My Bloody Valentine - 68

Even though it was early, the sky was dark.

It was as if a hole had been punched in the heavy clouds above, and rain poured down fiercely. It was an unexpected downpour.

The rotten smell of Chinese food dishes left outside for days mingled with the rain’s scent, assaulting the nose.

Intermittent thunder, like the sound of explosions, shook the ground. On days like this, no one was outside, making it a wasted day.

Taeshin trudged back to his lodging, feeling like a defeated soldier with nothing to show for his efforts.

“Please… help me…”

As he climbed halfway up the stairs, he heard someone sobbing. Taeshin quickened his pace.

Clink.

A liquor bottle rolled inward after hitting the tip of Taeshin’s shoe at the entrance. Toad had to be there.

Toad, overwhelmed by feelings of inferiority and self-doubt when seeing his former comrades’ successes, would come here to drink. His drunken brutality was always directed at the children.

When Taeshin looked up, he saw Junho kneeling, his arm gripped by the thick hand of a drunken Toad, whose face was flushed red. Junho’s face was a mess of tears and snot.

At that moment, a flash of light brightened the surroundings, followed by a loud crash that shook the ground.

In the bright flash of lightning, something gleamed in Toad’s hand. Taeshin squinted to see what it was.

It was a thick knife with a square handle, designed to be gripped tightly. The serrated blade looked sharp even at a glance.

“What are you doing right now?”

“I’m going to cut this useless bastard’s wrist.”

“Why the wrist? Why?”

“Wouldn’t it gain sympathy if he becomes a beggar?”

“…!”

Why wasn’t anyone stopping this? Taeshin looked around, finding Toad’s words too brutal to seem real.

The terrified children had hidden themselves in the darkness like cockroaches.

Another flash and another thunderous boom followed. In the brief moment of illumination, Taeshin saw the silhouettes of children hiding everywhere.

Jina didn’t seem to be there. She must have gone out for work and hadn’t returned yet.

Toad pulled Junho’s arm as if preparing to cut a piece of wood.

“Aaah! Please, save me!”

“Move or touch it, and you’ll end up losing fingers too.”

Toad spat into his palm, preparing to use his strength, while Junho cried desperately. The sound of rain through the wide-open window made everything even more chaotic.

Taeshin’s empty gaze wandered. He noticed the empty liquor bottle that had just hit his foot.

As Toad was about to place the sharp blade on Junho’s wrist, the bottle flew from behind, hitting Toad’s head with a dull thud. Toad dropped the knife and staggered, blood streaming down his forehead and face.

Wiping the blood from his face with his hand, Toad turned around. Taeshin stood there, looking almost possessed.

“You bastard!”

Toad approached Taeshin, looking like someone who had just been gravely betrayed. He grabbed Taeshin by the collar.

Even though Taeshin was unusually strong for his age, he was only fourteen. He was no match for the much larger man.

Toad started pushing Taeshin, who stumbled back until he hit the wall. Taeshin’s upper body was half out of the open window.

Toad, eyes red with a mix of drunkenness and murderous intent, spoke.

“It doesn’t matter if you disappear. The world will go on as if nothing happened.”

It was unclear if he was speaking to Taeshin or himself.

“If you die, I can just bring that pretty girl from your orphanage.”

Fear flashed in Taeshin’s eyes. He clenched his limp hand into a fist and punched Toad in the nose without hesitation. Surprised, Toad pushed Taeshin hard, sending him out of the large window. A thud followed.

“Ahhhh!”

A scream echoed in the dark alley as the rain poured down. It was Jina, returning from work, about ten meters away from where Taeshin lay.

“Taeshin!”

She dropped her umbrella and ran to him. Blood mixed with rainwater flowed endlessly from beneath his head.

The blood being sucked into the drain looked like Taeshin’s life being pulled into the ground.

Taeshin spent six months in the hospital.

A fragment of his fractured skull had touched part of his brain, necessitating emergency surgery to remove the debris and place the bone fragments back. The surgery went well, but he didn’t wake up for a long time.

When Taeshin finally opened his eyes after months in a coma, the first snow of the new year was falling outside the window.

Taeshin didn’t remember his own name. All memories, including the moment of the accident, were blank.

The doctors diagnosed him, now an anonymous patient, with traumatic amnesia caused by brain damage.

Most people who experience amnesia feel very disturbed and lost, but Taeshin’s situation was slightly different.

The change he experienced wasn’t just the loss of memory. Taeshin’s personality changed as if he had become a completely different person. Specific areas of his brain that controlled his personality and sense of self had become dysfunctional.

When a person feels certain emotions, specific parts of the brain activate, causing hormones to be released, allowing them to cry or laugh.

Even when watching a horror movie, the part of the limbic system related to fear must respond for one to feel scared, and that area of Taeshin’s brain was extensively damaged.

Taeshin couldn’t feel positive emotions like satisfaction or joy, nor negative ones like anxiety, anger, or depression. The activity of the amygdala neurons, responsible for human emotions, had noticeably dulled.

The personality of “somewhat blunt and shy but kind and loyal” Jang Taeshin had completely changed.

Since Taeshin’s fingerprints weren’t registered, he was classified as a child without a guardian, and his surgery and hospital fees were covered. After being discharged, he stayed at a social protection facility until a guardian was decided.

One day, a man in a neat suit appeared at the facility. He was in his late forties, with bumpy skin, bags under his eyes, and a protruding belly.

The man brought along a girl who he claimed was Taeshin’s sister. She was thin and tall.

“Taeshin, don’t you remember your sister Jina? Oh, my child…”

Toad, claiming Taeshin didn’t remember him, acted out a heartfelt reunion.

The social worker, upon hearing Toad’s story of Taeshin running away after failing to adapt to his adopted home, checked Taeshin’s records and a photo from that time. They had no choice but to release Taeshin to Toad.

“Is it true?”

Toad glanced skeptically at Taeshin in the back seat through the rearview mirror on the way back to the lodging.

“What?”

Taeshin’s eyes seemed devoid of any emotion. There was no sadness, despair, or even anger at Toad, who had caused his condition.

Toad was convinced Taeshin had lost his memory and smiled with satisfaction. Only Jina, sitting beside Taeshin, looked at him with complex emotions.

Back at the lodging, there were significantly fewer children. Four had fled in the chaos after Taeshin’s incident.

Even though Toad was skilled at finding people, he couldn’t handle all four escaping at once.

Moreover, Toad had injured his head, needing several stitches, and had to lay low until things calmed down.

In the end, Toad lost five children, including Taeshin, which was a significant manpower loss. Thus, he was glad to have Taeshin back, as if the computer had been reset and was now working fine.

Taeshin had been exceptionally talented at selling items like gum and hand mirrors due to his appearance resembling a child actor.

However, what Toad didn’t anticipate was that Taeshin was no longer the boy he once knew.

That day was like any other. Taeshin woke up to the sound of someone groaning in pain. As his eyes adjusted to the dim room, he saw the silhouettes of objects.

Toad was on top of Jina, who was struggling desperately to escape. Taeshin thought he was strangling her.

Taeshin quietly grabbed a folding chair with both hands. Then, he started hitting Toad mercilessly.

Thud, thud, thud. Blood splattered everywhere. Jina rolled aside, and when Toad tried to retaliate, Taeshin struck his head again.

With a blank expression, as if chopping wood, Taeshin kept hitting, trying to completely crush Toad’s already shattered head and face. Jina had to run over to stop him.

“Taeshin, stop… He’s already dead.”

Toad became the first person Taeshin killed.