Disclaimer - Saver and all of the characters belong to Eun-Young Lee
Note - I know Lena really did return to Korea (for like three seconds) to say goodbye to Hyun-Min, but I implied in this that she never did.
"Promise me."
"What?"
"With your heart, that you'll never go away."
"What are you talking about? Is the heat making you dizzy?"
"Promise me, please."
"…Okay, I promise."
Year 1 – Searching, always searching, ever since I was released from the hospital. I have no regard for the rest of the world anymore as long as I can hold onto the hope that I'll see you again. Though my grades are dropping from neglecting my studies, I don't care. You are far more important to me. I can hardly think of anything else. No one has any news of your whereabouts. It's like you've completely disappeared.
Year 2 – I still search, but still there is nothing there. "She's dead," my mother tells me in a maddeningly satisfied voice. I don't believe her. I try to not let the despair overpower me as I go on. Resentment toward those around me is starting to grow, but I now allow myself a bit of time for my studies simply because of common sense. I know you wouldn't want me to abandon everything blindly looking for you.
Year 4 – The numbing hopelessness of this is starting to get to me, eating away at my insides until I can hardly move anymore. My mother's harsh words are beginning to sound like truth. What is happening to me? After I woke up, I swore to myself I'd never believe her again. It's her fault you're gone. It's her fault I'm a mess. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that I'll finally get to see you again. I don't understand why I haven't found you. Why you haven't found me. Didn't you promise you'd never leave?
Year 5 – I stopped looking. All these years and there is nothing there. It's too much for me to deal with anymore. I started dating a girl for the hell of it. The vague hope that I'll be able to forget you makes me laugh at how pathetic I've become. As if I'd ever forget you. As if I'd ever let myself forget.
Year 7 – Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with this woman. As once I was for you, she is for me a ray of hope to pull me out of the pit I've fallen into. I've noticed I follow her with my eyes like they're somehow magnetized, she fills me with a warm light and I've started smiling again for the first time in years. But a part of me feels like I've betrayed you. Where did that strong connection to you go?
Year 9 – We got married, and now we have a child together. As I hold my newborn son in my arms, through the blinding happiness that's filling me, a thought rises unbidden in my mind which I beat down immediately. "If we'd had a baby, what would it have looked like…" I can't look back anymore, and I hope that you understand. I found something important to me, and I can't look away. I don't want to look away.
Year 10 – It suddenly comes to my attention that I can reflect on my memories of us and smile. I no longer see the past as something I have to either let go of, or hang on to. I simply had to accept it as it was. Guilt has been replaced with conviction, and a day doesn't go by when I am not thankful for my wife and son and the relief they have brought me with their support. I hope you're happy. I hope you're content, safe, and that your life is everything you wished it could be. Just like mine.
"Wherever you are, I will remember you."