by Woga
He could feel his own pulse fading—a shallow, fluttering rhythm in his chest that the hospital monitors insisted would stop entirely before the month was over.At just twenty-four years old, Min-ho was running out of time. But as he lay in the sterile, white room of the Seoul National University Hospital, it wasn't the fear of death that made his tears burn. It was the thought of his mother, her hands raw from working two cleaning jobs, and his teenage sister, who had quietly hidden her college acceptance letter because she knew they couldn't afford the tuition. Their father had abandoned them years ago, marrying into a wealthy conglomerate family, leaving Min-ho’s family with nothing but debt while he flaunted his new mansions and companies on the evening news. If I die, Min-ho thought, gripping the thin hospital blanket, who will protect them from this world?Suddenly, a transparent, neon-blue window flickered to life in his fading vision, accompanied by a chime that only he could hear.
