Chapter 01

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Honestly, I didn’t know that grandma has so much junk up in the attic. I can not understand how I found that place so interesting when I was younger.

 

Jieun puffed her cheeks out as she struggled down the stairs with a cardboard box that was no doubt filled with an endless pile of rubbish.

 

She was in the midst of her summer holidays and had kindly volunteered to help out her grandma out sort out the inevitable mess that is the attic.

 

“Jieun dear, have some lemonade. You’ve been working all afternoon; you shouldn’t push yourself you know.” The brunette was greeted by the sight of her grandmother holding a tray of the mentioned beverage with a plate full of confections. The mere sight made her feel nostalgic of her childhood. 

 

“Grandma, I’ve only been working for an hour. You know, I could have helped a lot more if you would just stop spoiling me with breaks.” Jieun clicked her tongue, nevertheless a smile quirked on the corners of her lips.

 

“Aigo, I wouldn’t want you to faint because of a heatstroke now would I? You were never very good with dealing with the heat Jieun-ah.” She brushed back a few wisps of grey hair behind her ear with a warm chuckle.

 

The brown haired girl carefully settled the box on the floor before moving to join her grandmother in the living room. Every summer since she could remember, she had spent the majority of her long school break at her grandma’s house.

 

It was mostly due to the fact that her parents were always away on countless business trips around the world, as a huge chuck of their work was doing research into the history of different countries.

 

So, you could say that her grandmother was her main carer until she was old enough to move out to pay for her own apartment—which was only a few streets away, so it wasn’t that much of a bother walking up.

 

“Have you heard from you parents, Jieun-ah?” The older women busied herself by pouring the jug of iced lemonade into a glass.

 

“Aish, you know what they’re like. Once they enter a new country, they’re like children in a candy store. Though, they do call every night to debrief me on their process. Dad’s been saying that they might have made a new discovery, or something like that.” The girl merely rolled her eyes good-naturedly, as she inwardly relished in the refreshing taste of the lemon drink.

 

Her grandmother’s face softened. “Jieun-ah, if only your parents could see you now. There’s no doubt in my mind for me to say that they would be very proud of how far you’ve come.”

 

“You’re only saying that because you’re my grandma,” She folded her arms over her chest as she made a face.

 

“Shush now, when have you ever known me to lie straight to your face about something serious like this?” The grey haired woman shot her an incredulous look in response.

 

“I guess you have a point grandma,” Jieun scratched her cheek in a sheepish manner, as she eyes eventually landed on the neglected cardboard box by the stairs.

 

“Well, I’d better get back to work if I’m going to clean the attic!” After quickly draining the remains of her glass, she saluted to the older women before setting off to do her task at hand.

 

The kind-faced woman lifted her cup of coffee to her lips, carefully concealing her smile as she watched on with undeniable fondness.

 

Aigo this girl, it seems only like yesterday she was the pig-tailed little six year old child who loved picking flowers in the back garden. She’s grown to be quite the young lady.

 

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“Sheesh, there’s so much dust up here.” The brown haired girl wrinkled her nose in distain as she dropped a handful of books into the cardboard box.

 

After managing to persuade her grandma that she was more than capable of cleaning up without having breaks every five minutes, Jieun found herself in the midst of a heap of slightly chipped china tea sets, old music records, a few aged newspapers and even her old doll house that was lightly caked with dust was hidden under a layer of white sheets.     

 

She stifled back a yawn as she picked up a few old photo books, but her hand halted as it was just about to release it into the box. The faded letters of Lee Jieun on the cover made her double-back in her actions.

 

…Lee Jieun? What kind of pictures did grandma put in here?

 

A few seconds of flicking through the pages quickly turned into an hour. She found herself immersed looking at photo and photo, seeing the change from her infant state during the time of her birth—there were plenty of embarrassing pictures, which left no doubt in her mind that her father must have taken them.

 

Thank goodness dad never wanted to be a photographer and the fact that grandma had kept these embarrassing photos hidden away up here.

