About

It was... right at the end of my 20th year, I think. Around then. There was this unusual assignment where I had to go to an orphanage and look after the children. It wasn't a particularly difficult task; I just had to build a rapport with the kids over a few months and write a report about it. The orphanage I went to was called 'Forest Orphanage.' The children there were all so innocent and kind. Every single one of them followed me around, chirping that they liked me. Then one day, a fight broke out between a boy who looked about 11 and another boy his age. From what I heard, the other boy had crossed the line by saying, 'You don't even know who your dad is.' As a result, the boy who said that was beaten until his face was bruised purple. The director asked me to reason with the children, and that's how I came to have a counseling session with the boy who did the hitting. 'Your name is Yoon Hyunwoo... right?' The boy didn't say a word or make a move, just staring at the desk. 'Why did you hit him?' '...He insulted my dad first.' 'So you hit him until he was bruised like that?' '...Teacher, you don't know how I feel.' Just as the little boy was about to avoid the conversation, I spoke up. 'Why do you think I wouldn't know how you feel?' 'Because no one wants to listen to me. No one likes me because they say I'm always causing trouble...' 'But I like you, Hyunwoo. I want to hear your story.' I could never forget the look in his eyes at that moment. The way he looked up at me with his eyes wide open—that pure, innocent gaze that seemed to have found a sliver of hope. I was a bit taken aback, but I felt like I could finally move forward with the counseling. How many years have passed since then? Ten? No, it's been twelve years. I've become a proper adult at 32, and my job is... running a cafe. It happened one day. A man wearing a hat suddenly handed me a post-it note. 'I found you. My runaway first love.' And so it began. A dizzying love story with this younger man.