CHAPTER 1

The sharp tip of the arrowhead hit the red centre of the target. After missing a couple of times, she had finally hit the bullseye. A relieved sigh escaped from between her lips as she placed her aluminium bow on the table, then she unclasped the straps of her bracer from her right palm. She spotted a fading red patch on the side of her palm and she poked it gently, to check if it still hurt, she smiled when she realised it didn't.

She then retrieved all the arrows from the target board and stowed them away in a cylinder quiver, before locking it in a miniature cupboard along with all the other equipment.

Once again, she was the last student in the Archery Club to go back home. She didn't mind it, because, after all, it was nearing summer and most of the club members tended to skip; becoming rather laidback about their attendance record. There were still a few other who stayed for practice, though, but they never stayed as long as her. She always found a sense of calmness and serenity when she saw her arrow soar through the air. It brought her, even more, joy when she was able to hit a target smack-dab in the middle. Oh, the joys of being an archer.

As she made her way outside of the school compound, her stomach started to growl, a telltale sign that she was hungry and needed to consume food pronto. She contemplated whether or not to buy another tin of pringles or to visit Son's Bakery Shop. In the end, she decided to make her way to the bakery instead, the thought of fresh, warm bread beat having to pay for an overpriced can of air (despite pringles being a guilty pleasure of hers).

The moment she stepped into the bakery, the scent of fresh bread wafted into her nostrils. She sighed contentedly, that had to be one of her favourite scents besides the distinctive musk of her black quiver. She made her way past the rows of various types of bread to greet the cashier instead.

“Hey, Wendy!” Seulgi greeted the girl behind the counter, she had straight hair with blue highlights at the ends.

“Sup KkangSeul! I suppose your archery club thingy has just ended huh?”

“Yep and I’m hungry as hell! So I'll just about eat anything you give me.” Seulgi placed her hands under her chin as she waited for Wendy’s response.  “Anything you say? Since I'm the best friend ever, I'll get you the freshest we have to offer.” Wendy scratched her head as she walked out from behind the counter, heading in the direction of the shelf to Seulgi's right.

“This one's just out of the oven, and my favourite,” Wendy pointed at a simple looking croissant, “It has a chocolate filling and it’s sweet as heck.”

“Sure, I'm gonna trust you on that,” Seulgi agrees with a smile.

Back on the bustling streets of Seoul, she munched her croissant while waiting for the traffic light to turn green. She was busy squinting at the grains of sugar on her croissant when a few passer-bys bumped into her shoulder. She looked up, realising the light had turned green, she hastily stalked across the road. But something felt off—again.

This feeling wasn’t a foreign one for her. Ever since she was a child, she always felt a tug in her gut, and the next thing she knew, something bizarre would happen out of nowhere. For example, that one time she had bought ice cream at the park and was watching some kids playing on the swings. As she her ice cream, she felt her stomach suddenly upturn, and almost immediately one of the kids on the swings fell backwards and got injured. And just two years ago, she witnessed a biker crash into a dog while she was jogging behind them. Yet again, it had happened just moments after her stomach had flipped.

But not everything ended in someone getting injured. Some instances were good. For instance, during a family gathering, her mum’s family decide to gamble here and there. And her insides tighten once more, and in the back of her mind, she knows her mum is going to win the sum. And she did. She did not know why she was so sure of it, but it happened.

Seulgi had once talked to her mum about her sudden weird intuition, but her mum simply brushes it off and said it was just a normal hunch.

And here she is, on the streets, with a half-eaten croissant in her right hand, feeling the sudden contraction of her insides again. Seulgi scan her surrounding, to see if there are any possibilities of misfortune or good things going to happen around her but – nothing

Nothing occurred.

No accidents.

No people screaming in happiness

No people wailing in sadness

No one tripped

No one fell

But why is there still something bugging on her inside? S