The Sunchaser - Chapter Two   By Eiryia             He had to walk out into a tiny courtyard behind the shop to find the door leading up to Mino’s apartment. The square was mostly empty except from a small water fountain and a few flower boxes he guessed Mino was i charge of keeping pretty come summertime. 3 other houses had their backs towards the square as well as the flower shop and they all looked equally old and charming although he guessed Mino’s place was the oldest.   He liked everything about the entrance to Mino’s apartment, from how perfectly the old door knob fit in his hand, to how worn down the dark stained wooden staircase was. On the walls were small windows and small painting of sceneries. He stopped to look at a particularly nice one of the sea and a light house. The signature was impossible for him to read, but the tiny numbers 1910 told him the age of the painting clearly enough.   The same key worked on the second door at the top of the tiny landing. A pair of rain boots stood leaned up against the wall on a small mat next to the door along with an umbrella. The place felt so lived in he felt compelled to knock despite knowing very well that Mino weren’t home.       Once inside he spent a moment looking for the light switch and once he found it he was amazed at what he found.   The apartment was so strikingly cozy and seemed almost cabin like because of all the exposed wood and the many small windows.   Off the hall was the living room with a large leather couch filled with pillows and opposite it was a large tv framed by several bookshelves. There were plants everywhere; hanging from the ceiling, climbing up the walls and lining the floor facing the many windows.   Walking into the kitchen it became apparent that it was really old, but that they had received a fresh coat of paint pretty recently as the glossy black similar to the counter down in the shop gleamed towards him. At the end of the kitchen was a small table with two chairs and a large window. Peering out of it he could see down onto the street bellow.     He found the bathroom which was tiny but probably the most up to date out of all the rooms, it even got a tiny but really deep bathtub and the whole place smelled of lemon grass and soap.   Leaving the bathroom behind he walked around wondering if he’d missed anything. Although the space was reasonably clean was there no denying the smell of dust and cigaret smoke, but what could you expect of a bachelor pad of someone who worked around the clock every day?   Feeling cheeky he opened the last door to what had to be the bedroom where he was met by a refreshing cool breeze. The whole space was painted white, in stark contrast to the rest of the apartment and the bedding was light gray. Except from a large white dresser and some heavy satin curtains in dark blue moving lazily in the cool evening breeze were there only one large painting on the wall; a huge one of sunflowers.     Mesmerized by the painting he stood there in the doorway until his nose started running again from the cold draft. Only then had he made his way back to the living room where he sat down on the heavy leather couch.   The table in front of it was a heavy carved wooden one and it took him some effort to wiggle the large drawer out to get the blankets. They were all heavy and woolen with the distinct sweet smell of untreated wool, cigaret smoke and what he could only assume was Mino’s perfume or deodorant. The smell wasn’t familiar to him, probably because of the overwhelming smell of flowers down in the shop, but he found it comforting all the same.     He got a book in his bag for his school work, but soon started to feel too tired to read. Instead he the TV which was set to an European cooking channel where a British woman with long dark hair was slowly making her way through a rather complicated cake recipe.   Setting a couple alarms for the morning he soon found himself sinking deeper and deeper into the pillows of the couch and before he knew it were he fast asleep.       He woke up to his alarm having slept soundly throughout the night. For a moment he was confused at where he was and when he did realize had he sat up to have another look around to see the place bathed in sunlight.   Getting ready in the bathroom splashing some water in his face he felt surprisingly rested and at ease despite sleeping in some unfamiliar guys home on his own. What kind of boss let their employees do that? A kind one he decided, but a small part of him feared things would become awkward between them because of this.       He didn’t wish to impose himself even more on Mino’s hospitality and so he headed down into the shop, left his bag behind the counter and hurried up the street to buy some breakfast and coffee.   He had just finished eating when he noticed a small truck stop outside the shop front. Deciding it had to be the flowers he took one last big sip of his coffee and headed outside.       The guy unloading the flowers asked for Mino but when he explained he was the new help the delivery guy broke out into a smile.       "About time!" he exclaimed in a roaring voice and gave him a pat on the back. Yet again he found himself surprised about how everyone who worked with Mino seemed to care for him in such a genuine way.   His train of thought was interrupted when he was handed a big box of flowers so heavy he buckled under the weight within seconds.   The delivery guy gave him one judging look before he picked up the box from his lap where he sat stuck under it on the pavement and proceeded to carry everything inside the shop for him.       "Thank you" he muttered embarrassed as the man walked out for the last time.       "Better start getting some more protein in there" the guy said flexing his arms in a joking matter while nodding at his stick thin arms.   Smiling to show he could appreciate a joke (although it probably wasn’t) he gave the guy a wave goodbye and walked into the shop.     At least Mino hadn’t been around to see him fail so completely he thought with a sigh. He didn’t wish to start giving him reasons to fire him already he thought as he started unpacking the frailest of the flowers, the rest Mino had instructed for him to just leave in the boxes until he got there.   After that had he picked up his things and hurried to the metro knowing he would be lucky if he reached his lecture on time.       Walking of campus that same evening he noticed that he got two missed calls, one of them from his landlord and the other from Mino. He tried calling Mino first, but he didn’t pick up. Next he called his landlord who sounded stressed out and distracted all at once when he picked up.       "There is still an ongoing investigation and it will continue for quite a while longer" his landlord said at almost a whisper.   Stopping to hear properly he asked if everything was fine, his landlord, a chunky happy fellow had always seemed like such a nice guy and it was obvious to him that this fire had affected him deeply.       "Yes, yes.." he replied absentmindedly, but Seungyoon didn’t believe him. "You can come and pick up some of your things tomorrow afternoon with a police up to your apartment" his landlord continued after a long stretch of silence.   He replied that he would and also told him he would be coming to pick up his key to his hotel room in about an hour which he was told was fine.     After grabbing a burger at tiny place close to campus along with some hygiene articles and a change of clothes he'd hopped on the bus that would take him to the hotel.   The hotel was nice enough, but somewhat remote as it was mainly built to accommodate guests wishing to utilize the golf course or the nature reserve not far from town.   When he came to check in was he unsure if he needed his landlord to do it, but the girl behind the counter checked his name and gave him his key as if he had been the one to make the reservation. He found it a bit odd, but didn’t think much off it, maybe his landlord was out for the evening.       The room he got was the tiniest single bedroom he’d ever seen in an hotel setting. There was hardly space to walk around and the bed was so close to the bathroom he could probably wash his feet in the shower while still sitting on his bed.   He ate his now cold burger and regretted not buying anything to drink wondering if there were any wending machines or at least a coffee bar for guests around and so he peeked his head out into the hallway.   There was no one around and so he shuffled silently on his bare feet down the hall on the hunt for coffee.   Around the corner down another long hall had he spotted his target, a wending machine. Hurrying down there he bought some soda from one and a bag of snacks from the other. There was no coffee, but it was too late for that anyway. It was while he was fetching his snacks he heard a low rumble move from one side of the hall above him to the other. His immediate thought was that it was a cleaning trolley, but wasn’t it an odd time for that?       Once he was back in his room had he taken a sip of his soda and opened his one window as wide as it would let him. A cool breeze flew in making the skin on his arms break out in goosebumps, he placed the soda by the breeze hoping it would keep it cold while he showered.   The shower head was fixed to the wall and couldn’t be adjusted and that made for one hell of a miserable shower as he was a head taller than the shower head. He bended over at an odd angle and somehow managed to wash his hair even so.   It was when he came out of the shower he heard the distinct sound of sirens from far bellow him. Picking up his soda he peered out of his window down bellow to see an ambulance and several police cars blinking up at him from bellow.       Checking his phone for the time he noticed that Mino had called him back while he was in the shower and he made a mental note to call him as soon as he had figured out what was going on.   He tore of the tags of his newly bought t-shirt and pulled on his jeans before heading out into the hallway.   Despite constantly swearing to his classmates that he wouldn’t actually like to become a journalist was there a distinct pull in him that triggered him to act whenever his curiosity got the best of him.     He didn’t get far before he ran into a familiar face. The woman who lived across the hall from him back at his apartment was walking towards him in her pajamas with her winter coat over it.        "Did you hear?" she said eyes wide, hands clutching at the hem of her coat nervously.   For some this might have been odd behavior, but for Cynthia as he had named her (it wasn't her actual name, but she had only told him her name once and he didn’t catch it back then) it was pretty close to the usual. She got severe anxiety and probably some kind of eating disorder as well, her boney fingers alone was enough to tell anyone that.       "No, what?" he replied going along this time as he usually did.       "He killed himself" she said in a low whisper before looking over her shoulder.       "Who?" he asked calmly. She had told him something similar before and then it had been about some tv show she had been obsessing about.       "The toad" she said grimly.   Not sure he had heard her correctly he asked her to repeat what she had said and she did. The toad was her nickname for the landlord because he was so