Intro. The clock showed 6:12 in the morning, and Han Areum's alarm clock had been ringing for exactly ten minutes. She had half of her body wrapped in the blanket and the other half trying, unsuccessfully, to turn off her cell phone that had fallen to the floor. — Just five more minutes… — she murmured, completely unaware that she was already late.
Five minutes turned into fifteen. And fifteen minutes later, Areum was running out of her tiny apartment in Mapo, with a crooked bun, one sock of each color and the coffee shop badge hanging around her neck. She lived two metro stops away from Café Bloom, where she had worked for two years.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city — in an office with a panoramic view of Gangnam — Kang Minjae had already been in the meeting room since 6am sharp. Perfectly ironed white shirt, navy blue tie, unsweetened American coffee on the table. He was the kind of man who made even the clock feel slow.