7/21/2019 The Wind Blows Across Dongdaemun

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 “I’m sorry. It’s past the entry time. I can’t let you in.”

I dropped the heavy bag I had been lugging all the way from Chuncheon, not

minding the dust that would inevitably stick to its bottom. The cold ctober night

wind blew hard around me and the security guard of my dormitory building. It was

two in the morning, I was tired, and all I wanted to do was sleep. !ut the bus from

Chuncheon’s terminal to "ast #eoul broke down in the middle of the trip, and what

was supposed to be an hour of travel stretched into two as we waited for the

repairmen to arrive. $nd when they did, after a few minutes of inspection they

declared that the bus was dead, and so we had to wait for another half an hour for a

replacement bus to come pick us up. !ut the guard would hear none of it, of course.

%ules are rules. Twelve midnight on weekdays, one in the morning on weekends.

 That was the strict deadline that is now preventing me from laying on my bed and

drifting o& to sleep.

“$'eossi, please( 'ust this once. I came all the way from )angwon*do and I

am really tired. Can’t you make an e+ception 'ust this once”

-y voice slightly cracked with that last plea. The now frigid wind nipped at

me as I pulled my 'acket closer to me.

 The guard shook his head rmly. “It’s not that I don’t want to let you in 'ust to

give you a hard time. /ou know what happened last week. There was a robbery on

the third 0oor. #ome laptops and phones went missing, and so they decided to

nally spend on repairing the cctv cameras.”

1e made a slight pointing motion behind him and he sighed. “2ormally, I

don’t really care. !ut now they watch everything. I’m not losing my 'ob because

your bus decided to stop. 3ust come back after three hours, the doors open at ve.”

$nd with that declaration, he waved me away and walked back to his station.

I was left frustrated, steam rising from by lips with every breath I took. 4hether it

was from my anger or the cold crisp air, I wasn’t sure. I banged on the door to get

the guard’s attention once again.

1e came back, now with a pissed e+pression on his face. “4hat I told you

to come back5”

I pointed to the heavy canvas bag by my feet. “Can I leave this here I have

nowhere to go to until ve so I’ll probably 'ust walk around. I don’t want to carry this

around.”

 The guard sni&ed. “6ine. 2ow go. 3ust pick it up here when you come back.”

7/21/2019 The Wind Blows Across Dongdaemun

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