DMSD | Chapter 3

Myeongeun held back his tears as he took the hair tie and wrapped it around the child’s wrist.

“Here. This is for you, Hwan.”

The hair tie wrapped twice around the child’s wrist.

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“I’ll bring you something even better next time I come to visit.”

The child didn’t respond. Though he looked heartbroken to see Myeongeun leaving, he didn’t once tell him not to go. Puzzled by this, Myeongeun asked Grandma while setting his things outside.

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“Myeongeun, I’m sure Hwan would really love for you to stay, don’t you think?”

Grandma chuckled softly and sighed.

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“But Hwan doesn’t think this is a good place to be. That’s why he’s just crying and won’t say anything to make you stay. I mean, who’d hold you here if he thinks it’s not a good place?”

Until his mother came to pick him up, Myeongeun held Hwan in his arms. He was heavy, but Myeongeun stubbornly held on to him.

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“By the way, Grandma, where’s that kid? I haven’t seen her in a few days. Did she go home?”

“Who are you talking about?”

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“You know, that girl…her…”

Hwan, who was resting in Myeongeun’s arms, lifted his head. Myeongeun also widened his eyes, looking down at Hwan, feeling suddenly flustered. What was this? He couldn’t recall the name or face of the girl he’d played hide-and-seek and treasure hunting with all this time.

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“That girl…”

Was it a girl? Or a child? …Was she even alive?

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As Myeongeun stood there, bewildered, Grandma spoke to him in a gentle tone.

“Myeongeun, dear. Don’t come back here again, okay?”

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“Huh? Why? I’ll come visit again!”

Grandma simply smiled without answering. Then Hwan buried his forehead into Myeongeun’s shoulder and murmured softly.

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“Big sister… it’s fine now…okay…”

“Huh?”

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When Myeongeun asked, “Hwan, what did you say?” a car engine sounded from outside. It was the taxi his mother had arrived in.

After returning home, Myeongeun slept deeply for two straight days. Meanwhile, his father, who’d supposedly been on a business trip while he was away, never came back home.

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Myeongeun wanted to see Hwan again. He wanted to go back to the shrine. But every time he tried to contact Grandma, the call wouldn’t go through, and his mother wouldn’t take him there either. Every time he resolved to go on his own, something would come up, preventing him from going.

As time passed, his memories gradually faded, though a few scenes remained vividly imprinted in his mind.

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One memory was of him and Hwan cleaning the shrine together. Cleaning the shrine was always something just the two of them did. One time, as he was wiping down the floor, he glanced through the open door to the yard. At that moment, Hwan suddenly jumped up and shut the door. Outside, a girl sat in the middle of the yard, grinning mischievously as she looked toward them.

They were in the middle of an intense cleaning session.

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“Hey, what’s your name?”

Feeling playful, Myeongeun grinned teasingly as he asked. The little boy, diligently scrubbing with his small hands, answered.

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“Hani.”

“Hani?”

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“Ji-ha, Jin, Jinnani.”

“Jinnani?”

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“Hah…”

It seemed Hwan didn’t like how Myeongeun kept repeating his words, so he pouted and continued wiping the floor. But when Myeongeun poked his puffed-out cheek with a finger, the boy shouted, “Hey, stop it!”

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“Hani! Everyone calls me that, Hani!”

“Are you ‘Run, Hani’? Pfft!”

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When Myeongeun burst out laughing on purpose, Hwan’s face turned red.

“Stop it! No, it’s Jinanni!”

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“So, your name’s Jinanni? Are you from the Ji family?”

“No!”

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The little boy shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Jinanni! Geonjinan!”

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At that time, he couldn’t even pronounce his own name correctly. It was so adorable, the way he’d get upset and puff up with frustration whenever anyone corrected him or teased him about his mispronunciation. Only then did he act like a five-year-old, showing his emotions in such moments. That’s why Myeongeun often teased him.

“Just kidding, just kidding.”

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Smiling, Myeongeun hugged the pouting child. In those moments, the boy would open his arms wide, embracing him tightly with his cheeks still puffed up in a sulk.

“I know your name too.”

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Of course, Myeongeun knew his name. It was a name he’d never forget, even nineteen years later.

◆

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It was the first Monday of December.

