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Mingyu is the moon. He’s spent most of his life alone, doing nothing. Just watching the planets around him, too far away for him to catch anything worthwhile. Then one day the earth appeared. The universe had placed it at the centre of the moon’s rotation circuit and finally the moon had something to watch. For a while he felt less lonely.
Earth was not an empty planet. It was inhabited by humans and although the moon had no way of communicating with the humans, he spent his every second watching and studying them. He no longer cared about all the other planets and galaxies that were too far away because he was no longer lonely. He had earth and its humans.
For a while he felt less lonely, but then the humans started disappearing. When the first human died the moon got scared. He was confused as to what had happened, why did the human disappear like that? Would it not come back? Then another human went away, and another. One by one the humans were starting to leave. In the beginning the humans lived for hundreds of years, something which changed too soon.
The moon worried that they would all be gone. He didn’t want to lose the humans. He cared about them. What would happen if things continued in the same way? He would lose all his precious humans and end up all alone again. Just him and the painful loneliness he had carried for millions and millions of years before this. He didn’t want that, so he made a deal.
He made a deal with the universe. When the humans disappeared from the earth, they would reappear up there in space, surrounding him and all the planets. They would become stars. At first, he thought this would make things better. He watched with joy as the humans down on earth figured it out. Whenever a human died a new shining spot appeared in the sky.
It seemed to comfort many humans still on earth, but the moon couldn’t help but feel a bit sad about it all. Because even if the humans kept producing new humans, continuously inhabiting the earth and never leaving it empty, none of them would talk to him once they became a star.
Even the first star had kept from making any type of contact with him. The stars only ever made contact with each other. For the most part what kept him busy was to just keep on watching the humans, and whenever he felt that he got too down about the stars ignoring him he tried to remind himself that they were all placed a great distance away from him.
One day though a new human was born. Kwon Soonyoung. Most humans looked up at the moon sometimes, some more than others although scientists probably held the record. But Soonyoung caught the moon’s attention. He looked up at the moon every single day.
In the beginning it wasn’t a regular thing, the human was too small – too young. But then one day as a child he started a routine. Since then the moon had always looked down at the one human who looked up at him every day for almost his entire life.
The moon became enamoured with Soonyoung and his life, due to his constant looking up at the moon. He notes how the human never settles down with anyone unlike the other humans existing around him. One day the moon starts to think that he looks lonely. When years go by and nothing changes, he starts feeling kind of bad for him, thinking that if he were a human, he would devote his life to making Soonyoung happy. He would want to end his loneliness.
Soonyoung has a long life. He lives to be 98 years old. The moon, although aware how foolish it was, had secretly hoped that he would live for as long as the first humans. Even just the half of that would suffice. He wasn’t ready to let go of this human yet. He wasn’t ready for Soonyoung to become a star and ignore him for the rest of eternity. Just like everyone else had.
Soonyoung was the last out of his friends to die. And even if he was very aware and thankful for having lived a good and happy life, he still spends his last years being sad and lonely. His last remaining friend had died only just a few months before Soonyoung turned 80. But he kept looking up at the moon every night and reminding himself that he had a good life, even if he never found his true love.
When humans die, they become stars. All humans know this, it’s common knowledge. Which is why when his family and friends were all dead Soonyoung sold his house and moved to a cabin in the mountains. No one bothered him there because no one would be willing to go through the woods separating him from society. From his new home he could see all of the night sky. He spent his remaining years on the mountain. Every night he went out to look at the stars, his friends and family who he knew were up there. And of course, the moon.
One day Soonyoung became sick. He knew that he could easily get treatment at the hospital in town. But it would need to happen very soon. The human instead gathered all his blankets, pillows and mattresses. He searched through all his things to make sure he got it all before he brought it outside.
When he had finished setting everything up outside, he went back inside once more, to make a big cup of chai latte, his favourite. Then he laid down amongst the mattresses and pillows and wrapped himself in the blankets. He let out a deep sigh once he felt comfortable. One even the moon had felt deep inside of him, watching the human.
Soonyoung laid there, sipping his tea and looking up at the night sky. He died like that, in his sleep. When he gains consciousness again, he’s become a star. He could see some of his old friends and family, but they’re all kind of far away from him.
What was close though was the moon. It was right there, next to him and suddenly it spoke to him. They talked and got to know each other and for the first time the moon got to know a human in a way different from just watching and studying. The human would tell the moon stories from earth and explain what it was like.
The moon would then then tell the story of how lonely he once was, but then the earth was created, and the humans came. He was so happy. Then he would talk to him about how confused and scared he was then they started dying and he couldn’t understand why. He told him everything.
At the end of his story the moon told him that he was the happiest he’s even been when Soonyoung talked to him. He hadn’t expected him to respond when he first greeted him, because none of the others before him had.
They spend the rest of eternity like that, talking to each other. The human thinks that maybe this is why he never found someone on earth, because the one perfect for him was already waiting for him up in the sky. And one day, after many, many years he told him that.
The moon told him that is sounded cliché and stupid. Then, after a while he told him that it had been nice to hear him say that. He ended his confession by saying how much he loved him, and how grateful he was to have him there by his side for the rest of eternity.
Mingyu is the moon. He received that name billions of years into his existence, by the only human and star who ever spoke to him. The reason why he would never feel lonely again, his eternal happiness.