The Man of Purpose
Alicia Jie Hye Lee
Genre : Life Realistic Fiction
9/16/2021
Click Here to view the fiction at the PBC & WRC website . .
Began to write in June 2012
Finalized in June 2013 & Readapted in January 2018
Independent Film Planned to be Released in 2024
Advisor to be chosen & Actors casted in 2023 - 2024
In the late afternoon of July 2001, a man was busy unloading the truck. He seemed to be in a hurry for the truck was blocking one lane of the two-lane-road. He looked tired yet seemed to be excited. He was moving into a room of a small building that he would be renting for certain period of time. The place he will be moving in will be his first place, which he managed on his own. When he was nearly finished unloading, he heard his cellphone ring. He carefully put the box he was carrying on the ground and pulled out his phone from his back pocket. It was the manager of the truck company. He wanted the payment of the truck rental fee and asked for the credit card number. After receiving the card number, the manager thanked the man and told him to return the truck where he picked it up by next morning. The man thanked the manager and the manager wished him, “Good luck Rian!”
Rian was an orphan boy who lived in the orphanage at Coper Street since he was a year old. Shyn, the area where Rian grew up is a district in the Northern part of Coy River. His home, Shelter Orphanage was located in Shyn. Aber elementary school, Schul middle school and Cera high school where Rian went were all located in Shyn. The district is generally compared to Luwxy where it is located in the Southern part of Coy River.
Lein Fountain, one of the must-go places in Shyn is famous for its long artificial stream and fountains. It is a popular area to go on picnics for families and dates for lovers. Beautiful shimmering lights are fasted beneath the streams and fountains, along with the streetlights spread out from East of Shyn to that of the far West. It is common to see couples and families holding hands and taking pictures while walking along the area of Lein Fountain. From Shyn, if you keep on walking toward south you arrive at the amazing Coy River. Coy River is the fourth longest river in the country. At the day times, walking along the banks of the river, you may see various restaurants, exquisite cafes alongside with nice paved pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths surrounded by beauteous gardens that remind you of a tulip garden vivid in color. Furthermore, after the sunset, the Coy River comes alive. The lights of the bridges and the skyscrapers located in the southern part of Coy River reflect on the calm and cool breezeless water. Cruises beaming its lights slowly slide its way on the waters making the scenery even more statuesque. There are fourteen bridges that crosses the Coy River, 1641 feet each crossing from the north to the south. Each bridge has different figures. The Banni Bridge connects Shyn and Luwxy. The bridge is famous for its water fountain, “Rainbow Lumy.” The fountain is sprinkled to the river from each side of the bridge. After sunset the hue of the fountain will transpose to that of a rainbow by the 86 lights that are embellished each side of the bridge radiating various colorful effects. Walking across the Banni Bridge, except for the noises you hear from the cars passing by, you would see the beautiful river spreading across from east to west, with lighted cruises floating nearby surrounded by high buildings pointing to the sky on the southern part. And while crossing across the Banni Bridge toward south, you normally would get excited about what you would like to do when you reach the other side, Luwxy, namely, Paradise.
Luwxy is compacted with cars on the streets yet the streets of Luwxy are two or three times wider and very well structured and organized. You could see abundant ginkgo trees standing, beautiful white lights shining on every sidewalk while you walk along. Modern 20 – 40 story business and residential buildings everywhere, shopping malls adorned with crystal and silver ornaments outside and all the noteworthy brands of embellished gold boutiques displayed inside, brightly bedecked shops, restaurants, bars everywhere. Numbers of world's most expensive cars passing by and people busily coming and going inside and outside of the buildings decked with crystal clear windows top to bottom. Rian heard about Luwxy yet has no intention to go there, unless he had a good purpose.
**
Rian, who grew up in an orphanage since he was a year old, does not know who his parents are. He has been told not much about his parents. What he was told from an unknown was his mother got drunk, slept with a man whom she does not know and got pregnant. Due to the conservative atmosphere at that time, the community was against women getting pregnant without tying the knot. Rian reconnected the storyline through his own imagination by thinking her timorous mother, then, abandoned him to get herself out of misery which he no longer cares.
Rian was thin and was about 5’6 tall. He has a short dark brown hair long enough to see his hair moving when the wind blows. He has medium sized eyes that are well proportioned to his nose and mouth, which makes up a face that would attract and charm women. Above all, Rian was a kind-hearted man who is caring and understanding, a type of person who is loved by many. Rian, because of his pale figure, however, used to be the target of the bullies ever since he was seven. He used to be a pleasantly talkative person yet seldom enjoyed being in the center of the conversation for it made him tense and nervous. Yet, ever since his one and only best friend Jaed, whom he grew up together in the orphanage since he was a year old and Jaed four years old, took his own life after being harshly bullied while they were in Cera High School, Rian became more and more of an outsider. He wanted to be hid. Yet, the more he wanted to hide, the more the bullies wanted to find. Bullying never stopped. Hardly a day went by without fearing of bullies’ hitting, kicking, sneering and mocking. Rian couldn’t focus on studying. What did I do wrong? What did I ever do to deserve this? Rian asked this question millions of times to himself. This may be the only question he is asking pondering every single day, hour, minute, and second. All he is focusing on doing is to figure out the way to avoid these bullies at school. However, what bothered Rian most was that there was no punishment imposed to these three bullies named Deom, Fion, and Salv who drove his best friend Jaed to throw himself off from the top of the four-story school building, leaving him and Rosa, little sister of Jaed, alone in this barren world. Nothing has been done on the part of the teachers, administrators or the principal to resolve this serious issue. Nothing. And ever since Jaed has killed himself, Rian would time to time see Jaed in his dreams or at least he thought it was in his dreams. Jaed, floating nearby a calm, quiet, and dark gray mist, with shadowy eyes, nose and lips, would appear with no emotions, sometimes which seemed like a smile and sometimes which seemed like deep sadness and tears rolling down his dark eyes. After several times of encounter with Jaed, Rian wanted to hug his friend and tell him he was sorry he wasn’t there for him, sorry that he couldn’t do anything to protect him from the bullies, but he couldn’t move, he couldn’t hear his own voice, not knowing whether Jaed could hear him. And while he was struggling with his existence or non-existence, Jaed would disappear floating slowly away into the dark grey mist. First time when Rian encountered Jaed which was only after two days later Jaed killed himself, along with the terrifying and shocking feeling that wouldn’t go away, Rian woke up sweating and found himself asking, where was Jaed, where was he going, Is he in heaven? It must be, he is in heaven, he must be in heaven with an entity named God and his servants, I mean angels. To his own surprise, Rian who never thought about the word religion, who never was religious and who never had gone to a place called church or similar type of places, would oftentimes hear himself saying “God, please take good care of my dear friend Jaed”. And that made him feel at ease.
