The Art of Getting By
CHAPTER THREE

❛ The Sun, the Moon, and the Earth. ❜

7:52 PM
September 2021
CHEONG-SAN FRIED CHICKEN

THERE WAS ONE lesson that Lee Han-eul learnt from Hyosan High School, in particular, that drilled into his head quite so. A lesson that seemed to make him chuckle wryly at the uncanny irony. Now, he didn't realise it at first, when the lesson was being taught, but after a while, the lesson made a far greater impact on him than the other classes he took.

The Sun, the Moon, and the Earth.

"An eclipse occurs when one heavenly body, such as the moon or planet moves into the shadow of another heavenly body. In this case, the Moon orbits around the Earth. But at the same time, the Earth orbits the Sun. Now, the sun normally emits its light on to the moon, causing it to glow."

Lee Han-eul was trying his hardest to retain the information during a science class during the summer of 2019. But due to the everlasting heat from the glorious sun rays that flooded into the stuffy classroom, it almost lulled him to sleep. So, the astute, treasured student, found himself doodling miniature crescent moons, and him as an astronaut within the corner of his gridded notebook.

Hyosan High School's ingenious science teacher, with a tailored, grey suit and an upbeat voice that was enough to keep the students awake, continued his lesson on eclipses that emerges in Space. Lee Byeong-chan's back faced the classroom as he lectured onwards, his knowledge scrawled onto the chalk board with just his right hand. "However, sometimes the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon. When this happens, the Earth blocks the sunlight that is normally reflected by the moon.

Instead of the sunlight emitting on the moon, it shines on the Earth's surface, thus, making the moon fall under the Earth's shadow."

Lee Han-eul continued to draw another moon, but this time, it's darker.

The flaxen lights dazzled its rays within the humble restaurant. A resteraunt that resided on the very corner of a placid street of Hyosan, one that was familiar, and lived on by families that were established in the homely place since the Earth first started to breathe.

Cheong-san Fried Chicken.

The succulent and appeasing smell of fried chicken danced from the cool toned kitchen, to the glass, double doors of the entrance. Mellow voices mixed in with the sound of the pattering rain as the glass door was left ajar for solace and fresh ventilation. The sweet bliss of the rain filled Lee Han-eul's senses, as the crisp aroma of an earthy scent hushed his nerves.

Lee Han-eul forever found solace with the very existence of rain.

He cherished the warming emotions that bled through his soul as the clouds showered over Hyosan, it was the only element to his day that brought him true comfort. After being consumed by so many despondent emotions throughout the day, the rain was there to accompany his melancholy thoughts. But, as soon as his muddied shoes landed him inside the restaurant, out of the weather he held so dearly, a darkened, sullen emotion loomed over his expression.

Slipping the grey hood off his dampened hair, the tips of them dripping with icicles of rain water, creating tiny puddles beside him, he stepped into the lemon coloured room. A gentle tug could be felt on the corner of his sleeve, doing a double-take, Lee Han-eul fatigued eyes landed on Hyosan's youngest archer.

Minute particles of rain littered across the young girl's eyelashes, so did the particles of merriment skip across her doe eyes as the two arrived at one of Moon Hae-Bom's most treasured destinations in this Universe. "We're here!" Rocking from her heels to her tippy toes, a cherubic smile, graced her small face as yanked lightly at Lee Han-eul's sleeve again.

Bending his knees tinily to shorten the lengthy distance between the two of them, a soft grin managed to illustrate itself across his gloomy expression, that seemed to match the dreary skies outside. Sombrely elated. "We are indeed." The dulcet smile only expanded when Hae-Bom balled her palms up into fist, reaching forwards, she hovered it in front of his attentive face.

"You're stupendous," Hae-Bom tilted her head slightly, with her eyes narrowed, trying to pronounce the phrase correctly without stumbling over any vowels.

