The apartment was only about five stories high but its length covered the block. It had some-what green plants that could do with some watering along the street side of the building. There was a walkway leading to the front office or at least that is what the sign said. A howl echoed from the hall that led deeper into the building past the front office. The woman sighed as she started on the path towards the front office. She walked rather quickly but slowed when another howl echoed down the hall. She looked for the demon it might belong to, but didn’t see anything. She reached the office door and stood contemplating if living in an apartment block with a demon was a good idea. Maybe I should just tell my boss I found a place.

Something brushed her pant leg making her jump and yell. She looked down at her leg and saw a cat.

The office door opened and an old woman screamed, “What’s the matter, get your hand caught in the vending machine again, Jaehyo?”

“Wrong person,” the woman told the old one.

“Ah, well, what the hell are you screaming about?”

“Demon,” She pointed at the cat purring against her leg.

“Pfft, some demon,” the old one snorted then looked at the woman closely, “You wouldn’t happen to be Lee Soomin?”

The woman nodded enthusiastically now that the demon had been revealed to be a cat. She bent down and petted the tan cat. Her hands ran over the cat’s large ears. Gold eyes blinked at her while she scratched the cat’s chin.

“She’s an Abyssinian.”

“Huh…” Soomin looked up at the old woman.

“Her,” the old woman pointed at the cat, “breed.”

“Oh.” Soomin replied not sure what the significance was.

“Come in, I’ll get you set up.” The cat trotted in before Soomin sporting half a tail. Wow, what a hard . The old woman made her way around the counter.

“Alright, Lee Soomin, twenty, single, no pets, all that correct?” the old woman went through some papers and pulled open a drawer.

“Yes, uh, what should I call you?” Soomin looked at the old woman.

The old woman looked up squinting then replied, “Daejang.”

“Ah…Daejang, thank you for taking me in on such short notice. My boss told me you house many workers whose jobs are near by.”

“Mmmm, a group of them happened to be fired recently and they decided to take off back home instead of looking for new jobs here. Your boss is rascal, he has 20-some employees but only two are staying with me including you.”

Soomin smiled sympathetically at the old woman. Greedy Daejang. The old woman had pulled a key out of the drawer and shuffled several papers together.

“Alright, here is your key, try not to loose it, the ious tenant went through four. This is a map of the building with all the emergency exits and common areas. This is apartment block b, your room is on the third floor, number seventeen. I’m too old to take you up but I have just the man for the job.” The daejang turned around and looked through her sweater draped on her chair. She pulled out a small walkie talkie. After pushing a button she talked into it, “Yah, Ddong, one of the new tenants is here, get down here and show her to her room. Oh, and bring Jihoon.”

The walkie talkie sputtered and a response came, “Roger, Daejang Babo!”

Soomin swallowed her laughter. She waited a few minutes before a rapid foots steps sounded down the hallway. A kid about ten years old bust through the door.

“Daejang Babo, I’m here!” The kid looked Soomin up and down, and Soomin cocked an eyebrow in response. “Is this the new tenant?”

“Is there anyone else here, Ddong?”

The kid looked at Soomin again, then threw his arms around her waist.

“Noona!” he shouted while rubbing his face into her stomach. “I’ve waited so long for a cute girl to move in.”

“I’m not your noona,” Soomin said while poking the kid’s head.

“I’ll be a good man to you!” The boy rubbed his face into her chest this time.

“Yah!” she yelled but before she had time to smack the kid he was peeled off her like Velcro. An older boy stood holding the kid by his neck.

“Woah, where did-”

“It’s not nice to fondle new tenants, especially right after promising to be a good man.” A deep voice scolded the kid. The older boy looked in his late teens. He was wearing a baseball cap backwards, a pull-over sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers. The younger kid was oddly wearing the same thing.

“Did you two coordinate your outfits?” Soomin asked.

“Eh?” they both responded. The older boy let go of the younger and they sized each other up.

“Did you do this on purpose?”

“Did you copy me?”

They took turns yelling at each other.

“Don’t tell me you two just noticed?” Soomin chuckled at them. They looked at her cheeks flushing.

“Yah, babos,” the daejang yelled at the boys. She turned towards Soomin, “The short one is Ddong, another tenant, he lives here with his mom and dad, and the tall one is Jihoon, my grandnephew, he also lives here.”

“Yah, it’s Dong-Sun, not Ddong.” The kid whinned at the daejang.

“You can call me Jihoon, but I’m also know as P.O.” The tall one smiled at Soomin. What a cutie, but probably too young for me. Soomin turned to the boys.

“Okay, Ddong, P.O, show me to my room.” Soomin heard the daejang howl with laughter as the little kid let out another whine.

The three of them made their way up to the third floor. P.O pointed out some of the common areas while Ddong ran around occasionally coming back to say random things to Soomin. They took a suspicious looking elevator up to the third floor. Her room was close to one of the corners of the apartment block. They all stopped in front of room seventeen.

“If you need anything, call Daejang Babo. Her number is on the map.” Ddong nodded at her. He started to walk back toward the elevator.

P.O turned to leave, then turned back to Soomin and put his hand out, “Give me your phone.”

Soomin eyed him while she reached into her pocket. She handed it over. He searched through her phone then pressed the buttons.

“Call me if you ever need any help. My aunt is so old and lazy and I’m practically part of the apartment staff.”

He gave her a cute smile before stumbling to the left. Ddong had pushed P.O and now stood in front of her with a triumphant grin.

“Baby, I don’t have a phone, but I live a floor below, room one, stop by anytime.”

P.O scoffed then dragged the kid off by his sweatshirt. Soomin laughed as they made their way to the elevator. She turned to her door when they were out of sight. She took a deep breath then put the key in the lock.