Chapter Text
The snow had begun to fall on the streets since the end of November. It was a cold year, but the chill lost its strength against a soft blanket and a cup of hot chocolate. In early December, the Christmas lights brightened every corner of the city.
Myung Jaehyun walked with a smile, enchanted by the magic of that time of year. For him, everything changed: the streets looked prettier, and people seemed happier. In the boy’s eyes, unity, love, and happiness were the purest feelings in the world.
Walking down a street covered in lights that wrapped around the trees, he watched the nearly perfect snowflakes blend with the bluish glow. In the background, the sound of Christmas bells mingled with laughter and lively chatter. So enchanting. Jaehyun walked to the park, where a Christmas ballet performance had just ended. Some people were already taking down the stage, preparing for the next days, while the dancers greeted the passing children.
“I need to come back tomorrow to see the show,” he thought excitedly.
He sat on a distant bench and looked around. Families were having fun while children played near animatronic snowmen and Santa’s helpers. Even in solitude, Jaehyun’s smile grew as he watched that simple happiness. The cold, however, soon brought him back to reality.
“It’s so freezing…” He rubbed his hands against his aching cheeks to warm them up.
He was shivering hard since he wore simple clothes: worn-out jeans at the knees, a thin shirt under a light blue hoodie, and a scarf he had found in the park a year before. He sighed, watching the warm vapor leave his mouth, and chuckled softly at the thought of himself as a fire-breathing dragon—or a steam train.
“Do normal adults think about things like that?” he muttered to himself.
The heavy necklace around his neck caught his attention. He held the golden locket, engraved with delicate patterns, which shone slightly from his constant habit of rubbing it with his hands. Jaehyun had received that piece of jewelry from an old friend. It used to look old and dirty, but after years of polishing it with his touch, it had started to shine again.
Throughout all his years running away from orphanages and taking shelter on the streets, no one had ever tried to steal it. The pendant was his most precious possession, and that made him grateful. On hard days, he thought about selling it to survive, but always gave up, remembering the promise it carried: one day he would return the locket to its true owner, and that would bring him the happiness he needed to move on to a better place.
“It’s getting dark… I’d better go home.” His cracked lips pouted slightly as his eyes lingered affectionately on the golden piece.
The city center was still bustling at that time of year, people going in and out of bright stores. Jaehyun walked toward quieter streets, feeling the cold cut through his skin. He pulled up his hood and quickened his pace. As he passed through the street of Tokyo’s best restaurants, his stomach growled loudly. The smell of meat and spices hypnotized him, but he had no money to buy anything. Unfortunately, he had learned to make do with leftovers he found in nearby places. One example was the candy factory, where he sometimes managed to find almost untouched cake pieces thrown away for being imperfect. He was careful about what he ate, avoiding spoiled food.
Since he had fled the last orphanage two months ago, that had been his routine: surviving on what he could find in trash bins. The boy carried scars on his body and soul, born from the cruelty of the world he’d faced since childhood. Being abandoned multiple times and treated like a stray dog was his burden. But at 18, he felt stronger and determined to find his happiness and free himself from the wounds of the past.
After half an hour, he reached the alley between a restaurant and an old shoe shop. That was his home: a large dumpster he kept clean and organized, strange as it sounded. He climbed inside, closed the lid, and smiled. It wasn’t luxury, but it had been his refuge for nearly a month, a safe hiding spot, away from the dangers of the streets. That little place was his special corner, a space where, after years, he could finally feel comfortable again.
The restaurant owner next door didn’t like him, but the youngest son, Kim Donghyun, always helped him discreetly, bringing lunch boxes or supplies, and paying him for small tasks like washing dishes at the end of the day.
“Leehannie is so kind…” He wrapped himself in the soft blanket his friend had given him a few days ago and uncovered a small thermal bag hidden in the corner, along with a folded note. Jaehyun picked up the paper first, already smiling, recognizing Donghyun’s rushed and terrible handwriting:
“I thought you might want something warm today. There’s soup, bread, and… a surprise at the bottom. Merry almost-Christmas. — Leehannie.”
When he opened the bag, the pleasant smell of soup filled the cramped air inside the dumpster. It was chicken and potato soup. There were also two rolls of bread and a small packet of gummy candies.
Even though they lived in such different worlds, Donghyun always found a way to reach him not out of pity, but with genuine affection. And that’s what made their friendship special.
He sat on his improvised mattress, wrapped in the blanket, and ate slowly, feeling his body warm up bit by bit inside and out.
“I need to thank him later…” After brushing his teeth and trying to fix his messy hair, he thought about reading, but the flashlight was out of battery.
Jaehyun loved books, the few he could get, and dreamed of having a library of his own one day, but for now, he settled for the old romance novels the shoemaker sometimes gave him. He had learned to read in the first orphanage he stayed at, thanks to the only friend he had there. Bored and sleepless, he decided to go for a walk, thoughts weighing on him.
Every Christmas season, he missed the old days. Maybe he could have stayed happy if his first orphanage had never closed or if he had been adopted as a child. The chances of a good life would’ve been higher… but none of that had happened, no matter how hard he had tried to be chosen.
He sat on the cold bench at the bus stop, watching the city sleep and the colorful lights of the billboards on the buildings.
He remembered the happy families in the park and felt a pang of sadness. He wanted that for himself, but knew he’d have to fight to change his life. He had tried jobs before, but none were steady. He did odd work, saving what little money he earned for emergencies, though it never seemed enough.
On one of the bright billboards, he read:
“BELIEVE IN THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS. AT THIS TIME OF YEAR, DREAMS COME TRUE!”
He read the glowing phrase and smiled, almost skeptically.
“I’m not a kid anymore to believe in that stuff…” He grabbed the necklace and rubbed it in his hand, closing his eyes. All of it felt foolish. But he tried to focus on the dream in his mind.
“I just wish for a reason… something to make me believe it’s worth trying.”
A warm tear rolled down his cheek. He stood up when he felt the sob rising. He just needed to walk away and forget it. As he crossed the street, a nearby billboard caught his attention: First, it showed a perfume in a pretty bottle, but soon it changed to the image of a Korean model, red hair, light brown eyes... a face he thought he recognized. His eyes trembled. That calm, gentle, and slightly sad expression stirred something inside him. It didn’t look like just another beautiful face on a bright screen not to Jaehyun.
The necklace in his hand grew warm, as if it recognized it too.
Even through the still image, something inside him reacted. A memory, perhaps. Or just disguised longing.
The last time he had seen his best friend was more than ten years ago. He remembered the tight hug and the promise:
“On this night, when it snows, I’ll be there with you, forever.”
“Is that you?” he whispered, almost without realizing.
Maybe it was just an illusion, a painful coincidence. But it was Christmas and in that season, even broken hearts dared to believe. For that reason alone, Jaehyun wouldn’t give up.