BEFORE THE SUN | kim jiwoong

00 | prologue

PROLOGUE,

OCTOBER 17, 2018.

Bae Yeojin knew better than to let strangers into her home — especially men like Kim Jiwoong.

To be fair, she couldn't recall anything from the past three hours, too drunk to even remember how she and the man standing behind her on her doorstep as she fumbled to find her house key even met. But his presence seemed familiar, so she thought nothing of it.

"I can't find it," Yeojin slurred, trying to fit all the keys into the doorknob, hoping that eventually her house key would appear.

"You can't find it?" Jiwoong repeated, looking over her shoulder. He was just as drunk as she was, if not more. "How could you forget your house key?"

"I didn't forget it," she said. "I simply don't have it." Yeojin groaned, finally giving up as she stuffed her keys into her pocket and sat down on the steps that led to her front door, letting her head rest in her palms. "I drank too much." Jiwoong looked down at her, following suit.

"Does this mean I'm not allowed inside your house?" Jiwoong asked, his arms propping him up as he leaned back. "Man, I really wanted to know what kind of place a hermit like you lived in."

"I am not a hermit."

"Hey," he began, clearing his throat. "We just came back from your first college party," Jiwoong said with a chuckle. "This is your second year here and you're— what, twenty?"

"That doesn't make me a hermit," she said, beginning to get annoyed with him. "What are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be back at that party looking for your next victim?"

Jiwoong scoffed, "The people I take home are not victims," he said. "They join me willingly."

"Gross."

"Says you."

"Whatever." Yeojin sighed, looking at Jiwoong, his gaze upward as he watched the streetlight above them flicker. "I mean, you're pretty attractive, you know," she said. "I can see why you get around."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," he said. "I haven't even slept with that many people. Most of them fall asleep before I can get them through the door."

"So you babysit?" she asked. "Is that what you're doing with me? Because I don't have my house key and refuse to sleep with you?"

"No," Jiwoong spoke. "I'm simply having a conversation with you because I think you're interesting. For an English major, that is."

"Interesting? Ugh, go home." Yeojin rolled her eyes, watching Jiwoong laugh. "Seriously, you might as well. I'll probably end up sleeping out here if my roommate doesn't come home."

"But I like talking to you," Jiwoong said. "I haven't talked to someone like this in a long time."

"Because you make out with them before they can get a word in?" Yeojin smiled when she saw the look Jiwoong was giving her. "Kidding," she said. "Fine, I'll allow you to join me for a night of sleeping on cold pavement. You'll find it's not as bad as it sounds."

"You've done this before?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," Yeojin said, nodding. "You should know I don't bring my key with me very often — just in case you ever want to hang out with me ever again."

"That's fine," he said. "We can always just go to my place."

"I don't want to sleep with you."

"That's not what I meant."