2 Prologue

[December 24th 20XX, Christmas Eve]

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...."

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart...."

"All I want for Christmas is you...."

Christmas carols were playing everywhere on repeat and every passer by recognized it as they've been hearing this song every Christmas.

Even though it's a foreign language, almost every passer by sang along the song with accurate lyrics.

Christmas lights were flickering, children were happily holding their gifts,

Friends were happily chattering together, lovers sweetly exchanging gifts and a family celebrating Christmas eve with a warm atmosphere.

In the middle of this all was a man named Nam Sihyuk.

He looks out of place as he was standing all alone in the middle of the people who were gathered in groups.

He was warp with 3 layers of clothes and a thick padding, his scarf was hiding half of his face and only showing his eyes that is full of irritation and jealousy.

He just stood still like a stone in the middle of the all this people and because of this there were some people who were looking at him.

His eyes looks around and noticing the eyes of others looking at him,

He lift of his scarf to hide his face even more and started walking in fast pace.

"... Haaa.."

He let out a sigh as he reach the bus stop with fewer people.

He sat on the bench and lean his head on the pole beside him.

Cold breeze blew pass him making him shiver, and suddenly he felt something fell on top of his head.

He looked up and tried to see what is it only to close his eyes again after a drop of water fell in his eyes.

"Huh? It's raining?.... but it's just snowing earlier....." A voice of someone beside him.

He opened his eyes again and he saw that the people around him were already running to a building or a store to cover themselves from the rain,

But Nam Sihyuk didn't do anything and just stayed still.

The heavy rain fell on him and he only sat there in daze.

His mood worsen and he just can't think clearly,

While everyone was happily celebrating this Christmas eve with their family, friends or lover,

He was left all alone, fired from his part time job and failed an subject 'causing him to be unable to graduate college.

Nam Sihyuk, a 26 year-old University student under criminology department.

His Status?

Single

No friends

No family

No job

No money

Just basically, a very unlucky guy.

At the age of 4, his parents divorced and he lived with his busy Mother from then on,

He can't even remember his Father's face and name and the only thing he left him is his surname 'Nam',

His Mother is always busy with work from day to night and is unable to take care of him,

So he was left behind a nanny who often abuse him,

Always complaining saying that the money she receive was not enough for taking care of him,

Starving him, hitting, pinching and threatening him,

As a 4 year-old child, he didn't have the courage to tell his Mother as he was afraid that his nanny will hurt him even more,

This continues until he was 8 years old,

One day, he couldn't take it anymore and tried to tell his Mother, but....

He didn't know if he should be happy or not,

That day, his Mother brought a man saying it's her new husband and because of that, they didn't need a nanny anymore.

The abuse he experience where buried and he never have the chance to tell it to anyone.

After his Mother get married and building a new family, he still stayed with them, but he always felt left out, like there's a wall between them that he can never cross.

Feeling out of place and distant, he endured it for years and decided to be independent at the of 17.

His Mother never oppose this decision and just gave him allowance every month after he left.

He finished highschool and after that he didn't go to college immediately, instead he takes different kinds of jobs to save up money for college,

But for some reason, accidents keeps happening in his job causing him to be fired everytime.

He suffered and he had a hard time, but his Mother never even ask him how is he since he left the house,

Starting from that time, he felt cold and everything around him looks gray,

He gave up hope and cut off the contact between him and his Mother,

At the age of 20, he live completely alone.

He worked like a dog, entered all kinds of jobs, he suffered and exhaust himself until he felt tired.

At 21, he enlisted to military, and like he was expecting, he encounter all kinds of trouble while serving the military,

Mistreated by the superior, treat like an outcast by peers, repeatedly being slandered, he just suffered once again,

After almost 2 years of serving the military,

He tried to enter one of the top university in Korea,

He passed the exam, but as always, he failed to attend an important interview due to a random accident on the road which 'caused him to be hospitalized for 2 months and missed the interview that he can pass,

Because of this he entered a mediocre university,

From then on, he live a normal and boring college life,

No one was able to approach and make friends with him because of his personality and face,

He can only curse this face and personality of his!

He was left all alone, he still encountered difficulties but this never stops him,

But for some reason, he felt very tired today.

He didn't notice that rain already stopped while he was in daze, leaving him behind like a wet dog,

He lower his head to brush up his hair only to find a rain puddle not far from him.

He looked at the reflection from the rain puddle, the buildings were upsidedown, the people on the streets the cars and everything were upsidedown,

Oddly enough, he can't take his eyes of it and there was something bothering him but he can't point it out.

In the upsidedown reflection of the rain puddle, people were gathered in groups and happily chattering together while crossing the road.

In the middle of this people was a boy who stood still in the middle of the road,

He looked completely out of place as the people around him were wearing thick clothes, sweaters or scarfs, while him, he just wore a black t-shirt, a blank pants and a black sneakers.

He just stood still with his long straight hair covering his face,

As the people around him left on after another,

And as the white snow fell in his black clothes,

For some odd reasons, he looks lonely in Nam Sihyuk's eyes and it's as if looking in his own reflection.

The boy started walking, but he looks a little wobbly.

Nam Sihyuk narrowed his eyebrows and he felt a little dizzy,

Maybe he was looking at the upsidedown reflection for too long that it made him dizzy,

He touched his forehead and tried to look away from the rain puddle but before he even took his eyes off it,

His eyes widened in surprise and he stood up on his seat when the boy suddenly fell down,

But that's not what surprised him, but the truck approaching him!

Without thinking about anything he looked up and run towards the boys,

But.....

His pounding heart suddenly skips a beat and his arms were covered in goosebumps when he lift up his head.

In front of him...

The boy was not there.....

No chattering people, no cars...

It was such a empty read filled with silence,

And he just remembered the odd thing that's bothering him,

It's not snowing at all....

Before he can even stop running, he stepped on the rain puddle and slipped because of it,

Because of this fast and shocking events, he can't think clearly and his reaction if a bit late.

Thinking that he'll just bear the pain of falling down, he closed his eyes and waited for the pain in his butt,

Few minutes have pass but he didn't feel any pain at all.

"*Boy! Are you alright?!" A voice of a woman not far away from him was heard but but for some reason, he can't understand what the woman is saying.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by people, he narrowed his eyes as he felt even more dizzy than earlier.

He looked around and saw truck that was only one or two meters away from him, his eyes widened from surprise.

Although it was not moving, it still scared him as it suddenly appear from his eyes.

The people around him were looking at him with worry while speaking a language he don't understand.

The flickering Christmas lights and a Christmas carol with unfamiliar tone entered his ears.

While his mind is still a mess, the people around him help him to walk and move me in the sidewalks.

Cold breeze blew pass him, making him shiver, that's when he noticed that he's only wearing a black t-shirt.

Soon, someone warped him in a thick padding but he can't even think about cold right now as he saw something weird,

He slowly looked up and white snow fell on top of his face,

His eyes shakes and his heart was pounding very fast, he lowered his head and found a mirror from a store beside him.

With shaking hands, he touched his face and the same action was done in the mirror.

In the mirror, a young boy that looks about 15 years old was staring at him with shaky eyes.

".... huh..." An unfamiliar immature voice escape from his lips 'causing him to panic even more,

His eyes widened and he realized,

'This boy is the one I just saw earlier....!'

Before he could even think about anything,

He didn't know if it was because of dizziness or because of shock in this unbelievable scene in front of him,

His vision suddenly turned black,

And that's when he knew.....

He fainted.