With both irises as crescent moons, a jovial chuckle toppled from Lee Han-eul's lips at the english word, "where did you learn that word from?" Bringing his own clenched hand upwards, Han-eul connected his knuckles, gingerly and airily against Hae-Bom's own fist, before swinging his arm back down to his side.

"From Kim Soo Nyung's archery competition she had in 1988, the European reporter mentioned the word, and I asked Unnie what it meant, and even she didn't know what it meant-"

"Sounds like Moon Eun-Byeol," Lee Han-eul snorted.

"Then, we searched online, and turns out, that, it's actually a fancy word for amazing." She dragged out the last phrase in english to magnify her astonishment.

"I feel very honoured that you called me," Lee Han-eul cleared his throat to say the next word in english, for effect, "stupendous." Taking the bag of hefty arrows and bow from Hae-Bom's palms, a sense of pride loitered across his chest the longer his eyes remained on the youngest Moon sibling.

"Of course, my Unnie says that we're surrounded by people who are just like us. So if I'm stupendous, then so are you," a slow yawn broke through Hae-Bom's petite grin, the vivid energy that illuminated her existence, began to fade away ever so, the more she grew famished.

Trudging exhaustedly over towards the middle of the restaurant, for she felt a rumble of goosebumps arise on the surface of her arms from the cold, Hae-Bom felt her stomach create a thundering growl for the fifth time that evening.

"Oh it's the Fried Chicken stealer," a voice called out as she joined the high spirited table in the centre of the room.

Hae-Bom plopped down on to the very edge of her seat, not bothering to greet her elders as she tried to locate her beloved bowl of beef soup. But her line of vision kept swaying around due to the Han-eul's foot. "HELLO EOMEONI!" Moon Hae-Bom called out to the kitchen, "EOMEONI, EOMEONI, EOMEONI!"

"YES?" A warm smile illustrated across, the Lee sibling's mother, Hee-Young's compassionately expressed face. Sitting within her palms was a reddish, maroon dish, with sliced finely cooked beef, drizzled with circular green onion on top.

"MY BEEF SOUP!"

An upbeat and sing-song tone laced Hee-Young's voice as a heart chuckle fell from her lips, "aigoo, you look worn out," settling the ceramic bowl, gently, on to the wooden table, she then massaged the youngest Moon child on the shoulders, "here, eat up, or the yukgaejang and rice will go cold. This will be a perfect way to regain your energy."

Shimmying within her seat, an exulted grin, graced Moon Hae-Bom's lovable face, the scintillating sparkles within her eyes dazzled brightly, much like meteors, as her eyes landed on the savoury soup. "THANK YOU EOMEONI," mumbling with a large dollop of beef and rice within her mouth, it made her cheeks appear plump.

"There's no need! My yukgaejang soup has been receiving so much love because of you. I heard you joined a new archery club, did you shoot many arrows?" Patting the young girl's shoulders, the rims around Hee-Young's merry eyes, softened, at the sight. Hee-Young had added extra rice within Hae-Bom's bowl that evening, knowing how diligent she was, and how she never learns to give herself a break.

If there was one way to describe Moon Hae-Bom, that would be: a magnetar. Magnetars are neutron stars that have a much stronger magnetic field than ordinary neutron stars- Hae-Bom was the flawless epitome of a magnetar. The magnetic field around her soul was beyond the strength of the people she surrounded herself with.

"Mhm . . ." Moon Hae-Bom licked her chopsticks until it was squeaky clean again, before fishing for another piece of beef and a scoop of rice with her soup spoon. "I . . ." A mumble. "Shot . . ." Another mumble. "Arrow . . ." Yet another mumble. "Red ring!" Another mumble to add to the series of mumbles. "It's my first red ring and Ha-ri Unnie saw it, are you proud of me Eomeoni?-"

An arm reached out from beside Lee Cheong-san, making him rest against the back of his chair so suddenly. The hand had a fork, one that was blanketed with fried chicken sauce, thud. It slammed and landed on a lengthy piece of beef that swam around within Hae-Bom's bowl.

