"Min-gu, can you come out for a bit?"Jin-kyung's refreshing voice resonated gently over the phone. Min-gu hurriedly opened his closet and looked for the least worn but still presentable clothes. As he tied the frayed ces of his dusty old sneakers, an awkward and bitter smile flickered across his lips.'What does she want to talk about?'With a mix of excitement and nervousness, Min-gu opened the cafe door. The familiar scent of coffee wafted through the air, along with Jin-kyung's bright and cheerful voice brushing past his ears."Min-gu! Over here!"Jin-kyung sat by the window, waving with a radiant smile. Her sunlit appearance made Min-gu's momentarily stiff face rex, and he waved back as he approached. Sitting next to Jin-kyung was a tall, well-dressed stranger. From his neatly styled hair and expensive attire to his confident smile, everything about him was a stark contrast to Min-gu."This is my boyfriend. What do you think?"Jin-kyung looped her arm proudly around her boyfriend's shoulder and smiled brightly. Min-gu felt a pang of inferiority at the sight of the man, who looked like a model with his tall stature and sophisticated appearance. He felt like someone from a completely different world. But he tried to maintain his composure and answer as naturally as possible."Oh... he looks good.""Right?"Jin-kyung's smile widened, but Min-gu's expression hardened. The man, noticing Min-gu's awkward compliment, gave a suave smile and casually chimed in."So, Jin-gu, I hear you've never dated before?""No, Min-gu isn't into that kind of thing.""Really? I know some nice girls. Want me to introduce you to one?""Hey, come on. Don't do that."Ignoring Jin-kyung's attempt to stop him, the man looked at Min-gu with a mixture of pity and curiosity. Min-gu offered an awkward smile and waved his hand dismissively."But Jin-kyung, how long have you known Min-gu?""Us? We've known each other since first grade of elementary school.""Wow, that's over ten years. Amazing. You guys are totally best friends.""Pretty much. It's not easy for guys and girls to be best friends, though.""It can happen."The three of them tried to keep the conversation going by constantly changing topics, attempting to mask the awkward atmosphere. But Min-gu found it difficult to focus on their lively chatter. His gaze kept drifting towards the two of them, and each time it did, he compared himself to Jin-kyung's boyfriend, sinking deeper into self-loathing. The complex emotions hidden behind his bitter smile stirred his heart chaotically.How much time had passed? Finally, Min-gu stood up."I should get going now. My mom... is waiting for me.""Okay, Min-gu, thanks for coming. See you next time. Be careful on your way."Jin-kyung smiled brightly and waved at Min-gu. He waved back and then left the cafe. The cold night air brushed against his face. He let out a deep sigh and walked down the dark alleyway. His heart felt utterly empty.Dragging his heavy body homeward, Min-gu trudged along, lifting his head to gaze at the night sky. Countless stars, faintly twinkling in the deep darkness, seemed to caress his desote and wounded heart. In the cold night air of the city, those small lights offered a moist soce to Min-gu's parched soul.Stopping for a moment, Min-gu took a deep breath and stared at the stars in the night sky. At that moment, he felt as if time had briefly stopped. It was a fleeting instant, but within it, Min-gu forgot all his anguish and felt a sense of peace.The old iron gate creaked open with a rusty hinge, and Min-gu walked down the familiar alleyway. Dust left faint traces with each step he took down the damp cement stairs leading to the basement. The flickering, dim fluorescent light created swaying shadows, and the pungent, musty smell of mold filled the humid air. It was the small, shabby home where Min-gu and his mother lived – a semi-basement apartment where even sunlight barely reached. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but it was all they had left, their entire world.As he opened the door, the familiar silence greeted Min-gu. An old wheelchair, a tattered bnket with holes, and the faint sound of a television. Min-gu closed the front door, his tired shoulders slumped. And without turning on the light, he slowly disappeared into the pitch-bck darkness. He closed his own door and slid down against it, colpsing onto the floor. Only the faint light seeping in from the streetmp illuminated his weary face. He clutched his hair with both hands and let out a rough sigh through his tightly closed lips.From a young age, Min-gu had to endure the cold gazes and sharp taunts of the world, struggling through each day. His mother's disability and his father's absence were perfect fodder for immature children. Words like "the kid with the cripple mom" and "the orphaned bastard with no dad" followed him everywhere – the pyground, cssrooms, school hallways, even the alleyway in front of his house. There was nowhere Min-gu could go to feel safe. Tears welled up in his throat with injustice and sorrow, but Min-gu