Chapter 10 - Wonderland-9 (2/2)

The man who entered the center of the crowd grabbed the boy and pressed his wrist around his back. The boy screamed. The boy's wrists were already bruised and swollen. That was the same wrist she had grabbed the last time she saw him. She had not been in great condition, so she wasn't able to control her strength.

The knife was lifted high. It looked like he was about to chop his wrist off. SoYoon threw the knife she had behind her back. Whizzing through the air, the knife hit the man's knife and stuck behind the wall.

”Ah! Who is it?”

The man who had suddenly lost his knife and simultaneously sprained his wrist yelled in anger. SoYoon raised her hand.

”Here.”

”Oh…! White—White Rabbit?”

SoYoon walked to where the people stood. As she got closer, the people slowly started to retreat. As she pulled out the knife from the wall, she heard them gulp in fear, but when she placed it back into her pocket, they all sighed in relief.

A man at the back of the crowd asked, ”Oh, do you know this kid?”

”No.”

”Then why…?”

SoYoon looked down at the boy. The boy, who was kneeling, looked up at her. His shaking pupils were real. She sighed.

”This is the neutral zone. Let's not have the smell of blood here, all right?”

”But this punk has been stealing people's wallets…”

”There's no proof that he did all of it. And it looks like you've punished him enough. Don't you see his broken wrist? If he fears for his life, then he probably won't steal again. Now, won't you go home?”

The crowd muttered but dissipated. It wasn't so much that she persuaded them; it was more the fact that she was White Rabbit with a giant sword on her back. Where the ruckus had been, now only SoYoon and the boy stood. She was about to leave when the boy called her.

”Wa—wait!”

Of course, SoYoon didn't listen to him. The boy yelled at her back.

”Take responsibility!”

This ungrateful punk. SoYoon stopped. The boy, taking his chance, hung on to the end of her shirt.

”My wrist! You're the one who broke it! That's why I couldn't earn money today, and now I can't even work over here!”

”And why was your wrist broken?”

”Well, that…”

The boy mumbled then stayed quiet. SoYoon snorted.

”That's your problem, not mine.”

SoYoon started walking again. SoYoon turned around at the sound of someone following. The boy was limping toward her but stopped and looked somewhere else once caught. SoYoon walked again. One, two, three—at three, she ran as fast as she could. It was a speed that the boy, who had hurt his leg, couldn't possibly follow. The boy tried to keep up but failed and kicked at a stone in frustration.

SoYoon watched the boy hidden in an alley as he cursed while grabbing his hurt leg. His small back looked tired.

Stop it, Ye SoYoon. He is not a SoHa.

Ye SoHa was her one and only baby brother. The last memory she had of her brother was his smiling face and crew cut hair as he entered the army. All the times they fought and hated each other—she couldn't remember any of it. All she could remember were those brown eyes that looked like hers. Just because his eyes were brown, and he looked like him didn't mean it was SoHa.

The boy limped back to the slum. The slum always smelled of rotting. The boy thought the smell was of rotting people. Living in the slum, he knew that if he got lost in the cycle of depression, fear of tomorrow, and hopelessness, he too would soon rot.

He couldn't do that. There was a reason he could not give up. But wouldn't it be okay for him to cry on a day like this—maybe just a little? The boy rubbed his eyes forcefully.

The boy lived in the inner parts of the slum. It was where a person was born and raised then had children of their own to repeat the cycle. He opened the decrepit door and stepped inside.

”Brother's here, Dor!”

There was no response when he went into the only room in the house. A young girl was lying on the old bed. It was his little sister, three to four years younger.

Light brown hair, long and curly—she had the same brown eyes as the boy. Never having been outside, her skin was white, but Dor was like a dream, a most lovable child. And as such, she spent the majority of her time in the dreamworld herself.

I wonder when she will wake up. The boy waited for that time while washing and feeding her.

”Just wait until you wake up. All the hardships I endured, I'm going to get payback,” the boy muttered while heading to the kitchen. And in the dark room, he met an intruder.

”Wha—what! Who is it? Oh! You?”

White Rabbit—the girl who had stopped the crowd from chopping off his wrist was standing in front of him with her glowing white hair.