📖Dear Reader,
Before you step deeper into this story, I want to offer you a moment of pause. Here are the disorders that each character represents:
This book explores themes of grief, trauma, mental illness, and emotional survival. It is not always gentle. It does not always offer answers. But it does try to tell the truth, even when that truth is quiet, painful, or incomplete.
If you are someone who has struggled with mental health, loss, or emotional isolation, please know that this story may touch places you've tried to forget. I encourage you to read with care, take breaks when needed, and prioritize your well-being above all else.
This is not a story about perfect healing. It's about fractured people trying to love, remember, and stay, even when it hurts.
🧠 What Each Character Represents:
Areum
Represents "Complicated Grief and Survivor's Guilt"
She carries the weight of her brother's death, not just as a loss, but as a question that never got answered. Her silence is not emptiness, it's protection. Her journey reflects how grief can become a quiet companion, shaping how we trust, love, and search for truth.
Joon - Ha
Represents "Depersonalization Disorder and Terminal Illness Trauma"
Joon-ha's identity is fractured by memory manipulation and emotional suppression. His use of Amnex-9 reflects the clinical erasure of trauma, but his symptoms, emotional detachment, identity confusion, and existential dread, mirror depersonalization. His terminal diagnosis adds another layer, the fear of fading before being truly seen.
Mirae
Represents "Bipolar Disorder (Type II)"
Mirae's highs are creative, impulsive, and radiant. Her lows are isolating, numb, and quietly destructive. She is not a stereotype, she is a portrait of someone trying to survive the extremes of her own mind. Her relationship with Eun-woo is ethically complex, but emotionally honest.
Han Ji - Woo
Represents "Moral Injury and PTSD"
Ji-woo was a whistleblower, a journalist who uncovered corruption and paid the price. His trauma is not just personal, it's systemic. His death reflects the emotional toll of being silenced, and the psychological damage of knowing the truth but being punished for it.
Kang Soo - Min
Represents "Suicidal Ideation and Post-Traumatic Resilience"
Soo-min's character is a quiet echo throughout the story. Her safety pin necklace is more than a symbol, it's a promise to stay. She represents those who live with the thought of leaving, but choose, day by day to remain. Her letter to Joon-ha is a lifeline disguised as goodbye.
⚠️Content Warning
This story contains depictions of:
- Mental illness (bipolar disorder, PTSD, depersonalization)
- Suicidal ideation and grief
- Terminal illness and medical trauma
- Emotional abuse and systemic corruption
If any of these themes are triggering for you, please read with caution. You are not alone, and your safety matters more than any page.
Thank you for choosing to read this story.
It's not perfect.
But it's honest.
And sometimes, that's enough.
With care,
Fatima