ch 1-pt 1
Jae-in was feeling sad. It had been raining for the

last two hours and she had not been able to leave her

one bedroom apartment to go to "Cutz" the tendiest

hairdressers in town. She had saved up all year for

this special haircut, but now it looked as if she

wasn't going to be able to make it. She worked at a

local kimchi restaurant cleaning toilets and any other

dirty job that needed doing, including lying to her

bosses's wife, and telling her he was in a meeting,

when in fact, he was out at some fancy restaurant or

wherever with his latest ditsy conquest. But today he

had given her an hour off work on the understanding

that she would work until late tomorrow for just the

regular amount.
"But sir, I have two weeks holiday due to me."
He looked at her with a stare that would have made a

shark nervous.
She bowed low. "Thank you sir."
So she had had went to the hairdressers. Everyone in

the place staff and customers had either giggled,gave

her looks that said "how dare someone from the peasant

classes come into such a respectable place" or as one

lady of a certain age had done shooed her with a

shooing gesture, and also actually said "shoo"
"Am I a cat?" Jae-in thought to herself. She bowed a

number of times and hunching her shoulders slightly

walked to the reception desk. There was a young woman

behind behind it reading some glossy magazine. Jae-in
couldn't see her face clearly at first, until she

looked up. Then she recognised. It was her best friend

from school Lee Ji-hye. It had been ten years since

they had seen each other.
"Ji-hye"Jae-in exclaimed, and the same time as the

other girl exclaimed "Jae-in"
The latter stood up, and reached across to embrace her

friend. Tears rolled down both their cheeks.
They only pulled apart when a female cough was heard.
Ji-Hye recognised it instantly as her belonging to her

boss. manager Choi.
"manager Ch-ch-ch-choi" she stammered. "This is my best

friend from sc-sch-school. Jae-in"
"Doesn't she have a family name" manager Choi demanded.
"Park Jae-in" Jae-in said with a bow
"We have no work here" manager Choi said "Goodbye:
"I already have work, manager" Jae-in said. "may I have

a haircut"
manager choi looked at her as if she had just emitted

an unpleasent smell. "Are you trying to make fun of

me?"
Jae-in shook her head vigorusly "No, no. I have the

money. Look." She went to take her purse from the

plastic handbag slung over her shoulder. She took the

purse out, and looked for the envelobe marked "special

treat" she had put the money inside. But it wasn't

there. She searched frantically in the purse, but

couldn't find it. Without thinking she knelt down on

the floor, and tossed everyting onto it. But the money

was nowhere to be found.
She began to cry. She could hear manager choi sneer

above her "As I thought, you are just a con artist. You

probably come from a family of con artists. Please

leave. before I call the police"
Wiping the tears from her eyes, and with help from Ji-

hye, jung-hye rose.
She looked defiantly at manager Choi.
"My mother is a nurse, and my father can't find work.

But they are both good people"
She bowed and walked out. She went to the toilets of

the nearbye train station, and was about to cry again,

in one of the cubicles (or whatever thet're called"

when she heard a knock on the door.
"Jae-in" Ji-hye asked. "Are you okay"
"mmm"
"Can i come in"
"mmm"
She unlocked the door, and went back to where she had

been sitting on the toilet seat with the top down.
Ji hye sat on the floor, but stood up as if someone had

jammed a needle up her bum.
"ooh, ooh" she said " i think I've sat on piss" She

wiped a hand across the backside of her too short

skirt, and held it to her nose" She breathed a sigh of

relief "oh, just water"

Jae-in laughed, and soon after her old friend followed

suit.

"You better go and get changed" Jai-in said. "you could get a cold"

Ji-hye boxed her friend lightly on the ear. "you always were a worrier. I'll be okay. Let's go outside and eat. It's such a sunny day.

I want to know everything that's happened to you in the last ten years. Well, as much as you can tell me in 15 minutes,

THey went outside to sit on the pavement. It was Ji-

hye's lunchtime, and she shared it with Jae-in.
"Did you really have the money for the haircut."
"Yes 53,218.92  won. I have to find it" My boss only
gave me an hour off work. I need to ring him again. My

hour is nearly up. I have to get more time. He'll

probably want me to work for nothing next week. But I

don't care. He treats me like dirt anyway. Using dirt

to clean dirt is what he says to me"
JI-hye reached a hand out, aND held her friends.
"your life is still hard" she said
"mmm"
"A hard life, but a soft heart"
"only hard hearted people have soft lives" Jung-hye

said.
"mmmmm"

               Ch 1-pt 2
Now back in her apartment, which she was struggling to

pay back rent out, Jae-in had remebered where she had

left the envelobe with the money. Teddy was sitting on

it. Teddy was a rather large teddy bear with no

stomach. but a clock where his stomach used to be.
Ji-hye had told her that if she found the money, she

should come back around 5.30. That was closing time.
But as it was her turn to clean up when the days work

was done, she would wait for her. But she couldn;t wait

any longer than 5 extra minutes, as she had to be

somewhere.
Now the clock in Teddy's stomach said 5.15. Jung-hye

had rung for a taxi an hour ago. but because the rain

had become so heavy, it seemed all the taxi services

were very busy. Finally she had gotten a promise of one

in 20 minutes or so. But that had been over an hour

ago, and when she had rang she had just gotten the

answering service.
Jung-Hye was feeling tired. As well as promising her

boss to work extra hours the next day. she had come in

an hour earlier to work this morning.
"Do you want a piggyback?"
Jae-in  blinked her eyes.
"What? Who said that"
"Me"
"Who"
"look up.sleepyhead"
She looked up. It was Teddy. Except now, he was the

human size. 
"Climb up" he said.
"Teddy" she exclaimed.
"come on" he said "we haven't much time" He reached

into his the hole where stomach was and took out the

clock.
"hurry" he said. and bent down.
Jung-hye climbed onto his back, and they went out into

the rain.
She had her arms around his neck.
"Teddy," she said.
"Call me oppa"
"oppa" She said. You remind me of good toilet paper;

soft and stong" She began to his back until she

found herself losing her balance. She began to fall,

she reached a hand out to the ground to stop herself,

But the ground didn't seem to be there.
Jung-hye woke with a start.
Teddy was back to normal size. Jae-in looked at the stomach clock. It said 5.19. She would never make it. and she didn't know when she would get a chance again. She punched Teddy lightly on the forehead. If you've made me late, I'm never letting you watch another drama"
Then she put on her shoes, and ran out into the rain.