Chapter Text
Jihoon is tired, and in need of money.
A lot of money.
No, he’s not in some sort of trouble. No illegal stuff, and definitely no drugs. In fact, anyone who knows Jihoon knows he probably has the cleanest student record in the college. He doesn’t try to be goody two shoes – he’s just never had any interest in breaking the rules.
(He thinks the worst thing he’s ever done is used his younger stepbrother’s toothbrush on accident one night and never telling him about it.
After all, doesn’t everyone mix up toothbrushes with their siblings’ at least once?)
“So, if you’re not in any trouble, which I highly doubt.” Woojin, Jihoon’s roommate and friend, asks while lazing around on his bed with his phone in his hands, “Then why the hell do you need so much money?”
Jihoon chews on his bottom lip, knowing better than to lie to Woojin.
“Oh my god,” Woojin suddenly gasps and puts his handphone down before staring at Jihoon in absolute horror. “Did you actually do something illegal for once?”
“What?” Jihoon panics. “No- idiot. No, it’s not about me. It’s my mom, and my stepdad. His debt collectors came to bother her the other day.”
To begin his long story, Jihoon’s mother has as much luck with men as Jihoon does.
Unfortunately, that means none.
His first dad, or his real dad, left when Jihoon was barely three, leaving his mother to raise him on her own. When she met Jihoon’s stepdad (another asshole, Jihoon notes), he’d thought everything was going to get better. Unfortunately, he’d bolted too when his debt collectors from Taiwan (Taiwan, for fuck’s sake, Jihoon thinks) came knocking on their door, leaving his son and hundreds of thousands of debts for Jihoon’s mother to care for.
Jihoon hated Guanlin at first. The sight of the younger made his blood boil. He was a reminder of why Jihoon had to work two part-time jobs and his mother had to bend her back to clean the office hallways of a company down the road 14 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“You’re a curse, you know that?” Jihoon said out of spite one day to Guanlin after he’d found his mother secretly crying in her room.
Guanlin was fifteen, and not well versed in Korean. Yet, Jihoon knew the hate and fury in his eyes transcended the language barriers between them. That very night, Guanlin ran away from home.
Jihoon’s mother was furious. And worried out of her mind.
She ran out of the house immediately after noticing that Guanlin was missing, and cried again when she returned empty-handed. She called the police, and they found Guanlin shivering in the cold, near the park two hours later.
When Jihoon saw his mother hugging Guanlin tightly in her arms that night, he realised something. His mother never saw Guanlin as her stepson or a curse from her ex-husband. He was never a burden to her, and Jihoon was in the wrong for thinking so.
Slowly, Jihoon began to accept Lai Guanlin. The boy did have his charms as well.
“Hyung,” Guanlin said to Jihoon one day, in that same annoying voice Jihoon came to accept as well. “Where did Dad go? He hasn’t come home in a long time.”
Jihoon didn’t know how to reply. Was it too cruel to tell a child that his father had left him without a second thought just to escape his crippling debt?
“He’s working,” Jihoon answered Guanlin without looking up from his textbook. “In a place very, very far away. You won’t be able to see him for a while now.”
Guanlin’s lips formed a natural pout. He seemed to be thinking hard about something.
“Okay,” Guanlin simply said in reply. “At least hyung’s here, so I don’t feel too lonely. Hyung, what are you studying? Is it math? I love math.”
All his incessant questions, all his strange eating habits that Jihoon had to work twice as hard to support – Jihoon accepted all of that.
After all, Guanlin had no one else in this world to turn to. Jihoon and his mother were his only family left.
Jihoon decided that he would be the one to protect his family from any more harm. And that included Lai Guanlin.
“Oh,” was all Woojin said to fill the silence between them. Jihoon had told Woojin about their predicament before, he just never mentioned exactly how much they owed the debt collectors.
“Fuck, that sucks so fucking much,” Woojin adds, to which Jihoon responds with a soft hum.
For the past few months, Jihoon has managed to keep the debt collectors out of Guanlin’s and his mom’s side from the money he’s been earning from his two jobs. When he returned home for the weekend last week, he’d found out from Guanlin that they were knocking on their door again, and demanding their payment earlier.
“Any ideas?” Jihoon prompts his friend. Woojin is no badass by any means, he’s just attended a few more parties and drank a lot more with many more strangers than Jihoon has. So, he figures, Woojin must have more ideas than he does.
“Maybe you could ask Ong Seongwoo to be your sugar daddy.”
Jihoon almost chokes on air. He sends a pillow flying to the other end of the room, and makes sure it hits Woojin right on his face.
“I’m serious,” Woojin groans, sending the pillow back to Jihoon, which he catches perfectly. “He won’t stop asking me to hook you two up.”
“If you have any ideas that doesn’t involve me possibly landing up in jail or interacting with Ong Seongwoo, let me know,” Jihoon concludes. He wills himself off his bed, his shift at the college café starts in 10 minutes, and he can’t really afford to be late.
“I have an idea!” Woojin suddenly yells, but when Jihoon looks at him, his face falls. “No, forget it. You wouldn’t like it.”
Jihoon narrows his eyes at Woojin, “What? Just tell me. Don’t leave me hanging.”
“No, forget I ever said that. It’s too dangerous,” Woojin waves Jihoon away dismissively.
Jihoon could continue pestering Woojin for what he’s trying to say, but he really needs to get to the café. He packs his bag, puts on a fresh t-shirt he finds in his closet and waves goodbye to Woojin.
“No, but really. You should consider the sugar daddy option. For the love of God and me, please talk to Seongwoo hyung.”
“You, me and the whole school knows he’s just trying to get into my pants. I told you, I’m not interested. See you later!”
