A middle aged man with a detailed hairstyle and vibrant unnatural eyes like ones was observing me and my condition in a hospital.
As sunshine had shone on my face from the early rising of the sun, I looked at the man in the white coat with a look of confusion and concern on my face as he said terms I did not quite recognize.
As the world seemed to fade out…I seemed to wonder, 'Where exactly is this..and how did this situation happen in the first place?'
One week prior
The air felt dry and chilled as snow slowly drifted to the ground as if performing a special routine for all to see.
Winter had only just begun when I was busy worrying if I had enough money to buy gifts for my younger siblings from my job since I wasn't paid that much.
The thoughts in my mind spun around endlessly in a frantic state as I was working on online documents in the dimly lit office I worked at.
I muttered to myself, "Maybe I'll ask if I could stay overtime to get get extra pay….or I could sell a few items we have at home?" I pondered about the two solutions I came up with and eventually chose the latter since I didn't want them to worrry after they got home from school where I could have been.
I could only begin to imagine their faces of pure warmth and laughter, my yeodongsaeng(younger sister), Eunji trying to share new recipes she found that we could make at home, and Min-joon, my namdongsaeng(younger brother) trying to force us all to the bookstore to look at books instead of staying at home.
This left me feeling extremely happy and exceptionally bright as if I had been blessed by the heavens. Though I thought I thought to myself, 'Even though work felt draining it felt worth it to spend time with them.'
Without them I do not really know if I would still be here today. Father had been in acoma for a year and mother had left five years prior.
If I wasn't an adult when my father's accident happened, I dont know where they could have ended up… If something happened to me what would happen to them? This left me feeling a bit uneasy afterwards.
When lunch break had rolled around I was called by one of my work colleagues. "Hey Min-woo are you coming to our company dinner tonight?"
I looked at him, closed my eyes, looked slightly down, closed my yes and slowly shook my head.
When I had opened my eyes awaiting the response, we exchanged eye contact and my coworker looked at me with a sad, disappointed expression that seemed to tell me that she wanted me to come.
I of course felt bad, but I didn't want to leave my younger siblings alone when something could happen to them.
After I had finished my sandwich I resumed my work until 18:30(6:30 pm), when my boss cheerfully walked into our working area as if he had received the best news.
"I have an announcement to make!!" He seemed to screech. It hurt my ears a lot, but I was surprised how everyone had earplugs in already.
I put in silencing earbuds that could block out some as the sound as he spoke to not burst my eardrums.
After he saw that everyone had their eyes on him to started to excitingly start, "Due to your guy's efforts we have increased our companies earnings and I have been promoted!!! To celebrate, our company dinner will be extremely grand this time."
As he finished his beer belly seemed to bounce around everywhere, and then proceeded to exit our workspace again.
After he left I breathed a small sigh of relief after he had left.
It was not because I hated him, but it was due to his extremely loud volume.
Though luckily work was out early since our boss had announced that work would end earlier today due to the promotions given.
As we were leaving I was called to the office, I though I might have been getting fired since when most people are called to an office they were most likely going to get fired.
I panicked, 'did they see me zoning out earlier' I shuddered at that thought and quickly buried it behind me as I entered the office.
There instead of the loss/manager I worked under, the CEO seemed to be visiting instead.
He saw me and said with his best business smile, "Ah, Mr. Shin welcome!" I looked at him and back at his desk.
He had seemed like he was not mad, but I didn't know for sure. I still kept my guard up just in case it was takeout, but it didn't seem so.
He spoke again, "I'm sure you are currently wondering why you are here?" He asked and I nodded in response.
"Good then, back to the matter at hand I wanted to say that we appreciate your hard work and enthusiasm, but try not to zone out too much.."
I nodded again clearly upset and embarrassed about my personal problems somehow piercing through my work time and honestly felt quite guilty.
After the talk I started to walk home clearly down in the dumps, which had previously contrasted my sunny mood earlier.
I had a bunch of emotions mixed into me at the moment that I did not even know what emotion I was feeling at the moment. When I got home I saw Eunji and Min-joon waiting for me.
They burst up in excitement and hugged onto me so tight to the point that I felt like I was suffocating.
While they did that they screamed, "Min-woo Hyung!!" I smiled and patted their heads.
"How was school?" I asked. "It was fun!" Eunji excitingly chattered and then went on to explain what had happened while Min-joon waited patiently for his turn and said it was okay.. I offered to make them dinner and thanked my friend, Ji-seo, for watching them.
"Well it was no problem, but be sure to pay me next time! I can't keep doing it for free forever!" Ji-seo's voiced faded as he walked away but he was right.
He couldn't keep doing this forever and I might have to actually start earning more if I want to be able to keep supporting the ones I care about.
After he left I made dinner for everyone, we bathed and went to bed. After everyone had been tucked in/taken care of for today and the day after.
I anxiously prepared to improve my focus in work to better increase my income and drifted off to sleep hoping that tomorrow would be a bit more manageable than today, but unfortunately tomorrow never came.