 

She cringed in shame as she quickly resolved to skim through the rest until she reached her first birthday pictures, a fond smile played at the edges of her lips as she glanced through each photo individually.

 

It was like an unwritten rule for parents to take thousands of pictures of their first child—goodness knows why, considering that she was sure her appearance wouldn’t have changed in a split second. Most of the photos seemed the same to her.

 

Aish, why did I have to be so young when my parents weren’t constantly being called away for work? She released a sigh of suppressed sadness, as she made sure to keep a moderately happy status whenever she was around her grandmother, in fear of being chided for being ‘moody’.

 

Which could also lead to the incredibly awkward conversation that always starts with: “Are you currently on, dear?”

 

Grandma was never really the subtle type.

 

It reached the point where her cheeks would hurt from smiling too much. Of course, Jieun was never really a naturally happy person to begin with as she kept a blank calm front with anyone she didn’t feel particularly comfortable around.

 

She hadn’t realized she was crying until a few droplets hit the plastics covers of the photo album. Slowly, she lifted up one hand to lightly touch her face only to feel a damp cheek.

 

Have I really been crying for that long without noticing?

 

Jieun was never one to cry easily over such trivial matters. She bitterly recalled the first few times she had witnessed her parents leaving for the airport when she had cried for hours on end; she had envied her friends at school who were fortunate enough to have their parents at home with them.

 

I used to cry over anything when I was younger. No wonder the kids at school used to call me a cry baby.

 

Then of course, as she had gotten older she had gotten used to saying the words she used to dread when she was younger—goodbye. It became part of her routine whenever her parents would return back from her monthly trips across different places aboard, to which they would never fail to shower her with assorted and exotic gifts from all over.

 

But the one main thing that never really goes away is the small pangs of pain that swells up in her chest whenever she thinks of her parents. Whether it be about their general well being or the small little habits that they do that could instantly overpower her times of depression.

 

Sometimes I wonder if the roles are switched between my parents and I, I’m sure that I worry about them 10x more times than they worry about me.

 

“Jieun-ah, I’ve cooked dinner. Come now and relax dear!” The familiar sound of her grandma’s voice filtered into the eerily quiet attic, startling the girl out of her thoughts as she hastily lifted up her arm to wipe any trace of tears on her face with her sleeve.

 

I can’t let her see me in this state.

 

After a quick trip to the restroom to fresh up in an attempt to hide her red, swollen eyes she walked into the kitchen after dropping off the photo albums by the stairs, only to be assaulted by the mouth-watering aromas that her grandmother had conjured up.

 

“Sit down, my dear. You must be tired from all of that work.“ She cooed with the bright smile adoring her face as she settled a steaming pot of her infamous chicken noodle soup onto the centre of the table with customized mittens.

 

“Eat up now, Jieun-ah. You’re still a growing girl, so make sure you eat lots of vegetables!” The girl in question couldn’t suppress the smile that grew on her face even if she tried.

 

If there’s one person I can rely on to make me smile without trying, it’s most definitely granny.
 

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“Goodbye grandma! I’ll be sure to come visit you tomorrow!” Jieun cupped her hands over as she shouted, the elderly woman merely lifted a hand with her smile firmly attached on her face.

 

“And I’ll make sure to prepare baked goods for when you arrive, dear.” Her grandmother stayed by the door until she could no longer see the silhouette of her beloved Jieun, who raised her free hand to wave back.

 

It was currently evening; the sky was smudged with pink as the sun was already half-way descending into the horizon. Thankfully, the weather wasn’t too harsh, as the slightly warm air brushed up against her arms as the girl walked towards her apartment a few streets away.

 

Hmm, what should I do when I get home? I feel so stuffed from grandma’s cooking so I think I’ll skip a second dinner. Jieun pondered thoughtfully, as she shifted the weight of the photo albums in her hands.

 

While they were eating, she had told her grandmother on her findings in the attic, about the dozens of pictures she had discovered whilst clearing the old and broken mess that remained upstairs.

 

Her grandmother had insisted on her keeping her found treasures as she remained adamant that the memories were better kept with her instead.

