At a luxury private hospital in the heart of Seoul, the glass façade reflected the glittering city lights of the night. A silver metal plaque engraved with the name
"Seorin Royal Medical Center" gleamed beneath the entrance lights.
The refined, glowing letters signaled its status as a VIP hospital, one that catered exclusively to top business executives, politicians, and the nation's most powerful families.
The ICU floor was sealed off with glass barriers and tight security. Reporters had gathered downstairs, waiting for updates.
Inside the emergency room....
Several doctors were desperately trying to save Kang Taejun.
"Charge!"
The defibrillator emitted a sharp warning tone as electricity surged through his body. His frame jolted violently from the shock.
No response…..?
A long, continuous tone filled the room. On the monitor, the waveform flattened into a single, unbroken line. No rhythm. No heartbeat.
And in that very instant....!
Something slipped out of his body.
Taejun opened his eyes again. But this time, he wasn't looking from the hospital bed.
He was looking down. His own body lay motionless below, face pale, tubes and wires attached everywhere.
Doctors shouted commands. Nurses moved frantically.
Yet the sounds felt distant, as though separated by a wall of water.
Taejun tried to shout.
"I'm here!"
No sound escaped him. No one responded. Confused, he slowly reached up and touched his own neck.
He raised his hand and stared at it. His palm was translucent. No leather gloves. No racing suit. No sponsor logos.....?
His body was bare...weightless.....floating in midair like unseen air itself. No one could see him. No one could sense his presence.
He reached out and tried to touch a doctor's shoulder, but his hand passed straight through.
There wasn't even the faint sound of wind. The heart that should have been pounding felt… empty. As Taejun struggled to comprehend what was happening...
Suddenly!
Silver light streamed in through the ICU window.
The full moon reflected through the hospital's towering glass windows. Its light stretched toward him like a thin silver thread, wrapping around his body…..brilliant, blinding, too bright to look at directly. Taejun raised both arms to shield his eyes.
And then the light began to pull him.
In the blink of an eye, it drew him out of the room…out of the hospital….and carried him somewhere else beneath that same moon.
A small apartment.
A young woman was holding a black cat tightly in her arms, unaware that at this very second, fate was binding the two of them together.
…..
The moonlight extended like a silver ribbon, pulling him farther and farther away. Not to heaven. Not to hell. But to the side of a quiet street in Seoul.
When he opened his eyes again, he was wearing his black-and-red racing suit…the same one from before the accident. The number 7 was still emblazoned across his chest, as if nothing had ever happened.
Kang Taejun gasped.
He found himself standing beneath a flickering streetlamp. No one was waiting at the bus stop. No cars passed. No footsteps echoed nearby. Only the dim roadside light illuminated the empty pavement.
He began walking without thinking, without awareness.
Across the street, a park sat in silence…no joggers, no late-night couples, no one at all.
Only the cold night wind rustled through the leaves.
Taejun kept moving aimlessly. His feet touched the ground, yet there was no weight behind each step….as if he were walking on air. Without realizing it, he had already crossed halfway into the road.
He lifted his head and looked around.
The streets were empty. Desolate. Unnaturally still.
"It must be late… I should go home," he murmured to himself.
But suddenly….!
He froze!.
It felt as though his heart had dropped into nothingness.
"W…..Who… am I?"
His own voice sounded unfamiliar.
Taejun clutched his head. His memories were blank. Completely blank. He couldn't remember who he was. Where he had come from. It was as if every memory of himself had vanished without warning.
"I… I can't remember anything!"
He dropped to his knees, pounding at his head in frustration and panic. Everything he should have known…everything that should have been there….was gone.
He looked around wildly, fear and suspicion rising in his chest.
The empty street offered no answers.
He looked into the distance and saw a middle-aged woman walking toward him, someone who looked like an office worker heading home late at night.
Gritting his teeth, Taejun forced himself to stand and hurried toward her.
"E...Excuse me, ma'am!"
Whoosh...!
Taejun spun around in shock as the woman passed straight through him as if he weren't even there.
(What…?)
She stopped walking.
Taejun raised his hands, staring at himself in confusion, examining his body in disbelief before slowly turning back toward her.
The woman craned her neck slightly and smiled in his direction.
Still dazed, Taejun awkwardly smiled back. Relief flooded him. He let out a shaky breath, thinking she could see him after all. But instead, she leaned past him and smiled sweetly at someone behind him.
Taejun slowly turned around.
A young man came running from across the street.
"There you are. I've been calling you forever."
"I got off work late today. Let's go home and have ramen."
"Sure!"
The two of them laughed softly and walked off side by side.
Not once did they glance at Taejun. Not once did they acknowledge his presence. The silence began to gnaw at his heart.
And in that moment....Taejun understood.
He was not one of the living pedestrians on this street tonight. And he… might no longer be alive the way he once was. He slowly lifted both hands in front of him, staring at them with a hollow expression.
"So… I'm dead."
The words left his lips quietly... Even though no one could hear him.
But in a small apartment beneath that same moonlight, Seoah held the black cat tightly in her arms.
Suddenly, she felt a strange warmth in her hands. A tiny paw twitched.
She froze for a brief second…! And then the paw fell still again. Seoah hugged Bam even tighter.
"Seoah… we have to bury Bam now, sweetheart. Say your goodbye properly."
Kim Minjung spoke gently. She stepped closer, softly stroking Bam's head before carefully lifting him from her daughter's trembling arms. She carried the small body to the backyard to bury him, placing him beneath the soil with care.
Seoah, a sculpture major, had made a small name plaque herself. It was simple but heartfelt, created to honor the long friendship they had shared.
"Goodbye, Bam…"
Seoah stood crying in front of the small grave behind the house, beneath the hydrangea tree. The night air was growing colder.
She collapsed into her mother's embrace, sobbing.
Minjung's own eyes filled with tears as she gently stroked her daughter's hair, holding her close under the quiet, silver glow of the moon.