OMEGA; A KPOP Idol

Prologue

She looked up from her chromebook and out her window, as her room went dark. Thunder could be heard and from the silence between the loud noises, the storm seemed to be about seven miles away. To the right of her window the sky was a dark grey blanket, and to her left was blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Living on the outskirts of Mokpo had its perks, but it was also very isolating, not that she minded. Living in Mokpo wasn't horrible, as she went to a small high school, and got a good paying job.

The worst thing was there were countless reasons to hate living in this city as well. The first reason was that she had worked after school until eight pm for the past three years. On top of that, she had to pick up her brother after work, go home and make dinner, put him to bed, and then do her homework. The earliest she went to bed was midnight, and the latest was not going to bed at all.

Every morning she woke up at five to get ready, make their lunches and snacks and prepare breakfast. Then she'd wake him up to eat breakfast, help him get ready, and get her own stuff sorted out. Then she'd help him with his homework if he needed it, and by seven fifteen they were on the bus into town, getting off on the closest stop near school. She walked him to his school and made sure he was through the front doors before jogging to hers, always arriving five minutes before classes started.

On weekends she'd spend her time on weekend homework, household chores, and spend as much time with her brother as she could. She also worked a late shift at a diner on Sundays, across the cafe she worked at during the school week.

Where were their parents you ask? Their father was a saint buried six feet deep in the ground, and their mother an absolute sinner still haunting their lives everyday. Her father had passed away due to a heart attack three years before, and their mother was a drunk who worked at a local bank, when she remembered anyway.

The only reason that their mother still had that job was because she slept with the bank manager on occasion, the only reason she still cared was to keep her drinking money coming. Her father was a finance manager, the best in Mokpo at that, so he'd put money into accounts monthly for his children's future, and what they planned to use it for.

Thankfully their mother was never home, but Kang Chung-Ae couldn't wait until she graduated in three months and she and her brother could up and leave. A better place where she could get a better paying job, and get a better education for her brother, as well as good friends for him.

Kang Myung was small for his age, and he was really smart, so he was often shunned by the kids in school. It didn't help that their parents and teachers discouraged their kids from playing with him as they knew about their situation.

It wasn't much better for Chung-Ae either. Her friends had left, and the students ostracised her. She wasn't bullied, but she wasn't treated kindly either. The teachers ignored her existence for the most part, as she still got full marks even though she had two jobs and had to take care of her brother on top of all of her schoolwork.

The account that her father had left her, and the one that he left for Myung were only to be touched by a guardian, or when they finished school, so thankfully their mother forgot that she had access to them. Since she was born, her father had been putting in 65000 won a month, and did the same with her brother's account, although her account had significantly more than his did. Add the amount in her account, plus her salaries that had been directly wired to her account. It was a lot, enough for her to move out sooner than later.

For about two years now she'd been making up a plan to leave the city they were in and move north, a new start for her and her brother, to a bigger city with more opportunity. She'd looked at apartment buildings, ones that were close to elementary schools and restaurants as well, hoping that she'd get a good deal, one which she didn't have to use up her savings within the first month there. She'd decided on moving to Daejeon, which was only 50 minutes by train, no stops in between. She kept a close eye on things, keeping listings and checking up on them every few days.

There was only one problem. She didn't know how she was going to take her brother with her, as her mother would probably call the cops about her taking him. Then she'd end up in a worse place than where she started, also leaving her brother to fend for himself. Chung-Ae wasn't his guardian, and the only other way to free him from her mother was to go to court for neglect, in which he'd then be put up for adoption, and torn away from her. She'd have to find a way to leave peacefully, without anyone ending up in jail, and soon, because her graduation was right around the corner, and that's when she was planning on leaving.

She was finishing up some homework that she hadn't finished the night before, as Myung read on her bed to keep her company. There was a tall pile of children's books to keep his bright mind occupied, as he was smart for his age, and that was all they had. Their mother refused to buy him the next level up, even though he could read those easily. She couldn't wait until they got out of this city so that Myung could get the life he deserved. She shut her chromebook just as the rain stopped, her mind still dreaming of the day they would leave.