He hadn’t had a nightmare in a long time. The doctor was shaking, his family fainted, and he was powerless to do anything. Such a scene kept repeating. The smell of cresol, as well as the white lights from the ceiling, the noises from the hospital going in and out of his ears, and a scream, topped it all off.

Junmin stroked his hair upwards. His hands were full of sweat. He did not remember how he came back home yesterday. He remembered up to the point when he called Ganghwan, but anything after that was pitch black.

“You worried about me?”

He picked up the pomeranian that walked up to his feet. When he looked at the black eyes between the bushy fur, he started to feel a little better. Perhaps this was why people raised dogs. No words were necessary for consolation.

He put down the dog before standing up. It had been fifteen years since he had become drunk like this. Fifteen years ago, when he returned Haejoo to ashes, he drowned himself in alcohol.

Just as he opened the refrigerator to quench his thirst a little, he saw a plastic bottle on the table. The lid was still open. As he always cleaned up after himself, he couldn’t have been the one to leave the bottle out like this. He wondered if he did that because he was drunk. He drank the lukewarm water in the bottle before walking to the living room. He just opened the door when he...