 

“Besides, I’ve been meaning for you to find them. I couldn’t remember for the life of me where I had put the darn things, so it’s best if you take them now before I forget where I put them.”

 

If there was one thing that her grandmother had definitely misplaced in her long life is her memory.

 

Jieun shook her head in disbelief at the amount of times the woman had complained about how she had lost her glasses, when most of the time the items in question were on her head half the time.

 

She shoved her hands into her jeans pocket in search for her flat keys until she had found it lying amongst the other junk she stored there. Quickly unlocking her door, in fear her slightly deranged neighbours would hear her arrival.

 

Well, deranged was probably a harsh word. Rather, nosy and rude suited them more.

 

Ever since I’ve moved here, the people here haven’t exactly been the most friendliness.

 

Of course, there was one exception to this, her neighbour Kwon Yunhee from across the hall was roughly around the same age as her, if only slightly older by a few years. Jieun saw her as the sister she never had, but always wanted. The bubbly older woman was every bit the overprotective, nosy sister who never failed to pop in unexpectedly every now and again.

 

“Maybe I’ll just finish off this photo album first, and then I’ll have a shower before I go to bed?” She mused to herself as she made her way into her kitchen.

 

Popping the kettle on, she placed the books onto her square dining table as she searched her cupboard contents for her jar of instant hot chocolate which she had been craving.

 

For the remainder of her evening, she covered most of the pictures that were sprawled all with colourful crayons and pretty cut-outs of butterflies and flowers decorating the beige background.

 

Jieun paused for a moment; her hand had halted on its journey towards her lips as the steam of the hot chocolate danced around in circles almost temptingly.

 

But she didn’t have time to notice that nor the pleasing aroma that the hot chocolate provided. All of her attention was placed solely on the rusty brown journal that lay innocently behind the photo album she put to one side.

 

She glanced curiously towards it, noticing that it was wedged between the two albums she had brought home.

 

I must have picked this up by accident. It’s most probably grandma’s, I’ll just give it to her when I see her tomorrow.

 

“…EXO?” She the faintly printed letters on the front cover, a frown etched on her features as she racked through her mind for any recollection of the strange, foreign name.

 

“Maybe it’s short for exotic or something like that?” There was an odd drawing that encircled the word ‘EXO’. From what she had gathered from her history lessons, she concurred that the imagery might be perhaps Celtic of some sorts.

 

Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to see what this book’s all about. It looks pretty interesting.

 

Opening up the cover, she was met with a welcoming message of sorts. She furrowed her eyebrows together in thought as she read the slightly cryptic message, or rather ‘warning’ by the looks of things.

 

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Dear curious reader,

 

I implore you; please take heed when reading this book.

 

Though the pages may seem old and torn, there are several dark legends lurking amongst the thin pieces of paper.

 

Do not under any circumstances leave this book unattended, for if it were to fall into the wrong hands then all humankind would be inevitably doomed.

 

This may seem like a joke, but I can assure you dear reader for I only speak of the truth.

 

And please, for your sanity’s sake I would deeply advise you against dropping blood onto any page of the book, for the price for eternal servitude only requires a single drop of precious blood of an untouched maiden.

 

I wish you all the best in the adventure you will gain from this book, reader.

 

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She blinked in evident confusion. What the heck did I just read? Jieun resolved to read over the message again, but at a slower pace to be able to take in each and every word carefully.

 

However, the brown haired woman was still left baffled by the bizarre words. Despite putting her full concentration into trying to decipher the obscure code, there were hundreds of questions swirling around in her mind.

 

But there was one main question that lingered: why on earth did her grandmother own such a book in the first place?

 

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Author's Corner                                                                                                                      

I have to admit, this was a pretty boring chapter guys. BUT DON'T WORRY, I'm going to post Chapter 2 straight after this one, you'll see why when you read it~~

AND A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has subscribed/commented/read the foreword ;_; I know I'm pretty dramatic, but I'm genuinely so happy that you guys gave my writing a chance~~