Ong Seongwoo. Also known as the bane of Jihoon’s existence.
Okay, maybe he wouldn’t go that far.
But still.
Ong Seongwoo was only one of those guys. You know, one of those guys that laugh a little too loudly at an unfunny joke just to make sure their voice is heard. One of those guys that wears the school’s football team jersey a little too much. One of those guys that could get anyone he wanted.
Jihoon knew Seongwoo had his eye on him ever since he’d visited Woojin at one of his soccer trainings. He’d be a fool if he couldn’t notice a tall and lanky salivating dog following him around the entire week after.
Everyone in school knew Park Jihoon was Ong Seongwoo’s.
Not in that way. Oh, God forbid anyone to ever think that he and Ong Seongwoo would ever end up that way.
It was just an unavoidable fact that Ong Seongwoo was also one of those guys that made sure everyone knew that Jihoon was his to chase, and his only.
If it was irritating at the beginning, it was full blown annoying now.
“I’d like the cute waiter over there to take my order, if that’s fine,” Seongwoo’s obnoxious voice rings throughout the entire café, drawing looks from other customers. Jinyoung, Jihoon’s colleague and friend, shoots Jihoon an apologetic look that says, ‘sorry bro, can’t help you this time’ and Jihoon sighs.
“What can I get for you today?” Jihoon says, as dead-panned as possible. He keeps his eyes glued onto his notepad although his manager specifically reminds him to ‘always look customers in the eye and smile’.
Seongwoo however, remains unbothered. Jihoon has to give it up for Ong Seongwoo sometimes. If he was held at gun-point and asked to give Seongwoo a compliment, he would say that Seongwoo was persistent.
And if that wasn’t enough, he would take the bullet.
“Just the usual,” Seongwoo smiles. “A black coffee. And maybe a cake? What do you think, should I get a cake today, Jihoon-ie?”
Jihoon sighs, and makes sure his manager is out of earshot when he says, “You want to know what I think you should get?”
When excitement flashes across Seongwoo’s eyes; like he thinks Jihoon is actually trying to have a proper conversation with him, Jihoon doesn’t feel the least bit guilty when he replies, “I think you should get out of here and stop bothering me.”
A loud laugh rises from Seongwoo’s throat, which irritates Jihoon even more.
“Why? You don’t think I belong here?” Seongwoo pouts, obviously enjoying how much fun he’s having with Jihoon.
“No, not really. You’d rather much fit into the greasy burger joint down the road.”
Jihoon mentally pets himself on the back for thinking up that one. It visibly shocks Seongwoo, then the arrogant smile returns to his face.
“I want to talk to you later. What time does you shift end?” Seongwoo asks nonchalantly as he returns the menu to Jihoon’s waiting hands.
“I’m afraid you’re out of luck today, and all the other days that follow,” Jihoon flashes Seongwoo the fakest smile he can manage because his manager just happens to walk past his table then. “A black coffee, got it.”
Jihoon is about to walk away when he feels a strong grip on his shoulder. He shivers when he feels a hot breath down the back of his neck.
“I know you need money. I have an idea.”
Jihoon quickly turns around and distances himself from the other boy. He doesn’t even have to wonder how Seongwoo knows about his financial emergencies. Either Woojin sold him out, or Seongwoo was a creepy stalker, and he isn’t sure which one he prefers.
He looks around to make sure no one is listening in and says, “If it involves me getting into bed with you, you can forget it. I have my pride to keep.”
“No beds,” Seongwoo assures Jihoon, and he adds, “And nothing illegal.”
Jihoon purses his lips. He absolutely hates the idea of interacting with Ong Seongwoo, but he does have a debt to repay. Besides, Woojin will kill him if he doesn’t give Seongwoo a chance.
“6pm, in my room. Don’t be late. I’m giving you fifteen minutes, and you’re leaving after,” Jihoon says, which satisfies Seongwoo.
“I thought you said no beds,” Seongwoo grins. If Jihoon could, he would slap the shit-eating grin off Seongwoo’s face right now. But he’s working and he has a spotless student record to maintain, so he just sighs and walks away.
He makes sure Jinyoung brings the black coffee to Seongwoo after.
When there’s a knock on Jihoon’s door that night, he grudgingly goes to open it. Of course, Seongwoo is there. The only good thing is that he’s no longer in that stupid soccer team jersey.
(We get it, you’re a jock.)
He’s wearing a suffocating cologne too, which makes Jihoon grimace at the thought of his and Woojin’s shared room smelling like Ong Seongwoo after.
“Hi,” Seongwoo greets Jihoon.
“What are you waiting for? Get in,” Jihoon says, and locks the door once Seongwoo steps into the room.
“You must like reading,” Seongwoo observes, letting his fingers trail over the numerous books on Jihoon’s study table.
“Um,” Jihoon interrupts Seongwoo, “Not to be mean. But I’m not here to listen to you flirt with me, I’m not interested in you. At all. In case I wasn’t being clear before, let me say it now. I am not interested in you, Ong Seongwoo.”
He wonders if he’s being too harsh.
“That’s okay,” Seongwoo turns back to face Jihoon. “I enjoy a good challenge.”
It’s no use trying to outtalk Seongwoo, so Jihoon checks the time on his handphone and says, “You were 5 minutes late. You just spent 2 minutes uselessly flirting. I’ll do the math for you, you have 8 minutes left to tell me about your suggestion.”
Seongwoo seems to finally come to his senses. Or maybe he finally realises that Jihoon is not fucking around.
“Have you heard of Nerve?”
“Nerve?” Jihoon repeats after Seongwoo, wondering if this is some sort of cringey jock innuendo. “The little things in our bodies? Not a science guy, but yeah, I’ve heard of that kind of nerve.”