**
Rian, though he was not an athletic, he was brainy. Ever since Jaed killed himself, he knew there was nothing he could do to bring back his friend. Instead of grieving endlessly for his friend, however, he heard himself yelling that he needed to do something about this. He wanted to do something about this serious issue of bullying. And what he could actually do, and thought he could do in his 17-year-old perspective, was to change the school policy or was it law, concerning the bullying issues. For the first time, he get to ponder about his career. And after several days of contemplation, he was determined to be a lawyer. He wanted to defend the kids, teens who are going through hardships like him and Jaed had. He is determined he will get into law school.
In Shyn where Rian lived, after six years of mandatory education in elementary school, students could decide whether to enter into additional six-year of studying in junior-high school or not. Unlike the private elementary schools and private junior-high schools, the education fee of public elementary school and public junior-high school in Rian’s community is not that expensive which ranges about $ 200 per semester. And because of the adequate amount of school expense, almost 98% of students in Shyn prefer to get further education by entering into public junior-high schools. And students who are eager to further learn after receiving their junior-high diploma would take the next step of education by getting into college and furthermore grad-schools. Students who decide not to enter junior-high schools, however, were eligible to take the college entrance exam, yet first need to pass the test called High-Pass Exam. This exam is for people who did not go to junior-high or for drop-outs of junior-high who could get the junior-high diploma by passing the exam. And on receiving the diploma, one will be eligible to take the next steps of education; aforementioned college and grad-schools.
After a week later the death of Jaed, Rian decided to drop out of high school. At daytimes he worked part-time at restaurants or libraries to earn money to buy reference books and support himself. At night times he studied for the High-Pass Exam. And after two years of hard work and study, Rian passed the High-Pass Exam and got into a prominent Public University majoring law. In Shyn, students could major in Law in their undergrad. He received full four years of scholarship as well. All was going pretty fine for Rian. While he was searching for his curriculum for his first semester at Public University, however, Rian realizes that there were a great number of elective courses that require speaking or giving presentation in front of students or public. Ever since Rian experienced being bullied in his adolescent days, he knew he became very nervous and has a tendency to stutter when speaking in front of people or public. According to the Nationwide Survey, it is said that stuttering or avoiding-people is a common side effects for victims who experienced serious bullying. Due to these facts, Rian avoided taking courses that require speaking or giving presentation in front of the students or public, which was not a big problem for there were plenty of other required and elective courses that he could take by merely studying and get grades by taking the written exam.
Rian, instead of working as a waiter, as a university student, now started tutoring junior-high school students by teaching math and science after classes which was a pretty decent job to support himself and save money. And after four years of all the hard work and study as a law student in Public University, Rian graduated with honors. Rian is now determined to study to enter into the Legal Institution. In Shyn, students could major in Law in his or her undergrad, however in order to be a lawyer, prosecutor or a judge you need to enter into the Legal Institution. And in order to get into the Legal Institution you need to pass a stringent entrance exam and study for two years in the Institution. And afterwards the students need to take the bar exam in order to be a qualified lawyer, prosecutor or a judge. Life seemed pretty good at this time for Rian. And he hoped it would get better if that was not something too much to ask.
**
Rian after beginning a new life in his new room in Shyn, Rian continued with his tutoring in order to pay his rent, to buy reference books and support himself as he did in his undergrad. And one day, on the way back to his room, he stopped by a small restaurant called Keptje that sells cheap traditional foods and cakes. He stopped by to buy a cake and candles to celebrate himself his 26th birthday. A waitress came up to Rian and gave him the menu and with a smile told him to take his time selecting the menu. Rian, who nearly dropped his menu was startled. The waitress looked familiar. She looked similar to the person he knew. A girl who Rian had such a huge crush, a huge first crush, on when he was in high-school. Her name was Rosa, little sister of his best friend, Jaed. Rosa had a long black hair, white and bright skin and was around 5’4. Her eyes are eyes of pearl, nose is petite, and lips are red like cherry. Rosa was his first love. Rian never really had a chance to have a close relationship with Rosa, who was a little sister of his best friend Jaed, for he was a shy and an introvert boy back then. Until he saw the waitress who looked like Rosa, Rian didn’t realize how long he had kept his first feel of love inside his heart, and never had the time to look back and remember the times he had a huge crush on his first love, for he was too busy struggling to live his life. However, Rian was not sure. The girl he remembered as Rosa was one of the prettiest and popular students in his high-school. And because of her beautiful appearance and her popularity, Rian thought Rosa would not be a person to work as a waitress in a small restaurant in Shyn yet rather a person to have an abundant life having a maiden living in a wealthy neighborhood of Luwxy.
Rian, after several visits to the restaurant, get to know the waitress was actually Rosa, his first love. Rian fell in love with her gradually and strongly day by day. Rian believes that it was meant to be to meet his first love on the day of his 26th birthday. Rian, who did not want to let this feeling and this cupid-like-destiny pass right in front of his eyes like it did in the past, encouraged himself to be brave numerous times. And finally, one Wednesday morning, asked her out several weeks after he first saw Rosa. “Sure,” said Rosa. “Thank you”, says Rian. Later, Rian gets to know that Rosa had a four-year-old son named Jaik. Rian loved Jaik dearly as if he were his own. And after a month later they started dating, they began to live together. Rosa continued working at Keptje, and Rian continued to study for his Exam while tutoring. Everything went smoothly normal and fine. To Rian, it seemed like nothing bad could happen, and though it did, “who cares . . ”
**
Rosa, unlike her brother Jaed, was adopted and was brought up at Shyn by her step-mother who was a sales woman in a cellphone store and her step-father a construction worker. While growing up, Rosa has seen her step-father and step-mother fight oftentimes because her step-father would be unfaithful to her step-mother with other women. Rosa clearly remembers that her step-father would oftentimes abuse and assault her step-mother. She oftentimes felt her step-father making sexual advance to her as well. And when Rosa was 11, her step-father ran away with a waitress stealing all of her step-mother’s money.
