Chapter-1|River's Edge Farewell

"Mom, I am leaving," says Mark. Mark's mother replies, "You punk! Where are you going? It's 11 pm right now. Aren't you going to revise tomorrow for your exam?" Mark laughs and says, "Just going to get some fresh air. I'll be right back." Mark closes the door and goes outside. After taking a deep breath, he starts walking while humming some old Chinese songs.

Mark is a 21-year-old civil exam aspirant. It's his third and last try to pass the exam and land a stable job to sustain his father's medical expenses. But after three years of hard work, he always fails in the end and has decided to take a hard step, thinking he's had enough.

After walking for 15 minutes, Mark reaches the deepest river, River Shin. He slowly walks towards the water and sits near the river, looking at the water flowing slowly. His eyes become watery and he starts crying. People nearby look at him but ignore him, not knowing his intentions of taking his life. After a while, Mark takes up his phone to look at the time. It's 11:36 PM. He puts down his phone on the spot where he was sitting and slowly gets up, wipes his tears, and jumps into the river.

Mark smiles, "Huh, it's finally over. I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. I don't think I'm brave enough to keep on living anymore." As he slowly drowns, his vision gets blurry, and he faints.