Seongwoo cracks a small grin and shakes his head.
“No, silly. The online dare game, Nerve. I take it you’ve never even heard of it.”
Damn it, Jihoon hates when Seongwoo is right.
“You’re right. I have no idea what that is. How is some game we used to play in primary school supposed to earn me some quick cash?” Jihoon replies.
Seongwoo nods in amusement. He immediately whips his phone out and fiddles around before showing Jihoon a video.
It’s a student from their school in the video – Jihoon knows from the look of the lecture theatre in the video. At first, it seems like a normal lecture.
Suddenly, the angle of the phone shifts, and the next thing Jihoon can see is a girl taking off her shirt and start dancing on the table. Jihoon instinctively covers his eyes, because what the fuck? He can see the lecturer freaking out, but everyone else is laughing and cheering as they film this on their phones.
When the video ends, Jihoon whispers, “What was that all about?”
“That’s Nerve. It’s truth or dare, but this time, it’s dare or dare,” Seongwoo explains calmly. “That girl in the video was what we call a player. The people filming? They’re called watchers.”
“Okay,” Jihoon hesitantly says, not really sure where this is going. “What’s the point? I’m not going to take my shirt off in front of the entire student body.”
“I’ll have you know she made $500 just for completing that dare,” Seongwoo says, smiling proudly when Jihoon’s jaw drops.
$500? Jihoon takes a month to earn the same amount of money this girl earned by completing a dare.
“B-but,” Jihoon stutters. “I can’t. I’m going to get into trouble. With the school, with my mom.”
He’s aware of how much he sounds like a loser and mama’s boy in front of Seongwoo right now, but the other boy just smiles.
Goosebumps rise on his skin when Seongwoo leans into his ear and whispers, “That’s the beauty of Nerve, honey. You’re never going to get caught. Do the dares, suffer no repercussions, earn quick money. Isn’t that what you’ve been waiting for?”
Jihoon gulps nervously. Seongwoo is right. But still, he’s never broken a rule in his entire lifetime. Heck, he even hands his homework up on time.
“I uh… I should think about it,” Jihoon says. “Thanks, for letting me know. I guess.”
“Cool,” Seongwoo nods. “Just let me know if you’re interested in playing. I’ll send you the invite link just in case, you’ll never be able to find it on the internet.”
“Wait,” Jihoon pauses before he hands his phone over to Seongwoo. “Does that mean you’re…”
Seongwoo smiles, and it’s playful this time. There’s excitement in his gaze, when he nods and says, “I’m a player.”
Jihoon’s hands hover the invite link Seongwoo sent to him that night. Woojin has long fallen asleep, but Jihoon’s eyes just won’t will themselves to close and go to bed.
From: Ong Seongwoo
Here’s the link: Tz54nmf/invite.player/nerve.co
Let me know if you join, I think we’d make a great team ;)
Jihoon rolls his eyes. As if he would ever subject himself to being on Seongwoo’s team at any point in his life.
Still, he’s tempted. Just to see what this game is really all about.
So, he taps on the link.
His screen goes black for a second, and he almost panics and thinks that a virus has somehow infected his phone. Then, it turns on again and his screen is replaced with a bright purple screen with words.
“Welcome to Nerve. A game like truth or dare, minus the truth.”
So Seongwoo wasn’t shitting him.
“Watchers pay to watch, and players play to win cash or glory.”
In the background, Jihoon can see people jumping off bridges, lying on train tracks, and even hanging from a high building. He already feels dizzy just by looking at them.
“Are you a watcher or a player?”
The two options ‘Watcher’ and ‘Player’ show up on Jihoon’s screen. His eyes trail over to ‘Player’, but he taps on ‘Watcher’ instead.
“To be a Watcher, you have to pay $50 a week. Continue?”
“$50 a week?” Jihoon gasps into his pillow. He immediately exits the link, and his phone goes back to normal. He turns his phone off, and lets the darkness swallow him.
There’s something in him – instinct, that tells him that this whole thing is shady. He wants to delete Seongwoo’s number and the link that comes along with it, but he can’t.
He needs the money.
“Fuck,” he curses. He can think about it tomorrow. For now, he’s going to sleep.
Jihoon doesn’t think of Nerve the few days that follow. He makes an extra effort to not bump into Seongwoo anywhere, and doesn’t wait for Woojin to finish his soccer training for them to go eat dinner together after.
Instead, he uses his time to take a short bus ride down to the city area. He’s standing outside his old high school, waiting for his annoying stepbrother to finally show his face.
Guanlin is too noticeable, Jihoon spots him in the crowd of students immediately.
But something is wrong, Guanlin doesn’t run towards Jihoon and tackle him into a bear hug like Jihoon expects him to. Instead, he glances around the surroundings and takes Jihoon’s arm in his hand and starts running away.
“Guanlin- stop! Lai Guanlin!” Jihoon yells, and finally his stepbrother slows down, but doesn’t remove his grip from Jihoon’s arm. “Why are you running?”
“Hyung,” Guanlin finally speaks. “Why are you here?”
Jihoon frowns, not the kind of response he was expecting. He shakes his arm loose and crosses them. “What do you mean? I’m here to see if my baby brother is doing well in high school.”
“You can’t be here, hyung,” Guanlin lowers his voice. “They’re looking for you.”
“Who?” Jihoon instinctively asks, then he remembers. “God, they looked you up at home?”
Then, he notices the plaster on Guanlin’s right cheek. His fingers graze it, and Guanlin quickly shuns away.
“Did they do this?” Jihoon questions, although he would prefer not to hear the answer.
Guanlin remains silent, but his actions betray him. The boy can’t lie, especially not to the stepbrother he looks up to so much. He finally nods, and Jihoon can feel the anger pulsing through his veins.
