IQ148 // namjoon ✔️

__JANUARY__

January ; 2016

He wants this new year to be different from the last.

HyunSeok wants this new year to be full of opportunity. 

He doesn’t really care much for how it comes his way, but he just wants something to happen. 

JungMi was a missed opportunity; she seems like a genuine person who seeks to have a deeper connection with people. She is easy to talk to and she’s insightful. 

When the man she kept meeting up with stopped coming, HyunSeok thought that it might be another opportunity. 

But then she stopped coming, too… 

Another missed opportunity.

Is opportunity the equivalent to fate or coincidence?

Does one have to work for opportunities to appear or do opportunities happen to just occur when they are most needed?

He feels like he’s done everything he could to get an opportunity to talk with JungMi. And yet, an opportunity never came.

HyunSeok just wants this year to be full of opportunities… 

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It found him on his day off of work. Or rather, HyunSeok found opportunity while on a walk in a park. It’s strange how it presented itself to him; HyunSeok isn’t sure whether it’s because he was seeking it or if it is because he was meant to stumble upon it.

The timing of it all seems to be… too perfect.

He must have done something admirable in his past life for HyunSeok to have such a great start to the new year. 

While taking a leisurely stroll in Ttukseom Park, HyunSeok sees JungMi sitting on a bench along to walking trail he’s on. Her rosy cheeks are a stark contrast to the frigid backdrop of frozen over grass and barren trees. She’s bundled up in a beige turtleneck and a long women’s parka coat. Her hair covers her ears and falls down to pool below her shoulders; she seems to be growing it out. 

HyunSeok is too far for her to notice him and she’s not looking in his direction any time soon. This is the first time he’s seen her after she stopped visiting the bookstore; this is the first time he’s seeing her outside of the bookstore in general. 

She’s focused on the notebook she has laid flat in her lap, probably open to a blank page. She is holding a pencil in her hand, but she’s not writing with it; she isn’t writing anything. Instead, HyunSeok can see her tapping the eraser end of her pencil on the page in a rhythm to match her contemplation. 

She rolls the pencil between her thumb and forefinger, but never puts pencil to paper. 

JungMi looks up from her notebook for the first time and looks out towards the Han River; the river had frozen over during the winter season, but it’s gradually on its way to flowing downstream again come spring as the ice is melting quickly. 

She tries to find something to write about: the frozen river, the barren trees, the glazed over grass, the wisps of clouds painting the sky, the people walking by, the passage of time… But none of these concepts can be written in words. 

She’s been struggling lately… JungMi has been having a hard time breaking through the writer’s block this time. No matter what she does, her hand refuses to write.

She needs a breakthrough; she needs something to break through the ice so that her creativity can flow again. Her stream of consciousness had frozen over during the season, but nothing she does can melt the ice.