Rosa who has to work from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. during the weekdays and Saturdays, wanted Rian to text her when Rian takes off for tutoring and when he comes back from tutoring because she wanted to make sure Rian had a good lunch, or maybe, she wanted to make sure Rian is not meeting other women behind her back. And one day, a month after Rosa moved in with Rian, on coming back home from tutoring Rian passed out on his couch and took a nap for he couldn’t sleep much from all the studies from the day before, forgetting to text Rosa. That night, as soon as Rosa came back from work, Rosa became hysterical. She was yelling and shouting what he was doing today and why he did not text her. Rian tried to soothe and calm Rosa down by telling her the truth that he took a nap as soon as he got home because he was very tired, and that he was sorry to forget to text her. Yet Rosa kept on screaming, yelling at Rian saying she was very worried and it was inconsiderate of him not texting her. She yelled and yelled leaving Rian no choice but to stand in front of her tried to hold her hands yet missing every chance, and just had to wait until Rosa calmed down. Yet suddenly Rosa grabbed her heart and then collapsed. She barely pointed at her purse. Rian shocked hurriedly grabbed her purse and opened the purse and showed Rosa the purse. Rosa murmured “bottle . . ” slowly over and over again. Rian hurriedly checked inside the purse, and found a small bottle with pills. While he tried to open the cap of the bottle, Rian ran to the kitchen grabbed a cup of water and came back where Rosa was lying and force-fed her the pills and the water. And then he dialed 118 and called the ambulance. After an hour later, Rosa finally opened her eyes in the emergency room saw Rian in front of her. Rian quietly was holding her hand, tears filled in his eyes and said he was sorry, and told Rosa that he would never do anything to hurt her again. Rosa slowly shedding tears in her eyes said she was sorry too and it was not his fault of her ill condition and told Rian that she had a heart attack a few years ago. Rian asked what was wrong with her heart and why it happened. Rosa, first, did not say anything, but after a few minutes she opened her mouth. Rosa told Rian that she had her first heart attack when the man whom she loved rejected her after Rosa told him that she was pregnant from him. Ever since that day she suffered from a bad heart condition. Rian, feeling indignant of the irresponsible behavior of the man, asked who the man is and where the man is now. Rosa for a few seconds looked into his eyes and then closed her eyes, turned her face away from Rian. Soon she fell asleep. And Rian, understanding Rosa wanted to avoid talking about her past, did not ask Rosa about what happened in the past. Never again.
**
Rian, four years after he began living with Rosa, successfully finished his Legal Institution and finally passed the bar exam. Rian got his first job as a law clerk for the Shyn Prosecution Office. He enjoyed his work making legal researches and drafting memos for trials. Life was smoothly going for Rian with Jaik and Rosa, who is now staying home doing house works and taking care of Jaik. Rian no longer dreamed about Jaed. He finally thought he could let go of his hardships in the past and knew that Jaed is feeling the same way. At least he wished.
And one day, seven months after getting his first job, Rian on coming back home found Jaik black and blue in his both eyes and bruises all over his left leg and thigh; Rosa beside herself not knowing what to do. Rian immediately asked what happened. Rosa told Rian that Jaik told her that neighbor kids who were around 12 – 13 years old, 3 or 4 years older than Jaik, asked Jaik to give the changes that he had gotten from the stationery. And when Jaik resisted they hit and kicked Jaik and made him the condition of what he is now. Before Rian had time to say anything, Rosa yelled that she is going to sue those kids from injuring her son and ask for medical bills and everything she could ask for. And she insisted that Rian to defend Jaik because it will be expensive to hire a lawyer.
According to the criminal code in Shyn, a licensed lawyer may prosecute a defendant or defendants in an adult criminal court or juvenile court, regardless of whether the person had actually practiced trial before, as long as the person has worked as a clerk in a Prosecution’s office more than 120 business days. Additionally, the lawyer is prohibited to represent a person or entity only if the person is a family member or is officially married to the lawyer. Because Rian has worked at the Prosecution’s office for 7 months that is up to more than 160 days; and because Rosa and Rian are not married yet just boyfriend and girlfriend relationship at the time, Rian was qualified to represent Jaik at the juvenile court against the opposing parties. Rian, with hesitation, agreed to represent Jaik because he did not want to upset Rosa.
Yet, Rian became very concerned. Rian knew that he had issues when speaking in front of public that made him very nervous since his bullying experience in high-school. However, he thought that time has passed and thought this could be the right time for him to confront his fears. And above all Jaik whom Rian loved very much, has been bullied like he was. And this opportunity would be the perfect time for Rian to do justice against bullies. He is determined to make this opportunity the best. The day before the trial, Rian dreamed about Jaed. It has been a long time since Rian saw Jaed in his dreams. Jaed was surrounded by the light blue mists, yet not that bright as it used to be. Rian saw tears in the deep eyes of Jaed. Rian felt deep sadness permeating and stabbing into his heart. He tried to ask Jaed why he was crying, yet he couldn’t hear his voice. He couldn’t move. He tried to free himself yet he could not. And all of a sudden, he heard a loud ring. Rian woke up. He saw the alarm clock. It was 6 in the morning. It was three hours before trial. Rian who got a bit nervous, heard him whispering to himself. A sentence that even Rian himself did not know was going to use. “God . . please god please be with me . .”