“I told them I would pay up if they didn’t touch my family,” Jihoon says, more to himself than Guanlin. “Where did they look you up? At school?”
“No, at my workplace. I started working at a convenience store near our house to you know, earn some money. I know it’s my dad that caused you all this trouble in the first place.”
Guanlin hangs his head low when he says this, and Jihoon immediately tips Guanlin’s chin up so that they’re looking at each other in the eye.
“Lai Guanlin, this is not your fault. And it never will be. You understand? Don’t blame yourself,” Jihoon says. What a hypocrite, he thinks. Just a few years ago he was cursing at Guanlin for bringing bad luck to their family. (he would do anything to turn back time just to make sure he never said those words to Guanlin.)
Guanlin nods, and Jihoon lets him go.
Jihoon’s fingers comb through his hair in frustration and he bites on his lower lip so hard he thinks it’s going to draw blood.
He’s going to need the money faster than he thought.
“Hey, Guanlin?” Jihoon says. It’s funny, how Guanlin is almost a head taller than Jihoon but he never stops looking at Jihoon with those adoring eyes of his. “Take care of mom, okay? I’ll be back really soon with the money.”
Jihoon thinks he doesn’t have the time to see his mom today. He needs to see Ong Seongwoo as soon as possible.
He doesn’t really have any other choices. He’s going to have to play that stupid dare or dare game.
“Hyung?” Guanlin’s voice pierces through his train of thoughts. “You’re not going to do anything dangerous, are you?”
“No, no. Of course not,” Jihoon assures Guanlin. “I have to go now. Call me if anything happens, okay?”
“Alright, be safe hyung,” is all Guanlin says before Jihoon runs off, hoping to catch the fastest bus back to school.
“I want to play,” Jihoon says, ignoring the stares being thrown at him and the whistles from Seongwoo’s teammates in the background. He understands, he’s never been the one to make the first move – so it’s a scene to watch when Jihoon storms into the soccer boy’s locker room that night.
Seongwoo’s half naked, but he makes no attempt to cover up. And frankly, Jihoon couldn’t care less.
“What was that?” Seongwoo grins, leaning onto the locker beside him.
“Your stupid game,” Jihoon says through clenched teeth. “Nerve. I want to play Nerve. Walk me through it, tell me what I have to do. Tell me all the rules of this game.”
Seongwoo frowns, looking to see if Jihoon is being serious on now. When Jihoon’s expression doesn’t change, he nods and says, “Good choice. Let’s go, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
When Jihoon walks through the mess of sweaty soccer boys with Seongwoo’s arm slung proudly around his shoulder, he almost throws up. It’s disgusting, but he has to bear with it. He’s going to get through this, and make sure Guanlin or his mother never gets hurt again.
“So,” Seongwoo says when they make it out of the crowd and take a seat in a bistro near the school.
(Seongwoo had insisted that he wanted to treat Jihoon to a meal, and Jihoon didn’t even have the strength to tell the greasy jock that all he wanted to know was how to play the game.
He wasn’t going to get anything out of Seongwoo by being snappy today, so he let Seongwoo take him wherever he wanted to go.)
“Why the change of heart?” Seongwoo asks, his head propped up by his arm on the table. “Not to assume anything about you; but I never thought you’d have the heart to play this game.”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Jihoon answers plainly, mostly referring to being alone with Seongwoo more than the game itself. “Just tell me how I should play this game.”
“Alright, if you’re going to be a player, there are three rules you have to follow.”
Jihoon waits in silence for Seongwoo to continue.
“One. All of the dares have to be recorded on your phone, or it doesn’t count.”
Seongwoo taps on Jihoon’s phone on the table, to which he nods in reply. It doesn’t seem too bad, for now.
“Two. All your money will be revoked if you fail, or bail out at any time in the game.”
Jihoon’s voice is shaky, “Then how do I keep the money?”
“You win.”
The only thing Jihoon has ever won in his life is that spelling bee competition he had in primary school years ago. And he’d only won because the smartest guy in his class was sick that day. And by some stroke of luck, he was the only one who knew how to spell “diarrhoea” correctly.
Jihoon starts to fill sick. Not the nauseous type – the type where your stomach feels all weird and you don’t have a good feeling about what you’re about to do.
“You good?” Seongwoo’s voice is almost caring, but Jihoon ignores it.
“What’s the last rule?” Jihoon says before Seongwoo can start getting to him.
“Three. Never ever report anything that happens in this game to the law enforcement.”
“In other words, don’t be a snitch.”
He’s not sure if it’s the intensity of Seongwoo’s gaze or the bistro’s air-conditioning had somehow been turned off – but it’s starting to get stuffy in here.
“What- what happens if someone snitches?” Jihoon’s hands clasp around his phone hesitantly.
“Your identity gets stolen. You become a prisoner. It’s complicated, just don’t snitch.”
“Okay,” Jihoon’s breath is shaky, but he steadies himself. “I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
With a final silent prayer, Jihoon taps on the option ‘player’.
“Enter ID.”
There’s a fingerprint scanner on his phone, and Jihoon shakily places his finger on it. He holds his breath as his fingerprint is being scanned, and when it is complete, the words on the screen steals his breath away.
“Are you ready for your first dare?”
It’s not too late – Jihoon knows he can still back out now. Maybe he can take up three part-time jobs, or even quit school?
No, his mother would kill him with her bare hands.
“Go on,” Seongwoo encourages from the side. Jihoon wants to tell him to shut up, that he’s thinking, but closes his eyes and clicks ‘Accept’.
It takes a few second for the next screen to load.
For $100: Pour milkshake over Kang Dongho’s head.
