𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬 𝑩𝒀 𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬

❝ i. ❞

THE CITY LIGHTS blurred as she ascended the streets in the dead of night. It was cold and crisp in the small city of Hyosan, which meant nothing special for Song Su-Min; absolutely nothing besides a midnight stroll to clear her mind before school started the next day. A cloud, almost invisible, of white smoke escaped her mouth as she sighed. Now and then, a car with a brave speed would zoom past her in a mindless world of its own as she attempted to figure herself out.

She wondered what Na-Yeon would have to say the next day. Na-Yeon was somewhat a friend, and a massive pain in the ass with her rumours of the recently-been-announced-missing Lee Jin-Su, and his father, their science teacher, Mr Lee for the disappearance, to which there is no solid evidence besides a deathly smell. Na-Yeon was always jumping to conclusions and into other's people business when she shouldn't have been snooping there in the first place.
Su-Min huffed in frustration. A midnight stroll was to clear her thoughts, not to bring in more.

Deciding to give up and go home, she turned a corner and was met with the face of her science teacher and the man of the rumours himself, Mr Lee. He carried a suitcase basically bustling at its seams and he hadn't seemed to notice her yet.

"Mr. Lee?" Su-Min called out to him. He immediately stopped and his eyes travelled to hers with a fright behind his iris'. "Are you alright, sir?"

"Fine." The man grunted as he dropped the suitcase. His gaze turned into a glare as he stared her down. "You have school tomorrow."

"So do you." Su-Min shot back with no hesitation, sporting a stare of her own. As silence overcame the two, she suddenly felt bad for snapping at him. "I'm sorry." She said sympathetically. "Jin-Su was a good kid. You raised him well."

The teacher went completely silent, his face concentrated on the floor beneath him. As she took this as her queue to leave, Mr Lee spoke up.

"So, you're the girl he talked about?" His voice was void of emotion and so was his gaze.

"He... mentioned me?" Su-Min asked, hopeful.

"... thank you, Miss Song, for looking out for him as best as you could." Mr Lee muttered loud enough for her to hear. She smiled sadly.

"He looked out for me too. I miss him, a lot." The student thought aloud. After seconds passed and she inhaled, her hands digging into her pockets as she grew nervous. Why? She had no idea but she had a bad feeling bubbling in her stomach.

The teacher in front of her nodded, eyes refusing to meet hers. He cleared his throat. "Well, I'll see you for class tomorrow." His hand reached out for the handle of the suitcase and he was off, pushing past Su-Min, who stared after him with interest.

Just what was he up to? And, to think about it, Na-Yeon was right about that smell. He smelt of a corpse, death, and all the bad things associated. The suitcase was strange as well. Who else carries a random blue suitcase around in the dead of night if they didn't come home from the airport or another person's house?

So many questions were left unanswered as Su-Min shook her head, giving a look at her teacher's back one last time and going along her route back to her parent's shop.

The next morning and it was as normal as any of her previous school mornings had ever been. Besides the fact that her aunt was staying, and cramming up in her room, which meant she was stuck sleeping on the most uncomfortable couch in the history of the world, it was relatively quiet; just as she loved. With a small breakfast of leftover kimchi stew from the night before, she had swiftly gotten changed as her aunt Aera appeared from her bedroom.

"Good morning, yeobo." Her aunt greeted, a smile on her face. Su-Min gave her a small, tired grin in return. While she didn't agree with the whole bedroom situation, she loved her aunt. Her parents were always busy with the shop as it was always bustling with customers every day and Su-Min had no one but herself and the twins, Haneul and Iseul, to care for and, while she loved her little brother and sister, it was tiring and lonely. Until her aunt showed up at the doorstep with tears streaking her cheeks, her suitcases in hand and the story of a horrible husband on her tongue, Sun-Mi was finally happy to have another presence in the dingy apartment.