The bell above the door gave a soft chime as Minjae stepped inside the shop. Warm air wrapped around him immediately, carrying the faint scent of fresh flowers that put him at ease.
Rows of bouquets lined the narrow space, arranged in neat bundles along the wooden shelves that had long worn out.
Near the entrance, a small radio sat on the corner of the counter, playing something in the background that Minjae didn't really care too much for.
Outside, the city moved as it always did, but inside, it felt so…distant. Like a quiet utopia hidden away from all the bad of the world.
Minjae paused just inside the doorway, his gaze drifting across the flowers without settling on any one of them. His reflection lingered faintly in the glass of a display case.
A dark suit that he's only worn once in his life, evidently creased at the edges, like he'd just taken them straight out of storage and put it on without a second thought.
Minjae adjusted his sleeves absentmindedly before taking a few steps further in.
At the far end of the shop, behind the counter, was an old woman around her 60s or 70s, her hands working through a bundle of stems with care. She didn't look up immediately, as she already knew someone entered.
For a moment, Minjae simply…waited, taking in the natural scent of flowers in the air before the woman finally glanced up.
"Looking for something white, I'm assuming?" she said, looking at him from head to toe.
"How did you—?"
"Oh, please. I've got seventy-two years under my belt. When a customer comes into a flower store in a full suit, they're either here for a date…or a grave."
"And with that look on you?" she added quietly. "Didn't take long to figure out which one."
Minjae didn't quite know how to react. He'd been seen straight through, laid bare in a way he wasn't used to, and there wasn't much he could do about it.
All he could do was let out a soft and resigned laugh. "You got me. Please, just one bundle of anything white will do."
"Who are these flowers for?" she asked, finishing the bouquet she had been working on before setting it aside and turning to face him fully
"...My father."
"If that's the case," she said, shaking her head lightly, "a bundle won't do, boy. I'll make you a proper bouquet. Something nice."
"No, you don't really have to—"
"Don't worry about it," she cut in gently, already reaching for a fresh set of stems. "Call it my good deed for the day."
"And besides," she added, almost offhandedly, "I can tell you're a good kid."
Her hands moved with ease as she began to unwrap and arrange the flowers. "Good people deserve something nice."
"...Thank you."
Minjae stared at the woman while she was working. For a moment, nothing else seemed to matter—the city outside, the thoughts lingering in Minjae's mind, and even the reason he had stepped inside in the first place…
It all faded beneath the simple act of watching someone do something they had done for a lifetime.
The radio crackled faintly on the counter.
Neither of them paid much attention at first. It had been murmuring in the background since he walked in. But the next news caught his attention.
"Authorities have confirmed that an altercation earlier this afternoon between an Awakened individual and a civilian has resulted in severe injuries—"
"Witnesses report that the incident began as a verbal dispute before escalating rapidly. The civilian was found unconscious at the scene with multiple fractures and is currently in critical condition—"
The soft snipping of shears stopped entirely.
"The suspect has since been taken into custody and is expected to face charges of aggravated assault and attempted murder—"
It was enough. The rest of what he heard went through one ear and out the other. And from the looks of it, the old woman felt the same.
"…Forty years," she murmured, more to herself than to him. "And we're still here."
Minjae remained where he stood, his gaze lingering on the radio for a moment longer before drifting back to the woman behind the counter.
"…Was it really that bad?"
The question left his mouth before he even realized he had said it.
"…Bad?"
"You kids always say that," she muttered, shaking her head slightly. "Like the Chaos Era was just a rough time."
"It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Awakened ruled the world back then."
"And for people like me, for Civilians…" she continued, glancing downwards. "It wasn't about right or wrong, but if you made it to the next day or not."
She turned slightly, reaching for another stem before stopping midway. "This shop. It used to be smaller. Not much, but enough to get by."
Minjae furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to listen to the old botanist's story.
"I needed money," she continued simply. "Thought I'd borrow a little. Nothing big."
"Then one day, the numbers changed. And when I complained, they strong-armed me."
"And when I couldn't keep up," she trailed off for a moment. "...They burnt the shop to the ground."
"..."
He couldn't say anything. What could he even say? Actually, he knew exactly what he wanted to say…
That not all Awakened were like that, that things were different now…but the words didn't come.
Because the truth was…Minjae didn't have an answer. Not a good one. How can he have a good answer when he just heard about someone's shop getting burned to the ground?
"…Things aren't like that anymore," he said finally. Though even to his own ears, it sounded shaky, forced even.
The woman let out a quiet hum, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. "No, not like that anymore. But not much has changed."
Was it my own bias of being an Awakened? Not all Awakened are like that.
But enough were…to cause a whole Era of suffering.
And enough still are, so…who's to say it won't happen again?
He shifted slightly as she stepped forward, extending the bouquet toward him. Instinctively, he reached out to take it.
But even more than that. Maybe it was his fear, his anxiousness of being found out by her, that got his reflex kicking in before he could stop it.
The bouquet shifted in his grip as the woman's hand jerked back with a sharp intake of breath.
"…Ah—"
The woman pulled back, turning her wrist slightly to test it. Even without looking, Minjae already knew…
It was sprained.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I—" he started, bowing his head as deep as it could go. But he couldn't make eye contact with her.
"You're one of them."
"I really didn't mean to—"
"Take it," she said, nodding toward the bouquet still in his hands. "And just go."
Minjae hesitated. "…I haven't paid yet."
"I said take it," she snapped, her gaze already turning away from him. "Just don't come back."
For a moment, he stood there, the weight of the flowers in his hands feeling heavier than it should. Then, quietly, he stepped forward and placed a few bills down on the counter anyway.
"…Thank you."
Though he wasn't sure what he was thanking her for anymore.
No response came.
The bell above the door chimed once more as he stepped back out into the city, the noise of the outside world rushing back in to fill the silence he left behind.