{ The Light in Darkness }
"Don't mind them, bro," comes a familiar voice, breathless with the effort of catching up through the crowd. "They're just bitter that you're better than all of them combined, and they know it."
Baek Do-Hyun materializes beside him like a whirlwind of optimism and unwavering loyalty. Slightly chubby, perpetually cheerful, and possessed of an enthusiasm that could shame the sun itself, Do-Hyun represents everything that Jin-Seok values about genuine friendship. Where others see Jin-Seok's isolation and whisper about his lack of connections, Do-Hyun sees only a friend who deserves better than the casual cruelty of teenage politics.
"You're literally the only person who says that," Jin-Seok replies, allowing a genuine smile to touch his features for the first time that day. The expression transforms his face, revealing warmth that his careful mask usually conceals.
"That's because it's true," Do-Hyun grins, his face lighting up with the kind of pure joy that makes cynicism impossible. His devotion to his friend is matched only by his worship of Ryu Han-Seok, whose legendary exploits fuel his dreams of Tower climbing and heroic adventure.
"Come on," Do-Hyun continues, grabbing Jin-Seok's arm with the casual familiarity of long friendship, "my parents want pictures, and Mom made her famous kimchi pancakes for the celebration. You know you're basically family at this point—they'd be heartbroken if you didn't show up."
Before Jin-Seok can mount any serious protest, he finds himself being dragged toward the family gathering area, where parents cluster around their graduating children like proud generals reviewing their troops before a great campaign.
---
{ Family Bonds and Simple Joys }
Do-Hyun's father arrives still wearing his work apron over a hastily donned dress shirt, his hands bearing the honest calluses of a man who has built his life through labor rather than luck. His mother clutches a picnic basket like a treasure chest, her face glowing with the kind of pride that could power small cities. These are good people—the kind who measure wealth in laughter rather than digits, who understand that success means coming home to love rather than accumulating power for its own sake.
Before Jin-Seok can properly greet them, a small missile launches itself at his legs with devastating precision.
"Oppa! You're the topper!" Baek Yumi squeals, her ten-year-old frame vibrating with excitement as she hugs him with the fierce devotion that only children can muster. Her school uniform is slightly rumpled from the day's activities, but her smile is bright enough to outshine the holographic advertisements filling the sky above them.
She steps back and snaps into a perfect military salute, her face serious despite the cookie crumbs adorning her collar.
"Permission to serve you celebratory cookies, sir!"
Jin-Seok raises an eyebrow, fighting back laughter at the solemn ceremony being conducted by someone who still loses teeth and believes in fairy tales.
"...Permission granted, soldier."
The family erupts in the kind of warm, genuine laughter that makes the world feel safer and more hopeful. Do-Hyun's cousin, a lanky teenager with glasses that seem to magnify his eyes to owl-like proportions, nudges Yumi with barely contained curiosity.
"Are you sure he's not from an idol group or something? I swear I've seen his face somewhere before... maybe in a commercial?"
Yumi turns on him with the righteous fury of a sister defending her chosen hero.
"He's not an idol! That's Jin-Seok oppa! He helps me with my homework and he's super smart and he's going to be amazing at whatever he chooses to do!"
She pauses, then adds with devastating honesty, "You've seen him in that giant poster in my room where I keep all my photos with the family!"
Do-Hyun's mother giggles, her eyes twinkling with maternal mischief.
"She has the biggest crush on you, Jin-Seok. We can barely get her to talk about anything else when you're mentioned."
"I do NOT!" Yumi shrieks, her face achieving a shade of red that would make tomatoes jealous, though her indignant protests only make the adults laugh harder.
The graduation drone captures the moment perfectly—a chosen family bound not by blood but by affection and shared experience, their laughter echoing through the courtyard like a blessing against the weight of ambition that presses down on every other conversation happening around them.
