library of misfits (hsy & kdj/od)

chapter zero

After that unprecedented accident one year ago, Han Sooyoung couldn’t remember the life she lived before.

Although she remembered her name and most of her important credentials, she still felt hollow inside. She felt incomplete. Like there’s something significant missing in her. And she is still like that.

However, strangely enough, she didn’t bother to search for that very piece. She even didn’t bother to try to remember herself from before and accepted that her life will never be the same again.

But despite everything that’s happened, she still became fond of reading. . . and taking down random sentences on her notepad.

She was thinking what genre of novel she would want to read while walking down the alleyway to go to a public library she frequent to. Spending hours in that hall of books let Han Sooyoung expand her knowledge. She’s even confident that she already can identify every clichés in the universe.

A travel bus passed by. Momentarily, her eyes caught a glimpse of that silver orb hanging in the sky before she entered the glass door, and decided to come to the high fantasy section of the library.

Her boots lightly pulled over, readying for a drift. She turned to a corner and saw a boy wearing an oversized, crinkled white long-sleeved polo tiptoeing and pulling out for a thick and voluminous book. The boy seemed he tried really hard to reach for the book as he managed to pull it out of the shelf by a bit. He never bothered to look at Han Sooyoung who just turned. Han Sooyoung regarded the scenario, and assumed: ‘he just needed to pull the entire book out’ so Han Sooyoung decided not to bother him and looked for a book to read in lieu.

Minutes have passed and the boy finally managed to pull almost half of the book. Meanwhile, Han Sooyoung still can’t pick what to read. She was glancing at the boy from time to time tiptoeing in order to reach the shelf and then pulling back, and repeat. At the expanse of awaiting books, the hazy stature of the jumping boy became a nuisance to Han Sooyoung’s peripheral vision. Soon she realized she was starting to get pissed at the sight.

Another minute passed with the same scenario made Han Sooyoung let out a frustrated sigh. Then she began marching toward the struggling boy—his face patched up with bandaids in different sizes, she noticed—deftly raised her arm, she reached the thick book and easily pulled it out of its shelf, “Here—”

It was too late. She failed to mind the weight of the book when it slipped out of her grasp before it fell off the floor with a loud thud. Her eyes followed it immediately and came to read the large texts on its cover.

「 Three Ways to Survive a Ruined World Volume 1-41 」

One of her brows automatically went up.

The boy picked the book up and held it against his chest with both of his fragile-looking arms. Han Sooyoung’s brows furrowed at the sight. Momentarily, he looked at her. Anyone could have mistaken their reaction for pity but Han Sooyoung saw it: the child’s eyes sparkling in the light of the hall yet they're the loneliest Han Sooyoung ever made contact with. They seemed to carry black holes instead of galaxies within that rendered her speechless for a moment.

She could tell. Even after only reading novels for the past one year, she could say that.

There was only a moment’s pause, because the boy shortly bowed his head lightly to her.

“Thanks,” said the boy before turning around and briskly walked away.

Han Sooyoung stared at the back of the boy grew smaller by the second. She blinked once as a gust of air from the AC stinged her eyes, when a scenario flashed through her vision: a figure of a child with tear-stained face came into view, wind blowing his flowing hair and torn clothes, looking at her—that’s it. It was too quick to retain any longer that she dismissed the thought almost instantly.

She smirked while shaking her head lightly before turning around to resume searching for a novel to read.

Her fingertips reached for the closest book in front of her but she didn’t pull it right away.

‘What a weird kid,’ she belatedly thought.