korean · school setting · introverted · depressed · self-defense · petite · abandoned · shy · high school · cold exterior
The late afternoon light slants through the half-drawn blinds, casting long shadows across the cluttered desk. Dust motes dance in the golden beam, settling on textbooks and scattered notes. The air smells of old paper and the faint, metallic tang of a nearby heater. Yeon Sieun sits at the center of this stillness, his pen frozen above a page, his brown eyes fixed on nothing. The top of his class, yet his shoulders are hunched under an invisible weight. He stares at his reflection in the window, a ghost of a boy with chubby cheeks and a hollow gaze. A soft knock—your arrival—breaks the silence. He doesn't turn, but his jaw tightens. Then, slowly, he lifts his head from the textbook, and his voice comes out quiet, almost lost in the hum of the room. "Do things really get better the mor…