Chapter I 

"Here you have, dear." The old lady handed him the bag with his purchases. 
"Thank you, miss." Taemin answered softly, a hint of a bow before leaving the store.
"I always wonder how you can nourish such a thin body with this poor amount of food." She interrupted him before he could cross the threshold. She sounded worried and turning back Taemin could see her thoughtful expression.
The blonde haired boy smiled vaguely, relaxing his shoulders. 
"Let's just say that I have difficult tastes and a tiny stomach, should we?" He bowed again and finally left the store, leaving a dumbfounded old lady with her own concerns and thoughts. 

It was an autumnal late afternoon already and the Hongdae district appeared bustling as usual. The early workers hurrying up to the subway to finally get home, college students who were already starting to drink and warm up for the evening. 24h open shops, streets which were getting more and more crowded with tourists every year. Music, neon lights and food everywhere. 
Taemin looked definitely unnoticed in the midst of such a framework as he walked toward his house with slow and and little steps, his head slightly bowed and his shoulders lightly hunched forward.
It was usual for him to get lost in his own thoughts, of whatever type they were. Even the simplest ones could transform into real dilemmas. "What should I eat tonight?", "Maybe two carrots.", "But if I eat two of them I will have only one for tomorrow and I'm quite sure I'd like more.", "There's also a couple of eggs in the fridge, I could eat one of those.", "No, eggs eaten in the evening give me  stomach ache."

For those who still haven't noticed, Taemin was poor. Not that much though, he still had a house. A house he bought with the money he brought when he came to South Korea. A small studio apartment, but it was enough for him. 
And still he managed to pay the bills and taxes every two months, so the situation was not that bad. He was a regular citizen, right ? Only, he didn't have much money left for himself, for food, clothes and other essentials. He still managed to live anyway, he was not a guy with who knows how many claims afterall. 
Time and experience had helped him to learn how to use money in a smart way, and his stomach got used to a minimal amount of food per day.

Also, by being quite thin he could afford to wear almost anything and he liked oversized clothing a lot, so everything that was cheap and at least wearable was good to him. That day for example, he didn't have a coat but he was still wearing two large and warm beige and white sweaters and a pair of black trousers he had found at the flea market about a month before. Shoes were the same everyday, a pair of black low boots with laces. They began to get a little worn out, to be honest.

He arrived home pretty quickly despite his pace and the break he made in front of the window of a bakery, counting how many of those sweets he would like to try.
He lived in a quiet, narrow, dark alley not too far from the center of Hongdae and his apartment was at the fourth and top floor of the first old building. 
Someone would say that it was not the best area to live, but Taemin really liked it. It was not t