𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃

"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐁𝐘 "𝐈 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐘 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐖," 𝐇𝐔𝐇?" Kyu-ri asked, glaring daggers at her father. 

"𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 all the shit you put me through as a child, I deserve more than everything you have!" She shouted, slamming her fists on the table. 

"𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢, I'm broke, we're broke." "Are you kidding me? I gave you all my savings from my job at that mall!" "Please, that was for two summers and it's not even enough to pay half of your college debt."

"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 on, it's Ji-hyo's birthday, I can't buy her dinner without money." "Fine, 100 thousand won, here, take it."

𝐓𝐡𝐞 paper won fell onto the table, next to Kyu-ri's lunch. 

"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 you..." She muttered, elongating the last word as the food in her mouth muffled the whole sentence. 

"𝐈'𝐦 going now, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, Kyu-ri-yah." "Yeah, yeah, I hear you, I won't."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 groaned as she watched her father leave the house. The door closed with a loud thump, telling Kyu-ri that he he was actually gone. 

"𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 the fuck is it..?" She muttered to herself as she immediately stood up and began to look through drawers and cupboards. "Come on, come on..."

𝐒𝐡𝐞 stopped when she saw a distinct envelope, the one that held his credit card. Yes! 

𝐀 faint smile formed on Kyu-ri's lips as she opened the envelope. She pulled out the credit card, chuckling to herself as she did so. 

"𝐎𝐡 yeah..."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 pulled her fake cigarette into her mouth, ignoring the want for an actual one. 

𝐎𝐟 course Kyu-ri went to get paper cash at an ATM so she could gamble. It was a stupid addiction she had gained within the last year. Maybe she had gained the addiction because she was lucky more often than not and ended up winning quite a bit. 

𝐈𝐧-𝐬𝐮, her friend that she had normally taken with her so they could gamble together stood by her as she typed in the pin. 

"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 always my birthday." Kyu-ri said with a smile, pressing enter. 

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 smile quickly disappeared when there was a sound, signifying that access was denied and that the pin was incorrect. 

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?" Kyu-ri asked, pulling the fake cigarette out of her mouth and tapping the ATM machine. 

"𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 try his birthday." In-su suggested. 

"𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤..."

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 do know your father's birthday, right?" "Yeah. Yeah, I do. It's just that.." Kyu-ri trailed off, groaning. 

"𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 like your old man finally cut you off, huh?" "Shut up." "Hey, I was just stating the obvious."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 then typed in his birthday, only to be met with a sound of rejection again. 

"𝐇𝐮𝐡?" 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 was perplexed. How did this happen? 

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, watch it, one more wrong guess and you'll be locked out." "Yeah, they're like iPads now. Stupid."

𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 her lip, Kyu-ri fell deep into thought. 

𝐁𝐮𝐭 then, an idea crossed her mind. 

"𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭," she muttered, beginning to type in another set of numbers. "I have an idea."

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 Kyu-ri pressed enter once again, she wasn't met with that same sound. The sound she was met with meant the exact opposite. 

"𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 select the amount of money you'd..." The robotic voice was muffled in the background as In-su and Kyu-ri cheered. 

"𝐘𝐞𝐬!" "Holy shit!" "Yes, yes! Fuck yes!" "Oh my... Yes!"

𝐈𝐭 was almost as if the two were competing for who could be louder. 

"𝐀𝐡... so what the was the pin?" In-su asked. Kyu-ri sighed, saying, "My mom's birthday. I thought he stopped loving her after she was sent to the mental hospital."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 chuckled, shaking her head as she typed in the amount. "Ah, the old man still cares about his mentally unstable wife. More than his child."

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 choosing her numbers at the betting station, Kyu-ri found herself zoning out, just staring. 

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, hurry up, would you?" Some man from behind her asked. 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 quickly hurried up, marking two random numbers off and hoping it would work. 

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 numbers did you pick, Seoji?" In-su would ask, nudging her. 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢'𝐬 brain lagged, trying to remember what numbers she had chose. She pulled the fake cigarette out of her mouth to speak, "Uh... I think seven and one or something like that. I don't really remember. I kind of picked random."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 glanced down at her paper. "Yeah, one and seven, see?"

𝐓𝐡𝐞 familiar yelling began to start up as the race started. 

"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 on!" "Go, go, go!" "Slow ass horse!" "Two! Two! Go, two!"

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 crossed her fingers, feeling her knee bounce as she nervously watched. "One and seven... One and seven, come on..." She would mutter to herself. 

"𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤!"

𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 one or seven made it. 

"𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲, I need to think clearly when I do this..." She muttered to herself. 

𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 again, at the betting station, Kyu-ri furrowed her brows, looking at the paper.

"𝐇𝐦𝐦..."

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧, the man standing behind her spoke up, the same one from earlier. "Dumbass, would you hurry up for once?"

"𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭 up! I'm trying to think, can't you see that?" Kyu-ri retorted, turning around to face him. 

"𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 shit, fucking incel..." 

"𝐈'𝐦 an incel? Well you look like a fucking cunt with that fake cigarette hanging out of your mouth!"