"OP-"

Letting the piquant taste sizzle against his taste buds, a widened smile brightened across Gyeong-su's brazen face, the corners of his eyes watering slightly from the amount of laughter he tried bottling up. "Payback: a success," nodding to himself whilst murmuring a couple of yeses to exclaim his victory, "hey Fried Chicken Stealer, I deserved that piece okay? You live up to your nickname too well."

"Okay Yukgaejang Stealer," slouching her shoulders childishly, she gave him a sideways glance to slyly check for his reaction at the new nickname she conjured. Hae-Bom slurped at her soup.

"Wow, how original-"

"I scored a red ring today, tomorrow it might be a yellow."

Gyeong-su spluttered on his Cola drink, the brown beverage flowed down the wrong pipe, "would you like a chicken," a tiny, wavering smile tried to paint itself across his messy mouth, one that had crumbs of batter on the corners, as he offered a chicken leg, his head bowed. "Please take it m'lady."

Another hand wrapped around the chicken leg.

"Thank you Gyeong-su, you're the best." The six foot, iron-willed and savvy student of Hyosan, also resembling a jack of all trades, gladly took the offering, from the corner of his eye, he could see Moon Hae-Bom's jaw gradually reach the ground.

In front of the three, On-Jo, an unyielding student of Class Five, Year Two, a magnet of all natures of pleasantness and a mellow semblance, kicked Cheong-san in the shin, "hey Lee Cheong-san, that was for Hae-Bom not you."

"But it doesn't have Hae-Bom's name on it-" He felt her foot collide with his shin once again, "OW- that hurt you know?"

"Good," On-jo only replied as she twirled her fork around between her fingertips, a snarky grin meandered its way across her smug lips.

"It's okay, you can have it," doing a half-shrug, Hae-Bom then arched her back to face Gyeon-su, who began to cower behind Cheong-san's back. She progressively thinned her eyes at Yukgaejang Stealer, her mind wilding with thoughts on how to assemble a revenge, "Yukgaejang Stealer, what was that for?"

"How was that my fault, Cheong-san took it before I could even give it to you I swear-" Gyeong-su rushed.

"You better watch out, soon, one of my arrows will have your name on it."

"That was a good one," accompanying On-jo with the pair of foolish boys that cannot be left unattended, was I-sak. An encouraging smile danced on I-sak's lips as she buried her fork within her meal. It only widened when Hae-Bom sent her a toothy grin, one that had some green onions between the gaps of her teeth, I-sak only chuckled softly, before facing her class-mate that was sat before her. "Stop being an idiot why don't you? She's literally younger than you. You're meant to set an example."

Gyeong-su almost spit out his Cola drink again, and nearly spilled his glass when he saw Hae-Bom stick her tongue out at him. Blinking several times, he protested. "But- But I did nothing wrong? And I'm not that old? I still need to go over Kindergarten maths sometimes, which is the same as Fried Chicken stealer?"

"That's not exactly an achievement you idiot," Cheong-san took a long sip from his drink as he said so, and doubling over with laughter when he felt a light punch on his shoulder.

"Exactly," the benevolent girl answered, I-sak's eyes glowed triumphantly at her small victory. Digging her fork deeper into a chicken leg, I-sak reached out and placed it on top of Hae-Bom's bowl of rice, "here, have mine instead."

"THANK YOU UNNIE, YOU'RE MY FAVOURITE," Hae-Bom immediately replied as she ripped her eyes away from Gyeong-su and onto the rich coloured plate that she had in front of her, especially I-sak's kind gift.

Her beloved yukgaejang soup and fried chicken leg.

Behind the limelight, Lee Han-eul's delicately bruised knees nearly loosened up, his muscles growing tired from travelling by foot all the time. A peaceful smile meandered across his powdery pink lips, ones that had pale and light scars on the corners of them.

