𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚 (067 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧) ON HOLD

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"Move from the road, it's not the place for a sleep!" 

I slowly opened my eyes due to the heaviness of my eyelids, accompanied by the severe headache and pain under my ribs. I wonder, why would they hurt so bad, but as soon as I raised my head up, I saw a clear reason.

"It's scandalous!" a middle-aged woman shouted while moving away from me, throwing the last glance full of disgust at me and being irritated by me blocking her way. It might be her, who kicked me a bit above my stomach with her shoe in order for me to wake up and make me move.

I wasn't mad at what she's done to me. I was used to it. To live like this. To barely, if at all, sleep in piss, in the cold corners of the street right next to the rubbish bins, every night being afraid of... well, you know, everything that could possibly happen to me. 

To eat this garbage that I could find in these trash cans. Sometimes I would afford myself to eat something else than the old sticky rise that was sent to the litter bin in a small plastic bag or just leftovers of the fish meat.

For this, I usually steal some money from the pockets of people passing by. I was a great master in this since I've been doing it for the last 4 years.

However, I haven't lived like this my whole life. When my dad was still alive, we used to have this beautiful little house somewhere near the Taean-gun park. We had a garden full of roses that blossomed during the late spring and the whole summer and a small decorative pool outside.

But then my father died. Doctors said it was a rare, gradually developing disease, which he has been hiding from me all these past years. Even mom didn't know about it, so it was a huge shock for us both. And how it is usually common in her years, she couldn't handle this loss too well and hence she got ill. She had a weak heart, which led to having full of side effects as well, and had to be placed in the hospital permanently. 

We sold the house so we could pay for her treatment. Soon enough, the small apartment that was bought for me, was taken away by the bank because of my inability to pay for it. I got bogged down in debts, which became so big that if I ever had found a job, all my earned money would be taken momentarily to pay off to the bank and I would still be left with nothing. So it had absolutely no sense for me to even try.

***

It was the 15th of September, meaning it was my mother's birthday. I always find a way to pull myself together and visit her even though the place she has been treating in was 30 km away from me. I got lucky this month and saved some money for the train.

Once I arrived at the train station I bought a ticket and looked at the clock- I had more than half an hour till my train would come so I went straight to the right platform and sat down on the bench.

There weren't lots of people around and therefore the seats next to me were empty as well. Until a young man came up and sat down just next to me. I didn't look at him but suddenly he started to speak.

"Good afternoon ma'am", he said in a pleasant low voice.

He was well dressed and good-looking in general yet I still said what I always say in situations like this,

"I don't have any money,"

He chuckled, letting himself smile for a bit.

"I don't need money from you, young lady. I actually was going to suggest you earn some,"

With this, I finally met his eyes and I felt with my entire body that the man in front of me radiated peace and somehow made me interested in his offer.

"How?" was the only thing I could say back, my throat filling with a kind of anxiety and weird excitement.

"Let's play a game," he began, at which I scoffed but he continued, "every time you manage to flip my ddakji I will give you a 10,000 won,"