---
{ Evening Shadows and Hidden Truths }
As evening paints the sky in shades of amber and gold, the crowds begin to thin like tide retreating from shore. The celebration winds down with the satisfied exhaustion that comes with endings and beginnings, leaving behind the bittersweet awareness that everything will be different tomorrow.
"So," Do-Hyun says, falling into step beside Jin-Seok as they walk toward the academy gates, "still planning to spend tonight locked away with a book and a cup of instant noodles?"
"That was the plan," Jin-Seok admits, though something in his tone suggests the idea holds less appeal than usual.
"Absolutely not happening. We're graduating, man! This is literally the biggest day of our lives so far, and I refuse to let you waste it on solitude and cheap food." Do-Hyun's voice carries the determination of someone who has appointed himself guardian of his friend's social life. "You owe me at least one night of actual celebration."
Jin-Seok pauses, considering. The thought of returning to isolation, to the weight of solitude and the dreams that wait in darkness, suddenly seems unbearable. Perhaps Do-Hyun is right—perhaps some moments deserve to be marked with more than quiet contemplation.
"Fine," he says finally, the decision surprising him with its certainty.
"Let's go to my place."
Do-Hyun stops walking entirely, his expression shifting from triumph to confusion in the space of a heartbeat.
"Wait... your dorm room? Because I've got to tell you, that place is depressing even by student standards."
"No. My house."
The silence that follows is profound enough to have its own gravitational pull, as if the words have created a vacuum in reality itself.
"...You have a house?" Do-Hyun's voice climbs several octaves, making him sound like he's inhaled helium.
Jin-Seok continues walking as if he hasn't just casually demolished his friend's entire understanding of their relationship.
"You'll see."
---
{ The Revelation Behind Iron Gates }
Twenty minutes later, they stand before gates that belong in a museum of architectural impossibilities rather than a residential district. Towering black iron twists into patterns that seem to shift and change when viewed from peripheral vision, while security systems hum with the kind of technology that governments covet and corporations kill for. A family crest pulses with subtle energy near the gate's center—elegant, ancient, and somehow familiar despite Do-Hyun's certainty that he's never seen it before.
"You brought me to the wrong place," Do-Hyun whispers, his voice barely audible above the evening wind that carries the scents of rain and electronic ozone.
"Nope."
"You're absolutely, completely sure?"
"Yes."
"Really, totally, one-hundred-percent sure?"
"Yep."
Do-Hyun's eyes narrow with the intensity of a detective who has stumbled upon evidence of an impossible crime.
"We're not about to get arrested for breaking into some rich person's house, are we? Because I've got plans for my future that don't involve a criminal record."
"Maybe," Jin-Seok replies with a perfectly straight face.
"...What?"
Do-Hyun's attention is caught by a sleek device mounted near the gate's apex, its design suggesting purposes that have nothing to do with conventional home security.
"Is that a motion cannon?"
"Anti-drone system. Previous owner hated reporters," Jin-Seok explains as he presses his palm against a biometric scanner that recognizes him instantly.
"Please tell me you're joking about all of this."
The gates respond with the smooth precision of machinery that costs more than most people's annual salaries, opening to reveal grounds that seem to exist in a different world entirely. A figure emerges from the shadows—three meters of polished silver and quiet mechanical menace, humanoid in shape but clearly designed for purposes beyond simple labor.
"Welcome back, Young Master Jin-Seok," the robot butler Alfred intones, its voice carrying the cultured tones of old-world service refined through cutting-edge programming.
Do-Hyun's jaw achieves what physicists would classify as an impossible angle.
"Young... Young what?!"
"Alfred says that to everyone," Jin-Seok lies with the smooth confidence of someone who has been practicing deception his entire life.
"It's programmed for formal address. Don't worry about it."
"Are you some kind of secret prince or something? Because this is starting to feel like one of those stories where the quiet kid turns out to be royalty in hiding."
"No," Jin-Seok replies, but the answer comes a heartbeat too quickly, and Do-Hyun's eyes gleam with the light of someone who has discovered buried treasure.
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{An Original Series by Celestial Raven}