles.
"Why…?" MK whispered.
Jin's voice was quiet, empty.
"Because she chose you over everything. Even me."
He looked down at MK — a faint hint of sorrow in his eyes — then turned away.
MK's body trembled violently.
His fingers barely moved. His breaths came in slow, broken gasps.
Snow gathered around him, freezing his tears before they could fall.
> "Mommy… it's so cold… I didn't think you'd really leave me…"
The world turned pale.
Sound disappeared.
Only the faint outline of two figures appeared through the fog —
Hanaya and Malaa — running, calling his name.
MK tried to raise his hand.
But it was too late.
His heartb
eat slowed.
Then stopped.