Prologue
 

"It's gonna be okay, Hyunsoo."

 

To this day, she wouldn't be able to name another moment in her life that she had spent so much energy in.

Her fifth grade push-up testing, that time she had carried Joon out of the pool with a broken wrist, her very first wisdom tooth taken out..... all of them were nothing next to the strength it had taken her to maintain her composure that one day in early December.

 

But Kim Jaehyun had been wonderfully successful.

Not a single drop of a tear was shed that morning.

 

"Hyunsoo,"

She gently took her younger sibling's small, shaking hand.

 

"Don't you remember what Mom said? If Mom's not here, then Dad's the Mom."

"... But what if Dad's not here?"

 

She smiled through her glistening tears that would never actually fall.

 

"Then I'm the mom."

 

 

 

chapter one.
                                    once upon a FamilyMart

 

 

 

August 22, 2014

Cheonho St., Seoul . FamilyMart

11:29 AM

 

"... Seven cup ramyun's, four banana milk's, a melona and a pepero, and---Huh? You too?---Nevermind, Sehun. Make that two peperos."

 

Sehun opened the door to the convenience store.

"What? Two melona's?"

"No, you idiot. One melona and two PEPEROs. Oh, and I forgot--Minah says she wants a samgak kimbap. You know... the ones she always eats, right? With kimchi?"

He slightly frowned as he walked through the ramyun aisle, wiping the sweat off his forehead tiredly.

 

Who's Minah?

 

"And as for Class 3B, they said they want----What did you say? Cider?----They want cider and cola, and mint chocolate ice cream..."

Sehun grabbed a melona bar from the ice cream fridge, having already drowned the other line's voice out ever since "Class 3B".

He let out another tired breath.

 

Of all days to lose rock-paper-scissors.

Of course it just had to be the day when the sun suddenly decided that it might as well shoot out its hottest rays 24/7.

 

"... Two Samanko's, a bag of corn chips, one udon bowl--"

Sehun blankly grabbed a pack of chilsung cider and a bottle of cola from the aisle, not even bothering to ask just what in the world the kid in the yellow was doing sticking his head inside the fridge next to him.

"--a pack of gum... milkist for Class 3-A..."

He turned his attention towards the loud ahjumma in front of him. She was on the phone with someone, taking every second and now to fan herself while flaring her nostrils.

"Just you wait until I get home, you sleezy bastard! I'll chop off your--"

Sehun turned away and continued walking down the drink aisle before he could hear any more of a conversation that he didn't want to hear.

When he glanced at the back aisle, there was a group of middle schoolers crouched down on the ground. One was holding a lighter.

To their right were two college students. They were organizing piles of papers while conversing in unknown vocabulary... something about neuroplasticity or Corpus Callo-something.

 

"--and then, for Class 3-C........ Hey, Oh Sehun. You listening?"

"Mmhm." The brunette lied blankly.

"Dammit..." The other line seemed to turn away from the speaker. "This guy's not listening. I knew we shouldn't have let him go! Oh Sehun wouldn't care if he brought us a melona made out of expired mold for all I know--"

"Ahjusshi!" The ahjumma that had been on the phone suddenly yelled with a shrill voice. "Did you turn the AC on?! It's painfully hot in here!"

"I swear, just watch Oh Sehun come back with something like 300 degrees chicken noodle soup, being the senseless guy he is--"

"Sorry, Ma'm." The clerk mumbled with his cheek against an electric fan. "It broke this morning."

The entire store began to shake with complaints.

 

Sehun let out an annoyed breath.

It was hot. He was hungry. He was tired. He was thirsty.

 

It was hot.

 

He sighed.

"Could this day get any worse."

 

Of course, it just had to also be the day when an idiot named Irony suddenly decided that it might as well ruin everything for everyone.

------------------

August 22, 2014

The Kim's House, Seoul

11:32 AM

 

"No."

Jaehyun dropped the plate she had been in the middle of washing. It dropped onto the floor with a loud clatter.

