C'EST LA VIE (Completed)

Chapitre 5 - La Douleur

Seoul | 2018 

Ever since she got the internship program, she pushed her part-time job to 10 pm until early in the morning. Making her time to sleep was only 4 hours every day. It's a tough job for Mina, but it has good pay as well for her. She took it consciously knowing that she would pay well if she gotta stay up for the market all night. It's a way out to pay her rent, her monthly expenses, her father's debt, and for her saving. It's been 10 years since Mina took care of her father's debt, it's been 10 years running from house to house to protect herself from the shark loan. With the interest, she still needs to pay approximately 22.000.000 won from total 45.000.000 her father's debt from the shark loan. It's been a tough year for Mina. Mina's been through pit hole too many times. Mina's been in multiple jobs the past 10 years, you name it.

Mina had a rough childhood. Her father was always a pain in the ass since she was born. Her father was a gambler, and an alcoholic one, when he was drunk he could throw everything in front of his eyes. At the age of 4, her birth mother made it worse by leaving her behind with her father. Soon after, her father always hit and hit Mina whenever he could. A year later after her mother left her, her father brought a woman home, Kim Soobin. Soobin was a supermarket employee down the neighborhood, she got pregnant and my father soon married to her. Soobin was a bad person at first, she had no idea of being a mom. Raised 2 children, the other one was not even hers. But she grew to be a mom soon after Minseo born. Mina helped Soobin a lot. They both helped each other to be fair. Her father always hit them, but they stood for each other too many times. Mina and Soobin always tried to protect Minseo from the father. As the time went by, Mina became close to Soobin, Sobin became her one and only support. Mina loved her like her own mom. Soobin gave her hope, gave her dreams. 

It was one fine day in June, summer day. Mina just about to fell asleep after putting down Minseo to bed, police came to her house and gave her the bad news. Her dad and Soobin got into a single accident, their car hit the rails so hard, they died immediately. Mina can't stop crying that night. She just got the small happiness from her new mother but then God took it away for the second time.

On the bright side, Mina thought that no one could ever hit her and her sister again when her father died. But soon after she learned that her father had a huge debt from a shark loan. Mina who's 18 at the time needed to work her ass off to make a living for her and her sister. There's no different, Mina even more struggled than living with her father. Mina got hit too many times, being chased by the shark loan. Mina did all the job she could with her high school degree in order to make a living. She determined to gave Minseo a better future at least. 

Until 3 years ago she decided to apply for a scholarship to Yonsei University, with her good grades back at school, Mina passed easily, also with the help of someone she knew from the neighborhood. Sometimes people can't help it but wonder, how a destructive student like Mina could still manage to have good grades despite her being busy. Her brain is no joke.

Here we go, she's now 28 years old, still, a student, dreaming that someday she could be free from the debt by having a degree and have a decent job. It's her last shot, she gave all the determination she has here. 

With everything she's been through in life, Mina lacks empathy. She often got beaten from a debt collector, makes her tough but sometimes she didn't feel the emotion. From outside, Mina is the most likely a person you will avoid, she will give you a flat answer, she didn't care about her surrounding, makes her sometimes the worst person in the room. While inside, Mina is actually weak as rotten wood. She could be broken easily. Being hit by her father and by too many men makes her doesn't believe in man and in love as well.

Mina lives in a Goshiwon near her university, also had a part-time job in the area as well. In her sad days, Mina often cries about her stepmother, Soobin and her half-sister Minseo who is now decided to be estranged with her.