In a blink of an eye,
to their own surprise,
the duo share a look of perplexity,
for they sense a sign of familiarity.

~~~

Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea, Year 2018

Yoojung's POV

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I wake up to the continuous galling noises my alarm has made. I let out a small groan and lazily reach for my phone with half-shut eyes.

7:00am.

I place my phone back on the table in a sluggish manner before tossing and turning around in my bed. Although the drowsiness still lingers in me, I force myself to get up and subconsciously walk over to the bathroom.

Making my way inside the bathroom, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror with squinted eyes and a horrendous view of my messy bed hair. I grumble at the lifeless sight of myself, "Aigoo, you look like you just came back from the dead, Choi Yoojung."

After several minutes of fixing my unkempt appearance, as well as finally recovering from my short-lived sleepiness, I quickly whip up my breakfast and stuff my face with rice and scrambled eggs with fermented kimchi topped off as a side dish.

Within about 15 minutes, I finish my breakfast and grab my backpack and textbooks along with my phone. I glance at a small picture frame standing on my desk and smile.

"I hope today will be a good day, Dad," I say before I proceed to leave my apartment. The walk to the bus stop is the same like any other day: a brief review of Korean history during the walk is needed right before my Ancient Korean history class at Seoul National University.

"The Goryeo dynasty was known for their many achievements in culture and art, such as architecture, ceramics, printing, and papermaking. They were also extremely dedicated to religion as many people of the Goryeo dynasty practiced and believed in Buddhism. However, the fall of the dynasty occurred when the young yet tyrannical 27th Emperor, Seokjong of Goryeo, had lost the Goryeo-Joseon War. Prior to the ultimate fall of Goryeo, Seokjong strongly believed that the military was already strong enough to withstand Joseon and instead focused more on indulging himself in materialistic matters rather than strengthening military forces. Aigoo, just how much trouble did he cause anyway?"

I roll my eyes and shake my head in response to reviewing the history of one of the most dictatorial Korean emperors. He had been known to value power and beauty above everything else, to the point where he neglected other priorities and ruthlessly punished or executed those who got in his way, sometimes for even no particular reason.

Although he was a merciless and profligate ruler, he was quite a pitiful person. Having nobody by his side as well as receiving no sincere love from anyone, he was in reality, just a lonely human who needed some proper attention and guidance. After all, he did rise to the throne at a very early age.

I let out a sigh and proceed to head over to the crosswalk; the bus stop is just on the other side. However, I instead let my eyes follow and stop at a noticeable little boy standing in the background of people bustling past him. I stop walking and look at the boy with a frown. His hands are covering his face. It's obvious that the boy is crying because he's lost.

I discreetly whisper to myself, "Choi Yoojung, helping out a lost child is the right thing to do for humanity. Your bus ride can wait for a few minutes... hopefully."

I let another soft sigh escape my lips and steadily approach the boy. I squat down to his height and make sure that there is enough space and distance between us so that he doesn't feel uncomfortable. I show a small smile, "Hi there. Are you lost?"

The boy's sniffles immediately stop and his tense shoulders from before have now slightly relaxed. He slowly removes his hands from his face and stares at me with a perplexed look on his face.

"Do you need help finding your parents?"

He's momentarily uncertain, but he shyly nods at me. I stand up and start looking around for a patrolling officer, "Let's find an officer and get them to help you find your parents, okay?"

The younger looks at me curiously. I shoot a glance at him after searching the area for a short moment, "Seems like there's no officer around here right now. Let's wait here until we see one, okay—"

"Jihoon-ah!"

The boy quickly turns his head upon hearing what seems to be his name that was called out and his face lights up, "Mom!"

The woman moves her head to his direction in a snap and her face instantly relaxes with relief. She runs to the little boy and embraces him tightly, "I'm so glad you're okay! I'm sorry for leaving you behind, Jihoon-ah! I promise this won't happen again!"

The boy hugs her back as his mother is relieved that she finally found her son. She then stops embracing him and caresses his cheek with a worried look on her face, "Did anyone come up to you while I was gone? You didn't talk to any strangers at all, right?"

The little boy slowly looks at me. I show a small smile at him and turn to look at his mother whose face quickly changes. In a split second, a glare is directed at me, "You were trying to kidnap my son, aren't I right?"

I blink my eyes in confusion for a moment. Is she seriously accusing me of trying to kidnap her son? I control myself from doing anything unnecessary and shake my head in protest, "No ma'am, I was just trying to find a police officer for your son so that they could help him find you."

She ignores me and places her hands on the boy's shoulders, "Jihoon-ah, I told you that strangers are not to be trusted at all. You can't ever talk to them even if you are lost."

I stare at her in complete shock and slight annoyance as I continue to watch her lecture her own son about trusting strangers. After her quick lecture is over, she is about to leave with her son when she glares at me once again and mutters a couple of offensive insults under her breath.

