Days passed, and since that incident she has made a new friend called Ok Taecyon. In the mornings he would bring her firewood or some fish and joined her for some coffee in the house in the hills. He never said much, and she could count on her fingers the times he actually talked to her. She didn't exactly know why someone serious like him would seek company with her, but she was glad he did. His presence, although like a ghost's, comforted her and lessened her loneliness.

Of course she didn't say anything about all of this to Mrs. Choi, who still 'visited' her regularly to see if she was obediently staying in hiding or not. Who knew what the woman would do, and she didn't want to lose a friend she just met.

"What's it like outside?" She asked Taecyon one day, like a young child asking an older child. 

He looked at her and blinked as if he didn't hear right.

"I mean, what's the town like? How are the people? What do you do when you go there?"

He shifted in his seat and looked at her expectant face with an emotionless expression.

"It's boring. The people are all phonies who kiss up to..." He stopped short, and sipped his coffee. "I don't go there much."

Despite Taecyon's cynicism, she still thought that what was outside must be very interesting and exhilarating. What she would give just to see and experience it all, even just once. 

"Can you take me there?" Suprised by her outburst, she added, "Someday?"

"Knock yourself out." Was all he said.

She took walks with him in the hills and pointed out the little things she enjoyed in her everyday life. She never dared to ask him about the Choi's, feeling like he would get angry. She heard what he had to say about the Choi's only once.

"Bunch of hypocrites." He mumbled. "Especially that bastard."

"You seem happy these days." Mrs. Choi commented one night, when Bom was serving some tea. "Did something happen?"

She could detect an edge to the woman's voice, and selected her answer carefully.

"Nothing, Ma'am." She answered with a slight smile. "Just grateful, that's all."

"Why do you have to live up here?" Taecyon suddenly spoke one morning, causing her to look at him.

"Because..." She stuttered, tr