Hell Is of Other People

The First Meeting

"Everything will be alright."

I tried to calm myself down by looking out the bus window. I'll find a place to live, start a new job, and meet new people, so there's nothing to worry about.

I told myself as I tried to calm down. I quickly pull my phone from my pocket to see if there are any notifications from my mother and my girlfriend Ji-Eun, whom I adore.

Unfortunately, neither of them has left any messages, so I sighed and thought to myself, "Perhaps they're busy..." I will contact them later.

I removed my earpiece and turned on some music to help me relax because I was feeling rather anxious about going to Seoul for the first time. Currently, the reason I'm traveling to Seoul is because one of my college seniors, Shin Jae-Ho, launched a new business and wanted to take me on as an intern.

At first, I couldn't believe it, but I was grateful and extremely thrilled as I'd been struggling to find work for a few months and, in addition, I'd finally met Ji-Eun, who is also employed in Seoul.

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The first thing I did when I got to Seoul was start looking for an apartment. I visited each room in Seoul from three different locations and found it to be cozy, spacious, and well furnished, so I wasn't shocked by the high rent fees.

But what can I expect? Of course, the price would be high, and I knew I wouldn't be able to afford the rent given that I only had $500 in my bank account at the time. I am just really that poor.

As I continued to look through more and more listings for apartments with the same pricing after rejecting the third one. I grew weary and began to lose faith until  until my eyes suddenly spotted a rental post for a cheap room in an apartment called "Eden studio" called "Goshiwon." a city that is an hour's drive from Seoul. I jumped on a train and headed straight for the Eden Studio without spending any more time. Not knowing that it would permanently change my life forever. 

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What the fuck would be my short and simple response if you asked me to explain my initial impression of the place in three words.

In contrast to all the other apartment buildings I had previously visited, Eden turned out to be quite a unique structure. Whereas the previous apartment complexes were well-lit and spotless, Eden was dim, depressing, stuffy, and dark.

Given how awful this home is—I mean, it's arguably the worst apartment I've ever seen in my life, and I'm not even exaggerating—I even started to question if someone is even residing here.

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"Oh, are you the boy who just called?" I was greeted by an elderly woman who I assume to be the landlady.

"That is, indeed, me. Your rental listing caught my eye. Is it still available? ".

"Yes!"

"Is that 190 per month, correct?"

"Of course, Join me in following! I'll take you to your room."

I answered, "Okay," and nodded as she led me to room 302.

To my astonishment, I was surprised to see the condition of the room when she pulled out the keys and unlocked the door. The room had a single bed, a tiny window, and a desk in the right-hand corner. The room was really small, and on top of that, there was dust all over the place, giving the impression that it hadn't been cleaned in a while.

"You can't get a place in Seoul with only that much", the lady added with a smile. "It's nice, isn't it?"

After she gave me a thorough tour of the entire apartment complex, I came to the conclusion that despite my financial situation, I shouldn't bring myself to this level. The kitchen and shared showers in the bathroom were grimy and appeared to have not been cleaned with soap and a scrub in years. 

I made the decision to decline the offer to move in and find another place to stay because I have a weird feeling about this apartment and because the state of everything is just terrible. So I left before the landlady could catch up to me to say anything convincing.   As soon as I was outside the apartment, one of my luggage's wheels unexpectedly snapped and to the best of my luck it began to tumble down the hill.

I huffed loudly and cursed "Fuck." It was getting late by this point, and I know it'll take some time to find another apartment with such low rent, so I hastily returned to Eden Studio as it's getting darker and I'm out of energy.

"Your keys are here. Don't let this go" She addressed me while holding the room key.

"Thank you. By the way, what became of the former tenant of this room?"

"Oh no, the previous owner committed suicide, so no need to worry.

"What??"

"Why, are you afraid?" She ask.

"No problem—I'll just head to my room to sleep. I'm exhausted" I explained. Without realizing it, I accidently bumped into someone leaving room 312 as I said my goodbyes and headed for my room.

"Aish! Watch where you're going!". The man added as he turned to leave. He's most likely in his 40s and had a thug-like appearance and was dressed similarly.

"Aigo, this guy commonly causes havoc. He will eventually leave, so don't worry."