The Belief That Things Will Get Better – 1

Shin Jeonga got off the bus and headed towards the area densely packed with old villas.

Everywhere she looked, there were regulation-sized garbage bags and trash crammed into their openings.

She also saw scraps of paper scattered around, evidence of someone’s short-lived patience, and traces of heavy drinking littered the streets, even though the weekend hadn’t arrived yet.

Shin Jeonga pinched her nose with her free hand and frowned.

She passed this way every day, but she never got used to it.

She thought of Kang In-ho’s house and the hill leading up to it.

A neat, bright path, seemingly without a single flaw.

It was a bit of a struggle to climb, but she thought it was a hundred times better than walking through this stinky street.

After navigating the maze-like alleys several times, she came to a dead end.

And at the end of that alley, as always, were her friends.

“You’re here?”

Kim Jin-tae, who was smoking a cigarette, spat on the ground and greeted her.

Shin Jeonga held out a plastic bag, and Seong Yun-ho, who had been giggling with Jeonga next to her, trotted over and snatched the bag.

“Oh… you bought a lot. But why did it take you so long?”

Seong Yun-ho teased Shin Jeonga.

“What’s it to you, you moron?”

Shin Jeonga shoved Seong Yun-ho’s shoulder.

“You pathetic bastard.”

Kim Jin-tae snickered, watching Seong Yun-ho stumble from Shin Jeonga’s push.

Kim Jin-tae reached into the bag Seong Yun-ho was holding.

Clink. The sound of glass bottles hitting each other, and a green bottle was pulled out in his hand.

“It’s hard to find places that aren’t locked up these days. They’re so thorough. Shit.”

Kim Jin-tae, after checking the contents, put it back in the bag.

He threw the cigarette he was holding on the ground and led the group.

“Where are we going today?”

“Let’s go to the multi-room. A friend of mine is working there now.”

Waving his hand to signal them to follow, Kim Jin-tae left the alley.

And his friends followed behind.

“……..”

Shin Jeonga watched her friends’ backs.

Their shadows, cast by the flickering streetlights, were grotesquely spread across the ground and walls.

The image resembled a tangle of gaunt winter trees, and she slowly moved her feet to follow them.

Her mind was still filled with Kang In-ho as she walked along the smelly, chaotic alley.

To Yoon Sia, daily life felt like a fierce battlefield.

Between taking care of her father, school assignments, and preparing lessons to teach Inho, the tutoring day was already approaching.

Today, she grabbed a calorie bar to stave off her hunger and got off the bus, clutching her empty stomach.

She didn’t have time to stop by the convenience store for something to eat.

It was because she didn’t have enough money in her wallet, and because she was 30 minutes late for tutoring due to a late shift at the hospital.

“Haa-“

Her eyes naturally turned to the night sky.

The moon was unusually bright.

It was a particularly draining day.

Everything she had planned went wrong, and just when one part of her life seemed to be improving, another part suddenly went awry.

No matter how hard an individual tried, no matter how well they prepared,

It felt like being swept away by a giant wave, tossed and turned, colliding with everything, completely out of her control.

Or maybe she was passing through a long tunnel.

Like the countless tunnels she had passed through on the Yeongdong Expressway, Yoon Sia, the car, had entered a long tunnel section.

Occasionally. Passing through mountains and briefly seeing the sunlight outside, but only for a moment.

Back into the winding, long tunnel, a life of simply driving forward in the darkness.

Yes, I’m in a tunnel now.

Yoon Sia thought as she walked.

I wish I was even more miserable, completely ruined.

Thoughts too frightening to even entertain suddenly surfaced.

Why does life leave even the smallest hope, forcing the unhappy to live on?

Yoon Sia felt tears welling up in her eyes for no reason.

She dragged her worn-out shoes along the road. She couldn’t afford the luxury of indulging in sentimentality.

She desperately wanted to finish tutoring quickly, go home, and rest.

It was then, as she passed the convenience store.

“Teacher.”

At the familiar voice, she looked up and saw her student surrounded by cats in front of the convenience store.

It was Kang In-ho.

The notorious troublemaker who had been suspended for bullying a friend.

But he greeted her with an expression and attire that were quite different from her assessment of him.

“What are you doing?”

Yoon Sia, exhausted, asked, and Kang In-ho smiled awkwardly.

“Oh, well… I just came to buy some dinner….”

He was holding a half-squeezed Churu treat in his hand.

“I guess I fell for the convenience store Boss’s marketing ploy.”

He shrugged and smiled.

A clear smile and eyes.

Yoon Sia thought.

The apathetic, rude look she had seen on the first day was nowhere to be found.

“I see.”

Yoon Sia replied vaguely, not knowing what else to say.

Kang In-ho squeezed the Churu in his hand into the cats’ food bowl, wiped his hands, and came to her.

“You must have had a busy day today.”

Inho asked as they walked side by side.

Yoon Sia smiled bitterly, thinking about her busy day.

“Teacher, you haven’t eaten, have you?”

Inho asked when they reached the entrance to the hill.

“No. Why?”

“I haven’t eaten either. Let’s eat together.”

“Dinner?”

“Yes, dinner. I figured you probably skipped dinner again today anyway.”

“Ah, well….”

Yoon Sia avoided his gaze at the spot-on question.

“We’re doing this to live, after all. We need to eat to have strength.”

Kang In-ho said like an old man as they climbed the hill.

“What are you, an old man?”

Kang In-ho looked deeply hurt by Yoon Sia’s muttering.

He picked up his pace and started walking quickly.

Yoon Sia watched his back.

His shadow, cast by the streetlight, was displayed on the ground like a giant fence.

“Let’s go quickly. We need to eat and then have class.”

Kang In-ho, giving her a refreshing smile as he looked back at her, started walking ahead.

As she climbed the long, long hill, Yoon Sia thought.

Ah, this kid is kind at heart….

He just made the wrong friends…