**
In Shyn, there are no jury trials. The judge who takes the case is the only person to make the judgment. The first trial started at 8 a.m. He made a fine opening statement. He carefully listened to the opening statement of the opposing counsel. And it was his time to make direct-examination to Jaik. Jaik took the witness stand and took an oath. Direct-examination by Rian went pretty well for the first few minutes. However, suddenly, there were several objections made by the opposing counsel. “Objection your honor! Irrelevant!” “Objection! Asked and Answered!” “Objection, Speculation!” “Objection your honor, Narrative.” Rian started to sweat. He started to stutter. Stuttered again. Again and again. He was stuttering like when he first began to stutter when he was bullied in high school. The judge lowered his bifocals placing them on the tip of his nose and looked at Rian straight into his eyes. The observers of the trial were all looking at Rian. The opposing counsel was looking at Rian with a mocking attitude, or, probably it would be better to say, at least to Rian it seemed he was mocking. Rian became nervous. He became anxious. He became agitated. He could feel his shirt soaking wet from all the instant sweat. He became dizzy. He didn’t feel good. The last Rian saw was a blurry opposing counsel with a smile. Not a nice one.
Rian later, in the hospital after his recovery, get to know that he lost the trial. And he not only lost the trial, yet het get to know that he is dismissed from being a lawyer. Pursuant to the Code of Professional Responsibility in Shyn, if a lawyer reasonably knew or had reason to know that he or she is incapable of conducting a trial, however pursued to conduct the trial anyway, it will be considered unreasonable. Thus, if that is the case, the lawyer will be dismissed until the lawyer be approved by the legal council under the condition that the lawyer has rehabilitated to perform any authorized legal work. The Statute of Limitation of the rehabilitation is 7 years. Yet, what made Rian unbearable and devastated was when he got to know that Rosa left him. For good. After a couple of days in the hospital, Rian came back to his house. No sound of jumping footsteps of Jaik running toward Rian to greet him, no scent of the delicious food Rosa used to cook grazing his nose even before he opened the house door. What has become of me? Why did this happen? Rian lied on his couch, hoping this was all a nightmare that would go away, once he wakes up. He closed his eyes. Wishing to wake up from this nightmare. Suddenly he felt a cold touch. He slowly opened his eyes and saw what was touching him. He saw Jaed. He never saw Jaed this close. Jaed was looking at him with true tears in his eyes yet they were soothing tears. It was the tear of Jaed that dropped onto his heart which felt cold yet at the same time, warm. Rian looked at him and wanted to hug his friend and wanted to talk about what he is going through and wanted to feel comfort from his friend like they used to. Yet he couldn’t move. He couldn’t hear what he himself was saying. He just had to see his friend drifting away once again to a place where Rian does not know yet hoping that it would be a safe place for Jaed and sooner or later for himself.
**
“Honk! Honk!” the sound of honking and brakes were squeaking. Rian was busy driving the Shyn and Luwxy areas. He had a passenger sitting behind him talking and laughing which Rian found nothing amusing, yet laughing a fake laugh just in case a person would tip him more than he would. Rian, after being dismissed from the legal community at Shyn for period of time because of his misconduct at trial and his split with his now ex-girlfriend Rosa, is taking his time off. Actually, he wanted to be far away from the court system as much as possible. He postponed to be rehabilitated to do something else to sustain his life. And after a long thought he decided to be a cab driver. In Shyn, as long as you have a driver’s license that is acknowledged and have no felony record, you could be a cab driver. Rian, as a cab driver, worked from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. He worked at this time of hour for a good reason which was the reason for him to be a cab driver as well. Before splitting from his ex-girlfriend Rosa, between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. was the time when Rian would deeply converse and make love with Rosa at home. And by avoiding being in the house at that time, it made him easier for him to live on by not recollecting the times he had with Rosa. At day times he slept all day.
December 16th 2012, exactly the first day he drove as a cab driver five years ago, he left his house about 6 p.m., took a bus to the Station Cab where he picked up his cab. As soon as he got to the Station Cab, he got a cup of tea and waited for his cab to arrive. As usual, he would greet the other cab driver who just finished his day time shift; have a little chat with him until the other cab driver was complaining about how hungry he is getting, in which to his relief, would end the conversation and would get into his cab and start his work for the day. He would first drive toward Luwxy for there were a great number of people who would finish their work and rich enough to get to wherever places by cab, rather than riding buses or subways. While Rian was looking for customers, he saw one man standing right next to Luwxy subway station waiving at him. As usual, he turned on the emergency light to let the car behind know that he will be stopping to pick up a customer. The man got in and asked him to head to Beonsya that was located at the suburbs of Luwxy. Rian told the man that it would take at least fifty minutes considering the rush hour. The man did not mind. Twenty minutes passed. There was no conversation exchanged between Rian and the man all along. The road was getting narrower and narrower, the surrounding was getting darker and darker. While driving, just to make sure the man was all good, he looked at his rear-view mirror. Rian gasped. He gasped too hard. He saw Jaed, his far-away-misty face, staring at him in horror. He put on the break hard unconsciously. He noticed the man shouting. He looked back feeling sorry for his sudden act. Yet again, he gasped. The customer looking shocked because of the sudden break was holding a sharp knife on his left hand. Rian, looked at the knife and then slowly looked at the man. A few seconds past, the two staring at each other. And suddenly he heard the man saying “give me all the money you have, punk,” trying to shove the knife at Rian. Rian who just started his shift actually did not have that much cash with him. He only had $ 40. Rian, trying to be cooperative, gave all the money without hesitation. While the man was focusing on to take the money, Rian found the right time to get out of the car. He flung the door open as quick as he can, got out of his car and ran for his life. Rian, shockingly, heard fast footsteps behind him. He looked back. The man was chasing after him. He turned and ran as fast as he can. And because the area was very remote from the city, there were hardly any lights, any houses, any stores yet only fields and mountains surrounding the area under the dusk, which made hard for Rian to see what is in front of him. While running as fast as he can, Rian heard very loud (too loud) and many footsteps pouncing toward him. He looked back once again while still running as fast as he can. He gasped with horror. He saw Jaed with his eyes bleeding crying and shouting without a noise with other dead spirits running toward him. Rian too horrified tripped and fell down. The man caught Rian and the two began to struggle. Rian shouted that he gave him all the money he had and he does not have any money left. Yet the man while taking down Rian whispered in his ears “you saw my face.” At that moment, Rian had a bad feeling that either one of them is going to die. Rian pushed the man with all his might and kicked the knife from the man. The knife fell to the ground, and as soon as Rian picked up the knife he stabbed the man. The man fell to the ground. Rian stepped back and looked at the man. The man was bleeding and was in pain. Rian realizing he actually stabbed the man, started to find his cellphone. He called 119 and asked for aid. After he called 119, he anxiously walked around to see where he could be. He slowly walked toward where he was running. And to his shock, 4 meters from where Rian tripped was a cliff. If Rian had kept on running, Rian would have ran over the cliff and plunged into the rocky coast 200 feet below. Rian, suddenly remembered Jaed crying and shouting at him while he was running away from the man. Jaed, were you trying to save me. were you. Jaed. Jaed.
