6 am. Bangjoo opened his eyes and turned off the beeping alarm right next to his head. It was early dawn, well before sunrise. Bangjoo folded his blankets and put on his running clothes to exercise.

“Good morning.”

“Running again?”

“Of course.”

It’d become a routine task for him at this point to greet the neighboring lady that went out to pray every morning. Bangjoo began running after some brief stretches with the sharp, cold air grazing past his cheeks dispelling his sleepiness. He turned at the park right behind his home and did a lap around a nearby hill before coming back home. It took him exactly 40 minutes. Compared to the 80 minutes he used to spend to complete this run, it was a significant improvement. It was a bit annoying how he wasn’t able to get any faster, but he wasn’t about to exhaust even more energy just to tire himself out for the rest of the day.

After taking a shower, he put the soup he made last night on boil. After scooping some rice from the rice cooker, adding some side dishes his sister made, and the soup, he got himself a very nice breakfast. By the time he finished eating, it was 7:30am. He quickly finished washing the dishes and stepped outside. It took him about 40...