“What?” Jihoon gasps, then looks around and spots who the dare is referring to. Just two tables away, he spots the school’s rugby team captain with his loyal followers laughing over a few drinks.
He swallows his saliva nervously. He’s never talked to Kang Dongho, much less pour a milkshake over his head. And by the size of Kang Dongho’s biceps, it’s definitely not a good idea.
“What are you waiting for?” Seongwoo prompts, sliding the milkshake he’d ordered earlier in front of Jihoon. “Your first hundred bucks is waiting for you.”
“I- I can’t-“ Jihoon stutters. His phone vibrates, and he sees the warning.
“You have 1 minute left before you fail.”
Jihoon grabs the milkshake in his hand and stands up slowly. At the bottom right of the screen, he can see an eye icon – which he infers must be the number of people watching him right now.
54; that’s the number of people that are going to witness Jihoon’s last few moments before death.
“Fine, I’m going to do it,” Jihoon says and hands his phone over to Seongwoo, who’s already waiting with a huge smile on his face. “Make sure you get a good view.”
“Of course, sweet cheeks,” Seongwoo winks. “Any view of you is a good one. Oh, look. 30 seconds, you better make this a quick one.”
Jihoon is not going to fail on his first dare just because he’s being a chicken. He takes one last look at Kang Dongho and thinks that maybe, just maybe, the big dude would somehow appreciate smelling like a strawberry milkshake for the rest of the night.
He tries to stride over to Kang Dongho’s table as confidently as he can manage.
“Hey,” he says awkwardly when he reaches the table. The laughter ceases and Kang Dongho turns his head to look up at Jihoon.
“Can I help you?” he raises his eyebrow.
Jihoon hears a cough from Seongwoo and sees him holding up 5 fingers.
5 seconds left, Seongwoo mouths.
It’s now or never.
Closing his eyes, Jihoon dumps the milkshake right over Kang Dongho. He doesn’t have to open his eyes to guess how much damage he’s done, because he can hear audible gasps from everyone in the bistro. When he opens his eyes to look back at Seongwoo, he gets a thumbs up in return.
Next, Jihoon runs. He grabs Seongwoo’s arm and pulls him out of the booth and the bistro. He runs as fast as his legs can carry him and only stops when the bistro is no longer in sight.
“Fuck,” Jihoon says as he clutches his heart, which is beating at an abnormally fast rate. (Hint; it’s not the run). “Did you get it all?”
Seongwoo nods proudly as he hands the phone back to Jihoon, “All of it. You should have seen his face when you ran away. Priceless.”
“Shut up,” Jihoon mumbles. This is so not going to be one of his proudest moments in his life.
“Congrats on completing your first dare,” Seongwoo says, slow-clapping for Jihoon. “I never knew Park Jihoon would be able to do it.”
Jihoon gets a message notification from the bank.
$100 has just been deposited into your account.
And even though his heart is racing and he’s probably going to have his head clocked by the rugby team somewhere in the future, Jihoon smiles.
“Are you carrying on?” Seongwoo challenges.
“Yeah,” Jihoon nods. There’s no way he’s stopping now. “But not with you.”
“Come on,” Seongwoo pleads. “We’ll have so much fun together. You and I.”
Jihoon hasn’t forgotten that Seongwoo is still an annoying douchebag that thinks he owns Jihoon.
“Grab whatever you need,” Seongwoo says, “I’ll wait for you at the main entrance, I don’t think you’ll be coming back for a while.”
Jihoon wants to disageee, but Seongwoo is of some help to him. For now, he can follow. It’s not like he has much of a choice, anyway. He can ditch him later, Jihoon thinks.
For now, he has more dares to complete.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Woojin berates as soon as Jihoon steps into his room to pack whatever he needs. Or thinks he needs.
“What?” Jihoon repeats, irritated. He grabs a few shirts out of his cupboard and stuffs them into his bag. He even takes a the bag of chips he’s managed to hide from Woojin the past week. Other than that, Jihoon isn’t really sure what else he needs to bring along.
Woojin walks up to Jihoon and steadies him by the shoulder.
“You can’t play Nerve, Jihoon.”
Jihoon stops in his tracks and faces his friend, “How did you know?”
Woojin shakes his head disappointedly and points his phone at Jihoon. It’s the video that Seongwoo filmed of him before. He flinches when he sees the milkshake being poured over Kang Dongho and boy – that does not look pretty.
“Are you a watcher?” Jihoon whispers.
“Yeah, only to watch how stupid people like you ruin their lives over an online game,” Woojin shoots back. His gaze softens when he sees how uncertain Jihoon looks.
“You can’t play Nerve, Jihoon. People have died playing this, it’s not safe.”
Jihoon purses his lips, and God, he knows Woojin is right. He isn’t sure how things are going to escalate from here. He doesn’t even have a plan.
But Guanlin needs him. His mother needs him.
“I need the money, Woojin,” Jihoon says, zipping up his backpack and putting on a jacket just in case the night is cold and he doesn’t have anywhere to stay. “And if you have a better idea, please. Let me know. But for now, I’m going to be fine. Don’t worry.”
Without a second glance behind, Jihoon rushes out the door. He’s afraid Woojin is going to convince him to stop.
Just like Seongwoo promised, he’s waiting for Jihoon at the main entrance.
“Have you gotten your next dare yet?” Seongwoo asks when he sees Jihoon walk towards him.
Jihoon checks – and no, there’s nothing.
“Don’t worry, the watchers are just probably looking into your data and finding the most suitable dare for you. Let’s go,” Seongwoo announces, swinging his arm around Jihoon again. “I have somewhere to be.”
“My what?” Jihoon repeats.
Data?
