IQ148 // namjoon ✔️

__DECEMBER__

December ; 2015

HyunSeok starts off his day by opening the Daeo bookstore. He would unlock the doors, organize books, and sweep the floors before finally flipping the sign on the front door from 'Sorry, we're closed' to 'Welcome, we're open.'

His routine is consistent and his days are unchanging. His work gets done in the same uniform manner.

Everyday is unlock the doors.

Organize the books.

Sweep the floors.

Flip the sign.

The varying part of his work is when customers start to file through the door.

Working at the Daeo Bookstore is a lot more interactive than people assume; a person can learn a lot about another person based on the books they buy.

HyunSeok doesn't mind the hecticness since the bookstore is an overall easygoing working environment. There's not many days when it's something he can't handle.

But even within the flurry of customers who come in and out, there's one constant among the crowd of faces: one face that sticks out from the others. A face that has become familiar to him over the past few years.

There's this girl...

A young woman, rather, who was a university student the first time she came to the bookstore. She looks to be around his age, but the books she would buy told a different story: a diverse range of literature from Hesse to Murakami to Austen to J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

The first book she bought from the bookstore was Persuasion by Jane Austen about 2 years back; probably when she first started university and was new to this part of the city. He remembers that it was a chilly day in Seoul; maybe she was just trying to find a place to get out of the breeze. HyunSeok isn't sure if she got on the wrong train and got lost while trying to find her campus, but somehow she ended up here a few years ago and bought her first book.

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When she gracefully laid the paperback on the counter, HyunSeok was immediately intrigued. He made the immediate assumption that she must be well read to be reading such classic literature. Especially with the translations from English, these types of novels were hard to comprehend.

"I've never heard of this one." HyunSeok mentioned as he scanned the back of the cover for the price tag.

She gawked at him in genuine shock, "Really? Well you should check out her books sometime. They're vintage, but still very relevant."

"Oh no, not that," he corrected, "I know very well who Jane Austen is, but I've yet to check out this particular novel."

She brushed off the misunderstanding with an embarrassed giggle before continuing the small talk, "Yeah, I'd like to say I'm pretty educated in Austen novels, but Persuasion is the one I've never gotten around to reading."

She pointed to the book in his hands that he was examining still, "You can read the description on the back. I pulled it off the shelf without reading it myself."

HyunSeok followed her directions and held the book up to eye level. He scanned through the description on the back of the cover:

In the last fully completed novel by Jane Austen is the story of a second chance.

Anne Elliot, daughter of the snobbish Sir Walter Elliot, is woman of quiet charm and deep feelings. When she was nineteen she fell in love with-and was engaged to-a naval officer, the fearless and headstrong Captain Wentworth. But the young man had no fortune, and Anne allowed herself to be persuaded to give him up. Now, eight years later, Wentworth has returned to the neighborhood, a rich man and still unwed. Anne's never-diminished love is muffled by her pride, and he seems cold and unforgiving. What happens as the two are thrown together in the social world of Bath-and as an eager new suitor appears for Anne-is touchingly and wittily told in a masterpiece that is also one of the most entrancing novels in the English language.