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, it's called quitting addiction, jerk. Fuck off."

𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 scanning the numbers once again, Kyu-ri marked six and eight. 

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨'𝐬 birthday is today. June 8th.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 was slight smile in her face before she finished off. 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 next race started soon. 

𝐈𝐧-𝐬𝐮 seemed to be disappointed within the first few seconds of the race. "No, no, come on..."

"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 on!" The screaming around her became deafening as everyone around Kyu-ri cheered and screamed. 

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧, six and eight pulled forward. 

"𝐘𝐞𝐬!" Kyu-ri would cheer. "Six and eight! Yes!"

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 cheered, jumping in the air. "Yes!"

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 the race was over, Kyu-ri was ecstatic with her win. And how much was the win? 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 ended up with 2 million dollars since she and some other guy shared the win, both marking six and eight. A split win. 

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, at least you won something." In-su would mutter as they walked out together. 

"𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭, what time is it?" Kyu-ri asked, stopping in her tracks. 

"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 4:57, why?" 

"𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐭!" Kyu-ri exclaimed, pulling out her phone to make sure. "Fuck, we have to be at the restaurant at 5:20 for Ji-hyo. Her birthday dinner we planned two weeks ago!" "Oh shit, you're right."

𝐓𝐡𝐞 two the began to run back through the building once again, trying to get to the other end. 

"𝐑𝐮𝐧 faster, idiot!" Kyu-ri would yell, pushing In-su forward. 

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧, suddenly, Kyu-ri tripped over some man that had fallen on the ground, smacking her head against a plastic coffee cup on the floor, falling onto a girl. 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢'𝐬 hand found a pocket, feeling cash. She sneakily grabbed it into her hand, pickpocketing the girl. 

"𝐎𝐰..."

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 was thumping throb in Kyu-ri's head after it took a rough blow. 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 sat up, catching what the man looked like, then a girl who had, Kyu-ri presumed, bumped into him, knocking the two over. 

𝐀𝐬 Kyu-ri furrowed her brows, taking in the odd occurrence, In-su wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to her feet. 

"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 on, Seoji!"

𝐈𝐧-𝐬𝐮 grabbed her wrist, tugging her forward. 

"𝐖𝐞 have a mile to run in 20 minutes. We should get there in ten if we run as fast as we can."

"𝐈 know, smartass."

𝐁𝐲 the time In-su and Kyu-ri made it to the restaurant, they were both panting, chests heaving. 

"𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢!" A voice called out. 

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨. 

𝐎𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲. 

"𝐀𝐧𝐝... other guy I forgot the name of. What's going on with you two..? You guys are sweating and out of breath."

"𝐖𝐞..." Kyu-ri began to speak, breathless, "ran... we ran here..." 

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 did? I was about to say it's 5:26. You guys are a little later than our planned time."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 glanced at In-su, narrowing her eyes. "Huh?" "Shit, sorry..."

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, I've got... Like more than two million won. I actually don't know how much. You get a nice dinner."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 placed the money from both of her pockets in Ji-hyo's hands. "There you go."

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨 counted the money in her hands, eyes widening with each 100 thousand. "Kyu-ri, this is four million won."

"𝐇𝐮𝐡? Oh, uh, good, great. You can buy whatever you want to eat for your birthday. Think of something fancy. We can go to a more expensive restaurant if you wan-"

"𝐍𝐨, this is fine. We can eat dakgangjeong and tteokbokki."

"𝐁𝐮𝐭, I have all this money, four million won you said, I can buy something much-" "No, it's fine. All I care about is that I'm here with my friends."

𝐈𝐧-𝐬𝐮 quickly raised a hand at this. "We're not friends. You don't remember my name, I'm just tagging along like I normally do with you two." He stated, as if it was even an argument. 

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨 and Kyu-ri both blinked at him like he was an idiot. And he kind of was for saying that. 

"𝐒𝐨," Kyu-ri began, clearing her throat, "dakgangjeong, right?" "Yeah, let's eat."

𝐓𝐡𝐞 three had walked into the restaurant and ordered their food. They all say together, rambling about useless shit. 

"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 In-su, by the way." "In-woo?" "Ah, forget it..."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 would laugh at the banter between In-su and Ji-hyo, finding it quite humorous. 

"𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐧, you're an idiot, In-su."

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨 would eat her dakgangjeong without a complaint and Kyu-ri couldn't help but feel bad that Ji-hyo didn't take the chance for a better dinner. 

𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 Kyu-ri knew it, dinner was over and the three were splitting ways. 

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, Kyu-ri, I'll walk you home with a smoke, yeah?" Ji-hyo would ask, nudging her. 

"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 walk home with you, sure. And thanks, but I'm trying to get clean."

𝐀𝐭 the want for a cigarette, Kyu-ri placed her fake cigarette in her mouth, biting down on it. 

"𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 not pregnant anymore." Ji-hyo told Kyu-ri, in which the latter scoffed at this. 

"𝐈 know, I haven't been for almost two years. But after I gave birth to Hee-won, I went back to smoking like a dog with stick. I needed to get rid of that addiction because it was really bad. And I told myself I would never be desperate for anything after Ji-ho."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 sighed. 

