Invisible (Namjoonff)

Chapter 1: Books are better than People

It's much easier to love people on paper. That's why Ki loved books so much. You could fall in and out of love whenever you felt like it. And if things weren't looking so good, you knew all you had to do was read a few more pages to feel right again. Books always seemed to sort themselves out, unlike people, who were particularly messy and didn't seem to have well thought out endings. Ki loved a well thought out ending. Bonus points if it was one she couldn't predict a third of the way through.

Ki had an ordinary life. She was a nobody in high school. And a nobody at university. But she landed a good job after she graduated and quickly became a lead writer for the KBS News. It was kind of a big deal. She was young and she was female. And she had surpassed many of her seniors who had been there much longer than she had. She loved her job. It was the perfect job for someone that was invisible. She could share her words with the entire country and never had to worry about hair and makeup. Her job kept her busy. And fulfilled. But she'd recently been ordered to take her vacation days. She's worked for two years without a single sick day or holiday. Now, she was forced to take the week off. Her goal was to spend the entire week reading. She'd found a strange little trilogy by an American author and heard part 3 had a super hot Korean lead, so she was willing to suffer through the first two books to get to the finish line.

Her favourite place to read was outdoors, surrounded by nature and today she'd decided to step it up and be fancy. She had researched a park in the wealthy side of town. She was convinced the aesthetic would be perfect for her reading adventure.

She stepped off the bus and took a deep breath. Even the air smelled better in this neighborhood. The grass definitely looked greener. Things were looking up. She scanned the park for a suitable location to hunker down. She spotted a bench under a shady tree. It was summer in Seoul, but as it was still morning the sun wasn't too hot yet. Nearly all the benches in the cool shade were sitting empty. She strolled over to the bench. As she sat down, she began removing her items from her backpack. Reading was a serious matter and it required tools. She took out her water bottle and carefully tried to balance it on the worn wooden slats of the bench. It tipped a few times, but eventually she got it to stand. She pulled out her pen and highlighters. This was a bit trickier. Trying to find a way to line them on the bench without them rolling away or falling through the spaces between the slats of wood. After several attempts, she put the pens back in her bag. This wasn't going to work. She scanned the park for a table and spotted one not far away. It was nearer the playground equipment, which increased the risk of interrupting children, but she'd have to take the chance. She grabbed her water bottle and headed to the table.

Settled in her new location, Ki, once again began to remove her tools. Water bottle, pen, highlighters, facial tissue, (you never knew when a fictional character was going to make you cry very nonfiction tears), sunglasses, a small notepad, lip balm, a package of biscuits for sudden bursts of nervous eating, and her phone. With a deep sigh of satisfaction, she opened her book. It was a little outside her normal reading. It was about a girl in the Scottish Highlands and a curse and had a surprisingly high number of references to potatoes and sheep. The mystery had her hooked and she couldn't wait to find out if she was going to be able to save her sister and marry the tall redheaded historian.

It wasn't a few minutes into her book when a gentleman sat down at the bench next to her. She was used to people not noticing her. No one ever noticed her. But strangely, this man turned to her and said,

"That must be a really good book."

"It is."

"What's it about?"

"Sorry, it's a really interesting part, if you don't mind."

She continued to read without glancing up.