Live, Die or Do Both

I Must Find an Antidote

"Don't let go, don't you dare let go, Yihyun!" Lichad screamed while holding onto Yihyun from the rescue chopper and expressing sadness and anger on his face.

"Tell Iris I love her and I will always be with her." "Yihyun said to Lichad in a depressing tone as her hands slipped from his slowly.

"No no no no no.... You tell her that yourself. I love you. We all love you, Yihyun. Please just hang on to my hand. Don't leave us! " With tears streaming down his cheeks, Lichad stated.

"Remember what you said? That everything was going to be OK as long as we stay together... Stay with us, YIHYUN! " Lichad screamed in tears once more.

When Yihyun was touched, she burst into tears, realising that there was no way she could be with them anymore. Lichad had loved her all this time. While in sadness, she was glad that Lichad had confessed his feelings to her. This way, she can die knowing this in her heart.

"Take care of them, OK," Yihyun said as she let go of Lichad's hands and fell from the sky into the darkness.

"YIHYUNNNNNNN!" Lichad screamed.

(72 hours earlier)

"I must find an antidote. I must find an antidote. I must find the antidote." Mr. Chan said while sitting down in his home's lab, rubbing his forehead in anxiety.

"Dad, help me..." Solomon said to his dad in a sad tone in the lab. 

Mr. Chan turned to his left and saw his only son in a depressing state, turning into what he called a "mistake" while strapped to a chair. Tears started rolling down his eyes slowly. He removed his glasses to wipe them off with his lab coat and then put them back.

Mr. Chan stood up in hope and continued working. "Let's try this again,"

(BACKTRACK TO THE BEGINNING OF WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM MR. CHAN WAS TRYING TO FIX IN THE LAB)

Solomon was a socially awkward high school teenager in Seoul, South Korea who was average height, had black eyes, and had a two-block haircut. He wasn't muscularly built, but not so skinny either, and didn't have many friends. No scratch that, he hasn't had any close friends in school since his childhood friend, Moon, travelled out of the country. Though they still communicated, well, that was before Solomon lost his contact completely in an auto accident that claimed the life of his mother. 

They were both returning from Solomon's school and on their way home one faithful day. Solomon had wanted to watch the premier of ‘Spinder Man: No Ray Home’ in cinemas with his mom before heading home. She had gladly accepted, after seeing that it would change the moody face Solomon usually carries into the car every time she picks him up from school. 

She smiled and turned to Solomon in the car, "That would be fun. Let's go." She said

She turned the car around, trying to revise only to end up colliding with another vehicle that was over speeding, and the impact somersaulted her car away from the other vehicle. She died instantly while Solomon was unconscious in the car. 

Mr. Chan, Solomon's father, rushed to the hospital upon hearing the tragic news, but his wife had already been pronounced dead at 3:45 pm while Solomon had sustained a fatal brain condition.

Mr. Chan, seeing his late wife lifeless on the bed, burst into tears while clinging to her as the nurses took her body away. 

The doctor who operated on Solomon, who somehow managed to survive the auto accident, broke the news to Mr. Chan, saying Solomon might have to skip school for a while to recover, but there was a slim possibility that he may experience some hallucinations and illusions based on what the accident did to his brain and there was nothing the doctor could do about it.

Mr. Chan looked at the doctor in his office with a lost facial expression while subconsciously digesting the information he had broken down to him. Eight weeks later, Solomon was giving the doctor's permission to resume school. He tried to cope with studies and the painful death of his mother.

He started seeing weird hallucinations the doctor had told his father about as a result of the auto accident. Solomon's life would never remain the same again as he was constantly being hunted by his own mind, thoughts, and illusions. His mother's death contributed to this. Solomon was then being bullied by the school thugs led by the senator's son, Yong, as a psyche, and they would often use his illusions as an opportunity to make him an outcast and make him feel bad.

Solomon slowly and steadily generated hate towards Yong and his subordinates as they made mockery of him in school and any other place they set their eyes on him. Soon, he developed fear, hate, and anger towards humanity as the full class often laughed whenever a silly joke was made about his illusions in class.

Solomon had never really imagined being someone's crush before; he just thought it was impossible for someone to like him that way. He wasn't cool or the most brilliant kid in his class, so he didn't consider himself worthy of being someone's crush.

At a point when the whole class laughs at a joke the senator's son, Yong, throws at Solomon, Mee, a girl who sits at the opposite end of Solomon in the back seat, would interrupt, saying something like, "that's enough you guys." 

She had been crushing on Solomon secretly for quite some time, even though she knew he was having some weird illusions. Mee taught him that he only needed someone to talk to and be there for him, but she didn't know how to get close to Solomon yet.

"Your son may suffer from illusions from time to time, and I'm sorry, but there is nothing we can do about that area." 

Mr. Chan remembers what the doctor said to him 4 months ago as he sees how bad his son's condition is getting.. Sometimes Solomon screams and cries in the middle of the night after having an illusion of the fatal auto accident that claimed the life of his mother. At this point, Mr. Chan told himself that he needed to free his son from this nightmare.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Chan asked Solomon in the car when they arrived at his school.

Solomon's yes was a whisper that Mr. Chan didn't hear but read in his lips. As he got out of the car for class, Mr. Chan had made the decision to find a way to help his son out of his illusions. 

Mr. Chan, who was a PHD holder in neuroscience, then told Solomon. “after school Let's go fix your problem in my lab.”

Everyday for the past 3 weeks, Mr. Chan has been running tests with Solomon when he comes back from school in his lab at home. Solomon developed a little bit of hope seeing how much his father was working just to help his condition that the doctors said he couldn't fix. 

"Dad, are those your awards?"

 Solomon asked his dad while sitting in his lab and noticed the awards on the shelf.

