Seonghwa is an ill boy who was adopted by the Kang family 11 months after being placed there. He was close to aging out of the foster care system, so he was incredibly happy to be adopted. His adoptive brother Yeosang is thrilled, but at the same ti...
A middle-aged man leans against a white Hyundai Genesis, which is parked in front of a 6-story apartment building. The man is dressed in a dark blue blazer, a white dress shirt tucked into beige slacks, and black leather shoes, giving the impression of an average married salaryman. He runs his hand along with his neatly combed hair and sighs, looking at his watch.
"It's almost 8:30, the appointment is at 9, why are they taking so long?" he grumbles and pulls out his phone from his blazer's inner pocket when he hears a ping, indicating he has a message.
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Sangyeob looks up from his phone when he hears the noise of high-heeled pumps hitting the concrete. A slender woman with long wavy black hair, wearing a floral patterned long-sleeved maxi dress walks up to him, carrying a pink handbag in one hand and scrolling through her phone on the other.
"Ahyeonie, where's Yeosang?" Sangyeob asked, and Ahyeon looked over her shoulder.
Behind her, a young man with dyed brown hair, wearing a black turtleneck, beige cargo pants and a bomber jacket follows, fiddling with his phone. A black backpack is slung over his shoulder with a skateboard attached to it.
Sangyeob sighs as he examines his son's outfit. "Yeo, do you really need to bring that thing?" he asks, glancing at the skateboard.
Yeosang looks up from his phone. "I need to make sure we pass each other's vibe check if we're going to be brothers." he replies almost monotonously.
Ahyeon lets out a sigh this time. "He's just moody because he wanted a younger brother." she says, walking over to the car's passenger seat. "Anyway, we should get going. We don't wanna be late for our appointment."
Sangyeob nods, gesturing at Yeosang to get in the back seat. Yeosang grumbles but shuffles inside. Sangyeob starts the car as soon as they strapped themselves in and drives towards Seoul. It'll take half an hour if they're lucky.
Yeosang looks out of the car's window as they head to pick up his new brother. When his parents announced that they were planning to adopt, he was against the thought of a crying, screaming baby in the house while he was playing games or studying. But then his father told him they were getting a teenager from Polaris Social Services.
It's a private organization that takes care of orphaned teenagers, or those who were having a difficult time in the state's foster care system. They also pick up homeless teens and runaways, either reuniting them with their families or placing them in adoptive homes. Yeosang did an intensive research on Polaris to make sure they're a legitimate organization, as he hasn't heard of them before. He finds out they were established by an Orthodox priest in 1948, in Volgograd, Russia. They took in war orphans from all over the Soviet Union, eventually branching out to Japan in 1957 and Korea in 1978. The Korean branch is in Pil-dong, Jung-gu in Seoul.
Yeosang couldn't deny his parents' wish for another child, especially after they had recently lost their unborn son two years ago — his younger brother Minsang. He wasn't as distraught over it as his parents, mainly because he felt the age gap was too big for him to bond with his sibling.
