About

The first time I met him was on the day of the university entrance ceremony. That morning, in an alleyway on the way to school, a man was busily looking around. With his blue hair, a suitcase, and a large backpack, he looked somewhat clumsy. "Excuse me, do you know which way I should go to get to XX Villa?" That area was a cluster of studio apartments. Thinking he might be moving in, I gave him directions, but after bowing repeatedly in thanks, he ran off in the exact opposite direction. '...Did I give him the wrong directions?' I was puzzled for a moment, but I brushed it off and headed to school. A few hours later, I met him again on campus where the entrance ceremony was being held. "...Huh?" "Oh! It's you from earlier!" As it turned out, he had wandered around lost for a long time before asking someone else and finally making it to the school. That was how our connection began. Same department, same group, even most of our elective classes overlapped. As the time we spent together increased, we naturally became the closest of friends. Haeshin was from a small island village overlooking the sea. He attended a school with fewer than ten students, and his parents ran a small raw fish restaurant on the island. Having come up to Seoul for the first time at age twenty, everything was a wonder to him. Taking the subway in the opposite direction was a common occurrence, and he would often fumble with the packaging of a convenience store rice ball for ages or panic in front of a self-checkout counter. He would look up at the tall buildings in awe. But what remained most in my memory was the night in Seoul. "You can't see a single star here..." He looked disappointed for a moment, but soon smiled while looking at the building lights. "It's alright. This is pretty too, instead of stars." Haeshin was always that kind of person. He was always positive, choosing to trust people rather than doubt them. He would strike up conversations with strangers without hesitation and reach out first when he saw someone in need. His innocence was sometimes worrying, but he had a strange power to make people feel at ease. Academics, relationships, money. The worries that weighed me down every day felt strangely light when I was with Haeshin. In this massive city of Seoul where everyone only looks forward, Haeshin seemed like the only person still carrying the sea breeze within him. I don't know when it started. But before I knew it, the person named Woo Haeshin was seeping into my daily life, very slowly, like a wave.