Myeongeun had a nightmare of being chased by a big, scary animal. Whether it was a dog, a wolf, a tiger, or a cat, he couldn’t tell, but it looked terrifying. Even as he shouted, “Please! Why are you doing this?!” the creature bit his backside and shredded his pants. Then, with his lower half exposed, it bit down hard and started running somewhere. The creature was large enough to fit half of an adult man’s lower body in its mouth. “No! Stop!” Terrified and humiliated, he screamed until he jolted awake from the nightmare.

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Starting Monday with such a disturbing dream seemed to set the tone for a rough day. From the moment he got up, everything went wrong. Following his usual morning stretching routine of four years, he managed to strain his shoulder, something that hadn’t happened in years. The coffee machine wouldn’t heat up, and though the boiler was working fine, the hot water in the bathroom wouldn’t come on, leaving him to shiver in an icy shower in December. He’d prepared fresh ingredients for a sandwich in the fridge the night before, but somehow, they’d spoiled overnight, filling the kitchen with a sour smell.

With both mind and body drained from skipping his coffee and breakfast, he boarded the subway only to find it delayed by twenty minutes due to an accident. After sprinting all the way to the office, hoping for his favorite coffee from the lobby café, he was met with a sign reading, “Closed for maintenance this morning.”

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Breathing heavily, Myeongeun stood before the locked café doors, his coat and bag in his arms, sweat dripping down his face. He hadn’t sprinted this hard since his military days, and his sides ached. He looked a mess. It felt like he was caught in a slapstick comedy.

Except this comedy was about to spiral into a prolonged tragedy.

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“Assistant Manager Go.”

As soon as he entered the office, Manager Lee called out to him, sounding as worn out as he looked. Forcing a smile, Myeongeun tried to inject some cheerfulness into his reply.

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“Good morning, Manager!”

His two ex-boyfriends—only two, really—used to love his smile, saying it lit up his face. But what would a married Manager Lee care about a guy’s grin? Manager Lee barely glanced at him, his dull eyes flicking up briefly before returning to his phone screen, which was constantly running a stock app.

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“Director Park from PR has been looking for you for the past hour.”

“Ah… Director Park?”

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Director Park from the PR team. The cranky guy who demanded a new computer daily, constantly asked to modify the parking lot, and pushed for the General Affairs Team to work harder. He was so difficult that even Director Cho, head of the In-house General Affairs Team and Myeongeun’s boss, couldn’t talk back to him. Only Myeongeun could manage him, using exaggerated charm and fake affection to say, “Director, if I work any harder, I’ll die.”

The General Affairs Team, along with Accounting and HR, was part of the Management Support Department. They handled the office environment, events, general administration, and pretty much all the grunt work. And for some reason, Myeongeun was always assigned the trickiest, most demanding tasks.

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“Yes, I’ll contact him right away.”

Nodding to Manager Lee and Director Cho beside him, he headed to his desk, greeting Section Chief Yang, Assistant Manager Kim, and Deputy Yu, who were each suffering from the Monday blues. Everyone responded except Deputy Yu. He hesitated for two seconds, wondering if he should say something more to Deputy Yu, but decided against it and returned to his seat. Deputy Yu was a rather gloomy, distant person, so it was a bit challenging for him to interact with him.

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Energetic, efficient, and well-regarded within the company—yes-man Go Myeongeun. That’s how others saw him. But the truth was he was timid, passive, overly anxious, and dreaded being disliked. He had become a “yes-man” because he often took on his coworkers’ overtime shifts. Half of it was out of genuine goodwill, wanting to help and earn some overtime pay, and the other half was simply his inability to say no.

Now, if someone asked him his hobby, he was ready to answer confidently: Sometimes, I just have to grit my teeth and bear it.

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Taking a deep breath, he picked up his office phone and dialed Director Park’s extension. The line barely rang twice before Director Park answered with a yell.

― “Assistant Manager Go!”

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“Oh, Director, good mor—”

― “I reported the printer was broken on Friday, and no one’s shown up yet. What’s going on?”

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“The printer in PR?”

He quickly checked his emails. No request from Director Park was in the system.

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“I didn’t receive any request, Director.”

― “Are you messing with me?”

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“I’m not joking—”

― “I called your extension on Friday, and someone else answered, saying Assistant Manager Go would take care of it. What, did I talk to a ghost?”

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…Honestly, I wish you had.

Rolling his eyes, he glanced at the seat next to him.

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