"No. No no no." Jaehyun muttered shakily as she stared at the clock in utter shock.

 

11:32 AM.

The twins' morning program in the daycare center ended at 11:35 AM.

Three minutes.

She had three minutes to get there on time.

 

Jaehyun let out a sound that resembled a dying duck.

 

It took one and a half minutes to walk to the daycare center. But then, going to the daycare meant she also had to pick up three samgak kimbap's from the convenience store for their lunch on the way. Going to the convenience store meant being late for the 11:35 AM deadline. Being late for the 11:35 AM deadline meant the twins staying in the daycare for extra minutes. Extra minutes meant--

"MONEY." She gasped out the word as if it brought pain. "IT MEANS MONEY."

With an almost inhumane lightning speed, Jaehyun slipped into her house slippers and barged through the front door, slapping away the overgrown bushes on the street with the fry pan in her hand while running towards the convenience store as fast as she could.

"Oh God oh God oh God..."

She glimpsed at her watch.

11:33.

Jaehyun cursed. If possible, she ran even faster.

Quickly. Quickly. Quickly. Speed. Speed. Speed.

She saw the convenience store up ahead.

SPEEEED!

Jaehyun slammed open the door to the store with an unspoken passion.

 

The first thing Kim Jaehyun did was look for the samgak kimbap aisle, and she looked for it with everything she had.

 

Of course, this meant that she missed everything else happening in the store at that moment.

Such as, well, feeling the strangely eerie atmosphere that had overtaken the shop just a few minutes ago.

Or, perhaps, seeing the suspicious man in black behind the cashier trembling a knife to the clerk's throat.

 

Or, you know...

Seeing a robber.

--------------------------

August 22, 2014

Cheonho St., Seoul . FamilyMart

11:32 AM

 

"NO ONE MOVE! I'll KILL ANYBODY WHO TRIES TO ESCAPE!"

 

Sehun cursed under his breath, wiping the sweat on his forehead for the thousandth time.

 

A robber.

Sehun wanted to applaud.

He would never have been able to think of that.

 

The robber had entered the store without warning, suddenly threatening everyone that he would kill the clerk if anyone tried to escape.

Sehun took a glance at the man dressed in black holding a knife to the clerk's throat. There was an insane look in his eyes, and he was trembling even as he yelled at the clerk to open up the cash register quicker.

Sehun sighed.

This was the worst case scenario: The guy only had a pocketknife against twenty other people. But he wasn't in a calm state of mind, which meant that he could do the most unexpected thing any time now.

Which meant that everyone would have to be extra careful.

Which meant that they would actually have to obey him.

Which meant staying trapped inside this tiny convenience store with a broken AC for who knows how long.

 

... Screw this day.

 

"Which is why, Oh Sehun, due to the hellfire of the weather, our class has decided that it's O.K.A.Y. for you to just simply come back alone with your 300 degrees chicken noodle soup and your expired melona made out of mold. So you better thank all your fangirls when you get back, because if it hadn't been for them--"

He let out an annoyed breath. He had forgotten about the stupid classmates who had stuck him in this horrible situation in the first place admist all this mess.

"Yah Oh Sehun,"

... So annoying.....

"--are you even listening--"

"Hey, I'm hanging up." He cut off bluntly.

"What?! But I'm not done talking yet--"

"The store's getting robbed."

The other line quickly became silent.

"...... Wha--"

Before his classmate could say anything else, he ended the call and put his phone away, sitting down on the ground with his back leaned against the wall. He grabbed a chilsung cider from its box and popped it open.

I mean, if he was going to stay trapped inside a bad oven, he might as well make it a comfy oven.

 

When Sehun looked around, he saw that the loud ahjumma on the phone had suddenly reconciled with her other line. She was now whining in a worried voice to the speaker about something along the lines of how hard it must be for the robber's parents.

The yellow shirt kid, on the other hand, seemed to be crying. But then again, no one would ever know the truth, as his head happened to be completely submerged in an ice cream fridge.

