Chapter 02:

Life is in the little things.

Daehyun thought he hadn’t seen enough in the smile Youngjae wore after they first received money for their work. A lady who slept in the subway asked the two if they wanted to help her sell lunch packets in the night market; and the two had eagerly nodded, glad to be doing something than nothing. She took the two shopping for rice and chicken, some flour, butter and salt. Youngjae and Daehyun followed the woman as she turned from an alleyway and stopped by a door. She knocked few times; and a lady from the inside opened the door for her.

She introduced the two boys briefly; and they were given aprons and chef-hats. Surprised; the two boys went inside.

The woman from the subway set out to work in the large kitchen; washing the three chickens and making the paste for the crust. She took out a pot to cook the rice; and they were done nearly in half an hour. She packed her things into shopping-bags and stepped out; paying the lady who opened the door for her two notes of hundred won. The lady smiled and took it; but it was obvious even for the two boys that it wasn’t enough money.

The woman explained that she was an old friend of hers who she used to go to school together with; and had offered to help her with renting out few of her pans and gas when she wanted some. Youngjae and Daehyun couldn’t help but be surprised as they helped her pack her rice into plastic boxes, five pieces of chicken and three pieces of cut cucumber; and three soup spoons of sauce into the plastic wrap.

Yongguk-hyung was right.

The doors are opened to those who knock.

The woman gave Daehyun and Youngjae five packets of rice each. It took more time than they expected, but it all sell; and the duo returned to the woman with triumphed smiles. “We did it!” Daehyun beamed; handing over the money to the lady. She smiled too. She counted all her money; and so did Youngjae. Five thousand won! Isn’t that an awful lot?! She gave the two boys each five-hundred won.

“This is a lot for a start, but any less would make things unworthy.” She said. “Want to help me again?” She asked; and the two boys exchanged a glance before nodding into oblivion.

On their way back; they called Yongguk from a payphone. He answered. “Hello?”

“Yongguk-hyung!!” Daehyun exclaimed, and Youngjae added a scream in the background. “Hi!”

“Daehyun? Youngjae? Hey! How are you?” he asked.

“We found a place to stay!” Daehyun announced. “Hope you’re not in the streets.” Yongguk sighed; and Daehyun yelped. “No, no! It’s this subway; and there’s a lot of others too.”

“Huh?”

“Hey give me the phone!” Youngjae poked; and Daehyun handed it over.

“Yongguk-hyung! How are you?” Youngjae asked. Yongguk laughed in the other side. “I’m good, boys. You two sound really happy.”

“We are! We earned a thousand won!” He exclaimed happily.

“Woah, what? How?” Yongguk asked, impressed and worried at the same time. “You two better not get involved in some stupid .”

“We’re not. We’re selling rice packets!” Youngjae giggled; and Daehyun joined, watching the smile.

They wanted more change; and had none. “I got to go.” Youngjae said; and Daehyun grabbed the phone.

“Bye hyung! And thank you so much.” He said. The line went dead; and the two wondered for a while what Yongguk-hyung must have said.

They were both excited to find their way out; and fell asleep giddily.

But as more time passed; more pointless it all turned.

A year had passed.

Daehyun couldn’t shake the cumbersome feeling off his shoulders as he packed more chicken into his rice packets. Life was mundane and pointless, and they had lived like this every day. Every day they would wake up; wash; eat something for breakfast – which was mostly left-overs from yesterday; and wander the streets without a purpose, come back at night; help pack food and tire their legs out waiting for someone to buy.

They were paid five-hundred won each day; but with time they realized how little that was; taken that they had to eat after all. They weren’t saving a lot; and saving was becoming harder with more money they had.

They were robbed once. All their money had vanished in a flash; and it gave Youngjae a rude shock, and he couldn’t even eat for few days. Daehyun had thousand and one worries in his mind; and the more time they spent like this wasting away life – the less he wanted to keep at it.

They couldn’t help it.

None of them had birth certificates or identity cards, so anything legal was out of their reach unless they wanted to go back to an orphanage. His mind was everywhere; thinking about what he had done. He couldn’t help thinking that Youngjae didn’t deserve a life like this. He shouldn’t have dragged Youngjae into this.

It wasn’t going to be a good day. There was a high chance that it could rain with all the clouds Daehyun had been watching since morning. Youngjae was humming a song next to him as he too, placed each a packet of sauce into each and Daehyun sighed, packing up his share. Now they had each ten and twenty to sell. The woman carried twenty herself. They parted ways – she was sitting by the entrance and Daehyun and Youngjae sat by the exit of the night market.

It was always busy – filled with people who could buy the things they thought looked nice. Daehyun could care less about everyone. He wanted his packets sold and he wanted to go back home. Maybe they can think of something else to do.

His worries were wrapping him