The moment she and her son are completely gone from my sight, I take an exasperated sigh and run my hand through my hair, "Aish, people these days."

I scoff to myself, "I'm getting accused of trying to kidnap a child? Aigoo, if I was going to kidnap a child I wouldn't make it so obvious and I clearly wouldn't do it in front of so many people. She should be ashamed of herself for trying to lecture her son about not talking to strangers when she was irresponsible and left the kid alone in front of a bunch of walking strangers."

I quickly slap my hand over my mouth and internally grumble. There goes your big mouth rambling on again, Choi Yoojung.

I shake my head with another sigh and make a tsk sound. Just as I am about to make my way over to the crosswalk, I spot a bus at the bus stop slowly taking off. My eyes widen as I realize that it's my one and only ride to the campus. My legs move on their own as I frantically yell at the bus getting farther and farther away from me, "No no no, you can't go without me!"

+++

I messed up big time. Because I had decided to help a lost child find his mother who turned out to be very ungrateful and annoying, I missed my bus and was forced to walk to the university myself.

I glance at the time on my phone and facepalm myself, "Great. Now I'm already 15 minutes late to my class."

By the time I reach the campus, I am already dreading the moment I enter inside the classroom. I draw in a deep breath and head to the Department of Korean History building. I eventually arrive and for a moment, I don't move as I can hear faint voices from inside of the room.

I take another deep breath and slap my cheeks with a determined nod, "You got this, Choi Yoojung. Just enter inside and don't make eye contact with anyone. Simple as that."

I place my hand on the door handle. I then hesitantly open the door and quietly enter the classroom, but it's ultimately a futile attempt the moment everyone's heads snap towards me. I stop in my tracks and let out a nervous laugh. I am so screwed.

The professor at the front of the room looks at me with a raised eyebrow, "And who do we have here?"

I take a small bow and force a smile at the professor, "Choi Yoojung, sir. I'm sincerely sorry for disrupting the lecture with my tardiness."

The professor looks at me disapprovingly, "Whatever your excuse is for being late, I don't want to hear it. Take a seat before you cause any further distractions for the entire class."

I quickly nod and walk over to an empty seat in a fast-paced manner; I quietly apologize to those who are glowering at me as I pass through them. I flash a forced smile before I plop myself down on a chair and hurriedly pull out my notebook and pen from my backpack.

The professor clears his throat, "I do hope that there won't be any further distractions during this class. Let's get back to the lesson now. As I had mentioned earlier, the Goryeo dynasty's fall was mainly caused by Seokjong's inability to fully comprehend the consequences the Goryeo-Joseon War had. Instead of strengthening his total forces, he believed that Goryeo would easily defeat Joseon and underestimated their strength. Seokjong was also extremely greedy when it came to power and beauty, which contributed much to Goryeo's defeat."

Even though time felt as if it was slowing down, the class was eventually over. I quickly pack my stuff away and head towards the door.

"Choi Yoojung-ssi."

The professor stops me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see him with his arms crossed as he bears a judging look on his face. I freeze upon hearing my name and slowly turn my head towards him with an awkward smile, "Y-Yes?"

"I hope that this won't ever happen again. I don't tolerate tardiness during this entire course. History should not repeat itself again, yes?"

I lower my gaze and do a small head bow, "Yes, sir."

I nervously head out of the classroom with tense steps. Once I am completely gone from his sight, I let out a sigh of relief and pat my chest with praise, "Good job, Choi Yoojung. You managed to survive."

Just then, I feel a faint vibration coming from my pocket. I pull my phone out and look at the caller ID only to see a name that I've been dreading to see.

"Hello? Who is this?" I ask as I feign innocence.

"Don't pretend that you don't know who I am. You've been late on your rent for the past couple of months. I already warned you last time," my landlady speaks on the other side of the call with an impatient tone.

"Ahjumma, can't you just spare me one more time? I promise I'll have it ready on time. I'm just having a hard time balancing work and school—"

The landlady loudly complains, "I gave you many warnings and passes already! If you can't fulfill your side of the lease agreement then you need to move out!"

I slightly panic, "But—"

"You have one week to move out. Two weeks to pay off all of your unpaid rent. You better not be late this time."

And with that, she abruptly ends the call. I stare at my phone with my mouth wide open. I give myself a face palm and let out a muffled grunt, "What am I going to do now?"

+++

I drag myself up the stairs leading to my apartment and pull a slightly rusted silver key out of my pocket. In a quick moment, the door is unlocked. As soon as I enter inside, I dump my textbook on the desk and sluggishly toss my backpack on the floor before I plop myself down on the bed.

I grab my pillow and hug it tightly toward my chest as I reflect on what had happened today.

