Lost and found

Soo-jin had noticed that Kang-dae had often been lost in his thoughts the past few days. Concerned, she approached him one afternoon and said, "Kang-dae, today my friend is visiting with her kids. Her son is the same age as you. Why don’t you go buy some snacks for them?"

Kang-dae nodded, grabbing his coat and heading out. On his way back, he noticed a small figure huddled under a tree near the store. Curious, he wanted to check, but the rain was starting to pour harder, so he rushed home.

When he arrived, he found his mother and her friend searching around the house with anxious expressions. He walked over and asked, "Mom, what happened?"

"Oh, Kang-dae, you’re back. Auntie Mi-sook's daughter is missing. We’ve been looking for her. Did you see a little girl on your way?"

"No, I rushed home because it was raining..." The image of the small figure under the tree flashed in his mind. Grabbing an umbrella, he informed his mom, "I'll look for her around the park."

Kang-dae made his way back to the tree and found a girl crouched down with a scraped knee. He approached her and asked, "Are you okay?"

The girl looked up at him, frozen with an astonished expression. Yeon-ji was stunned to see a child version of Kang-dae standing before her. They stared at each other for a moment until Kang-dae broke the silence, asking again, "Are you okay?"

Yeon-ji thought she was imagining things, but as she heard his voice again, she couldn’t help but shed tears of relief. She was so glad to see him in front of her, unharmed. The past few days, she had been haunted by the dream of the accident and couldn’t stop worrying about Kang-dae. Now, seeing him well and good, she felt a sense of peace.

Kang-dae was flustered to see the girl cry. Assuming she was upset because of her injury, he hesitantly patted her head and tried to comfort her, "It's okay, let’s go home now."

Yeon-ji tried to stop crying, but Kang-dae’s kindness made her cry even more.

---

After a while, Yeon-ji calmed down, and the rain had stopped. Kang-dae patiently waited for her to settle. He held Yeon-ji's hand so she wouldn’t wander off again and started walking home.

On the way, Yeon-ji was too embarrassed to look up and meet Kang-dae's eyes. She was thankful that her body was that of a child; otherwise, she would have died of embarrassment for crying in front of a ten-year-old boy. She glanced at Kang-dae and noticed he seemed unaffected.

Her heart was racing as Kang-dae held her hand. Gathering courage, she muttered, "T-Thank you."

Kang-dae looked down, meeting her eyes, and smiled warmly, "You're welcome." Yeon-ji felt her cheeks heat up and immediately looked at the ground to hide her face.

Their walk home was filled with silence. When they arrived, Yeon-ji's mother ran to hug her, "Yeon-ji-ya, where did you go? You scared me!" She sighed with relief.

"Sorry, Mom, I was looking around and got lost," Yeon-ji explained.

Mi-sook thanked Kang-dae, and they all went inside. The kids resumed their play while Mi-sook and Soo-jin went back to chatting, but Mi-sook kept Yeon-ji by her side. Yeon-ji wanted to play with Kang-dae, but because she had given her mother a scare, she had to stay close.

Sitting there, Yeon-ji watched her brother Min-jae and Kang-dae playing together. They got along well, being the same age. She was deeply puzzled by today's events. In her past, she never got lost and had no memory of meeting Kang-dae like this.

Before she knew it, it was time to leave. Yeon-ji wanted to thank Kang-dae again but couldn’t find him. She felt a bit sad that she didn’t get to spend more time with him. Soo-jin came outside to see them off.

Yeon-ji and Min-jae thanked her. "Sorry for causing trouble today," Yeon-ji apologized.

Soo-jin smiled kindly. "Don’t worry about it, Yeon-ji. Take care!"

When they reached home, Yeon-ji went straight to her bed, exhausted from the day's events. She let out a heavy sigh as she lay down. "What was today all about? Ahh, I don't want to think anymore." She tried to shake off her thoughts and quickly fell asleep.

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