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THE SCENT OF COFFEE BEANS FILLED THE HOSPITAL CANTEEN, So-ri sat watching as her hot coffee was slowly being poured. She decided to spend some time in the canteen as her grandmother had begun her chemo treatment.
As she sat, she glanced all around her. People were visibly sick, all possibly fighting for their life hoping to live another day, some sitting with family members discussing various topics. In the eyes of the relatives, they looked at their loved ones with admiration—and love, cherishing their love as if it was their last day. She lightly tapped her finger on the table becoming dazed in her thoughts pondering whether she would soon bein the same place as them.
A knock on the table quickly interrupted So-ri's thoughts. She shifted her attention to the sound, to find the knock coming from her grandmother's doctor. "Are you sitting here alone Ms. Kim?" So-ri nodded her head while taking a sip of her coffee. "Is it fine if I sit with you? I have a few things to discuss with you"
"Of course, please sit"
The doctor smiled, placing his clipboard on the table and pulling out a chair to sit on. "Well it's currently your grandmother's second chemo-treatment, and you know the first can be very challenging, have there been any extreme worries you'd like to let me know of?" adjusting her posture, she responded, "Well... She did have a few side effects of vomiting and her hair slowly falling out, but that's normal, right?"
"Yes, it is." the doctor replied with a gentle smile. "With that, the news I have for you is that it has surely become confirmed that your grandmother is battling leukemia." So-ri looked up at the doctor, unsure of how to take the information in. With the confirmation, confusion, and uncertainty rose. "So—"
As the doctor was about to add, So-ri's phone buzzed...and buzzed repeatedly. Bringing the conversation to a halt. So-ri glanced at the doctor apologetically, she was met with a gentle tap on the shoulder in return, with the doctor mouthing "It's fine". She reached for her phone, opening it to see it flooded with messages. Her eyebrow furrowed, and her expression became puzzled due to the outburst of messages.
Opening the message, she realized that the message being sent was from the official 'Kocher Students Community Group Chat' that she had once heard of. Now she was in it, strangely being added to it. Messages were repeatedly being sent by the second, making it difficult to figure out what was being said until a video popped up.
So-ri slowly pressed on the video. Playing it, the video showed students all huddled together giggling and filming in front of them. The person recording walked toward the huddled group and walked toward the students, So-ri's heart dropped. She spots Gorya being held down forcefully by two male students. Watching, So-ri hears Gorya's visible pleas to be let go, but in response, all the students continued to just taunt her with laughter and violently abuse her.
"Um... I'm sorry doctor but I have to go" So-ri said as she frantically stood up, still glancing down at the video and watching it to the very end. Hearing Gorya scream was all it took for So-ri to run out of the hospital before the doctor could stop her.
