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Hana hopped up and down in her room, blue skirt flapping against white tights with every hop. It was the second Friday of the month, which meant she and her parents were going grocery shopping. It was one of the few times she went out. Usually she was stuck inside, learning Korean and math and history and gymnastics with her mother and playing Starcraft II or World of Warcraft in the evenings, usually with her father. It was nice, but nothing beat the joy of walking through the streets of Busan, even if it was only for a little bit.
As soon as she woke up, she picked out the prettiest outfit she could find and brushed her hair until it was smooth and shiny. Her father laughed when he came to wake her up.
"If only we could get you as excited about math as you are about buying vegetables." He said when he saw her already dressed. She scrambled to the kitchen and threw herself in her chair as her mother laid out plates of rice and kimchi. Hana finished long before her parents and kicked her legs impatiently as she waited for them to finish their meal.
Eventually, they were all fed and dressed and ready to walk to the market. Her father held two cloth bags in his arms and her mother held one. She smiled at Hana and reached out her hand.
"Remember to hold my hand, okay little one?" She said.
"I'm ten years old, mom," Hana said as she grabbed her mother's hand. "I don't need to be watched like a baby."
"I want to protect you, Hana. That's all." Her mother said softly. Her expression became sadder as she spoke. Hana squeezed her hand and smiled.
"Don't worry mom. I'm big enough to protect myself and you and dad!" Her dad ruffled her hair with a chuckle and opened the door for them.
Hana eagerly looked around at the buildings and streets around her. They rarely changed much in the few weeks between grocery trips, and she could see some from the windows in her house, but it felt so different to see them in front of her. Her mother guided her down the cracked, uneven street, past homes and brightly lit shops and ruined, crumbling brick walls and windows. She hopped from one cracked shape in the pavement to the other, enjoying the feeling of sunlight and fresh air and her parents chatted.
Her parents stopped at the corner to look at the newspapers, as they usually did. Hana peeked in between their arms, unwilling to be left out. The headlines all exclaimed "OMNIC MONSTROSITY DECIMATES WESTERN COAST OF SOUTH KOREA" in big, bold characters. She didn't need to read more to know there were hundreds, maybe thousands who were dead, injured, or missing. For as long as she could remember, the monstrous Omnic that seemed to live in the sea had dominated headlines. The news was always reporting on it, whether it was attacking or not. They reported it's attacks, how much damage it had done, how the reconstruction was coming along, speculation as to when it might next attack. Hana couldn't remember a time where she turned on the news or read a newspaper and didn't hear about it in some form, where her parents weren't afraid to let her go out in case it attacked Busan again. She had been so young, but her parents talked about how afraid they had been and she could almost remember the shelter they huddled in, thousands of people under the city waiting in fear.
She looked up at her parents' pale, anxious faces and grabbed her father's clenched hand and squeezed her mother's.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you two, remember?" She said. Her mother squeezed back and her father pulled her closer until he gave her a one armed hug.
"Of course," He said with a smile. "We're so lucky to have a big, strong daughter like you." They left the newspaper stand behind and continued toward the market, momentarily forgetting about their fear.