It was a beautiful morning in the Autumn weather of Seoul, September 3rd. In an apartment building, a girl with flowing black hair heard the ringing of her alarm. She reluctantly turned it off as she yawned, ready to begin her day. The girl prepared herself, curling her black hair into twin buns.
"Pucca!" She heard from the living room.
"Coming Ho!" She said as she rushed to the living room, putting on a red velvet sweater, thin aqua blue scarf and a black skirt, she sat down at the kitchen table as her uncles got dressed.
"Pucca, we'll expect you at the restaurant by 6:30, we'll need you for a bit longer tonight," Linguini said.
"See ya later, you can make breakfast by yourself can't you?" Dumpling said before they left.
Pucca waved goodbye as she began to cook her breakfast of rice, salmon, kimchi, and corn. Once she was done, she rushed out the door with her stuff.
After getting off the subway, she made her way to Taepei Dream Academy. At the entrance, she met up with a black-haired tan boy wearing a Yat-sen suit and a girl with black braided hair wearing a purple, short, cheongsam.
"I don't know why you made me wear this Ching." The boy complained tugging on his outfit's collar.
"Because I had to make sure you dressed properly, may I remind you you're the reason we almost had to wear uniforms last year," Ching replied
"So what if I like just wearing sweatpants, at least I'm in shape," Abyo replied before Pucca tugged on his ear, making him yelp in pain.
"Pucca, great to see you!" He said trying to get her hand off his ear.
"Look Abyo, today's the beginning of the year assembly, and you better not pull something like you did at the end of last year!" Ching warned. Abyo just scoffed
"And what if I do?" he challenged
"Then I'll tell the whole school you planted the fireworks at the end of the year party."
"Like this school means anything." He shrugged
"Then I'll just funnel some raw eggs, jello and green tea ice cream down your throat."
"No!" He begged on his knees "Please don't I'll never pull another prank if you just don't do it, I can still remember the tastes, oh I'm gonna puke."He said
"Oh grow up Abyo," Pucca said as the two girls walked into the building, Abyo rushing behind.
They made their way to the auditorium, sitting down on the bleachers as the principle took stage, in all white clothing from his shoes, to his white sweater, his untrimmed, untended beard, and baldness with spots of hair on his head turning white. He tapped the microphone and spoke into it.
"Hello young ladies and gentlemen of the Taipei Dream High school, as you all know I am Principle Soo. I am glad to see so many smiling warm faces here today, for it is our third year since I've traveled from Taipei to help the youth of South Korea achieve their dreams and continue to strive in their top education." He said as he went on Pucca noticed a rattling underneath the bleachers. She looked between the seats under her seeing something black moving under them. It looked up at her only to continue moving.
"What is that?" she questioned curiously.
"What is it Pucca?" Ching asked.
"Nothing." She replied
After school
Pucca walked home alone, Ching and Abyo separating to head to their own destination. Unknown to Pucca, a figure in black was behind her. She heard footsteps, noticing the sounds not matching the rhythm of her own walking, she turned around only to see the cloaked figure, shooting it a dead glare.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice slightly shaky. The person didn't respond, however, and just glared at her longer.
But in their glaring, the two failed to notice the group of thugs, all dressed in baggy clothing.
" Well, seems that we got ourselves lucky." One of the thugs said.
"How about you hand over any cash you got, and we might let you live." another said.
As one of the thugs was reaching for Pucca's backpack, he was stopped when the person who was glaring at her grabbed his wrist, "Leave her alone."
"Oh tough guy eh, well let's see how far that'll get you," the thug said as he threw a punch at him with his free hand.
It was a mistake though, as the cloaked figure pulled out a blade, slashing the thugs' shirt.
"Oh bad move!" the thug said pulling out a gun that Pucca knocked away before kicking the thug in the chest. As the other thugs pulled out pistols, the cloaked figure raised his blade, as the ground around them piled onto their legs, in-casing them in rock. Before the duo knocked them out, scaring off the remaining conscious muggers.
When they were all gone, Pucca looked back at the cloaked figure, "Ok seriously, who are you and how did you do that with the ground?"
"Your name is Pucca, correct?" He said shocking her
"How, do you know my name?" She asked, but the cloaked figure didn't change his tone.
"I need to speak to you, specifically, about a job."
"What job?" she asked.
"You're the niece of the owners of Legend of Sky are you not? If you have such connections, I would like to speak to you and the owners."
"About what?"
"It's best if I explain it to you alongside them," he said.
"Well, alright," she said, unsure how to take anything that he's saying. She then started to head to her uncle's restaurant, with the cloaked figure following her.
When they made it to the restaurant Pucca was immediately confronted by her uncles,
"Pucca, you brought a friend, this isn't the best time, it's really busy! These jajang noodles and grilled octopus go to table seven." Ho said handing Pucca two plates, as the chefs returned to the kitchen the cloaked figure followed them.
"I'm sorry to bother you three while you are working, but there is something I must discuss," he said to them.
"Look, kid, we got our hands full right now, so whatever you got to say has to wait," Linguini said.
"I'm afraid this is something that cannot wait."
"Make it quick!"Dumpling said as he prepared more plates.
"I need a job here!" The cloaked figure stated before taking off his black cloak, showing he was wearing a black sweater and red jeans, his hair matching, pitch black with red streaks, all tied in a ponytail.
"My apologies for wearing such clothing in a restaurant."
"Well then, if your here for a job, then now is the perfect time to see what you got," Ho said.
"This time is when we have the most people and is one of our busiest times, even Pucca has trouble handling the orders and she's been working here for a long time," Linguini said.
"If you can do a good job right now, then you got the job," Dumpling said.
"No problem!" He gladly said. "By the way, the name is Garu, Garu Kivatt." He said before changing into a waiter uniform and handling the orders, No matter how many were thrown at him, no matter how large the order, once Garu heard it, he seemed to have it all memorized, even where it came from. Every `10 minutes a new customer came in, and they were easily taken care of. By the end of the evening, as the moon was above Seoul, the restaurant was empty except for the staff. The chefs looked on, amazed at Garu's work
"This kid, he's unbelievable," Ho said in awe.
"He's taking care of all these people with such ease, it's incredible," Linguini said.
"Who is this kid?" Dumpling said.
They were not the only ones stunned by Garu's performance, Pucca was surprised as well. She didn't take him as a waiter when she first saw him, but now she's starting to get more questions on who exactly he is.
She brought him a meal twenty minutes later, Jajang Noodles and barbequed salmon. After serving him the plate, he immediately grabbed two chopsticks and dug in.
"So, considering everything you know about me, I doubt this job is all you want?" She asked
"Pretty perceptive aren't you," Garu said, slurping some of his noodles, "You're right, this job isn't the only thing I'm here for."
"What else do you want?" she asked
"You, Pucca, I need you, or to be specific, you need me." He said as he finished his noodles.