when you wake up | sunki

two.

The new apartment is, in all honesty, not bad for the rent he's paying. It's in a low redbrick building on the outskirts of the inner city, within ten minutes' walk from a convenience store, a small family-owned breakfast cafe and the nearest train and bus station. The apartment itself is on the small side, a two-room with a living area, but given he's just one person the space is more than sufficient to satisfy his living requirements.

He waits downstairs to meet the landlord so he can collect his keys and ask about the rules of the place. It's his first time seeing it in real life as usual, seeing as moving between places for him is usually a hurried affair, but the surroundings are more pleasant than he would have dared to expect; the pavements are clean and gray, dotted with tall trees, the building itself is warm and inviting, with clean windows and unstained walls. Sunoo recalls one of his previous living arrangements, a dingy one-room he'd had to battle with cockroaches and rats in, and he counts his blessings over and over again.

Maybe I'll be able to stay here for a while longer this time.

"Sunoo-ssi?"

Sunoo turns back to face the door, eyes wide at the sound of the unexpected voice. He's surprised to see that the landlord is an elderly woman; the person he'd conversed with online about renting the apartment seemed to be relatively tech-savvy, well caught up on popular Internet slang of the era, as most of the older generation usually weren't these days.

"Ah, good afternoon!" He bows politely as he greets, stepping closer to the elderly lady to shake her hand. "I'm here to get my key!"

She holds out a silver key on a ring and smiles brightly, handing it over. "Here you go, son. There'll be no smoking in the building, and not too much noise after 10pm, is that alright? There are some kids living here, and they need to sleep well."

"Of course!" Sunoo answers immediately. "I don't smoke, and I don't play loud music. The most I'll do is play my guitar, is that okay?"

"Yes, yes." The elderly lady doesn't drop her smile, waving his concerns away. "It'll be nice to have some music around here sometimes. You're good at the guitar?"

"Yes, I teach kids as a side job," Sunoo offers, returning her affability. "I'll be teaching a couple of classes in the area, that's why I'm staying here a while."

"Ah, you teach?" She seems to brighten up upon hearing his last statement. "I have a grandson who could use some music lessons, do you have any free slots?"

"I do! How old is your grandson?"

"He's seven this year- ah come out here Jungwon-ah," the lady turns back to call into the house, and a young boy comes running to answer her. He appears at the door beside his grandmother, dark hair cut in a cute little bowl cut around his face, eyes big as he looks up at the new stranger.

"Hello!"

"Hello!" Sunoo kneels to his height to talk to him face to face. "Would you like to learn some guitar?"

The boy is shy enough not to venture a response, but from the way his eyes light up Sunoo knows he's interested. "I'll talk to your grandma about when we can start music classes, okay?"

The elderly lady gives him a smile as he stands back up. "It'll be nice having you here," she says. "I hope you'll be with us for a while."

He thinks about that as he heads up the stairs to apartment #02-03, the third door to the left, his new home for the coming weeks.

For the sake of the nice seven year old boy in apartment #01-01, if not for his own, he hopes so too. 

─

Sunoo is on his way back from the furniture store in the city with basic items like toilet paper and cleaning supplies when he bumps into an older man heading into the same building and offers a greeting. He figures this man must have been the one who'd settled the rental of the apartment over the Internet, on behalf of his mother.

"Oh, you're the new neighbour upstairs." The man is dressed in typical work clothes; a white neat-pressed uniform shirt and dark slacks, a briefcase in his free hand as he fishes for his keys in his back pocket. "I hear from my mother you're teaching my son some guitar?"

"Ah, yes I am!" Sunoo answers, grinning. "I've yet to sort out the details, but we can do that anytime-"

"Jungwon ends school at one on weekdays," the man says. "Are Fridays good with you? Maybe two-thirty?"

"That'd be great," Sunoo immediately agrees, getting his phone out to make a note in his schedule. "Does he have a guitar at home?"

"About that," the man replies, as if suddenly recalling something he wanted to say. "He doesn't, and I was wondering if you could take him to the music store in town to pick up one. I'm a lawyer, I don't know much about instruments and all..." He says the last sentence with some sheepishness and Sunoo immediately endeavours to allay his concerns.

"No worries, no worries! I'll take him anytime," he says. "I do freelance, my schedule is pretty flexible."

"Here's my number, contact me anytime if you need anything," the man slips a business card from his wallet and hands it over. The card is crisp, white cardstock, printed in elegant cursive. Jay Park, CEO of JURIS. "I'm Jay, happy to meet you."

He bids Sunoo a polite farewell before entering the house, and Sunoo smiles as he hears Jungwon's voice behind the door beckoning his father home. The new apartment building is better than he expected it to be, and he'll be sad when he has to leave it.