CH.1

It was the cold wind of December 2018 that shook joohyun out of her slumber as the bus came to an abrute hault and the doors slowly slid open. She gracefully stood up from her seat and signaled to the driver that she was going to get off.

With each sullen step she took, which led her closer to the gigantic architecture before her, she regretted the decision to come to such a haunting place. It was beautiful, the Seoul memorial park was built six years ago. A magnificent and menacing structure that stuns the eyes of its beholders. Not joohyun however, as the mourning dusk started to settle down, as the darkness greeted the light and waved it away, her hesitation grew.

In the brightly lit halls of the crematorium, she strolled through the walkways, checking names after names, eventually finding what she was looking for in the first place.

On the small black obsidian box behind the dusted glass frame carved the name "Bae Doona".

Mrs. Bae was a tough single mother that never cared for much elegance and grace when it came to lecturing her children. She frequently beat the children in order for them to conform into her standards. Joohyun rarely recalled any moment when her mother showed any affection to her. However, she was a hardworking woman who would do anything to keep her family fed and watered. Joohyun was grateful for every meal her mother was able to put on the table.

She would be lying if she said she loved her mother. There were times when she tried, but the seed of labor never bore its fruit; Some people are just too hard to love. And after 25 years of senseless struggle, only a hateful respect remained.

She died of lung cancer a year ago, succumbing to her addiction to cigarettes. Joohyun was studying in the States at the time. She didn't want to waste her money on plane tickets, her mother would have approved. No one showed up at her funeral from what Joohyun heard, not her past flings, not her distant relatives, nor her party friends she played cards with every Tuesday night.

She left Joohyun a few dresses she used to wear as a youth, one old and distorted photograph of the family and  8 million won in a savings account.

Joohyun took the old picture out of her handbag and looked at it with her calming eyes. The photo was taken when she was ten. There stood her mother, towering above her and her sister; Bae Suji was a little girl of five at that time.

For as long as Joohyun remembered, it was just three of them. Bae Doona, Bae Joohyun and little Suji. Oh cute, adorable little Suji...

Joohyun 's father was an enigma to her. Her mother never told her who he was, or what he was for that matter. The first time she asked, she earned herself a glare and a warning. The second time she was forced to stand facing a wall for an hour. The third time she was slapped hard across the face and earned a bruise that took three weeks to fully heal. There was no fourth time.

There was always a slight trace of a tall, lanky man in her memory, but joohyun struggles determine if it was an actual recollection or pure imagination.

Joohyun struggled to see the faces on the picture as it was so blurred by the passage of time. Finally, the contemplation and the staring stopped, she opened the glass frame gently and placed the picture in front of the little obsidian box.

She left and as she exited the building she bowed slightly to the old security guard who had a large belly and a kind smile.

Part of her was left in the memorial park that night.

January, 2011

Seulgi was lying face down on her desk when she heard the small commotion around her. She slowly looked up with sleepiness still in her eyes and glanced toward the girl next to her.

"What's going on?" she asked impatiently. Irritated that someone has disturbed her beauty nap.

"New girl." Seungwan mumbled carelessly. her voice seemed calm and steady, disinterested even. But Seulgi knew that there was a hint of curiosity in her tone.

"Where?" Seulgi looked around, her eyes bounced and pounced onto each target and every time a familiar face is recognized she switched to the next.

"There, the desk right by the trash can" Seungwan pointed toward the desk. There, a girl with a head of long silky hair sat.

Seulgi and Seungwan were seated in the middle of the classroom so they could not see what she looked like. How strange, why would she transfer to the school in the middle of second year? Her trance did not stop until the young homeroom teacher stumbled into the classroom clumsily.

…

Mr. Kim called forward Joohyun to do a brief self-introduction.  She slowly stood up and walked to the center of the room.

" Hello, everyone, my name is Bae Joohyun, I moved here from Daegu two days ago, I sincerely hope that we can create some good memories together." She tried her best to cover her daegu accent but to no avail, some tunes of the infamous regional twang still slipped out. Silent chuckles were passed around room, and Joohyun's ears turned scarlet red.

Mr. Kim interrupted the moment of awkward. "Okay, okay, well, welcome to class 2-03; the students here are quite… lively, but I'm sure you kids will become friends in no time." Mr. Kim was a young man with a balding head and a pair of fashionable maroon framed glasses on top of the bridge of his sharp nose. He has a pair of skinny, frail arms along with a slight beer belly which grew just a bit bigger everyday. But what caught Joohyun's attention the most was his big eyes that looked teary and almost rat- like. Not a man of 30 yet and his glory days were already long gone.

Joohyun returned to her seat, attempting to minimize her existence as much as possible.

"Hey" A whisper.

Joohyun turned to her table mate.

"Hi, my name is Park Bogum, the class president."

Joohyun nodded in acknowledgment and threw in a smile for extra measures. She did not want to embarrass herself again after all.

So what do you guys think, leave a comment, appreciate it. 

​​​​also for every chapter I will post a Korean song here that is under rated/appreciated. So we can give back to the Korean music industry that we love so much of. 

This time it's "raining street - Babylon". If you like it leave a comment. 

​​​​​Raining Street By Babylon

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