The virtuous scene before Lee Han-eul, was as pure and beatific as a falling snowflake.

The crystallised edges were like Moon Hae-Bom and the students of Class Five, Year Two: unique and chaotic. But as a snowflake falls and morphs into water, it slips away from existence. Exactly how Lee Han-eul was being pulled away from spectating Moon Hae-Bom's innocent moment, all by the sound of his father's strident voice.

A snowflake has to eventually melt on to the ground.

"LEE HAN-EUL, IS THAT YOU?"

All eyes were now on Lee Han-eul.

Before Lee Han-eul moved, his eyes darted towards his own mother. She avoided his gaze, but focused on the food she set out in front of the students. All strings within her chest contorted themselves, when she saw her eldest son dart his eyes away at this from her peripheral vision.

A firm sense of hatred enveloped Lee Han-eul's judgements as his cheeks eclipsed, his eyes grew rigid and unblinking as the slight exuberant emotion he held before, began to be overshadowed by hammering, anxious thoughts. Manoeuvring between the aisles of tables, Lee Han-eul continuously fiddled with the cold zipper of his jacket like a seesaw.

Up and down. Up and down. Up and down.

The cold blue of the kitchen battered its lights down on to his shoulders, showering Lee Han-eul with anxious thoughts.

Clang-

To the left of him, the sound of a colossal sized scissors being thrown, reverberated around within the small sink. His pulse fluctuated drastically at the alarming noise, his ears pinching pink as his lightless eyes goggled at the pair of scissors swimming around within oily water.

It wasn't like Lee Han-eul was terror-stricken of his father. Not at all, there were still traces of glistening stars that travelled around Lee Chung-min's vacuum, making him somewhat a joyous person to be around.

But-

Most of the stars dimmed themselves as Lee Han-eul grew older. Practically all of them.

Lee Chung-min's patience thinned, and stress enveloped all his blissful emotions the more his sharp eyes lingered on Lee Han-eul's cowering state. Slipped between his forefinger and middle finger, was a thin envelope, that was messily ripped open, Lee Chung-hee waved it around in front of his eldest son's face.

"Another one." Lee Chung-min discarded the damned letter on to the counter.

Slam.

Retreating tinily, Han-eul couldn't feel his florid cheeks within those moments. His pulse drummed heavily within his eardrums as he kept his neck craned downwards, unable to connect his shameful eyes on to his father's surly expression. One look, and his innermost organ, the one we call a heart, could disintegrate completely.

Lee Han-eul couldn't bring himself to see the disappointment bleed into his father's eyes.

"This is the fourth letter this month Lee Han-eul," running his palms across his face, leaving some oily stains across the top of his eyebrows, Lee Chung-min pressed all his weight on one foot as an arm rested on his hip. Like salt swimming around in an ocean, a bitter emotion floated around within Lee Chung-min's pupils when his son wouldn't meet his eyes. "I've given you so many chances to redeem yourself. They keep telling me, that you're not taking your medical courses seriously. That you're slacking off-"

"I'm sorry Appa."

Even though none of the above was proven true, Lee Han-eul continued to bow his head down low. The rims around his eyes began to morph from a pink shade to a vibrant red. His warm tears pooled up gradually and dripped onto his crossed palms, though, he didn't know if it was from his rainwater soaked hair, or his eyes.

A rickety exhale tumbled rockily from Lee Chung-min's mouth. "They're telling me all of these, fine. I can take it, but do you realise what they wrote next?" Lee Chung-min watched as Han-eul gave no reply. Instead of answering, Lee Han-eul shook his head to and fro repeatedly. "They're telling me that you're picking fights with your classmates too . . ." pausing for a few moments to regain his balance, Lee Chung-min's vision almost pixelated for a second from how high his blood pressure was. "Do you know how shocked I was to hear this?"

