It has been at least half an hour since Ban Tae stirred from his slumber but the world around him remained fast asleep. All was silent within the cold terminal, bathed by the deep frosty blue of a dawn during winter. Through fatigued slits between his raw abraded eye lids, his gaze focused dead center on a big slice of nothing upon the immaculately polished terminal floor. Tae was mentally wide awake but was too tired to warrant standing up and treating his aching limbs with a good stretch. As you can infer, he was bored out of his wits.
The lonely rumbling of a rolling luggage bag smashed through the silence as a single traveler paced across the deserted terminal. Thud. Tae thought he had heard something heavy drop on the floor with a cushioned slap. Curiosity overcoming his sloth, Tae mustered the strength to look beyond his left armrest and saw a fat brown leather wallet sitting in the middle of the polished linoleum floor like an earthy island upon a featureless porcelain ocean.
Tae knew that he should return the wallet to the traveler as soon as possible before he disappeared around the corner but his body disagreed. It took him a whole minute to launch his dense self off the chair onto his marshmallow feet and another to build up the strength to clear his throat and shout after the traveler.
'WAAAAAAAIT YOUR WALLET' blurted out. Tae just before the traveler stepped out of the terminal. The traveller turned around at a snap, startled by the sudden shout, to see a half asleep Ban Tae plodding up to him brandishing his wallet. 'Oh thank you kind sir', the traveler made out at last, accepting the wallet and quickly hurrying back on his merry way. Now that he was on his feet from that, Tae decided to have a latte to wake himself up in preparation for his flight which was only in half an hour or so. Whistling to himself, Tae strolled up the stairs to the food court the floor above.
While the terminal below was desolate and asleep in a cold slumber, the food court was a complete contrast. The winter air was bathed in the warm orange glow of the stoves, ovens and industrial deep fryers as they conjured a plethora of breakfast options for the customers strolling from stall to stall, savoring the smell of gourmet and ethnic cuisine. It was by no means a noisy crowd but it was so alive in contrast to the frozen terminal which Tae spent the night in. Tae wasted no time in emptying his wallet and filling himself up. Fishing out golden chunks of fried chicken from a family size bucket of KFC, Tae realized what he was originally here for: the latte, and lined up at the Starbucks right around the corner.
Clutching his family sized KFC bucket closely to his chest, Tae couldn't help noticing that the other patrons were flicking looks towards and just behind him