[♔] She smiles at the greeting from what seems like the only other being in the store and bows her head as recognition, though her eyes linger for a second too long, taking in the chiseled jaw and wide eyes that make up the handsome face she’s blatantly staring at now. Her orbs flicker elsewhere and she focuses on her task for the day, slowly walking down aisles of bookcases. Small, graceful fingers flutter along endless spines of books and she finds herself at peace. Some of the literature are in different languages she’s never tried, but even those books seem to bring her serenity. Maybe it was just the overall aura of the building or the fact that she’s surrounded by a burdensome number of books, but whatever the source was, the small smile on her tinted lips won’t leave.
After what seemed like hours, she has a stack of books in her hands and that curve on her lips still in place. The choices she made today are quite standard: classic novels in both Korean and English to help her study for any trips she might make abroad. Her trip to the cash register is short and she makes the best of it by wandering her gaze to the four walls of the enclosed space, inspecting the colors of the interior and what the source for the cozy feeling might be. She decides that ultimately, it’s the shopkeeper that applies the mood around places like these and ah - speak of the devil. She meets him face-to-face and offers him a brighter smile, setting the eight books down on the wooden counter with an exaggerated heave.
"Nice place you got here. I really like everything about it. Especially the variety of titles you have, along with the languages. Hard to find English books off the internet and stuff," she mumbles. Her confidence isn’t quite as high as it was just seconds ago and her cheeks have a red dust to them as her eyes drop to the long fingers that possess the stacks of paper now. "How long have you had this place?"
His head lifts itself up as a prickling feeling spread across his face. With an eyebrow arched he glances over to his customer, but it seemed she had already been swept up into the atmosphere of the store. And she was hardly the first to be. Amongst the many people that had come here over the decades there were plenty that had allowed themselves to be taken over by curiosity in this shop. It had the feel of an old and serene time in the past, in stark contrast to the modern and busy world outside. Something that had only been increased over the last few years.
Yet through the modernisation West of the Moon had kept it’s creaking floor and dust filled old books that were the thing that perhaps made the shop keeper feel so at home. It was quiet, and he was able to do his favourite pastime while in fact working. An excuse to not wallow in his apartment day after day and willow away. As peaceful as his exterior was, an unreadable facial expression and jet black hair, the torment weren’t normal. But nothing about him would let on to that. And so he sat there, day after day flipping the sides of a book with a slender finger.
He’s taken out of his reading habits as the customer from earlier places eight book on his counter. “It serves right to have good contacts.” He offers her a small smile, one of the rare ones contrasting to his previous facial expression, as she praised the old store. “Many years.”, he replied not wanting to state the real time. Afraid it would garner attention he did not need. Reaching out he turns the stack of books to be able to read off the spine of them and counting up the total cost.