The Art of Getting By
CHAPTER TWO

❛ The Girl and her Star-Money. ❜

5:42 PM
September 2021
HYOSAN HIGH SCHOOL ( HYOSAN'S ARCHERY CLUB )

THERE WAS ONCE an old folk that created a particular fairytale, it spread across the vast Earth and eventually, to the Moon family.

The Girl and her Star-Money.

The fairy tale tucked itself into the top shelf of Moon Hae-Bom's mind, and it often resurfaced from the deeper crevices of her brain whenever she picked up her bow and arrow. It was a story Jeong Areum told her daughters quite often, as it was written by none other than Moon Ji-hun, a story he illustrated and dedicated for his family. Which was published shortly before his wife departed from the universe they were in.

There was once a villager that had lost all of her loved ones. She had no family, no food, no home, no money- and only one piece of small bread. As the night fell, she felt as though, it was time to start anew, to leave the village. During a cold winters night, she fled into the forest and was met with a sad old man.

The man asked for some money, but the girl had none, and offered her only piece of bread. The man took it with gratitude.

Journeying onwards, she began to realise how excruciatingly cold it was as the time went on. Behind the shadows, she was met with a boy. He too, asked for some money, but of course, the girl had none. Instead, she offered him her coat. The boy called her generous and was flooded with an emotion of glee.

Feeling lighter without her coat, the girl strolled deeper into the forest, but along the way, she was met with a girl who was similar to her age. The weather grew majorly chilly, her clothes were thin, but it kept her from catching a harsh cold. A high-pitched weep came from the girl opposite her, it seemed, that her clothes were drenched from swimming through a river or a lake. They were tattered and practically useless, she asked the villager for some spare clothes.

Since it was dark outside, the young girl gave away her frock so that the other girl would not catch a serious cold from the weather outside. This left the villager with nothing, but herself.

Suddenly, some stars from the heavens fell down; they fell as smooth pieces of money, thus leaving the girl rich from the acts of goodness she made with her golden heart.

Moon Hae-Bom treasured her bow and arrow. Her current one was built from fine wood, but due to being carried under the rain so many times, the rough edges began to wither away, making it prone to giving Hae-Bom's fingers some splinters.

Which was why she needed a new one.

The hefty, metal surface of a bow, glinted boldly under the sports hall lights. Beside the small frame of the bow, that was created for smaller hands, were a set of red and purple arrows, all aligned and ready for Moon Hae-Bom to use. A tiny grin crawled across her shiny pink lips, before it broke out into a gracious smile. This was all hers. All for her to use and it all belonged to-

"This used to be mine," an older girl stood beside Moon Hae-Bom, "you take good care of it okay? I won many competitions with this. I guess you could say that it used to be my lucky charm, who knows, it could be yours too."

Hae-Bom teetered from the balls of her feet to her heels, then repeating again, both sides of her lips spread into a sparkly grin, like an astrologist that had just discovered a new planet in the atmosphere. She'd been awaiting for a day like this to arrive, when she'd finally be able to get lessons from Jang Ha-ri.

Tilting her chin upwards to face the much taller girl, with a wonder of stars swimming within the pools of Hae-Bom's eyes. She'd never felt so elated before, she watched as her new teacher smiled back at her warmly, being infected by Hae-Bom's joyed expression.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Unnie!"

Ha-ri felt the side of Hae-Bom's small face press against her stomach as her torso was being embraced by the tiny girl's arms, "there's no need to thank me. If you want to thank me, then promise me you'll do well in my lessons and your future competitions?"

A merry squeal fell from Hae-Bom's lips as she hopped on both her feet, "I promise you, I'll try! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

A bustle of athletes, ranging from the age of five down to fourteen, scattered into the vast sports hall of Hyosan High school. All of their faces were radiant, their cheerful expressions carved a youthful glow upon their skin. They were a supercluster; like a group of galaxies co-existing together to shine through the whole of space. They were eager to progress their archery skills- since their teacher was the embodiment of Skadi the goddess of archery and bowhunting.

The run down, but highly academic high school had decided to pursue and take each archery student's dreams further, by opening up a new idea. The seniors were allowed to create new clubs at the school, so they could showcase their leadership skills and write it into their application forms for Uni. In this case, Jang Ha-ri wanted to do this, not only for her benefit, but for the others, she would've loved this when she was younger.

Thus, Hyosan's Archery Club was established.

Jang Ha-ri could understand how delighted Hae-Bom was when she reached the age requirements, and was able to join her club.

