By Zephyria 
Yes, I remember this time vividly as well. The darkening evening, the deserted alleyway, the chill that seeped into my chest, the backs of my hands cracked like a parched rice paddy in a drought. Not a single detail was blurred; even the stench of the back alley at the time was vivid.
“Did you… really take this?”
“What would I lie for?”
I remember the situation, but I don’t remember the face of the man I encountered. Did the man back then have Kwon Yi-kang’s face?
“When I told him I took his photo, he cursed at me and called me a pervert. Then he said he didn’t care if I was a pervert, but if I took the photo, I had to pay. He was a bold little thing.”
Kwon Yi-kang laughed softly, as if recalling the memory.
“Kids like that are a dime a dozen in the back alleys. Kids who grow up with nothing, unable to eat or learn, leaving nothing but spite. There’s nothing special about it, right?”
I was one of the many beggars in those back alleys. A child who was starved for food, attention, a touch, and kindness, leaving nothing but spite. There were dozens of children like me in that alley.
“Maybe so. But it left an impression. I had just returned to the country and was wandering around under the pretext of taking photos. I was walking aimlessly and entered a nearby back alley, and there was that kid crouching. He was hunched over because of the cold, but there was a will to survive in his eyes. There was a tenacity to survive no matter what. Seeing that even a kid like that wanted to live made me reflect on what I was doing with my life.”
It was an exceptionally cold winter. I had layered several sets of worn-out thermal underwear and t-shirts, but the autumn jumper I wore over them couldn’t block the fierce winter wind. The money I had collected from begging was particularly low that day, and since it was obvious I’d be beaten if I returned to the shelter, I sat in the cold alleyway to delay my return as much as possible.
Then a man approached. He wore a luxurious coat that didn’t fit the back alley, and the toes of his shoes were exceptionally polished.
「Hey, kid. I took your photo, is that okay?」
「Are you a pervert? One of those guys who takes photos of kids to jerk off to?」
「I don’t have that kind of taste, kid. I’m a photographer. If I hold an exhibition later, I might display your photo.」
「Whatever. I don’t care if you’re a pervert or not, you took my face, so pay up.」
I didn’t understand half of what the man said. At the time, I was reckless, and I was simply happy if a man who looked rich gave me money.
Despite the child’s unreasonable demand, the man readily took out his wallet. 「How much would you like?」 At his light question, I spread my hand wide, and the man gave me fifty thousand won.
With this, I won’t have to get beaten. I can spend about five thousand won of this and they won’t know.
I sprang up and left the alley. Since restaurants wouldn’t let in a begging child, I bought a bowl of kalguksu at a street stall.
I can almost feel the heat of the kalguksu I ate then churning in my stomach. As I stood there, forcing strength into my legs, Kwon Yi-kang gently hugged me from behind and rested his chin on the crown of my head.
“I remember that kid’s desperate eyes. Eyes that were furious at the unfairness of the world. I tried to find him once later. But I couldn’t see where he had gone.”
After that, I was moved to another district and began learning pickpocketing skills instead of begging. Since the timing was similar, his words about having looked for me didn’t seem like a lie.
“How long are you going to keep looking at photos? It’s great that you like my work, but you should see the rest. You’re still standing at the entrance.”
Kwon Yi-kang pulled my shoulder and led me into the living room. Having not expected to encounter the past Min Jae-hee here, I walked dazed and slumped onto the living room sofa.
“Your complexion suddenly turned pale; are you feeling sick?”
“No, …maybe my blood sugar is low. I think I’m hungry.”
“If you’re hungry, you’re hungry; what’s with the ‘I think I’m hungry’? Wait. I’ll make something.”
Kwon Yi-kang left me and went into the kitchen, and I curled up, clutching my head.
Min Jae-hee had vanished from the world, and there was no one who remembered me. Even Cha Soo-kyung, who had been with me until the end, no longer existed as his soul had vanished. I had dropped dead overnight, and there was no one to remember me or long for me. I thought that, and that’s why I was sad.
But… in a place I didn’t know, during a time I didn’t know, a person I didn’t know had been thinking of me.
How could I explain the fact that the only person who remembered Min Jae-hee had appeared before me, beyond mere coincidence?
That it wasn’t coincidence, but fate? That we were meant to meet?