"Appa I'm sorry-"

"Han-eul . . . I refuse to believe what they're telling me- I mean- you practically begged us to let you take the medical path. Why . . . Why is this happening?" With a trembling finger pointing repetitively at the discarded letter, Lee Chung-min raked his fingers through his hair before quietening his voice, "we had to put in so much money for you to pursue this path. Is this how you repay?-"

"I'm sorry Appa," gathering his fingers tightly into a fist, so that his fingernails dug deeply into the surface of his palms, the pink around Lee Han-eul's pupils worsened as he finally travelled his eyes upwards- his unfaltering eyes filled with an empty vacuum. "But I'll prove to you that I've been trying. I swear, I have, and that the money you're using for this is worth it-"

"I'm," Lee Chung-min cut in, "too tired to give out any more chances today," tapping his fingers on to the letter, he slid it towards Lee Han-eul, "instead of telling me this, why don't you prove it to your mother and I . . . I don't want to see another one of these letters again."

Holding his gaze on to the damned letter, Lee Han-eul traced his eyes on to the freshly stamped postcode on the front of it, and then the return address: Hyosan Hospital. Swallowing thickly, trying to force the aching lump inside his throat, a rush of determination embraced his senses, as he widened his eyes at his father.

"I mean it Appa-"

Interrupting again, firmly, with a faded yet relentless tone, "prove it," was all that Lee Chung-min replied with, before joining the front with a new batch of fried chicken with less salt.

Lee Han-eul trapped his inner cheeks between his teeth, almost tearing at his skin, leaving a salty taste on the tip of his tongue. Steamy tears continued to create pathways down his pinkish cheeks as he crumpled the letter up within his fist.

Of course he doesn't believe his own son, Lee Han-eul thought.

". . . Look at who's lucky, more Cheong-san Fried Chicken for Cheong-san . . . what do you mean? I named this place way before you were born! Aigoo . . . just enjoy the chicken, you need to fuel yourself some energy after a long day at school."

Lee Han-eul could hear his mother exclaim in the seating area of the restaurant, her warm voice a clear sign that she was oblivious of the conversation Lee Han-eul shared with his father.

But the more Lee Han-eul studied her features from afar, the more he saw the darkened circles beneath his mother's eyes, and every line that engraved itself against her skin, each telling a tale about the stress she was experiencing about the increasing taxes.

Lee Han-eul knew that that wasn't the only reason why she appeared that way.

In the solar system, the planets revolve around the Sun.

The coruscating rays of the golden sun, could turn a goldsmith bankrupt. It may be priceless, but it's rich enough to turn everyone's hearts merry. That was what the Lee sibling's parents were like. They once showered Lee Han-eul with every ounce of their dazzling rays, shining every inch of him with warmth.

A lot of warmth.

The moon was consumed by an everlasting amount of warmth, that he even glowed the brightest during an all consuming darkness: the night. Lee Han-eul felt as though he ruled the Universe whenever he made his parents proud.

But that soon dissipated from existence as soon as Lee Cheong-san arrived into the Universe. Soon enough, the Sun thought the world of Earth. His parents didn't mean it intentionally, but it surely did feel that way. Soon, the Moon collapsed under the Earth's shadow, no longer under the Sun's limelight.

Lee Han-eul found himself trapped within a solar eclipse.

DEAR ALL,

Hope this was good :)

I used a lot of my creativity in this
chapter with the solar eclipse imagery
><

You'll get more context on Lee Han-eul's
educational background in a few more
chapters, but here, I just wanted to
describe the conflict between Han-eul
and his parents and brother.

Tbh I just want to hug Han-eul idk about
you </3

Not gonna make this long since no
one really reads author notes anymore :p

See you in the next one!

WITH LOVE, SYLVIA

p.s. You may see some changes in the graphics
section of the book as I'm going to add more
graphics and change the layout of it (not the
chapters). Again, I know. But, I don't care anyways
have a good day hehe <3