"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 I found myself desperate for a cigarette between my lips. I couldn't let myself be like that."

"𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 for you I guess." Ji-hyo said with a shrug. "I mean, suit yourself." She would mumble, lighting her own cigarette. 

"𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 me, I am suiting myself." "Yeah, from one addiction to another?" "Huh?"

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨 stopped walking, her feet not moving anymore. "Remind me how you met In-su again." 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 then stopped a few feet in front of Ji-hyo when she asked that. 

𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 around to face her, Kyu-ri answered, "When we were betting on a horse race and told I noticed him struggling to choose a trifecta. I told him to bet on first for 8, second for 3, and third for 2. Surprisingly, he did. And even more surprisingly, I was right."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 chuckled at the memory. "He called me his lucky charm. Then he made up the dumb nickname of Seoji. He said "it shows off my luckiness and wisdom." What an idiot."

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 was a sharp scoff from Kyu-ri. 

“𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 I first heard his accent, I asked if he was a spy from the North. I almost feel bad for asking. Almost.”

“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 one time we went out with Bit-na, Naree and Ha-neul... Oh my... Ha-neul made constant comments about how he talked...”

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨 could hardly talk without laughing. 

“𝐈 shouldn't be laughing... It's so sad that In-su is a defector, but... Shit, it's so funny! When... When Ha-neul asked if he ever met Kim Jong Un. His voice when he asked. His voice was funny, the question was dumb.”

“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, In-su is probably as stupid as that question.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 two began to walk again, picking up their pace immediately. 

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨 wiped a hand over her face and immediately turned back to serious. 

"𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, he's your gambling buddy. You know, if you don't stop, one day you'll lose all your money and I'll just laugh at you and say, "I told you so!" And you can't get mad at me when I do."

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, I'll have to lose all my money first." Was all Kyu-ri said with a shrug. 

"𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭, actually just take the money I offered earlier. Take it as a double apology. I'm sorry for not buying you a nicer dinner and I'm sorry for being a bad friend and acting like I'm perfectly fine."

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 held out the wads of cash once again, trying to get Ji-hyo to just take the money. 

"𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 fuck, you're annoyingly persistent."

"𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 that a triple apology. I'm also sorry for being annoying."

"𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲, fine, whatever, I'll take the money." Ji-hyo groaned out, grabbing the money. "But the first thing this stack of cash goes towards is your birthday dinner."

"𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲, fine, it's your money now, you do whatever you want with it."

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧, there was a few mosmnts of silence on Ji-hyo's end. 

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, actually, back on track with the whole In-su thing... The way he calls you his "lucky charm" is almost romantic."

"𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭 up."

"𝐍𝐨, it's pretty cute actually."

"𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 it would be if he was a girl with an actual personality."

"𝐇𝐚𝐡𝐚, that was so nice of you, Kyu-ri." 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 scoffed, retorting, "I wasn't trying to be friendly, I was just being honest."

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨 rolled her eyes as Kyu-ri spoke. "Uh, erm, actually! Yeah, shut up."

"𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐧, did know that would offend you, sorry, mate."

"𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞? What are you? Australian?" Ji-hyo asked, tilting her head at Kyu-ri. "I don't know it was random slip of the mouth. I just said it, don't cancel me."

"𝐇𝐞𝐲, dipshit, we're at your apartment complex. I think you should recognize that before me, but apparently not." Ji-hyo suddenly muttered, pointing somewhere. 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 stopped, turning to see where Ji-hyo was pointing. 

𝐀𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 the street was the apartment complex that Kyu-ri lived in. 

"𝐎𝐡... Yeah, you're right. Okay, well, bye Jiyo!" Kyu-ri exclaimed, running across the street. 

𝐉𝐢-𝐡𝐲𝐨 said her goodbyes too, walking away. 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 sat on the steps of the building, contemplating her day. "Damn, that really..."

"𝐌𝐚'𝐚𝐦, excuse me. Can I talk to-?" "I don't believe in Jesus."

𝐓𝐡𝐞 man who had tried to talk to Kyu-ri looked nice, dressed in suit and carrying suitcase. He looked like the man who would try to talk to Kyu-ri about being Christian. 

"𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧, ma'am, I'd like to let you in a great opportu-" 

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 reached into her pocket and pulled out her knife, pointing it at his face. "Say that again."

𝐀𝐭 first, the man looked slightly taken aback, but he brushed it off with a chuckle. 

"𝐌𝐚'𝐚𝐦, would you like to play a game with me?"

JETT YAP!!

mf is boutta be cooked💀
anyways, yes Kyu-ri is kind of bratty towards her father, but as the story progresses and I publish more flashback chapters you'll see why. ALSO it's June, which is during the summer, so that's why she's not at her college campus. In act ii she gets annoyed by Sae-byeok and Gi-hun bugging her while she's on campus because October is during college season or whatever it's called.

And in early drafts her name was Kyu-ri then I switched it to Seo-byeol but I'm switching to back to Kyu-ri, so um sorry for confusion guys😭