Dual System: Ascension of A Nameless Nobody

Become the most feared delinquent in Seoul, and everybody will be scared to lay a finger on Cho-Hee, he thought.

Getting into the silver car his sister owned, and who just recently acquired her license, it seemed more like this dessert trip was an excuse for her to break in her new vehicle. He buckled himself into the passenger seat, adjusting his hair that had been ruffled previously.

Cho-Hee started the car, humming a tune as the two siblings started to drive through the quiet suburbs, “So, what do you want to do for your birthday? I already know what you want–you’ve been into designer clothes lately, right?”

The streets lining the suburb were clean, well-maintained as kids could be seen, playing and laughing as the sun of summer loomed over the horizon.

“I don’t need anythin’,” he told her.

“Aw, don’t be like that! I was thinking me, you, and Binna could go out somewhere to eat, then have a movie night,” Cho-hee suggested, guiding the car from the suburbs into the metropolitan, which was merely a few blocks away.

“…Why do I have a feelin’ you already made these plans?” He sighed.

“He-he, you got me! I already called Binna about this a few days ago,” Cho-Hee laughed.

Still, he couldn’t help but smile himself, hardly feeling the throbbing of his nose from the scuffle earlier in the day–all washed away when seeing his sister smiling herself._.

I want to be better…so I can stop worryin’ her, he resolved.

But, despite his own thoughts and aspirations, he was powerless to do any such things if the world simply decided to spin his life around on the dime.

“Yeong-Un, I–”

Before Cho-Hee could get her words out, which were accompanied with a warm smile, he could see it coming–in the last moment, in what felt like halted time, the headlights of a vehicle quickly approaching, coming in towards the driver side.

“Sis–!!!” He screamed out.

Just as the two vehicles collided, everything went black.

“–“

After an unknown amount of time, his eyes blinked slowly, looking up as he could see the haze of smoke over him, blocking the sky above as he coughed out–feeling a heat all across his body.

“Sis…”

Managing to sit up, he winced, looking down to find an uncountable number of lacerations across his body; his garments were destroyed, and many of these cuts had reached deep enough to cause flabs of skin to hang loose while blood dripped all over his body.

It even ran down his head, feeling a molten warmth across his face as he realized it had been cut the worst.

Still, he hardly cared about his own wellbeing, focused entirely on his his sister was–

“Sis–!!!” He screamed out.

Managing to crawl to his feet, he stumbled forward like a zombie risen from a grave, holding his mutilated body as he walked towards the flaming, toppled car as he seemed to have been flung from outside of it in the crash.

They had been toppled over into a ditch, with the verdant grass being lit by the flames spewing from the battered vehicle.

“Sis…!” He yelled out again.

Nearby people who had witnessed the horrific occurrence came in and grabbed the injured young man as he attempted to crawl into the flaming vehicle to look for his sister, holding him back as he fought desperately against their hands.

“Hold it, kid! You’re not in any shape to–” a middle-aged businessman urged him, holding onto him.

“–Shut it! I’m not leavin’ her!”

Not listening to reason, he smacked the back of his head into the man’s nose, breaking free of his hold as he stumbled forward, falling onto his knees as his body hardly listened to him.

Before he could rush into the car–the flames bubbled and exploded, knocking him back with a violent force, worsening his already devastated body.

Still, he didn’t care in the slightest about any of that. For the first time since his infancy–the boy weeped.

“…Sis…”

“Hold on. The paramedics are on their way!” A passing woman reassured him.

“Stay calm, kid! You’re going to be alright!” A man on his way to university, who came over to help, assured him.

Their words felt deaf to his ears as he laid on the grass, looking up at the sky that was hazed by the smoke.

Why’s this happenin’ to me? It feels like I’m bein’ punished for somethin’…but what did I do? He thought.

Sitting in the bed of grass that became dyed in his own blood, he eventually passed out from the accumulated trauma, eventually waking back up to find himself in a hospital bed.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Though he wanted to freak out and thrash upon waking up, something was making him weak and calm; sedated, he laid there with half-open eyes in the pearly-white room with tubes running up his arms and nose.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It seemed most of his body was bandaged up heavily as he looked down, unable to even so much as flex a toe while in bed.

I don’t know how long I sat there, he thought.

Staring up at the pale-white wall while his ear was periodically met with the beeps of the machinery he was hooked up to, and the hum of the quiet hospital, the door to his room finally opened.

A white-coated doctor walked in, holding a clipboard and a somber expression.

Bad news, he guessed.

“Yeong-Un. I’m glad to see you’re awake, however, I have some difficult news for you. Your sister, Cho-Hee is–”

My mind went blank there. The moment those words spilled from his lips, it all went blank for me, he thought.

Days and days passed with him simply moving on through life silently. For Yeong-Un, such silence was harrowing to those around him, as he was naturally somebody who filled the room with his voice.

Even at the funeral, surrounded by distant family that he didn’t recognize, not a word was spoken from him as he simply stood there, watching as the casket holding her was lowered while his shoulder was caressed by Binna.

This…is real, ain’t it? He finally realized.