**
Two hours later, Rian found himself sitting at a Beonsya police station. The police was asking questions about what happened. Rian started to tell the police exactly what happened. In the middle of the conversation, another police officer came over to the police officer Rian was talking to and whispered his ears. After certain words being exchanged back and forth, the police officer looked at Rian and told him that the man who Rian stabbed was pronounced dead as soon as he arrived at the nearby hospital. Under the criminal law of Luwxy, even though a person kills a person for self-defense, unless there are eye witnesses who can prove that the person killed the other person for self-defense, and once the person who is stabbed is pronounced dead, the person who is responsible for the death of the person will be incarcerated at the maximum 6 months to 1 year or need to pay fine over $ 100,000. Rian who studied law, knew what was going to happen. And because Rian did not have money to pay $ 100,000, he knew that he will be incarcerated at least a year. Rian did not want a lawyer and pleaded with the prosecution. Eventually, after six months of spending time in court, Rian agreed to be incarcerated for one and a half year in Luwxy county jail that is located in Luwxy where all the criminal courts are located.
**
Rian couldn’t sleep. Not that because there were annoying inmates near by talking about slutty women they dated in the past. Not that he wanted to get out of the jail as soon as possible. Rian couldn’t sleep because he couldn’t get the answers to his questions. Why all these nightmares keep on happening to him? What did he ever do wrong? Rian started to reminiscent at the earliest day of his life as far as he could remember. He remembered the times when he first met Jaed at Shelter Orphanage. Rian reminisced about the times when he and Jaed loved to go and play on the jungle gym in their elementary school days. He smiled to himself when he was pondering about the time Jaed threw water balloons at Rian when he was shouting that he was the king of the world while sitting on top of the jungle gym. He reminisced about the times when he and Jaed used to go out in the middle of the night to go and play basketball to make themselves get taller. He remembered the times at the beginning of high school, he and Jaed would talk about what they would want to do if they graduate high school.
And there his smiling stopped. The hardest time of his life, the time he had to say good-bye to his one and only friend, who was not only his best friend yet was like a brother and a father to him. Tears rolled down from his eyes. He started to reflect about the times he and Jaed got bullied. Bullied hard. Because they were orphans. Because they were quiet. Because they didn’t have a home of their own. Rian started to reflect about the times he and Jaed got hit, kicked, mocked and sneered at by the bullies. He thought about the time when he first heard that Jaed killed himself. He thought about him becoming an outsider because of being bullied. He thought about how much he feared talking to people in public ever since he was bullied, ever since Jaed passed away. He thought about ever since he was bullied, ever since Jaed passed away, how much he got anxious to talk in front of people in public and how much he stuttered once he does talk in front of people. He thought about losing his first love Rosa by stuttering in front of public, embarrassing himself in front of every person in the courtroom. Rian got angry. He got angrier of the fact that the reason he is incarcerated, the reason he lost his first love Rosa and the reason he has lost his one and only best friend Jaed was because of the three bullies. Yes, the three bullies. He thought about the three bullies. Deom, Fion, and Salv. He started to draw images of their faces, his thoughts in his mind on and on. And suddenly Rian got confused. Rian got out of the bed and walked about his cell.
**
At the time when Jaed killed himself, he remembered nothing was done on the part of the teachers, administrators or the principal to resolve the deadly incident. Did the school even have a school policy against violence and bullying . . Isn’t there a law (laws) that deal with violence outside of school . . Does the school even care about the victims of violence and bullying like me and Jaed or were they just busy concealing the incident for the school’s face and reputation . . He kept on talking to himself, what is the difference between the victim who was stabbed with a sharp knife and the victim who killed oneself due to the incessant stabbing of hateful words and punching with sneering eyes . . Does this mean a person with intention to hurt a person could go free as long as the person did not kill the person with his/her own hands or tools . . Yet again, aren’t there laws that deal with these types of violence outside of school . . Are the bullies in school just getting away with their misconduct just because he or she is a teen (teens) . . Does this mean as long as the person does not actually kill the victim(s) could do anything to a person and still not get punished because he or she is a teen (teens) . . And speaking of victims, don’t the victims of bullies deserve any compensation for all the suffering and embarrassment they have gone or still going through . . And why isn’t the law treating these bullies as criminals . . Again, because he or she was a teen (teens) . . Because it did not end up in killing someone . . Rian tiredly and stressfully sank and crouched in the corner of the cell grabbed his head with both hands, his elbow placed on his knees and kept on thought about this sitation. Isn’t the purpose of the law, to protect the innocent people from outside aggression or harm; to establish the rules that are needed for an agreeable community for the sake of the people to live and work altogether; to ensure justice have been served to every person in the country; and to punish people who do harm to innocent people . . If these are not the purposes of the law, what are . . And if these are the purposes of the law, why can’t I see any purposes being reasonably executed . . Is that how is it going to be . . Injustice disguised as justice to make it look good, just a deceptive show to make it look good, when in reality no good is actually done. No good. Too many corruptive deceptive and untrustworthy systems similar to too many corruptive deceptive and untrustworthy individuals. Well then, if there is no law no rule imposing punishment to a person who bullies the innocent person driving the innocent person to the edge of the cliff leaving them no choice yet to throw oneself off the cliff, then there must be anybody, any certain person or people to deal with this situation.
