Ghost Writer

Microwaveable Meals and Nasty Neighbors

ONE WEEK LATER...

CHUNG-CHA SNAPPED HER LAPTOP SHUT and stretched her arms. "Lunch time!" she hummed happily.

She double-checked that her wallet had money, before grabbing her notebook and rushing to the grocery. She took her time to select her lunch, and today she chose the "Instant Beef Curry" package. Counting the money, she queued behind a woman with a cartful of groceries. When the woman left, Chung-Cha handed the microwaveable meal to the cashier, Bo-Ram.

"Here again? Chung-Cha, when are you going to learn to cook?" Bo-Ram teased as she scanned the product.

Chung-Cha pouted. "If I learn to cook, then who will accompany you during lunch time?" She handed the money.

Bo-Ram chuckled. "You're always so thoughtful. By the way, you're still so cheerful despite the emergency text."

"What?" Chung-Cha immediately stopped laughing. She turned on her phone and immediately received a barrage of notifications. Messages from her parents, a video circulating around social media, and of course the government message. "Oh. This looks bad," she grimaced and glanced at Bo-Ram, who gave her back the product. "Bye, Bo-Ram. Stay safe."

Chung-Cha walked back to the building, carrying her beef curry carefully. There were several people gathered in the lift lobby⁠—the woman from earlier, an older woman and her neighbor, Na Hyun-Kyung. They didn't look too happy. Chung-Cha stepped into the building.

"⁠—You must be a public rental." The older woman stated, staring at Hyun-Kyung.

"And that matters, because?" Chung-Cha injected, frowning. Out of all the apartment complexes she lived in, the resident-public rental divide here was the most absurd. And it seemed like there were more pressing things to worry about.

The older woman shook her head slightly, ignoring Chung-Cha. "Anyway, the doctor from Unit 601 is sick and complaining that she can't see her patients due to random visitors, so—"

"Then tell them to stop making noise all night. It's bothering others." The woman from the grocery store said.

The older woman was getting annoyed. "You can't pinpoint the source of noise when it is through the walls."

At this moment, the elevator arrived and two elderly woman exited. One heard the commotion and handed out pamphlets. "Don't fight and come to church. God knows everything."

"Yeah, no," Chung-Cha muttered. She glanced at Hyun-Kyung, who nodded. Then, they both immediately disappeared to the stairwell. Both of them weren't religious, and they were constantly avoiding their devout elderly neighbor from Unit 302 who kept inviting them to weekly meetings.

Chung-Cha grabbed some of Hyun-Kyung bags. "Here, let me help."

"Thanks."

When they reached the fourth floor, Chung-Cha returned the bags and they bid each other goodbye. Chung-Cha put the food in the microwave and replied to her parents, before scrolling through her phone as she waited for the food to cook. The situation was really bad. From what she gathered, there was an outbreak of disease not only in Korea, but the rest of the world too. The disease made patients extremely aggressive, such that the government was restricting gatherings. It seemed that there was also some cases in Seyang (which was where she lived!), such as in a homeless shelter in Seyang. That was a lot to take in.  

Ding! The timer on the microwave reached zero.

Speaking of which, the boomer said that Min-Ji was sick. Chung-Cha and Min-Ji had formed an odd relationship over the past few weeks. True to her word (or lack thereof), Min-Ji did not snitch on Chung-Cha. Perhaps it was because she found the situation amusing, but Chung-Cha was unbothered. Chung-Cha should visit and check up on her. She looked around and saw the unopened rice cake (from her new neighbors from Unit 501), and decided it was a perfect get-well-soon gift to give to Min-Ji (not like she had anything else in her refrigerator). She'd go after work, Chung-Cha decided as she shoveled the piping hot beef curry into her mouth.