DAY 8 - A NEW BEGINNING

It was a fine, sunday afternoon with a temperate weather. It wasn't too hot, and definitely not too cold. The white fluffy clouds floating around the sky, served as a perfect blanket to cover the sun. Not that far from the heart of Seoul, the scattered oak trees muffled the congestion sound from the busy city, as it only left the sound of the leaves rustling, wind whistling, and people chattering around the place. 

A perfect day it seemed ㅡ couples strolling around the park while holding hands, families gathering for a mini picnic, and kids heartily giggling while playing at the playground ㅡ almost everyone could definitely agree that Sunday afternoon was indeed a time of healing.

Apparently, Park Jinyoung seemed to differ from the rest. Wearing a proper black suit and a safety helmet, he stormed the narrow streets with his mini delivery scooter. The word 'Sunday' derived from his very own dictionary, only meant nonstop deliveries around the neighborhood. There was indeed no time of healing, neither rest. Being a well-motivated employee, who couldn't even afford to slack for a minute, he'd definitely prefer full-house deliveries to get his bones and muscles stretched for the whole afternoon.

Unloading his second to the last order for his ninth batch of deliveries this afternoon, he looked around the park to search for the group of teens, who ordered the black noodles from him.

"Thank you so much for ordering. Enjoy your food!!!" he cheerfully greeted once he successfully swiped their payment.

He walked towards his scooter and bounce hopped on its seat to proceed to his next delivery spot. He whistled and passed through the narrow corners of the park, and then out of nowhere, a child suddenly tripped in front of him which caused him to halt his delivery scooter.

"Oh!!! Are you okay?!" 

Panicking in state, he hopped down from his scooter and pulled down it's center stand as he immediately approached the helpless child on the ground. Unfortunately, the child received scratches from hitting her knee against the rocks, and wasn't able to stand on her own. 

"Where's your guardian? You're bleeding! This should get treated as soon as possible," he wasted no time and voluntarily carried the child for them to settle at a vacant bench.

"Excuse me mister, but who are you? My mom told me not to talk to strangers," the child inquired, somewhat cautious from his presence.

"Ah, right..." he blinked and slowly massaged his nape. 

Realizing that he probably looked scary from his black rider outfit, he casually removed his helmet which caused his smooth and shiny hair to bounce back. 

"Uwah. You're handsome, mister," she mumbled in awe, her eyes sparkled brightly as if she saw a celebrity.

"Don't worry. I'm not a bad person. I just helped you because you tripped in front of me. Does it hurt? You should be careful next time," said Jinyoung while gently blowing her wound. 

The child actively nodded with wide smile plastered on her lips, "It doesn't hurt anymore. I will be careful next time. Thank you, mister! You are my savior!"

He smiled, feeling a sense of relief that she'll be careful next time, and deeply chuckled from the thought of being called as someone's savior.

"Mom!!! I'm here!" the child suddenly yelled while waving her right hand.

He looked around and found a woman, probably in her mid 30s, holding two ice cream cones in between her palms while running to approach them. 

"Oh goodness, what happened Seo Hye-ah? You tripped again? Didn't I warn you, not to run around?!" she heavily panted and carefully reached for the child's knee to briefly look at her wound. Not that any longer, she finally noticed the man beside her, and turned to be quite surprised from his presence. "Who are... you?"

"She tripped along the road so I carried her here since she cannot stand alone," Jinyoung politely explained, pursing a decent smile before rising on his knees. "The drug store is a kilometer away from this park. It's quite dusty here. Use this handkerchief to cover her wound so it won't be infected. Don't worry, it's clean," he handed a white handkerchief to the woman, and bowed as soon as he left.

"Ah. Yes," she blinked in bewilderment as she was left jaw hanging, totally flustered from the stranger's quick yet precise instructions. "What was that? He speaks like a doctor but he definitely looks like an actor? Should we, at least, ask for a signature?

ㅡ

"Ah. I can't believe this!!!"

Jinyoung felt his heart that almost skipped a beat from hearing the loud thud which was created from hitting the table. He just heaved a deep breath and shut his eyes, as he gladly accepted the expected disciplinary action from his boss for losing a customer's payment.

"Just what are you?! Y-You gave three boxes of chicken for free?" 

"I was late for three minutes," he mumbled to admit as he kept his head low.

"That's it! What kind of delivery gets late? You know we can't afford to be late! Look at this! Look at this!" the owner pointed out their slogan, and felt his chest tightening from the stress caused by their sudden loss. "It says 'guaranteed no late delivery, if it's late it's for free'! You punk! And yet, you still chose to help someone who tripped at a park? Are you running to become Korea's top citizen?!"

