prologue.

[damyang county, jeollanam-do,
south korea]

the cafe door opened with a ding, signalling another new customer had entered. the customer hopped her way to her usual table and took a seat before placing her backpack on the table and taking out her math notebook, starting to solve out the problems given in her class.

from the counter, a lean figure with a tight smile reached her table. "good morning, hyejin. the usual?" the cafe barista asked her as if she was their regular customer and not a new face anymore. moreover, she was their regular customer who dropped by in the afternoon to use the place as her space to complete assignments. every staff in the café were fond of her for her cheerful and child-like personality and at times, even lended their hands for helping her with the studies.

"of course, the usual." she passed him a wide smile while nodding as the barista smiled and walked back to the kitchen.

she looked outside the huge glass window to soak in her surroundings. the sky didn't seem to be satisfied with the rain it had poured as the dull clouds still lingered around the sky. the fresh soaked soil gave out a pleasant fragrance, entering through the open windows and reached her nose, making her smile in delight.

she didn't like rain. yet she loved the smell of the soil after rain. moreover, she was always grateful for the rain for gifting the most wonderful fragrance to the earth as she felt like it said 'here's something to make you happy after i'm gone.' and it was heart-warming for her to imagine rain's humbleness.

while she was fiddling through her bag to take out a ruler, her gaze fell upon a camera beside the bag, laying abandoned.

she reached out and took the camera, examining the exterior. it wasn't the type of camera to be abandoned here. as she was about to switch on the camera, the barista arrived with her order.

she thanked him before clearing her throat, stating out her confusion. "hobi," she called out his name.

"is there anything you need help with, hyejin?" the said man's gaze fell on the open notebook beside her, wondering if she was stuck on a problem.

she shook her head as the camera danced in her hand, the movement causing the barista's eyes fall on the black object.

"do you perhaps know the last customer sitting here? this seemed to be left here on the table." she stated, showing him the camera she found a few minutes ago.

the barista glanced at the camera before looking at her with a frown on his face for the first time that day. "i'm sorry. my shift just began so i can't tell you who the person was who left this behind."

"it's alright. i'll keep it by myself and try to find the owner." she smiled at him after contemplating for a while.

"are you sure? you can give it to us and we can find its owner. i don't want you to be troubled over a silly thing like this when your finals are near." hobi looked at her with worry knowing she had a lot other work to do instead of searching the owner of a mere camera.

"but i want to find them by myself. if i can't find, i'll give it to you as you said." hyejin pouted as hobi sighed in defeat.

hobi went back to the counter as hyejin drank her caffè mocha and switched the camera on. she went through the gallery but was only astonished to find the pictures captured in the camera.

it was none other than her. more than half of the gallery was filled with her.

"why is this filled with my pictures?!"

a/n:- a fresh opening of a fresh story~ did you like it?

and you might have noticed the location i added here. it's mainly cause i've seen people use seoul as their story locations. plus i wanted something different. so instead of reading about a huge metropolitan city, ya'll will be getting yourselves into the quiet and often unknown parts of south korea ;)