고생 끝에 낙이 온다 || 𝐒ค𝐄𝐁𝐘𝔼ᵒ𝓃𝓖

At the end of hardship comes happiness.

To -240am , who has made my life just as many times better as Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok made each other, I wish you a happy birthday from every cell in my body. My heart belongs to you.
- Salem (01.08.22)

Now Playing: Oxygen by Beach Bunny
•••

The cause of debt was one of a thousand, with there being just as many ways of finding yourself out of it. It was never easy, of course, pulling yourself out of a hole that had seemed to only ever have one outlook—to dig deeper and deeper until the pit of vastness sucked you inside forever.

However, you could claw your way out through a variety of methods. You could call for help until someone came and threw down something you could use as leverage, whether that be a ladder or a not-so-simple rope. You could create your own footholds and climb your way out, letting the soil dig underneath your now broken fingernails. Maybe you could even claw your way all the way through the earth and into a new land. That is, if you didn't melt in the earth's core first.

Perhaps each of these methods could describe the actions that came forth that summer afternoon.

It was rather early into the season, with the temperatures having not reached even close to the usual high for the season. The sun hung low in in the sky, casting the apartment in an array of golden rays that occasionally dissipated due to the clouds. At that time, Kang Sae-byeok had no idea what awaited her in the coming minutes.

Her younger brother, Cheol, watched the screen with an avid curiosity, finding the cartoons bewildering. Occasionally he would laugh, pause the show, and shake the arm of his half focused sister to get her to watch it as well.

She couldn't blame him for the enjoyment that they were both feeling. She had managed to pull him out of the orphanage he had been staying at for months and manage to save enough money to rent them out an apartment, at the very least. Though the thought of their mother, still being held in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula made her shudder.

Right now, however, her focus was on neither her little brother and his enjoyment or their mother, but on the impending arrival of her girlfriend.

Ji-yeong had never been one to stay out late since she claimed to have nothing to do. Not only that, but after the unfortunate incident with her mother and father, she had never wanted to catch an officer watching her as if she would kill yet another man.

She did, however, gain a somewhat worrying habit of going out as of late, not coming back home until hours after she had shown up. Sometimes Sae-byeok would not have even noticed her arrive until they were both curled in bed together come morning.

The few times she had seen her had been just as concerning—sometimes what she saw was nothing but her girlfriend with her normal appearance, but other times she could come back completely askew. Her brown highlighted hair would be matted in many places, clinging to her face where sweat had perspired and even dried in some places; her clothes sticking to her skin that was riddled with just as much sweat. Even then, Ji-yeong managed to look as beautiful as ever to the northerner.

It wasn't a daily occurrence, but it had happened enough times that she had questioned it many various times. She was met with the same open ended response every time; "What? Are you afraid I'm going out with another woman?"

It wasn't the least bit endearing to know that she hadn't started thinking that until the moment those words left her mouth.

Cheol curled into his older sister, finally noticing the various emotions swirling in her eyes. "What's wrong?" He asked, the words a gentle urge for her to talk. It wasn't like the times before when she had to lie about how she was managing to get money for them so that they could be reunited with their mother—now it was simply a question between a brother and a sister.