Chapter 5: A Friend in the Unlikeliest of Place

Hana never expected much from the people around her. She liked things simple—predictable, quiet, unproblematic. Emotions were messy. People were complicated. She’d had enough of both for a lifetime.

But Park Sang Mi didn’t care about any of that.

Their relationship started like a strange footnote in the book of her dull civilian life. Sang Mi kept showing up at the gym, always early, always cheerful, and always slightly too loud for Hana’s taste. She didn’t train like the others. While the office workers and teenagers followed Hana’s movements with awe and respect, Sang Mi just mimicked her like a drunk squirrel doing yoga.

Yet somehow, Hana found herself smiling more during those evening sessions. Something about Sang Mi’s complete lack of shame was ... refreshing. She didn’t pretend to be something she wasn’t. There were no layers of social camouflage, no subtle mind games. It was all Sang Mi, all the time—bubbly, direct, and brutally honest in a way that didn’t care whether it was socially acceptable.

What really sealed their bond, though, was Sang Mi’s surprising ability to leave Hana alone.

Most people either avoided Hana entirely or treated her like a puzzle to be solved. But Sang Mi didn’t pry. She didn’t ask why Hana would suddenly stop and stare into nothingness between sets. She didn’t question the scars or the haunted look Hana sometimes wore when her mind drifted to ... colder places. She just trained, sweated, and made dumb jokes about her own job.