My attempted act of kindness had somehow turned into a wrong accusation of me trying to kidnap a kid. Because that had happened, I missed my bus and came 25 minutes late to class. Not only that, the professor's definitely going to be suspicious of what I do in his class from now on. I even screwed up at the cafe today and mixed up several of the customers' orders while working my shift.

"Why is today such a bad day?" I huff and hug my pillow even more tightly. On top of everything, I now have to move out of the apartment by next week, find a new place to live in at the same time, and pay off my unpaid rent in two weeks. I throw my pillow to the side and force myself to sit up.

"I should start packing up," I say as I stand up and proceed to start cleaning out my desk. However, my eyes instead make its way to a small closet that is facing me. A sullen frown travels up to my face.

I slowly walk over to the closet and hesitantly open the doors. I look down and see an open flap box containing my dad's most valuable belongings. I bend down and place my hands on one of the box flaps. I then slowly pull it out of the closet.

I haven't looked through my dad's belongings ever since he passed away from a car accident on his way home from work last year. I had barely turned 18 when that happened and I wasn't even able to say a final goodbye to him when I arrived at the hospital.

I let out a small sigh before I peer inside the cardboard box to see many dusty books stacked on top of one another. I pull a journal out of the box and brush the dust off of the front cover. I quickly flip through a few pages and frown upon seeing the contents of his writing, "Dokkaebi? Why would Dad be writing about goblins?"

I know my dad was extremely interested and passionate about the history of Ancient Korea, particularly the Goryeo dynasty and the Joseon dynasty. He was a historian, after all. A historian who was considered ridiculous and ignorant by other historians because of his implausible theories.

He had always told me that his interpretations were disregarded by others as it didn't line up with any historical documents. However, all the criticism he received only fueled his determination to prove his theories.

The next page that I flip to is different compared to the other previous pages. I slowly read the passage aloud to myself, "Jung Hosung is indeed a brilliant person. He was able to successfully contradict and support his claims, despite having insufficient physical evidence. Never have I thought that a possible betrayal might've played an important role during the Goryeo-Joseon War. It will be a controversial topic due to lack of evidence, yet if it is in fact true, everyone will eventually know. The truth will show itself no matter what."

I stare at the journal with a frown of confusion. Jung Hosung? A possible betrayal during the Goryeo-Joseon War? The truth will show itself no matter what?

My mind is instantly filled with numerous questions. Nothing that I had just read from my dad's journal makes any sense at all. Everything written in his journal isn't anything like his other theories. This would surely spark arguments as everyone is absolutely sure that Seokjong was the only main reason why the Goryeo dynasty fell during his reign. It simply just doesn't add up since there is no evidence showing that such a thing had happened during Seokjong's reign.

Not only am I bothered by that, but who is this Jung Hosung my dad had mentioned in his journal? Is he the one who introduced my dad to these ideas? If so, what relationship did he have with my dad?

I slowly close the journal and let out an exasperated sigh. This is definitely something I can't just ignore. It's nearly impossible for me to decipher all of this on my own with everything going on right now.

"I should focus on school and work as my top priorities for now. In the meantime, I'll start by finding out who this Jung Hosung person is and what relations he had with Dad," I say to myself before I proceed to place the journal back in the box.

However, I pause as another object in the box catches my attention. I place the journal on the floor beside me and peer inside the box.

"A hand mirror?" I ask with a raised eyebrow after seeing the object more closely. I pull the hand mirror out only to find that it has been slightly shattered.

I observe the hand mirror with a puzzled look, "What's a hand mirror doing in Dad's box? Not to mention that it's also shattered?"

Even though the hand mirror is shattered, I am drawn to it somehow. Not because of its beauty or anything regarding its physical appearance, but the fact that I feel a faint yet familiar connection with it.

I subconsciously touch the mirror and slowly run my fingers through the cracks. With an absent mind, I continue to quietly observe the mirror until I suddenly swipe my finger down the broken glass and accidentally cut my finger.

Startled, I stain the mirror with my blood in the process before I drop the hand mirror on the floor and it shatters even more. I grumble at my clumsiness, "Geez, why am I such a klutz today?"

I continue to curse at myself for being inattentive when the shattered hand mirror on the floor suddenly starts to illuminate with a swirl of glowing light. I widen my eyes and take a few steps backward; in the process of doing so, I clumsily trip up and lose my balance as I fall down on my bottom, "W-What the?!"

The swirl of glowing light continues to illuminate until a silhouette appears within the light. I continue to stare at the silhouette in the shining blue light, mouth agape with incredulity.

Soon, the light slowly starts to disappear and the silhouette reveals itself to be an unfamiliar man who shares the same look of perplexity that I have as he expresses his bewilderment, "H-Huh?"

However, within all the chaos and extreme confusion, I somehow strangely feel attracted to the unknown man. I can sense a sign of familiarity coming from the stranger in front of me, as if I had already met and known him before.

A Goblin can be summoned if its object has been stained by pure human blood.