“What is your name?”

The child, startled by the unfamiliar voice, felt his senses gradually returning. As his vision cleared, the buzzing noise around him also became more distinct. Seeing the child attempting to regain consciousness, the observer asked again.

“Hey, are you coming around? What’s your name?”

As the child’s vision focused, he saw a man in strange attire standing before him, wearing a blue top that made the child wary, prompting him to keep his lips sealed. Realizing he was lying down, the child attempted to sit up.

“Ugh.”

His body felt unusually stiff, as if he had overexerted himself the day before. The child internally checked his condition.

Noticing the child’s effort, the man exclaimed softly and hurried over to support the child’s back, helping him to sit up.

“Ah, you were curled up on the floor, so it’s no wonder your body feels so cold. Are you okay?”

“…Yes, I’m fine.”

Once the child managed to sit up, blood circulation seemed to improve, and his head began to clear. His vision, previously blurry, now became sharp, revealing the surrounding landscape to him. However, the child quickly became overwhelmed with bewilderment.

The scenes before his eyes were unlike anything he had seen before. There were several people in clothes he had never seen, some with faces red and yelling incomprehensibly fast, while others simply stared blankly ahead, seated. There were both young and old people.

Not far from where the child sat was a white wall slightly shorter than his height, and beyond this wall were more people, all dressed in blue tops similar to the man standing before him.

Moreover, the place was exceedingly bright. Glancing up, he saw several dazzlingly bright objects on the ceiling—devices he had never seen or heard of before. The child couldn’t help but gape.

As the child was taking in his surroundings, the man walked past the wall and returned with a small paper cup in his hand.

“Would you like some water?”

Without a word, the child looked at the paper cup and cautiously accepted it. The pristine white cup held clear water. The child quietly peered inside and then tentatively tasted it. It was familiar water. The man, watching the child drink carefully, smiled gently and knelt in front of him.

“So, are you feeling a bit more alert now?”

The child nodded silently.

“Where do you live?”

The child remained silent.

“What about your mom?”

The child’s eyes widened suddenly. Yes, his mother. The very person he had been searching for until late last night.

“My mom is missing.”

The man furrowed his brows and scratched his eyebrow with his index finger.

“And your dad?”

“My dad… has passed away.”

“Hmm. Can you wait here for a moment?”

The man stood up and walked to the wall to converse with someone on the other side. Meanwhile, the child looked around, trying to understand his environment. Everyone had unfamiliar faces and wore unfamiliar clothes. There were strange devices and objects all around this unfamiliar building. Everything seemed odd, but what puzzled him most was not knowing why he was here. He thought he had been lying on the chair his father had made…

“Ah…”

Remembering the chair brought back images from his dream. It was vague, but he recalled his father making a pendant and giving it to him. At the same time, the child felt something around his neck. Almost in disbelief, he reached up and felt the pendant, exactly like the one he had seen in his dream.

Now, thinking itself seemed impossible. From the disappearance of his mother and sibling to the gift from his father appearing in his dream and now hanging around his neck, none of it made sense to the child.

The man approached again.

“What’s your name?”

“My name…?”

Once again, the child faced a bewildering situation. He was sure his name was being asked, but he couldn’t answer.

“Don’t you know your name?”

“…”

The child remained silent. Frustrated but patient, the man asked various questions, but the child did not respond. From the moment his name was asked, the child had chosen to remain silent.

“Hey, Officer Choi. Don’t just stand there; quiet that drunkard down, will you?”

“Yes.”

Officer Choi briefly glanced at the child, who was staring down at his feet, then moved to restrain a drunkard causing a commotion, mistaking the station for a karaoke bar. Despite the disturbance, the child remained motionless, staring at his feet like a statue.

The child spent the night in the police station, not uttering a word, and did not eat the meal provided during dinner.

Thanks to a call made early in the morning to the welfare center, a social worker arrived before lunchtime. The social worker, a woman in her forties, listened to Officer Choi, whose eyes were red from fatigue.

“I found him while patrolling Inpyeong Park. Initially, I didn’t even realize he was a child because he was curled up on a bench. When shaking him didn’t wake him, I thought about taking him to a hospital, but since the station was closer, I brought him here and laid him down on that chair with some blankets. Then he woke up pretty soon. He answered a few questions at first, but then he stopped talking altogether. So, we don’t know his name or age.”

Officer Choi, scratching his eyebrow, added,

“Ah, when he did talk, he mentioned his dad had passed away and his mom was gone.”

The social worker pondered and then shared her thoughts with Officer Choi, guessing the child’s circumstances.

“Could he have come from an orphanage? If he’s an orphan as it seems, his refusal to reveal his name might mean he sneaked out of the orphanage. And he’s afraid to go back, so he’s not saying his name.”

“Why?”

“Well, there have been some cases of abuse in orphanages, though it’s less frequent now.”

“Ah, like those in the news?”

“Exactly. Or he might have run away due to bullying by other kids there. Anyway, if we don’t know his name, we can’t locate that orphanage, so he can’t be sent back.”

The social worker spoke with a tone of confidence, as if her extensive experience had given her insight into such cases, which made Officer Choi feel somewhat awkward. Unfazed by his reaction, the social worker seemed determined to resolve the situation.

“I’ll see if I can get him into another welfare facility.”

“Oh, uh…”

Officer Choi thought the situation was moving rather quickly but decided to defer to the specialist’s judgment. After all, it was the social worker’s job to handle the child’s case, and there seemed no need to complicate matters further.

The child, holding the warm hand of the smiling social worker, left the police station.