The girl stood alone beside a bench.
Her backpack had slipped from one shoulder.
She was looking desperately around her.
Nia moved toward her.
"괜찮아?" she asked gently.
Are you okay?
The girl shook her head.
Her eyes were wide with fear.
Nia crouched to her level.
"이름이 뭐야?"
What's your name?
The child tried to answer.
But her breathing had become rapid and uneven.
She looked toward the stairs.
Then began crying harder.
Nia noticed the girl's name written on a small card attached to her backpack.
Han Soo-bin.
She looked back at the child.
"수빈아, 괜찮아. 내가 여기 있어."
Soo-bin, it's okay. I'm here.
The little girl stared at her.
For one brief moment, the panic seemed to ease.
Then another mechanical noise echoed through the station.
The crowd surged again.
And Soo-bin began trembling.
Nia took the girl's hand.
She didn't attempt to push against the crowd or guess which exit was safe. She looked toward the station employees, who were directing passengers away from the affected section, and moved with Soo-bin toward a designated waiting area.
The girl's breathing remained uneven.
Nia noticed a small medical pouch inside her backpack and alerted a nearby staff member when Soo-bin indicated she had asthma.
The staff member contacted emergency personnel and helped them move to a safer, less crowded area.
Nia stayed beside the child.
She spoke slowly in Korean, repeating simple reassurances and asking questions that required only short answers.
Where was the woman who had brought her?
Had she been traveling with family?
Did she know a phone number?
The child managed to explain that she had been with her aunt.
She was supposed to meet her father later that evening.
But the crowd had separated them.
Nia asked whether she remembered her father's number.
Soo-bin shook her head.
Then whispered that it was stored in her aunt's phone.
Nia nodded.
"괜찮아. 직원분들이 찾아주실 거야."
It's okay. The staff will help find her.
For several minutes, they waited while the emergency response continued.
Soo-bin grew increasingly distressed.
She kept looking toward the crowd.
Then she whispered something Nia almost couldn't hear.
"아빠가 안 오면 어떡해요?"
What if my dad doesn't come?
Nia felt her chest tighten.
She remembered being sixteen, sitting in a hospital waiting room after her father's accident, terrified because nobody could tell her what would happen next.
She knew that fear.
The helplessness.
The feeling that the world had suddenly become too large and dangerous.