Rian, all of a sudden, rose up to his feet. He walked toward the sink. He splashed water on himself. Again and again. And then he walked toward a mirror that was attached on the right side of the wall. And he looked at himself through the mirror. He stared at himself. He stared at him for a while. And then suddenly, he shouted out, “I got it!”. Rian finally realized, at least he thought he realized, the reason why he is incarcerated. He believed god, the god – which he believes – is taking care of Jaed, wanted him to realize that he needed to do something about this situation. God wanted him to make revenge to the three bullies that made life fatal. That was it. Rian now understood why all the unfortunate incidents were happening to him. And now he knew the reason why Jaed came out in his dreams ever since his passing away. Rian is now determined. He is going to make a revenge, for himeself and Jaed, by killing them. The three bullies, Deom, Fion, and Salv, he will kill as they killed Jaed with their hateful words, violence and eyes. Rian thought, I don’t have anything to lose, I tried to rely on the system of justice. Yet the system of justice has failed me. I failed myself relying on the system of justice. And now I lost my job; my one and only best friend and family, Jaed, is gone; the love of my life, Rosa, is gone; I just don’t have anything to lose. Rian walked toward his bunk and threw himself on the sheet. He closed his eyes. He thanked god. He thanked god for allowing him to find what he was meant to be finding. The purpose of his life. Rian thanked god over and over and again and again until he heard a voice. He heard a person weeping. He opened his eyes. And there was Jaed far away from him. Jaed was filled with bloody tears scarred body surrounded by dark grey mists, staring at Rian, trying to say words. Rian wanted to tell Jaed not to cry for he now knows what he needs to do. What he should have done long time ago. He wanted to tell Jaed he was sorry that he realized this too late and really that there was nothing to worry about. Yet he couldn’t hear himself talking, he could not move his body and he could not hear what Jaed was saying. He just had to stand in the middle of nowhere looking at Jaed slowly disappearing into the dark grey mists who gave Rian a one last look filled with true tears and sadness in his eyes.
**
Days and weeks passed. Rian got out of jail. It was April. Rian started walking toward North. He walked and walked until he reached the Coy River. Rian felt the breeze, the blue sky and the blue river. He walked and walked until he arrived at Lein Fountain. He saw a couple who were holding hands, taking pictures in front of the fountain, giggling. Reminiscing. This scene reminded Rian of the good old times with his ex-girlfriend Rosa and his son Jaik. Rian, for a while, reminisced. He reminisced as much as he wanted. What is she doing. Where is she. How is Jaik doing. Rian suddenly missing Rosa too much wanted to call her. He still remembers her cellphone number though almost 6 years have passed since she left him. He went to the bank to get money. Rian had money saved in his bank account as he worked as a clerk, and as a cab driver. He got out a couple of coins. He was glad he had a certain amount of money left to live on for at least a couple of months. He searched for a phone booth. Rian found a public phone on the street. He slowly dialed her number. His heart was pounding harder and harder as he was dialing the number. Harder and harder. “The phone you have just dialed is not in service . . beep beep . . ” Rian helplessly started walking toward his home.
**
While walking he passed Aber elementary school. He stopped and saw the inside of the school. And there he saw the jungle gym still popular, surrounded by many kids. He still could clearly hear Jaed shouting “I am the king of the world!” Rian smiled with a sad face looking at the jungle gym for a while. And then Rian realized the kids who were playing at the jungle gym were staring back at him as if they were trying to say why are you smiling at us? Rian quickly started walking, forcing himself not to cry. He walked and walked. Rian passed by his high school. He wanted to avoid looking at the high-school yet he couldn’t. He looked at the school and his eyes stopped at the top of the high school. It reminded him of the day Jaed killed himself by throwing himself off the school building. Rian shivered trying not to reflect about the scene. Rian got angry. Rian got too angry. His face turned a little red. He started running. He ran fast. He ran faster and faster. And faster and faster. He ran until he saw a sign with an arrow pointing down written “PC Room.” Rian walked down to the basement and went into a room. PC room is a place opened 24 hours where people pay hourly fee to use the internet in Shyn. Rian spotted a nice seat, seated himself and started the computer. He made a Cyberworld account that is similar to Facebook. Rian knew that these days people make this Cyberworld account to keep in touch with the people whom they went school together. He also knew that once the owner of the account displays it in public, each account would show an email or a phone number of the person they are trying to search. If neither is available, there is a contact button where you could message the person privately. Rian made his own Cyberworld account. And as soon as he made his own account, he started to search for Deom’s account. After 20 minutes of search, Rian finally found Deom’s account. Rian also found Deom’s email which was in public. Rian suddenly got excited. His eyes widened. Rian said to himself, I am going to do this, I am actually going to do this. I will make my and Jaed’s revenge. ‘Yes, let’s do this,’ Rian thought to himself. Rian clicked on Deom’s email. He started writing. In his email to Deom, Rian introduced himself who he was, explaining he is now a lawyer and would like to put all the bad memories in the past and want to catch up with him. After reading the email several times, Rian took a deep breath and pressed “send.” Not knowing whether Deom would actually going to reply to his email, Rian planned to stay in the PC room for the day. He stood up went to the bathroom and washed his face. As he came out of the bathroom he saw a vending machine across the hall. Rian realizing he never ate after he was released from the jail today, got some crackers and a juice. Rian walked back to his seat. As soon as he sat down on his seat, to his surprise, he received one message. His hand started to shake. He took a deep breath, and another one, and made his click. It was Deom. Deom said he would be happy to meet him. And asked him to stop by tomorrow or the next day at 1:00 p.m. at his office located at Luwxy. Deom also left his address and his cell phone number. Rian read the email over and over again. He went up to the counter and borrowed a pen and a piece of paper. Rian wrote down the address and the cell phone number and checked several times whether he got them right. And then Rian sent a reply that he will be at his office tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. And then Rian started to search a cheap inn at Luwxy that was nearby Deom’s office. After thirty minutes of long search, Rian found a decent inn at a decent price. He wrote down the address of the inn. And before he left his seat, Rian checked the address and cell phone number of Deom he wrote one last time. Rian then rushed to the counter and paid his hourly fee, and rushed up the stairs.
