𓈒𓏸 traffic ༄.°

@✧˚ b. wooseok Minah was startled by this voice, which seemed to come from the car, her heart skipping a beat at the sound of the roll of the window. Subconsciously, she took a backward step as she became attentive to the stranger coming to her. Her guard was still up until she spotted a police badge flashed by this man. This immediately relaxed the tension. A wave of relief washed over her, though this was immediately replaced by embarrassment. Here was this grown woman needing help from the police just because she had gotten on the wrong bus.

"I-" Minah stuttered, lowering her phone and holding his gaze. "Yeah, I'm new here. I moved in only a few weeks ago, and." She gestured to the unfamiliar street, sheepish. "I took the wrong bus, ended up on the wrong side of town."

At that moment, when Wooseok mentioned the bus came by only twice in a day and never after sunset, a pang of alarm struck her. In front of her, the road was empty without any other vehicle in view. She didn't immediately say anything as she was thinking about how to request help without sounding desperate.

"Would you be able to send me back?" Minah finally asked, her voice softer than she meant her to be. She prayed she didn't sound like a lost child, but in this moment, that was exactly how she felt.

@✧˚ k. minah It was a rare day to be able to get off work on time with no strings attached. Heck, in the last half-hour he had about nothing to do and lingered around the water cooler until his shift was over and he was able to escape to his car unscathed. Wooseok rolled down his windows and enjoyed the Haepung ocean breeze, enjoying his leisurely drive around town while the sun was still up, making a detour around places in town he hadn't been to in a long time.

There was a place he had no reason to visit now that he was an adult. No, it wasn't school, but a secret spot in town that was quiet, empty, and away from everything: the perfect place for teenagers to hangout and play hooky, smoke, or - as Wooseok often used it for - makeout. With his generation aged out of such activities, Wooseok couldn't imagine anybody loitering here anymore, so it was a surprise to him when he saw a young woman by herself at the dilapidated bus stop.

"Who's this?" Wooseok asked as he swallowed his throat, cautiously slowing down his car to take a glance at the woman. He didn't recognize her, but she didn't seem like a tourist either. Was she a ghost? Wooseok shook his head. No way she was a ghost, he knew somebody who could see them and she'd never seen a ghost here despite the urban legends that surrounded it. Still, it was those urban legends that kept people in town from using this stop and why the bus only came around it twice a day. Eventually, Wooseok came to a stop in front of her and confirmed she was, indeed, a human woman. But what was she doing all the way out here by herself when the last bus of the day must have already gone by? Obviously, she avoided his vehicle as he came to a stop before her, but... in this area Wooseok came to two conclusions about why a fully grown woman would be here alone: either she was doing suspicious activities or she was lost.

"Excuse me," Wooseok called out from his rolled down window before getting out of his car and flashing his police badge to the woman to ensure he didn't startle her too badly, "Can I ask why you're standing here all by yourself?" He looked around the area to see that there was nobody nearby. He wouldn't trust any of his family members in this area by themselves, especially as the sun was beginning to set. "Are you lost?" He asked, pointing at the bus stop and relaying "This bus only comes by twice a day, it doesn't come after the sun sets."

@✧˚ b. wooseok Minah had just ended her shift at the bakery, an hour earlier than she usually did. It was one of those few days that she left work when the sun was still up. Stepping outside into the afternoon's warmth, she allowed a small sense of relief as the evening crowd hadn't quite arrived yet.

She gravitated to the window seat, and once the bus started to move through the familiar parts of Haepung, Minah absent-mindedly scrolled through her social media feeds, setting her mind to nothing in particular. She barely felt the passage of time until it felt like something was off. She did finally look up from her phone to realize that the scenery outside was unfamiliar. The bus should have turned left at the last intersection, but instead, it had gone right.

It had slowly dawned on her that she had taken the wrong bus, and panic set in. She instantly jumped out of her seat, pressed the stop button, and ejecting herself off at the next stop. Stepping onto the pavement, she looked around, rather disoriented. The area was completely unfamiliar part of town. There were no people on the streets, and even the very bus stop was deserted.

"Aish." Minah bit her lip in frustration, stomping her foot onto the ground. A wave of helplessness washed over her. She hadn't been in Haepung long enough to find her way around unfamiliar neighborhoods.

She looked all around, hoping to catch something familiar, but it was just empty roads and silent houses. She had reached for her phone just to open Naver so that she could find her way home when she saw a car far away. It drew closer, crawling, before it came to a stop right in front of her. Minah hesitated for a while, looking around, wondering if the driver was picking up somebody else. She stepped cautiously to the side and directed her attention to her phone to figure out a way back without requesting someone's help.