never showed them. He simply endured in silence, gritting his teeth – the only resistance a young Min-gu could muster.As time flowed, Min-gu gradually shouldered the full weight of his world. And as he came to know the harsh and cruel reality, a dark shadow grew increasingly deeper within his heart. The pure and strong heart of his childhood began to crack little by little, and the anger and resentment he had suppressed for so long writhed and burrowed into those cracks, widening them.Especially as his feelings for Jin-kyung, his longtime friend, grew deeper, Min-gu felt his mother's existence, with whom he had spent his entire life, like a heavy shackle tightening around his neck.'If only Mom wasn't here, if I were just a normal kid, would I not have to hide my feelings for Jin-kyung?' The same question he repeated every night before falling asleep gnawed at his heart daily. His once firm heart had long since crumbled, and the anger and resentment he had tried so hard to suppress crawled out, suffocating him. His feelings for Jin-kyung, in particur, grew like a snowball as he got older, and the more they grew, the more burdensome his mother's existence became. Her inability to walk properly, her bored movements, her rough cough, even her faint presence within the house became objects of unbearable disgust for Min-gu. At some point, he had come to deeply resent his mother, as if she were an indelible stigma.Min-gu vaguely recalled his father. In Min-gu's hazy memories, his father's image was always marked by bloodshot eyes from drinking, rough breaths, and violent gestures. To young Min-gu, his father was the most terrifying being in the world, a cruel monster who emerged whenever he drank. His father's harsh shouts when drunk, his mother's tearful whimpers of pain, the sharp shattering sounds of objects breaking, and the dull thuds of physical blows that filled the house were deeply etched in young Min-gu's ears, leaving behind a trauma that would never be erased.All the money his father earned was spent on alcohol. When the liquor ran out, his father's violence fred up even more fiercely, as if fueled by gasoline. Having lost even the thin thread of reason he barely maintained with the help of alcohol, his father was no different from a wild beast. Min-gu and his mother barely survived each day in a suffocating fear.When Min-gu was still young, his mother became severely disabled. Amidst the whispers of retives, Min-gu felt a deep sense of despair towards his father. But his father, even after his mother was in such a state, continued to rely on alcohol, and eventually, on a rainy night, he was struck by a truck while crossing the road in a drunken stupor, meeting the end of his pathetic and miserable life. As if weighed down by years of accumuted guilt, he left the world easily and futilely, sinking deep into the ground.His father's sudden death left Min-gu's family with a small amount of life insurance money. With this money and the help of retives, they were barely able to secure a semi-basement apartment, but young Min-gu was burdened with the heavy responsibility of caring for his mother. Feeding her, washing her, and taking her to the hospital – all of it fell on young Min-gu. As soon as he returned home from school, he had to take care of his mother. The world was a cruel and overwhelming burden for young Min-gu."Miii... Guoo... yaaa..."A faint voice seeped into the dark room. Min-gu clenched his tightly shut lips even harder."Mii... Guoo... ya..."His mother's voice was faint, as if about to break, but it persistently clung to Min-gu. Her voice, echoing in his ears, pricked at Min-gu's nerves like a sharp awl. His head buzzed, and an unbearable pressure surged within him."Ah... please... be quiet! Aaaaaaah!"Min-gu exploded with the emotions he had suppressed, as if a dam had burst. The scream that tore from his throat instantly turned the house into a cold silence. Min-gu's eyes, breathing heavily, bzed with intense anger. He smmed his trembling fist mercilessly against the floor.Thump, thump, thump! With each thud that shook the floor, a violent rage raged like a storm in his heart. The tears he had held back poured out like a flood, but Min-gu didn't stop. After a long time of venting his resentment, he roughly wiped away the hot tears mixed with anger and sorrow, quietly opened his door, and stepped out of the room.With heavy steps, as if accustomed to the weight, he headed towards his mother's room. The musty smell stung his nose, but he was numb to it now, as if he had grown used to it. He gathered diapers and old tools and approached his mother's side. He struggled to lift her up, straightened her stiff body, and cleaned her waste. The foul odor assaulted his nostrils, and he barely suppressed the nausea. Min-gu felt so pathetic in his situation that tears streamed down his face.'Why me... how much longer...?'The suppressed resentment burst forth. Min-gu muttered in a voice filled with bitterness.'Please... please... please... please... please... please... end it...'