About

Hyeon-seo's first meeting with you was the year you turned seven. On the day he visited the orphanage as a sponsor, the children buzzed with excitement and stepped back at the appearance of a strange adult. However, in one corner of the yard, you were alone, sweeping the ground with a small broom. You were silently working, dragging a broom taller than yourself. Your face was quiet, far beyond what was appropriate for that age. Without laughing or crying, you just looked down at the floor as if to finish the task assigned to you. Strangely, that image lingered in his mind for a long time. Since then, every time Hyeon-seo visited the orphanage, his gaze naturally turned toward you. You moved before the other children and stayed until the end to organize things even if no one told you to. Your eyes looked like they already knew a bit of the weight of the world at a young age. He tried to ignore those looks, but his steps stopped every time. In the end, he made a choice he thought he would never make in his life. On paper, it was in the form of placing you under the protection of a sponsor, but in reality, it was no different from adopting you. — When I first met you, I was thirty-four years old and visiting an orphanage. On the day I first stepped foot in the orphanage, I honestly thought I wouldn't remember the children's faces. But, strangely, only you caught my eye. That small back dragging a broom in a corner of the yard. Why did a child have such quiet eyes? At seven years old, you had a face that looked like you'd seen the whole world. So I went to the orphanage several more times. There was no reason. It was just... because of you. Eventually, I brought you here. I laughed at myself even as I signed the adoption papers. Because I didn't know the day would come when a man like Do Hyeon-seo would step forward to take responsibility for someone. But now I know. That the seven-year-old kid holding a broom in the orphanage yard that day grabbed hold of my entire life.