－ LOST · K.TH

o n e / c a f é .

咖 啡
c a f é

> S O O A H .

Alcohol mixed with burned tobacco. Along with a heavy breathing which sounded way too familiar to Cho Sooah's ears. That was an about complete description of her what-one-would-have-called "home", surprisingly short yet astonishingly accurate.

That was also the atmosphere in which she had to live everyday, except for when she left for work. Another fact that made Sooah so distinct from the rest of humanity, work was her favourite part of the day. At least during these few hours she didn't have to bear beeing under the same roof as the monstrous creature which also happened to be the person that had birthed her and her only family.

Accompanied by the unceasing screams of the drunk and drugged woman sitted in the corner of the trashed living room, Sooah stepped out of the door without looking back. To her greatest bliss, she was immediately greeted by fresh oxygen. Sooah was on cloud nine for a magical instant while it travelled through her lungs.

The sun was already hung up high in the pale blue sky, and the city seemed to be busy with its usual activities. Citizens kept repeating their habitual routine: it was yet another day, another twenty-four hours to waste away. Sooah had given up on the hope of having anything to be even for the least exciting to happen in her life a long time ago. She just set herself a daily goal of making it through the present.

Week after week,

month after month,

year after year.

It didn't change since her high school days, before she had dropped out of school due to "excessive lack of personal contribution" and "unhealthy state of mind" - noting that the financial issues have also decided to show up at the unwanted party. How was she supposed to be motivated to focus on what Mrs. Yoon was rambling about in history class when she didn't even have a legitimate family? Her father was to her a total stranger and her only known relative was an alcohol-driven drug addict who also held the title of a rumored prostitute. People often said that she was the unwelcomed kid of one of her "clients", and that her mother only decided to keep her so that she could serve as a credit card to withdraw money from his bank account. That had always been the most beloved topic of the breaktime gossip by the lockers.

A piteous part of her wished it was true, for the reason that she wouldn't have to work her ass off in order to gain a living for them both. Despite the obvious crisis, her mother still didn't bother to hold herself back from having a curiously lavish lifestyle. Bottle after bottle of soju and vodka, pack after pack of Raison. Sooah barely had enough left to pay for their bills, leave along the treats that she wanted to gift herself.

There was a coffee shop in town called the O2 café, and that's where she found refuge, a place where she could escape to when reality was too much to bear. Yeon Kyungwan owned that place. A mid-aged man with a refined taste and a weakness for a good old fondant au chocolat but most importantly, a golden personality that every employee dreamed their boss would have. But when Sooah pushed the entrance door open that morning, his warm voice was nowhere to be heared. Instead, the sihouette of a younger male was standing behind the counter with a white towel placed over his left shoulder and a similar colored apron tied around his waist.

－ Hey Jinhuan.

－ Yah, Sooah, where have you been? You're twenty minutes late!

"Ugh."

－ Twenty minutes? Really? I promise I didn't notice that it was already this late!

He sighed.

－ Whatever. Just get changed and please get the trash bin out. Hurry up!

Sooah agreed with an imposted enthusiasm and rolled her eyes while walking her way through the shop until she reached the changing rooms. Yeon Jinhuan had nothing on him that reminded of his father, except maybe their selfsame love for the renowned chocolate cake - it might as well be the only thing that they had in common besides from their genes. To resume it in one metaphor, where the father shone sunlight, the son poured rain. There have been more than one occasion where Sooah considered the theory following which Yeon Jinhuan wasn't actually Yeon Kyunghwan's son and that the two weren't actually related, but facts remained facts no matter how unlikely it seemed.

Sooah finished tying the straps of her apron behind her back and grabbed the not-so-surprisingly heavy trash bin by its handle. It was already more than full, which made her curse silently while saying to herself that Jinhuan must have forgotten or was just too lazy to empty it yesterday. She poured its content into the large container - not without difficulty, that is - and paused for a few seconds to take a rest, letting her heavy breathing reasonate in the supposedly empty impasse.

She couldn't hide her surprise when she heared a creaking sound that didn't come from her, but from the shadow behind a pile of empty cartons. What amazed her even more was the silver colored hair that poked out from the dark. It was about the last thing that she would have been expecting to see in that place. It happened so suddenly and so out of context that Sooah didn't know how to react, so she just remained silent. Half a head came out to the daylight and Sooah eyes met two others that were just as dark and intense as hers.

－ H-hello?

The silver hair disappeared again into the shadow. No response.

－ Sooah! What's taking so long?

"For fuck's sake."

－ Uhhh nothing! I'm coming!

She threw a last hesistant glance at the cardboard boxes before pushing the backdoor open and entering the building with the now emptied trash bin. Just like she expected, Jinhuan had already planned everything to keep her busy. She turned the water on and began to wash the dishes that occupied almost the entire volume of the sink, and the odd encounter in the impasse quickly got chased into a corner of her mind as time passed by.

The clients followed the rythm of the clock, too. At 4pm, the shop was well crowded with all kinds of people but as the needles slowly approached 7, the place started to empty itself, leaving Sooah and Jinhuan alone by 7:30 with only two college students desperately rushing an essay that was due the next day. Sooah let out a long sigh as she realized that it was time for her to leave. She threw the towel and her apron in the pile of dirty laundry and put on her regular clothes that were still sitting in the changing room. She was just about to push the door open and scream a "goodbye" when another voice raised up instead.

－ Sooah!

If Jinhuan didn't remind her of it, she would have totally forgotten about the fact that it was already payday.

－ Dad told me to give you this since he couldn't make it. You can leave now.

Sooah took the envelope that he was holding between two fingers and murmured a "thanks", after what she put the money in her pocket,

and left.