A prequel of Watch Me From Afar.
In the city of Suwon, Gyeonggi 1976, when South Korea was a complete contrast of what it is today,
an unlikely friendship started from the least expected circumstances between 16-year-old Yoon Ji Oh, and 12-year-ol...
** Ages mentioned in this chapter are referred to the international age system (chronological age) as opposed to Korean age system **
Gyeonggi, April 1979
Roughly two years have passed since Park Hee Jin moved to Busan. Throughout the years, the two had been writing each other, updating each other on life and gave support through ups and downs. But every transition meets its end sometimes, and in their cases, it was the time since Ji Oh has not received a reply to his letter for almost five months now.
It was bittersweet for him. On one hand, he felt that their friendship had faded away. On the other hand, it's a good thing that Hee Jin 'needed' him less, indicating that she's been busy with life, having found real friends and hobbies.
Ji Oh himself had been busy adapting with his new life as a freshman. He got in to Sungkyunkwan University's school of engineering, doing mechanical engineering for his major. He made the best of the privilege he's got; a financially able father to enroll him at a private university – in this economy – for one of the most promising major at the time.
The political situation of South Korea was concerning at the time. Rumours of coup de etat of President Park Chung Hee's administration have been circulating, and they got wilder every day.
The authority was slowly losing its grip and charisma among the people. Youth started to use fashion as a form of protest. People started to dress more casually, women let their hair grow longer. Skirt hemlines were getting shorter and less conservative. People started to dress more like westerners.
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Protests across regions and communities; students, labour, civilians, and political opposition. Ji Oh's father had warned him over and over again, to never take part on student protests. As much as he wished for this administration to step down, followed by betterment in economy, his father reminded him that as an only child he has to make his priority straight: to study, to graduate, to land a decent job. Being abducted on a protest was definitely not on his list
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Early on, he used to look at the students of chemical engineering with envy, wishing that he was part of them. But as time went by, and he started to come around, he concluded that mechanical engineering comes with its own version of fun. The major facilitated his curiosity to experimentalize and he finally got attuned with the pace of the study.
