Brrrrr. Brrrr. Jaebum slowly blinked his eyes open as he rolled over, reaching to switch off his morning alarm. Sitting up and stretching he let his eyes adjust to his still-dark room. 5:00am never gets any easier. He thought to himself as he swung his feet over the side of the bed and slipping them into his house shoes, he tried wiping some of the tiredness from his eyes. Slowly standing up, he rolled his head from side to side, releasing some of the tension from his neck as he made his way out of his room and across the hallway to his sister’s. He slowly turned the knob and making his way to her bedside, he switched a dim lamp on. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, he placed a hand on her arm, gently shaking her awake. “Yeodongsaeng, it’s time to get up.” He whispered, smiling as she slowly rolled over, blinking up at him with tired eyes. He always had to be careful waking her up, because this peaceful 15 year old could easily wake up on the "wrong" side of the bed.

            “Already?” She whined and sitting up, she leaned her head into Jaebum’s shoulder, yawning as she asked “Did mom make it home alright?”

            “I’m about to go check, but make sure you don’t fall back asleep like yesterday!” He said sternly, rising up from the bed.

            “I won’t, I won’t!” She complained, as he walked towards her door, peeking out of the corner of his eye. He sighed outwardly as he saw her head fall back to her pillow, deciding to let her be and closing the door behind him. Walking slowly to the last door in the hallway, Jaebum pressed his ear to the door, trying to  listen for any signs of life. He smiled he heard soft snores coming from the other side, confirming that their mother had made it home from her night-shift factory job. For this reason, it was his responsibility to take care of his sister, get her to school, and himself to work. He walked back down the short hallway, sighing in relief as he heard his sister rummaging around in her room. Hurriedly gathering his work clothes from his room, he made his way into the only bathroom in their small apartment, before his sister could claim it for the next 45 minutes. He flipped on the dim bathroom light and switched on the shower to let it heat up as he checked his phone. His fingers glided over the apps, stopping on a small blue one with a white carnation flower in the center. As the app launched, a small bird flew into the screen, chirping “Annyeonghaseyo! Welcome!” bringing him to his home screen. Scrolling through his new feed, he read some of the updates of his online friend’s activities.

            Jaebum read through some more, before scrolling back to the top and typing in his own update.

            After pressing post, he clicked the blinking message tab, seeing that a couple of his group chat friends were waking up as well. He didn’t actually know any of these people in real life, that’s what the app was for. It was called ToLIFE and it was designed to connect you with people near you, of all different ages and lifestyles, without the stress of actually meeting them. Unless you wanted too of course, but he had never discussed meeting with any of them, and none of them had mentioned it either. It was simply for fun, and to hear and discuss daily life.

~~~~~~

            After stepping out of the shower, he quickly got dressed into his ironed black button down, and black uniform slacks. Swiftly drying his hair, he checked through his messages again and seeing that the buzz alert had done its work as the other three had sent their own morning messages.

            He smiled to himself, reading through his friend’s messages, as Dimsum tried to help Choi with his homework, and the rest seemed to be getting ready for their daily lives. He typed in a quick message, as his sister began to bang her fist against the door and repeatedly asking when he would be out.

           Quickly pressing send, he clicked his screen off as he opened the door to his little sister, laughing as she ran into the bathroom arms tangled in her school uniform as she tried to push him out the door.

         Just as he was placing the lids on each of the lunches, his sister ran into the room exclaiming about how there hadn’t been any warm water left, and that the hair dryer wasn’t working again. He smiled as she searched around the room for her bag, and laughing, he walked over to their small entry way and grabbed her bag from the hook that it hung on. He placed her lunchbox in the bag, handing it to her as she hopped around, sliding on her black school shoes and running her fingers through her still damp hair. She grabbed her bag from his hand, murmuring to herself about wet hair and the winter cold.

       “Hold on, I’ll braid it for you.” She handed him a hair band as he quickly braided her long dark hair, securing it in place with the tie.

     “Thanks so much!” She said, smiling pleasantly as she shrugged on her coat, and slinging her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll see you tonight!” Quickly giving Jaebum a quick hug, she stepped out of the apartment door, waving behind her as she jogged down their metal steps to the alleyway beside the apartment building. Jaebum watched as she made her way to the end of the alley, meeting up with her school friends, all dressed in their white and blue uniforms. Closing the door after hearing their laughter carry down the street, he turned and starting packing his own things for work. He worked at a coffee shop in the morning, and a food delivery service in the evening. Stuffing his lunch and his delivery clothes in his bag, he quickly wrote a note for his mother, telling her that her lunch and dinner were in the fridge and that he would hopefully see her before she left for work. Quickly grabbing his own coat and checking the time, he slipped on his shoes and stepped out of the apartment making sure to lock it behind him. Making his way down the small alley, he stepped into the busy street as cars and buses buzzed past on their way to their own destinations. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he snapped a picture of all the people ahead of him, on their way to school or work. He then uploaded it to the group chat, putting a sad face as he said “on my way to work.”

             He smiled as he closed his phone and tucking it in his pocket, he melted into the crowd.