"Well yes, I won some of those while in college, and others from various seminars," Mr. Chan said to Solomon while smiling at the awards.

With this, Solomon had courage in his heart that his dad knew what he was doing.

(2 Days Before Solomon Was Tied Down By His Father In His Lab)

"Bling", the bell sounded as Solomon opened the door of the Dining in Space restaurant. 

He had heard the place served some of the most delicious meals in his neighborhood, and as expected, the place was crowded with customers when he stepped in after closing from school. The first thing that caught his attention was a lady smiling at a customer while taking his order down. 

She had black hair and sparkling brown eyes. She glowed even though she was wearing an apron.

*Solomon stared at her for about 5 seconds until..

 "excuse me please" He heard from his back. 

He turned to see an elderly man coming into the shop, and he was on his way.

"Oh sorry," Solomon responded, as he moved forward to sit down at an empty table. He sat by the window of the restaurant until the girl he was staring at came to take his order.

"Hello there, what would you like to have?" She spoke to Solomon in a soft tone while maintaining a sweet smile. Solomon had at first lost his words after he heard her say those words. In his mind, he asked, how could someone be this beautiful?

"Hello..." the waitress called out to Solomon again.

"Sorry about that. I would like to have noodles please," Solomon replied, breaking out of his stupor.

"Would you want that to go?"

"Hmm... Yes please,"

She smiled and said, "Alright, I'll be right back." 

Solomon stared at her until she entered the kitchen with his mouth open. It was his first time actually feeling this way. He rubbed his forehead with his hand while facing downward and noticed he was sweating.

"Here you go, I hope you enjoy it and become our regular customer" Said the waitress to Solomon.

"Me too, Yihyun." Solomon said, after noticing her name on her tag.

Both of them smiled at each other as Solomon left the restaurant.

"Hey, hurry up with the orders, Yihyun." Iris, her younger sister, said to her.

"Coming," Yihyun responded.

***

(In Mr. Chan's lab)

"Outch," Solomon said after his father had injected the cure he had been working on for Solomon's illusion into his blood.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Chan asked

"Yes, but Dad, do you really think this would work?" Solomon asked his father while rubbing the arm he was injected into. 

"I am sure of my experiments, so let's hope for the best." Mr. Chan answered.

That night, Solomon, for the first time in 5 months, slept without having any illusions.

“Son, how was your night?" Mr. Chan asked Solomon the next morning out of curiosity. Solomon smiled and said, "I didn't have any illusions, dad."

Really, you really mean it? Mr. Chan asked with excitement in his eyes, and then Solomon nodded with a smile.

"Oh my goodness! come here." Mr. Chan said, giving Solomon a tight hug and a few tears streaming down his cheeks, remembering that wherever his wife was now, she would be happy knowing his illusions had vanished.

"This calls for a celebration. Go prepare for school while I cook something tasty,"

Hearing what his father had just said Solomon couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. "Dad, I don't remember when you last cooked"

"Oh don't be like that, I still have my cooking skills in me," Mr. Chan smiled.  

"Alright dad, just make sure it's tasty." Solomon responded while heading upstairs to change for school.

(Later That Day)

(Mr. Chan answers the phone call from his place of work) "Hello, yes I am. Whatt? I'll be there right away. "

(At Solomon's Principal's Office)

"Sorry to call you on such short notice, Mr. Chan, but trust me, it was truly urgent." The principal then said to Mr. Chan in a serious tone.

"What happened?" Mr. Chan asked the principal and, at the same time, turned to his right to see Solomon shaking in his seat.

"Please sit down first, Mr. Chan." the principal said, offering a seat with a gesture.

After Mr Chan sat down, the principal continued. "Your son Solomon has never caused trouble or bothered the peace of his class, much less of the whole school, and because of that, I am surprised at what he did today."

"What did he do?" Mr. Chan asked the principal as he stared at his son, seated beside him, shaking and looking lost with a bit of blood on his uniform. 

The principal cleared his throat and continued.

”Well, he bit one of his classmates on his shoulder today, who goes by the name Yong, the senator's son. According to eye witnesses in his class, they said, Though the boy had been making fun of Solomon for some time now, today he did the same thing, but Solomon attacked him with a bite on his shoulder." The principal said. "Bullying someone is bad, but what your son did to the boy was too much punishment for that." The principal concluded.

Mr. Chan turned to his right to look at his son one more time and then turned back to the principal and said

"I am truly sorry for that. I am shocked by the news as well. My son had never acted in such a manner, but how is the boy doing today? " Mr. Chan asked with cornering eyes.

"He was rushed to the hospital because the cut was quite deep and he was bleeding,"

Upon hearing this, Mr. Chan became more surprised and, at that moment, the mother of Yong, the senator's son, suddenly badged into the principal's office.

"You! You are the brat who did that to my son?" She yelled, pointing her finger at Solomon without minding the presence of the principal.

"Madam, please calm down," the principal said to her as he stood up. 

“I am truly sorry for the harm my son may have caused you. Please, he isn't like this"Mr. Chan also said to her as he stood up.

"What human would bite in such a way as your son? You better hope nothing bad happens to my son or you'll be dead! " She yelled and left the office in anger.

"Don't worry, principal, I will talk to my son when I get home," Mr. Chan said to the principal.

You know, I still have to punish him, right? What he did cannot go unpunished, "the principal reminded Mr. Chan. 

Mr. Chan looked down and said, "Of course, I understand, principal." 

He then turned to Solomon, who was still lost in thoughts and shaking like he had seen a ghost.

After studying Solomon with a complicated glint in his eyes for a second, he said."Solomon, shall we go now?" 

Solomon resisted at first, but Mr. Chan helped him get up from his seat and they went home.