"I'm a failure. I hardly ever noticed whether the sun was shining, because I had no time to.
"My parents couldn't support me, and I wasn't highly educated. Alone in the city, I searched for a future.
"I found many jobs, but none of them hired me. Perhaps nobody liked someone who wasn't good at talking, disliked socializing, and had shown no sufficient ability.
"For three whole days, I ate only two loaves of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Luckily, I had paid a month's rent in advance, so I could keep living in that dark basement instead of going outside to endure the unusually bitter winter wind.
"Finally, I found a job: night watchman at a hospital, guarding the morgue at night.
"The hospital was even colder at night than I had imagined. The wall lamps in the corridors were unlit, and everything was dim. I could only rely on the faint light spilling out from the rooms to see where I was stepping.
"The place smelled terrible. From time to time, bodies arrived stuffed in body bags, and we worked together to carry them into the morgue.
"It wasn't a good job, but at least it let me afford bread. I could also use my free time at night to study. After all, hardly anyone wanted to come to the morgue unless there was a body to deliver or take away for cremation. Of course, I still didn't have enough money to buy books, and I couldn't see any hope of saving up.
"I had to thank my former colleague. If he hadn't suddenly quit, I might not even have gotten a job like this.
"I dreamed of being assigned daytime shifts in rotation. Sleeping whenever the sun came up and waking after nightfall had made