Seongwoo pretends not to hear him, and they take a bus down to the city area. Jihoon isn’t sure how going to the city is going to make things better, but Seongwoo looks like he knows what he’s doing, so he follows silently.
“You have 150 watchers from the previous time,” Seongwoo notices. “Not too bad for a first dare.”
Jihoon glances down at his phone again. Wow, 150 people watched him dump a milkshake over their school’s strongest rugby player. How nice.
“What about you? How many do you have?” Jihoon asks.
He realises too late that he sounds like he’s trying to start a conversation with Seongwoo. He’s not.
Jihoon needs to find out how far behind he is from the top, and who he needs to beat to win this game.
“Me? Not much. I have around 10k watchers,” Seongwoo says, handing his phone over to Jihoon to see.
“10K?” Jihoon gasps. “10 thousand? God, what did you do?”
There’s a ranking that shows on their phones and oh god, Seongwoo is at number twenty. He doesn’t even want to know how far behind he is.
“A lot,” Seongwoo confesses. “Which is why you’re lucky to be paired up with me. With more watchers, you’re going to climb up in no time.”
Jihoon doesn’t feel comforted. At all.
They get off the bus when they reach the city. It’s dark, but bustling with people. Jihoon hasn’t been out in a long time and it’s not too bad to actually get some fresh air.
His phone dings, and his heart starts racing again when he sees the words.
For $200: Steal somebody’s wallet.
“Whoa, whoa,” Jihoon stops himself. “I can’t do that. That’s illegal. Stealing is illegal.”
He hears Seongwoo chuckle from above him, “Honey. Nothing in the Nerve world is illegal.”
Jihoon scans his surroundings for a possible target. God, he can’t actually steal someone’s wallet. That’s when he feels Seongwoo leaning in closer to him, his back touching Seongwoo’s chest. Jihoon squirms, but Seongwoo holds onto him firmly.
“That guy in the expensive suit,” Seongwoo whispers, using his hand to cup Jihoon’s face and direct him to who he’s looking at. “His wallet is just begging to be stolen. Plus, I bet a lost wallet wouldn’t mean much to him anyway.”
“Get off me,” Jihoon snaps, finally managing to push the other boy away.
Seongwoo is right, again, unfortunately. How many times has Seongwoo done this to not feel a prick of guilt?
Sighing, Jihoon clicks accept. This time, he has 5 minutes.
Jihoon hands over his phone to Seongwoo’s waiting hands again and speeds off, following the man in the expensive suit. He’s walking fast, but not really paying any attention to the people around him. If Jihoon can get close enough, he can reach his hand out and –
“I got it,” Jihoon whispers to himself, the brown leather wallet held tightly in his hand. Slowly, he makes his way out of the crowd and hopes to appear as un-suspicious as possible.
He makes a mistake to look back – and he locks eyes with the man who happens to realise that his wallet is gone.
Before Jihoon can even react, a strong grip pulls him from the crowd and into a nearby alley. Whoever is holding him so tightly pushes Jihoon against the wall and tips his head to the side of Jihoon’s face.
Jihoon trashes violently, thinking that it’s Seongwoo attempting something again.
When he meets eyes with the stranger, he finds that it’s not Seongwoo. Rather, a head of silver hair greets him and before he can say anything, the stranger says, “Shh- Pretend like you’re kissing me.”
“Pretend like I’m w-“ Jihoon’s protests are cut off when the stranger presses a thumb against his lips and leans in very, very close. Their lips are only separated by the stranger’s thumb but before Jihoon can shout out for help, he hears voices.
“Are you sure he went this way, Sir?”
“I’m sure, officer. That boy took my wallet, I saw him running this way.”
Jihoon freezes, the brown wallet still in his right hand, visible for anyone to see if they walked past just then. Skilfully, the stranger uses his free hand to snatch the wallet out of Jihoon’s hand and throw it into the dark alley.
The stranger uses his other hand to cup Jihoon’s cheek – and that’s when Jihoon realises that this man is helping him.
The policeman and the man Jihoon stole from walk past the two, not noticing Jihoon because he’s well-hidden by well, the stranger kissing him. (fake-kissing, Jihoon reminds himself)
When the footsteps fade into the distance, the stranger pulls away and Jihoon lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. His heart is thumping wildly fast too, and he doesn’t know why.
Jihoon gets a good glimpse of the stranger then. He realises that his silver hair is not the most noticeable thing about him.
“Thanks,” is all Jihoon can manage.
“You should have been more careful,” the stranger warns. “If you were caught you would have failed. All your money? Gone.”
“Y-you play?” Jihoon asks nervously, still unable to calm down from the situation before.
The stranger nods, looks around one last time and says, “I think you’re in the clear.”
“Okay, great. Yeah, thanks. For everything,” Jihoon mutters, not really sure what he should say.
“I saw your friend recording out there, I’ll walk you to him, just to be sure,” the stranger adds, and takes Jihoon’s hand in his. He notices Jihoon’s shocked expression and says, “Just for the show.”
“Just for the show,” Jihoon laughs nervously but lets the stranger lead him out to the public area again. He spots Seongwoo easily, and tenses up when he surveys the stranger holding Jihoon’s hand.
“Is he your friend?” the stranger asks, looking pointedly at Seongwoo.
“Not really,” Jihoon confesses. He takes his phone back from Seongwoo and as promised, another $200 has been deposited into his account. His night is going great, actually.
“Come on babe,” Seongwoo whines, which turns Jihoon off even more. He’s probably going to ditch Seongwoo earlier than he thinks. “We ready to move on to the next dare?”
“I uh…” Jihoon ignores Seongwoo and turns to the stranger. “I have to go.”