The group of middle school boys behind Sehun looked like they would wet their pants any second. After all, they had been in the middle of doing what they would call the most rebellious and secretive thing they could do. Suddenly having a man in black barge in with a knife in the middle of their baddy act wasn't too lovely.

Only the college students seemed to be in the right state of mind: They were actually able to call the police without the robber noticing.

But then again, it wasn't really doing any much.

"Police-nim? It has taken to my attention that an uncouth identity is basking in man's immoral wrongdoings and has stepped inside the same edifice as I and my companion, otherwise known as Cheonso Street's FamilyMart--"

 

Sehun sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time.

This was going to be a long day.

 

 

11:33 A.M.

That was when the door was suddenly slammed open with an unspoken passion.

 

 

Slam.

The robber immediately turned his knife towards the door in alarm.

Sehun cringed. Uh oh.

"W-WHO'S THERE?! THE POLICE?!

"Omona omona..." The ahjumma whispered quite loudly into her phone. "I'm telling you, this is bad! Someone just opened the door, and the robber's going insane! Gosh, whoever entered the store, poor him--"

"HEY! ANSWER MY QUESTION!" The robber flailed his knife dangerously towards the store's entrance. "ARE YOU?!"

 

Sehun frowned at the hidden figure at the door. Was it really the police?

Because if it was, then the show was over, and everyone could happily go back home and sleep--

 

The ahjumma suddenly gasped.

".... Omona omona..... It's her..."

 

Sehun froze.

 

A panting, dark-haired girl barged into the store. She had a crooked apron messily tied around her waist, and her dark hair was pulled back in an equally as loose and messy ponytail. She was wearing mismatched flip-flops, and there seemed to be round, black object she was holding with her right hand. All in all,

She looked like she just ran a mile.

The robber gaped at her. "W-WHO--"

The girl suddenly pointed her round, black object at the clerk.

It was a fry pan.

"THREE SAMGAK KIMBAPS, AHJUSSHI. QUICKLY. I HAVE TWO KIDS TO FEED AND A BANK ACCOUNT TO DEFEND."

The middle schoolers gasped from behind. "A-A teen mom?!"

The clerk, not knowing what to do, quickly obeyed and calculated the three samgak kimbaps after looking back at the robber cautiously.

 

The robber, seeing this, grew violently angry.

"Y-YOU LITTLE..."

He kicked down the trashcan in front of him and stumbled back up, trembling his knife directly at the girl's face.

The ahjumma's 'Omona's' sped up thrice their original speed.

 

The store had suddenly become a commotion.

 

Ahjumma: "Omona omona omona I can't believe that girl, isn't she crazy?! And take a look at the robber! He's dead-angry!"

Middle school boys: "Dude, what're we gonna do?! If the ahjusshi kills her now, we'll have to testify as witnesses later, and everyone'll know that we were smoking, and my mom will kill me--"

Yellow shirt kid: "... Eyemmphh shhduuckmphh.."

College student: "This is still the police, correct? It has taken to my attention that the uncouth identity is displaying premonitions of taking a further step to bask under immorality and will very soon cause harm on a young female--" 

 

The robber suddenly cursed out loud before throwing himself violently towards the girl.

"D-DON'T YOU MAKE ANOTHER MOVE, Y-YOU LITTLE--"

 

What happened next made the middle school boys realize that their favorite action movies didn't qualify to be in the action genre.

 

"MOVE!"

The ahjumma screamed in shock.

She kicked the robber down square in the chest with a force that made him cough.

He spat out another curse.

"THIS STUPID BI--"

She suddenly lifted up a fry pan.

 

Sehun covered a middle school boy's eyes.

 

"I'M."

She lifted the metal object over her head.

"BUSY."

 

 

Of all days to rob a convenience store.

Of course, it just had to be the one day when some strange girl named Kim Jaehyun suddenly decided that she might as well get a fry pan and smash him unconscious with it.

 

 

College student: ".... Umm..... Police-nim? I think we may possibly need the parademics as well........ No, not for the victim.......... I was referring to the uncouth identity......"