Chapter VI

The lights in the house were off but sunlight could be seen peeking through the windows, only providing little light in the darkness of the house engulfed by the forest trees. The house was still barren and spacious, with the minimal furniture needed. Most of Jin Ae’s houses were like this.

She could still remember when she was 7 years old, still too young to move around and have a place to call home and too naive, trusting any adult that gave the small smile and matching small scrunch of the eyebrows putting on a show of an over-worried responsible citizen. She remembered grabbing onto his outstretched hands and crying onto his shoulders, thankful that there was a savior out there for her. She also remembered when she saw him reach for the gun tucked into the back of his jeans and the blood pumping into her head as she could only hear her heartbeat against her eardrums. Hunters. Quite a controversial topic in today’s society but still a highly coveted group. Kept almost as secret and held to the same standards as any superbeing. Almost their own religion- hunters dedicate their life to cleansing the world. Kill or be killed…

This was reality. Jin Ae’s reality. Her only salvage all these years were Haeyoung and Mira, and she doubts it will change in her lifetime.

She sighed quietly, walking through the house looking for a nice distraction. She can cook. Running for most of her life, she found that cooking was one of the more mundane things that kept her grounded and sane. Picking up the scraps around the streets, it kept her distracted to keep coming up with something new to cook. Delicious in their own right and probably the only thing that gets filled when Hayoung and Jin Ae move around. Most houses are left to abandon, never staying in one place for too long but one day Jin Ae would have the dream kitchen.

Jin Ae couldn’t shake off the feeling she got from the boys she met today. They weren’t necessarily bad, and getting to know them shouldn’t be an issue. However the 17 years of running away in fear had a noticeable effect on her and she had to remind herself that it was okay to form connections and build relationships. More than anything she was able to fight back now.

She went into the kitchen and opened the fridge just to realize that it was… emtpy. Even the fridge wasn’t plugged in. Distraction, distraction, distraction… She grabbed her bag and emptied out the heavy books and laptop and set up to the nearest market.

Heading back into town, Jin Ae slightly considered dropping in on Minseok’s other shop in town but figured it might be a little ways out for her.

★゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

Finding the market wasn’t too hard, carrying back everything was where Jin Ae might’ve overestimated herself. She dropped the multiple bags to the ground in a huff for the nth time, arched her back and rolled her shoulders back. A loud cough