01: Midnight Struggle

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It's extremely late at night in the outskirts of a small town. The moon sat high in the sky along with faint stars that could be seen through the light pollution. The sound of a suitcase rolling against the sidewalk seemed to be the only sign of disturbance in the area.

Hwanwoong arrived late, his eyes tiredly searching the nearby buildings for his destination. One hand clutching his suitcase, the other holding onto his backpack strap as if his life depended on it. He searched his tired mind for the correct address, hoping he was walking in the right direction.

His phone has been long dead, loosing it's last percentage of battery a few minutes after he got off his flight. It was quite unfortunate and left the boy pretty defenseless in unknown territory.

From what he could see, the neighborhood seemed to be pretty nice, if it could be called a neighborhood. There were many different corner stores and shops that lined the streets, along with apartments and the occasional two story houses intermixed. Still, this new area seemed eerie under the moonlight, cicadas occasionally creating noise or the random person walking on the other side of the street that startled Hwanwoong.

Yawning, Hwanwoong still searched on for his destination. He's had a long day of travelling to get here, his legs feeling wobbly from all the walking, and his head pounding from exhaustion. Not to even mention the stress that he's been under. Let's just say he doesn't have the greatest luck. His flight was delayed, he had difficulties finding his luggage at the airport along with finding a cab. And what was even better was that the cabdriver didn't even bring him to the right location, basically kicking Hwanwoong out when the boy tried to correct them.

Hwanwoong felt his stomach grumble, reminding him that the only thing managed to eat today was an apple in the morning and a pack of pretzels on the plane.

"Come on, come on, come on." Hwanwoong muttered desperately, hoping his desired address would just jump out at him at this point.

It's funny how Hwanwoong got himself in this predicament, because he never really wanted to move. It was his grandmother that convinced him to go and actually live his life, to chase his dreams. After his parents passing when he was young, Hwanwoong lived with his single grandmother for nearly his whole life.

On his twenty-second birthday his grandmother expressed her wish for Hwanwoong to leave for the city and finally pursue his dream of dancing and performing. You have a talent that needs to be seen Hwanwoong, please go show it to the world.

It took a few months of convincing and saving up money, but eventually Hwanwoong found himself where he is now. Leaving his grandmother in the county for the city life that he isn't entirely prepared for.

The place he managed to find was relatively cheap to live at, probably because he'd be living with four other strangers. He got in contact with the owner of the share-house as soon as he had enough money saved to pay at least the first couple months of rent. They proceeded to do an interview over the phone, with the landlord being more than happy to rent out a room to him.

After his long journey Hwanwoong finally stumbled upon a dimly lit two story complex. He was told that the landlord and some of her friends live on the first floor while the second floor has plenty of space and rooms to be rented out.

Hwanwoong wasn't really sure what to do, it's already really late at night so he doesn't want to bother the landlord, but he can't possibly be allowed to just walk right into the second floor unannounced. Sure he's expected, but he's about six hours late at this point.

The closer he got the more Hwanwoong was able to see about the building. A cute fenced-in concrete area is just outside of the entrances to the building. Some planters and a bench decorated the fenced-in area, creating an outside space just for the residents. Some steps went downwards to enter the first floor while another set of stairs went upwards to lead to the second floor.

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