The flurry of young students finally came to a halt after conversing for a few minutes, after waiting for the remainder of the students to leave the locker rooms. Rolling her shoulders back, Jang Ha-ri tightened her ponytail and tucked her flyaways behind her ears, before placing a hand on top of Hae-Bom's shoulders.

She watched as the athletes faced her expectantly, all ready to disperse into their usual spots to start shooting arrows at their targets. Some lingered their eyes on to Hae-Bom, their heads leaning to the side at the unfamiliar peer in the room.

"Today, we have a new athlete joining us. I expect you all to be kind as you do to our newcomers, okay?" They all answered Ha-ri with a nod of approval, followed by a chorus of yeses. Being pleased with the answer, Ha-ri patted Hae-Bom's shoulder, "why don't you introduce yourself," she whispered tinily with a gentle grin.

Gulping hastily at the sight of many unblinking gazes, Moon Hae-Bom fiddled with the string of her bow between her fingers, her throat running dry, briefly, before lifting her eyes away from ground and back on to the line of athletes.

"Hello everyone, I'm Moon Hae-Bom and I'm five years old, and I can't wait to join you all."

Even though her voice trailed away towards the end, she heard a few older students soften their voices and let out a few 'awww's. Some even muttered, "Moon Hae-Bom? As in JA's daughter?"

As Hae-Bom let her eyes fall downwards in front of her, she was met with some pairs of narrowed eyes, three pairs in fact. The athletes that were only a year older than her, practically glowered at her and the connection she had with Jang Ha-ri.

Jang Ha-ri couldn't see it from her eye-line, but she knew some of her students would protest against the idea of a new student, as it had happened before, so she stated once more, "if I see anyone treating each other with hatred, you'll be scrubbing every last corner of the locker room floor and the bathrooms, got it?"

"Yes Jangsunsengnim," most of them replied immediately.

Like a cosmic ray, accelerating through the entirety of space, a surge of confidence rushed through Moon Hae-Bom's veins. A cosmic ray travels at the speed of light, much like how Hae-Bom was progressing, she was improving fast.

She lifted her shoulders up, her arrow nocked on to the string of her bow. She was already a level better than most of the beginners in the class. The sound of the thin rope being taut, resounded against her ear as she positioned her fingers and extended her elbow backwards.

"Never let your eyes drift away from the target Hae-Bom," Jang Ha-ri's distant voice called out to her as she held her breath, her nose wrinkling in concentration.

The point of the arrow swayed: left, left, right, left, right, right . . . centre.

Shoot!

Pulling her bottom lip under her top teeth, her chest thudded and thudded and thudded, as if her heart was a star and stellar winds were dissipating from it.

Whoosh- Thud! The arrow landed on one side of the red ring of her target board-

"Unnie! Unnie!" Letting her bow swing by her side, the young Moon girl hollered with her mouth hanging ajar. The arrows within her sack, that was strapped around her upper torso down to her left hip, rattled as she sprung up and down on the tips of her feet, she spun in circles, dancing to her miniature victory. She was so elated that she forgot about changing honorifics to suit the class, "Unnie did you see that?"

The corners of Jang Ha-ri's eyes wrinkled as her proud smile widened and illuminated the entirety of her face, she uncrossed her arms and began to make her way over to Hae-Bom's half of the room. "Yes I did Hae-Bom! Congratulations!" The closer Ha-ri got towards the younger girl, the more Hae-Bom danced.

"I got the red ring already," being blinded by her own success, Hae-Bom forgot about what Ha-ri just said, "did you see that?"

"Yes, of course." The older archer chuckled softly, the inside of her chest felt fuzzy and warm at the sight, her eyes twinkling slightly as her eyes laid on Hae-Bom and her blissful grin. "This is good so far, but a handy tip, if you want to try and get closer towards the yellow ring, you need to slowly move your hand back as you release your arrow," she demonstrated with her own bow, "that way, your precision is more accurate."

Whoosh- Thud!

Jackpot.

It landed right in the centre.

"Woah . . ." Letting her mouth hang open, dumbfounded and in awe, there was not a moment where Moon Hae-Bom did not look up to Jang Ha-ri.

"Like that, it'll take some time, but you've already got the hang of it." Ha-ri arched her back so she was at the same height as Hae-Bom, "keep up the good work Hae Hae. It wasn't only my lucky charm that worked, but your skills too. Sometimes it doesn't take luck, but your determination."

