Reaper of the Drifting Moon

He opened his eyes.

All that he could see before his eyes was black.

There he was in the dark darkness that spread like a tabernacle before his eyes,  unable to distinguish any shape. 

He thought there was something wrong with his eyes so he blinked.

Even after closing his eyes a few times and opening it, all he could see was still a thick darkness.

A pitch-black darkness took over him.

He was in a completely dark place with no light coming in.

He tried to move his limbs.
But it felt like it was tied with chains

His body didn’t move like he wanted it to. 

There was no strength in his hands and feet.

His whole body felt helpless.

The only thing that can move is his eyelids.
He couldn’t control the other parts of his body at all. 

This did not go in. (이 들어가지 않았다.)

‘There is nothing wrong with my eyes.’

He couldn’t be sure because he couldn’t even recognize his own limbs right away, but he instinctively realized that there’s nothing wrong with his eyes.

If he became blind, he would have felt something like pain.
But there was no abnormality in his senses.

Then it meant that there’s nothing wrong with his eyes, but that the space in which he lay was unusually dark.  A pitch-black location with no light coming in.

‘Underground?’

He thought of the possibility. 

He had never heard of a building built with human technology that can block out light so perfectly.

If so, then there was a high probability that the space he was lying in was a basement or a perfectly closed space where light could not reach him.

‘Why did this happen?’

He slowly traced his memory.

Who was he?

And why was he in this situation?

His head throbbed as he tried to jog his memories.

He couldn’t think of anything, as if his brain had been struck. 

It hurts.

Tears were soon streaming from his eyes.
It was as if someone had put a finger in his head and swung it around.

He forcefully swallowed the scream.

It was painful, but he didn’t stop thinking.
Then, little by little, his memory returned.

‘My name is Pyo-wol.
I am fourteen years old.’

A drifter who aimlessly wanders the world like an orphan without parents. (부모 없는 고아에 정처 없이 천하를 유랑하는 떠돌이.)

He has no roots, no dwelling place. (근본도 없고, 거처도 없다)

He, Pyo-wol, furrowed his eyebrows in a frown. 

Again, the pain rushed in like a tidal wave.
Yet he forced himself to thinking.
As a result, he was able to fully remember who he was.

Now it’s time to figure out why and how he ended up here.

‘Him.’

Pyo-wol recalled the man who remained in his last memory.
A middle-aged man whose characteristics was a plain face and sharp eyes that do not match.

The man who he had stumbled upon in the midst of begging had said, “You look good enough.”

That was the last memory of Pyo-wol. 

At the end of those words, Pyo-wol lost his consciousness and woke up in the dark.

The man in his memories must be related as to why he was left alone in such a space where no light enters. 

Pyo-wol did not know the man’s name nor identity. 

He didn’t even know why he was locked up like this.

It couldn’t be because of a grudge. 

There was no way that he, an orphan who was just wandering aimlessly, would be the target of a resentment so deep that someone would do this.

‘There must be some kind of purpose— a goal.’

If the captor’s aim was to kill him, then they would have already killed him.
They would not have gone through the trouble of locking him up without killing him.
So they obviously must have some need or purpose for him.

His head ached as if it would break.

Trying to think deeply with his abnormal state had already consumed a great deal of mental power. 

Pyo-wol closed his eyes.

Whether he opened his eyes or closed it, there was no change.
He wondered what it meant to close his eyes since his surroundings remained dark.

Still, closing his eyes was less painful than keeping them open.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Whether he had already lost his mind or was maintaining it, the boundaries were blurred. (정신을 잃었던 것인지, 혹은 유지하고 있었던 것인지 경계가 모호했다.)

His head was a mess.

Still, Pyo-wol struggled to find a clear spirit.

After a while, his mind became clearer as if his efforts paid off.

“Hu!”

Pyo-wol was surprised with the involuntary sigh that escaped from him. 

The last time he woke up, he couldn’t even breathe heavily.

All he had to do was keep breathing hard, and he couldn’t even dare to take a deep breath like this. (억지로 가쁜 호호흡을 이어 가는 것이 전부였을 뿐, 이렇게 크게 숨을몰아쉬는 것은 엄두도 내지 못했다.)

Being able to breathe deeply was clearly a sign that body functions were returning to normal.

Maybe it was an illusion, but he decided to think positively.

It was painful to be alone in the darkness without a single light.
The darkness made a person think a lot.

Thoughts would flood in like a tidal wave, controlling over the mind and body.
The overflowing thoughts would be enough to drive a person crazy.

Even more for Pyo-wol, who was unable to move.

The sense of isolation, as if alone in the darkness of the beginning, corroded his mind little by little. 

If time continued to go by like this, it was clear that he would go crazy with his own thoughts.

Therefore, Pyo-wol tried to think positively and cleared his mind.

‘My name is Pyo-wol, fourteen years old, my father’s name is Pyo-in-hak, and my mother’s name is Lee Sun-hong.’

In the midst of his countless thoughts, he tried to think only of things related to his identity.

The only way to keep one’s mind intact in the onslaught of thoughts was to solidify his identity.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

It could have been just one day, or it could have been weeks.

It was impossible to comprehend the flow of time in such deep darkness.

Moreover, Pyo-wol’s whole body was paralyzed.

All the activity of the body had fallen to the floor. (신체의 모든 활동이 바닥까지 떨어진 상태였다)

As long as he was barely holding his breath, most of the functions were at a standstill.

Because of that, he couldn’t even feel hunger. 

It was like dying alive.

This was the most terrifying moment of Pyo-wol’s life.

To overcome the fear, Pyo-wol muttered endlessly.

“My name is Pyo-wol…

Time continued to pass like that.

* * *

His fingers moved slightly. 

It was proof that power was returning to his body.

Although he wasn’t sure what kind of expression he would be making because there was no light or mirror, his face must be glowing with joy. 

Little by li