It might be something that doesn’t even warrant such grand descriptors. It might just be a slightly unique memory in Kwon Yi-kang’s life. Nevertheless, I was happy that I occupied even a tiny space in his memory. My heart trembled that there was someone who remembered that I had existed in this world.
“Are you very hungry?”
As I stumbled into the kitchen, Kwon Yi-kang asked with a smile. As he was slicing some vegetables, he was flustered by my sudden action of approaching and kissing him, but he didn’t push me away. He put the knife he was holding into the sink, washed his hands, and then hugged me.
“What is this?”
“Let’s do it. Right now.”
I need to hold you and kiss you right now. I need to lock eyes with you, hold your hand, be held in your arms, and confirm your warmth.
I couldn’t stand how lovely and precious the man named Kwon Yi-kang felt.
I hurriedly unbuttoned his shirt as if tearing it off and pulled at the t-shirt underneath. I rubbed my body against his bare chest, hungrily biting and sucking his lips.
Hurry, hurry, hold me. Bury me inside you, let me feel your existence.
I lowered the zipper and pulled out his member to rub it. With just a bit of contact, his organ easily became erect, standing tall enough to touch my stomach. I hurriedly threw off my pants and underwear and wrapped my legs around his waist.
“Why are you in such a rush?”
Kwon Yi-kang asked, blocking my hand as I tried to guide his member to my hole. I grew anxious as he rubbed around the rim of the hole but wouldn’t enter.
“Shut up and just put it in.”
I pushed his body against the sink and tried to shove his member into the open hole, but I grew irritated as it kept slipping and I kept missing.
“Fuck,” I muttered a low curse, growing impatient, and he pulled my neck and kissed my cheek.
“You act like an animal in heat sometimes; I assume you’re doing this on purpose?”
“Stop acting all composed while you’ve got a hard-on.”
“Your way of speaking is vulgar.”
“This is just how I’m built. So, are you saying you can’t put your noble dick in right now?”
My words grew harsh as things didn’t go as planned. As if soothing me, he licked my cheek and lifted my body. He scooped me up, laid me on the dining table a few steps away, and lifted my thin legs, pulling my crotch tight against his chin.
He lowered his head and pressed his lips to my groin. His warm lips softly rubbed and sucked at the flesh. Slowly, and densely. He pursed his lips to tighten around the shaft, flicking and rubbing the wet tip of my member with his tongue. He pressed his chin against my perineum to stimulate it, licking the erecting organ with a thick, lingering touch.
“Hurry…”
Despite my urging, he did not stop his tongue. He spat out the saliva-soaked member and kissed along the perineum. The sharp tip of his tongue played smoothly over the skin until it reached the closed folds. His wet lips descended upon the gap between my buttocks, which he held open with his hands.
He sucked and rubbed the wrinkled, closed entrance with his tongue. The hand that had been holding me slowly rubbed my stomach, as if telling me to relax. The body heat transmitted from my abdomen made my muscles loosen, and he pushed his tongue into the wet, twitching entrance.
“Haa, ngh…”
While holding my dangling member and rubbing it softly, he pressed his nose firmly against my perineum, sucking at my rear with his lips pressed tight. The movement of his tongue, navigating inside like a fish swimming in water, created a strange sensation.
“Don’t, don’t do that…”
I covered my face with my hand and barely managed to squeeze the words out through a constricted throat. The tongue moving inside meticulously licked, poked, and pressed against the inner walls, delivering waves of stimulation.
I could do nothing but shake helplessly, biting my lip to stifle my moans. The hot breath exhaled from his palm dampened my face, making it difficult to open my eyes.
“Show me your face.”
He whispered as he pulled away the hand covering my face. Letting go of my lower body, Kwon Yi-kang leaned in close to my face and kissed the tip of my chin as he pushed his member inside. He made me wrap my wide-spread legs around his waist, and my body jolted once from the force of him pushing deep inside.
“Ah, aaah…”
The thick member, penetrating in one go, pressed deep into the inner walls. Our faces met; a burning gaze was looking down at me.
I wondered what I looked like to Kwon Yi-kang. Did he see even a glimpse of the child in the photograph in my face? Or was I simply a small, fragile Cha Soo-kyung?
“…I like it when you look at me.”
Regardless of whose face is reflected in your eyes, I like it when you look at me entirely. Your gaze toward me, your touch, your warmth—it felt as if they proved my existence.
Biting and licking my trembling lips, the connection below began to shake violently.