Only nodding in response, Hae-Bom was still stunned at the accuracy of Ha-ri's shot, how she could aim and shoot an arrow without any of her limbs trembling during the process. It wasn't a surprise to Hae-Bom, but every shot Ha-ri made, was refreshing, and she thought of the same thing every time: I hope that I'll be like her one day.

"Okay everyone, that'll be it for today's class. Good job today, remember to look after yourselves, an athlete's top priority should be looking after their bodies and wellbeing. Got that?" Jang Ha-ri announced.

"Yes Jangsunsengnim."

The locker room had blue hues, since the mellow evening sunlight dripped through the gaps of the blinds of the simple, rectangular windows, and bounced off the lockers that were painted blue. A sea of athletes filed into their spots of where they dropped off their belongings, many of them had a shimmer of sweat clinging to their clothes as they wrapped a towel around their neck.

One in particular, with two pigtails hanging out of a thin, red hairband that sat within her hair, took a sip from her water bottle, before breaking into a toothy grin, "hey I'm Kim Ga-rin," the girl was only two years older than Hae-Bom, which made her feel at ease. "I hope we can be friends! I was the newbie before you. You were so cool out there, you have to teach me how you shoot your arrows next week."

Hae-Bom zipped her bag carefully shut, trying not to let any parts of her bow to poke through the zip as it could break the string. A rush of warmth filled her cheeks at the sound of having a new companion, "hey Ga-rin, I'd love to become friends with you," a jovial giggle, but half nervous, left her lips as she played with her coat zipper. "I saw you too, your techniques inspired me a little throughout class," Hae-Bom continued timidly.

As the two conversed, they were like the yang of the locker room. But of course, you can't have yang without yin, but it seemed that the people resembling yin, were creating more negativity than usual. Creating an imbalance of yin and yang.

"This isn't fair," some voices began and they didn't even make the efforts to conceal their conversations. "Hey, newbie. Excuse me? I'm talking to you. The one with dirty sneakers."

The felicitous aura about Hae-Bom, soon turned into puzzlement as she spun on her heels, slowly, to face the voice that yelled out for her. If her mind wasn't filled with jubilant thoughts about her scoring a red ring and earning a new friend, her eyes would've pooled with tears at the next words that tumbled from the yin group.

Hae-Bom quickly recalled the pairs of eyes that glowered at her during her introduction, they were persistent at keeping their glances cold.

The girl that called out to Hae-Bom, continued her sentence, there was a sour expression upon her face, making her look as though she were consuming a bitter melon. It was obvious, that due to her extreme jealousy, it turned the mean girl's aura green with envy, "don't think you can go far newbie. You may be Jangsunsengnim's friend and the daughter of JA, but that doesn't mean you are Jangsunsengnim's favourite. I've been in this club for three months, since the very beginning. You better watch where you stand."

Taken aback at the sudden outburst, Hae-Bom was utterly confused. Her eyebrows scrunched together, as if she were studying a tricky mosaic, as if she were trying to depict where the beauty lied within the artwork, since all she could see was a handful of imperfections.

Moon Hae-Bom was only five years old, but it doesn't take a saint to realise her situation. Pulling the string of her bag tighter around her shoulders, Hae-Bom only shook her head at the foul speaking girl, and she almost gave her a . . . sympathetic look?

"I'm sorry I made you think that way- actually, no, I'm not really too sorry. My Unnie," she mentioned Eun-Byeol, "who's a second year at this school, taught me to never apologise to people who speak bad about you. You've been mean to me all day."

Hae-Bom shrugged and paused to think about what she could say next, ". . . but I guess I could be sorry to you . . . yes . . . I'm so sorry you joined archery club to only become Jangsunsengnim's favourite." She stopped, before an idea birthed itself within her mind, "tell you what, I noticed that you missed every single shot today," she reached for a purple and red arrow, that was now in her possession, but was to be another's, "here, have this, maybe the luck from these arrows can help you-"

Knock, knock.

Everyone's eyes followed the noise, they all landed on the locker room door that was ajar.

"Moon Hae-Bom," a more awkward, but roughly calm voice filled the silence, "would you uh . . ." what on Earth was Lee Han-eul meant to say, without making himself be a part of the commotion? ". . . Would you like some fried chicken?" From all the questioning gazes he received from the locker room, Han-eul chuckled awkwardly before stuffing his hands into his pockets.

He had heard a part of the conversation, and as soon as Moon Hae-Bom finished her sentence, he swooped in before the other girls could retort.

