Jung Hwangyeong sat on the playground swing, absentmindedly swaying back and forth.
“Hwangyeong, do you want the teacher to push you on the swing?”
Jung Hwangyeong slowly shook his head. The teacher, who had tried talking to him several times, seemed to grow tired of getting no response. Before long, she turned away and headed toward the other children.
With a blank expression, Jung Hwangyeong watched his classmates playing, laughing brightly.
The children welcomed the teacher as she approached, tugging at her and begging her to do this or that, pulling her into their games.
The teacher, looking pleased, laughed along with them and played together.
‘…That looks fun.’
He used to play well with others too, but lately everything felt dull and lifeless. His brothers had no interest in him at all, and the only one who looked after him was the housekeeper.
Thanks to the housekeeper, who treated him kindly, the loneliness that felt like it might drive him crazy had eased a little these days. Still, the loneliness and bitterness pooled deep inside him continued to follow Jung Hwangyeong wherever he went.
His head drooped.
‘Liar.’
The reason Jung Hwangyeong felt even more depressed was the absence of his eldest brother, Jung Hwanhui. He had promised he would come last week, but he never showed up.
The only one who ever played with him was his eldest brother….
Suddenly, a thought struck him, and Jung Hwangyeong trembled, gripping the swing’s ropes tightly.
What if his eldest brother didn’t want to play with him anymore either?
Does that mean I’m really all alone now?
Sad thoughts kept welling up, threatening to bring tears to his eyes. When he listened to his friends, they talked about going to the beach with their families on the weekend, hiking in the mountains, sometimes even traveling overseas….
Jung Hwangyeong bit his lip hard.
He spent the entire weekend shut inside the house, and the difference between him and his friends felt enormous—everything from one to ten.
‘I want to go out and play too. With my brothers….’
An impossible dream, right?
Everyone was just too busy.
“All right, kids, let’s head back to the classroom and have our snacks.”
“Yes, teacher!”
The children all started following the teacher. Jung Hwangyeong watched them quietly and didn’t move.
Normally, he would have followed along eventually, even if a little late, but today he stayed put. Sitting astride the swing, he just stared blankly at the children heading back into the kindergarten.
Before he knew it, everyone had gone inside, and Jung Hwangyeong was left alone. It seemed no one had even noticed that he hadn’t followed.
He was the one who chose not to go, yet a hollow feeling settled in his chest.
‘I’m alone at home, and I’m alone here too.’
No one cared about him. The loneliness felt suffocating.
If he had a mom and dad like his friends, would things be different now?
His parents had passed away when he was very young, so he didn’t really have any memories of them.
Still, every now and then—just once in a great while—it hurt unbearably to realize that something everyone else had, a mother and father, existed only for others, not for him.
After riding the swing a few more times, squeaking as it went, Jung Hwangyeong stood up. He’d been lost in thought for too long. He should head back to the classroom now.
At that moment, a shadow fell over him.
Wondering who it was, he looked up and saw a woman he’d never seen before, wearing an apron.
Perhaps because the shadow loomed over her, her impression looked dark. But her voice was gentle beyond compare.
“Hello. You’re Hwangyeong, right? Why are you sitting here alone?”
He looked at her with wary eyes, and the woman smiled kindly as she spoke.
‘Who is she?’
Faced with a stranger, Jung Hwangyeong took a cautious step back.
“I’m a new teacher from the Forsythia Class.”
The Forsythia Class was the class next door. So she was a new teacher. At the word teacher, the tension stiffening Jung Hwangyeong’s shoulders eased.
It made sense—since he was alone on the playground, she must have come to check on him.
Just as he was about to start walking, thinking he really should go back to the classroom now, the teacher suddenly stepped closer, bent her knees, and met his eyes.
“…Do you not want to go into the classroom right now?”
It was a question that felt as though she had read his mind. Jung Hwangyeong hesitated, then slowly nodded.
He didn’t want to be stuck among the noisy kids. Everyone looked so happy, while he alone felt miserable.
The teacher seemed to hesitate for a moment, then glanced outside and cautiously made a suggestion.
“Then… the teacher has to step out to buy something for a moment. Would you like to come with me?”
…Go with the teacher?
Jung Hwangyeong’s ears perked up.
“I’ll buy you some tasty candy too.”
Looking back and forth between the kindergarten and the teacher, Jung Hwangyeong nodded without much hesitation. The urge to go outside and walk around outweighed the thought of going straight back into the classroom.
More than anything, he hadn’t been anywhere except home and kindergarten lately, so he wanted to go out even more.
“Okay, let’s go. Here, take my hand.”