He headed to a store called “Men Warehouse.” The place had fairly nice men’s suit at a cheap price. Rian knew the place because he once bought a suit for his job interview as a clerk. Rian bought himself the cheapest yet a clean-cut suit that would make him look more of a lawyer rather than a person who just got out of jail. Rian decided to wear the suit right away. While he was paying, Rian told the cashier that he is going to wear the clothes right now and asked for a paper bag to put his clothes he was wearing. After making the payment, Rian changed into his new suit and put his old clothes into the paper bag. As soon as he came out of the store, he started walking toward south. He walked and walked along the sidewalk until he saw a garbage can. He threw his paper bag away into the garbage can and waived his hand to grab a cab. A cab stopped in front of him and Rian got into the cab. Rian saw the cab driver turn down the music volume. Rian tells the cab driver “Luwxy XX inn please?” The cab driver replied “yes sir” and turned up the music volume. Rian is ready. Rian finally found the purpose. The purpose of going to Luwxy. Rian thought he would like to laugh to celebrate himself as to his brilliant plan, but he will wait. He will wait until he succeeds in making his revenge. Rian opened the cab window. The song from the radio was good. The breeze felt good. Rian felt good. Maybe too good.
**
Deom, whom Rian is eager to meet, was same age as Rian, a 32-year-old, 6.1. feet tall, who has a body like a baseball player, whose skin is little darker than average men. Deom is a very well-off person for his parents own a big company in Shyn. He is one and only heir for his parents’ company. Deom, in his high-school days, used to enjoy pick on those who were weak and poor, classmates like Rian and Jaed. He frequently ordered his aka servants Fion and Salv to bully them by saying defamatory statements in front of other students, embarrassing Rian and Jaed. There was never a day, one of them, not hitting, kicking, mocking and sneering Rian and Jaed humiliating them in front of other classmates. Spiteful person he may be, Deom has one sad memory. His younger brother Jouen, once who was his one and only best friend, passed away when he was 7 during the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratoy Syndrome (SARS) which was a deadly disease if infected. Jouen was hospitalized and was admitted to the intensive care unit. However, with no luck, Jouen passed away after two weeks he got infected. Deom tried to forget about his brother in a deviated way by being obnoxious to others as if he is trying to tell everyone that it is not fair that his little brother Jouen had to be infected with the disease and die while others, who are not anything better than Jouen, did not.
After graduating high school, Deom had a disruptive life style. He enjoyed his life by clubbing, hopping, drinking, changing women every week. Yet, at the age of 27, he got to have custody of 6-year-old boy that is to be his son. His son reminded him of his little brother Jouen. And from then on, Deom made efforts to make his life straight for the sake of his son. After two years later greeting his son, Deom got into Business School and received an MBA degree at the age of 28. Later he joined his parents' business and ever since have been focusing only on his son and parents’ business.
**
In the afternoon of one sunny April, Rian was standing in front of an 11-story building. He entered into the building and walked up to the elevator. He pushed the “up” button. Though he was determined to carry on with his plan, he knew he was getting nervous. The elevator door opened. Rian kept on trying to ponder about his agonized past in order to make himself focus on his purpose of him coming to see Deom. A person was waiting inside the elevator and looked at Rian whether he wanted him to remain the door open or closed. Rian with an awkward smile got on the elevator. He pushed the 9th floor button. There was a mirror inside the elevator on his left side. After the other person in the elevator got out on 4th floor, Rian hurried and looked himself into the mirror; combed his hair with his fingers and straightened his tie while repeatedly telling himself to be strong.
Nineth floor. He walked out of the elevator and saw an old lady in front who looked like an information desk. Rian told the lady that he came to see Deom and gave him his name. She pointed to a couch and told Rian to have a seat while she inform Deom about his visit. After a couple of minutes later, the lady called Rian and without a word, pointed at a door. Rian walked toward the door. He opened the door. And there he was, Deom, sitting on his chair both his feet on his desk. He greeted Rian his feet stick to his desk and told Rian to have a seat. Rian felt offended as he did in the past. Did not change Rian thought. Except that there was no hitting and kicking, Deom’s arrogant, mocking attitude toward him has not changed. He asked how Rian was doing and congratulated him of being a lawyer which was like a huge surprise to Deom and at the same time didn’t care. Rian thanked him and asked back how he was doing. Deom said he was stressful yet doing fine. Minwoo finds out that Deom is a dad, has a son, yet the son of his mom passed away six years ago from illness. He is now an executive of his parents' business however the company is having a rough time. Yet above all Deom was sad because his son is having a hard time at school because he cannot get along with his classmates. Ten minutes passed. Rian asked Deom how his other friends Fion and Salv were doing. The plan was to get Fion’s and Salv’s address too in order for hime to continue to plan his revenge. Astonishingly, Rian gets to know that Fion’s business got bankrupted yet managed to get back to business, however still having a hard time, and as for Fion himself, he was suffering from stomach cancer. Rian also gets to know that Salv was suffering from a serious diabetes and he had to quit his job, and now he is actually working for Rian as a part-time janitor. Rian felt odd. A little odd. Yet still to focus on his purpose, he asked Deom their email address or phone number for he would want to meet them and catch up with them as well. Deom said he would be glad to and wrote down the information on a piece of paper. In the middle of that, Deom got an urgent call. He answered the phone and then without a word Deom told the person on the other line that he will call back and hung up. Deom as he stood up from his chair and giving the piece of paper with Fion’s and Salv’s information, told Rian that he had to leave, yet would like to treat Rian for lunch tomorrow. And then he asked him the paper and wrote down a few words on it and handed back to Rian and told him to meet him at the address he wrote at the bottom of the paper at 12 p.m. tomorrow. Rian said he would and abruptly let himself out of the office. Deom thanked the lady in the information desk and pushed the “down” button. As he was going down, he looked himself into the mirror of the elevator. So far so good he thought. So far so good.
**
The next day 11:40 a.m., Rian went into a restaurant called “Paolodemaria.” It is one of the best renown Restaurants in Luwxy. Even though Rian was 20 minutes earlier than the scheduled time, he saw Deom already at a table waiting for him. Rian joined Deom. Deom greeted Rian and told Rian his son is going to be joining them soon. Rian told Deom he didn’t mind, and asked where the mother of the boy was. Deom, while looking at the menu replied that she passed away due to illness. A couple of minutes later, a boy came sat at the table between Rian and Deom. Minwoo looked up from the menu and turned his head to look at the boy. The boy had bruises on his face and arm. Deom, as soon as the boy sat, started talking about the seniors in his school has assaulted his son for no reason and he is going to sue the boys’ parents and asked Rian whether he had any advice for him. Rian looked at the boy who was sitting there absent-mindedly. The boy looked weak. The boy looked little. The boy looked, familiar. Rian looked at the boy. The boy feeling a little bit uncomfortable stared back at Rian. Rian dropped the menu. Rian looked at the boy again. And then he asked the boy what his name was. The boy looked back at Rian for a while and afterwards replied “Jaik.”
