Zero by One: Take Me Home

11. Three Ill Fates

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CHAPTER 11
Doom's Arc
EP: ONE

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Adulting. Ah, yes. The concept that Hyewoon thought she was capable of living through not too long ago.

However...

　"The fuck did I do to get Kang Taehyun's fate like a hand-me-down Tshirt?!" Hyewoon kicked the small pebble on the road, fed up, after hearing the word 'unavailable' for the sixth time in her job hunt.

Nobody warned her about exchange program students that go above the sanity meter and become possessed by who knew what kind of demons, especially at the end of the intake seasons. They fight for any vacant position, whether it be strip dancing or shepherding (no, for real, all thee farms took down their 'job offer' notices quite fast every year), as long as it feeds their mouths.

Suddenly, it hit her.

This was probably karma coming at her for making fun of Taehyun's "no progress".

　 But I never actually celebrated his failures!

Walking away from Woolies*, she struck out the store name on her journal where she jotted down almost every part-time spot in the neighbourhood. Counting the very few bullet points that remained, her hair could not be more inclined to turn itself silver from lilac.

　"Only three left?!"

Just when she was about to go off again, a disturbing screech invaded her ears. After a yell, she found herself greeting the rough, asphalt ground, like a good ol' friend.

Hyewoon saw both of her kneecaps having been peeled by gravels, bleeding ugly in each spot.

A furious keyboard smash went off inside her head. Then she remembered to look up to meet a twentyish guy staring at her.

Somewhat bordering on the aesthetics of one of those idols of whom she was a diehard fan back in her late teens (admittedly, she still is), this one who stood in an unconfident stance did not fall much onto the masculine spectrum in her eyes.

The word "troubled" was written all over his wan features and Hyewoon's eyes may or may not be tripping for what his hands were doing with the hem of his shirt.

Turned out it was him who brought dismay to her knees.

　"Oi?? Oi!!! Mate, help me up!! What the f-"

Who knew? In hindsight, mf wasn't a man, but rather a sissy exposed in broad daylight when he chose to pick up his two-wheelers and ran off.

　The audacity, ladies and gents.

With a sudden loss of faith in humanity, she watched the bicycle take a corner and disappear like the wind, apparently unapologetic for worsening somebody else's disastrous day.

Just before she flew to here, a shady fortune teller around Garosu-gil* randomly spewed nonsense to her about "three ill fates aligning with her birth star" and whatnot.

　"Pshh. 'Ill fates', you say?? Sike. Should've been 'assholes'!" With nobody to lend this damsel in distress a hand, Hyewoon stood up on her own and dust herself off.

With fresh wounds that hurt like a b, the nearest pharmacy would only be the place she could access to.

And with the same knees wrapped in band-aids, she somehow managed to move into her new home in the evening with Seoyun's help.