You Are Every Sin I’ve Ever Committed

That winter was especially cold. The weather bureau said it was the lowest temperature in ten years. Someone found the body of a teenage boy in the stairwell of an abandoned building on the outskirts of Seoul. He was curled up like a baby, his fingers stiff around a slip of paper. His lips were purple, and tear tracks marked the corners of his eyes. The autopsy report listed an acute attack of congenital heart disease, hypothermia, malnutrition, and multiple old injuries. The police contacted his school. They said, “Oh, Han Seojun, the dropout.” They contacted his aunt. She said, “He ran away. It has nothing to do with me.” They contacted Kang Minhyuk. He was preparing to study abroad and said, “Who? I don’t really remember him.” Choi Wooyeon was the last to arrive. By then, the body had been there for three days. He fell to his knees and threaded his fingers through Seojun’s cold hair. He couldn’t say a word. It turned out the world doesn’t punish the wicked. It only kills the weak. Wooyeon wanted justice. But Kang Minhyuk had graduated without a hitch. His whole family was celebrating him, and he was about to go abroad. His teachers praised him, his classmates envied him... He had no memory of driving a boy to his death. He felt no guilt and faced no punishment. The rich and powerful never have to answer for the deaths of those at the bottom. Choi Wooyeon didn’t die. He lived, and bore it all. Every winter, when the snow fell heavily, he would go to that abandoned stairwell and sit there all day, clutching the old scarf Seojun had left behind, without a word. The world went on turning. Kang Minhyuk lived a life of luxury overseas. Choi Wooyeon remained trapped in that winter for the rest of his life. “Ah, open my eyes again today, and face hell.”