Bo-won Kim/ ch4. final draft/ Tuesday 1pm

Ironic Bus     What comes up first the moment you hear number 1224? I assume this number will mean Christmas Eve for many of you. However, number 1224 doesn't mean Christmas Eve to me but rather something that brings back my memory from the past. Thinking back to the past, I feel like I'm back to the kid I used to be, the mischievous little girl. I don't have to face harsh reality that I'm facing now and am filled with hopes and dreams.   "So we gotta take the bus to get off Cheongnyangni station…" A serious looking man said to a girl next to him. The girl was about the age of 10, two big eyes staring at the man's gestures. He seemed to be the girl's father since no one would've look at the girl eyes full of affections and worries. Looking vacantly at his gestures like his little daughter, I heard the girl mumble something in her mouth. The sound of wind blowing heavily disturbed me from concentrating on what the girl's saying. After the wind had calmed down, I could hear the number she was mumbling clearly. The girl was murmuring "number 1224…1224… 1224…" for several times and asked her dad, "dad, so it's the bus number 1224, right?". "That's right. But don't worry. I'll be here until you get on the bus." The girl put a big smile on her face after hearing what her dad said. His words seemed to have relieved her.   Hearing the bus number 1224, soon I became a kid waiting for the bus just like the girl next to me. I share my past with the bus since I was an elementary school student. For more than six years, I have taken the same bus at the same bus stop and possibly with the same bus driver. Whenever I see the greenish thing appear around the corner of Hagye station, my heart bounced with adrenaline soaring up. "I have to take that bus." That's the first thing popped up in my head. "If I don't take it, I wouldn't make it in time for the first class and eventually I will get punished." The rational thinking continued after few seconds. And finally there came a quick decision, which obviously had already been made. "I hate to get punished so I have to take that bus no matter what." But the problem was that I wasn't the only one having that in mind. Everyone's adrenaline was soaring up. When this happened, it meant that there is going to be a war in a second.   The war broke out. The weapons for the soldiers were usually their speeds and their skills. The fastest person gets on the bus and people lining up will get on the bus one another. Winners held their straps as their trophies and the defeated had to give up their hopes to get on the bus and aim for the next bus. Usually, the bus driver decides who the last winner is by closing the door when the bus is full but there were some who couldn't abandon their dreams. They climbed up for one more chance. Same thing happens all around the year. However, in the winter, situation got worse as soldiers are armed with heavy clothes.   When the bus driver brought an end to this war and closed the door, there came a peace like nothing had happened just before. People helped each other by sharing their straps, which were there handles just before. People helped each other by giving seats to the elderly. In the bus, seats were more than a trophy. People helped each other by pressing the buttons instead for those who couldn't reach the button and cry out for help.   I have experienced this irony throughout my school life with the bus number 1224. I've seen nasty things, I've seen heart-warming things and I basically saw everyday things almost every day in the bus 1224. I no longer have a chance to get on the bus 1224 nor do I have a time. But the past memory I share with bus 1224 will be deep inside my heart. The bus 1224, the most popular territory that every soldier from Hagye station bus stop had aimed for, will always experience the same thing over and over. It will declare war and end the war as always but inside it, there will be a peace as always.