**
Rian was shocked. Rian was stunned. Rian stared at the boy. Rian stared at Jaik. He deeply looked into the eyes of Jaik. Wave of thoughts permeated into his head and deep into his heart. What is going on right now . . Is this really happening . . His heart was pounding. Rian didn’t know what to do. He again looked at Jaik with his body shaking. He again deeply looked into the eyes of Jaik. Rian saw the eyes of his first love Rosa. Rian saw the eyes of Jaed. And Rian saw himself in the eyes of Jaik. Rian got dizzy. He couldn’t breathe. He needed air. He ran out of the restaurant and began to run. He began to run as fast as he could. He ran and ran with tears endlessly falling. Rian was shocked. Rian was desperately sad. He was sad that he had to find out Rosa the only person he ever loved has passed away, and at the same time he was filled with anger and couldn’t believe that Jaik whom Rian loved very much like his own son was the son of Deom. The person he despised very much. Rian was desperate. He got confused. If he killed Deom, what would become of Jaik if Rian killed the only family of Jaik, Deom . . And how could Rian ever face Rosa if he ever meet her beyond this world leaving Jaik all alone in this world . . Rosa who loved her son Jaik more than anything else in the world, would never forgive Rian for taking away Deom the person Jaik could financially rely on, and making Jaik an orphan, like himself. What do I need to do? What do I need to do cried Rian. Do I need to kill Deom who killed my best friend, who led my first love to death, who ruined my life with his cold heart? Do I need to kill the memory of my dreadful past for the sake of the boy who reminded me of Rosa, Jaed and myself or do I need to just blame the poor legal system that does not care about the innocent victims who looks normal outside yet is and will be struggling and suffering inside eternally . . or do I need to just blame myself being born in this meaningless, barren, dryasdust world . . What do I need to do. Rian cried out within himself until he had no strength to take one step.
Rian gets into a cheap supermarket and buys seven bottles of strong alcohol, the cheapest yet one of the strongest alcohols, and slowly walked towards the Coy River. Rian made up his mind that he is no longer going to deal with this situation. Rian decides that he will get drunk and throw himself into the Coy River. Rian drinks and drinks until he no longer knew what his purpose of being alive was and what he was. Life was meaningless and purposeless. He closed his eyes and weeped. And again weeped. Rian then suddenly felt a person touching him on the forehead. Rian opened his eyes. He saw Jaed. To his amaze, Jaed didn’t look sad as Rian saw last time where Jaed was in the dark grey mist crying far away from Rian alone in the dark dark place. Instead, Jaed was very close to Rian. Jaed was gently cleaning away the sweat and wounds on the forehead and the heart of Rian. Rian feels the bright shine on Jaed. Jaed was smiling. Rian has never seen Jaed this happy. Rian could feel that Jaed was floating nearby the brightest and the purest white mist Rian has ever seen. Rian thought he was in heaven. Rian slowly smiled at Jaed. Jaed, after he looked at Minwoo smiled back at him, slowly float further and further away from Rian. Rian wanted to ask where Jaed was going, yet he couldn’t hear his own voice and he couldn’t move. Rian looked back at Jaed. Jaed smiled back at Rian. Rian suddenly felt peace. Rian looked at Jaed slowly disappearing into the mist until he could not see him. The light got brighter and brighter until Rian couldn’t keep his eyes clear. Rian woke up. The surroundings were too bright he couldn’t unlid his eyes right away. He slowly slowly unlid his eyes. He realizes that he was lying on a bench of the sidewalk of the Coy River. And there he saw water sprinkling with bright yellow and pink color from the Coy River each side of the bridge. The bright lights that are embellished each side of the bridge were radiating along with the colorful sprinklers. Rian lied still. He thought about the three bullies. Minwoo suddenly felt, among the three of the bullies, Fion and Slav are breathing and alive yet was suffering from illness and was suffering inside. Deom was suffering as well by indirectly experiencing the agonies of victims of bullies from his child whom he loved very much. Rian suddenly thought, then why would I want to kill these people, when they are already suffering. Why would I want to give more pain to people who are already paying their price . . And why shouldn’t I want to forgive these people . . And find much meaningful purpose of life that could make better of the lives of the people who are in need . . Why would I want to be, one of them . .
**
Rian got out of the bench. And he slowly walked toward north. Rian passed by the Lein Fountain. His heart was hurt because Rosa was gone. Yet Rian had to let go. He had to let go of the past. And to his surprise, he was thanking Deom for being there for Jaik. And at that very time, Rian realized that Jaed knew this all along. Jaed wanted Rian to know that there is nothing to worry about, Jaed wanted Rian to know that everything happens for a reason, and if bad is done by one, one will pay the price naturally, thus killing the bullies was not what Jaed wanted. Jaed was sad that Rian was trying to do of what he did not have to do. Jaed was there all along to protect Rian. And now Jaed knows that Rian has got his message, Jaed happily left. Tears rolled down from his eyes. Endlessly rolled down. Heart felt full of regret, indignant, sadness and happiness all at the same time.
**
Rian is now ready for rehabilitation and ready to be readmitted to practice and this time without stuttering or mumbling yet with bravery and confidence. He will start a new life. Yet first Rian bought flowers. And visited Jaed. He knelt before Jaed and thanked him, thanked Jaed for being there for him all along going through his agonies and arduous journey together. Tears are falling endlessly. Rian swears now to his loving God that he will never forget about Jaed, even though he is now ready to begin a new life, meet a new friend and find new love, for Jaed is his only family and his only friend who sacrificed himself and gave Rian the purpose to live and gave the valuable life lesson which nobody ever would endow him. Take good care Jaed, my dear friend, to me you always will be the king of the world. See you again soon. Please rest in peace, until we meet again.
✨
