"Ah, ! !" I scrambled off my bed and looked around the room for my bathrobe. The pounding on the door gets louder. "Open the door now, you useless woman! I know you're in there!" I found the bathrobe lying on my bathroom floor and quickly put it on. I checked myself in the mirror, splash some water on my forehead and pinched my cheeks and nose. With a deep breath, I walked over to the door and slowly pulled it open. 

"What is it?" I fake-coughed as I come face to face with the man I dreaded to see. "You piece of ! You still owe me four months of rent! How dare you avoid me for the past two weeks?!" I stopped myself from rolling my eyes as I coughed some more. "I've been having a terrible fever, Marco. My whole body is aching. Please give me more time. I'm too weak to work right now." I massaged my temples as I slowly lead it down my neck. I saw him widen his eyes as I massaged my shoulders and purposely let my bathrobe slide off. "Yah! What are you trying to do?" He looked away as he point at my shoulders. "Here, touch my forehead. Feel how hot it is. I'm not lying." I grabbed his hands and pulled it towards my forehead. Even before I could pulled it any nearer, he snapped his hands back. "Fine, fine! I give you two more weeks, Son Naeun. Two weeks! If I don't get my money by then, be prepared to sleep on the streets!" He huffed as he his heels and walked away.

"Thank you, Marco!" I called out weakly as I lean my body against the wall. The loser turned around and showed me his fist before disappearing into the elevator. Once gone, I slammed the door and cried out in frustration. "What a moron!" I tied up my loose hair into a messy bun as I stripped out of the bathrobe. "Aish! Where the heck am I going to find money?" I groaned as I plopped mysef on the sofa. I drummed my fingers restlessly on my thighs as my money problems rolled around in my head one after another.

My life has always been revolved around money. I came from a well to do family who owns a famous restaurant in Jeju. But one fine day, a competitor came into the picture and used all sorts of dirty marketing tactics to lure our customers away. As time goes by, even our regular customers left us. Our source of income dwindled, our debts started to increase and my family was declared bankrupt. Life goes downhill from there. My dad got into gambling, my mum got depressed, I started to skip school to earn pocket money for myself and my dear beloved grandmother passed away in the midst of it all. I was left alone to fend for myself. When my parents got divorced, I ran away to Seoul to start a brand new life for myself once I graduated from high school. 

I took up a job as a social . I enjoyed entertaining the high rollers of Seoul. I relished the feel of having money and not having to go hungry anymore. But it was as if I was cursed. Nothing good stays for long. I got caught by the wife of one of my clients and she shamed me to no end. I was put out of job for not being discreet and so, here I am. Living in constant worry of money. My current job as a waitress don't earn me enough to pay off my credit card debts, my daily expenses as well as my rent. I guess that's why I become this cold and harsh person who hardly cares of what others think. I live to survive each day and I'll do it in any way I can. 

I sighed as I pushed myself off the sofa to get ready for work. "Let's get work over and done with!" I shouted to psyched myself as I skittled over to the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, I was out by the back door of the building, not wanting to bump into the landlord, Marco, who might really give me a punch for owing him rent and pretending to be sick. I checked the time and almost sprinted my way to work, fearing that I might lose my job. Which, I am in the verge of losing for always showing up late. Yeah, nothing I do is ever going in the right direction. It just goes downhill to whatever bottomless pit that is awaiting me.

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