"Howon, wake up. We're here." Mrs Lee shook the sleeping boy from the front seat. "Hurry, I don't want to get mugged while dropping you off. Now go."  

Howon rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before grabbing the luggage that was lying on the seat next to him. He opened the car door before throwing out the luggage and dragging himself from the car.

"See you later." his mother said before quickly driving away, the back door closing from the speed. "Bye mom." he said to himself halfheartedly and looked up at the tall building in front of him.

Never in his life had Howon ever set foot in an apartment, let alone the "bad" side of Seoul or anywhere near his estranged aunt. He walked towards the mailbox on the wall and searched for his aunt's name.

'Jang, Jang, Jang, Jang.' he repeated the name several times in his mind. "Aha!" he exclaimed and pointed at the two stickers that read 'D Jang' and 'H Jang' at least he didn't have to go to two different floors to find which one was his aunt.

He entered the building and headed straight for the elevator and clicked the up button. He waited several minutes for the elevator cab to arrive, until a person who probably lived there walked past him.

He was wearing a slightly wrinkled school uniform and had a black backpack slung around one arm and a bottle in a brown bag in the other.

"You know that elevator doesn't work?" the boy said as he stopped at the beginning of the steps. Howon glanced at him then back at the elevator doors.

"When will it be back in service?" he asked and looked back at the boy.

"Well for starters, it's been broken since '99. I don't see it being fixed anytime soon." the boy said and began to walk upstairs. "What floor you going to?" he asked. Howon picked up his luggage and sighed, "Seventh."  

He began to walk up the stairs after the boy. "Good luck man, I'd help you with your luggage but you seem unfriendly." the boy said, he turned at the top of the first fligh