The bubbling adrenaline that rushed into Hae-Bom's veins, began to die away as soon as she heard Han-eul's voice, "fried chicken?" The pouting frown that settled on Hae-Bom's lips, faded away and morphed into a gleeful smile as she sprinted into his open arms, "Oppa!" The two shared a warm embrace. "I thought my Unnie was picking me up?" Hae-Bom asked when they broke away from the hug, Han-eul was crouched down to be at the same level as her.

A soft smile spread across his already grinning lips, "Eun-Byeol got submitted into another musical show again. So, she's staying over at school for a bit to practise a piece before it. It was all a bit last minute, so, she's very, very sorry . . . very sorry for not being able to pick you up today," Han-eul patted her palms and hugged her once more to make up for the absence of her sister.

"Oh," thinking to herself, Hae-Bom drifted her gaze towards the side for a bit, before perking up again, her eyes two crescent moons as her lips altered into a brightening smile, "did you say we could have fried chicken? At your Omma's place? Will I see your Oppa?"

There was a long pause, and it seemed that Lee Han-eul's attention was faraway, his gaze lingered towards the entrance, as if he were searching for someone, he seemed distant, like a person that was about to depart from the sports hall to somewhere far. When he felt a tap on his shoulder, he immediately brought his eyes back on to the younger girl.

"Oh- oh yes, yes, did I mention fried chicken?- Yes, we will have fried chicken, with the homemade beef soup you really like."

"With seaweed?"

"I made sure my Omma put in extra seaweed for you. So much that it could fill an entire ocean," Lee Han-eul nodded gingerly, before getting up on both his feet, he placed a hand on top of Hae-Bom's shoulder and felt her damp silky hair brush against the back of his hand as they exited Hyosan High School and onwards to Cheong-san Fried Chicken.

"THANK YOU UNNIE," Moon Hae-Bom yelled out, hoping that Jang Ha-ri could hear her as she left the school, since she was nowhere to be found.

Hae-Bom swore she could feel Han-eul's hand move away from her shoulder at the sound of her calling out for Ha-ri, as if he were searching for her again, but the thought slipped away from her mind as soon as her eyes landed on the sky. The sun displayed its best evening rays that night, the clouds were painted pink as the sky was littered with glimmers of yellows and rich oranges. It was a sight that brought an optimistic smile across the young Moon's face.

She brought out a singular arrow, one of Ha-ri's arrows. Another joyous chuckle spilled from her lips as she took in the gorgeous purple colour of the arrow and how well kept the arrows were after so many years. "Look Oppa," she began as they crossed the busy roads, "Ha-ri Unnie gave this to me, she said it gave her a lot of luck- and I scored a red ring!"

Lee Han-eul almost froze in the middle of the road, but managed to push his limbs onwards. With his lips drawn into a thin line, no longer present within the conversation, he mumbled, "well done Hae-Bom."

He knew that it belonged to Jang Ha-ri once, because he had bought that for her a while ago.

The tale of the girl who gave her all until she was left with nothing but herself, sprung into Hae-Bom's mind again.

She had given one of her new arrows away to the filthy speaking girls back in the locker room. Now she was left with nineteen in total. She hoped that they would leave her be next week, and the week after that.

Afterall, she'd done nothing wrong.

If it does cease to continue, Moon Hae-Bom would probably be left with no arrows if she were to give them all away, in order to be at peace with the yin group of girls. Hae-Bom didn't need to give her arrows away to earn their respect. But knowing the persona of the girls, they'd do anything to own anything that was once Jang Ha-ri's.

If Hae-Bom gave all her arrows away, would she end up like the villager, who lost everything she owned and everyone she knew?

Would Moon Hae-Bom earn herself some Star-Money from the heavens, like the girl from the village?

DEAR ALL,

Another update for you guys :)
Thank you for all the reads and votes!!
I really appreciate it and the support
it really motivates me ><

I'm going to ignore the fact that nobody
answered my last a/n because then I
sound like a loser but like how do we
feel about this chapter?

Moon Hae-Bom is an archer as she should
#materialgworl #girlbossing

If you didn't read my wattpad announcement:
I'm changing Moon Hae-Bom's character
and not making her deaf as I realised that I
don't really know much about deaf people
and how they live their everyday lives being
deaf. I should've researched and planned
it out a bit more before hand I am sorry,
but I just don't want to end up writing
some wrong information:)

Thank you guys :D

WITH LOVE FROM, SYLVIA