She couldn’t get a single wink of sleep. Aside from passing out a few times throughout the night, she had her eyes open the whole night. Her head was in a daze and her body felt heavy like it was soaked in water.

“Dahae, are you up?”

“I’m up.”

Choi Dahae sat on her bed and rubbed her face before opening the door. She could hear the TV and saw her mom preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

“Where’s dad?”

“He left early in the morning for work.”

“Oh, so that was dad leaving. I heard the door close. I thought it was the next door over.”

“You have sensitive ears.”

“It’s not that. I just didn’t get good sleep.”

Her mother put down the doenjang soup and asked,

“What is it? Are you not feeling well?”

“No, I’m just nervous. I won’t see anyone I know when I go to school.”

“You truly are introverted like your mother. It’s okay. I’m sure they’re all good kids.”

“You don’t know how I feel, mom.”

After having lived in Gwangju all her life, Dahae and her family moved to Seoul when she graduated middle school. She cried for two days after hearing that they were moving. All of her friends were going to a high school in Gwangju, but she had to go to Seoul all by herself and had to make friends from scratch.

She came up to Seoul after her last goodbyes and spent her time at home ever since then. What was she supposed to do in a neighborhood where she didn’t have any friends? It was bad to the point...