"I apologize," Jinyoung kept the lump on his throat and rendered a 90° bow. Besides, apologizing was the only way left, since no matter how much he would try to reason out the need to help someone at that very moment, it won't just work to compensate their sudden loss of sales. And to clear it out, he wasn't apologizing for helping the child who tripped at the parked, nor he was feeling the slightest ounce of regret from doing it, but he was apologizing solely for the reason that he failed to deliver the items on time. 

"I will just find a way to pay for the boxes of chicken as a compensation."

"You should! You should pay for the consequences of your dumb actions. This is business! This is business! I am paying you well, so make sure to bring me enough sales! All you have to do is to deliver. As simple as that and yet you cannot even do it properly. Should I just fire you?" the owner shook his head in disbelief as he slowly walked out of the office.

Being left at the secluded room, Jinyoung deeply exhaled as he brought to check his wallet that only has the amount of 10,000 KRW, just enough to keep himself alive for the whole week.

ㅡ

Later that evening, Jinyoung conveniently settled himself in front of his laptop, particularly at his desk filled with scattered papers and pile of books. Nothing's new for the night aside from the extremely cold weather, which was accompanied by his freshly cooked spicy ramen for dinner. Digging in while loudly slurping the noodles, he wiped his lips and cleared his throat when his phone rang for the third possible client for tonight.

"Good evening! Yes. This is Park Jinyoung!" he brightly responded with too much formality, almost sounding like an automated voice call. 

*Hello. I saw your post at this particular website. May I know what subjects are you willing to teach?*

Feeling the forming lump on his throat, he lightly covered the speaker and moved the phone away when he felt the need to release the extra gas from his mouth. "Yes," he coughed to clear his throat. "I offer private tutorials for my clients in any ages specifically in Mathematics. I can also teach Psychology and History. How do you want me to assist you with any of your difficulties?"

*Can you teach my eight year old child an advanced English?*

He pursed his lips and stopped to breathe for a moment, "I apologize, ma'am. I can only offer Mathematics, Psychology, History, and could be advanced Korean for foreigners."

*Only with that limited subjects?* the client started to raise her voice, but Jinyoung only snorted while wiping his runny nose, which was mainly caused by the spicy ramen. 

"Yes, ma'am. I have included in my post that I only offer limited subjects based on my knowledge."

*Aish! Who would choose an advanced Korean in this city?! If I were you, you should learn English too! Aigoo! What kind of private tutorial is this?! Such an out-trended one! I am hanging up!!!*

Just as simple as that, the phone call ended, leaving Jinyoung in a flustered situation. He tilted his head and blinked in confusion,"What was that? Why is everyone yelling me today?"

Unfortunately, Park Jinyoung's luck has somewhat faded which caused him a lot of mishaps for almost a year already. His dreams of becoming a professional and licensed teacher turned into dust when he failed to take the last units of his course due to an unexpected turn of events. His father was diagnosed by a chronic fatigue, a disease caused by too much overworking that needed continues rest and medication. Wanting to help his family, he gave up his dreams by dropping college, and gladly used his tuition fee for his father's treatment. Moreover, he engaged himself with different part time jobs, and had soon settled as a delivery man and an on-call private tutor for almost half a year already.

"Let's see what we have here," he sat to face his laptop, widely stretching his arms before scrolling down the website, meant to seek for foreigner students who wanted to learn the Korean language. "Online tutorial costs thrice than the usual tutorial price. I will surely hit the jackpot tonight," he smirked when he found a lot of possible clients at the site.

Browsing each of the given profiles, he found few of the clients, who were available for an immediate online chat. Most clients were females from western countries, which wasn't that surprising. The Korean Pop outbreak opened a lot of opportunities for Korean tutors like him, who were quite in demand for teaching their mother tongue language to the foreigners. 

As soon as the chat box finally loaded the client's webcam, Jinyoung rubbed his palm, and took a deep breath while momentarily fixing his bangs and shirt. It was his first time to talk with a foreigner via webcam, and honestly, he's not that confident with his English speaking skills yet, nonetheless, he could still carry out an effective conversation with them, which was enough in order to teach the Korean basic phrases and terms that the client wanted to learn. Besides, he only needed to teach for half an hour that already costs his month of salary at the chicken stall.

Not that any longer, the client's webcam viewed a sight of a woman, seductively biting her lips while sensually touching her in front of the camera, which totally surprised Jinyoung, causing him to almost fall from his seat.

"Woah woah woah!" he yelled in panic and immediately reached for the cursor to close the chat box. "Woah, really! Is this how the internet works nowadays? I just wanted to earn money in a convenient way!" he heavily breathe out, wanting to bawl his eyes out when he couldn't seem to remove the image from his mind.

Since everything else of what happened today seemed to h