touch of nature ＊ JIYOO

1. "The Start of Everything"

› READER POV THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE STORY:

It was a normal day in the year 2064 for a hard-working scientist named Yunseok. He followed his usual routine of waking up for work, eating lunch and dinner with his colleagues and coming back home late to sleep. This routine didn't seem to burden him. He had gotten used to it and not even once complained about it's repetitiveness. He earned his generous pay and had a big, comfortable couch to peacefully doze off on. Though, because of the tiring day he had, it seemed like he had forgotten about one little detail..

"Papa! Welcome back home!"

The voice of a young, happy and bubbly girl surprised the half-asleep scientist. He was a divorced man and could only see his daughter for a week every month. The mother of his child won full custody of her because of his work routine, so every time he had the chance to be with his daughter, it was like a gift from the heavens to him.

He smiled with his eyes at the sight of his daughter, completely forgetting that he was sleepy a moment ago. He sat up on the couch, opening his arms with a big grin. The child jumped into his embrace and hugged the man with the sweetest smile ever. Yunseok kissed the temple of her head and sat her down next to him, covering her body with a comfy blanket and ruffling her hair.

"Hey there princess, I'm sorry I came back home so late. How was your first day of school?" The man asked with a proud smile.

"Boriiiing!! I expected to learn something useful about animals and plants, not study those stupid numbers I already knew of since kindergarten!" The little girl pouted, crossing her arms and leaning her small head on his arm. The father chuckled at her remark, putting his hand over her shoulders and hugging her closer.

Ever since his daughter was a toddler, she was always interested in what her father was doing at work, so Yunseok taught her how to count and write from a very early age, showing her many chemical formulas and simple experiments to amaze her. She wasn't into dolls and toys like most girls. All she cared about was learning more about chemistry and mathematics to practice her strategizing skills and get academically smarter. That surprised the man a lot, but he knew that she'd be very intelligent, maybe even more than him in the distant future.

He leaned back on the couch and grabbed the remote control, turning on the TV to watch the animated movies that his daughter seemed to love a lot. And he was right. She smiled the moment her favorite cartoon characters appeared and giggled at every joke they said. He couldn't lie, the childish and corny jokes indeed were funny to him as well.

Though, his fun didn't last long because he got a call from one of his senior associates. It was a surprise for him since he never got late night calls because the company he worked at had many other talented scientists. Yunseok looked at his daughter before answering the call, still smiling at the cute behavior of the kid.

"Good evening Mr. Jung. It's unusual of you to call me so late, has something happened?" Yunseok spoke with confusion in his voice, waiting for a response from the other side of the line.

To his dismay, he was called to visit the main laboratory immediately because it was an emergency, so he had no choice but to leave the girl for an hour or two more...

But he widened his eyes at the next words his senior spoke, causing his daughter to look at her father with curiosity.

"We should have believed you and Daemin.. You two were right from the beginning!- He released the virus! Come get your most important things and hide or run away for safety!" The senior spoke with fear in his voice.

Yunseok felt his daughter tap on his shoulder and tilt her head, asking for a quick explanation as to why his colleague seemed so tensed up. If the father was honest, he couldn't wrap his head around the sudden news and asked his associate for a better explanation, until he heard screaming coming from outside his house.