The stranger nods and lets go of Jihoon’s hand but doesn’t stop looking at Seongwoo.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jihoon says, although there’s nothing okay with spending another minute with Seongwoo. But that’s not an argument he wants to have in front of the stranger he almost kissed.
“You can leave,” Seongwoo glares at the stranger while slinging an arm around Jihoon. Again, Jihoon flinches but Seongwoo keeps him tight in his arms.
The stranger’s eyes flash with worry but he manages to tear his gaze away.
“Stay safe,” he says before walking away.
It doesn’t even take the stranger 5 steps to look back at Jihoon.
Jihoon wants to ask if something is wrong – when his phone rings again.
His heart races, but in a good way. And a small smile starts to tug on his lips unconsciously.
For $300: Leave with Daniel
When the stranger (who now has a name) meets eyes with Jihoon again, he knows he’s gotten the same dare.
“Daniel?” Jihoon says, surprised at how easily his name escapes his lips.
Daniel’s lips curl into a smile as well. The name suits him well, Jihoon thinks.
“Jihoon?”
He likes the way his name sounds when it rolls of Daniel’s tongue as well.
“That’s me.”
As soon as the words escape his mouth, Daniel walks up to him. Ignoring Seongwoo who’s glaring holes into him, Daniel says, “I think the watchers like us together. Do you want to come with me?”
If you ask Jihoon later, he’s going to swear he teamed up with Daniel just to escape the clutches of Ong Seongwoo.
But deep down, he knows the bad feeling he had from before is starting to go away. The anxiety rooted deep in the put of Jihoon’s stomach fades away when Daniel holds out a waiting hand to him.
“Yes.”
Jihoon barely knows Daniel. Scratch that, he knows nothing about this other player whom he’s been dared to team up with.
“Then come.”
Jihoon doesn’t have to hesitate to take Daniel’s hand and have him pull Jihoon away from Seongwoo’s arms into his. He no longer feels disgusted, but instead, he feels safe.
“Park Jihoon, you’re going to regret it,” Seongwoo’s voice calls from behind. “He’s not who you think he is.”
Jihoon stops in his tracks. From the way Seongwoo is speaking, it sounds like he knows Daniel. And it doesn’t sound like they’re on good terms.
“Are you going to listen to him?” Daniel’s voice is low, almost threatening.
When Jihoon turns to face Daniel again, their eyes meet. The man before him is so beautiful, so enchanting, and Jihoon is okay with knowing nothing about Daniel.
“No,” is all Jihoon says before he clicks on ‘accept dare’ and relishes in the $300 being deposited into his bank again.
This is the easiest dare he’s ever had to complete – by far.
If Jihoon was looking at his surroundings (which he most definitely was not; he was too captivated by the man walking next to him) he would have seen the number of people who were following them, filming them on their cell phones
Watching them.
Daniel had never planned on saving Park Jihoon that night.
In fact, he was in the city to look for a nice and quiet bar to have his drink at before his next dare from the watchers arrived. He’d just completed a big one, and his watcher count was increasing at an incredibly fast speed.
Daniel smiled – the rankings showed that he was still in first place. The others were catching up, no doubt. But he still had some time before the next dare arrived.
He liked the bustling city, the heart of Seoul. It was so easy to lose yourself in the mass of bodies pushing past each other, it was so easy to forget who he really was.
That’s when he saw the boy. He wasn’t noticeable at first. It was only when Daniel looked closer when he saw a young boy, not older than eighteen, he thinks, squirming under the grip of an older boy.
At first glance, the two look like a couple. The disdain on the smaller boy’s face tells him otherwise.
Daniel walks closer to the two boys, careful not to seem like he’s eavesdropping. It’s an easier task to complete than he’d thought – the boys barely notice Daniel standing nearby.
“Get off me,” he hears the smaller boy say as he pushes the other taller boy off him.
Daniel watches the boy shove his handphone into the taller boy’s hand and walk off angrily. This piques Daniel’s interest, and he sneaks a peak at what the taller boy is doing.
The taller boy is filming the smaller boy, and he wonders what he’s up to until he sees the smaller boy follow behind a man wearing a Gucci suit, his hand outstretched at something Daniel can’t really see over the crowd of people.
The boy smiles to himself, which makes Daniel smile as well. Then, he sees the wallet in the boy’s hand. He looks back at the taller boy, and he’s focusing on making sure that the younger boy’s illegal acts are all captured on camera.
Oh.
They were playing Nerve as well.
Daniel meets other players on a regular basis. In fact, his past four years have been built around Nerve, and he’s met more people through the game than he’d like to.
Some left him with good memories, friends even.
Some were… not as good.
That’s when Daniel spots the man in a Gucci suit patting his back pocket – he’s realised that his wallet is missing. Daniel sees the younger boy lock eyes with the man and for a moment, he panics as well.
The man starts shouting something, but his voice is drowned out by the loud chatter of people and the horning of the cars in the background. The younger boy is not in the clear, and he’s definitely going to get caught if Daniel doesn’t do anything.
The only problem is that Daniel shouldn’t be helping others. Any other Nerve player is his enemy, a hurdle he has to cross to get to Number 1.
“Walk away, Kang Daniel,” he tells himself. “He’s a nobody.”
The man is catching up to the boy, and Daniel can’t just stand by and watch the boy fail; even if this is none of his business.
He sighs, and hopes none of his watchers are following him. As swiftly as he can manage, he pulls the younger boy out of the crowd by the arm and leads him into the alley nearby.
The boy trashes violently in his grip, but Daniel doesn’t let him go.
When their eyes meet in the dark, Daniel almost blurts out, “Wow, you’re so pretty.”
Instead, he leans down and whispers, “Pretend like you’re kissing me.”
