#chapter 1.5

Full chapter 1.5 of my comic Apathy, for your convenience! (Yes, it's a long post) Read the other chapters >> [1] - [1.5 Current] - [2]

Chapter 1.1: A New Beginning

[Kiro POV]

Today is the first day of the rest of my life, in a good way that is!

What started off as a "stupid obsession", as the kids at my school refer to it, has now become my career. Today is the day I move into my company's dorms and first day in preparation for my debut as a K-pop idol.

"Eomma!! I'm leaving!!" I shout as I run down the stairs with a single suitcase and duffle bag. My mom walks out of the kitchen and greets me at the bottom of the staircase. She has always supported my dream, especially since dad was never in the picture. Juggling 2, and sometimes even 3 jobs at a time, she did her best to get me the singing and violin lessons I wanted as I was growing up. You can say she's also one of the reasons I'm doing this. I wanna be famous and one day repay her for all the love and support she has given me.

"Oh, my son! I'm going to miss you so much!" she says as she takes my face with her calloused hands and pulls it towards her. She kisses my forehead, and I catch a glimpse of tears forming in her eyes. I panic immediately, it's rare to ever see my mom cry.

"Oh no eomma, don't cry!!" I frantically tell her as I pull her in for a hug. I rest my chin on her head, my mom has always been so small, but she has always says that what she lacks in height she makes up for in heart. Which I can't deny as she is one of the most loving people I know.

She pats my back and she muffles in my chest, "You better call me!!" as her pats turn into a full-on squeezing hug. She may be tiny, but she is wicked strong. 

"Ouch ouch ouch!!" I exclaim exaggeratingly, "Eomma, you wanna break me on my first day?!" I tease her, and she jokingly smacks me in the arm, "Ack!! child abuse!" I shout as I rub my arm as if in pain.

My mom laughs, "You are no child! You are 19 years old now!" She then smirks and hugs me again, "but to me you always will be my baby". Hearing and seeing her react like this makes me kinda sad. She's gonna be all alone now, but regardless, this would have to happen at some point. And I know she wants me to live my dream. I start to squeeze her at the thought, and then lift her up briefly. "Aaaahhh!" she exclaims "Girak, I'm not young as I used to be, you're gonna break me!"

"Eomma, you're only 35!" I say rolling my eyes. My mom had gotten pregnant with me when she was still in high school. My dad chickened out when he found out and wanted my mom to abort me. But she didn't want to and her family was a lot more supportive than most other korean families. So she kept me and raised me with halmeoni and halabeoji until I was 5. 

My phone in my pocket suddenly vibrates, its my new manager, MC. The message says she just arrived. "Okay eomma, I have to go. They're waiting for me." I say as I hug her one last time.

"Take care of yourself Girak! And behave," she says squeezing me with all her might, taking the breath out of me. "And call me!!" she reminds me as she lets go.

"Of course eomma" I reply, having one last good look at her. Her long black hair tied up to a bun as she usually has it when  she is cleaning, her favorite orange apron sitting perfectly on her small frame, and her dark eyes desperately trying to hold back tears. "Eomma, Saranghaeyo," I say as I turn towards and open the door.

"Sarang, Girak," she says as I step through the door.

Outside is a white van. MC is waiting with the door open, and no one seems to be inside. Guess I'm the first one being picked up. 

"Annyeonghaseyo," I tell MC as I walk closer. I have only met her one other time when MC was being assigned to our group, Evol, via the company. Standing next to her I realize she just as tiny as my mom. It's sort of adorable, just like how her bangs make her seem younger than me even though I know for sure she is my senior.

"Annyeong Girak, or should I say Kiro now," she replies in a chirper tone. Kiro is my new stage name, which I'm super excited for cause it makes it feel all the more official. 

"Either or is fine by me, noona," she blushes at the fact that I called her noona, how adorable! I put my stuff in the trunk and jump in the van. MC closes the door behind me, honestly it feels a bit weird having a girl open and close the door for me. But I'm sure there's a lot of things I'm gonna need to get used to, like having 3 other housemates.

MC gets in the driver's seat, "We're gonna pick up Gavin now," she says as she texts, I'm assuming Gavin, to notify him that we are on the way. I met Gavin a few times during our training days. He's one hell of a dancer, and I'm glad we ended up in the same group.

MC buckled up and pull off down the street. Off to my new beginning!

That was another good chapter! We got the defeat of Lung... probably... and we met four cool new characters that are probably going to be relatively important in the future. Whether they'll be antagonists or friendly villains remains to be seen.

Honestly, I think I'd prefer the latter. I like when heroes have villainous friends.

I think in the next chapter, Taylor is going to meet a member of the Protectorate for the first time, provided she doesn't get away quickly. That could be interesting, especially considering that cape might mistake her for a villain like the Doggy Gang (they need a collective name, so this'll have to do for now) did at the end of 1.5.

I think we're getting to the end of Gestation soon. For all I know, the next chapter might actually be 2.1 even if it does continue with the Protectorate member plot point.

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I wished I could fly.

Maybe you could take a Mr. Pigeon approach to it:

Then again it’s probably even harder to keep your footing on a cloud of mosquitoes than on a cloud of pigeons.

Also, physics.

My school offered the choice between Chemistry, Biology and Physics, with Basic Science for the underachievers. I hadn’t picked Physics, but I was still pretty sure that no matter how many I could gather together, jumping off the roof with a swarm of flying insects gripping me would be just as ineffective as the 9 year old superhero wannabes you heard about in the news, jumping off ledges with umbrellas and bedsheets.

I…

We have the so far kind of cryptic title Worm

and we have a bug-themed heroine on the lookout for a name

True worms aren't technically bugs, but... Maybe they count? And a bunch of things that do count as bugs/insects/etc are sometimes informally called worms.