The teacher held out her hand. Jung Hwangyeong stared quietly at it.
Would it be okay?
Suddenly, his eldest brother’s voice surfaced in his mind, warning him not to follow strangers.
‘Well, I’ve never seen her before… but she’s a teacher.’
A teacher should be fine.
Yeah. It’ll be fine.
After hesitating briefly, Jung Hwangyeong carefully took the teacher’s hand.
‘Cold.’
Unlike her warm, gentle voice, her hand was unnaturally cold, which made him feel slightly uncomfortable. Still, he didn’t show it. Just the fact that he was going outside excited him, leaving him no room to worry about anything else.
And so, holding the new teacher’s hand, Jung Hwangyeong stepped out of the kindergarten with a light, excited heart.
* * *
After finishing the cleaning, I flipped through the TV channels I’d turned on for a moment.
Since it was a weekday morning, a few scenes from dramas flickered past, but none of them really grabbed my attention. There didn’t seem to be any variety shows worth watching either….
In the end, I absentmindedly pressed the remote a few more times, switching channels, when I paused after seeing several channels all running news with the same tone.
They were talking about the recent kindergarten kidnapping cases that had become a serious issue.
[Children are being abducted by criminals who enter kindergartens, approach children who are alone on playgrounds within the facilities, and lure them by pretending to be teachers.
It is a crime that exploits the sense of safety associated with kindergartens and the lowered guard that comes with it.
Already, three children have been kidnapped using this method.
Parents, who entrusted their children to kindergartens believing they were safe, are furious, and kindergarten teachers—who never imagined kidnappers would enter the premises—are in an uproar as well….]
‘The world really is going to hell.’
Just what is the world coming to….
The news went on, detailing the various methods used by the kidnappers.
Clicking my tongue as I focused on the report, I soon saw the anchor move on to another topic.
I turned off the TV and stretched. Come to think of it, I’d seen a similar news story not long ago. Does that mean the news has been covering kidnapping cases nonstop lately?
Hmph. That just means it’s that serious.
I was inwardly lamenting how crimes were becoming more sophisticated by the day when my phone suddenly rang.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I always carried it around just in case, but I’d never once received a call from anyone, so this was strange.
‘…Who is it?’
It was a number I didn’t recognize.
I considered not answering, thinking it might be an ad or a phishing call, but on the other hand, since I’d never received spam calls before, curiosity got the better of me.
I answered and brought the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
[“You’re Hwangyeong’s guardian, right?!”]
The frantic woman’s voice shouting as soon as I picked up made me flinch.
Hwangyeong?
Was she talking about Jung Hwangyeong? A bad feeling crept in, and I tightened my grip on the phone.
“I’m not his guardian—I’m the housekeeper at his home…. Who is this?”
[“This is the director of Haetsal Kindergarten! Hwangyeong, who was on the playground, suddenly disappeared! We contacted the police right away and tried calling his guardian, but no one answered! I took your number just in case when we met last time, so I called you—are there no other family members at home right now?”]
“…What do you mean?!”
My mouth fell open.
Don’t tell me—one of the victims they’ve been making such a fuss about on the news is Jung Hwangyeong?
That can’t be right. Kidnappings do happen in the story, but that’s later, isn’t it? Why would it happen now?
My head spun.
[“I—I’m really, truly sorry. We’re at the nearest police station right now….”]
“I’ll be there immediately.”
The director’s voice was trembling.
Given the situation, I hung up and rushed to run outside—then stopped short.
I couldn’t do this alone. If I went by myself, I’d probably just waste time at the police station. When a child is kidnapped, the most important thing is racing against time.
The police would already be desperately searching, so I needed to use a different approach. First, I ran straight up to the second floor and burst into Jung Hwangseo’s room.
“Damn it—when you actually need someone, they’re nowhere to be found….”
He’s always around when you don’t want him to be, but now that I was looking for him, he was gone.
Where the hell did that bastard go?!
I rummaged through my phone, but of course, I didn’t have his number. If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve gotten it beforehand.
No—come to think of it, the kindergarten director said she’d called the guardians, but no one answered. That meant calling wouldn’t help anyway.
In that case, waiting for someone to answer wasn’t the solution. Going out to look myself would be faster.
I desperately searched my memory.
‘Where would they be…. Where….’
There were a few places that came to mind.
Places Jung Hwangyu frequented.
Places Jung Hwangseo frequented.
And lastly—the place where Jung Hwanhui was!
Fortunately, all of them were nearby. If they weren’t at any of the places I could think of now, there would be no way left to find them.
Praying desperately that they’d all be where I was thinking, I hurriedly ran out.