Shock registers across the other boy’s eyes and before he can complete his next sentence, Daniel presses his thumb against the other boy’s soft lips and leans in closer. So close – they might as well be kissing for real.
Since it isn’t a real kiss, Daniel keeps his eyes open. So does the other boy. He takes this chance to memorise the other boy’s face. The way his eyes stare at him so prettily, his nose bridge, the way the blush spreads across his cheeks when he’s flustered or embarrassed.
“Are you sure he went this way, Sir?”
“I’m sure, officer. That boy took my wallet, I saw him running this way.”
Daniel remembers what he’s really here for, and reaches down for the wallet, which he finds in the other boy’s hand, and throws it into the darkness; away from anyone’s eye. He hears footsteps approaching, and cups the boy’s cheek with his hand just in case he gets recognized.
Things go according to plan, and Daniel smiles triumphantly when he pulls away.
“Thanks,” is the first thing the other boy says.
“Cute,” Daniel thinks.
“You should have been more careful. If you were caught you would have failed. All your money? Gone.”
Daniel has seen too many cases of people getting caught when they were playing Nerve. He just doesn’t want this same doe-eyed boy to face the same fate. He wants to ask what a pretty boy like him is playing with a game like Nerve – but keeps his mouth shut instead.
“Y-you play?” the other boy stutters.
He only nods, not keen to expose more of himself than he should. He looks around one last time to make sure that the man and policeman are out of sight, and he says, “I think you’re in the clear.”
It’s too much of a pity to let the boy walk away from him just like that, so Daniel offers, “I saw your friend recording out there, I’ll walk you to him, just to be sure.”
Daniel reaches out for the boy’s hand, and adds, “Just for show,” when the boy looks up at him, surprised.
Just for show, my foot, Daniel thinks to himself.
They find his friend easily enough, but Daniel is greeted by two angry eyes instead. He doesn’t know for what the other boy is glaring at him for, then follows his gaze to the intertwined hands of him and the younger boy.
“Ah,” Daniel thinks and smirks. “Jealousy.”
“Is he your friend?” Daniel asks the boy, making it a point to smile straight at the other boy.
“Not really,” the boy dismisses, which makes Daniel feel even better.
“Come on babe,” the taller boy finally speaks, and Daniel feels the pit of his stomach bubble in anger at the pet name he was using that the smaller boy was very obviously not comfortable with. “We have to move on to the next dare.”
We?
Daniel can’t lie. He’s jealous as well. He might be the one holding the pretty boy’s hand right now but the two were on the same team?
He feels the other boy unlocking his fingers as he meets eyes with Daniel again.
“I uh… have to go,” he says.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?” Daniel asks. He hopes the other boy senses that he’s not just asking about the game.
“Yeah,” Jihoon nods, then smiles as if to prove his point. “Sure.”
The taller boy glares at him and says, “You can leave.”
He then swings an arm around the other boy’s shoulder, which makes Daniel want to rip his arm off.
But this is not his fight, and definitely none of his business.
“Stay safe,” Daniel says, because he doesn’t know what else he should say.
He turns to walk away before his stupid mouth can blurt out anything else. He’s so going to regret leaving the boy alone with someone he’s so obviously uncomfortable with, but Daniel doesn’t have anything to offer the boy either.
Daniel’s phone rings, and he knows his next dare is here.
Damn it, he didn’t even get to get himself a can of beer before his next one.
For $1.2K: Take Jihoon with you.
He immediately looks up, now hyper aware of his surroundings. And he sees the watchers.
The watchers are everywhere. When you’re playing Nerve, you’re always being watched. The watchers know everything about you, what you fear, what your weak points are. And they watched the way he interacted with the boy, who now had a name.
Daniel turns around to look at the boy again, and smiles when he sees that Jihoon is smiling at his phone as well.
He knows that Jihoon has gotten the exact same dare.
“Daniel?” Jihoon calls out. His heart swells – he never knew his name could sound so beautiful.
“Jihoon,” he answers, now walking back with more confidence.
“That’s me,” Jihoon confirms, eyes twinkling with excitement.
Daniel knows all eyes are on him now, his phone is vibrating violently, a sign that he’s gaining watchers at an insane rate.
“I think the watchers like seeing us together,” Daniel says, making it a point to look around. Although it isn’t obvious, he can see strangers pointing their phones towards the two. He then looks back at Jihoon, “Do you want to come with me?”
Daniel holds out a hand to Jihoon, and for a moment, he’s afraid that Jihoon won’t come with him.
His fears quickly disappear when Jihoon breaks away from the other boy’s embrace (he wouldn’t really call it an embrace, it was more like the other boy was gripping onto Jihoon) and takes his hand.
“Yes.”
“Then come.”
Daniel whispers this, but he’s sure Jihoon heard him. Because the boy melts so naturally into his embrace and lets Daniel lead the way out.
“Park Jihoon. You’re going to regret it,” the other boy warns from behind, and Daniel flinches.
“He’s not who you think he is.”
He feels Jihoon stop in his tracks.
So, his friend knows who he is. Who is Daniel kidding, really. Almost everyone who plays Nerve knows who he is.
Everyone but Jihoon, that is. Jihoon doesn’t seem to know what his friend is talking about, but Daniel can see the questions rising in his mind.
But Daniel wants Jihoon to trust him.
“Are you going to listen to him?” he leans down to whisper into Jihoon’s ear.
It’s not perfect, but it’s enough when Jihoon shakes his head and accepts the dare on his phone.
“No.”
Daniel feels assured, that at least one person in this world does trust him.
Even more so when it’s Jihoon.
Daniel knows the watchers are recording every moment of this, but he couldn’t care less. He doesn’t see any of them; he’s too busy looking at the beautiful boy in his arms.