rêves d'automme |

001 | ❝ that one neighbor ❞

chapter one —
that one neighbor

while being transported past tall structures, kim jeonghoon kept his gaze fixed out the taxi's window. jeonghoon sighed and looked down at his hand that held the piece of paper with his new address printed on it. moving further into the countryside was a significant commitment for jeonghoon, who prefers the city; nonetheless, jeonghoon found a new respectable job as a news reporter. his primary motivation for traveling to the countryside was to report on the recent spate of dreadful murders of women. it was all worthwhile to make a little more cash to improve stability.

"sir, are you wanting to be dropped off here?"

jeonghoon kept staring at the piece of paper hysterically. the taxi driver finally jolted him out of his daze by repeating, "sir?" one last time. "huh?" jeonghoon hurriedly said, "uh, yes, this spot is fine." as he lifted his backpack and placed the couple dollars into the driver's palm before exiting the yellow car.

the tall man watched the taxi drive away until he could no longer see it, then he turned his heel to gaze at the slope of smaller houses on the street. it was a run-down-looking area full of inexpensive homes that rose higher on a hill some had concrete steps next to them that led to the upper area of the house.

after inspecting the poorly ventilated homes, jeonghoon took another look at the piece of paper and read the address. it was the place his employees suggested he stay at, ostensibly because it was closer to the station and the hub of activityㅡbut more crucially since the neighborhood was so cheap.

he muttered the final numbers, "113," and then turned to look at the home numbers engraved on the doors. jeonghoon was only able to see just the two-digit numbers, meaning he was in the wrong area. jeonghoon made a tongue-clicking motion as he moved further out into the street, keeping an eye out for the 100th number count. searching for the number, but he couldn't seem to find it, which frustrated jeonghoon.

"are you lost or something, boy?" jeonghoon overheard an older voice asking from close by. jeonghoon spun to face the elderly woman who had called him; she was seated on the steps of her house with two other women, each of whom appeared to be in their late forties or early fifties and were eating tangerines. in order to make the address obvious to the elder women, jeonghoon cleared his throat and said, "uh.. i'm looking for this address." he then raised his hand with the paper.

the woman who had called for him got up, ate a slice of tangerine, while proceeding to walk over to him to examine the address more closely. jeonghoon observed as the woman mumbled the address and turned to face her friends. she chuckled, "what did i tell you guys, he's moving into that place!"

"aigoo! poor boy!"

"that pretty boy will suffer!"

jeonghoon raised an eyebrow in response to the comments the elderly women were yelling. he was about to question as to why the woman was feeling sorry for him until the elder woman cut him off. "i take it you're the news reporter who's moving in,"